The above portrait is a reproduction of a medallion painting on ivory, taken 
from life when EPHRAIM McDOWELL was 29 years of age (1800), by a 
distinguished artist in Edinburgh, Scotland, now in possession of Dr. EPHRAIM 
McDOWELL'S granddaughter, Mrs. MARY T. VALENTINE. 
(Copyright 1897, by Mrs. M. T. Valentine.) BIOGRAPHY 
OF 
ephraim Mcdowell, m.d. 
"THE FATHER OF OVARIOTOMY." 
BY HIS GRANDDAUGHTER, 
MRS. M. T. VALENTINE. 
WITH 
LIFE-SKETCHES AND PORTRAITS 
OF PROMINENT 
MEMBERS OF THE MEDICAL PROFESSION. 
FIRST EDITION. 
NEW YORK, N. Y., 
mcdowell publishing company, 
24-26 West Twenty-second St. 
1897. Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1897, 
By MRS. M. T. VALENTINE, 
In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C. 
DORNAN,PRINTER, 
PHILADELPHIA, PA. TO THE MEDICAL PROFESSION 
AND TO THE 
EARNEST WORKERS IN THE FIELD OF SURGERY 
WHO REVERE THE MEMORY OF 
ephraim McDowell, m.d. 
gSorli is Affecfionafefq 
BY HIS GRANDDAUGHTER, 
MRS. M. T. VALENTINE. NOTE. 
In preparing this work it has been the purpose of the author to incor- 
porate life-sketches and portraits of as many followers of Dr. Ephraim 
McDowell's surgical operations as she could readily obtain, within a 
limited time, by personal interview, irrespective of schools or sex, as all 
honor him alike, and the theory and practice of surgery and gynaecology 
are the same in all schools. Therefore she did not deem it just to confine 
her selection of contributors to any one school. At the same time, for 
special reasons, she has included in this work a few prominent members 
of the medical profession, of both sexes, who have achieved distinction in 
other branches than laparotomy. 
In her interviews with many eminent surgeons and physicians through- 
out the United States the author was gratified to find that much of the 
antagonism formerly existing between the different schools, and toward 
lady practitioners, is rapidly disappearing, showing that this is a progressive 
age. In fact, some of the leading gynaecologists of the old school now 
consult with and assist operators of both sexes of the new school, as is 
evidenced in some of the life-sketches contained in this work. They 
appreciate the fact that an exchange of ideas and suggestions from those 
of different schools is worthy of acceptance. 
In arranging these life-sketches no attempt has been made to give undue 
prominence to any of the contributors, for which reason all parts of the 
work will be found of equal interest. 
It will be noticed that a few portraits have been inserted in this work 
without life-sketches of physicians, who, after having given their orders, 
together with their portraits and autographs, failed to furnish the neces- 
sary material for their life-sketches before the work had gone to press, 
although ample time was allowed them to do so. 
Comparatively few persons realize the length of time required to pre- 
pare a work of this kind. The author has devoted over two years of her 
life to the completion of this volume, traveling from the Atlantic to the 
Pacific Ocean, at a heavy expense and the sacrifice of her personal com- 
fort and health, to obtain these portraits and the material necessary to 
prepare these life-sketches, which, in many instances, were greatly delayed. 
Thanking the profession for their many kindnesses and courtesies ex- 
tended to her, she trusts that her efforts to furnish them with a work 
worthy of their acceptance will be appreciated. 
IV PREFACE. 
Since the publication of the previous edition of my 
work, The Biography of Ephraim McDowell, M.D., I re- 
peatedly have been asked to include in this edition a brief 
sketch of my own family history, also facts and entertain- 
ing incidents relating to Dr. McDowell which I have more 
recently gathered. 
My father, George Young, was a large planter in Shelby 
County, Kentucky, and for many years was president and 
owner of the Ashland Bank of Kentucky, and engaged 
in many other enterprises. He possessed sterling traits of 
character, indomitable energy, was shrewd in business, 
and strictly honorable in all his dealings. He was a 
devoted father to his three children, Ephraim McDowell 
(now deceased), George Wallace, and Mary Thompson 
(the Author), and so idolized his wife that after her 
decease he remained a widower until his death in 1874. 
My mother was the favorite daughter of Dr. Ephraim 
McDowell, and was named " Mary Thompson," by request 
of Lord Thompson, an English nobleman, upon whose 
wife Dr. McDowell did Caesarean section in England. 
Lord Thompson was so grateful to Dr. McDowell for 
saving both mother and child that he made him promise 
to name his next issue (if another child was born to him) 
" Thompson," whether male orfemale. This next issue 
was my mother, after whom I was named. 
V VI 
PREFACE. 
Mary Thompson McDowell was married to her cousin, 
George Young, Jr., son of George Young, a planter resid- 
ing near Lebanon, Kentucky. She was a woman of great 
nobleness of character, and was celebrated not only for 
her exquisite loveliness of form and face, but also for her 
great generosity and sympathy for those in trouble and 
affliction. 
A remarkable fact in the genealogy of the author is 
that both of her grandmothers' maiden names were "Sarah 
Shelby." One was the daughter of Isaac Shelby, the first 
Governor of Kentucky, of " King's Mountain" fame, and 
the other was the daughter of Moses Shelby, his brother, 
who was massacred by the Indians in the early history 
of Kentucky. A crude rock monument is erected to his 
memory near Lexington, Kentucky. 
Sarah Shelby, the daughter of Governor Isaac Shelby, 
was married to Dr. Ephraim McDowell. She was a woman 
of rare intellect, and wrote many beautiful poems, none of 
which were ever published. 
Sarah Shelby, the daughter of Moses Shelby, was a gen- 
tle, unassuming, lovely character, and was married to 
George Young, Sr., my grandfather, which made my own 
father and mother cousins once removed. 
In the first volume of The Biography of Ephraim 
McDowell, M.D., on page 185, will be found an incident 
in his life related by the late Dr. J. D. Jackson, of Dan- 
ville, Kentucky, who devoted much time during his latter 
days in gathering facts relative to Dr. McDowell, for 
whose character and works he had great veneration. I re- 
produce it here for the gratification of those who may not 
have read it. PREFACE. 
VII 
"In the summer of 1822 McDowell made a horseback 
journey of some hundreds of miles into middle Tennessee, 
and performed ovariotomy in his usual way, with success, 
upon a Mrs. Overton, who resided near the 'Hermitage,' 
the residence of the late President Jackson. 
"Mrs. Overton was enormously obese, and he had to 
cut through four inches of fat upon the abdomen. The 
only assistance he had in the operation, as we have been 
informed, was from General Jackson and a Mrs. Priestly. 
" General Jackson seems to have been greatly impressed 
with Dr. McDowell, and had him go to his house and re- 
move a large tumor growing from the neck and shoulders 
of one of his men. 
" Dr. McDowell charged for his operation upon Mrs. 
Overton $500, but the husband, with a commendable 
generosity, gave a check upon one of the Nashville banks 
for $1500, which, upon the Doctor presenting for pay- 
ment and discovering the presumed error for the first time, 
sent a messenger back to Colonel Overton to have it cor- 
rected; but that gentleman replied that, far from a mistake, 
he felt that he had not even then made a full compensation 
for the great service which Dr. McDowell had rendered." 
Since this incident appeared in print I have learned 
from my aunt, Mrs. James Deaderick, now living in Chatta- 
nooga, Tennessee-the only surviving child of Dr. Mc- 
Dowell-that Colonel Overton, in addition to the $1500 
he gave to Dr. McDowell as a fee, also presented him with 
an elegant carriage, a span of Kentucky-blooded horses, 
and two valuable colored servants, coachman and foot- 
man, as an additional testimonial to show his great appre- 
ciation of Dr. McDowell's operation. VIII 
PREFACE. 
During a visit I made to Mrs. Deaderick (in 1892) she 
related many interesting incidents in the life of her father, 
Dr. Ephraim McDowell, among which are the following: 
For many years her father had in his employ a Scotch 
gardener who, unfortunately, was addicted to having regu- 
lar drunken sprees, causing Dr. McDowell to frequently 
discharge him, and as often to reinstate him, until finally 
forbearance ceased to be a virtue, and Dr. McDowell in- 
formed him that if he ever was again found intoxicated he 
would be discharged once for all time to come. The 
Scotchman plead for another trial and promised to reform 
from his drinking habits, and, characteristic of his race, he 
faithfully kept his promise and became a sober man. His 
wife, to show her gratitude to Dr. McDowell for having 
influenced her husband to reform, wove a most beautiful 
bedspread of honey-comb pattern, which, when completed 
after great labor, she presented to the Doctor. I had the 
gratification of sleeping under this bedspread, which is 
now nearly a century old, and was taken by my aunt from 
a trunk where, for many years, it has been kept in a state 
of perfect preservation with many other relics of her 
father. 
Dr. McDowell retained the Scotchman in his employ 
until his death, and then had him interred in the family 
burying-ground at beautiful " Cambiskenneth." 
I mention this incident to show the kind, benevolent 
disposition of Dr. McDowell and the almost clannish feel- 
ing displayed toward the Scotchman. 
Another incident related by Mrs. Deaderick was the 
heroism displayed by Dr. McDowell when he performed 
the first ovariotomy: PREFACE. 
IX 
When it became known what he was about to undertake 
an excited mob gathered outside the office of Dr. Mc- 
Dowell. A rope was placed over a limb of a tree, ready 
to hang him if the operation proved unsuccessful. In 
fact the excitement was so great that the leaders of the 
mob wanted to break in the door of his office, where the 
ovariotomy was about to be performed, and lynch Dr. 
McDowell for undertaking such an operation, but were re- 
strained by the sheriff, who came to his rescue, and thus 
enabled Dr. McDowell to give to the world an operation, 
before unknown, which saved not only one life, but shall 
continue to save human lives throughout all coming ages. 
In connection with this incident I wish to correct an 
erroneous impression which several physicians seem to 
have in regard to Mrs. Crawford, upon whom Dr. Ephraim 
McDowell performed this first "ovariotomy," many sup- 
posing that she was a colored woman. The facts are that 
she was a refined and cultivated white lady, the wife of a 
prosperous planter living in Green County, Kentucky. 
Mrs. Crawford lived thirty-two years after the operation, 
and had three children born to her, one son and two 
daughters. The son met with a tragic death. He was at 
one time a candidate for the office of Mayor of Louisville, 
Kentucky, and owing to some political difficulties he was 
fatally shot by a friend of his opponent, in a street alter- 
cation, during the campaign. 
Before closing I wish to thank my many friends in the 
medical profession for their co-operation and interest in 
the preparation and completion of this work. It has been 
a matter of family pride and labor of love in my under- 
taking to thus perpetuate the memory of my grandfather, X 
PREFACE. 
Dr. McDowell, and I only regret that the magnitude of 
this enterprise and the necessity of issuing the work with- 
out further delay prevent my communicating with many 
others in the profession whom I would like to have incor- 
porated in the work. 
THE AUTHOR. CONTENTS. 
PAGE 
McDowell, Ephraim, M.D. Portrait. Frontispiece. 
Note. By the Author iv 
Preface. By the Author v 
Introduction. By Cornelius Kollock, M.D., Cheraw, S. C. xv 
LIFE-SKETCHES AND PORTRAITS OF 
Atlee, Washington L., M.D., Philadelphia, Pa. i 
Ashby, Thomas A., " " Baltimore, Md. 20 
Ayers, Edward A., " " New York, N. Y. 297 
Baker, William H., " " Boston, Mass. 97 
Bangs, Frederick H., " " San Jose, Cal. 239 
Barnard, James Sherman, " " Baltimore, Md. 64 
Barnett, Lissa M., " " Brooklyn, N. Y. 269 
Benjamin, Dowling, " " Camden, N. J. 310 
Betts, B. Franklin, " " Philadelphia, Pa. 96 
Bicknell, Frederick T., " " Los Angeles, Cal. 164 
Boldt, Herman J., "" New York, N. Y. 374 
Boskowitz, George W., " " " " " " 242 
Boskowitz, Herman, " " Brooklyn, N. Y. 240 
Bovee, John Wesley, " " Washington, D. C. 59 
Brewster, Cora Belle, " " Baltimore, Md. 202 
Brewster, Flora A., " " " " 152 
Brown, M. Belle, " " New York, N. Y. 185 
Browne, Bennet Bernard, " " Baltimore, Md. 78 
Bryant, Edgar Reeve, " " San Francisco, Cal. 219 
Byford, Henry T., " " Chicago, III. 61 
Byford, William Heath, " " " " 8 
Carleton, Edmund, " " New York, N. Y. 51 
Carpenter, Alfred Clark, " " " " " " 266 
Carpenter, Julia W., " " Cincinnati, Ohio, 294 
Carstens, J. Henry, " " Detroit, Mich. 348 
Chambers, P. Flewellen, " " New York, N. Y. 87 
XI XII 
CONTENTS. 
PAGE 
Clark, Byron G., M.D., New York, N. Y. 93 
Cleaves, Margaret A., " " " " " a 326 
Coffman, Victor H., " " Omaha, Neb. 189 
Cowles, Josiah Evans, " " Los Angeles, Cal. 181 
Craig, William Bedford, " " Denver, Col. 196 
Crowell, Homer Cutler, " " Kansas City, Mo. 273 
Davis, Josephine Griffith, " " New York, N. Y. 396 
Davis, W. E. B., " " Birmingham, Ala. 377 
Dew, James Harvie, " " New York, N. Y. 62 
Doughty, Francis E., " " " " " " 57 
Drysdale, Thos. Murray, " " Philadelphia, Pa. 43 
Dudley, Augustus Palmer, " " New York, N. Y. 366 
Duer, Edward L., " " Philadelphia, Pa. 224 
Eastman, Joseph, " " Indianapolis, Ind. 341 
Emmet, Bache McEvers, " " New York, N. Y. 103 
Etheridge, James H., " " Chicago, Ill. 171 
Ferguson, Alexander H., " " Chicago, Ill. 281 
Fowtler, Edward Payson, " " New York, N. Y. 215 
Fry, Henry D., " " Washington, D. C. 47 
Geiger, Jacob, " " St. Joseph, Mo. 362 
Goelet, Augustin H., " " New York, N. Y. 371 
Goffe, J. Riddle, " " " " " " 321 
Goldspohn, Albert, " " Chicago, Ill. 145 
Gross, Samuel D., " " Philadelphia, Pa. 289 
Guernsey, Egbert, " " New York, N. Y. 357 
Hallock, Lewis, " " New York, N. Y. 257 
Harrison, George Tucker, " " " " " " 380 
Hartley, Frank, " " " " " " 302 
Henrotin, Fernand, " " Chicago, Ill. 173 
Hitchcock, William W., " " Los Angeles, Cal. 243 
Hunt, Joseph Hill, " " Brooklyn, N. Y. 245 
Jacobi, Mary Putnam, " " New York, N. Y. 251 
Janvrin, Joseph E., " " " " " " 389 
Jewett, Charles, " " Brooklyn, N. Y. 150 
Johnson, Joseph Taber, " " Washington, D. C. 32 
Keller, Elizabeth C , " " Boston, Mass. 53 
Kellogg, John Harvey, " " Battle Creek, Mich. 66 
Kelly, Howard A., " " Baltimore, Md. 118 CONTENTS. 
XIII 
PAGE 
King, Willis P,, M.D., Kansas City, Mo. 156 
Kirk, Ellen M., " " Cincinnati, Ohio, 304 
Kollock, Cornelius, " " Cheraw, S. C. 360 
Kurtz, Carl, " " Los Angeles, Cal. 277 
Laplace, Ernest, " " Philadelphia, Pa. 264 
Le Seure, Oscar, " " Detroit, Mich. 180 
Lines, Amelia W., " " Brooklyn, N. Y. 217 
Longshore, Hannah E., " " Philadelphia, Pa. 28 
Longyear, Howard W., " " Detroit, Mich. 18 
Ludlam, Reuben, " " Chicago, Ill. 106 
Ludlam, Reuben, Jr., " " " " in 
McLean Malcolm, " " New York, N. Y. 392 
McLean, Mary H., a " St. Louis, Mo. 101 
McNutt, Sarah J., " " New York, N. Y. 284 
Mackenzie, Kenneth, A. J., " " Portland, Ore. 210 
Macrae, Donald, " " Council Bluffs, la. 112 
Macrae, Donald, Jr., " " " " " 114 
Mann, Matthew, D., " " Buffalo, N. Y. 38 
Marcy, Henry O., " " Boston, Mass. 352 
Massey, George Betton, " " Philadelphia, Pa. 205 
Mayfield, William H., " " St. Louis, Mo. 40 
Mergler, Marie J., " " Chicago, Ill. 74 
Michael, J. Edwin, " " Baltimore, Md. 212 
Minard, Eliza J. Chapin, " 11 Brooklyn, N. Y. 230 
Muncie, Edward H., " " " " " 142 
Muncie, Libbie Hamilton, " " " " " 139 
Munde, Paul F., " " New York, N. Y. 34 
Murphy, John B., " " Chicago, Ill. 227 
Newman, Henry Parker, " " Chicago, Ill. 300 
Noble, Charles P., " " Philadelphia, Pa. 126 
Noxon, Mary Woolsey, " " New York, N. Y. 307 
Ostrom, Homer Irvin, " " New York, N. Y. 159 
Page, Richard C. M., " " New York, N. Y. 193 
Palmer, George H., " 11 San Francisco, Cal. 200 
Pancoast, Joseph, " " Philadelphia, Pa. 15 
Pancoast, William H., " " " " 254 
Parish, William H., " " " " 177 
Penrose, Charles B., " " " " 77 XIV 
CONTENTS. 
PAGE 
Perkins, George W., M.D., Ogden, Utah, 191 
Pettet, Isabella M., " " New York, N. Y. 363 
Pinkerton, Samuel H., " " Salt Lake City, Utah, 184 
Pratt, Edwin Hartley, " " Chicago, III. 133 
Richardson, Ida E., " " Philadelphia, Pa. 89 
Richardson, Tobias Gibson, " " New Orleans, La. 333 
Riley, Charles H., " " Baltimore, Md. 24 
Saltonstall, Florence N., " " San Francisco, Cal. 115 
Sayre, Lewis A., " " New York, N. Y. 291 
Seaman, Louis Livingston, " " • " " " " 316 
Sellman, William A. B., " " Baltimore, Md. 91 
Sims, J. Marion, " " New York, N. Y. 400 
Skene, Alexander J. C. " " Brooklyn, N. Y. 383 
Smith, St. Clair, " " New York, N. Y. 272 
Streeter, John W., " " Chicago, III. 198 
Strittmatter, Isidor Paul, " " Philadelphia, Pa. 319 
Taylor, Albert Miles, " " Oakland, Cal. 208 
Thomas, Allen Mason, " " New York, N. Y. 279 
Thomas, Theo. Gaillard, " " " " " " 369 
Tucker, Ervin Alden, " " " " " " 274 
Valentine, Mrs. M. T., author, New York, N. Y. xv 
Vander Veer, Albert, M.D., Albany, N. Y. 344 
Vondergoltz, Eric A. " " New York, N. Y. 228 
Von Hoffman, C., " " San Francisco, Cal. 176 
Ward, James W., " " San Francisco, Cal. 229 
Warder, William H., " " Philadelphia, Pa., 148 
Werner, Marie B, " " " " 168 
Wight, Jarvis Sherman, " " Brooklyn, N. Y. 261 
Wilcox, De Witt G., " " Buffalo, N. Y. 116 
Wilson, H. Parke Curtis, " " Baltimore, Md. 26 
Wylie, Walker Gill, " " New York, N. Y. 354 
Sims, J. Marion, statue 405 
Addresses delivered October 20, 1894, in Bryant Park, 
New York, N. Y., on the unveiling of the Statue of 
Dr. J. Marion Sims, by George F. Shrady, M.D., and 
Paul F. Munde, M.D. ....... 405 
Eloquent tribute to Ephraim McDowell, M.D , by Joseph 
Eastman, M.D., LL.D 416 INTRODUCTION. 
In paying this tribute to the illustrious Ephraim 
McDowell, I feel that he needs no praise of mine. His 
eulogy has been pronounced by others, his life-history 
has been faithfully recounted, and the man himself has 
been made known to us by a devoted granddaughter. 
This only would I say : that rare intelligence and benevo- 
lence, undaunted moral courage, wonderful nerve, great 
professional skill, and lofty Christian character were so 
blended in him as to make him one of the world's greatest 
benefactors. 
While reading the biographies of the great and good we 
are apt to feel that we would like to know more of those 
whose loyalty to a revered memory has shown itself in such 
labors of love and has enabled us to share their admira- 
tion and respect. 
Thus it is that I record some facts relating to Mrs. 
Mary Thompson Valentine, the granddaughter and biog- 
rapher of Dr. Ephraim McDowell. Born in Shelby County, 
Kentucky, the descendant of McDowells, Shelbys, and 
Youngs, she is connected with many distinguished families 
in the South, and has the characteristics of a Southern 
lady. 
Mrs. Valentine prepared the first edition of her work, 
The Biography of Ephraim McDowell, M.D., at the special 
request of several eminent members of the medical pro- 
XV XVI 
INTRODUCTION. 
fession. Her great reverence for his noble character and 
cherished love for the memory of her deceased mother 
(who died during Mrs. Valentine's infancy), together with 
her earnest desire to perpetuate the memory of her grand- 
father, combined with a family pride, caused her to make 
many sacrifices to successfully accomplish this undertaking. 
' t that time she was the widow of Mr. William Riden- 
baugh, who was a very prominent and much-respected 
citizen of St. Joseph, Missouri, for forty-five years. He 
founded, edited, and was the owner of the St. Joseph 
Gazette for over thirty years, and held many important 
official positions in that city, being universally respected 
and beloved. 
In 1890 Mrs. Ridenbaugh was happily married to Mr. 
Valentine, a descendant of one of the old Knickerbocker 
families of New York City, who for many years occu- 
pied a prominent position as head of a large importing 
commission house in that city, and whose knowledge and 
of the book-publishing, paper, printing, and engraving 
business has enabled him to be of great assistance to her 
in the publication of her work. 
As a fit ending to this brief introduction, I wish to con- 
gratulate Mrs. Valentine on the completion of her noble 
task. The work, in its present form, will doubtless meet 
the approval of the medical profession, while to her it will 
prove a source of the purest satisfaction, inasmuch as, in 
its pages, her honored grandfather will live again. 
CORNELIUS KOLLOCK, M.D. WASHINGTON LEMUEL ATLEE, M.D., 
PHILADELPHIA, PA. 
Dr. Washington Lemuel Atlee was born at Lancaster, 
Pennsylvania., February 22, 1808. He was a descendant 
of an old English family which reached distinction very 
early in the history of England. 
William Atlee, of Ford-Hook House, England, came to 
America in 1734 as the secretary of Lord Howe. His 
son, the Hon. William Augustus Atlee, was one of the 
Judges of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, and Chair- 
man of the Committee of Safety in the War of the Revo- 
lution. He left several children, among whom was Wil- 
liam Pitt Atlee, a lawyer, who married Miss Light, the 
daughter of Major John Light, an officer in the Revolu- 
tionary Army. They had six children, of whom the sub- 
ject of this sketch was the youngest. When he had reached 
the age of seven years his father died, leaving him under 
the care of his grandparents. While with them he con- 
tinued at school, pursuing the ordinary English studies 
until he was fourteen years old, when, contrary to his own 
wishes, he was placed in a store. 
His dissatisfaction with a commercial life increased with 
time, but he bore with it for fifteen months, when, deter- 
mining to leave the business, he informed his oldest brother, 
Dr. John Light Atlee, of his wish to study medicine. See- 
ing that he was thoroughly in earnest, his brother agreed 
to aid and direct him in his studies. Thus encouraged he 
worked with ardor, and with the aid of tutors supplied the 
deficiency of an early classical training, studying at the 
1 2 
DR. WASHINGTON LEMUEL ATLEE. 
same time French, German, philosophy, and the natural 
sciences. 
He entered the Jefferson Medical College in the winter 
of 1826-27, where his industry and talents attracted the 
attention of Dr. George McClellan, the Professor of Sur- 
gery, who invited him to become his private pupil. Here 
"he formed one of a class of fourteen or fifteen pupils, 
most of them remarkable for their intellectual powers, 
refinement, and high promise. ' Of that band,' says Pro- 
fessor Gross, ' of whom not more than three remain, Atlee 
was one of the most conspicuous; tall, erect, and hand- 
some in person, he was remarkably neat in his appearance, 
and possessed of an amount of industry, intelligence, and 
ambition which foreshadowed his future success. Young 
as he was, it was apparent that he had a highly inquisitive 
mind, that he was constantly in search of new truths, and 
that he was determined to attain to distinction in his pro- 
fession.' "1 
On his return to Lancaster to enjoy his summer vaca- 
tion, he at once engaged in practice among the poor, 
almost living in the Lancaster County Hospital. His 
efforts were so successful, and he became so popular, that 
before he received his degree he had attended forty cases 
of obstetrics. His connection with the hospital gave him 
abundant opportunity to study practical anatomy, of which 
he was very fond, and much of his leisure was occupied in 
dissection, in the failure of a supply of human bodies 
resorting to those of animals. Continuing these industri- 
ous habits, he returned to Philadelphia, attended another 
course of lectures, and was graduated in the spring of 
1829. 
In the earlier years of his professional life he selected 
Mount Joy, a small village about twelve miles from Lan- 
caster, as a suitable place for his first settlement. Here 
1 An address to the Alumni Association of the Jefferson Medical Col- 
lege, by S. D. Gross, M.D., LL.D., etc , March n, 1871. DR. WASHINGTON LEMUEL ATLEE. 
3 
he continued to fit himself by study for a larger field, and 
evinced that public spirit for which he was always noted 
by originating a temperance society and a lyceum. 
While at Mount Joy he was married to a lady to whom 
he had been long attached, Miss A. E. Hoff, daughter of 
John Hoff, Esq., of Lancaster. The union proved ex- 
ceedingly happy, and ten children were born to them. 
