I SQ POME other items absorbed the time of Wherry's first 

 v3 months in Cincinnati. Howard T Ricketts, victorious 

 but exhausted by his studies of Rocky Mountain spotted fever 

 (in the past three years he had transmitted it to animals, first 

 by the blood, then by the bite of a tick, finally by the injec- 

 tion of a small bacillus he had discovered in human instances 

 where the mortality goes as high as ninety percent) wrote 

 (August 12, 1909) : "Confidentially, I am thinking of taking 

 up typhus fever." He needed "more intimate acquaintance 

 with the insects" and wanted Wherry's help. "This is a nervy 

 request and rebuff from you would be considered proper." 

 December 20 he was in Mexico thanking Wherry for a fine 

 "bunch" of references, monographs and reprints unobtain- 

 able "even in the U of C. Things took a very sudden turn and 

 I came down here," he continued. "Shall write you later about 

 doings. A hot mixup. Three parties at work and a fourth one 

 expected." (What this referred to was a competitive excur- 

 sion by four different "research" agencies all better equipped 

 financially than Ricketts. He had not been allowed time to 

 recover from the fatigue of his Montana sojourn, typhus 

 struck his wearied body, and he died [thirty-nine, in the City 

 of Mexico, May 3 , 1910].) Whereafter he returned to a more 

 personal theme. "When your name is mentioned in Chicago, 

 it is with regret that you are not still there. It's all their fault, 

 and a great mistake to let you go." 



Distance, of course, had made it impossible for mother in 

 India to attend the birth of her granddaughter in Cincin- 

 nati; besides which other things in the compound at home had 

 come up. She wrote (January 11, 1910) : 



We were in the midst of Genl Assem . . . The Presbyterian 

 church of India honored your father by electing him moderator 

 & everyone was so pleased with the way in which he conducted 

 the business. We had 22 people at our table for five days — 

 3 meals a day & afternoon tea. Your Aunt Sarah helped me 

 but I gave clear out on the 3rd day & had to go to bed . . . 



We have had some sad cases in our Mission. Lucy came out 

 to her parents, arriving in Dehra two days before Christmas. 

 Her brother paid her way. About two or three days after 

 Xmas, they sent a telegram to your father asking the Assem- 



