Charles Brink, MD, of Worcester, Mass, likes our March 4 cover, reminding us that the Constitution with her copper sheathing by Paul Revere, also had a ship's surgeon in the person of William Reed originally; later, at the defeat of the Guerrier and the Java, Amos A. Evans held the position.
From Highland Park, Ill, Mortimer D. Gross, MD, found that treatment of nightmares with diazepam yielded no benefit, but found a good response to imipramine or desipramine, with confirmation in two children by a single-blind crossover study.
Philip Trommer, MD, of Philadelphia remarks that serendipity is still around, as with a recent patient with Raynaud disease and scleroderma, who was given propranolol. The patient volunteered that he experienced fewer and less severe episodes of angina pectoris than with nitroglycerine—"patient control" in this case.
An error crept into Dr. McGarvey's letter about water softeners and softened water in the March