Likewise, in former days, the physician was concerned chiefly with the 
well-to-do; the diseases and affections of slaves and agricultural laborers 
and artisans were given little attention. ‘Today distinctions are of course 
still made between the literate and the illiterate, but there is a very large 
class between these extremes—the common people, and writers have this 
class of readers in mind rather than the small cultured class. 
Some one has said that under each grave lies a world’s history, and 
in this light the life of the most common-place man would likely reveal 
many incidents that are worth recording, both on account of their general 
interest and the lesson they may teach. 
In the course of years I have accumulated many notes and ‘case 
reports,’ that is, histories of individuals in chronic illhealth. Some of these 
histories cover the individual’s whole life, from beginning to end, and if 
published would be biography, but since they relate to illhealth and give 
a minimum of facts in regard to other affairs of life, such a biography 
would be of interest primarily to physicians, to biologists, and individuals 
in chronic illhealth who might profit by the experiences of others. A wise 
man has been defined as one who profits by the experiences of others; a 
fool as one who scarcely learns from his own. 
My paper is to be considered as a continuation of papers given in 
former years before this Academy, but to fully understand the subject, 
this series of papers should be considered in connection with another 
series given before the State Medical Society. 
I have prepared a number of case histories, more or less briefly, in 
the form of long charts which I shall show with a few remarks on each. 
(Charts on rolls and diagrams were shown, the following notes being ab- 
stracts. ) 
BIOGRAPHY A. The environmental influences crop out very strongly 
in the family history, as shown in the genealogical table. The ancestry 
goes back into early colonial days, and until now the members have always 
lived under rural conditions. The great-grandfather’s generation was a 
long-lived one, likewise the grandfather’s and the father’s and his 
own also, that is, his brothers and sisters; ten to twelve usually 
constituted a family. The individual himself until recently had always 
lived on a farm and led an active life. He had good health, but when he 
