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PSH/cb
23 November, 1944
Mr. Frank Law, President
John Wyeth and Brothers
1600 Arch Street
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
My dear Mr. Law:
I attended recently the meeting of the Association of
Military Surgeons, where I put on an exhibit for the Army and Navy
General Hospital. Although I passed the Wyeth booth several times,
I never saw anyone I knew. I ran into Doctor Domingo Ramos, who
was one of the distinguished guests of the convention. You remember,
he was until recently, Minister of Defense of Cuba and is now Director
of the Finlay Institute of Cuba. He was most anxious to arrange some-
time for a showing of Cornwell's paintings in Cuba, and I believe he
must have gotten in touch with you. He is, I believe, trying to arrange
some sort of a special meeting in Cuba this Spring, and if his plans
work out, it should be a very interesting occasion. While in New York,
Doctor Ramos and I went to Cornwell's study and saw his latest paint-
ing, of Oliver Wendell Holmes. I think it is excellent. I was delight-
ed with it. Certainly Cornwell is a wonderful artist. Doctor Ramos was anxious to discuss with Mr. Cornwell a
tentative plan to have Cornwell paint, either for the Cuban Government
or for the Finlay Institute, a finished painting along the lines of
the preliminary sketches which Cornwell made for the Yellow Fever paint-
ing, that is, what we have called the Cuban version. Through your
gracious generosity, I was given these two oil sketches and they are
hanging in the library of the Mayo Clinic, where they have been admired
constantly. Between them hangs a copy of "The Conquest of Yellow Fever",
the final version, and underneath there is framed an explanation of the
three paintings. I offered to return these sketches to Mr. Cornwell
("on loan!") if he needed them, provided Doctor Ramos actually did
commission him to do this painting, but Mr. Cornwell said that he would
prefer to start fresh. May I, however, offer to ship these two oil
sketches to you, in case you wish to send them down to Havana with all
the other Cornwell paintings of the medical series. Selfishly, I, of
course, would like to have the oil sketches back, but at any time that
you wish to exhibit them, I will be most delighted to send them to you.
The "Cuban version" would, of course, be very attractive to the Cubans,
as it gives Finlay the dominant position, and since it is essentially
accurate, historically, (Although we don't quite know who was present
on the occasion besides Reed, Finlay, Albertini and young Finlay.) |
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Sheet Two To: Mr. Frank Law PSH/cb 23 November 1944 Did you know that a Cuban artist, Raquel Romero, is just
finishing a mural entitled "Martyrs of the Conquest of Yellow Fever",
which is being painted on the wall of a large lecture room in the new
military hospital? It comprises two panels, as it were, and in the
first panel Lazear is infecting a mosquito at Los Animos Hospital, and
presumably being bitten by a stray mosquito. In the second panel, Miss
Maas is being inoculated by Doctor Guiteras, and in the background are
the two other Cuban volunteers who, with Miss Maas, died from experimental
yellow fever in the first Cuban confirmation of Reed's work. They died
in the Fall of 1901, so all in all, Mr. Law, you really started something
when you commissioned Cornwell to do that fine painting. After leaving New York, I spent two days in the Surgeon
General's Office in Washington. Doctor Charles Stanley White is quite
a prominent Surgeon in Washington, one of the most prominent Surgeons
there; he is my wife's cousin. We were discussing Cornwell's painting
for Wyeth's medical series and Doctor White expressed the earnest wish
to have a set of them, if at all possible, for his offices. If it would
be possible for you to send him a set, he would be very grateful. His
address is "1801 'I` Street." Incidentally, I have not, myself, received
copies of the last three. I have none since "The Conquerors of Yellow
Fever". I would be very happy to have copies of: "The Dawn of Abdominal
Surgery", "The Father of American Pharmacy", and the new one of Oliver
Wendell Holmes, if it is available. I have them in my library at home
and also one or two in the office at the Mayo Clinic. If possible, I
would appreciate it if they would be sent to my home, "517 Fourth Street,
S.W., Rochester, Minnesota", rather than here. I certainly would appreciate
this greatly. Always sincerely yours,
PHILIP S. HENCH, Lt. Col., M. C.
Chief of the Medical Service
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