“Dr. Lewis Gregory Cole—New York
“Dr. Charles H. Mayo—Rochester, Minn.
“Dr. John B. Deaver—Philadelphia
“Dr. Charles Peck—New York.
“My paper was entitled—Senility, its etiology and treatment by gland implantation. I am sure the above mentioned gentlemen are thoroughly ashamed of your actions in the matter, as well as thoroughly disgusted with the baby like attitude you have displayed. You have no sense of fair play, and if it is with in my power to undue the wrong which you have wrought me, I shall endeavor to vindicate myself in the eyes of the clear thinking members of the profession.
“I sincerely trust you will publish this communication, in order that my brethren shall understand and appreciate that your thrust has not gone unnoticed.
“It is my hope that the various medical societies through out the country, will call upon me to read a paper on my work, so that I may be able to offer substantial evidence to the fact that you have done me an injustice.
“Very truly yours,
TWE/AEL[Signed] “Thomas Webster Edgar, M.D.”
Dr. Edgar’s statement that he had been on the program with Drs. Cole, Mayo, Deaver and Peck was sufficiently startling to prompt further investigation. It was found that the program in question was that of the annual meeting of the New York and New England Association of Railway Surgeons. It was further found that Edgar’s name did appear on some of the printed programs but not on others. It was rather naturally assumed that the name had been put on the program before the officers of this organization had seen the crude publicity to which The Journal recently called attention. It was found, however, that after several hundred programs had been printed about 150 more were needed and “in the meantime, Dr. Edgar had come into the limelight” in his ring-tailed monkey gland transplantation rôle and “was invited to read a paper on the subject.” While he accepted this invitation the secretary of the organization tells us that Edgar did not read his paper but, when the paper was called, declined, saying it was time for him to be in his office!
As for the rest of Dr. Edgar’s communication, The Journal appreciates that courtesy is due “an associate editor on a medical publication”—referring doubtless to the Western Medical Times. Dr. Edgar’s pronouncement that “legitimate medicine and surgery can not be practiced if the physician be governed by a set of medical clerks” seems reasonable—if cryptic. But it is when he charges that these “clerks” govern the healing art “with a sceptre that is biased and steeped in the unadulterated commercialism of a certain medical clique,” that he really shines. Whatever opinion one may hold of Dr. Edgar’s ability to compound serums, surely no one can question his skill as a mixer of metaphors. His reference to “sceptres” deserves to be embalmed in every textbook on rhetoric with the classic of the Hibernian statesman who passionately declared: “I smell a rat! I see it floating in the air! But, mark you, Sir, I shall nip it in the bud!”—(From The Journal A. M. A., Dec. 3, 1921.)