Rizal lived in exile in far-away Dapitan, a remote town in Mindanao which was under the missionary jurisdiction of the Jesuits, from 1892 to 1896. This four-year inter regnum in his life was tediously unexciting, but was abundantly fruitful with varied achievements. He practiced medicine, pursued scientific studies, continued his artistic and literary works, widened his knowledge of languages, established a school for boys, promoted community development projects, invented a wooden machine for making bricks, and engaged in farming and commerce. Despite his multifurious activities, he kept an extensive correspondence with his family, relatives, fellow reformists, and eminent scientists and scholars of Europe, including Blumentritt, Reinhold Rost, A.
B. Meyer, W. Joest of Berlin, S. Knuttle of Stuttgart, and N.M. Keihl of Prague.
