Victor Heiser

Flipping through the pages, I couldn't quickly discern if the Dutch East Indies was included in his travels.

Fascinating account of one of America's pioneer public health workers. Orphaned after his survival of the Johnstown flood, Heiser became a physician and immediately started public health work for the US Government. His acquaintances include Edward VII, the King of Siam and Emperor Haile Saillase. A truly amazing story of adventure and American idealism before and between the World Wars. *While running an errand in 1997, I wandered into a used book store and found this wonderful, non-fiction book on a discount rack for $0.98. As the title / sub-title indicates, it is the story of a physician who, as a member of the U.S. Public Health Service and later as a part of an international public health foundation, had a very unusual and an incredibly fascinating medical career, from the immigation halls of Ellis Island to the leper colonies of The Philippines and on to 43 other countries over the period from about 1899 well into the 1930's. I really enjoyed reading it. My son was at that time scheduled to begin the pre-medical program at Vanderbilt University a few weeks later. I commented to him about how much I enjoyed the book. When he was home for the Christmas Holidays after his first semester, he asked me if I still had the book. I told him I did. He then asked to borrow it, because he said it was scheduled one of the primary "textbooks" for a course he was to take the following semester - The History of Medicine. I chuckled to myself that I had probably set a record for the least expensive "textbook" for a course at Vanderbilt University.… (mehr)