Autoimmunity Key: Following Bolton's Cues.

This has been a brilliant composite of talks, representing an almost Gordon conference matrix, and I am honored to be a part of it. I am not personally acquainted with you, Nancy Bolton, but my congratulations for keeping your husband on the straight-and-narrow for these many years. I am sure it has been a challenge, and I praise your stalwart efforts. I do not honestly cast myself in the personal lineage of the Lewis-Bolton-Couser-Salant era, but I have been greatly influenced by the intellectual insights you fathered, and have tried to learn from you and follow your lead. Since this is a Bolton Festschrift, I will concentrate on some of the keys that illuminated my own career path. I would be remiss if I omitted Roger Wiggins, for I tried to follow his advice on becoming a division chief, only to fail dismally at the task. Roger initially told me that I was to go home for lunch with my wife every day. Unfortunately, in that I have absolutely not succeeded. Figure 1 comes from an era slightly earlier than that of Kline Bolton or Ed Lewis. This is a depiction of the Aristotelian world of medicine – relying on the four basic elements of earth, wind, fire, and water, a variety of good and evil humors, and continuous or discontinuous fevers. There is something very insightful about this cycle today, simply because ancient thinkers never tried to segregate these phenomena; rather, they considered all disease to be in balance. Today, we try to dissect these elements as Published online: May 6, 2009