December 22 Friday – In London, England Sam added a second PS to his Dec. 21 letter to Katharine I. Harrison.

I’ve withdrawn the Harper letter, & hereby enclose it to you, as his letter was to you, & as I don’t know what may have been happening in the Harper affairs since Harper wrote his letter (Dec. 4). …

I wish I had not given them this book. If I had it back I would give it to them only on concession of the five-year limit on all the books. They are a tough lot, with their shabby one-sided contracts, & I wish I had kept out of their shop [MTP]. Note: Sam was lobbying H.H. Rogers to gain a concession from Harper’s to allow Sam to add a five year cancellation prerogative to his contracts—currently only Harper’s had such ability and for ten years.

Sam also replied to Susan L. Crane, whose letter is not extant: few are from this period.

Susy, dear, Livy is discouraged—& properly—about Jean’s case. Jean’s general health is much improved, & with her disposition; but Livy considers that the treatment has done nothing with the disease. These people have cured this disease—we know this—or we should not meddle with it any longer; but we can’t find out when Jean’s cure is to begin, nor how many months or years it will take, for these idiots keep no record of their cases, & don’t know any more about the phases & stages & other vital details of them than a cow might. I believe it is the most stupidly administered institution that exists in the earth.

The Osteopathists seem to be rational people, & Livy has hopes in that direction. She wants to find out (without being known in the matter) what their experience has been with epilepsy.

Sam confessed they could not ask Pamela Moffett, “for obvious reasons,” and asked Susan to write Dr. Still in Kirksville, Mo. to get particulars on those epileptic cases so treated. Also if she could, without naming the patient, write to Dr. Steele of Buffalo, who had treated Pamela. Dr. Steele was a graduate of Dr. Still’s. Livy had caught a deep cold and the “terrible treatment” of Kellgren’s had been “nearly unendurable for violence, & has made her sore & lame, & filled her mind with black thoughts & antagonisms toward the system” [MTP].

Note: Clearly the family did not want it known that Jean’s ailment, which probably began in her teen years and had stumped doctors then, was epilepsy. This may be the first instance where Sam used the term in his correspondence. Of course, osteopathy cannot cure epilepsy. Dr. Andrew Taylor Still (1828-1917) founded the world’s first osteopathic medical school (1892), now A.T. Still University, in Kirksville, Mo. Dr. Still is considered “the father of osteopathy.” (The mother is not known.) Dr. Walter W. Steele of Buffalo. See Sam to Dr. Still Feb. 23, 1900.

Sam also wrote to Franklin G. Whitmore. Only the envelope survives Dec. 21 to Whitmore.