6 INTRODUCTION 



Grenfell of the Canadian Labrador," for though, 

 strictly speaking, even the Canadian Labrador 

 dees not extend so far to the west as the sphere of 

 Mr. Comeau's chief activities, the entire coast 

 line below Pointe des Monts is not infrequently 

 referred to as the Labrador shore. 



Unlike Dr. Grenfell, Mr. Comeau is not a pro- 

 fessional physician. Nevertheless he has been 

 the means of saving many a life, and had done 

 much humanitarian work long before Dr. Gren- 

 fell had even been heard of in America. For 

 years and years he was the only man with any 

 knowledge of medicine along a coastline of many 

 hundreds of miles. In the families of the scat- 

 tered residents in the various fishing settlements 

 alonq the coast, " the Stork " has invoked Mr. 

 Comeau' s assistance over 230 times, and without 

 a single fatality. The surgical skill which he has 

 acquired by years of practice, following a hospi- 

 tal course of only one month, the medical know- 

 ledge which is his by virtue of the private study 

 and reading of a lifetime, his surgical instru- 

 ments, dental and other forceps, stock of drugs, 

 and the diphtheria and other serum supplied by 

 the Government in times of epidemic, are always 

 freely at the disposal, not only of the people of 

 his immediate territory, but also of all those 

 whom he may claim as neighbors for hundreds of 

 miles around. 



