Reply to Dr. H. C. Markham.
Dear Sir:
—In The Journal of Nov. 12, 1887, Dr. H. C. Markham, of Independence, Iowa, reports the melancholy death of a young and accomplished physician, Dr. J. E. Chandler, of Rowley, Iowa, his death having taken place suddenly and almost immediately after the extraction of a tooth. Dr. Markham says: "Some years ago the deceased suffered a severe rheumatic attack although not arthritic in type (italics mine). For two or three years he has developed heart symptoms, including a mitral systolic murmur." In The Journal of Dec. 3 Dr. Markham, in his reply to Dr. Babcock, makes further comment upon this unfortunate death; and it is my honest conviction that, when he says death was due to "a fatal faint, and not heart disease," he draws a conclusion not warrantable in this case, when all the known facts are taken into consideration.