Mrs. Atlee died eight years before her husband. 
In the autumn of 1834 he removed to his native city, 
where his energetic work was rewarded by a large practice, 
and he was soon elected to the staff of the Lancaster 
County Hospital. 
In 1845 he accepted an invitation to fill the Chair of 
Medical Chemistry in the Medical Department of Penn- 
sylvania College, at Philadelphia, and removed his family 
there, which place from that time he made his permanent 
residence. Surgery had always been his favorite pursuit, 
and when he accepted the Chair of Chemistry it was with 
the understanding that he should ultimately be transferred 
to that of surgery, but as the promise was not kept he re- 
signed his professorship and devoted himself to surgical 
and gynecological practice. 
While still in Lancaster he was known as a skilful and 
courageous operator, and the publication of some of his 
cases in the American Journal of the Medical Sciences had 
also introduced him favorably to the medical public ; but, 
before leaving that city, he performed and published an 
account of two ovariotomies, an operation which at that 
time was universally denounced, and he must be a brave 
and determined man who should dare attempt to establish 
its legitimacy. This he proposed to do, his early experi- 
ence having led him to believe it a justifiable measure. To 
show what endless annoyance and bitter persecution this 
caused him may be seen in his Retrospect of the Struggles 
and Triumph of Ovariotomy in Philadelphia. 
In this pamphlet, after claiming for Ephraim McDowell 4 
DR. WASHINGTON LEMUEL ATLEE. 
the honor of being the first to perform ovariotomy, he 
says: " On the 29th of June, 1843, mY brother performed 
ovariotomy. This was the first time that both ovaries were 
removed. Being associated with him in the case, I com- 
menced studying the literature of the operation, and soon 
realized the bold and important step taken thirty-four 
years before by McDowell, of Kentucky." 1 
Dr. Washington L. Atlee performed his first ovariotomy 
March 29, 1844, on a married lady sixty-one years of age, 
residing on the banks of the Chicquesalunga, Lancaster 
County. It proved fatal. His second operation was per- 
formed in the city of Lancaster, August 28, 1844, on an 
unmarried lady, twenty-four years of age. She recovered. 
The public record of the case contains these words: "I 
pledge myself to the profession to treat this subject in all 
truth and candor; to falsify, omit, or withhold nothing; 
and to write down errors, if such there be, in honesty and 
without fear-taking censure when deserved. In the de- 
cision of a matter of such weight to humanity, personal 
sacrifices ought to be utterly disregarded. If this opera- 
tion is to be established it must be on correct statements; 
if it fail on such testimony, it fails justly and forever. 
But if its establishment be attempted on falsified reports 
and withheld facts, then human life must fall a sacrifice to 
personal and professional dishonesty, and the effort must 
necessarily die, covered with a mantle of human gore. 
Let the question, therefore, be met as it ought to be, and 
its history be a record of truth."2 This pledge was made 
thirty years ago, and has been faithfully carried out. The 
result is known. 
This will show clearly the status of the operation and 
the unmerited opprobrium visited upon those who had the 
temerity to perform it at that early day. From bitter ex- 
1 A Retrospect of the Struggles and Triumphs of Ovariotomy in 
Philadelphia, etc., by Washington L. Atlee, M.D. 
2 Ibid. DR. WASHINGTON LEMUEL ATLEE. 
5 
perience few, indeed, had better reason to know than he 
how hard it was to convince the profession that it was 
justifiable. But a reward was in store for a struggle of 
years against professional prejudice; for he became so 
identified in the public mind with ovariotomy that, after 
its success was established, his services were in demand on 
every side. 
His third operation-the first case in Philadelphia-was 
performed on the 15th of March, 1849. "It was long 
before this, however, that I found, upon moving to Phila- 
delphia, I had roused up a hornet's nest. Ovariotomy was 
everywhere decried. It was denounced by the general 
profession, in the medical societies, in all the medical col- 
leges, and even discouraged by the majority of my own 
colleagues. I was misrepresented before the medical pub- 
lic, and was pointed at as a dangerous man, even as a 
murderer. The opposition went so far that a celebrated 
professor-a popular teacher and captivating writer-in 
his published lectures invoked the law to arrest me in the 
performance of this operation." 
From all parts of the United States continually arrived 
letters urging him to come and operate. His success was 
great, and was the result not only of consummate skill and 
care as an operator, but of the wonderful diagnostic tact 
he never failed to manifest. 
His last operation was performed at Sligo, Clarion 
County, Pa., May 31, 1878. This was his three hundred 
and eighty-seventh case of ovariotomy. 
As an operator he was cool and fully prepared for all 
emergencies. He avoided a needless array, and although 
having a full reserve of instruments used but few. His 
friend, Professor Gross, in speaking of this says: "With 
the knife he was, in his particular line, facile princeps. 
He appreciated the aphorism of Desault, that simplicity is 
the perfection of an operation. He rarely used more than 
one scalpel, one bistoury, one pair of forceps, one pair of 6 
DR. WASHINGTON LEMUEL ATLEE. 
scissors, and one needle. He had a just horror of display. 
The duties having been duly assigned to his assistants, 
everything proceeded as silently as possible, with the reg- 
ularity of clockwork. Always self-possessed, his eye never 
quailed, his hand never trembled." There was a remark- 
able originality displayed in his operations, a striking 
instance of which may be seen in his operation for the 
removal of uterine fibroids. 
In the Report on Surgery, in 1850, by Professor Mussey, 
he says : "Of all the achievements of modern surgery, we 
meet with none more striking or extraordinary than the 
operations performed by Professor Atlee for the removal 
of intra-uterine fibrous tumors." 
Professor Fallen, in his prize essay presented to the 
American Medical Association in 1869, says: "In 1853 
Dr. Washington L. Atlee startled the profession by his 
method of heroically attacking uterine tumors with the 
knife. . . . His successes were numerous, and the 
ingenuity of his devices are deserving of the highest com- 
mendation." And Dr. J. Marion Sims, in the New York 
Medical Journal, April, 1874, writes: "The name of 
Atlee stands without a rival in connection with uterine 
fibroids. His operations were so heroic that no man has 
as yet dared to imitate him. A generation has passed 
since he gave to the world his valuable essay on the sur- 
gical treatment of fibrous tumors of the uterus; but it is 
only within the last five or six years that the profession 
have come to appreciate the great truths which he labored 
to establish. Meadows, of London, and Thomas, of New 
York, have each achieved splendid results in this direction, 
and made valuable contributions to our literature. A few 
isolated cases of fibroid enucleation have been published 
by others, and this is about all we can boast of since Atlee 
first led the way for us." 
He was the first to indicate clearly the importance of 
tapping as a means of diagnosis in obscure cases of abdom- DR.'WASHINGTON LEMUEL ATLEE. 
7 
inal dropsy, and, also, the first to point out the true value 
of the removed fluids for the same purpose, particularly to 
differentiate cysts of the broad ligament and fibro-cystic 
tumors of the uterus from ovarian tumors. It is remark- 
able that, with so little leisure, he managed to perform so 
much clerical labor; for he carried on an extensive cor- 
respondence, frequently contributed to the journals, wrote 
an octavo volume on ovarian tumors, besides essays on 
subjects connected with gynecology, and kept full notes 
of all important cases, recording them the day they 
occurred; nor would he sleep until all intended work of 
this kind had been accomplished. 
He took an active part in the organization of the Phila- 
delphia County Medical Society, of the Medical Society 
of the State of Pennsylvania, and of the American Med- 
ical Association. He was, also, one of the founders of the 
American Gynecological Society. In all of these bodies 
he retained his membership until his death. In 1874, he 
was President of the Philadelphia County Medical Society, 
and in 1875, President of the Medical Society of the State 
of Pennsylvania and Vice-President of the American Med- 
ical Association. 
That his interest in this work was earnest and sincere 
was well seen in the last journey which he took, which was 
to attend the meeting of the State society at Pittsburg, in 
May, 1878. He was then so feeble as to require support 
in walking, and so emaciated that every movement was 
painful to him, yet he endured the trying journey merely 
to meet them once more. 
When he felt his end approaching, the time of which he 
predicted, he showed no fear of death, but welcomed it, 
not only as a relief but as a means of realizing his hopes 
as a Christian. 
"About the hour of eight (which he himself 
Foretold should be his last), 
He gave his honors to the world again, 
His blessed part to heaven, and slept in peace." 8 
DR. WILLIAM HE A TH B YFORD. 
In this sketch no allusion has been made to his more 
marked personal traits, but it would, indeed, be incom- 
plete if it failed to represent that he was a most devoted 
husband, an affectionate father, a firm and warm friend, 
and a thoroughly conscientious, honest, and truthful man. 
He died September 7, 1878. 
[For these facts I am indebted to a memoir of him pub- 
lished by his son-in-law, Dr. Thomas M. Drysdale, in the 
American Gynecological Transactions for 1879, and used 
with his consent.-The Author.] 
WILLIAM HEATH BYFORD, M.D., 
CHICAGO, ILL. 
William Heath Byford was born March 20, 1817, in 
the hamlet of Eaton, Preble County, Ohio. Thus the year 
1817 gives us the point of departure in this study. What was 
Ohio in 1817 ? The western tier of counties was a wilder- 
ness, broken only by occasional settlements. This was the 
frontier of civilization. Indiana had been a State but one 
year. Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin were parts of the 
great Northwest Territory. Plato said: "That to know 
what a thing is, we must know what it is not; " accepting 
the teaching of that wise man, I must use negatives mainly 
in expressing my present thought. In most places of that 
region the forests were so dense that the sun's rays could 
not penetrate to the earth. The roads were not improved, 
the stumps and other rubbish had not been removed in the 
isolated clearings. There were no railroads, no telegraph 
lines, there were no electric or gas lights; verily, western 
Ohio was distinguished for the absence of all improvements 
which we think are essential for a comfortable existence. 
What a background does this present to us, on which to 
limn the outline of the evolution of a human life 1 DR. WILLIAM HEA TH BY FORD. 
9 
Some have emphasized the fact that the father of William 
was not wealthy. In this respect, I imagine that his case 
was not peculiar. In the small communities of that time, 
widely separated as they were in districts wild as nature, 
he was rich who possessed health, habits of industry, in- 
tegrity, and the indomitable courage to look unappalled 
into the future. That I have not overdrawn the picture 
may be inferred by the fact that while William was still in 
his infancy the father was dissatisfied with the location, 
and, in the hope of improving his circumstances, he moved 
to another section of the country, also new, viz., the Falls 
of Ohio, now called New Albany. And again, in 1821, he 
removed to Martin County, Ind. Here William began his 
career as a scholar. Here he had the advantages to be 
obtained in the public country school (whatever they 
might have been). 
It was here that the father, Henry T. Byford, died, when 
William was nine years old. This bereavement compelled 
William to leave school and, at this tender age, devote his 
time and strength to the aid of the widowed mother. 
In acquiring his education I am not aware that William 
ever had the advantages of a university, a literary college, 
an academy, a high school, or even the district school, after 
he was nine years old. 
It does seem that these were hard lines for the boy who 
was to become, though he knew it not, a most eminent 
physician and a leader of the profession in a metropolitan 
city. Some who have had the advantages which Harvard 
or Yale could offer have, in their life's work, accomplished 
less than did this orphan boy. 
At the age of thirteen years he was apprenticed to a 
trade. At this trade he worked faithfully for six years, but 
he devoted the spare hours to study. Of his success as a 
student, under these circumstances, you shall judge. In 
four years he had acquired a thorough knowledge of the 
English language ; he knew Latin, Greek, and French. 10 
DR. WILLIAM HE A TH B YFORD. 
He had studied natural history, physiology, and chemistry. 
At this period he determined to become a physician, and 
he applied his energies to study with such success that, in 
1838, he presented himself to the Board of Commissioners 
authorized by the statute to grant licenses to practise. He 
passed a satisfactory examination and received a certificate 
testifying that he was qualified to practise medicine and 
surgery. 
He began the practice of medicine in Owensville, Ind., 
August 8, 1838. In 1840 he moved to Mt. Vernon, Ind. 
He attended medical lectures in the Ohio Medical College 
and received the degree of Doctor in Medicine in 1845. 
In 1847 he performed the Caesarean section, the most 
daring operation known to surgery, the history of which 
he wrote and published. 
From this time forth he wrote numerous and valuable 
papers on a variety of medical subjects for the medical 
journals, which attracted the attention of the profession 
throughout the country. One paper, as I remember, was 
of unusual interest, and elicited a great deal of earnest 
discussion by the profession. It was on " Milk Sickness," 
a peculiar disease. The mortality was so great from this 
disease that it was called by the historian of that time " a 
frightful pestilence." Its etiology was probably no better 
understood at that time than it is by the most learned 
physicians of the present day. I write from memory, and 
am unable to give Dr. Byford's views of this disease, 
nor can I indicate the publication in which they were 
printed. 
In 1850 he was appointed Professor of Anatomy' in 
Evansville Medical College. Two years later he was 
transferred to the Chair of Theory and Practice of Medi- 
cine in the same institution. During his connection with 
this college he was one of the editors of the Evansville 
Medical Journal. 
He was elected vice-president of the American Medical DR. WILLIAM HEATH BYFORD. 
11 
Association in May, 1857, and in the same year he was 
chosen to fill the Chair of Obstetrics and Diseases of Women 
and Children in Rush Medical College. 
For two years he was associate editor of the Chicago 
Medical Journal. After two years he retired from Rush 
Medical College and united with other gentlemen in or- 
ganizing and establishing the Chicago Medical College. 
In that institution he filled the Chair of Obstetrics and 
Diseases of Women and Children. 
He was a member of the American Gynecological So- 
ciety, and in 1881 was elected its president. 
Dr. By ford was active in the organization of the Woman's 
Medical College of Chicago, of which he was its president, 
and to his personal influence and his valuable work as one 
of its professors that institution was indebted for its well- 
known prosperity and acknowledged usefulness. 
He was an active and zealous member of the Chicago 
Medical Society, and by the frequent contribution of papers 
on important subjects, and by his participation in the dis- 
cussions in its meetings, he did much in raising the society 
to great usefulness. 
Dr. Byford was requested to reorganize the Woman's 
Hospital of Chicago, at a time when its existence was 
threatened. He soon collected the forces and systematized 
the work in a manner that insured its permanence and 
capacity for greater usefulness. By his indefatigable exer- 
tions a new, substantial, and capacious hospital building was 
erected. The benefits to the sick and suffering dispensed 
by the Women's Hospital, under his efficient management, 
are beyond calculation. 
It is no wonder that the friends of this hospital were 
greatly exercised and anxious regarding the future of its 
usefulness when Prof. W. H. Byford was stricken down. 
Even the Board of Lady Managers seemed not to realize, 
for the time being, that there was still connected with the 
medical staff another Byford. It is not out of place for 12 
DR. WILLIAM HE A TH B YEO RD 
me to say here that the Woman's Hospital maintains its 
high grade of usefulness. 
Dr. By ford was the prime mover in the organization of 
the Chicago Gynecological Society, and he was its first 
president. The amount and quality of work done in this 
society will compare favorably with that of the best soci- 
eties known. It still continues to produce abundant works 
of the highest scientific and practical value. 
He was a life member of the British Gynecological So- 
ciety. 
I have alluded to the fertility of Dr. Byford's pen, but 
it was not limited to the production of contributions to 
the medical journals. In 1864 he published his work on 
Chronic Inflammation and Displacements of the Unimpreg- 
nated Uterus. In passing, I note that this was the first 
systematic medical work published by a Chicago author. 
At this time the author had aquired considerable reputa- 
tion in the treatment of the diseases of women. To prove 
that he was a pioneer in this department of practice it 
needs only to be stated that, owing to the novelty of pro- 
cedure, there were eminent men in the profession, not a 
few who endeavored to discourage the use of means which 
were necessary in making a diagnosis. Notably, of these, 
was the Professor of Obstetrics in the Medical School of 
St. George's Hospital, who insisted that this practice was 
of questionable propriety, and he did not hesitate to use, 
in condemnation of the practice, even more ungracious 
terms. 
In 1866 Dr. Byford published his Practice of Medicine 
and Surgery Applied to the Diseases and Accidents Incident 
to Women. This work has passed through five successive 
editions, and is recognized as a standard text-book in the 
medical colleges. 
In 1872 his work on Obstetrics was published. With 
justifiable pleasure the doctor related to his intimate friend 
an incident of his first visit to Europe, He called to pay DR. WILLIAM HE A TH B YFORD. 
13 
his respects to the venerable Dr. McClintock, of Dublin. 
During the interview Dr. McClintock went to his book- 
case, saying to Dr. Byford I wish to show you a work 
which I consider one of the best on the subject in my 
library, and then handed him Byford's Obstetrics. 
By invitation, in 1879, Dr. Byford attended the annual 
meeting of the British Medical Association, and read an 
important paper on the use of ergot in the treatment of 
fibromyomata of the uterus. 
Dr. Byford returned to Rush Medical College in March, 
1879, and was elected to the Chair of Gynecology, which 
he filled continuously till his demise, May 21, 1890. 
As an operator he was deliberate and painstaking. No 
minutia of detail was too trivial to escape his attention, for 
he held that every item of detail was important, and to his 
care in these particulars must be attributed largely the 
secret of his success. 
As a teacher he was accurate in every statement of sci- 
entific truth as he understood it. He was systematic in his 
arrangement of the subjects, and logical in his deductions. 
His vocabulary was ample and his words were well chosen. 
He never attempted unnecessary embellishment of style. 
He avoided everything in his lectures, either of word or 
act, which would tend in the least to divert the attention 
of the class from the elucidation of the subject under dis- 
cussion. These were the qualities that made him the 
popular teacher that he was. 
In his professional intercourse he was considerate and 
just. In his deportment no prospect of immediate advan- 
tage ever influenced him to swerve in the slightest degree 
from the line of rectitude. To such a man the printed 
code of medical ethics was useless. In the dignity of his 
manliness he rose above the technical limitations which 
that code would prescribe. To young physicians he was 
generous to a degree that secured their confidence and 
captivated their affections. 14 
DR. WILLIAM HEATH BYFORD. 
Here I cannot resist the temptation to introduce the 
estimate in which Professor Byford was held by an eminent 
member of the profession long years since. 
In 1859, after Dr. Byford had withdrawn from his posi- 
tion in Rush Medical College and united with other 
gentlemen for the purpose of organizing and establishing 
a new medical college in this city, in answer tp a direct 
question, Dr. Daniel Brainard said to me, " Dr. Byford is 
a physician of uncommon ability." 
These are expressive words, when we remember the time; 
when we consider the circumstances, we are conscious that 
comment could add nothing to their force. 
Now, having reached this stage of my sketch, we find 
that Dr. Byford attained eminence and great reputation. 
He seems to stand alone, like a general in front of the 
long column of an army (if I may use the simile). Do 
you query, Who were Professor Byford's teachers ? I 
answer, he had no teachers. 
True, he took his degree from a legally organized med- 
ical college. But what were the opportunities for obtaining 
a superior medical education at that time in a Western 
school? There were no clinics worthy the name. Of the 
didactic lectures, which were the principal, almost the only 
means of communicating knowledge in all the medical 
schools, I have only this to say: There are doctors present 
who are old enough to recall the appearance of the paper 
as the pages of the manuscript were turned, already vener- 
able with age, having passed into the sear and yellow tint, 
from which the professors droned out their instructions. 
No, Dr. Byford had no teachers! He took his degree, 
and at once stepped upon a plane above and unknown to 
his confreres. 
Were the story of Dr. Byford's life, which I have only 
briefly sketched, duly extended, we would be obliged to 
search far to find many analogous to his; in the obstacles 
which he overcame, in his usefulness in society, and in the DR. JOSEPH PANCOAST. 
15 
eminence which he achieved. I know of but one in any 
profession whose life presents a parallel, and of that life I 
need not rehearse the particulars. You all know it well; 
of course I refer to Abraham Lincoln, also of Illinois. 
[Note.-Extracted from the memorial address of Dr. 
De Laskie Miller at the unveiling of the bust of Dr. W. H. 
Byford at Rush Medical College, May 21, 1895.] 
JOSEPH PANCOAST, M.D., 
PHILADELPHIA, PA. 
The late Dr. Joseph Pancoast, of Philadelphia, Pa., one 
of the most eminent practitioners of medicine and surgery, 
and known throughout the medical world by reason of 
his writings and inventions, was a native of Burlington 
County, New Jersey, and was born November 23, 1805. 
His ancestors were English and came to this country 
before William Penn did, settling in the Duke of York's 
grant in northeast New Jersey. He early decided upon 
following the profession for which time fully demonstrated 
his great genius, and graduated from the Medical Depart- 
ment of the University of Pennsylvania in 1828, and im- 
mediately began practice in Philadelphia. He very soon 
decided to make surgery his specialty, and accordingly in 
1831 commenced the teaching of that branch of science 
together with practical anatomy, probably on the theory 
that he who teaches is taught. 
His talents obtaining ready recognition he was, in 1834, 
appointed one of the physicians of the Philadelphia Hos- 
pital (Blockley), and not long after was elected physician- 
in-chief to the children's hospital in the same institution. 
In 1838 he was elected to the Chair of Surgery in the 
Jefferson Medical College, but he still retained connection 16 
DE. JOSEPH PANCOAST. 
with the children's hospital, and was visiting physician 
there until 1845. 
In 1841 he was chosen Professor of Anatomy in the same 
college, a position which he only resigned in 1874, when 
he was succeeded by his son, Dr. William H. Pancoast. 
Thus for a period of thirty-six consecutive years he 
held two of the most important professorships in the justly 
celebrated school, and upon his retirement from the last 
mentioned, he was, in evidence of the high esteem in which 
he was held by the trustees, elected Emeritus Professor of 
Anatomy. 
In March, 1854, he was elected one of the surgeons of 
the Pennsylvania Hospital, which post he held for a period 
of ten years. 
It would appear from these facts alone that Dr. Pan- 
coast's life was an exceedingly busy one, but they fall far 
short of indicating his real activity in the sphere of his 
chosen science and profession. It must be borne in mind 
that in addition to his duties in these elective positions in 
the celebrated college and the great hospital, he carried on 
a large private practice; was a constant student, keeping 
himself fully abreast, and, in some senses, ahead of his 
times; that he was a voluminous writer upon medical 
topics, and gave the world many valuable inventions in 
instruments for and operations in surgery. 
He came into the field of activity well equipped by 
natural endowment and by close study at a time when 
medicine and surgery were taking their greatest strides of 
progress, and he became one of the leaders in the intel- 
lectual march. 
He identified himself with the leading philosophical and 
medical societies, and closely applied himself to the study 
and production of literature within the sphere of his pro- 
fession, becoming, in fact, a distinguished author, and 
winning fame on two continents by his masterly treatment 
of special subjects within the scope of medicine and surgery. DR. JOSEPH PANCOAST. 
17 
As early as 1831 he translated from the Latin and added 
notes to a Treatise on the Structure, Functions, and Dis- 
eases of the Human Sympathetic Nerve, by J. Frederich 
Lobstein. His Treatise on Operative Surgery, which be- 
came very popular, was published in 1844. It passed to 
a third edition in 1852, and appeared in a revised and 
enlarged form. 
His literary contributions to medical knowledge made 
his name known abroad as well as at home, and brought 
him into correspondence with eminent practitioners, both 
in England and America, thereby enlarging his informa- 
tion and affording a stimulus to further research and 
endeavor. 
He was active in promoting the welfare of such organi- 
zations as the American Philosophical Society, the Acad- 
emy of Natural Science, the London Medical Sociefy, the 
College of Physicians, the College of Pharmacy, the Phil- 
adelphia County Medical Society, as well as several others 
of which he was a member, and he took a warm interest, 
too, in assisting individuals who exhibited aptitude and 
application in seeking knowledge. 
Dr. Pancoast was chiefly noted for his many remarkable 
surgical operations, and his ingenuity in devising new 
methods which in numerous cases saved life when it in- 
evitably must have been lost by the old methods of pro- 
cedure or in the absence of any operation. 
He appears to have been as admirable a man as he was 
a physician. 
In social life Dr. Pancoast was a most agreeable com- 
panion. 
A long life was permitted him in which to exercise those 
functions with which he was so liberally endowed, and 
gave of as liberally for the benefit of mankind. He nearly 
reached the age of fourscore years, dying March 7, 1882. 
[Taken by permission from " Encyclopaedia of Contem- 
porary Biography of Pennsylvania," Vol. I.-The Author.] 
vol. n.-2 18 
DR. HOWARD WILLIAMS LONGYEAR. 
HOWARD WILLIAMS LONGYEAR, M.D., 
DETROIT, MICH. 
Howard Williams Longyear was born in Lansing, 
Mich., July 24, 1852, and is the second son of the late Hon. 
John W. Longyear, Judge of the United States District 
Court for the Eastern District of Michigan. His mother, now 
residing at Lansing, was Harriet Monroe, the daughter of 
Jesse Monroe, one of the early pioneers of the State. He 
received his preliminary education in the public schools of 
Lansing, and the condition of his health preventing the 
necessary preparation for a college course, he passed a year 
in commercial studies, and then entered the pharmaceutical 
laboratory of Frederick Stearns, at Detroit, with the inten- 
tion of becoming a manufacturing pharmacist and chemist. 
After a year and a half of this practical work he entered 
the class in pharmacy at the University of Michigan, in 
the fall of 1871, where he devoted a nine months' course 
to the study of analytical chemistry, and while there be- 
came interested in the higher subjebt of medicine, and 
decided to become a physician. With this end in view he 
choose as his preceptor Dr. D. O. Farrand, of Detroit, with 
whom he remained till the fall of 1873, when he re-entered 
the University, in the medical department, and, passing his 
first course of medical lectures in this institution, he after- 
ward matriculated in the College of Physicians and Sur- 
geons, New York City, where he graduated (with " honor- 
able mention ")in 18 75. Soon after graduation he accepted 
the position of Superintendent and Resident Physician of 
Harper Hospital, at Detroit, in which capacity he served 
until April, 1879, when he resigned and went abroad for 
one year, during which time he studied, principally in 
the hospitals of Berlin and Vienna, taking special courses 
of instruction under Martin, Schroeder, Langenbeck, Vir- 
chow, Spaeth, Braun, Billroth and others. Returning to DR. HOWARD WILLIAMS LONGYEAR. 
