One of the foremost figures in the great Cuban awakening at the close of the eighteenth century was Dr. Tomas Romay, physician and scientist, who was born in Havana on December 21, 1764, and died on March 30, 1849. He greatly aided the two good Governors, Las Casas and Someruelos, in their labors for the betterment of Cuba; with the help of Bishop Espada he introduced vaccination into the island; he was prominent in the Society of Friends of Peace, and did much for education, agriculture, and other interests of the Cuban people. Among his writings was a monograph on yellow fever which attracted world-wide attention. His earnest patriotism involved him in violent controversies in the troublous times of 1820-1823, from which he emerged in triumph and in universal honor.] Everything seemed to combine at that period to promote the growth and assure the future welfare of Cuba. The government of Las Casas, with its wonderful awakening among the citizens of a sense of civic responsibility and opportunity, was one of those epochs which seem to form a pivot around which past and future revolve. It was impossible to consider it in its full value and significance without comparing it with the past out of which it had developed, and taking note of the progress it signalized. Nor was it possible to forecast the future, without projecting into it the lines of evolution along which the work of Las Casas and his associates seemed to have prepared the progress of the island. Compared with the passive inertia which had all through the history of the Spanish West Indies retarded individual and communal advancement, it was like a sudden birth of aspirations and endeavors all directed towards a lofty goal, perhaps still vague to the multitude, but clearly and strongly defined in the minds of the men who with a singular unity of purpose, forgetting for once all the petty jealousies that had clouded so many big issues in previous periods, combined for concerted action for the common good.