SKETCH OF THE LATE Dr. THOMAS LEE WRIGHT Of Bellefontaine, Ohio By THOMAS D. CROTHERS, M. D. HARTFORD, CONN. [ Reprintedfrom the Journal of Inebriety for January, 1894 ] HARTFORD, CONN. The Case, Lockwood & Brainard Company, Printers 1894 THOMAS L. WRIGHT, M.D. SKETCH OF THE LATE Dr. THOMAS LEE WRIGHT Of Bellefontaine, Ohio By THOMAS D. CROTHERS, M. D. HARTFORD, CONN. [Reprintedfrom the Journal of Inebriety for January, 1894} HARTFORD, CONN. The Case, Lockwood & Brainard Company, Printers 1894 SKETCH OF THE LATE DR. THOMAS LEE WRIGHT OF BELLEFONTAINE, OHIO. By T. D. Crothers, M.D., Hartford, Conn. Dr. Thomas Wright was the father of the subject of our sketch, and came from the north of Ireland to this country in 1817. His ancestry was Scotch and Irish. After receiv- ing his medical degree from the Glasgow University he en- tered the government service and came to Quebec as surgeon on a ship. Resigning, he entered upon general practice at Craftsbury, Vt. Later he married a daughter of Dr. Hunt- ington, a very prominent physician of that time. A few years after he moved to Ohio, living for some years in the Western Reserve, and finally spent the remainder of his life in Cincinnati. He was prominent as a physician and poli- tician, and an ardent follower of Campbell, the famous Baptist pioneer of those early days. He left four children, who all became prominent men. Thomas Lee Wright was the second son, and was born in 1825 at Windham, Portage County, Ohio. He was edu- cated at the Miami University, and received his medical degree in 1846 from the Ohio Medical College at Cincinnati. As a boy and student he was noted for the thoroughness with which he acquired knowledge. Each topic was clearly understood and had a fixed place and meaning to him. Soon after graduation he settled at Kansas City, and was govern- ment physician to the Wyandotte Indians until 1854. In 1855 and '56 he was appointed to the chair of theory and practice at what was called the Wesleyan University at Keokuk, Iowa. In 1846, soon after graduation, he married the daughter of Dr. A. H. Lord, a noted physician of Belle- fontaine, Ohio, and in 1856 he gave up his professorship and settled in Bellefontaine, the home of his wife, where he spent Sketch of the late Dr. Thomas Lee Wright. 4 the remainder of his life. In 1880 organic disease of the heart appeared, and Dr. Wright practically withdrew from all active service, spending his time with his books and the cultivation of a garden. In 1888 Dr. Wright was a delegate from this country to the International Congress for the Study of Inebriety in London, England, and after the close of the Congress made an extended tour through England and Scotland. He died suddenly at his home, June 22, 1893. He was in his usual health up to the past year, from which time he complained of general exhaustion, and, although go- ing about, did not continue his usual literary work. His wife and two sons, one a lawyer and the other a physician, sur- vive him. This brief record of his life leaves out all the struggles and triumphs that fill up many long years of active professional work. Beginning on the frontiers as friend and counsel of the pioneer settler and Indian, and constantly placed in positions requiring the exercise of the greatest skill and judgment, he early developed an independent mind and way of thinking which was apparent in all his life and writings. As a teacher in a new college, and, finally, as a family physician in the beautiful village and city of Bellefon- taine, he was always recognized as an original man, whose conclusions were based on broad common sense principles. Dr. Wright's real work was far beyond the circle of his daily professional duties. For over thirty years he was actively occupied, and his influence became a marked power in the community. Then, by one of those most inscrutable events, by which an apparent loss is turned to the greatest blessing, he was forced to give up active practice, and this was followed by opportunity and leisure to do the great work of his life, which was, in part, gathered in his writings and published in a volume on Inebriety. From 1848 Dr. Wright was an occasional contributor to the medical press, chiefly dealing with medico-philosophical subjects. Some of his papers, "On Phases of Insanity," " Education and Its Physiological Relations," " Deterioration of the Race on this Continent," had a wide circulation and attracted, for a time, a great deal of attention. Sketch of the late Dr. Thomas Lee Wright. 5 In 1879 appeared as a writer on inebriety. A short article in the Lancet Clinic of Cincinnati, " On the Action of Alcohol on the Mind and Morals," established his reputation as an author in this field. In 1880 he became a member of the American Association for the Study and Cure of Inebri- ety, and always after until his death contributed a paper at each annual meeting, and was a frequent contributor to Thf Journal of Inebriety. From this time everything he wrote on- this subject attracted much attention. In 1885, through the urgent advice of friends, he pub- lished a volume entitled Lnebriism, A Pathological and Psy- chological Study. This volume, of two hundred and fifty pages, has been translated into the French, German, and Russian languages, and is regarded as one of the most valu- able contributions to this subject made by American physi- cians. From this time to his death Dr. Wright has been a constant contributor to the various phases of inebriety, espe- cially on the physiological action of alcohol on the brain. Most of his papers have taken a permanent place in the lit- erature of the subject. His studies have been particularly confined to the action of alcohol on the mind and brain, and some of the medico- legal relations which would follow. He was among the first in this country to urge the fact that alcohol was a paralyzant, and that from this point of view all the phenomena of intoxi- cation were clear and unmistakable. He carried the subject farther than Dr. Richardson of London, who, in his Canton Lectures, called attention to certain general paralyzing effects of spirits, but failed to make a full physiological study of the various phenomena of intoxication. Dr. Wright seems to have had a somewhat remarkable conception of the various stages of paralysis and the special action of alcohol on the functional brain activities of inebriates. Starting from a higher point of view than other writers, he carried his studies down to more minute ranges, and described the symptoms of the disturbed brain when overcome by the action of spirits in the clearest and most convincing terms. 