Strong in the conviction that pure motives, literary tact, and the requisite scientific knowledge qualified him to undertake this difficult task, Dr. Napheys prepared, in the early months of 1869, his work on "The Physical Life of Woman." Proceeding with caution, he first submitted the MSS. to some professional friends, and profited by their suggestions. After the work was in type, and before publication, he sent complete copies to a number of gentlemen, eminent as medical teachers, clergymen, educators, and literateurs. Their replies left him in no doubt but that he had succeeded even beyond his anticipations. Almost unanimously the opinions were complimentary in the highest degree, and evidently written after a close examination of the book. As many of these have been printed to accompany the work, in the last and previous editions, it is needless to do more in this connection than to say that they were penned by such judges as Dr. W. A. Hammond, late Surgeon-General U. S. Army; Dr. Harvey L. Byrd, Professor in the Medical Department of Washington University, Md.; Dr. Edwin M. Snow, Health Officer of the City of Providence, R. I.; Rev. Henry Ward Beecher, Rev. Horace Bushnell, D.D., Rev. George A. Crooke, D.D., D.C.L., and others. On its appearance, the work was received with enthusiasm by both the medical press and the public. While a few journals and individuals were inclined to condemn it and censure the author, the intelligent and the pure-minded, on all sides, recognized in him the only writer who had yet appeared able to treat these delicate subjects with the dignity of science and the straightforwardness necessary for popular instruction. Satisfied that he had chosen the proper exercise for his talents, he composed and placed in the hands of his publisher, the following year, his not less extraordinary work, "The Transmission of Life," a treatise addressed to the male, as his previous one had been to the female sex. It was dedicated to the late Rev. John Todd, so well known for his interest in young men, and his "Student's Manual" and other works addressed to them. He accepted the dedication and addressed the author a letter, in which occurs the following high compliment to his work: "I am surprised at the extent and accuracy of your reading; the judiciousness of your positions and results; the clear, unequivocal, yet delicate and appropriate language used; and the amount of valuable information conveyed." Similar expressions poured in from many other distinguished critics, as, for instance, Dr. Noah Porter, President of Yale College; the Rev. Henry Clay Trumbull, the Rev. Abner Jackson, President of Trinity College, Hartford, etc.