19 
America in 1880, he was married to Miss Abbie Scott, 
daughter of Ira Scott, of Chicago, in September of the 
same year, and immediately settled in Detroit and engaged 
in the practice of general medicine and surgery. He fol- 
lowed the work of a general practitioner until the latter 
part of 1891, when he again devoted several months to 
study in Europe, part of the time being passed with Mr. 
Lawson Tait at Birmingham, after which he returned, 
gave up general practice, and since then has been engaged 
exclusively in the practice of gynecology and abdominal 
surgery. He has for several years filled the following posi- 
tions in Detroit institutions: President of the Medical 
Board of the Woman's Hospital and Foundlings' Home, 
gynecologist to Harper Hospital, clinical professor of 
gynecology in the Detroit College of Medicine, and mem- 
ber of the Board of Health of the city of Detroit (re- 
cently appointed by the Governor of the State, and the 
only representative of the regular profession on the Board). 
He served as President of the Detroit Gynecological So- 
ciety in 1889, as Chairman of the Section on Gynecology 
of the Michigan State Medical Society in 1891, and 
as Vice-President of the American Association of Ob- 
stetricians and Gynecologists in 1892. He is an active 
member of the following medical societies: Detroit Med- 
ical and Library Association, Michigan State Medical 
Society, American Medical Association, and American 
Association of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. He is the 
author of the following brochures and lectures: "The 
Relation of Gonorrhoea to Disease of the Uterine Appen- 
dages,'' "Tait's Operation for Ruptured Perineum,'' 
"The Mechanical Treatment of Abortion,'' "Exanthe- 
matic Salpingitis and Oophoritis," "A New Ligature and 
Suture," "Five Weeks with Lawson Tait," "A New 
Curette," "Self-retaining, Intrauterine, Tubular Stem 
Pessary," " Some Recent Advances in the Treatment of 
Intra-peritoneal Diseases," " Report of Twelve Cases of DR. THOMAS A ASHB Y. 
20 
Laparotomy," " Circumcision of the Clitoris," "Vaginal 
Hysterectomy," " Peritonitis-Remarks on Comparative 
Methods of Treatment," "A Plea for Better Surgery in 
the Closure of the Abdominal Incision," "Curettage of 
the Uterus," "The Evolution of the Therapeutics of 
Traumatisms of the Parturient Canal," "The Surgery of 
Uterine Fibroids," "The Present Status of the Buried 
Animal Suture and Ligature in Abdominal and Gynecic 
Surgery," "Palliative Treatment of Malignancy of the 
Uterus," " Kraurosis Vulvse-a Contribution to its Path- 
ology and Therapeutics," "Prophylactic Treatment of 
Eclampsia Gravidarum." 
THOMAS A. ASHBY, M.D., 
BALTIMORE, MD. 
Dr. Thomas A. Ashby, the subject of this sketch, is a 
member of an old and prominent Virginia family. He 
was born near Front Royal, Warren County, Virginia, on 
the 18th day of November in the year 1848. The Virginia 
Ashbys claim descent from Richard de Ashby, who was the 
Lord of the Manors of South Croxton and Quenby, in 
Leicestershire, England, in the year 1296. The English 
family has contributed many men who have achieved dis- 
tinction in literature, war, and in statesmanship. The 
town of Ashby de la Zouche and the Castle of Ashby, in 
which Mary Queen of Scots was imprisoned, are associated 
with the English family of Ashby and are located in Lei- 
cestershire. 
The ancestors of Dr. Ashby were Cavaliers who fled to 
Virginia during the reign of Cromwell, where many of the 
best known families of English blood found protection. 
He is the fifth in line of descent from Colonel John Ashby, 
who was a friend and companion of General George DR. THOMAS A. ASHB Y. 
21 
Washington in the Indian and French wars prior to 1764. 
He commanded a company in the Braddock campaign, and 
was selected by Washington to convey the intelligence of 
the defeat to the Governor of Virginia, at Williamsburg. 
As an officer in the Colonial service of Virginia he was 
noted for his courage and daring as an Indian fighter, 
and many incidents are told of his remarkable exploits. 
Through this same line Dr. Ashby is related to the late 
General Turner Ashby, so distinguished as a Confederate 
officer in the war between the States and whose tragic 
death on the 6th of June, 1862, cast a sorrow over the 
Confederate cause in the South. Through his paternal 
grandmother's family he is descended from the Marquis 
Calmes, a French nobleman, whose family, with other 
Huguenots, came to Virginia after the revocation of the 
Edict of Nantes. His great-grandfather, Captain Nathaniel 
Ashby, held a commission during the War of the Revolu- 
tion in the 3d Virginia regiment, commanded by Colonel 
Thomas Marshall, the father of Chief-Justice John Mar- 
shall. Subsequent to the war he married Margaret Mauzy, 
the granddaughter of Colonel Henry Mauzy, a Huguenot 
who fled from France in 1685 and came to Virginia. 
Soon after the close of the Civil War General R. E. Lee 
accepted the Presidency of Washington College, located 
at Lexington, Va. The youth of the South immediately 
flocked to this institution to receive educational instruction 
under this great soldier and citizen. Dr. Ashby was one 
of this number. He entered Washington College (now 
Washington and Lee University) in February, 1867, and 
remained there until June, 1870. He took an elective 
course, consisting of the classics, modern languages, and 
chemistry, as having a special bearing upon his preparation 
for the medical profession. In the fall of 1871 he entered 
the Medical Department of the University of Maryland, 
from which he graduated in March, 1873. He served as 
an interne in the University Hospital from March, 1872, 22 
DR. THOMAS A. ASHB Y. 
to March, 1873. After graduation he located in Balti- 
more, and was appointed Prosector to the Chair of Anatomy 
in the University. In March, 1875, he was elected Resi- 
dent Physician to the Maryland University Hospital, where 
his opportunities for Clinical study were of the most valu- 
able character. Losing his father in 1878, he was com- 
pelled to resign this position in July of that year, to return 
to Virginia to close up his father's estate, now thrown on 
his shoulders. In October of 1878 he again located in 
Baltimore, where he has since resided. 
In May, 1877, Dr. Ashby became one of the founders 
of the Maryland Medical Journal, which was issued 
monthly until May, 1880, after which it was changed to a 
bi-weekly. He subsequently became the sole owner and 
editor of the journal, and in May, 1883 converted it into 
a weekly. This is the only medical journal in Maryland 
which up to that time had survived volume ii., No. 3. 
The Maryland Medical Journal has taken a front rank 
among the medical publications of this country. It owes 
its success to the indomitable perseverance, energy, and 
determination of Dr. Ashby. Owing to the growth of his 
professional work and other interests, Dr. Ashby sold out 
his interest in the journal in 1888. His experience as an 
editor extended through some fourteen years, and during 
that time his pen has handled almost every subject and 
professional interest worthy of note. 
In 1882 Dr. Ashby suggested to several medical friends 
the advisability of establishing a woman's medical college 
in Baltimore. This suggestion bore fruit, and in October 
of that year the doors to a medical education were opened 
to woman for the first time in the South. Dr. Ashby de- 
livered the opening address and presented an argument in 
support of this movement which time has not disproved. 
This college is now one of the most creditable schools of 
its class in this country, keeping pace with every move- 
ment looking to higher methods of education in medicine. DR. THOMAS A. ASHBY. 
23 
Dr. Ashby has filled the Chair of Obstetrics since the col- 
lege was established. 
In 1889 Dr. Ashby was called to the Chair of Diseases 
of Women and Children in the Baltimore Medical College. 
Here a wide field of work was opened up to him. This 
college was then almost in its infancy, and its facilities 
were not equal to the work of progress ahead of it. 
Energy, enthusiasm, and a progressive spirit in the faculty 
of this college came to the front, and within the past three 
years this school has erected a college and hospital plant 
at an outlay of over $125,000, which have placed it in the 
front rank of medical schools in this country. Its facilities 
for clinical, laboratory, and didactic teaching are up to 
the requirements of the day. 
In the year 1890-91 Dr. Ashby was honored with the 
Presidency of the Medical and Chirurgical Faculty of 
Maryland, the sixth in point of organization of the State 
medical societies of this country. He is an ex-President 
of the Baltimore Medical Association and of the Baltimore 
Gynecological and Obstetrical Society. He is a member 
of the American Medical Association and a Fellow of the 
American Gynecological Society. Dr. Ashby is widely 
known as an editor, teacher, and surgeon, and is regarded 
as a conservative, conscientious and industrious worker in 
his profession. He has already achieved many of the re- 
sults which flow from strict attention to duty and untiring 
effort. He has devoted much attention to abdominal sur- 
gery, and claims to have performed successfully the first 
laparotomy for ruptured tubal pregnancy in the State of 
Maryland. As an operative gynecologist he has a large 
and successful experience. He has been a frequent con- 
tributor to current medical literature. In his tastes Dr. 
Ashby is social and literary, being an omnivorous reader 
and an attentive student and observer. His manners are 
frank and cordial, and he possesses to an eminent degree 
the faculty of making and retaining friends. In his 24 
DR. CHARLES HENRY RILEY. 
pleasant home on Madison Avenue, in Baltimore, he is 
ever hospitable and courteous to friends or strangers who 
may seek his company. His characteristics are those of 
an unassuming and cultivated gentleman and courteous 
physician and friend. With the warmth of a kind heart 
he delights to shed joy and sunshine upon the world and 
to employ his energies and talents for the honor of his 
profession and for the good of society. In 1887 Dr. 
Ashby was married to Miss Mary Cunningham, of Coving- 
ton, Kentucky, a lady of most attractive personal and 
social characteristics. They have three interesting and 
attractive young daughters. 
CHARLES HENRY RILEY, M.D., 
BALTIMORE, MD. 
Dr. Charles H. Riley was born in Baltimore, Md., 
April 16th, in the year 1856. He is the son of Dr. Wil- 
liam Riley, who was born in 1807, and was a successful 
practitioner in Baltimore, Md., for nearly sixty years. He 
was an earnest worker in his profession, and died August 
15, 1887, loved and deeply lamented by those who knew 
him. 
Dr. Charles Riley's mother was Elizabeth Eleanor Rei- 
gart, who was the daughter of Daniel Reigart. 
His grandmother on his maternal side was Clarissa 
Sidney Trimble, daughter of James Trimble, who married 
Clarissa Claypoole, a direct descendant of the distinguished 
Claypoole family of England. 
George Claypoole, when a child, was brought to this 
country by his father, James Claypoole, at the time he 
emigrated to America, in the year 1683. He was a de- 
scendant of the James Claypoole, of Norborough, North- 
amptonshire, who obtained a grant of arms in 1588. DR. CHARLES HENRY RILEY. 
25 
This noted family emigrated as Friends with William 
Penn about the time of the settlement of Pennsylvania. 
Dr. Riley received his early education in the City of 
Baltimore, Md., and was graduated from the University of 
Maryland in 1880. After graduation he was selected as 
interne to the Woman's Hospital of New York, where he 
remained from 1880 to 1881. Here Dr. Riley laid the 
foundation for special work in gynecology, which he has 
built on in subsequent years; and he has met with most 
excellent success. He is considered a careful, cautious 
operator, and a man of strong practical nerve, and of 
sterling worth. Quiet and unassuming in his manners and 
tastes, genial and kind in his disposition, he has the happy 
faculty of making friends and retaining them. By his 
energy and perseverance he has forced his way to a large 
professional work; and now, in the prime of life, bids fair 
to rise to the highest honors in his profession. 
He is a member of the Medical and Chirurgical Faculty 
of Maryland, of the Baltimore Gynecological and Obstet- 
rical Society, and of other local medical organizations. 
He is one of the staff of the Woman's Hospital in Balti- 
more, for the women of Maryland, and as one of its 
founders is deeply interested in the success of the institu- 
tion, and he has been assistant surgeon since its organi- 
zation. 
He was married in 1882 to Miss Laura B. Simmons, of 
Baltimore, Md. They have five very bright and interest- 
ing children, three boys and two girls. 
He has a large and comfortable home on Madison Ave- 
nue, Baltimore, Md., where his many friends can always 
find a warm and cordial welcome. 
We trust that many years of happiness may be allotted 
him, and continued success may crown his life of useful- 
ness. 26 
DR. HENRY PARKE CUSTIS WILSON. 
HENRY PARKE CUSTIS WILSON, M.D., 
BALTIMORE, MARYLAND. 
Henry Parke Custis Wilson, M.D., son of Henry 
Parke Custis and Susan E. (Savage) Wilson, and grandson 
of Col. John Custis Wilson, was born March 5, 1827, in 
Somerset County, Maryland. He was educated at Prince- 
ton University, from which he received the degrees of 
A.B., in 1848, and A.M , in 1851. He commenced the 
study of medicine in Northampton County, Virginia, in 
1848, under Dr. Wm. G. Smith ; attended one course of 
lectures in the Medical Department of the University of 
Virginia, and on leaving there in the summer of 1850 
was appointed an Interne of the University of Maryland 
Hospital, and entered upon his duties there in July of the 
same year and remained eighteen months. He attended 
his second course of lectures at the University of Mary- 
land (School of Medicine), Baltimore, and was gradu- 
ated therefrom in March, 1851. 
His first and only location in the practice of medicine 
was in Baltimore, Md., September, 1851. 
Dr. Wilson was one of the founders of the American 
Gynecological Society, and its president in 1889. One of 
the founders of the Baltimore Obstetrical and Gynecologi- 
cal Society, and its president in 1887 and 1888; member, 
and in 1881 president, of the Medical and Chirurgical 
Faculty of Maryland ; member of the Baltimore Academy 
of Medicine, and its president in 1880; member of the 
British Medical Association ; Vice President of the Brit- 
ish Gynecological Society ; Honorary Fellow of the Edin- 
bugh Obstetrical Society ; Honorary Fellow of the Wash- 
ington Obstetrical and Gynecological Society. 
He has been Surgeon-in-charge of the Hospital for the 
Women of Maryland since its foundation in 1882. For- DR. HENRY PARKE CUSTIS WILSON. 
27 
merly consulting gynecologist to St. Agnes Hospital, and 
consulting surgeon to Johns Hopkins Hospital since it was 
opened in 1889. 
Dr. Wilson was the founder of gynecology in his sec- 
tion of the country, and for some years was the only gyne- 
cologist in Baltimore. 
He was the second Maryland physician to perform suc- 
cessfully ovariotomy ; and was the first physician in that 
State to remove the uterine appendages by abdominal 
section, as well as to perform the operation for division of 
the cervix uteri (Sims operation). He was the second 
physician in the world to remove a large intra-uterine 
tumor, filling the whole pelvis, by cutting it away in 
pieces, after all other methods had failed, and the patient 
recovered. 
In 1880 Dr. Wilson performed abdominal section, and 
delivered an eight pound living child from the abdominal 
cavity, which lived for over three years, and died of cholera 
infantum ; Dr. Chatard having delivered a living child from 
the uterus by the natural passages one month previously. 
Dr. Wilson has invented a number of surgical instru- 
ments for the surgery peculiar to women. 
His chief medical papers are : " Ovariotomy during 
Pregnancy," "The Hand as a Curette in Post-partum 
Hemorrhage," " Sub-sulphate of Iron as an Antiseptic in 
the Surgery of the Pelvis," " Division of the Cervix Back- 
ward in Some Forms of Anteflexion of the Uterus with 
Dysmenorrhoea and Sterility," "The President's Annual 
Address before the American Gynecological Society in 
1889," " Foreign Bodies Left in the Abdomen after Lapar- 
otomy," " Hysterectomy with a New Clamp for Removal 
of Large Uterine Tumors," "Twin Pregnancy, One 
Child in the Uterus and the Other in the Abdomen;" 
" Paquelin's Thermo cautery with Wilson's Antithermic 
Shield," "Uterine Dilatation with a New Instrument," 
" Retro displacement of the Uterus." 28 
DR. HANNAH E. LONGSHORE. 
Dr. Wilson is a Fellow of the Maryland Historical 
Society, and has been an Elder in the Presbyterian Church 
for nearly thirty years. His paternal ancestor, Ephraim 
Wilson, came to this country in the early part of the 
eighteenth century, and, settling on the eastern shore of 
Maryland, became one of the founders of the first Presbyte- 
rian Church in America. 
In 1858, Dr. Wilson married Miss Alicia Brewer Grif- 
fith, of Baltimore. They have six living children, Dr. 
Robert Taylor, Henry Parke Custis, William Griffith, 
Henrietta Chauncey, Alicia Brewer, and Emily Griffith 
Wilson. 
There is no physician who stands higher in the com- 
munity in which he lives than the subject of this sketch, 
and all persons having the pleasure of Dr. Wilson's ac- 
quaintance may justly feel proud of the friendship of such 
a man. 
HANNAH E. LONGSHORE, M.D., 
PHILADELPHIA, PA. 
To those who are familiar with the struggles of the 
pioneer women to obtain recognition in professional life 
Dr. Hannah E. Longshore needs no introduction. Al- 
though her name has not been appended to convention 
calls, or prominent in public movements among women, 
she has always taken a deep interest in the elevation of 
her sex. For the past forty years she has been a con- 
spicuous figure in Philadelphia. In the early part of this 
time, notable because she dared to practise medicine in 
opposition to public sentiment; and without question it 
may be said she helped to break the ground, and by her 
practical work prepared the way for the hosts of women 
doctors who have followed. Later, through wide experi- DR. HANNAH E. LONGSHORE. 
29 
ence and faithful attention to business, she earned a dis- 
tinction few enjoy. 
Dr. Longshore was born May 30, 1819, in Montgomery 
County, Maryland. Her father and mother, Samuel and 
Paulina Myers, were natives of Bucks County, Pennsyl- 
vania, and members of the Society of Friends. From 
her second till her thirteenth year the family resided in 
Washington, D. C., where she attended private school. 
Her parents, not wishing to raise a family of children 
under the demoralizing influences of slavery then preva- 
lent in the South, moved to Columbiana County, Ohio, 
settling upon a farm. This free life, with outdoor exer- 
cise, laid the foundation for her future work. To her the 
pursuit of knowledge always was a keen delight. As a 
child she enjoyed the study of anatomy, dissecting small 
animals with great interest and precision. As a young 
woman her great ambition was to attend Oberlin Col- 
lege. At twenty-two she married Thomas E. Longshore, 
and returned with him to his home near Philadelphia, 
where the following few years were devoted to domestic 
duties. Eight years later we find Mrs. Longshore reading 
medicine with her brother-in-law, Professor Joseph S. Long- 
shore, in addition to taking care of her two children and 
home. 
Professor Longshore was deeply interested in the medi- 
cal education of women, and was one of the leading 
spirits and active workers in securing the charter and 
opening "The Female Medical College of Pennsylvania," 
located in Philadelphia, now "Woman's Medical Col- 
lege." His pupil availed herself of this opportunity and 
became a member of the first class, graduating at the 
close of the second session in 1851. She was appointed 
demonstrator of anatomy the following session of college. 
As a means of bringing herself before the public in 
a professional way, she prepared and delivered several 
courses of popular lectures on physiology and hygiene. 30 
ZM'. HANNAH E. LONGSHORE. 
This was indeed an innovation, and aroused considerable 
discussion. Lucretia Mott presided at the opening lecture. 
During the first year after graduation, Dr. Longshore 
was called to see a woman ill with dropsy, who had been 
given up by the doctors to die. One, a leading physician, 
staked his medical reputation that the case would termi- 
nate fatally. To the surprise of all interested, the patient 
recovered under the care of " that woman." This was a 
triumph in skill that spread among the friends of the 
family and brought the young doctor many patients. 
The story of the difficulties and criticisms that met Dr. 
Longshore in every direction in the early years of her 
practice seems like fiction. Who would believe to-day 
that she found it almost impossible to procure medicines ; 
that druggists would not fill her prescriptions, saying, "A 
woman could not be trusted to prescribe drugs; she could 
not know enough to give the proper dose;" that doctors 
persecuted her and would not consult with a woman ? 
The doctor sign on her door, the first one seen in Phila- 
delphia, called forth ridicule; people stopped on the 
pavement in front of her house and read the name aloud 
with annoying comments. She drove her own horse, 
which was contrary to the custom and sure proof of her 
strongmindedness. 
11 Nothing is so successful as success." As time passed, 
all these obstacles faded away, and Dr. Longshore followed 
the usual course of general practitioners. At the zenith 
of her work she visited, was consulted by, and prescribed 
for as great a number, and, with a few exceptions, more 
patients than any of the leading physicians. Gifted by 
nature with intuitive power and strong personal mag- 
netism, she prescribes with quickness and leaves her 
patient refreshed by the visit. To-day, at the age of 
seventy-two, she is full of activity and able to attend to 
a large practice. During her professional career she has 
been confined to her home but twice by sickness, and DR. HANNAH E. LONGSHORE. 
31 
has taken but a few short vacations. She is a splendid 
illustration of what a congenial occupation and outdoor 
exercise will do in developing the physical power of 
women. 
Professionally and socially she has always been actuated 
by high motives. She is noted for her honesty of opinion 
and fearless truthfulness. While her surroundings indi- 
cate material prosperity, no suffering woman has ever 
been refused attention because of her inability to pay for 
such service. In connection with her practice she has 
given attention to minor surgery, and in the reduction of 
dislocations has been most successful. She is frequently 
called upon as a medical expert; and in a recent case her 
testimony, given in the form of an object lesson, was so 
explicit that the judge remarked, " This is a revelation, 
and will cause a new era in expert testimony." 
The home life of Dr. Longshore is and has been of the 
most happy kind. The family circle consists of a hus- 
band, children, grandchildren, and sisters. Mr. Long- 
shore, whose sympathy and counsel have been an inspira- 
tion through all these years, is a man of considerable 
literary attainment, a thinker, and a writer. The daugh- 
ter, Mrs. Lucretia L. Blankenburg, and her husband, 
Rudolph Blankenburg, with their children, are the life of 
the home. Miss Julia A. Myers and Dr. Jane V. Myers, 
her sisters, complete the circle and form a most interesting 
group. Few families are to be found who, with their sepa- 
rate interests, are yet so united. Mr. and Mrs. Blanken- 
burg are active in the reform movements and philanthro- 
pies of the day. Miss Julia A. Myers fills several positions 
of trust, and Dr. Jane V. Myers is second only to her sister 
in professional success. 
The son, Dr. Channing Longshore, choose his mother's 
profession, and has made a reputation in the West. 32 
DR. JOSEPH TABER JOHNSON. 
JOSEPH TABER JOHNSON, M.D., 
WASHINGTON, D. C. 
Joseph Taber Johnson, M.D., was born in Lowell, 
Massachusetts, June 30, in the year 1845. 
He is a son of Rev. Lorenzo Dow Johnson and a de- 
scendant of John Alden, who came to this country in the 
" Mayflower." He is also descended from Revolutionary 
ancestors, and is a member of the Society of the Sons of 
the American Revolution. 
He resided in Plymouth County, Massachusetts, until he 
was fourteen years of age, when his family moved to Wash- 
ington, D. C. His father was a chaplain in the United 
States Navy. 
His attendance at Columbian University was inter- 
rupted by the war in 1861, but he was awarded the hon- 
orary degree of Master of Arts in 1869. He received the 
degree of Doctor of Medicine from the Medical Depart- 
ment of Georgetown University in 1865 and from the 
Bellevue Hospital Medical College in 1867. 
He held the position of acting assistant surgeon United 
States Army, and was assigned to the Freedmen's Hospital 
after the close of the war. For three years he was Pro- 
fessor of Obstetrics and Diseases of Women and Children 
in the Howard University in Washington, D. C. 
He visited Europe in the year 1870 and spent much 
time in the hospitals of Berlin, Edinburgh, London, Dub- 
lin, Paris, and Vienna. 
He passed a thorough examination before Professor 
Carl Braun, in Vienna, receiving a diploma for profi- 
ciency in obstetric operations in 1871, since which date 
he has practised his profession in Washington, making 
a specialty of gynecology and obstetrics. 
Dr. Johnson has been connected with many of the city DR. JOSEPH TABER JOHNSON. 
33 
hospitals and dispensaries. He was surgeon to Columbia 
Hospital for Women, which he reorganized in 1892. He 
was gynecologist to the Providence Hospital for twelve 
years. He is consulting gynecologist to the Emergency 
Hospital and Central Dispensary; president of the 
Woman's Dispensary; in charge of his own private Hos- 
pital for Gynecological and Abdominal Surgery. This 
sanitarium is intended to accommodate sick women from 
out of town and those who do not wish to enter a public 
hospital, and who cannot receive the benefits of modern 
antiseptic surgical treatment with the necessary quiet so 
important for the recovery of patients undergoing abdom- 
inal operations. The private hospital system is intended 
to combine all the requisite comforts of home with the an- 
tiseptic safeguards of the modern surgical hospital. The 
number of patients is limited to fifteen, each one of whom 
has a separate room. 
Dr. Johnson is Professor of Gynecology and Abdominal 
Surgery in the Medical Department of the University of 
Georgetown, in which he has lectured since 1874. 
He is a Fellow of the American Gynecological Society, 
of which he is one of the founders, and was its secretary 
and editor of its Transactions for three years; Fellow of 
the Southern Surgical and Gynecological Society; of the 
Massachusetts Medical Society; American Medical Asso- 
ciation ; of the Virginia Medical Society; Medical So- 
ciety and Medical Association of the District of Colum- 
bia; Washington Obstetrical and Gynecological Society, 
of which he was president for two years. He was also 
President of the Medical Society of the District of Colum- 
bia, and Alumni Societies of his two Alma Maters. He 
is a member of the Anthropological Society of the District 
of Columbia, and received the degree of Doctor of Phil- 
osophy from Georgetown University in 1890. 
