GREEN WOOD AND CHLOROFORM, by Anthony Betts, M.D., Down East Books, 1998, 208 pages, paperback, $12.95.

It was 30 degrees below zero Dec. 30, 1954, when Dr. Anthony Betts pulled into Eagle Lake. The town had a 40-bed hospital and was without the services of a doctor during the winter months when the local physician-surgeon spent his winters in Florida.

Betts, an English doctor who found opportunities sparse in post-war England, had come to America seeking his fortune, or at least better opportunities, for himself, his young wife and two children. It was his first real job as a physician. He had spent several months working, being disillusioned, in a mental institution in New Jersey before coming to Maine.

Maine was one of two states, the other being Alabama, that would even think of giving a license to a doctor trained in England. He took and passed the licensing test, and on Dec. 27, 1954, he put his family into a new green Pontiac, with two new snow tires, and headed for Maine from New Jersey.

“On we went along Route 11 … ,” Betts writes. “The road was an icy chasm. The banks of snow on each side of the road rose higher than 20 feet, and beyond was a sea of fir trees.”

His short stay in Eagle Lake must have made quite an impression on young Betts, who writes vivid and humorous anecdotes about the people, places and incidents.

One such incident involved his first ride with a storekeeper.

“Belanger revved up his monstrous Chrysler and backed out at full boost for five yards, then took his foot off everything and turned the wheel slightly. The car skidded gracefully over the summit at the edge of the road, and, in a controlled curve, landed bang in the center of the street — a performance that would merit 5.9 for artistry and technique.”

The doctor’s sense of humor must have helped him cope with his situation back then. He pokes good-humored fun at the people, including himself, and situations throughout the pages, bringing many smiles and chuckles to the reader.

The doctor’s first attempt at lighting a wood heat stove brought about his practical education in “green and white [seasoned] firewood.”

“I then went back [into the rented house] to light the stove. It took several editions of the Bangor Daily News before the difference between green and white firewood dawned on me. White was definitely better, particularly the logs that had been split and were less than four feet long,” Betts writes.

His escapades with his craft at the local hospital, dealing with nuns, a Roman Catholic parish priest and the remainder of winter are done with his touch of humor as well.

It was a financially fruitful time for him. But his stay in Eagle Lake was short-lived. Dr. Kurt came back in the spring and Betts left for central Maine, where he served several small towns around Waterville.

Many people in Eagle Lake still remember Betts, but just vaguely.

James Nadeau, Eagle Lake’s town manager, was just 7 when Betts came to town. “I remember him some. He lived three doors down from us,” he said.

John L. Martin, the former speaker of the Maine House of Representatives, was in sixth grade at the Eagle Lake Elementary School at the time. “My Uncle Claude Martin, a legislator for 18 years and a member of the hospital trustees at Eagle Lake, was one the people who hired Dr. Betts,” Martin recalled. “He and his family lived in the old post office building.”

Claude Martin’s widow, Cynthia, said, “I guess I wasn’t sick at that time. I remember him and his family just a little. Dr. Kurt brought him here as a replacement one winter. He was not here too long.”

One of the Eagle Lake characters in the book was the storekeeper, Philip Belanger. His real name, though, was Blanchette and he is deceased now. His widow, Lottie Blanchette, just barely remembers Betts. “That was so long ago.”

From Eagle Lake, “Green Wood and Chloroform” proceeds to Albion and through the rest of the doctor’s career in rural Maine. He even shared an office in central Maine with the real “Hawkeye,” Dr. Jack Hornberger of “M.A.S.H.” fame, who was also building a practice in his home state after returning from Korea.