Young Wat was fascinated by the schoolmaster’s magnifying glass. The boys were studying natural history, and Wat was eager to see the insects that looked so astonishing under the powerful lens.

Wat peered over the shoulder of his friend Charlie. Under the magnifying glass was a spider. “That old spider looks as big as a dragon!” one of the boys said excitedly. This is like looking into a different world, Wat thought. He wanted to know more about this strange new world. Wat’s lively curiosity led him on to read about the magnifying glass and the microscope in one of the schoolmaster’s books. And this in turn led to a very unexpected reward for Wat.

In later years Wat’s curiosity, his ability to work hard and tirelessly with an unusual thoroughness and care, made him one of the world’s most famous research workers—the doctor who led the fight against the dread yellow fever.

Born in Virginia, Wat spent his boyhood in half a dozen different towns. For his father was a Methodist circuit rider, and the Reeds grew used to moving. Because money was scarce, Wat had to earn money for the things he wanted.

He gathered leeches for his friend Doctor Ed, who paid him a penny apiece for them. Soon he had saved enough to buy a wonderful new fishing pole. When he was sixteen, he worked just as diligently to complete his studies at the University of Virginia. He graduated as the youngest doctor in the history of the university in 1869.

Helen Boyd Higgins writes with enthusiasm about this great research worker. With subtle touches, she shows in the story of his boyhood the growth of the scientist, Walter Reed. And she skillfully makes use of accounts of old remedies for physical ills, old theories about miasmas, fevers and mosquitoes, to set the stage for the dramatic story of science’s victory over Yellow Jack.

From the dust jacket