oO u P on h" 11 ' Both had suffered a gangrenous inflammation of the 

 fingers (she with the loss of one) and the severest of constitu- 

 tional symptoms for weeks. Though primarily a bacteriologi- 

 cal report, Wherry sank it in a fine essay on surgery. "How 

 much can be preserved by care and skill, and how much lost 

 of the capital of existence by neglect?" he queried; and sure 

 in instruction, he proposed: "Let the cuts be made too soon 

 and too deep and long, rather than too late." No wonder that 

 the surgeon Senn, after sitting up with him through a night 

 when as medical student he suffered a similar infection, had 

 tried to entice him into the path of surgery! In his clinical notes 

 Wherry stated in typical fashion that his (personally con- 

 ducted) scheme for treatment had been "haphazard." 



Apprised of his illness and commenting humorously upon 

 the state of medicine in the world in general (October 28, 

 1903 ) H G Wells wrote Wherry: "It's a toss up: stay here and 

 get pneumonia, phthisis, typhoid and sore; go there and get 

 cholera, plague, dysentery and blue." 



Wherry found time to send all kinds of tropical disease 

 specimens to his friends back home. Himself an ardent "col- 

 lector," he knew what joy these could bring; and so all kinds 

 of microorganisms, microscopic and gross specimens and pho- 

 tographs. Jordan, Wells, Hektoen, Smith, Barker acknowl- 

 edged their receipt with enthusiasm. To his family he sent less 

 precious pieces of silk, cotton, linen, wood, ivory or tobacco; 

 and of course, to his friends. Not a letter from any member 

 of the family but a thank-you for something. When Manila 

 did not hold what he wanted, Wherry was wont to order father 

 or sister in India to send rugs or brasses. To Miss Nast he sent a 

 bolt of white silk — which three years later she was to convert 

 into a wedding dress. (In 1913 Wherry stood before a tray in 

 Woolley's house, when the two had come to Cincinnati. "That 

 is an unequalled brass out of India's Ambala district," Wherry 

 declared; "there are no more, and won't be, because its work- 

 men have been decimated by the plague." "Yes," Woolley an- 

 swered, "you gave that to Helen and me when we were mar- 

 ried.") 



Instead of going to Hongkong to recuperate, Wherry went 

 to Japan. From here he wrote to Miss Nast (now a medical 

 student in Johns Hopkins) as follows (October 20, 1903) : 