He is author of many papers, addresses, and reports of 
important cases, mostly on subjects relating to his specialty. 
vol. 11.-3 34 
DR. PAUL F. MUNDE. 
Dr. Johnson has opened the abdomen about four hun- 
dred times, with a general mortality of about 8 per cent. 
In a recent report of all the abdominal sections performed 
in his private hospital, published in the Virginia Medical 
Journal, November, 1894, Dr. Johnson operated one hun- 
dred and sixteen times, with six deaths, a mortality of 
about 5 per cent. 
In May, 1873, Dr. Johnson married Edith Maud, daugh- 
ter of Professor William F. Bascom, of Washington, D. C., 
and they have a family of five children. His eldest son, 
Lorenzo, is now a student in Yale College, who, after 
graduation, expects to study medicine. His second son, 
Bascom, is now in Worcester Academy, Massachusetts, 
fitting for Yale College. 
Dr. Johnson has attended many prominent people in 
Washington, among whom are the families of three Pres- 
idents, many senators and representatives in Congress, 
generals, admirals, foreign ministers, and many distin- 
guished government officials and citizens. 
PAUL F. MUNDE, M.D., 
NEW YORK, N. Y. 
Munde, Paul Fortunatus, New York City, born Sep- 
tember 7, 1846, in Dresden, Saxony, is the son of Charles 
and Bertha (von Hornemann) Munde and grandson of 
Baron von Hornemann, at one time counsellor to the King 
of Saxony. When he was three years of age his father, a 
political refugee, brought him to this country and he spent 
his early boyhood in Florence, Mass.; was educated at 
home and in the Public Latin School of Boston, Mass., 
and commenced the study of medicine in 1863, at Yale 
University, Department of Medicine; then attended his 
last two courses of lectures at Harvard University Medi- DR. PAUL F. MUNDE. 
35 
cal School, and was graduated there March 2, 1866. He 
was acting medical cadet, U. S. A., during six months of 
the year 1864, and after graduating he went abroad and 
served as volunteer assistant surgeon, on the Bavarian side, 
in the war between Prussia and Austria and South Ger- 
many during the summer of 1866, and during the Franco- 
German war, iSyo-'yi, was battalion surgeon with rank of 
first lieutenant in the Bavarian Army. In 1867 Dr. Munde 
became resident physician to the Maternity in Wurzburg, 
and assistant to the great German gynecologist, Scanzoni, 
and held this position until 1870. On his return from 
France he was mustered out of the Bavarian Army, and 
passed nearly two years in the hospitals of Vienna (where 
in December, 1871, he took the degree of Master in Ob- 
stetrics), Heidelberg, Berlin, London, Edinburgh, and 
Paris, and then returned and settled in New York City in 
1873, entering upon the general practice of medicine, but 
gradually merging into gynecology and consulting obstet- 
rics. In 1874 he became the editor of the American 
Journal of Obstetrics, and performed the duties of this 
position until January 1, 1892, when other duties com- 
pelled him to resign. 
Dr. Munde is a member of the Medical Society of the 
County of New York; fellow of the New York Academy 
of Medicine, New York Obstetrical Society (president from 
1886 to 1888), American Gynecological Society (vice- 
president in 1884), British Gynecological Society (vice- 
president in 1887); German Gynecological Society, cor- 
responding fellow of the Obstetrical Society of Edinburgh, 
of Leipzig, and of Philadelphia, a member of the Union 
League Club and Riding Club of New York, South Side 
Sportsman Club of Long Island, and of the Laurentian 
Club of Canada. 
Dr. Munde has been professor of gynecology at the New 
York Polyclinic since 1882, and at Dartmouth Medical 
College, summer term, since 1880; gynecologist to Mt, DR. PAUL F. MUNDE. 
36 
Sinai Hospital since 1881 ; consulting gynecologist to St. 
Elizabeth's Hospital since 1888, and to the Italian Hos- 
pital since 1890. His contributions to medical literature 
have been numerous, and include the following books and 
papers, with many others too numerous to mention : 
" A Practical Treatise on the Diseases of Women," re- 
vised edition (Thomas and Munde), 1891, pp. 826. 
"The Treatment of Cancer of the Uterus with the 
Sharp-edged Scoop, or Curette," American Journal of 
Obstetrics, August, 1872. 
"The Cranioclast as Improved and Used by the Vienna 
School," ibid., May, 1873. 
"Retention of the Dead Ovum," ibid., i875~'76, 
vol. viii. 
"A Case of Presumptive True Lateral Hermaphrodit- 
ism," ibid., February, 1876. 
" The Influence on the Foetus of Medicines, Particularly 
Narcotics, Administered to the Mother during Pregnancy 
and Labor," ibid., 1877. 
" The Value of Electrolysis in the Treatment of Ovarian 
Tumors," American Gynecological Transactions, 1878, 
vol. ii. 
" A Case of Ovariotomy during Subacute Peritonitis 
and Suppuration of the Cyst following Aspiration; with 
Remarks," American Journal of Medical Sciences, January, 
1878. 
"The Dull Wire Curette in Gynecological Practice" 
(presented to the Edinburgh Obstetrical Society, January 23, 
1878), Edinburgh Medical Journal, March and April, 1878. 
"Prolapse of the Ovaries," American Gynecological 
Transactions, 1879, v°l- iy' 
"The Indications for Hystero-trachelorraphy, or the 
Operation for Laceration of the Cervix Uteri," American 
Journal of Obstetrics, January, 1879. 
" Obstetric Palpation: The Diagnosis and Treatment 
of Obstetric Cases by External (Abdominal) Examination DR. PAUL F. MUNDE. 
37 
and Manipulation," reprint from American Journal of 
Obstetrics for July and August, 1879, and April, 1880. 
"Minor Surgical Gynecology: A Treatise of Uterine 
Diagnosis and the Lesser Technicalities of Gynecological 
Practice, including General Rules for Gynecological Op- 
erations and the Operations for Lacerated Cervix and 
Perineum, and Prolapsus of Uterus and Vagina," Wood's 
Library, December, 1880, and 2d edition, 1885, pp. 552. 
" The Diagnosis and Treatment of Obscure Pelvic Ab- 
scesses in Women, with Remarks on the Differential Diag- 
nosis Between Pelvic Peritonitis and Pelvic Cellulitis," 
Archives of Medicine, December, 1880, vol. iv., No. 3. 
" Case of Rupture of the Parturient Uterus," American 
Journal of Obstetrics, April, 1881. 
The Curability of Uterine Displacements" (read before 
the International Medical Congress in London, in August, 
1881), ibid., October, 1881. 
" Specialism in Medicine," Introductory Address before 
the Medical Class of Dartmouth College, August 2, 1882, 
Atlantic Journal of Medicine, Richmond, Va., October, 
1883. 
"In Memoriam, J. Marion Sims," American Journal 
of Obstetrics, January, 1884. 
" A Successful Case of Arrest of Tubal Pregnancy by 
Galvanism," Medical Record, September 27, 1884. 
" The Proper Limitation of the Operation of Complete 
Vaginal Hysterectomy for Cancer of the Uterus," Amer- 
ican Gynecological Transactions, 1884, vol. ix. 
" Two Cases of Dangerous Hemorrhage from Rupture 
of the Vagina during First Coitus," Boston Medical and 
Surgical Journal, May 14, 1885. 
" Electricity as a Therapeutic Agent in Gynecology," 
American Journal of Obstetrics, December, 1885. 
" The Treatment of Pelvic Abscess in Women by Incis- 
ion and Drainage; with Reports of Ten Cases," ibid., 
February, 1886. 38 
DR. MATTHEW D. MANN. 
"Three Cases of Pregnancy Complicated by Ovarian 
Tumors," New York Medical Journal, August, 1887. 
"A Year's Work in Laparotomy" (45 operations), Amer- 
ican Journal of Obstetrics, January and February, 1888. 
" My Experience with the Flap-splitting Operation for 
Lacerated Perineum," ibid., 1889. 
"Does Removal of the Diseased Tubes and Ovaries 
Permanently Cure the Patient?" Annals of Gynecology 
and Pediatry, 1890. 
" Ten Years' Experience with Alexander's Operation 
for Shortening the Round Ligaments of the Uterus," 
Medical Record, June 14, 1894. 
" Report of the Gynecological Service of Mt. Sinai 
Hospital for TwelveYears from 1883 to 1895," American 
Journal of Obstetrics, October, Nov. and Dec., 1895. 
Dr. Munde married, November n, 1873, Miss Eleanor 
Claire Hughes, of New Haven, Conn. Their two chil- 
dren are Bertha, aged eighteen years, and Natalie Morris, 
aged twelve years. 
MATTHEW D. MANN, M.D., 
BUFFALO, N. Y. 
Dr. Matthew Derbyshire Mann, of Buffalo, New 
York, was born in Utica, New York, July 12, 1845. 
He is of old New England stock, except on the side of 
his maternal grandmother, who was English. His father, 
Charles A. Mann, was a prominent lawyer in Utica. He 
was educated in the common schools of his native city 
until 1861, when he went abroad, spending nearly two 
years in Europe. Returning in 1863, he entered Yale 
College, graduating with honors in 1867, and receiving his 
degree of A.M. in 1870. 
After a few months spent in travel in the West he began 
the study of medicine in the office of his uncle, Dr. M. DR. MA TTHE W D. MANN. 
39 
M. Bagg, of Utica, New York, attending his first course 
of lectures in the spring of 1868 in the Long Island 
Medical College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York, 
from which he was graduated in 1871. 
His thesis on graduation received honorable mention. 
In the fall of 1870 he entered the new Stranger Hospital 
as interne on the first staff. He served there with credit 
for one year. In that hospital he came under the influence 
of Dr. T. G. Thomas, a fact which doubtless had much 
to do with shaping his future career. Having finished his 
service in the hospital in 1871, he went to Europe. While 
there he studied in Paris and London for awhile, spent 
several months with Simon and Arnold in Heidelberg, 
and seven months in Vienna studying obstetrics under 
Carl Braun and pathology under Kundat. He also spent 
some time in travel, visiting Germany, Switzerland, and 
Italy, as well as Constantinople and the East. 
Returning to New York in 1873, he'began practice in 
that metropolis. He was soon appointed to several dis- 
pensary positions, and also as instructor in the College of 
Physicians and Surgeons. 
After a residence of six years in New York he removed 
with his family to Hartford, Conn., in 1879. During 
these six years in New York he devoted himself largely to 
the study of pathology and gynaecology. 
On beginning practice in Hariford he gave up all gen- 
eral work and devoted himself solely to the diseases of 
women. In 1880 he was appointed Clinical Lecturer on 
Gynaecology in the Medical Department of Yale College, 
which position he held for two years. In 1882, on the 
death of Dr. James P. White, he was called to the Chair 
of Obstetrics and Gynaecology in the Medical Department 
of the University of Buffalo. He was also appointed 
Gynaecologist to the Buffalo General Hospital, and later 
Obstetrician to the same. In Buffalo he has limited him- 
self in his practice to gynaecology, abdominal surgery, and 40 
DE. WILLIAM II. MAYFIELD. 
consultations in obstetrics. In abdominal surgery he has 
performed over eight hundred operations; his mortality 
after the first hundred, which were done in the pre-anti- 
septic days, being about 5 per cent. 
While in New York he was an active member of the 
New York Obstetrical Society, and its Secretary and 
Pathologist. He has also been an active member of the 
American Gynaecological Society, contributing several 
papers to its Transactions. He was its President in 1895. 
His principal literary work was the editing of the 
"American System of Gynaecology." He has been a 
frequent contributor to medical periodicals. His paper 
(1874) on his "Immediate Treatment of Rupture of the 
Perineum" was about the first publication on this subject 
in this country. He has also published a " Manual of 
Prescription Writing," which has been very well received. 
He married, in 1869, Elizabeth Pope, of St. Paul, Minn. 
They have seven children. 
WILLIAM H. MAYFIELD, M.D., 
ST. LOUIS, MO. 
Mayfield, William Henderson, St. Louis, Mo., born 
January 18, 1852, at Patton, Mo., is the son of George 
Washington and Polly B. (Cheek) Mayfield, and the grand- 
son of Stephen Mayfield, a Revolutionary soldier of seven 
years' service. Dr. Mayfield was educated at the Carleton 
Institute and the Fruitland Normal Institute. At the age of 
seventeen he began to teach school, at the same time con- 
tinuing to pursue his studies. During the eight years that 
he taught in the public schools a revival of education swept 
over southeast Missouri, and this, together with his efforts in 
favor of Christian education, resulted in the establishment 
of the Mayfield-Smith Academy at Marble Hill, Mo., in 
1878. This school is now in a most prosperous condition. DE. WILLIAM H. MAYFIELD. 
41 
He first commenced the study of medicine at Sedgwick- 
ville, Mo., in 1874, under Dr. H. J. Smith; was a student 
for three years at the St. Louis Medical College, from which 
he was graduated in 1883. Being of a family inclined 
toward surgery, it was in this college under the master 
hands of the noted surgeons, J. J. McDowell and John T. 
Hodgen, that he developed that taste for surgery which has 
since brought him into the arena of progressive surgery. 
Dr. Mayfield then commenced the practice of medicine at 
Mayfield, Mo., but in 1884 removed to St. Louis to accept 
a chair in the College of Physicians and Surgeons, of that 
city, as professor of materia medica, therapeutics, and dis- 
eases of children. 
It was at this time that Dr. Mayfield conceived the plan 
of founding a sanitarium, as he was overcrowded with 
patients from the country and elsewhere, for whom it was 
impossible to obtain satisfactory accommodations. His 
private house was thrown open and all who could be cared 
for were taken in and treated, many of these being unable 
to offer other remuneration than gratitude. 
It was in 1884 that Dr. Mayfield founded the Missouri 
Baptist Sanitarium, which is now one of the largest and 
best-equipped hospitals in the West, valued at $125,000, 
and he has since been its superintendent and surgeon-in- 
chief. His practice is confined to general and gynecolog- 
ical surgery, and he is the originator of an operation for 
laceration of the perineum which is pronounced by many 
physicians who have witnessed the operation performed to 
be the ideal operation. Dr. I. N. Love, Vice-President of 
the American Medical Association, in remarks on Dr. May- 
field's paper, read before the Missouri State Medical So- 
ciety, June, 1895, said : " There can be no question as to 
Dr. Mayfield's claim to priority in the operation he advo- 
cates. This statement is made because recently another 
operator has declared himself the originator. Some of 
Dr. Mayfield's cases were reported to the St. Louis Medical 42 
Z>A'. WILLIAM H. MAYFIELD. 
Society at least five years ago, long before anyone else had 
ever attempted this method. Justice to Dr. Mayfield de- 
mands recognition of his rights to whatever praise is 
deserved for this mode of treatment of lacerations of the 
perineum." He is doing a great amount of capital sur- 
gery, and Dr. Piker, of Mississippi, said of him that in 
this work " he combines the strength of a lion with the ten- 
derness of a child and the sympathies of a woman," making 
him one of the most successful operators in the West. 
Dr. Mayfield is a member of the St. Louis Medical So- 
ciety, Mississippi Valley Medical Society, American Medical 
Association, and honorary member of the Southern Illinois 
Medical Society. He is a charter member of the Hospital 
Saturday and Sunday Association of St. Louis, and was 
one of the originators of this movement in the city. 
In reviewing the life of this eminent surgeon, it is pleas- 
ing to note a few extracts taken from a letter addressed to 
Elder G. W. Hyde, Superintendent Missouri Baptist Sani- 
tarium, St. Louis, Mo., and written by A. S. Ingram: 
" While in the sanitarium recently as a patient, I observed 
so many and difficult cases in the department of surgery 
that I asked Dr. Mayfield to give me a summary account 
of the charity work done in that department. He declined 
to do so, saying that the amount was so great that people 
would be incredulous and he preferred to go on working 
without reporting. I then went to the bookkeeper, who 
gave me a tabulated statement. Taking from this state- 
ment the one item of surgery done by Dr. Mayfield and 
the assistants supported by himself, and comparing that 
item with the American Medical Association's fee bill, I 
find the astonishing result that at medium rates Dr. May- 
field contributed to suffering humanity more than $11,000, 
or at maximum rates more than $20,000 in six months- 
from January 1 to June 30, 1895. This would make the 
estimate for the year at medium rates more than $22,000, 
or at maximum rates more than $40 000. This amount of DR. THOMAS M. DR YSDALE. 
43 
charity work in one line is certainly gratifying. ' ' Rev. Dr. 
G. W. Hyde writes: " I heard the head surgeon in the Mis- 
souri Pacific Hospital, Dean of Beaumont Medical College, 
and late President of St. Louis Medical Society, say that 
though Dr. Mayfield was unpopular in certain quarters on 
account of carrying his religion into the operating-room 
and offering prayers at the surgical table, he was neverthe- 
less a born surgeon, occupying the front rank in his pro- 
fession, and personally he would as soon have Dr. May- 
field operate upon himself as any man in the world." 
The Mayfield-Smith Academy, an institution of learn- 
ing, was founded principally by Dr. Mayfield's prayers and 
efforts. On May 10, 1874, Dr. Mayfield was married to 
Miss Ellen C., daughter of John F. Sitzes, of Marquand, 
Mo. Miss Sitzes was a most estimable young woman and 
has been of great assistance to her husband in his work. 
They have one living child, William Henderson, Jr. Two 
children, Ida C. and Cary Judson, are deceased. 
THOMAS M. DRYSDALE, M. D., 
PHILADELPHIA, PA. 
Thomas Murray Drysdale, of Philadelphia, Pa., the 
sixth son of William Drysdale, who was a descendant of 
the Murrays of Philiphaugh and a near relative of Sir 
Walter Scott, was born in Philadelphia on the 31st of 
August, 1831. His preliminary education was received in 
the schools of the Rev. Joseph P. Engles and the Rev. 
Samuel Crawford, under whose tuition he was prepared 
for the University of Pennsylvania. In March, 1849, he 
entered upon a course of medical instruction in the office 
of Dr. Washington L. Atlee, who at that time occupied 
the chair of Chemistry in the Pennsylvania Medical Col- 
lege ; and, in connection with the office instruction under 
this distinguished surgeon, he attended the collegiate lec- 44 
DR. THOMAS M. DR YSDALE. 
tures and became his preceptor's assistant in the labora- 
tory, of which he had entire charge during the last two 
years of his college life. He was graduated from the 
Pennsylvania Medical College on the 5th of March, 1852, 
making the subject of his thesis, " Liebig's Theory of 
Animal Heat," which he supported and proved to be 
correct by a carefully conducted series of experiments 
made upon himself with nitrogenous and non-nitrogenous 
food. He then became Dr. Atlee's assistant in his sur- 
gical practice, a position he retained for fully ten years. 
In the year following graduation Dr. Drysdale asso- 
ciated himself with Dr. A. Owen Stille and Dr. W. Kent 
Gilbert in the examination of students ; and, for the same 
purpose, he subsequently united with Dr. William Go- 
brecht, formerly Professor of Anatomy in the Medical Col- 
lege of Ohio, and Dr. J. Aitken Meigs, afterward Pro- 
fessor of Physiology in the Jefferson Medical College. 
In 1855 he was elected to fill the chair of Chemistry in 
the Wagner Free Institute of Science, made vacant by the 
resignation of Professor Rand. Here he attracted large 
audiences, but was compelled to resign the position to 
devote himself exclusively to other duties by a rapidly in- 
creasing practice, in which surgery and gynaecology be- 
came his specialties. In 1861 he performed successfully 
his first operation of ovariotomy, an operation which at 
that time was regarded with disfavor by the medical pro- 
fession, this being the first time it was done in Philadel- 
phia by any other surgeon than Dr. W. L. Atlee. Being 
appointed one of its Professors, in 1862 he delivered 
a course of lectures on the microscope in the Franklin 
Institute, which reflected great credit upon his abilities as 
a lecturer and microscopist. The study of the microscope 
had early received his careful attention, and, notwith- 
standing the variety of professional duties which crowded 
upon him, he continued to make microscopical investiga- 
tions, especially of the fluid of dropsies, adding impor- DR. THOMAS M. DR YSDALE. 
45 
tant facts to the knowledge of the profession upon subtle 
points in discussion among physicians. 
In April, 1853, he was elected member of the Philadel- 
phia County Medical Society, became its Vice-President 
in 1875, ancb in 1876, its President. In 1854 he was 
elected a member of the Academy of Natural Sciences. 
On the 30th of April, 1861, he was appointed Assistant 
Surgeon of the First Regiment of Pennsylvania Infantry, 
and was made Surgeon of the same regiment in 1863. He 
has been a member of the Pennsylvania State Medical 
Society since 1864, and was its Corresponding Secretary 
in 1873-74. 
He joined the American Medical Association in 1873, 
and the American Academy of Medicine in 1879, serving 
as Vice-President of the latter society in 1882. He was 
one of the founders of the American Gynaecological So- 
ciety in 1876, and was a member of the International 
Medical Congress the same year. In 1877 he became a 
member of the Philadelphia Pathological Society and also 
of the Philadelphia Obstetrical Society, serving as Vice- 
President of the Obstetrical Society in 1881, and as its 
President in 1887 88. In 1879 he received the honorary 
degree of A. M. from Lafayette College. He was elected 
a fellow of the College of Physicians in 1884, and a mem- 
ber of the British Medical Association in 1887. In 1885 
he was appointed Consulting Surgeon of Girard College, 
and, in 1892, Consulting Gynaecologist to the Medico- 
Chirurgical Hospital. Among his many contributions to 
medical literature the following are perhaps most widely 
known : 
" Case of Rupture of the Common Duct of the Liver: 
Formation of a Cyst Containing Bile." American Jour- 
nal of the Medical Sciences, April 1, 1861. 
"Dropsical Fluids of the Abdomen: Their Physical 
Properties, Chemical Analysis, Microscopic Appearance, 
and Diagnostic Value, Based on the Examination of Sev- 46 
DR. THOMAS M. DRYSDALE. 
eral Hundred Specimens." Chapter XXIV. of Dr. W. L. 
Atlee's work on The Diagnosis of Ovarian Tumors. 
"The Granular Cell Found in Ovarian Tumors." A 
paper read before the American Medical Association, and 
published in the Proceedings for 1873. 
" Tracheotomy in Diphtheria and Pseudo-membranous 
Croup. ' ' An address delivered before the Medical Society 
of the State of Pennsylvania, and published in the Pro- 
ceedings for 1874. 
" On the Use of Chlorate of Potassa in Diphtheria and 
Pseudo-membranous Croup." Medical and Surgical Re- 
porter, March 17, 1877. 
"Colloid Cancer of the Abdomen." Transactions of 
the Philadelphia Pathological Society, June 13, 1878. 
"Life of Dr. Washington L. Atlee." Transactions of 
the Pennsylvania State Medical Society, October 10, 1879. 
" The Ovarian Cell: Its Origin and Characteristics." 
Read before the Gynaecological Society of America, and 
published in the Transactions for 1882. 
"An Undescribed Source of Danger in Ovariotomy." 
American Journal of the Medical Sciences, April, 1881, 
page 444. 
"Life of Dr. W. L. Atlee." New York Journal of 
Obstetrics, 1879. 
" Caesarean Operation for the Relief of an Obstruction 
Caused by a Uterine Fibroma Impacted in the Pelvis." 
Medical News, November 26, 1887, page 621. 
"An Account of Three Surgical Cases." American 
Journal of the Medical Sciences, October, 1856, page 359. 
Dr. Drysdale's abdominal sections have been numerous. 
In his long practice he has operated more than two hun- 
dred times for the removal of ovarian tumors alone. 
In October, 1857, Dr. Drysdale married Mary L. Atlee, 
the second daughter of his preceptor. DR. HENRY D. FRY. 
47 
HENRY D. FRY, M.D., 
WASHINGTON, D. C. 
Dr. Henry D. Fry was born in Richmond, Virginia, 
April n, 1853. His ancestry came from English stock, 
and its first noted representative in this country was Col. 
Joshua Fry, whose name is so closely associated with 
Virginia in the early colonial days. Joshua Fry was born 
in Somersetshire, England, and was educated at Oxford. 
It is uncertain when he came to America, but his name is 
found in the parish register as a vestryman and in the 
records of the Court as Commissioner of Essex County, 
between 1710 and 1720. He married the widow of Col. 
Hill, a large landed proprietor on the Rappahannock 
River. Her maiden name was Mary Micou, and she was 
daughter of Paul Micou, physician and surgeon, a Hugue- 
not exile from persecution in France. 
Col. Joshua Fry settled in Madison County, and the 
old homestead, which is still standing in a good state of 
preservation, is described in a memoir of his life, pub- 
lished by Rev. P. Slaughter, as "having in it a historical 
room originally dedicated to the muses of music and the 
dance, in which William Wirt, in his youth, played his 
pranks and wrote comedies; where Thomas Jefferson, in 
his journeys to and from Washington, in his French lan- 
dau, refreshed himself with hospitable cheer." Quoting 
from the same work, the author says: "I know of no 
other person in our history of like social position, wealth, 
capacity, character, and public service as Col. Fry, about 
whom there is so little to be found in print, and that little 
so scattered in infinitesimal items. We have to trace his 
career by the posts of honor which he filled, as we would 
track the general of an army by the names of his battles 
in ignorance of the details of his campaign." 48 
DR. HENRY D. FRY. 
Among the posts of honor we find he occupied a pro- 
fessorship in William and Mary College. The foundation 
of the President's house of that institution was laid on the 
30th of July, 1732. Joshua Fry was one of the five who 
laid the first five bricks. Many honorable trusts were con- 
fided to him by the Governor. He was one of the Com- 
missioners of the Crown for marking the line defining the 
western limit of the Northern Necks and the line between 
Virginia and North Carolina. 
In 1745, with Peter Jefferson, the father of Thomas 
Jefferson, he finished a map of Virginia, known as Fry 
and Jefferson's map. In 1752 he was one of the Com- 
missioners for Virginia in negotiating the Treaty of 
Logstown. 
