Sincerely yours, REED. (21) War Department, Surgeon General’s Office, Army Medical Museum and Library, Washington, July 21, 1902. MY DEAR GORGAS: It was like the good fellow that you are to sit down and write me that nice letter of congratulation. Harvard did indeed do me very great honor in conferring the degree of Master of Arts, and the audience was so very enthusiastic that I felt that Boston, at least, had some appreciation of what the Army had done in Cuba.... The University of Michigan, not to be outdone by Harvard, gave me the following week the degree of L.L.D!... There is another way in which to look at this matter. Instead of simply being satisfied to make friends and draw your pay, it is worth doing your duty, to the best of your ability, for duty’s sake; and in doing this, while the indolent sleep, you may accomplish something that will be of real benefit to humanity and worth more than all the high places that could be bestowed by shrewd politicians. Nor you nor I have reason to be ashamed of our work of the past two years, nor would we think of exchanging places with any of the luckier members of the Corps. “_Verbum sap._” I am having Mr. Meyers look up Panama and Nicaragua literature. Do you want articles in German and French, or only in English? How shall they be addressed? With warmest regards to Mrs. Gorgas, ... believe me, always, Your good friend, REED. CHAPTER VIII HISTORY OF YELLOW FEVER From the dawn of history man has made some attempt to prevent disease. He saw on all sides evidences of the fact that he had suffered from disease through no fault of his own; that occasionally disease would occur with unusual violence and exterminate whole communities. The cause of such mortality not being evident to his senses was attributed by him to spirits, or to powerful gods. These spirits being superior to himself in power, he attempted to propitiate them by presents and prayers. These were his first efforts at preventive medicine and sanitation. He would try to drive off the evil spirits of disease with loud and disagreeable noises made by tom-toms and similar instruments. He attempted to prevent the ingress of these same spirits by signs and incantations. The gods were looked upon as beings influenced by the same love and passions as himself, and he appealed to them with supplications or bribes, as seemed likely to be most effective. In his reasoning during this barbarous age concerning the cause of disease, he was really nearer the truth than subsequently during a much more refined age, or even up to the middle of the nineteenth century. We now know that spirits and gods do not directly cause disease in man, but we have found out that living beings, germs, are the direct cause of all infectious diseases.