should have celebrated all such wondrous healing. Merging of Traditions Ironically, where escharotics are concerned, the two systems of medicine joined forces about 150 years ago when Eclectic physicians began combining zinc chloride, first with bloodroot and later with goldenseal. Even stranger to the history of medicine, this merger occurred both within the ranks of professional physicians as well as lay practitioners. This fact is made no more clear than with the two main twentieth century exponents of escharotic use. The highly controversial Harry Hoxsey and entirely respectable Frederic Mohs, M.D., seem to have had nearly identical formulae. Hoxsey was wholly lacking in proper credentials, but he inherited a "deathbed" formula and eventually came to operate the largest chain of cancer hospitals of his time. He was possessed of an intimidating tenacity that alienated him from virtually the entire officialdom of his time, but he was praised by patients who claimed to owe their cures to him. While doing research with the University of Wisconsin, Dr. Mohs developed what he called a fixative paste that, like many physicians of the 19th century, he used in conjunction with a minor amount of surgery. The Mohs method is now standard for basal cell carcinomas where it enjoys a 99% success rate. Hoxsey's work was moved across the border where it is still widely regarded as the most successful cancer treatment available. Salves and Pastes Whether we are looking at lay persons who provide salves to customers as a matter of cultural or