In 1754 troops were raised to resist French aggression 
in the Ohio Valley, and Governor Dinwiddie appointed 
Col. Joshua Fry commander-in-chief of the Virginia regi- 
ment. George Washington was lieutenant-colonel, and 
went in advance to clear a road for the artillery, which 
was to follow with Col. Fry. When the expedition had 
reached Fort Cumberland, on the Potomac River at the 
mouth of Wills' Creek, Col. Fry died, May 31, 1754. 
George Washington, being next in rank, succeeded to 
the command. Among the family papers is a manuscript 
which states that Col. Fry was buried near Fort Cumber- 
land, and that Washington and the army attended the 
funeral. On a large oak tree, which now stands as a tomb 
and a monument to his memory, Washington cut the fol- 
lowing inscription, " Under this oak lies the body of the 
good, the just, and the noble Fry." 
Col. Fry made Peter Jefferson his executor and left him 
his mathematical instruments. Their sons, Rev. Henry 
Fry and Thomas Jefferson, were intimate friends. Among 
the letters in possession of the family is one from Thomas 
Jefferson to the Rev. Henry Fry, dated Washington, June 
17, 1804, in which he advises him to ride a trotting horse DR. HENRY D. FRY. 
49 
for relief of his "visceral complaint." Jefferson says he 
suffered from the same trouble, and, on the advice of Dr. 
Eustis, of Boston, he was cured by Sydenham's method of 
riding a trotting horse. 
Hugh Walker Fry, Jr., the fourth lineal descendant of 
Col. Joshua Fry, was born April 14, 1826. He grew up 
and received his education in Richmond, and with his 
father and brothers conducted an extensive commission 
business. He entered the militia service of his State when 
quite young, and was commissioned first lieutenant when 
twenty-two years of age. At the breaking out of the Civil 
War he was Major of the 179th Virginia Regiment, and 
served throughout the war with General Henry A. Wise. 
He married Mary L., daughter of John Davidson, of 
West Washington, D. C., and the only living offspring of 
the marriage is the subject of this sketch, Dr. Henry D. 
Fry. 
His boyhood and school days were spent in Richmond 
and Washington, and on reaching manhood his inclination 
led him to the study of medicine. At the age of twenty- 
three he was graduated from the Medical Department of 
the University of Maryland, and the same year obtained 
an appointment by competitive examination as interne in 
the Jersey City Charity Hospital. 
Having completed the term of service at that institution 
he returned to Washington in 1878, and commenced the 
active practice, of his profession. He formed the acquaint- 
ance of Dr. W. W. Johnston, who controlled a large and 
select clientele, and for fourteen years they were associated 
in practice. This intimate friendship has continued ever 
since, and Dr. Johnston has never lost an opportunity to 
advance the interests of his protege. As experience was 
added to years, Dr. Fry gradually developed a taste for 
special work, and drifted almost unconsciously into gynae- 
cological and obstetrical practice. 
In 1890 he visited Europe for the purpose of enlarging 50 
DR. HE NR Y D. FR Y. 
his knowledge of operative work by scrutinizing the 
methods of the best foreign operators. In the same year 
Dr. Fry did the first successful Caesarean section ever per- 
formed in the District of Columbia. He has since had a 
second successful case. Both operations were done after 
the Sanger method. He also has to his credit the per- 
formance of the first symphysiotomy in the District, and 
saved mother and child. Dr. Fry was an early advocate 
of antiseptic midwifery. In 1887 he translated from the 
French Dr. Paul Bar's Principles of Antiseptic Methods 
Applied to Obstetric Practice, and at various times has con- 
tributed to medical literature articles on the same subject. 
His most recent contribution was the President's Address 
for 1894 to the Washington Obstetrical and Gynaeco- 
logical Society, in which he demonstrated by statistics 
from the Health Department of Washington that deaths 
from puerperal septic diseases were lamentably frequent 
and still showed a lack of conformity to antiseptic rules. 
He has sent numerous contributions to medical periodicals 
on gynaecological and obstetrical subjects. His experi- 
ence covers pretty thoroughly the entire field of gynae- 
cology, and he carries into his operative work the same 
firm convictions regarding the importance of a strict 
adherence to aseptic principles. 
In 1890 Dr. Fry was appointed Professor of Obstetrics 
in the Medical Department of Georgetown University. 
He is in charge of the gynaecological and obstetrical ser- 
vice at the Garfield Memorial Hospital ; is a member of 
several local medical societies; was President for several 
years of the Washington Obstetrical and Gynaecological 
Society, and is a member of different national medical 
societies, among them the American Gynaecological. 
Dr. Fry married Miss Gertrude M. Campbell, of Wash- 
ington, who died in 1891, leaving him two little girls. DR. EDMUND CARLETON. 
51 
EDMUND CARLETON, M.D., 
NEW YORK, N. Y. 
Edmund Carleton, M. D., was born at Littleton, N. H., 
December n, 1839. His father, Edmund Carleton, Esq., 
a well-known lawyer, and his mother, Mrs. Mary K. Carle- 
ton, a woman of rare endowments, were leaders in the 
anti-slavery cause, and were identified with the religious 
and philanthropic movements of their day. 
Before their son could be fitted for college financial 
reverses interfered. Classics gave way to farming and 
land surveying. When partially qualified for the bar (his 
father's ambition), attendance upon one term of jury trials 
was so distasteful that it settled in the negative all thought 
of a legal career. The value of a legal training, when 
"taking" the symptoms of a difficult case, has since 
become evident. 
He was an attache of the Boston Journal in 1864, saw 
all the great battles in Virginia that year up to the siege 
of Petersburg, besides much military surgery, which inter- 
ested him greatly. His perilous ride, May 24th, from 
Grant's headquarters to Fredericksburg, whence he secured, 
by stratagem, transportation to Acquia Creek and Wash- 
ington, with dispatches for the Boston Journal and New 
York Tribune, was considered a great "beat" by news- 
paper men, and his return trip to the front, in spite of 
Secretary Stanton's orders to the contrary, more wonder- 
ful still. In front of Petersburg he was taken with fever, 
sent North, cured by homoeopathy and converted to it. 
His life-work may be said to date from that event. 
His medical education was received at the Hahnemann 
Medical College, Philadelphia, and the New York Homoeo- 
pathic Medical College, being graduated from the latter in 
1871. In addition to the legal requirements, he took a 52 
DR. EDMUND CARLETON. 
special course in anatomy and surgery. He has practised 
in New York City continuously since graduation. 
Although considered a specialist by many, his intimate 
friends know that he is not one, but is a homoeopathic 
physician, believing in and practising pure homoeopathy 
as specified by Hahnemann. He prefers cures to mutila- 
tions. His record shows many cured cases which by most 
medical men would have been relegated to the knife. He 
was for many years Professor of Surgery in the New York 
Medical College and Hospital for Women, where he was 
conspicuous as teacher and examplar; is surgeon to the 
Metropolitan Hospital, Blackwell's Island, besides holding 
many other active and honorary positions in the profes- 
sional world. He does not hesitate to perform operations 
of the first magnitude if they are in his judgment advisable. 
One notable ovariotomy, in May, 1886, should be men- 
tioned here. The patient was fifty-seven years old; the 
tumor said to be about four years old; removed through 
an incision four inches long; generally adherent, many of 
the adhesions being as large and thick as the hand, and 
detached mainly with the thumb-nails ; pedicle transfixed, 
and first each half and then the whole ligated with No. 7 
silk, one ligature; stump formed with ecraseur; stump 
and all raw parts bathed with a weak mixture of calendula 
and water; cavity dried; incision sutured with silver, 
strapped, and dressed with clean linen. Time, 2^ hours; 
ether, 1% pounds; weight of cyst (multilocular) and con- 
tents, 150^ pounds. After-treatment, homoeopathic to 
such symptoms as appeared, some of them being severe. 
Water allowed freely; milk in moderation until convales- 
cence was well advanced; then diet increased. Patient 
was well in a month. The operation was performed in a 
humble, old house, carefully cleaned. The details have 
been given above, as they epitomize Dr. Carleton's views 
and practice. DR. ELIZABETH C. KELLER. 
53 
ELIZABETH C. KELLER, M.D., 
BOSTON, MASS. 
Elizabeth Catharine Keller, physician and surgeon, 
was born in a small town near Gettysburg, Penna., April 
4, 1837. She was the eighth of a family of twelve children. 
Her father, Capt. Wm. Rex (War of 1812), a native of 
Adams County, Pa., was a man of uncompromising in- 
tegrity and great intelligence. The mother was a woman 
who moved in the orbit of her home with all the gentle, 
wifely, and motherly graces. Both parents were strong 
adherents of the Lutheran Church. The grandparents on 
both sides were Germans. 
Elizabeth, with her brothers and sisters, attended the 
district school, making good use of time and opportunity. 
Elizabeth had a private tutor for three years, and became 
herself a successful teacher for seven years. Her father, a 
thrifty farmer, received much help from his children, and 
Elizabeth added her energy to that of her brothers. 
Her superabundant physical health often carried her 
beyond the ordinary limit, as she pitted her strength 
against that of her brothers in out-door life. She under- 
stood all the details of farm work, from the building of 
stone walls, the clearing of fields, shearing of sheep, and 
the picking of geese, to the spinning of flax and wool. 
Her special care was for sick and wounded animals. 
This tendency early manifested itself, and seemed to fore- 
shadow her later profession. 
She was endowed with a deeply religious nature, and at 
an early age became a zealous worker in the church, lead- 
ing class-meetings, giving Bible-readings, and teaching in 
the Sunday-school. 
At one time she was almost persuaded that a missionary 
life was her vocation, so brimming was she with possibil- 54 
DR. ELIZABETH C. KELLER. 
ities for any line of work which would bring into use her 
higher faculties. 
In 1857 she married Matthias McComsey, of Lancaster, 
Pa. In 1858 her son was born, and within two years she 
was a widow. 
In i860 she was appointed Superintendent of the Lan- 
caster Orphans' Home, which later became the Soldiers' 
Orphans' Home. For seven years she had charge of hun- 
dreds of children provided for in that institution. Her 
management was characterized by faithful and energetic 
devotion. She filled the threefold office of mother, 
teacher, and physician, treating the various diseases inci- 
dent to childhood with success. 
In 1867 she married Geo. L. Keller, and went to Phila- 
delphia to live. Here she was thrown among medical 
women in connection with the Woman's Hospital, and 
her natural aptitude for medical work assumed definite 
shape, and with the full approval of her husband she en- 
tered the Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania in 
1868, graduating in 1871. 
After graduation she immediately opened a hospital and 
dispensary in Bedford Street, Philadelphia, and within a 
year was appointed successor to Dr. Ann Preston on the 
Board of Attending Physicians of the Woman's Hospital 
of Philadelphia, which position she filled, while engaged in 
private practice, until 1875, when she was appointed Resi- 
dent Physician of the New England Hospital for Women, 
in Boston, Mass. In 1877 she entered upon private prac- 
tice in Jamaica Plain, where she now holds a place of 
honor in the profession and the community. 
But it is in the department of surgery where Dr. Keller 
has exhibited qualities which justly place her in the front 
rank, not only among women, but among surgeons. Dur- 
ing the twenty years in which she has held the position of 
Senior Operating Surgeon at the New England Hospital 
her terms cf service have been full of thorough, ingenious, DR. ELIZABETH C. KELLER. 
55 
and progressive work, including not only minor surgery, 
but the reduction of fractures, amputations, and abdom- 
inal surgery. A true optimist, Dr. Keller carries the in- 
herent principles of success into the operating-room, 
where her quiet, cheerful mien marks her as one in full 
command of the situation. As an operator she is cool 
and deliberate, yet prompt and decided ; cautious, but 
ready; deft-handed and fertile in resource. From the first 
incision each movement tells, and, with no appearance of 
hurry, work moves rapidly on. To her corps of internes 
she is an inspiration ; each step in the work is made an 
object lesson. Knowing the vital importance of correct 
emergency treatment, she instructs them in improvising 
apparatus from material at hand, and many an appliance, 
made up from the wood-house and attic, has, by its ready 
utility, enforced essential principles in surgery never to be 
forgotten. 
Great as she is in her profession, Dr. Keller has that 
genius of character that would give her prominence in 
whatever position she might fill. She has a commanding 
presence, a fine physique, and manners that are affable and 
magnetic. Thus she wins her way without effort. She is 
a ready and forceful speaker upon various subjects, and her 
interest is vivid whether the occasion be the dedication of 
a new school-house, the presentation of graduate diplomas, 
the rehearsal of the last interesting case, or the discussion 
of some vital topics of the day. 
All questions pertaining to the advancement of the 
world, particularly of women, lie very close to her heart. 
Broad and catholic in spirit, generous and forgiving toward 
human frailty, she can yet be righteously indignant in the 
face of wrong and fearless in its denunciation. 
That she can carry so much responsibility in her profes- 
sion and do so much earnest work in other directions, is a 
source of wonder to her friends. Since 1890 Dr. Keller 
has been a member of the Boston School Board, holding 56 
DR. ELIZABETH C. KELLER. 
the position with distinguished honor and credit. She has 
done most effective work as a member of the Committees 
on Text Books, Hygiene, and Examinations. She is at the 
present time Chairman of a division which includes seven 
large grammar schools, with all the colonies and primaries, 
of which she is expected to know the condition and the 
needs; to nominate for them suitable teachers and to 
decide vexed questions of discipline-in a word, to keep 
these schools up to the recognized standard ; and she has 
gained the confidence and respect of all who have come 
in contact with her in this special department. 
With all this varied work she is not unmindful of the 
sweet amenities of life. Her home in Jamaica Plain, 
Mass., is made attractive with music, pictures, and books, 
and a most hospitable welcome awaits all her friends, 
while plenty and good-cheer crown the board. 
Within the past few years she has planned and superin- 
tended the building of seven houses. 
During the summer months Dr. Keller repairs to her 
beautiful mountain retreat in Jaffrey, N. H., where she 
tosses care to the breezes and invites a well-earned rest, 
and almost any day one may see her driving her fine span 
of horses over those mountain roads. Dr. Keller has not 
lived unto herself alone. She has provided home and edu- 
cation for three orphan nieces, one of whom, Dr. Ida F. 
Curry, a girl of rare promise, died in the second year of 
her practice; her daughter, Helen, is prepared to enter 
Smith College this year, and an interesting grandchild, the 
daughter of her only son, completes the happy picture of 
young life in the household. DR. FRANCIS E. DOUGHTY. 
57 
FRANCIS E. DOUGHTY, M.D., 
NEW YORK, N. Y. 
Francis E. Doughty, M.D., second son of Samuel 
G. and Jane Rebecca {nee Hart) Doughty, was born in 
Troy, New York, August 14th, in the year 1847. 
He is descended from the Rev. Francis Doughty, a 
Puritan pastor, who emigrated to this country from Eng- 
land in the year 1633. 
Dr. Doughty's father was a prominent wholesale grocery 
merchant. He moved to New York with his family in 
1854. 
The Doctor received his literary education chiefly in 
the commercial and collegiate institutes of New Haven, 
Conn., and Yonkers, N. Y., principally in the latter, from 
which he was graduated in the year 1866. 
From his early youth he had a desire to be a surgeon, 
and commenced his medical studies during his last year in 
school. After his graduation he entered the College of 
Physicians and Surgeons, New York, and it was from this 
institution he received his diploma at the commencement 
in the spring of 1869, although he had passed the exami- 
nation and was licensed to practise medicine in the fall of 
1868, at which time he engaged upon the practice of his 
profession. Shortly after his graduation he was appointed 
one of the attending surgeons to the New York Homoeo- 
pathic Dispensary, and later associate house physician to 
that institution. He was also appointed Professor of Sur- 
gery in the New York Medical College and Hospital for 
Women, which chair he occupied for three years. 
In the year 1872 he was invited to take the chair of 
Genito-urinary Diseases in the New York Homoeopathic 
Medical College, and he held this position until the year 
1894, when he resigned to assume the position of Professor 58 
DR. FRANCIS E. DOUGHTY. 
of Surgical Gynaecology in the same institution, which 
chair he still occupies. For ten years he served as Pro- 
fessor of Anatomy in this college, with great credit to him- 
self as a thorough anatomist. 
When the present Hahnemann Hospital was organized 
he was appointed one of the attending surgeons, and did 
active duty for nearly twenty years. When the Commis- 
sioners of Charity and Correction placed one of the large 
public hospitals under the care of the homoeopathies he was 
elected one of the surgeons, and resigned that position after 
a service of more than ten years. 
For twenty years Dr. Doughty served as attending sur- 
geon to the Five Points House of Industry, devoting much 
of his valuable time and energy to this work. At the 
present time he is consulting surgeon to the Laura Franklin 
Free Hospital for Children, which position he has held 
since the foundation of this noble charity. He is also 
attending surgeon to the Flower Hospital in connection 
with the college. 
He is a member of the American Institute of Homoe- 
opathy (1872); of the State and County Homoeopathic 
Medical Societies. He is a member of the New York 
Medical Club and the Jahr Club, also member of the St. 
Nicholas Society, New York City Club, and the Fencers. 
The Doctor is a fluent, easy writer, and many valuable 
and interesting articles from his pen have frequently ap- 
peared in the North American Journal of Homoeopathy. 
As a teacher he has been eminently successful, his 
lectures being delivered extemporaneously and in a con- 
versational style, and he possesses in a high degree the 
happy faculty of being able to impart his own knowledge 
to his hearers. 
He devotes himself chiefly to surgical practice, and has 
attained a high reputation as a skilful, careful, and con- 
scientious operator. He has a large surgical practice, and 
is eminently successful in abdominal cases. DR. J. WESLEY BOVEE. 
59 
He has an active, profound mind, eager for new knowl- 
edge, and earnest in his desire to obtain truth upon all 
subjects. His ideas are broad and conservative. He has 
added honor to his profession by contributing liberally to 
many charitable causes. He is genial and kind in his bear- 
ing, and true to those who claim his friendship. 
The Doctor was married in the year 1868, to Miss 
Hannah M. Starr, by whom he has had three children, only 
one of whom, a daughter, survives. 
J. WESLEY BOVEE, M.D., 
WASHINGTON, D. C. 
John Wesley Bovee was born December 31, 1861, in 
the town of Clayton, in Jefferson County, New York 
State. His birthplace was near the banks of the St. Law- 
rence River near by the Thousand Islands-one of nature's 
beauty spots. Its high latitude, at least in part, accounts 
for the sturdy, rugged people that live in that section, 
and to those who personally know Dr. Bovee it is not 
necessary to state that he is of the same type. His early 
education was obtained in his native county at high 
schools and from private tutors. From 1879 to *882 he 
was engaged as a public school teacher. In 1882 he re- 
moved to Washington, D. C., to begin the study of med- 
icine, and in October of that year matriculated in the 
medical department of Columbian University. From 
this institution of learning he received the degree of Doctor 
of Medicine in March, 1885. 
In September, 1884, after a competitive examination, 
he was appointed Assistant Resident Physician of the 
Children's Hospital, and resigned from that position in 
1885 to accept the position of Resident Physician in 
Columbia Hospital for Women and Lying-in Asylum, 60 
DR. J. WESLE Y BOVEE. 
which afforded him a large experience in gynaecology 
and obstetrics. 
In 1888 he resigned from this position to enter on the 
private practice of his profession. The same year he was 
appointed on the medical staff of the Central Dispensary as 
an assistant, resigning from the same the following year. 
In 1889 was appointed Visiting Physician to Washington 
Asylum Hospital, in 1890 Attending Physician to St. 
Ann's Infant Asylum, in 1891 Obstetric Surgeon to Co- 
lumbia Hospital, and the same year Attending Physician 
to Providence Hospital. In 1893 he was transferred from 
the obstetricil to the gynaecological service in Columbia 
Hospital for Women, from Attending Physician to Gynae- 
cologist to Providence Hospital, and in St. Ann's Infant 
Asylum was transferred from attending to consulting staff. 
He at present holds the same hospital positions. From 
1892 to 1896 he held the chair of Gynaecology and Clin- 
ical Obstetrics in the medical department of National 
University, which position he resigned to accept the posi- 
tion of Clinical Professor in Columbian University. He is 
a member of the American Medical Association, of the 
Medical Association of the District of Columbia, of the 
Washington Obstetrical and Gynaecological Society, of 
the Southern Surgical and Gynaecological Society, of the 
Board of Examiners for Applicants for Physicians to the 
Poor of District of Columbia, Vice-President of the Med- 
ical Society of the District of Columbia, and ex-Vice- 
President and ex-President of the Medical and Surgical 
Society of the District of Columbia. He has contributed 
quite a number of papers on various gynaecological, 
pediatric, and obstetrical subjects to medical journals. 
The subject of this sketch was descended on his paternal 
side from a French family, members of which came to 
this country late in the eighteenth and early in the present 
century, and settled in New York. One of these, Jean 
Bovee, settled on the Hudson, and one of his sons, John, DR. HENRY T. BYFORD. 
61 
married Emeline Baird, a relative of General Winfield 
Scott, and to this union were born ten children, seven of 
whom are now living. One of the ten, William Henry, 
was married to Sarah Elizabeth, daughter of John Wesley 
Roat, both of whose parents were natives of Amsterdam, 
Holland. 
To William Henry and his wife, Sarah Elizabeth, were 
born several children, among them being John Wesley 
Bovee, whose life-sketch is here given. In 1889 he mar- 
ried Miss Katharine, the daughter of John Seager, one of 
an old Pennsylvania family that traces its ancestry back 
to the time of Charles II. of England. 
Mrs. Bovee was educated in the Notre Dame Convent 
in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and the Academy of the Visita- 
tion in Georgetown, D. C. 
HENRY T. BYFORD, M.D., 
CHICAGO, ILL. 
Dr. Henry T. Byford, son of Dr. William H. Byford 
and brother of Dr. William H. Byford, Jr., was born at 
Evansville, Ind., November 12, 1853. He studied the 
classics in the high schools of Berlin from 1865 to 1868, 
and finished his literary studies at the Scientific Depart- 
ment of Williston Seminary. He graduated from the 
Medical Department of the Northwestern University in 
1873, before reaching his twentieth birthday. 
His contributions to gynaecological periodical literature, 
invention of instruments, and of new operative proced- 
ures are numerous. He is one of the authors of the Amer 
ican Textbook of Gynaecology, of Keating & Coe's Clinical 
Gyncecology, and of Byford's Diseases of Women, and also 
the author of Byford's Manual of Gyncecology. 
He is Professor of Gynaecology and Clinical Gynae- 62 
DR. J. HARVIE DEW. 
cology in the College of Physicians and Surgeons of 
Chicago and in the Chicago Post-Graduate Medical 
School, Professor of Clinical Gynaecology in the Women's 
Medical School of the Northwestern University, Surgeon 
to the Woman's Hospital of Chicago, Honorary President 
of the International Congress of Gynaecology and Ob- 
stetrics and also of the International Congress of Obstet- 
rics and Gynaecology of Bordeaux, Member of the British 
Gynaecological Society, American Gynaecological Society, 
Chicago Gynaecological Society, Corresponding Member 
of the Obstetrical and Gynaecological Society of Phila- 
delphia, etc. 
J. HARVIE DEW, M.D., 
NEW YORK, N. Y. 
Dr. James Harvie Dew is a typical representative of 
that active, enterprising set of Southern men who, during 
the latter part of the sixties, found their way to New York 
to seek success and reputation where the struggle was 
fiercest. He was born October 18, 1843, in Newtown, 
King and Queen County, Va. 
His father, Benjamin Franklin Dew, a courteous and 
genial gentleman of the old Virginia type, was graduated 
from William and Mary College, taking successively the 
degrees of B.A., M.A., and B.L. He was an extensive 
land-owner, and one of his estates was the historic "Mal- 
vern Hill," where the celebrated battle of that name was 
fought in 1862. 
His grandfather was Thomas Dew, a captain in the War 
of 1812, and a descendant of the Hon. Thomas Dew, a 
Speaker of the House of Burgesses in the old colonial days 
of Virginia. 
His mother was Mary Susan, daughter of Col. Reuben M. 
Garnett, also of King and Queen County. He is a nephew DR. J. HARVIE DEW. 
63 
of the late Thomas R. Dew, a successful and most distin- 
guished professor, writer, and President of the old William 
and Mary College, and a brother of Judge John G. Dew, 
of Virginia. 
Dr. Dew was educated at Prof. Gessner Harrison's Pre- 
paratory School and at the University of Virginia. His 
academic course of study was interrupted by the outbreak 
of the War in 1861, and at the age of eighteen he enlisted 
in " Lee's Partisan Rangers," commanded by R. E. Lee's 
son, William H. F., afterward Maj. Gen. Lee. This troop 
was soon merged into the Ninth Virginia Cavalry, and here 
he served until the close of the contest, under "Jeb" 
Stuart and his successors. 
This service afforded the experience and opportunity 
which enabled the doctor to publish " a most unique and 
valuable" contribution to the history of the war, present- 
ing the conditions, circumstances, and peculiarities which 
led to the development and characteristic features of the 
"Yankee and Rebel Yells." This article appeared in the 
April number of the Century Magazine for 1892. 
Dr. Dew commenced the study of medicine in January, 
1866. His preceptors were Dr. William D. Quesenbery, 
of Virginia, and Dr. Joseph W. Howe, of New York. He 
was graduated from the University of Virginia in June, 
1867. Served as House Physician and Surgeon to the 
Charity Hospital, New York, from April, 1868, to Octo- 
ber, 1869, and commenced the practice of his profession 
in 1870. 
He was appointed Professor of Anatomy, Physiology, 
and Hygiene in the New York Evening High School in 
1872, and continued his lectures, with great credit to him- 
self, till 1881, when the urgency of his professional work 
induced his resignation. 
His experience in a great hospital for all diseases, and 
the universal applicability of the subjects upon which he 
lectured for so many years, have served especially to qualify 64 
DR. J. S. BARNARD. 
him for general practice. In this field and in obstetrics 
he has met with eminent success. 
