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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 shOAvn 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 