6 Sketch of the late Dr. Thomas Lee Wright. Some of his studies of the confusion of the senses and the delusions which follow after the use of spirits are almost clas- sical in their graphic setting. One of his papers described the irritation and disordered functioning of the brain and the growth of illusions and delusions in homicidal alcoholism, which was the basis of two lectures and a subsequent book by Dr. Mynert of Hague, Holland. A brief chapter in his book on Inebriism, showing the philosophy of defects in moral faculties of inebriates, has been incorporated into many volumes and lectures, some of which have neglected to give the author the proper credit. Many of his later papers have given very graphic pictures of the physiological and psycho- logical forces at work in the etiology of inebriety. One on trance and trance alcoholic states suggested some new lines of study, which has been greatly extended by Dr. Harriets of Paris and others. Dr. Wright's first papers and works were far more suggestive than exhaustive. In many cases they were broad, clear outlines, with here and there more minute tracings. But in all there was a rare suggestiveness that stimulated inquiry and further research. In his later papers he sought to be more exhaustive, and carried his studies into broader fields of psychological phenom- ena. Here he showed the same charming grasp of the sub- ject, noted by clearness of terms and expression. Dr. Wright will be remembered longer for his studies of the paralyzing action of alcohol on the brain and nervous system. His pioneer work was along this line, although he followed up Gressinger's and Lurey's idea of a sensory and ethical brain damaged by poisons, and showed clearly that alcohol acted first on this part of the brain and finally destroyed it. He also brought out the fact that the lower and animal brain might continue with some degree of health long after the higher brain was destroyed in inebriates. These are some of the many facts which Dr. Wright brought into the realm of scientific study. Their full mean- ing and import is not yet understood except by a few advanced students. Only in the future will they be fully recognized and appreciated. Sketch of the late Dr. Thomas Lee Wright. 7 Personally, Dr. Wright was a most genial man ; an op- timist whose radiant faith in the final triumph of right gave color and brightness to all his life. As a companion on a foreign tour he lived above all the vexations of travel, and saw the humor and romance of each day's events. He was a keen observer of the follies and weakness of human nature, and formed very clear conceptions of men and events. While never contradicting any statement of others, he was quick to discern the errors and very charitable to excuse the motive for such statements. A blustering, arrogant critic, who condemned his views very severely, was astonished to hear him reply " that such views showed great zeal and earn- estness," then go on to repeat and explain what he had said before. While Dr. Wright was naturally a retiring, unobtrusive man, and seemed not to be greatly interested in the every- day affairs of politics, religion, and social life, he was a very keen observer and possessed strong convictions on all these topics. He was a devout believer of evolution and growth in both mind, morals, and body, and the doctrine of right liv- ing and correct character was a central point of his life. Above all this personality as a physician and man, above his influence on the generation he lived and worked among, his real life work was in opening up a new region of facts and pointing out new lines of study that will be followed far down into the future. The work of Dr. Wright for the past few years was that of a pioneer far beyond his day and generation. He saw more clearly than others the operation of certain physiological and psychological laws, and in describing them suggested other fields of study of the greatest interest not yet occupied. Death not infrequently brings into prominence traits of character and virtues not clearly recognized before. This was not so with Dr. Wright. For years his acquaintance and correspondence with eminent men and frequent notice in scientific circles showed that he was known and appreciated. After his death the obituary notices in the daily papers of 8 Sketch of the late Dr. Thomas Lee Wright. his own town and State elsewhere, with the eloquent remarks of distinguished clergymen at the funeral, were additional evi- dence of the great influence and high esteem with which he was regarded by his neighbors and friends. Among scientific men, the conditions and environments of life are not so sharply reflected in their everyday work. Often they may appear more dull and indifferent to the influences of the hour, but be- hind this a higher ideal life and conception of truth and duty are apparent. This was marked in Dr. Wright and his work, in which he sought to make clear some central truths that would help on the solution of the great drink problem. How far he succeeded will be determined in the coming century. But to-day we look out over his life work just closed and feel con- scious that a great soul has been with us who has caught glimpses of facts and laws which govern them and traced out a few outline truths for others to follow ere he passed away. " He has passed on to join the mighty souls of all times that linger o'er us, Those who labored like gods among men and have gone, Like great bursts of sun on the dark way before us, They are with us, still with us, our battles fight on. Looking down, victor-browed, from the glory-crowned hill, They beckon, and beacon us on and onward still." At a stated meeting of the American Association for the Study and Cure of Inebriety Dr. Crothers offered the follow- ing preamble and resolutions, which, after many commenda- tory remarks, were passed unanimously : Whereas, The death of Dr. T. L. Wright of Bellefontaine, Ohio, has removed from our ranks a pioneer whose genius and industry gave him unusual prominence, and whose studies of inebriety presented before our Associa- tion and appearing in The Journal of Inebriety, en- deared himself to every student of this new field of psy- chiatry ; therefore, be it Resolved, That in his death we have sustained a personal loss of one whose studies of the action of alcohol on the brain Sketch of the late Dr. Thomas Lee Wright. 9 has been followed with the deepest interest. As an original worker along new frontiers, he has opened up new fields of study with new facts, that will go down into the future as monuments and starting points for the explorer of the coming century. Resolved, That we extend to the family of Dr. Wright our sincere sorrow and condolence, with the assurance that the personal grief so keenly felt by those nearest to him is shared by each member of our association and all who have been helped by his fertile and suggestive studies in this great new land of scientific study. That a copy of this be placed on file in our transactions and also be transmitted to his family by the secretary.