Relatively few women ever rise to positions of national recognition. Yet their influence in shaping the destiny of this country must be, and rightly has been, reckoned with. They are the cradle of the nation's history, and that is why it is well never to underestimate the power of a woman when it comes to preserving that cultural and historical heritage. What Mrs. Kennedy did for the treasures of the White House is being done now in a less publicized, but nonetheless just as tireless, manner for American medicine by a little lady in Fairfield, NY, Mrs. Marguerite Dieffenbacher.
Fairfield, in upstate New York, is a little-known village, except to residents of the surrounding area. Even few physicians, for whom the name should be a signal, recognize that it is to this singular place in American medicine that they may trace their lineage, some directly, most others indirectly. Fairfield is