•jg PROCEEDINGS OF THE 



surprising statement in the work, that it supplies no evidence that 

 the bacillus of Diphtheria had been seen by the author. My friend 

 Dr. r. W. Andrewes of St. Bartholomew's Hospital wrote to me 

 May 17 & 19, 1913:— 



" I should regard the term ' rounded, jointed grains in wavy 

 clusters ' as a bad description of the bacillus of Diphtheria. On 

 the other hand the phrase would be quite apt in describing the 

 clusters of Streptococci which would commonly be present in sore 

 throats or even in Diphtheria itself, and the appearance is one 

 which might be visible with an inferior microscope. I think it 

 would be connect to say that, hij crude methods, clumps of Strepto- 

 cocci would be more readily recognized in sore throats than in 

 normal throats. The microscopist can get from a sore throat 

 something tangible to look at, and, in most sore throats, of what- 

 ever nature, he would be likely to see clusters of Streptococci.'' 



A curious point about the first lecture is the very inadequate 

 criticism of Lamarck whose theory is described as founded " entirely 

 on Spontaneous Generation " (p. 18). The same is also true 

 of the treatment of the "Vestiges of the Natural History of 

 Creation " (1844) alluded to in the first lecture (1847) as having 

 " appeared about three yeai's ago" (p. 19). 



The defence of phrenology (pp. 17-18) is consistent with the 

 date assigned to the lectures ; although, from information lately 

 received, there is no doubt that the author retained his convictions 

 on this subject unshaken up to the end of his life. 



There are curious spellings some of which are obvious misprints. 

 Beneficent in the form of " benificent " cannot be thus explained, 

 for it appears thi-ee times (pp. 13, 19, 34). 



LiPE OP THE Author. 



I am now able to give a brief account of the life of the author, 

 received only on the morning of May 20th from his son Mr. John 

 F. Sleeper, of Tenafly, New Jersey. The information, partly con- 

 veyed in a letter and partly in newspaper cuttings, was the out- 

 come of letters written to four American gentlemen bearing the 

 name Sleeper whose addresses had been given to me by Mr. B. 

 E. Miller. 



Greorge Washington Sleeper was born in Baltimore on Oct. 15, 

 1826. He went to Boston as a lad and eventually opened a great 

 tea store there and later in Providence. He was prosperous in 

 business until he was ruined by the Civil War and by the unpopu- 

 larity of views which he never hesitated to express. The dates of 

 his residence in Boston and Providence are given in Dr. Putnam's 

 quotations on pp. 41, 42 from the Boston and Providence directories. 

 After leaving Providence he went to New Toi-k, residing in 

 Jersey City, N.J., where he died on Sept. 13, 1903. He was able 

 to recover in a measure from his misfortunes, at one time selling 

 books, at another travelling for a New York firm. He married in 

 1858 and a son, Mr. John P. Sleeper, was born in 1864. 