Dr. Dew is a member of the New York Academy of 
Medicine, the Medical Society of the County of New 
York, the Alumni Association of the Charity Hospital, 
the County Medical Association, and of the New York 
Southern and other societies. 
Among his literary efforts he has recently contributed a 
paper " Establishing a New Method of Artificial Respira- 
tion in Asphyxia Neonatorum," called "Dew's Method," 
which was read before the New York Academy of Medi- 
cine in February, 1893. This method has to date met with 
almost universal approbation, and has already been taught 
in a number of our leading medical schools. 
Dr. Dew was married in 1885 to Miss Bessie Martin, only 
daughter of Dr. Edmund H. Martin, late of Memphis, 
Tenn., now of Louisville, Ky. They have one child, 
Caroline Welborn Dew. 
J. S. BARNARD, M.D., 
James Sherman Barnard, M.D., youngest son of James 
B. Barnard, was born June 25, 1857, at Carlton, Orleans 
County, N. Y. His ancestors came to this country from 
England among the Pilgrims of the "Mayflower," and 
the family subsequently settled in New Bedford, Mass. 
His father was a farmer holding high social and political 
position in the community in which he lived. Dr. Bar- 
nard's boyhood was spent upon the farm, and his early 
educational opportunities were limited to those afforded 
by an average country school. At the age of thirteen, 
however, he left his home to pursue his studies systemati- 
cally in the academy and high school of Albion, N. Y. 
BALTIMORE, MD. DR. J. S. BARNARD. 
65 
In 1879 he began the study of medicine in the office of R. 
S. Bishop, M.D., Medina, N. Y. 
Subsequently he entered Hahnemann Medical College, 
Philadelphia, Pa., where he was graduated with honors in 
March, 1882. In the same year he began the practice of 
medicine in Clyde, N. Y., and in 1884 married Miss 
Lillian Hoyt, of that place. He was from the beginning 
very successful, and in the six years of his residence here 
built up an extensive village and country practice. But a 
rural environment was too restricted to satisfy the aspira- 
tions of a man of Dr. Barnard's scientific bent and acquis- 
itive mind. In his practice he had discovered how many 
things were yet to be learned, and, abandoning the field 
which he so successfully cultivated and which his labors 
and merits had made a lucrative one, he applied himself 
apart to study, this time devoting himself to a specialty. 
He then in 1890 removed to Baltimore, Md., and was ap- 
pointed to the Chair of Clinical, Operative, and Orificial 
Surgery in the Southern Homoeopathic Medical College. 
He held this position until August, 1894, when he resigned 
it to accept the Chair of Gynsecology and Orificial Sur- 
geryin the same institution. 
Dr. Barnard is a practitioner of marked success, and his 
chosen field is surgery, and he has rapidly gained distinc- 
tion in it in his new field of labor. He is a courageous 
and brilliant operator, yet at the same time scrupulous and 
cautious. He does not suffer himself to be trammelled by 
theories or the traditions of schools, but, with a perfect 
acquaintance with the views and methods of others, trusts 
his own judgment in every particular case. He is an inde- 
fatigable student, and fills the brief intervals of profes- 
sional engagements with reading and investigation. In 
the sick-room his genial manner, warm sympathies, and 
unwavering confidence inspire the patient with courage. 
These qualities sufficiently explain the rapidity of his rise 
vol. 11.-5 66 
DR. J. H. KELLOGG. 
to popularity in his new field and the affection in which 
old and new clients hold him. 
Dr. Barnard is a member of the following professional 
organizations : Wayne County Homoeopathic Medical So- 
ciety, Western New York Homoeopathic Medical Society, 
New York State Homoeopathic Medical Society, American 
Institute of Homoeopathy, Maryland Homoeopathic Med- 
ical Society, American Society of Orificial Surgery, South- 
ern Homoeopathic Medical Association, and President of 
the Maryland and District of Columbia Clinical Society. 
Dr. Barnard is also prominent in the Masonic Order 
and is now a member of the following Masonic bodies: 
F. and A. M., Clyde Lodge, No. 341 ; Griswold Chapter 
(Clyde), No. 201; Beausiant Commandery, No. 8, Balti- 
more, Md. ; and A. O. N. M. S., Damascus Temple, 
Rochester, N. Y. 
T. H. KELLOGG, M.D., 
BATTLE CREEK, MICH. 
Dr. John Harvey Kellogg, was born at Tyrone, 
Livingston County, Mich., February 26, 1852. ' His 
father's name was John Preston Kellogg, and his mother 
was a Miss Ann Jeannette Stanley. ' His paternal grand- 
father was Josiah Kellogg, of Northampton, Mass., where 
his father resided until a few years before his birth, North- 
ampton having been the family seat of this, one of the 
oldest New England families, for nearly two hundred and 
fifty years. He attended the Michigan State Normal 
School at Ypsilanti, Mich. At the request of his father 
he left school before graduation to commence the study of 
medicine, in the year 1872, but continued the study of the 
sciences and modern languages by himself and with the 
aid of able teachers. His medical preceptor was Dr. 
Daniel Lewis, New York City. He attended the Medical DR. J. H. KELLOGG. 
67 
Department of the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and 
later Bellevue Hospital Medical College, which was then 
at the height of its prestige, numbering among its faculty 
those eminent teachers Fordyce Barker, James N. Wood, 
E. R. Peaslee, Albert B. Crosby, Austin Flint, Sr., all of 
whom are now deceased. After graduation he took extra 
courses under Prof. Arnold, of New York, in histology; 
Profs. Austin Flint, Sr., and E. J. Janeway, in physical 
diagnosis; under Dr. Noyes, of New York, in the eye and 
ear; under Prof. George M. Beard, in electrotherapy; 
and under other specialists in microscopy and other 
branches. He was graduated at Bellevue Hospital Med- 
ical College, March, 1875. 
Dr. Kellogg commenced the practice of medicine in 
Battle Creek, Mich., in the summer of 1875, and has re- 
mained in practice there ever since. He is at the present 
time, and has been for eighteen -years. Superintendent of 
the Battle Creek Sanitarium; Surgeon to the Battle Creek 
Sanitarium Hospital; Superintendent of the Chicago Med- 
ical Mission, which he visits weekly ; President of the 
Haskell Orphans' Home and of the-JamesWhite Memorial 
Home for Aged People. The Battle Creek Sanitarium is 
an incorporated institution, organized as a self-supporting 
beneficent enterprise for the promotion of rational med- 
icine and the relief of the worthy sick poor. 
Dr. Kellogg has always been greatly interested in sani- 
tary and philanthropic enterprises. He has twice been 
appointed member of the State Board of Health, serving 
in that capacity continuously for twelve years. He has 
occupied various official positions in surgery and med- 
icine. He was President of the Regular Medical Society 
of Calhoun County for the year 1887, and he has several 
times represented his County and State Societies at the 
meetings of the American Medical Association. 
Dr. Kellogg is a member of the following medical soci- 
eties: Life Fellow of the British Gynaecological Society; DR. J. H. KELLOGG. 
68 
Corresponding Member of La Societe d'Hygiene ; a Foun- 
der and Life Member of the International Periodical Gynae- 
cological Congress; Perrrraiie*U Member of the American 
Medical Association; Member of the Michigan State 
Medical Society, Calhoun County Medical Society, and 
Battle Creek Academy of Medicine. 
Some of the following books and papers, among numer- 
ous others, which he has contributed to medical journals 
and other publications, and which have been quite widely 
noticed abroad as well as in this country, are worth men- 
tioning, viz.: 
" A Series of School Text-books of Physiology," written 
by request of the house of Harper Bros. 
"A Series of io Colored Wall-charts Illustrative of 
Anatomy, Physiology, and Hygiene, for Use in Schools." 
"A Series of 21. Charts, Comprising 118 Outline Fig- 
ures of the Human Body, embodying the Results of Several 
Thousand Observations, Embracing Studies of a Number 
of Different Civilized and Uncivilized Races, including 
the Principal Types of the Human Family." 
" Graphic Methods of Recording Diseased Conditions 
of the Lungs, and a New Form of Pneumograph, or 
Pneograph." 
" Methods of Precision in the Investigation of Disorders 
of Digestion." 
"The Influence of Dress in Producing the Physical 
Decadence of American Women." 
" The Value of Exercise as a Therapeutic Means in the 
Treatment of Pelvic Diseases of Women." 
" Intestinal Asepsis and Antisepsis in Abdominal Sur- 
gery, with a Report of 358 Cases, with 8 Deaths, including 
a Series of 165 Successive Recoveries." 
"Sixty Cases of Uterine Myomata Treated by Electro- 
lysis, with Description of New Forms of Electrodes and a 
Coulombmeter.' ' 
" The Use of Oxygen by Enemata," a new mode of in- DR. J. H. KELLOGG. 
69 
troducing this important therapeutic agent into the circu- 
lation. 
" Report of 73 Cases of Operation for Shortening the 
Round Ligaments, and Description of a New Method of 
Operation." 
"Antiseptic Drainage in Abdominal Surgery, with 
Description of an Aseptic Drainage tube." 
"A Discussion of the Electro-therapeutic Methods of 
Apostoli and Others," constituting a chapter in the Inter- 
national System of Electro-therapeutics, published by the 
F. A. Davis Co. 
" A Paper Relating to a New Form of Electrical Cur- 
rent-the so-called 'Sinusoidal Current,'" which was 
discovered by Dr. Kellogg in the summer of 1883, since 
rediscovered and described by D'Arsonval, of Paris. 
In addition he is editor of> Modern, Medic-inf. erndMdrre- 
teriologica-l Review. a journal devoted to rational medicine, 
particularly to a review of the most recent results of bac- 
teriological research and developments in physiological 
chemistry. Also editor, in conjunction with Drs. N. S. 
Davis and T. D. Crothers, of the American Medical Tem- 
perance Quarterly, the organ of the American Medical 
Temperance Association. Dr. Kellogg is also President 
of the American Medical Missionary College, Chicago, 
Illinois, a four-year medical school second to no medical 
college in the United States in grade, and devoted wholly 
to the education of medical missionaries. 
Dr. Kellogg is a remarkably successful operator. In 
one case he removed successfully, by the lumbar method, 
a diseased kidney so large as to require the amputation of 
the last rib, containing a calculus which weighed 
ounces. He devised a new method of performing the 
operation of shortening the round ligaments which has 
proved very successful. He has tested the operation in 
over five hundred cases with less than 5 per cent, of 
failures. ZV?. J. H. KELLOGG. 
70 
Dr. Kellogg is recognized by his associates as an acute 
diagnostician, and as a surgeon has few equals in rapidity 
and neatness of his operative work. His record of 165 
successive ovariotomies without a death he attributes not 
solely to his personal operative skill, but to the aseptic 
surroundings of the hospital in which he operates and the 
scrupulous attention to asepsis on the part of operators 
and nurses. 
For twenty years Dr. Kellogg has given special atten- 
tion to a study of the causes which are responsible for the 
growing physical weakness of American women, making 
extended researches in the interests of this study among 
the wild Indian tribes of this country, as well as among 
the native Chinese women and the native women of 
Mexico, France, Italy, and many other countries. In 
1888 he was elected a Fellow and Founder of the American 
Association of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists. 
He has travelled extensively in the United States, Cen- 
tral America, and Europe for the purpose of making 
scientific observations. Ttt4&e he has been abroad, in 
1883 and i88c^. In 1883 he divided his time between the 
hospitals and medical schools of London, Paris, and 
Vienna, spending a considerable portion of his time in the 
private surgical laboratory of Billroth (now deceased), 
under the special training of his first assistant, Wolfler, 
giving special attention to intestinal surgery and plastic 
surgery, in which Prof. Billroth and his assistant were at 
that time leading operators. He spent several months 
with Lawson Tait as a pupil assistant, also spent some 
time with other English and Continental gynaecological 
surgeons. He also observed abdominal surgery with 
Savage, of Birmingham, and Thornton, of London. He 
has given much attention to abdominal surgery. If he is a 
specialist in any direction, it is in gynaecology and in the 
treatment of disorders of digestion, to which he has given 
more special attention than to any other branch of med- DR. J. H. KELLOGG. 
71 
icine, having made a careful analytical study of the stomach 
fluid in more than six thousand cases, and perfected a 
more complete and exact method of chemical and bac- 
terial investigation of the stomach than has heretofore 
been employed. 
He prepared, by request, a paper entitled " The Rela- 
tion of Static Disturbance of the Abdominal Viscera to 
Displacements of the Pelvic Viscera," which was pre- 
sented before the Periodical Gynaecological Congress held 
at Brussels, Belgium, September, 1892, and published in 
the proceedings. 
He has made an extended series of investigations in 
anthropometry, which resulted in the preparation of sev- 
eral anthropometric tables, based upon an accurate test of 
the strength of the principal groups of muscles in the body 
in nearly a thousand men and an equal number of women. 
These were the first systematic studies ever made in this 
line, and were made by means of a dynamometer invented 
by him for the purpose? 
These tables and dynamometer are in use in the physical 
culture departments of Yale University, the University of 
Montreal, Wisconsin State University, and numerous other 
leading educational institutions, and are also used in the 
Government Military School-at West Point, and constitute 
the only basis which has been thus far found for accurate 
diagnosis of the nervo-muscular apparatus of an individual, 
and for a precise prescription of exercise. The results of 
these investigations were presented, by request of the Sec- 
retary, at the International Statistical Congress held in 
connection with the World's Fair at Chicago, in the fall 
of 1893. 
He has invented many valuable surgical and scientific 
instruments and appliances which are being extensively 
used. Among these may be mentioned a sterilizing fan 
for use in surgical operations, this instrument being so 
arranged as to direct a large volume of pure, filtered air 72 
DR. J. H. KELLOGG. 
upon the field of operation ; an operating water-bed, for 
the purpose of preventing shock from chilling of the 
patient during long operations; special instrqments for 
the performance of the operation of shortening the round 
ligaments; a specially constructed snare for use in connec7 
tion with the Paquelin cautery, for removing hemor- 
rhoids; an instrument for measuring the time occupied by 
muscular movement; and another for determining the 
length of time required for perception of objects, both 
instruments being used in psychological research. 
Having at command the facilities of a large sanitarium, 
Dr. Kellogg has invented many appliances and devices for 
use in the treatment of chronic maladies, among the most 
important of which are the electric-light bath, and various 
forms of apparatus for the administration of active and 
passive exercise. 
His researches for the purpose of determining the best 
method of antisepsis in abdominal surgery resulted in the 
invention of an aseptic drainage-tube, and the establish- 
ment of a special dietary in the management of cases of 
this class. 
The Medical and Surgical Sanitarium during the 
twenty. years since he took charge of it has grown to be 
the largest institution of the kind in this country. "Tour 
thousand persons are annually received into the institu- 
tion, which includes not only the Sanitarium proper, but 
a hospitaP with one hundred beds, an aseptic mater- 
nity, and fully equipped bacteriological, biological, and 
chemical laboratories, in which special researches are in 
constant progress. The hospital record for recovery after 
grave operations is the best ever attained, which Dr. 
Kellogg attributes not alone to personal skill, but in a 
large part to the purity of the country air with which the 
hospital is surrounded. We are especially glad to men- 
tion a custom which prevails in this hospital. On the 
regular weekly operating days, and at other times when DR. J. H. KELLOGG. 
73 
important operations are on hand, the physicians, nurses, 
and assistants, before beginning their work, gather in a 
side room ,and invoke the Divine blessing upon their 
labors. Without asserting that such a course secures 
Divine interposition in the saving of life, it cannot be 
denied that such a custom must be highly conducive to a 
careful consideration of the work in hand and the best 
interests of the patient to be operated upon, not only by 
physicians but by assistants and nurses, being conducive 
to that gravity of mind which is alone consistent with 
the grave responsibilities of surgical work. It seems a 
very fitting thing that the worthy example of that great 
man, Ephraim McDowell, the first ovariotomist, should 
be followed by his successors. 
The institution which Dr. Kellogg has immediate 
charge comprises some twenty-five buildings, the principal 
and nearly all of which were erected under his direction and 
from plans furnished by him. He has endeavored to make it 
a model scientific establishment, where the sick can receive 
the benefit of every known rational means for recovery. 
Neither Dr. Kellogg nor any other person has any per- 
sonal interest in the institution, and he has never received 
any income from it for his professional services either 
directly or indirectly, aside from a moderate salary, de- 
pending almost wholly upon other resources for his support 
and the carrying on of other beneficent enterprises in which 
he is interested,^among which may be mentioned several 
branch sanitariums in the United States, a-medteal mis- 
sion and sanitarium at Guadalajara, Old Mexico, and 
several medical missions in foreign lands, all of which are 
under his supervision, together with a training school for 
missionary nurses, at which upward of two hundred and 
fifty persons are constantly under instruction, ^large 
number being .sent annually to various mission fields at 
home and in foreign lands. 
He married Miss Ella E. Eaton, of Alfred Centre, N. Y., 74 
DR. MARIE J. MERGLER. 
February 22, 1879. They have no children of their own, 
but have picked up a dozen or more little waifs at various 
times and at various places, whom they are rearing and 
educating. 
May God spare and bless him to continue in his noble 
work. 
MARIE J. MERGLER, M.D., 
Marie J. Mergler, M.D., was born in Mainstockheim, 
Bavaria. She was the youngest of three children. Her 
father, Dr. Francis R. Mergler, was a graduate of the 
University of Wurzburg. Her mother was descended 
from a German family-the Von Rittershausen. When 
about one year old, her parents removed to America 
and located in Wheeling, Ill., where her father practised 
his profession. Some time afterward they removed to 
Palatine, Ill., where he continued his practice until his 
death. Owing to the limited advantages afforded by the 
district school, Dr. Francis R. Mergler personally directed 
the early education of his children, and when the in- 
creasing demands for his professional services rendered 
this no longer possible, the instruction was continued by 
private teachers. At seventeen Marie Mergler was grad- 
uated from the Cook County Normal School, and one 
year later entered the State Normal School at Oswego, 
N. Y., where she was graduated from the classical course 
in 1871. She was then appointed first assistant in the 
High School at Englewood, which position she held for 
four years. Finding, however, that the profession of 
teaching was too narrow a field and offered no incentive to 
the further prosecution of studies, she decided to adopt 
that of medicine, since she had acquired a love for it 
from her close association with her father, whom she had 
occasionally assisted in his practice. She matriculated at 
CHICAGO, ILL. DR. MARIE J. MERGLER. 
75 
the Woman's Medical College of Chicago in 1876. Dur- 
ing her course she attracted the attention of her professors 
on account of her scholarship, and she is indebted to the 
late Dr. William H. Byford, founder of the school, for 
much of her knowledge of surgery, as she assisted him at 
his operations for several years. She was graduated from 
the College in 1879, being valedictorian of her class, and 
was immediately elected Lecturer on Materia Medica, but 
was given one year's leave of absence for study. Dr. 
Mergler was the first woman graduate to compete success- 
fully with the graduates of other Chicago medical colleges 
for the appointment as interne of the Cook County Hos- 
pital at Dunning, standing second in the competitive ex- 
amination. She received the appointment and was as- 
signed a position which, however, she was not allowed to 
fill. The place was given to a young man who was not 
even required to take the examination. Determined not 
to be thwarted in having hospital experience, she went to 
Europe and studied one year at Zurich, giving special at- 
tention to pathology and clinical medicine. 
She began practice in Chicago in 1881, doing general 
practice at first and then limiting herself to obstetrics and 
gynaecology. In the latter she has acquired great skill as 
a surgeon, and in this field stands among those at the head 
of her profession in the Northwest. 
In the Woman's Medical College she has held the posi- 
tions of Lecturer on Materia Medica, Lecturer on Histol- 
ogy, of Materia Medica and Therapeutics, Clinical In- 
structor in Gynaecology, and Adjunct Professor of Gynae- 
cology. 
After the death of Professor William H. Byford she 
was appointed his successor as Professor of Gynaecology. 
Since 1885 she has held the office of Secretary of this in- 
stitution. During her term of office she has proved her- 
self to be possessed of great executive ability and has 
labored untiringly to advance the school. 76 
DR. MARIE J. MERGLER. 
In connection with the late Dr. Charles Warrington 
Earle, she has succeeded in maintaining the high standard 
and broad lines of the institution so well begun by Dr. 
Byford and his colleagues, and has greatly widened its op- 
portunities for usefulness by aiding in its union with a 
wealthy university. 
At the Lincoln Street Dispensary she has built up a fine 
gynaecological clinic in which the work is conducted by 
herself and able assistants. 
In 1882 she was one of the first two women elected on 
the attending staff of the Cook County Hospital. 
In 1886 she was appointed one of the attending sur- 
geons at the Woman's Hospital of Chicago, and in 1890 
gynaecologist to Wesley Hospital, both of which positions 
she still fills. 
In November, 1895, she was elected Head Physician and 
Surgeon at the Mary Thompson Hospital for Women and 
Children. In this last appointment, Dr. Mergler received 
the unanimous support of the Chicago Gynaecological So- 
ciety, and also of the majority of the members of the med- 
ical profession in the city, a just tribute to her skill. 
Dr. Mergler has distinguished herself for her ability in ab- 
dominal surgery. Her work is done cleanly and quickly. 
She has excellent judgment and superior diagnostic pow- 
ers. Her success in the class-room has equalled that in 
the consulting room. Her lectures are scientific and are 
rendered more valuable by her rare ability to classify her 
knowledge and her clear-cut mode of expressing herself. 
In the midst of her busy life she has contributed papers 
to some of the State Medical Societies and leading med- 
ical journals, and is the author of a 11 Guide to the Study 
of Gynaecology," a text-book used in the School. But 
her great work has been in assisting women to obtain the 
very best opportunities for a thorough medical education 
in the Woman's Medical College at Chicago. 
In the words of another of Chicago's leading physicians, 
" She is a great and good woman." DR. CHARLES B. PENROSE DR. CHARLES B. PENROSE. 
77 
CHARLES B. PENROSE, M.D., 
PHILADELPHIA, PA. 
Charles B. Penrose, M.D., the subject of this sketch, 
was born in Philadelphia, Pa., on the first day of Febru- 
ary in the year 1862. His father is Dr. R. A. F. Penrose, 
for many years Professor of Obstetrics and Diseases of 
Women and Children in the University of Pennsylvania. 
After obtaining an elementary education he was sent to 
Harvard College, and in 1881 he received the degree of 
A.B. from that institution. In the year 1884 he was 
graduated from the Medical School of the University of 
Pennsylvania. 
While studying medicine he took a post-graduate course 
at Harvard in physics, mathematics, and chemistry, re- 
ceiving the degrees from Harvard of A.M. and Ph.D. in 
1884. 
Dr. Penrose was Resident Physician in the Pennsylvania 
Hospital for sixteen months ending October 1, 1886. 
In 1887 he was appointed Out-patient Surgeon to the 
Pennsylvania Hospital. In 1888 he was appointed Sur- 
geon to the Gynaecean Hospital of Philadelphia, and it 
was through his energy and efforts that the hospital was 
founded. Dr. Penrose is an earnest worker in every 
branch of his profession. 
In 1890, by appointment, he held the position as Sur- 
geon to the German Hospital. 
Surgery has always been his favorite pursuit, notwith- 
standing he has had a very extensive general practice, and 
he has been remarkably successful in his surgical opera- 
tions, so much so that in 1893 was elected Professor 
of Gynaecology in the University of Pennsylvania, which 
position he still holds. 
He is a fluent writer, and has published numerous val- 78 
DR. B. BERNARD BROWNE. 
uable papers relating to mathematics, physics, and medi- 
cine. 
He is a member of the College of Physicians of Phila- 
delphia, the Philadelphia Academy of Surgery, Philadel- 
phia County Medical Society, and others. 
Dr. Penrose is in the vigor of youth and health, and 
the field is broad before him for usefulness and good 
which will afford him a fine opportunity to bring to bear 
his surgical skill. He has already attained a prominence 
in his profession which places him far along in the ranks 
of much older surgeons. 
B. BERNARD BROWNE, M.D., 
BALTIMORE, MARYLAND. 
Dr. Bennet Bernard Browne was born June 16, 1842, 
at Wheatlands (the old family residence) in Queen Anne's 
County, Maryland. 
His parents were Charles Cochrane Browne, a great- 
grandson of Charles Browne and Priscilla Brooke (she 
being the sister of Roger Brooke, the grandfather of Chief 
Justice Roger Brooke Taney), and Mary Elizabeth Will- 
son, the daughter of Dr. Thomas Willson, of Trumpington, 
Kent County, Maryland, and granddaughter of Hon. 
Thomas Smyth, a member of the Maryland Council of 
Safety during the Revolutionary War. 
While he was quite young, Dr. Browne's parents re- 
moved to Howard County, which continued to be his 
residence until 1861. He received his collegiate educa- 
tion at Loyola College, Baltimore. In May, 1861, he 
entered the Confederate army with a company of cavalry 
organized in Howard County, Maryland, under Captain 
George R. Gaither, and joined General Angus Mac- 
Donald's command at Winchester, Virginia. Upon the re- DR. B. BERNARD BROWNE. 
79 
organization of the cavalry service he was attached to the 
Seventh Regiment of Virginia Cavalry in the " Laurel " 
brigade, successively commanded by Generals Ashby, 
Jones, and Rosser, doing service principally in the Valley 
of Virginia under "Stonewall" Jackson; at Gettysburg 
and Spottsylvania the brigade was attached to General J. 
E. B. Stuart's command. On May 5, 1864, in the great 
cavalry charge at the battle of the Wilderness, where Rosser 
led his brigade in a sabre charge, Dr. Browne was wounded 
in the arm, while his brother Robert, who was riding 
beside him, and who was always considered one of the 
bravest and most fearless young men in the regiment, was 
shot through the heart and fell dead from his horse. 
Dr. Browne was taken prisoner in the latter part of 
May, 1864, and confined in the Old Capitol Prison at 
Washington until February, 1865, when he was sent to 
Richmond for exchange. After the surrender of Lee's 
army at Appomattox he returned to Baltimore, and, in 
August, 1865, commenced the study of medicine and sur- 
gery under the instruction of the late Professor Nathan R. 
