American Journal of Epidemiology Vol. 154, No. 10 : 972
Copyright © 2001 by The Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health
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From the Editor
In recent years, your editor has had the good fortune to spend several sabbatical leaves in London doing research at the Wellcome Center for the History of Medicine at University College London. During those visits, my wife and I became aficionados of Alistair Cooke's weekly radio broadcast, "Letter from America," now heard for more than 60 years. Thus, I was pleased to receive from her, as a birthday present, a recently published biography of Cooke (1
). Imagine my surprise to find that Cooke had been married to the daughter of Haven Emerson, one of the founders of the American Epidemiological Society and a prominent figure in the American public health movement of the first half of the 20th century. I had taken a Saturday morning seminar with Emerson during my Master of Public Health training at Columbia University, and I remember him as a great raconteur; he taught epidemiology and public health policy by telling about his experiences in the field. Alistair Cooke must have heard many of the same anecdotes from his father-in-law. At Emerson's death, Cooke penned a warm eulogy for the Guardian, listing Emerson's public health and epidemiologic accomplishments as well as his own (i.e., Cooke's) acquired special interest in the subjects (1, p. 317).
However, I found Emerson austere and unapproachable. Cooke characterized him in a 1966 letter (1, p. 94) as follows:
The world, outside...of microbes, hygiene and medical research, was not only a stranger to him—it was a very disreputable stranger. It drank. It smoked. It was full of luxury and stupidity and politicians. He was against all these things.
Cooke's biographer provides several examples of Emerson's eccentricity. For example, when his daughter offered to order a taxicab to take him to an overseas departure, Emerson brushed the suggestion aside and went by subway to Grand Central Station and by bus to dockside. His comment to the family was, "Public transportation is for the transportation of the public OF WHICH I AM ONE" (1, p. 94). Or, some advice to his 14 year-old grandson, "Never waste your money on toothpaste. Ridiculous modern invention. Carbolic soap and salt. That's what works best" (1, p. 171).
Emerson and Cooke were "giants" in their respective fields. Their interactions, described by Cooke's biographer, provide interesting insights into the lives of both.
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