Wandering Through Chapter 2 - Pages 17 - 22

A certain American business man

"A certain American business man had ability, good sense, and high character." ¹
Big Book - There Is A Solution - page 26

This story is about an American businessman named Rowland Hazard III, who came from a wealthy family in Rhode Island. After graduating from Yale, he worked in his family’s businesses. Despite his privileged background, Rowland struggled with chronic drinking and, after exhausting all the help available to him in the United States, he decided to travel to Europe for further assistance. Initially, he sought treatment from Sigmund Freud, but was not accepted as a patient; instead, he was referred to Dr. Carl Jung. Under Jung’s care in Zurich, Switzerland, Rowland felt for a time that he had conquered his issues. However, before Rowland's ship docked in the U.S., he found himself drinking again. Feeling defeated, he returned to Zurich. There, Jung told him that his case was "hopeless" from a medical standpoint and that his only hope would be a life-changing spiritual experience. Eventually, back in the United States, Rowland found the Oxford Group and achieved sobriety. Later on, he passed this message to Ebby Thacher, who then shared it with Bill Wilson.

floundered

"For years he had floundered from one sanitarium to another." ¹
Big Book - There Is A Solution - page 26

In this sentence the word floundered functions as a verb. ²

This section tells the story of Rowland Hazard III. Due to his struggles with alcoholism he had been a patient at many sanitariums, all failed to give him a lasting solution.

Definition is from Webster's 1930 edition. ³