Rouéche, "Eleven Blue Men"

Discussion questions: Rouéche (1947)

1. Rouéche's article is constructed around a series of questions raised and answered in turn by his "medical detectives." Which questions does he make seem most interesting? Which would have taken the most scientific work to solve?

2. Rouéche sometimes uses long paragraphs of quotes and sometimes tells the story in his own words. Examine a few examples from his essay and try to decide why you think he made the choice to quote or use his own words for each one.

3. Suppose eleven UMW students suddenly fell ill of a yet-to-be-explained sickness. What kinds of questions might epidemiologists reasonably ask to start pinning down the possible causes of the illness?