﻿N-OGUCHI 
  — 
  FLEXNER 
  597 
  

  

  quently 
  relinquished. 
  He 
  would 
  lie 
  on 
  a 
  mat 
  beside 
  his 
  writing 
  desk, 
  

   and 
  after 
  a 
  few 
  hours 
  of 
  sleep, 
  he 
  would 
  rise 
  and 
  resume 
  study. 
  His 
  

   wife 
  told 
  me 
  recently 
  that 
  his 
  custom 
  was 
  to 
  repose 
  an 
  hour 
  or 
  two 
  

   after 
  dinner 
  in 
  a 
  large 
  comfortable 
  chair 
  and 
  then 
  read 
  or 
  write 
  late 
  

   into 
  the 
  night. 
  The 
  last 
  days 
  before 
  leaving 
  for 
  Africa 
  he 
  was 
  at 
  the 
  

   Rockefeller 
  Institute 
  almost 
  unintermittently 
  for 
  48 
  hours 
  or 
  more, 
  

   and 
  his 
  letters 
  from 
  Africa 
  were 
  written 
  at 
  the 
  end 
  of 
  long, 
  arduous 
  

   days 
  and 
  with 
  the 
  dawn 
  stealing 
  into 
  the 
  windows. 
  

  

  Noguchi's 
  mental 
  acumen 
  seems 
  not 
  to 
  have 
  been 
  preceptibly 
  

   blunted 
  by 
  these 
  excesses. 
  I 
  recall 
  vividly 
  an 
  early 
  morning 
  visit 
  to 
  

   my 
  home 
  after 
  a 
  night's 
  vigil. 
  I 
  was 
  dressing 
  when 
  word 
  was 
  brought 
  

   up 
  that 
  Noguchi 
  was 
  waiting. 
  Fearing 
  some 
  catastrophe, 
  I 
  hurried 
  

   down 
  and 
  found 
  him 
  eager 
  and 
  tense, 
  but 
  not 
  disturbed 
  or 
  excited. 
  

   He 
  had 
  spent 
  the 
  night 
  in 
  going 
  through 
  a 
  lot 
  of 
  about 
  200 
  slides 
  of 
  

   paretic 
  brain 
  specimens 
  stained 
  for 
  spirochetes. 
  In 
  the 
  early 
  evening 
  

   he 
  had 
  detected 
  what 
  he 
  thought 
  were 
  spiral 
  organisms. 
  By 
  going 
  

   over 
  and 
  over 
  all 
  the 
  slides 
  he 
  had 
  put 
  to 
  one 
  side 
  seven 
  in 
  which 
  he 
  

   believed 
  he 
  had 
  found 
  spirochetae. 
  However, 
  as 
  so 
  many 
  competent 
  

   histologists 
  had 
  failed 
  in 
  the 
  same 
  quest, 
  he 
  became 
  distrustful 
  of 
  his 
  

   judgment 
  and 
  sought 
  confirmation. 
  He 
  was 
  induced 
  to 
  take 
  break- 
  

   fast, 
  after 
  which 
  we 
  went 
  at 
  once 
  to 
  his 
  laboratory 
  where 
  the 
  accuracy 
  

   of 
  his 
  observations 
  was 
  immediately 
  established. 
  This 
  discovery 
  

   constitutes 
  a 
  landmark 
  in 
  the 
  pathology 
  of 
  paresis. 
  

  

  In 
  1894, 
  after 
  the 
  close 
  of 
  the 
  China-Japanese 
  War, 
  Noguchi 
  spent 
  

   three 
  years 
  at 
  the 
  Tokyo 
  Medical 
  College, 
  graduating 
  in 
  1897. 
  Prob- 
  

   ably 
  the 
  lack 
  of 
  means 
  and 
  want 
  of 
  a 
  college 
  degree 
  barred 
  him 
  from 
  

   the 
  University 
  Medical 
  School. 
  He 
  at 
  once 
  passed 
  the 
  government 
  

   examinations, 
  became 
  a 
  licensed 
  physician 
  and 
  surgeon, 
  and 
  entered 
  

   upon 
  an 
  assistantship 
  under 
  Surgeon-General 
  Satow, 
  at 
  the 
  General 
  

   Hospital, 
  which 
  he 
  held 
  for 
  about 
  eight 
  months. 
  This 
  hospital 
  

   issued 
  a 
  monthly 
  medical 
  periodical, 
  the 
  editorship 
  of 
  which 
  was 
  

   intrusted 
  to 
  Noguchi. 
  The 
  linguistic 
  talents 
  recorded 
  above 
  corre- 
  

   spond 
  to 
  a 
  literary 
  facility 
  which 
  he 
  retained 
  throughout 
  his 
  life. 
  He 
  

   came 
  to 
  write 
  his 
  scientific 
  papers 
  in 
  English 
  with 
  an 
  amazing 
  speed, 
  

   and 
  while 
  they 
  were 
  never 
  faultless, 
  they 
  required 
  far 
  less 
  editorial 
  

   correction 
  than 
  might 
  have 
  been 
  expected. 
  It 
  was 
  at 
  this 
  time 
  that 
  

   Noguchi 
  became 
  lecturer 
  in 
  general 
  pathology 
  and 
  oral 
  surgery 
  at 
  the 
  

   Tokyo 
  Dental 
  College, 
  and 
  his 
  lifelong 
  friendship 
  with 
  Doctor 
  Chiwaki 
  

   began. 
  This 
  connection 
  continued 
  until 
  he 
  sailed 
  for 
  America, 
  

   although 
  in 
  September, 
  1898, 
  Noguchi 
  became 
  assistant 
  to 
  Professor 
  

   Kitasato, 
  at 
  the 
  Government 
  Institute 
  of 
  Infectious 
  Diseases, 
  an 
  

   institution 
  based 
  on 
  the 
  institute 
  founded 
  in 
  Berlin 
  for 
  Robert 
  Koch, 
  

   who 
  was 
  Kitasato's 
  teacher. 
  

  

  Bubonic 
  plague 
  having 
  appeared 
  in 
  China, 
  Noguchi 
  was 
  sent 
  to 
  

   New 
  Chwang 
  by 
  the 
  International 
  Sanitary 
  Board; 
  he 
  was 
  made 
  

  

  