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Whitfield J. Bell, Jr., PhD

JAMA. 1968;204(1):11-14.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

Dr. Abner Hersey, until his death in 1817 one of the principal medical practitioners on Cape Cod, was competent and skilful in his profession; he was also, in the words of a pupil, "a mere compound of caprice and whim." He must certainly have seemed so to his colleagues, patients, and neighbors. So absurdly attached was he to simple living that he ate no meat and drank only water or milk, and wore clothes of his own design—a long, large, flapping cloak lined with baize in summer, a greatcoat made of seven calfskins for rain and cold. His abstemiousness was parsimony, and extended to the usual obligations of hospitality: notified by a sister-in-law that she intended to pay him a visit, and knowing that she lived in a more normal way than he, Hersey dispatched a note to keep her away:

Madam,

I can't have you here; I am sick . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

Author Affiliations
From the American Philosophical Society, Philadelphia.

Footnotes
Reprint requests to 105 S Fifth St, Philadelphia 19106 (Dr. Bell).

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