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William Howard Hay was born in Hartstown, Pennsylvania, USA, in 1866. Prophet, philosopher, hardpan Presbyterian of Scottish stock, he grew up from early boyhood with the sole thought of medicine as a calling.

He was especially fortunate that both his parents were of exceptional character. His father, according to Dr Hay, ‘was possessed of an unusually fine mind, was a great reader of good literature and developed into one of the solid men of his community’. His mother ‘combined with a very excellent education the Scottish characteristics of thrift and industry, with also one of the most even dispositions imaginable, an ability to see through a great many things that looked difficult to others and a sense of right and wrong that knew absolutely no compromise’. Dr Hay was richly endowed with his parents’ fine characteristics, and these undoubtedly provided him with the courage and strength of character to overcome the heartbreaking difficulties which beset him when his unorthodox treatment of disease evoked the enmity of his profession.

He graduated from the University of New York on 26 March 1891. For the next 16 years he practised medicine ‘according to the best light of his time’, and did much surgery. At the end of this period he broke down in health, proving, as he admitted, ‘that he knew as little as the rest of the predisposing causes of disease’. He became very ill, developed Bright’s disease, with high blood pressure, and finally a dilated heart. For this latter condition there was no relief in medicine, or at least only temporary relief. He thought his career was over, and received a warning from his doctors to put his affairs in order.