Letter from William Crawford Gorgas to Walter Reed, February 6, 1902 |
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WAR DEPARTMENT
OFFICE OF CHIEF SANITARY OFFICER
HAVANA, CUBA.
February 6th 1902
My dear Reed,
Yours of the 31st
received. Inclosed slips
will I think give you all
the data you wr ask for.
I do not plead guilty
to any such statement
as you quote. You & our
chief must have been on
a tear the night-before, &
you got his conversation
mixed with the objectionable
article, I do not"honey
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buggle the simpering old idiot" a bit. I think
he is an old trump as modest as he is kindly
& true. His reasoning for selecting the Ste gomyia
as the bearer of yellow fever is the best piece
of logical reasoning that can be found
in medicine anywhere, I acknowledge
that the less that is said about his experiments
to prove his theory the better for the old Doctors
reputation as a scientist. But he reasoned it
out & believed it & stuck to it for 20
years, You are the great man in the matter
His theory would have remained an idle dream
except for your work, & all that the sanitary
department of Havana has accomplished
in yellow fever was is due to your demon-
stration that the Stegomyia is the only means
of transmitting yellow fever. Your name
will be remember in medicine with Jenner
& Wills long after the old doctor has been
forgotten so do not begrudge the old man
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his little need of praise. I have forwarded
the eggs. Taylor thinks that they will keep
better on grass as packed, We are all
getting ready to pull out about- May the
1st, though there is a probability of my
remaining in some connection with the
sanitary matters of the Island. Mr. Gorgas
joins in best wishes. What would be my
chance for going down as chief medical officer
on the canal when I am foot loose here. The Isth-
mean canal. Sincerely Yours.
W.C. Gorgas
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