Arthur Emanuel Hertzler was born in 1870 in
West Point, Iowa, the son of Daniel Hertzler and Johanna Maria Hertzler (
née Krehbiel). They moved to
Moundridge, Kansas, where Hertzler spent his childhood. Following his medical training, he moved to
Halstead, Kansas and started a clinic there in 1895. In addition to his medical practice, Hertzler joined the faculty of the
University of Kansas School of Medicine in 1909. After his death, a letter of appreciation from
Albert Einstein for his book ''The Grounds of an Old Surgeon's Faith'' was found amongst Hertzler's papers, as was a letter from the author
Margaret Mitchell in which she wrote about her appreciation of his work, citing his book
Ventures in Science of a Country Surgeon. In his book
The Horse and Buggy Doctor, first published in 1938, Hertzler related an anecdote, stating critically that: :"Some vulgar person has said that when the wife is kept barefooted and pregnant there are no divorces. Bad as this sounds, it is so because it is so near the truth; but it does not fit into our growing notion of what constitutes civilized society." The term "barefooted and pregnant" subsequently entered American poliltical discourse, in the context of debates relating to
feminism,
sexism and
women's rights. After a medical career lasting over 50 years, Hertzler died in 1946 at the age of 76, in the hospital he founded in Halstead. == References ==