hygiene, but could do nothing to curb crime, mental disease, or alcoholism. His first involvement in political life, as a Romanian nationalist, came late in 1908, and was occasioned by the Bosnian crisis. Speaking to a nationalist crowd at Dacia Hall, he protested against Austria-Hungary and the Triple Alliance, and even called for the re-annexation of Bukovina by the Kingdom of Romania. A while after, as concerned members of the Romanian Orthodox Church, Sterian and his uncle Mircea Demetriade joined the movement supporting Gherasim Safirin, the Bishop of Roman, in his conflict with the secularizing Romanian Synod. At the time, Sterian publicly referred to the Synod as manipulated by "atheists" and "grave sinners". His wife Alexandrina soon became a major patron of Saint Catherine Church, Bucharest. Before the elections of 1912, Sterian was also a public speaker at rallies organized by the Conservative Party. To May 15, 1912, he served in the Conservative administration as Comptroller at the Ministry of Commerce. He was co-opted as a medical expert by the Romanian Army bulletin, Buletinul Armatei și Marinei, and also wrote for the nationally circulated weekly Săptămâna Politică și Culturală. Also in 1912, he joined Victor Anestin's Astronomical Society, later becoming inducted into the Société astronomique de France. In 1913, Sterian edited for print the poem "Ali's Dream", by his uncle Demetriade. Sterian's own tragicomedy, Tout pour l'enfant ("All for the Child"), was staged in Paris by Théâtre Antoine. Starring Ève Francis and Allain Dhurtal, it registered significant success during the summer 1913 season. If followed the tribulations of a sterile lady, Jeanne Montrose, who encourages her husband to force himself on the much younger Fernande. The conflict over the resulting child is miraculously resolved when Jeanne agrees to let Fernande replace her as Mrs. Montrose. Emery, the staff critic at Comoedia, gave the play a poor review, calling it a "loony bin". Robert de Flers wrote in Le Figaro: "Dr. Eraclie Stérian—apparently well-known in Romania for his scientific works—has set for himself no less a goal than to provide France with a new means to combat depopulation [...]. But heavens, how could Mr. Stérian imagine that in order to produce children for the French—something not at all easy to do—he should first set himself to produce a play—that which is even more difficult? [...] Mr. Eraclie Stérian has an exceedingly large conception of the family, but he also has only