Smith, M.D., LL.D, (who was a son of Dr. Nathan Smith, 
Professor of Surgery in Yale College, New Haven, to whom 
belongs the honor of being the next ovariotomist (July 5, 
1821) after Ephraim McDowell. His operation was also as 
truly original as the first of Dr. McDowell; Dr. Smith 
being at the time entirely unaware that Dr. McDowell had 
operated at all). 
Hs took his degree of Doctor of Medicine from the 
University of Maryland in 1867, and then spent some 
time at Bayview Asylum, devoting his attention chiefly to 
the study of the surgical diseases of women and obstetrics. 
Beginning in 1868 in the general practice of medicine and 
surgery, he soon became prominent for his success in the 
obstetrical and gynaecological portion of his work, and 
after a few years began to devote his attention especially 
to these branches. At the Baltimore Special Dispensary 80 
DR. B. BERNARD BROWNE. 
he had for many years the largest gynaecological clinic in 
the city. 
Dr. Browne has contributed a large number of papers to 
the medical journals of the country, some of which have 
been translated and republished in foreign journals; among 
the most important are : 
" Case of Fibroid Tumor of the Uterus Causing Eclamp- 
sia," 1877. 
"On Partial Retention of Placenta after Labor," 1879. 
" Uterine Thermometry," 1880. 
"Dilatation of Female Urethra for Examination of the 
Ureters," 1880. 
" Combined Intra-uterine and Extra-uterine Twin Preg- 
nancy, with an Analysis of Twenty-four Cases," 1882. 
"The Surgeons of Baltimore and their Achievements, 
Sesqui-Centennial Address," 1880. 
In 1883 he devised a new operation for chronic inver- 
sion of the uterus (New York Medical Journal, Nov. 24, 
1883), which has been accepted by many of the prominent 
works on gynaecology, both in this country and abroad. 
He was one of the earliest ovariotomists in his section 
of the United States to recognize and remove diseased 
tubes and ovaries. 
Dr. Browne has always taken an active interest in the 
medical societies of his State, being a member of the 
Medical and Chirurgical Faculty of Maryland; of the 
Clinical Society of Maryland, of which he was President 
in 1884-85 ; of the Gynaecological and Obstetrical Society 
of Baltimore, of which he was the President in 1892-93; 
he is also a Fellow of the American Gynaecological Society. 
Dr. Browne was one of the incorporators of the Woman's 
Medical College of Baltimore, and has been Professor of 
Gynaecology in it since 1881. He was also Professor of 
Obstetrics and Gynaecology in the Baltimore Polyclinic 
and Post-Graduate Medical School, and is Gynaecologist 
to the Hospital of the Good Samaritan, and has a large DR. B. BERNARD BROWNE. 
81 
consulting practice principally from the physicians of 
Maryland, Virginia, and Pennsylvania. 
Dr. Browne is a member of the Society of the Army 
and Navy of the Confederate States in the State of Mary- 
land. 
He is an active member of the Maryland Historical 
Society, taking particular interest in the early Colonial 
history of his State, and in the genealogy of Maryland and 
Virginia families and their ancestors in England. 
He is a member of the Society of Sons of the Revolu- 
tion in the State of Maryland, being a great-grandson of 
Thomas Smyth (1729-1819); Member of Maryland Con- 
vention (1775-76) ; Signer Association of the Freemen of 
Maryland, July 26, 1775 ; Member of Maryland Council 
of Safety, 1775-76; Member of Committee of Safety of 
Kent County, Maryland, 1776. 
He is also a member of the Society of the Colonial Wars 
in the S ate of Maryland, and Chairman of the Gentlemen 
of the Council in that Society. On November 22, 1893, 
he delivered a scholarly address before that Society, com- 
memorative of the two hundred and sixtieth anniversary 
of the sailing of the first Maryland Colony in the "Ark" 
and " Dove " from Cowes, in the Isle of Wight. 
The Society of Colonial Wars has been instituted to 
perpetuate the memory of the events in colonial history 
happening from the settlement of Jamestown, Virginia, 
May 13, 1607, to the battle of Lexington, April 19, 1775, 
and of the men who, in military, naval, and civil positions 
of high trust and responsibility, by their acts or counsel 
assisted in the establishment, defence, and preservation of 
the American Colonies, and were, in truth, the founders 
of this nation. With this end in view it seeks to collect 
and preserve manuscripts, rolls, and records; to provide 
suitable commemoration of memorials relating to the 
American Colonial period, and to inspire in its members 
the paternal and patriotic spirit of their forefathers, and 
vol. 11.-6. 82 
DR. B. BERNARD BROWNE. 
in the community respect and reverence to those whose 
public services made our freedom and unity possible. 
The ancestors of Dr. Browne under whom he holds mem- 
bership in this Society and their services are as follows: 
Eighth in descent from Major-General Richard Bennet, 
died 1677, member of Virginia House of Burgesses, 1629; 
member of the King's Council seven terms, 1642-1660; 
one of the Commissioners appointed in 1651 by the Council 
of State in England to reduce all the Plantations within 
the Bay of the Chesapeake to their due obedience to the 
Parliament of the Commonwealth of England. Reduced 
Virginia March 12, 1652; reduced Maryland March 27, 
1652 ; made the treaty with the Susquehanna Indians July 
5, 1652, by which the Indians gave up a large portion of 
Maryland. Governor of Virginia from April 30, 1652-55. 
Elected Commissioner to England, 1655. Signed the 
agreement with Lord Baltimore, November 30, 1657, by 
which the Province of Maryland was restored. Major- 
General of the Virginia forces, 1662-72. 
Seventh in descent from Richard Bennet, Jr., died 1667; 
Member Maryland Assembly, 1'63-65. 
Seventh in descent from Robert Brooke, B.A. (1620), 
M.A. (1624) Wadham College, Oxford; commissioned by 
Cecelius Lord Baltimore, 1649, as commander of one whole 
county and member of his Lordship's Provincial Council; 
Commander of Charles County, 1650; President of the 
Provincial Council and Acting Governor of Maryland, 
1652. 
Seventh in descent from Captain James Neale, member 
Provincial Council of Maryland, 1643-44 and 1660-61. 
Commissioned "Captain" by Lord Baltimore 1661; Mem- 
ber Maryland House of Burgesses 1666. 
Seventh in descent from Colonel Henry Morgan, Com- 
mander of militia, Kent County, 1648; Member of Mary- 
land Assembly, 1659. 
Seventh in descent from Richard Smith, Attorney-Gen- DR. B. BERNARD BROWNE. 
83 
eral of Maryland, 1655 to 1660; Lieutenant of militia, 
1657-60; Member of Maryland Assembly, 1660-67. 
Sixth in descent from Francis Hutchins, Member of 
Maryland Assembly, 1682-94 (ancestor of Johns Hopkins). 
Sixth in descent from Anthony Neale, Lieutenant in 
Captain Rand Brandt's Company of Militia, Charles 
County, 1686. 
Sixth in descent from Lieutenant-Colonel Henry Lowe, 
Judge of Provincial Court 1697, commander of the militia 
of St. Mary's County in 1698, nephew of Lady Jane 
Baltimore, the wife of Charles HL, Lord Baltimore. 
Fifth in descent from Colonel Thomas Smyth, Member 
of Maryland Assembly nine terms, 1694-1707. Member 
of Provincial Council, 1715-19. 
Fourth in descent from Thomas Smyth, Member of 
Maryland Assembly 1738. 
Third in descent from Honorable Thomas Smyth, Mem- 
ber of Maryland Convention 1774. 
Major General Richard Bennet was a son of Sir John 
Bennet and brother of Henry Bennet, Earl of Arlington, 
Chief Secretary of State to Charles II. of England; among 
his descendants in Virginia were John Randolph of Roan- 
oke; Richard Bland, member of the First Congress at 
Philadelphia; Theodorick Bland, Colonel in the Revolu- 
tionary Army; Henry St. George Tucker, President of 
Virginia Court of Appeals; John Randolph Tucker, At- 
torney General of Virginia; Lighthorse Harry Lee, of the 
Revolutionary Army; Major-General Fitzhugh Lee and 
General Robert E. Lee, of the Confederate States Army. 
Of the latter, a recent historical writer has said : " When 
from his chosen place, with kindling eye he saw his ragged 
boys in gray, in a hundred battles, sweep the Federal lines 
from the field, it was the blood of Richard Bennet that 
thrilled in the veins of Robert E. Lee. His was the hand 
that first sowed the seeds of both civil and religious liberty 
in the soil of Virginia. He quickened into life the spirit 84 
DR. B. BERNARD BROWNE. 
of independence, which a century afterward fired the soul 
of Patrick Henry and drew forth the sword of Washington. 
Richard Bennet was the first and one of the greatest of 
all the friends of liberty Virginia ever nurtured on her 
bosom, and who, preceding them all by a century, made 
possible their heroic achievements." 
Robert Brooke, B.A. and M.A. Oxford, was the ancestor 
of Roger Brooke Taney, Chief Justice of the United States; 
of Governor Thomas Sim Lee, and ot Charles Carroll of 
Carrollton, signer of the Declaration of Independence. 
He was the son of Thomas Brooke, Member of Parliament, 
1604-11, and Susan Foster, daughter of Sir Thomas Foster, 
Knight, Counsel to Queen Anne of Denmark and Prince 
Henry, appointed Judge of the Court of Common Pleas, 
November 24, 1607; and Susan Foster, his wife, was de- 
scended from the Fosters, of Etherstone Hall, Northum- 
berland, England, of whom, so ancient was the family, 
the Northumberland adage says : " First Adam and Eve 
were made, then the Fosters." 
In tracing out the genealogy of Sir Thomas Foster, 
Knight, we find that through Elizabeth d'Umfraville and 
Robert d'Umfraville, Earl of Angus, who was the grand- 
son of Alexander Comyn, Earl of Buchan, and Elizabeth, 
daughter of Roger de Quinci, second Earl of Winchester 
(son of Saher de Quinci, first Earl of Winchester, who was 
one of the Barons who signed the Magna Charta, June 15, 
1215), who married Helen, the grand-daughter of David, 
Earl of Huntington, that he was a lineal descendant of 
David I., King of Scotland, who was the brother of 
Matilda, who married Henry I., King of England, Sir 
Thomas Foster being seventeenth in descent, Robert 
Brooke nineteenth, and Dr. Browne twenty-sixth in de- 
scent from Malcolm, King of Scotland, who married Mar- 
garet, the daughter of Eadmund Ironsides. We also find 
that Queen Victoria is twenty-fifth and the Prince of Wales 
twenth sixth in descent from Malcolm and Margaret. DR. B. BERNARD BROWNE. 
85 
An interesting event in regard to this King Malcolm 
is that he was the great-grandson of King Malcolm IL, 
commonly called Rex Victoriosissimus, who, when re- 
turning from the defeat of the Danes at Mortlock, in 
Moray, in 1010, was pursued by a ravenous wolf, which 
was about to attack him, when a young son of Donald of 
the Isles thrust his arm, which was wound in the plaid, into 
the wolf's mouth, and with his dagger slew the beast. The 
King appreciating the boldness of the action gave to the 
young man certain lands which now form the parish of 
Skene, in Aberdeenshire. This incident gave rise to the 
family name Sgian or Skene, which means dagger or dirk. 
This Skene was the ancestor of one of our most distin- 
guished ovariotomists in America, Dr. Alexander J. C. 
Skene, of Brooklyn, N. Y., and now, after a lapse of 884 
years and twenty-nine generations, we find Dr. Browne, 
the descendant of King Malcolm, whose life was thus saved, 
and Dr. Skene, whose family thus took their name, both 
eminent in the same professional career and members of 
the same national society. 
Robert Brooke married Mary Mainwaring, daughter of 
Roger Mainwaring, B.A., All Souls College, Oxford, Feb- 
ruary, 1608; M.A., July 5, 1611; and D.D., July 2, 1625; 
Chaplain to Charles I., 1630; Dean of Worcester, 1633; 
Bishop of St. David's, 1636. Roger Mainwaring was a 
descendant of a noble and one of the most ancient Cheshire 
families, allied by marriage to Hugh Kevilioc, Earl of 
Chester, a near relative of William the Conqueror. 
The family of Mainwaring was founded by Ranulphus, 
who accompanied William the Conqueror from Normandy 
and received the grant of fifteen lordships in Cheshire, 
including Peure (now Over-Peover) as his division of the 
spoil. 
In examining the genealogical chart of the Browne, 
Brooke, Neale, and Bennet families, we find that Dr. 
Browne's ancestors are traced back to the time of the Nor- 86 
DR. B. BERNARD BROWNE. 
man invasion of England in 1066, and that many of them 
were present and fought with William the Conqueror in 
the great battle of Senlac, near Hastings. Among the 
most prominent of these were William de Warren, Earl of 
Surrey, who married Gundrada, the daughter of the Con- 
queror ; William Fitz Osbern, Earl of Hereford; Roger de 
Montgomeri, Earl of Arundel and Shrewsbury; Robert de 
Beaumont, Count of Meulent and Earl of Leicester; Raoul 
de Toeni, who held the honorable office of gonfalonier 
(standard-bearer) of Normandy, which was hereditary in 
his family; Raoul de Gael, Earl of Norfolk; Richard le 
Goz, Vicomte D' Avranches, who married Emma de Con- 
teville, a half-sister of the Conqueror, whose descendants 
afterward became the Earls of Chester. 
Dr. Browne received his first name from the Bennet 
family, his second also from two remote ancestors, viz., 
Bernard, King of Italy 812 to 818, a grandson of Charle- 
magne, and Bernard the Dane, a descendant of the kings 
of Denmark and a companion of the first Norman Con- 
queror, Duke Rollo; he was Governor and Regent of 
Normandy, A.D. 812; from him were descended the 
Comtes de Meulent, the Earls of Leicester and Warwick, 
and many other French and English noble houses. 
Dr. Browne married, in 1872, Miss Jennie Nicholson, of 
Baltimore, a sister of Bishop Isaac L. Nicholson, of Mil- 
waukee, Wisconsin. They have five children, two sons 
and three daughters, his eldest daughter received this year 
(1894) the first scholarship awarded by the Bryn Mawr 
School, which consists of a four-year course at the Bryn 
Mawr College, Pennsylvania. DR. P. FLE WELLEN CHAMBERS. 
87 
P. FLEWELLEN CHAMBERS, M.D., 
NEW YORK, N. Y. 
Dr. Porter Flewellen Chambers is descended from 
an old Scotch family, remotely related to the great pub- 
lishers of that name. 
Early in the eighteenth century Robert Chambers came 
to America from Scotland, and settled in North Carolina. 
He took an active part in the Revolutionary War, and in 
the War of 1812 he again served his adopted country. In 
1800 his son Henry removed to Georgia, and there his 
grandson, Col. James McCoy Chambers, the grandfather 
of the subject of this sketch, was born. 
James McCoy Chambers was a man of note in his State, 
actively associated with its agricultural and manufacturing 
interests, and amassed a large fortune. He was editor of 
The Soil of the South, the leading agricultural journal of 
that section, published at Columbus, and actively and 
earnestly encouraged the development of the manufactur- 
ing interests of that place, now grown to be the most ex- 
tensive and valuable in the entire South. Col. Chambers 
died in 1869. 
Judge William H. Chambers, father of Dr. P. Flewellen 
Chambers, took a prominent part in the late Civil War, 
rising to the rank of Colonel in the field; he was also 
active in the executive part of the Confederate Government. 
He married Anne Lane Flewellen, daughter of a prominent 
physician of Welsh extraction, resident in Georgia. 
Dr. P. Flewellen Chambers, the subject of this sketch, 
was born in Alabama, December 25, 1853. He was edu- 
cated by tutors and in private schools, and was graduated 
in the class of 1873 from Emory College, Georgia. He 
immediately began the study of medicine. In the summer 88 
DR. P. FLEWELLEN CHAMBERS. 
of 1874 he entered the Bellevue Hospit'l Medical College, 
New York, from which institution he was graduated in 1876, 
when he served on the house staff of the Presbyterian Hos- 
pital, and following that went to the Woman's Hospital 
in the same capacity. On leaving the Woman's Hospital 
he became associated with Dr. T. Gaillard Thomas in his 
private hospital-a connection which continued during the 
next ten years. 
Dr. Chambers is now Assistant Surgeon of the Woman's 
Hospital, having been appointed to that honor just three 
years after leaving the house staff. In all things appertain- 
ing to his profession he is an enthusiast. He is a mem- 
ber of several medical associations, notably the New York 
Academy of Medicine, the New York Obstretrical Society, 
and the British Gynaecological Society. As a writer on 
gynaecological subjects he is well known. And as an ope- 
rator he is unusually dexterous in handling his instruments, 
and in the ease with which he works he shows the master. 
He has shown remarkably good results in the operations 
for hysterectomy and removal of ovarian cysts, and in 
all of the plastic operations of the uterus and vagina. He 
is regarded not only as one of the most conservative, but 
also as one of the most brilliant of the young operators, 
and his skill in diagnosis has been so widely recognized 
that he is repeatedly called in consultation in obscure 
gynaecological cases, not only in New York, but in all the 
neighboring cities. 
A comparatively short time ago Dr. Chambers estab- 
lished a private hospital for the treatment of women's dis- 
eases, where are found all the conveniences and appli- 
ances for modern work, as well as all the luxuries of a 
well-appointed home. This hospital has been most suc- 
cessful. 
On June 1, 1893, Dr. Chambers was married to Alice, 
daughter of W. H. Ely, brother of ex-Mayor Smith Ely, 
of New York City. DR. IDA E. RICHARDSON. 
89 
Dr. Chambers has a pleasing personality, and has won 
an enviable position, not only in medicine, but in social 
and financial circles as well. He is a member of several 
of the leading social clubs, and a friend and welcome 
guest of the best families of New York, the city of his 
adoption. 
. IDA E. RICHARDSON, M.D., 
PHILADELPHIA, PA. 
The subject of this sketch, the youngest daughter of 
William Henry Richardson and Catharine Hill, Dr. Ida 
E. Richardson, was born in Philadelphia, November 29, 
1845- 
In her mother's family were two medical men well 
known in Philadelphia. 
Dr. Richardson's grandfather, John Howard Hill, M.D., 
was one of the first surgeons of the City Troop; and her 
uncle, Charles H. Hill, M.D., is the oldest living graduate 
of Jefferson Medical College. 
After the usual home, school, and seminary life of a 
young girl, Dr. Richardson was graduated, Bachelor of 
Arts, from the Wesleyan Female Seminary of Wilmington, 
Del. Her thoughts turning to the study of medicine, she 
became a member of the class of 1879 in the Woman's 
Medical College of Pennsylvania. 
After a year as interne in the Woman's Hospital of 
Philadelphia she entered upon an exceptionally successful 
private practice. For two years she served as clinician, 
and since that time she has been consulting physician in 
the Woman's Hospital. 
Dr. Richardson has done well her share in the instruc- 
tion of undergraduates and young physicians of less ex- 
perience than her own. For four years she was clinical 
lecturer and demonstrato*- of the Principles and Practice 90 
DR. IDA E. RICHARDSON. 
of Medicine in the Woman's Medical College; and, 
since the time when the calls of her own practice com- 
pelled her to relinquish her more public duties, she has 
always given freely of her time and skill in the aid of 
younger practitioners. 
There are, to-day, in Philadelphia and elsewhere, many 
young doctors, who, in a moment of uncertainty, turn in- 
stinctively to Dr. Richardson for counsel; feeling not 
only absolute confidence that the advice received will be 
the best results of years of faithful research and of practi- 
cal work, but, also, that the appeal for help will receive 
the instant, complete attention and gracious, courteous 
response of a large-hearted, unselfish, Christian woman, 
whose great joy it is to be a helper of others. 
To the proposal to open a hospital for women in West 
Philadelphia Dr. Richardson was one of the first to re- 
spond, and from the foundation of that institution she 
has been one of the staff of visiting physicians, and has 
given liberally to it of her time, money, and skill. 
It is in the operating-room of this West Philadelphia 
Hospital for Women 'that most of her abdominal surgery 
has been done. The majority of cases operated on have 
been watched for months, some of them for years, and, 
with a single exception, the results, both immediate and 
after the lapse of time, have been so thoroughly satisfac- 
tory to both patient and operator as to lead to the con- 
clusion that in the choice of suitable cases, in skilful 
operating, and in judicious after-treatment, Dr. Richardson 
has earned the title of a successful abdominal surgeon. 
For six years she was attending physician to Bryn Mawr 
College. 
Though Philadelphia owns the oldest woman's medical 
college in the United States, still the feeling against 
women physicians here continued long and bitter, but 
finally, yielding to the inevitable, one medical society 
ventured to add women to their numbers, and Drs. Han- DR. W. A. B. SELLMAN. 
91 
nah Croasdale and Ida E. Richardson were the first women 
elected to membership in a Philadelphia medical society. 
Dr. Richardson is also a member of the County Medical, 
the Obstetrical, and the Neurological Societies of Phila- 
delphia. 
Dr. Richardson's warm, true heart and unselfish dispo- 
sition have made her many ardent friends, not only among 
her numerous patients, but in her social life. She is dig- 
nified in manner, commanding the respect of all persons 
coming under her influence; successful as an honest 
practitioner, and truly loyal to her profession. 
W. A. B. SELLMAN, M.D., 
BALTIMORE, MD. 
Dr. William Alfred Belt Sellman was born at Barnes- 
ville, Montgomery County, Md., June io, 1850. He is 
the only child of John J. M. Sellman, who married Ann 
Elizabeth, a daughter of Alfred Belt, of Loudoun County, 
Va. On the paternal side he descended from the Sell- 
mans of Wales, England; and on the maternal side from 
the Belts of Scotland, whose ancestors can be traced back 
for centuries. The Campbells of Scotland are near kin, 
and Dr. Sellman's ancestry upon both sides made honor- 
able records during the Revolutionary War. Dr. Sell- 
man's parents removed to Frederick City, Md., in 1852, 
where he received his early education at the Frederick 
Academy, an institution which has made a reputation in 
the higher education of young men in the State of Maryland. 
The Sellman family removed to Baltimore in 1866, and 
the son was placed at St. Timothy's Hall, Catonsville, 
Md., a military and collegiate institutute, having an at- 
tendance of about 400 students. This was intended as 
preparatory to entrance at West Point. 92 
DK. W. A. B. SELLMAN. 
Later it was decided that Dr. Sellman should enter the 
medical profession, and in 1870 he entered the office of 
Dr. Nathan R. Smith. About a month later the young 
student was thrown out of a carriage and received injuries 
which confined him to his room for eight months; during 
this time his course of medical reading was kept up, but 
the winter course of lectures was lost. He was graduated 
at the University of Maryland, February, 1872, and was 
honored by membership in the Rush Medical Club in 
that institution. After graduation he travelled through 
the South, including Florida. His intention was to take a 
post-graduate course in Germany, but his preceptor, Dr. 
Smith, was taken ill, and was compelled to go to Jamaica 
for his health, and he assumed charge of Dr. Smith's office 
during his absence from the city. 
January, 1873, he commenced general practice in Balti- 
more. His perseverance was rewarded by success and he 
rapidly built up a large practice. He drifted into gynaeco- 
logical work, and in 1884 was elected Professor of the 
Diseases of Women in the Baltimore University School of 
Medicine and Gynaecologist to the hospital connected 
with that institution. He succeeded to the chair made 
vacant by the death of Prof. Harvey L. Byrd, whose writ- 
ings and records are well known to the profession. Dr. 
Sellman at once did some brilliant laparotomy work in 
this line. He established a reputation both as a lecturer 
and as a clinical instructor. He has not had the time to 
do much writing for publication, but has contributed 
papers to various societies of which he is a member. He 
is remarked for his neatness in appearance and the perfect 
system which he insists upon being carried out in the de- 
partments under his control. In 1892 the Chair of Ob- 
stetrics was added to his work in Gynaecology. He is a 
member of the American Medical Association, and 
since 1880 has attended many of its meetings. He is a 
member of the Medical and Chirurgical Faculty of the Z'A'. BYRON G. CLARK. 
93 
State of Maryland. Also of the Baltimore Medical Asso- 
ciation and of the Clinical Society. He was a member 
of the International Medical Congress which met in 
Washington in 1887 ; also of the Pan-American Con- 
gress. 
Dr. Sellman's statistics in ovariotomy, oophorectomy, 
hysterectomy, etc., compare favorably with those of other 
operators as to mortality. He is an advocate for the treat- 
ment of metritis and endometritis by radical means (rapid 
dilatation and curetting). He has devised a set of instru- 
ments, which he calls his reamers, for the removal of the 
dense fibrous tissue at the internal os uteri. 
He pleads earnestly for the maintenance of physical ex- 
ercise by all persons as they advance in years. He ad- 
vises men and women to keep up their muscular develop- 
ment by a temperate indulgence in bicycle-riding, rowing, 
skating, etc. 
Dr. Sellman married Miss Mary Oliver, of Baltimore, 
in 1882, whose father was Thomas Vinton Oliver of Massa- 
chusetts. Their only child is a son, born December, 1884. 
BYRON G. CLARK, M.D., 
NEW YORK, N. Y. 
Dr. Byron George Clark, a successful and popular 
New York City physician, has achieved his position by 
dint of severe and persevering labors. He is strictly a 
self-made man, who from the first has been advanced only 
by his own studious application, his intelligent devotion, 
and his skill in his profession. 
His entrance upon medical studies was under the influ- 
ence of the allopathic school, but subsequently he was 
converted to homoeopathy by a careful investigation of its 
tenetsand principles, which appeared to be more in accord 
with nature and the progressive spirit of the age. DR. BYRON G. CLARK. 
94 
Among the practitioners of the new school Dr. Clark 
is to be classed as a firm believer in the medium and higher 
potencies, which are to be employed with a nice gradua- 
tion and discrimination as to the individual case. 
His methods are justified by his success in building up 
a fine practice in the Harlem district of New York City, 
with a large clientage among the most intelligent and 
highly respectable families. 
