l two or three years later, after I was graduated, that I
had any association of a professional nature with him. It was near the
end of the summer, up in the mountains. An elderly lady, a member of a
well-known family, was suddenly taken ill. I was hurriedly called to see
her, and on arriving at her cottage was told that Dr. Janeway had been
sent for also and would be there soon; but they were anxious to have me
go to the patient at once. The state of excitement into which this, my
first professional call, threw me, was in itself enough without the
crushing thought of what the great man might think of me, a then
full-fledged M.D. I was ushered into the bedroom where she lay, totally
unconscious and breathing heavily. As I hastened to the house, I had
been formulating in my mind just the questions I should put to her--for
I had learned in the medical school how to take a careful history--and
there she lay without speech, without hearing, and without response. As
I stood looking at her I could feel, rather than see, the family
anxiously crowding about the doorway, waiting for me to tell them just
what the trouble was, how serious it was, what were the chances of her
recovery. At that moment I wondered why I had ever thought of studying
medicine. I sat down by the bedside and felt her pulse. Why was she
unconscious? I tried to think of all the things which caused a state of
unconsciousness. Suppose she should die before I could think of what the
trouble was, and before I could do anything to save her life! The
thought was staggering! And then as I looked down at the patient again
I realized, alas, that my chance of making a diagnosis to give to the
family and then to proudly repeat it to Dr. Janeway, had vanished--for
at that moment the doctor's voice could be heard outside the door and
the next he was quietly stepping into the room. As he came forward, I
stood aside to give him my place at the bedside. He asked one or two
simple questions which I was fortunately able to answer. As I look back,
I feel sure he did this to put me at my ease. This was the first time I
had ever seen Dr. Janeway in the sick-room. It would be hard to describe
the difference between this man I now saw examining the sick woman and
the Dr. Janeway I had known before. There was a light in his eyes and an
alertness in his voice, entirely new to me, as he deftly built up his
diagnosis, pointing out this physical sign and that, until the complete
patholo