Of ancient Pilgrim ancestry, Byron George Clark, born 
in Charlestown, New Hampshire, February 15, 1847, is the 
son of Aaron Clark, a native of Princeton, Massachusetts, 
who married Mary Ann Towner, of Charlestown, where 
he engaged in farming. 
Hence, as in the case of so many able men, contributed 
by the country to the city, Dr. Clark's childhood and 
youth were spent on a farm. 
He enjoyed the advantages of the public schools, supple- 
mented by private instruction. Afterward he was placed 
in a banking-house in New York City with a view to 
starting him in a commercial career. It was while so em- 
ployed that he definitely decided to become a physician, 
and with characteristic energy he set about the arduous 
task of preparation. His spare moments out of banking- 
hours were devoted to study. Persevering under great 
difficulties he fitted himself for a preparatory college course. 
After taking a special course of lectures at the Long 
Island College Hospital, he entered Dartmouth Medical 
College, from which he was graduated in 1877. He re- 
turned to New York for a post-graduate course in materia 
medica at the New York Homoeopathic Medical College, 
and finally located at Windsor, Vermont. 
He was the first physician of the new. school established 
in Windsor, where he soon built up an extensive practice. 
The long and exhaustive rides necessitated by a large 
village and country practice proving too severe for his 
physical endurance, he sought out a good man to take his LR. BYRON G. CLARK. 
95 
place, and himself removed to New York, where he located 
in 1882. 
It was remarked by an old resident that Dr. Clark was 
the "first physician who left Windsor because he had too 
much to do." 
While Dr. Clark is an "all-round" family physician 
rather than a specialist, yet he has been accustomed each 
year to take up a post-graduate course in some leading 
specialty. In this way he acquired a critical knowledge 
and thorough equipment in various departments, and to 
this fact is doubtless to be attributed a portion of his pecu- 
liar success. 
The departments of gynaecology and ophthalmology are 
among the subjects to which he has thus given special 
attention, and in which he has shown especial aptitude. 
Dr. Clark, until recently, was visiting physician to the 
Hahnemann Hospital. He has also resigned his charge 
as visiting physician to the Laura Franklin Free Hospital 
for Children. 
He is a prominent member of the American Institute of 
Homoeopathy, the Homoeopathic State and County So- 
cieties, the Carroll Durham Medical Club, the Materia 
Medica Society, the Pedological Society (Homoeopathic), 
American Society of Orificial Surgeons, the Homoeopathic 
Union, and Honorary Member of the Vermont State 
Homoeopathic Medical Society. 
Dr. Clark's first wife, Annie G. Ensworth, of Waterford, 
Pennsylvania, died in May, 1875. October, 1878, he 
married Elida Peck, daughter of the late Samuel Peck, of 
New York City. They have three children. 
He is an active member of the Protestant Episcopal 
Church, and is known as a public-spirited and highly re- 
spected citizen as well as an able and progressive physician. 96 
DR. B FRANKLIN BETTS. 
B. FRANKLIN BETTS, M.D., 
PHILADELPHIA, PA. 
B. Franklin Betts, M.D., Professor of Gynaecology in 
the Hahnemann Medical College of Philadelphia, was born 
in Warminster, Bucks County, Pennsylvania, December i, 
1845, and is the son of John and Sarah C. Malone Betts. 
He came to Philadelphia to reside in 1862. In the 
year 1868 he was graduated from the Hahnemann Medical 
College of that city, and started for Europe soon after to 
complete his medical education by a two years' course of 
study at Vienna, Austria. 
In 1870 he returned to Philadelphia and commenced 
the practice of his profession, making a specialty of the 
diseases of women and children. 
In 1872 he was elected Professor of Physiology and 
Microscopic Anatomy in the college from which he had 
taken his degree. 
Before this time gynaecology was rarely recognized as a 
distinct department of medical science, but, with the rapid 
advance made in abdominal surgery, a new impetus to the 
study of the pathological basis of many of the diseases 
peculiar to females was felt, and believing that the time 
had come for a departure which should broaden the field 
of study for students, the Faculty of Hahnemann Medical 
College established the department of gynaecology in 1876, 
and elected Prof. Betts to the chair, which he has so ably 
filled ever since. 
With an intense interest in his specialty he applied him- 
self to the establishment of a clinic for the medical and 
surgical treatment of gynaecological cases, and soon after 
acquired facilities in the hospital connected with the 
college for the reception of this class of patients under his 
immediate control. Through his efforts this department DR. WILLIAM HENK Y BAKER. 
97 
has grown to be one of the most important connected 
with this institution, so that large classes are annually in 
attendance upon his lectures and clinics, and means are 
afforded for the most thorough and complete course of 
practical instruction in this branch of medical science. 
Prof. Betts has held the position of Gynaecologist to the 
Hahnemann Hospital of Philadelphia; Consulting Gynae- 
cologist to the Wilmington Homoeopathic Hospital in the 
State of Delaware ; and to the Out-patient Department of 
the Children's Homoeopathic Hospital of Philadelphia. 
He is a senior member of the American Institute of 
Homoeopathy, and a member of numerous State, county, 
and municipal organizations, in all of which he takes an 
active interest. 
Both in hospital and private practice he has had the 
advantage of a large and varied experience. For several 
years he delivered a course of lectures annually to ad- 
vanced students in the College upon the diseases of chil- 
dren, and when increased facilities were offered by the 
removal of the institution to its present commodious quar- 
ters on Broad Street, Prof. Betts' chair had added to it the 
Department of Paediatrics. 
As a teacher he is clear, concise, and progressive. As 
a physician and surgeon eminently skilled and successful, 
and whilst firm in his convictions, he is modest and 
unassuming in his intercourse with his professional col- 
leagues. 
WILLIAM HENRY BAKER, M.D., 
BOSTON, MASS. 
Dr. William Henry Baker was born in Medford, Mass., 
March n, 1845, and is descended through a line of honor- 
able ancestors from Richard Baker, who came from Eng- 
land, and made his home in Dorchester, Mass., 1630. 
vol. 11.-7 DR. WILLIAM HENR Y BAKER. 
98 
Dr. Baker's father, the Rev. Abijah R. Baker, D.D., 
was a Congregational clergyman, and his mother, Harriet 
Woods, a well known author and a woman of unusual 
beauty of character, was the daughter of the distinguished 
divine, Rev. Leonard Woods, D.D., LL.D., who, for many 
years, was President of the Theological Seminary at An- 
dover, Mass. 
After passing his boyhood days at Wellesley, where his 
father was then settled, Dr. Baker continued his education 
at the Atkinson Academy, N. H. He left school at eigh- 
teen years of age, and was engaged for six years in busi- 
ness in New York City. While possessing, to an eminent 
degree, all the qualifications necessary for success in the 
mercantile world, and although the outlook for his future 
was most flattering, yet he felt that his life's work lay in 
another direction. 
His mother had been an invalid from the time of his 
birth, and often suffered acutely. On this account 
Dr. Baker gave up his business interests and entered upon 
the study of medicine in Harvard University, from which 
he received the degree of M.D. in 1872. 
After serving one year in the Boston City Hospital, he 
went as interne to the Woman's Hospital in New York, 
and was assistant for eighteen months to Drs. J. Marion 
Sims, T. Addis Emmet, T. Gaillard Thomas, and E. R. 
Peaslee. 
From the fact of his Puritan descent and early associa- 
tions it is not surprising that he should select the city of 
Boston as the field for his future labor, Thus we find him 
at the outset of his career, in 1874, physician to the 
Woman's Room in the Boston Dispensary. 
Here he began to disseminate the knowledge he had 
acquired from his masters in the profession at the Woman's 
Hospital in New York. 
About a year later he was appointed Clinical Instructor 
of the Diseases of Women at the Harvard Medical School, DR. WILLIAM HE NR Y BAKER. 
99 
and for the next twenty years he continuously taught that 
subject there. Indeed it may be said that he created that 
department in the college. In 1882 he had the honor of 
being made Professor of Gynaecology in Harvard Univer- 
sity, and he held that chair until a few months ago, when 
he resigned in order to devote more time to special medi- 
cal researches, and also to his work at the Free Hospital 
for Women, a charity which owes to him its inception, 
organization and pre-eminent success. 
Realizing the need of an institution in Boston for the 
exclusive treatment of poor women afflicted with the 
troubles peculiar to their sex, Dr. Baker had the courage 
to attempt its establishment, although he had had but one 
year of practice. He possessed the executive ability to 
carry out the project, and now, while yet in active service, 
he sees the fruition of his hopes. Nearly three thousand 
patients have been treated in the wards of this hospital, 
and as many as 46,000 in the Out-patient Department. 
The new building recently dedicated embodies all that 
is highest in hygienic and artistic structure. It is finely 
situated in the Riverdale Parkway, in the immediate suburbs 
of Boston, and has a capacity for sixty patients. Every 
detail of this most successful institution is under Dr. 
Baker's personal supervision, as he holds the dual post of 
Surgeon and Member of the Board of Trustees, a most 
fortunate combination, which, if secured in all hospitals, 
would tend to their own best interests in discipline, care 
of patients and improved medical results. 
It is rarely that a man so young in his professional life, 
and located in such a conservative and old a place as Bos- 
ton, attains to such eminence. His success was, however, 
considered almost assured even during his internship at 
the Woman's Hospital. By his intelligent interest and 
untiring zeal in his hospital duties he very soon at- 
tracted the notice of the attending surgeons. Early in his 
course he manifested that unusual dexterity and delicacy 100 
DR. WILLIAM HENR Y BAKER. 
of touch which have since marked his work. The electric 
spark of genius was in him, and soon he found himself on 
the top of the wave of professional success. 
His most renowned work has been in the line of plastic 
surgery, while his abdominal surgery has been especially 
noted for its thoroughness. 
No one man has done more to raise the science of gynae- 
cology to the highest standard of honor and usefulness. 
His ideas are liberal, yet never radical, and his name is 
known and his writings quoted throughout the medical 
world. 
Among Dr. Baker's best-known contributions to special 
literature maybe mentioned: "Mechanical Appliances 
in Uterine Surgery;" " Lacerations of the Cervix Uteri 
as a Cause of Uterine Disease;" "Malpositions of the 
Uterus;" "Vaginal Ovariotomy;" "Drainage in the 
Removal of Submucous Fibroids;" "The Treatment of 
Cancer of the Uterus;" " Hyperaemia of the Vesico-ure- 
thral Membrane;" " Cancer of the Uterus: Its Treatment 
by High Amputation Compared with Total Extirpation;" 
" Diseases of the Urethra and Bladder ;" " Cancer of the 
Cervix Uteri: Results of Its Treatment by High Amputa- 
tion." 
His first published medical paper was written in 1872, 
the year of his graduation in medicine, and entitled: 
"Amenorrhoea and Its Treatment by Electricity." His 
second paper was written a year later, and entitled : " Cases 
of Amenorrhoea Resulting from Undeveloped Uteri." 
Dr. Baker is Professor of Gynaecology, Harvard College; 
Surgeon to the Free Hospital for Women, Boston; Fellow 
of the American and British Gynaecological Societies; Mem- 
ber Alumni Association Woman's Hospital, New York, and 
of the Boston City Hospital; Member Boston Obstetrical 
Society and Massachusetts Medical Society; ex-Vice- 
President American Gynaecological Society; Hon. Presi- 
dent International Congress, Belgium, etc. DR. MARY H, McLEAN. 
101 
His most striking characteristic, perhaps, is an unfailing 
courtesy and kindliness of manner, together with the stamp 
of genuineness in every word and act. 
To his patients he is most sympathetic, always unwearied 
in his care of them, and shrinks from no exertion in their 
behalf. 
To his students at the medicai school he has been a 
prince among instructors. His clinics were constantly 
crowded, and his lectures abounded in practical teaching. 
Many a young physician owes his success to the encour- 
agement and generous assistance which Dr. Baker has 
given him. Incapable of envy, and never undervaluing the 
work of another, he is never boastful of his own achieve- 
ments. 
His noble and vigorous nature retains all the happy 
buoyancy of youth, and his face is like the sunshine itself 
in the sick-room, his presence alone being a veritable tower 
of strength. 
Loving his profession with an ever-fresh enthusiasm, he 
still labors in the arena he has so exalted. 
MARY H. McLEAN, M.D., 
ST. LOUIS, MO. 
Dr. Mary H. McLean was born in the year 1861 in 
Washington, Missouri, a village situated about fifty miles 
west of the city of St. Louis, Mo. 
She is the daughter of Dr. Elijah McLean, who has 
been an honorable member of the medical profession for 
many years. He is at the present time in his ninety-second 
year, yet retains all his faculties, and commands the admir- 
ing love and respect of all who are so fortunate as to 
know him. He was born in Kentucky in the year 1804, and 
moved to Missouri in his early childhood, where he braved 
all the hardships of an Indian country. He educated DR. MARY H. MCLEAN. 
102 
himself, studied medicine with a fine preceptor, taking 
one short course of study at Lexington, Ky., and then 
entered upon a successful medical career. For thirty 
years he stood at the head of his profession in his county. 
His early trials in life prompted him to give his chil- 
dren every opportunity of acquiring a thorough educa- 
tion. At the age of thirteen years he placed his daugh- 
ter, Mary H. McLean, in Lindenwood College, St. Charles, 
Missouri, where her early education was obtained. 
The doctor's mother, Mary C. Stafford, was of pure 
English extraction. She was the daughter of an educated 
Presbyterian clergyman, and was a woman of rare physi- 
cal, intellectual, and moral strength. Being a descendant 
of such parents it is not surprising that Dr. Mary H. Mc- 
Lean has achieved a prominence in her profession which 
but few so young as she can claim. 
After spending three years in Lindenwood College, for 
one year she was a student at Vassar College, New York. 
There she met and admired Doctor Helen Worthing Web- 
ster. The admiration for this gifted woman had great in- 
fluence upon the mind of Dr. McLean to induce her to 
enter upon professional studies the following year. 
She entered the University of Michigan in the fall of 
1880, and took the degree in June, 1883. 
In April, 1884, she began the practice of medicine in 
St. Louis, Mo. In April, 1885 she received a year's ap- 
pointment from the city as assistant physician to the 
Female Hospital, a city institution, with a capacity of 
between two hundred and fifty and three hundred beds. 
Holding this position in the hospital, an opportunity 
was found to overcome in some degree the strong preju- 
dice against medical women which existed in the profes- 
sion of St. Louis at that time. 
In April, 1886, Dr. McLean again entered into private 
practice in St. Louis, and was very soon elected the first 
and only woman in the St. Louis Medical Society. DR. BACHE MCEVERS EMMET. 
103 
Her strong surgical taste led her into that line of work, 
and she is now known only as a gynaecological surgeon, 
with remarkable success in abdominal operations. For 
three years she has been doing this special line of surgery, 
and much of her success as a surgeon has been the fruit of 
caution, care, and neatness in her work. 
She justly deserves the prominence which she has at- 
tained. Many of her cases in pelvic surgery have been of 
the most serious character, followed with good and happy 
results, with a very small mortality. Dr. McLean is not a 
rapid and brilliant operator, but she is thorough and con- 
scientious about details, and she has no incomplete cases. 
BACHE McEVERS EMMET, M.D., 
NEW YORK CITY, N. Y. 
Dr. Bache McEvers Emmet is a native of New York 
City, where his people have been settled since 1803, the 
year in which his grandfather, Thomas Addis Emmet, Esq., 
came from Ireland, having been driven to this self-expa- 
triation by the political disturbances in which his brother, 
Robert, was engaged in his own country. A monument 
erected to the memory of Thomas Addis Emmet by his 
friends and compatriots stands in St. Paul's churchyard, 
facing Broadway, and tells of his many virtues and noble 
life. On his mother's side Dr. Bache Emmet springs 
from Dutch stock, his mother being a Coster, a descend- 
ant of the famous Laurens Janszoon Coster, who disputes 
with Gutenberg the merit of being the inventor of the 
printing press. Two monuments to his memory stand in 
Haarlem, the Netherlands; one erected in 1823, the 
second, a bronze one by Royer, was erected with national 
solemnity in the market-place, July 16, 1856. 
The subject of this sketch was born in 1843, and re* 104 
DR. BACHE MCEVERS EMMET. 
ceived his early education in private schools in this State. 
At the age of twelve he was placed in a private school in 
Switzerland, and, later on, took his courses at the St. Louis 
Lyceum in Paris. 
As his parents choose to reside in the French Capital, and 
as Dr. Emmet had selected medicine cs a profession, he 
began his studies in 1863 under the celebrated French 
physicians and surgeons of the day, Bouillaud, Bouchut, 
and Grisolle, Velpeau, Chassaignac, Jobert de Lamballe, 
Trousseau, and Pajot. 
He fortunately enjoyed exceptional opportunities of 
seeing much hospital service, and constantly associated 
with the rising men of the time, who have since made 
names in practice and in medical literature. 
At that time the War of the Rebellion was still in pro- 
gress, and the young student had a strong desire to be of 
some help to his country and hoped that, by special 
studies followed at the military medical school under the 
famous Dr. Larrey, son of Baron Larrey of the First 
Empire, he might fit himself for an humble post in the 
Medical Corps of the United States Army, and so under- 
took the work. His parents, however, were but little dis- 
posed to have him carry out this design, and the years 
merged into 1865, when the blessing of peace was once 
more spread over the land. Dr. Emmet then carried 
on his studies to the end, taking special courses with 
Nelaton, Tarnier, and Depaul. During these years he also 
enjoyed an intimate acquaintance in Dr. Marion Sims's 
family, who was then the surgical lion of the Eastern hemi- 
sphere, but he had received as yet none but the most vague 
idea of the meaning of gynaecology, though familiar with 
the writings of Bernutz and Goupil, and the practice of 
Nonat and a few others, who were doing this work 
through the Ferguson speculum. 
Dr. Emmet returned to the States in 1867 and entered 
at once into the atmosphere which has surrounded him DR. BACHE MCEVERS EMMET. 
105 
ever since. In addition to his studies in Paris he took 
his degree at the College of Physicians and Surgeons 
(Columbia), and through his association with his cousin, 
Dr. Thomas Addis Emmet, entered the Woman's Hospital 
in the State of New York, as interne, in 1869. He served 
there the usual eighteen months and then took up his 
active life work. His taste led him for some time into 
general practice, and he has been called upon to do much 
of it, though constantly leaning to his guiding specialty 
which, for the past few years, has absorbed his entire 
attention. 
His appointment as Professor of the Diseases of Women 
at the New Post Graduate Medical School and Hospital in 
1884, and as full surgeon in 1889 to the Woman's Hos- 
pital, which he had served as assistant surgeon for eighteen 
years, definitely shaped the direction his work should 
take, though it had been foreshadowed within that time 
by a considerable number of valuable papers contributed 
to the gynaecological journals and to various text-books 
which have appeared in late years. Some of these are: 
"The Abuse of Intrauterine Medication;" "Retro- 
peritoneal Cysts of the Female Sexual Organs : A Study of 
their Treatment;" "A Case of Extrauterine Fcetation, 
Successfully Treated by Galvanism ;" " Laceration of the 
Cervix Uteri," in Mann's American System of Gynecology ; 
" Amputation of the Cervix Often Preferable to Attempts 
at Repair;" "Galvanism in Gynaecology;" "Outlines of 
Uterine Therapeutics, Especially Massage and Electricity," 
in Keating and Coe's American Gynecology; "Removal 
of the Uterus in Disease of the Adnexa, Argument in the 
Negative," in Transactions of the American Gynecological 
Society, 1894; "Injured Ureters in Abdominal Surgery, 
their Care, with Report of a Case of Anastomosis and 
Recovery." 
Dr. Emmet is also Gynaecologist to the Columbus Hos- 
pital in New York, and has devised a number of surgical 106 
DR. R. LUDLAM, SR. 
instruments which have met with considerable favor among 
his colleagues. He is ex-President of the New York 
Obstetrical Society, a member of the British Gynaecolog- 
ical Society, and of the numerous local societies in the city 
of New York. 
His connection with various hospitals demands much of 
his time, but it is given most willingly, as gynaecological 
surgery has a great fascination for him, and he is most 
gratified to show any new work to his confreres, who 
attend his clinics in large numbers. 
Dr. Emmet married Anne Frances, youngest daughter 
of the late Judge Levinus Monson. 
Prof. R. LUDLAM, Sr., M.D., 
Dr. Reuben Ludlam, Sr., was born in Camden, New 
Jersey, October 7, 1831, and is the first of seven children. 
His father, J. W. Ludlam, M.D., was a distinguished and 
excellent physician, a graduate of the medical department 
of the University of Pennsylvania, who removed to Illinois 
and diedin Evanston in 1858. His mother, of good old 
Quaker parentage, is still living (1896). His medical pro- 
clivities were disclosed at a very early age, and, being an 
almost constant companion of his father, he was every- 
where called the young doctor. From being so often at 
the bedside, and participating silently in the examination 
of the patients, he had such a clinical training that it would 
be impossible to say when his medical education began. 
As he grew this professional intimacy with his father 
ripened into a habit of analyzing all sorts of cases, and to 
this circumstance, as well as to his unusual hospital ad- 
vantages, while in college and afterward, may be traced 
the source of his ultimate success as a clinical teacher and 
author. 
CHICAGO, ILL. DR. R. LUDLAM, SR. 
107 
After a three-years' course in the University of Penn- 
sylvania, he took his medical degree therefrom in April, 
1852. He soon afterward located in Chicago, where for 
more than forty years he has been constantly and exclu- 
sively engaged in the practical duties of a physician and 
surgeon. At that time the population of Chicago was 
only 32,000, and professional men of all kinds had the 
usual frontier experience, of which his was no exception 
to the rule. Early obstacles were vanquished only by in- 
dustry and perseverance, and he soon found himself in 
possession of a very large general practice. 
In 1859, upon the first organization of the Hahnemann 
Medical College and' Hospital of Chicago, Dr. Ludlam 
was chosen to the Chair of Physiology, Pathology, and 
Clinical Medicine. After four years of service he was 
transferred to that of Obstetrics and the Diseases of Women 
and Children, which chair he occupied for the next ten 
years, when, at his request, it was divided, and he was 
placed in charge of the new department of gynaecology. 
At the session of 1884-85 his sphere of teaching was 
limited to clinical gynaecology, to the surgical part of 
which he has since been exclusively devoted. 
To perfect himself in the study and teaching of his 
specialty, Dr. Ludlam has made four visits to the hospitals 
of Europe, where the best possible advantages have been 
placed at his disposal, and whence he has derived a great 
variety of resource. One of his most popular introduc- 
tory lectures (1875) was entitled "Three Months in the 
Old Hospitals of Paris." 
Not only have his clinical lectures and hospital service 
been widely known and appreciated by students and phy- 
sicians who have come to his clinics from all quarters, and 
by the readers of our periodical literature, but his work as 
a specialist has been widespread and very extensive. He 
has' performed many difficult and remarkable abdominal 
and pelvic operations all over the country, having visited 108 
DR. R. LUDLAM, SR. 
no less than sixteen of the different Stater nearly all 
of the chief cities and towns of the West for that purpose. 
Of late, however, his operative work, whether private or 
public, is chiefly done in the Hahnemann Hospital. 
As a clinical teacher, Dr. Ludlam is direct, forcible, and 
practical. His fluency and facility of language give him 
the advantage as an instructor ; for, however dry and un- 
inviting the subject, he has the faculty of enchaining the 
attention of the student. No teacher ever knew better 
how to enliven and instruct, whether by wit or anecdote 
or simile or bits of experience drawn from his own re- 
sources. His varied intellectual gifts and ease of expres- 
sion always elicit the greatest admiration. 
His contributions to medical literature have been many 
and varied. In all he has been a medical editor for thirty- 
five years. For six years he was connected with the North 
American Journal of Homoeopathy, a quarterly published in 
New York, and for nine years with the United States Medi- 
cal and Surgical Journal, of Chicago. He is and has been 
editor of the Clinique for seventeen years. In 1863 he 
issued a short course of clinical lectures on diphtheria, 
which was the first strictly medical book ever published in 
the Northwest. His great work, Clinical and Didactic 
Lectures on the Diseases of Women, now in its sixth edi- 
tion, was translated into the French and published by 
Delahaye in Paris. Dr. Ludlam also translated and pub- 
lished in 1880 a work on clinical medicine from the French 
of Jousset, adding thereto many original and valuable 
notes. 
Among the honors conferred upon him have been the 
Presidency of the American Institute of Homoeopathy, 
now in its fifty-second year ; of the Illinois Homoeopathic 
Medical Association; of the Western Institute of Homoe- 
opathy; of the Chicago Academy of Medicine; and of the 
Clinical Society of the Hahnemann Hospital. In addition 
to these honors, Dr. Ludlam was a member of the medical DR. R. LUDLAM, SR. 
109 
department of the Relief and Aid Society, which, after 
the great fire in Chicago, had the distribution of the chari- 
ties and the care of sixty thousand people. For fifteen 
consecutive years he was a member of the Illinois State 
Board of Health, in which capacity he did very much to 
assist in advancing the cause of a higher medical educa- 
tion. His term of office expired December 31, 1892. 
After having, except for a brief interval, served as Dean of 
its Faculty for twenty-five years, he now holds the honored 
position of President of the Hahnemann Medical College 
and Hospital of Chicago. 
The following extracts from an introductory lecture to 
his course on surgical gynaecology for the session of 1895- 
96 will give a good idea of Professor Ludlam's views and 
method of teaching : 
"As usual, I propose to instruct you in the art of diag- 
nosis upon the living subject. It is a delicate and difficult 
undertaking, but it can be mastered in this way rather 
than by any amount of theoretical preaching and discus- 
sion. Of late years the differential diagnosis of the dis- 
eases of women, at least of such cases as will concern us 
in this clinic, has been wonderfully simplified and per- 
fected through the operations that have been made in sur- 
gical gynaecology. The peculiar sexual lesions that lie 
within the pelvic and abdominal cavities will be open to 
your inspection as they never were to any mortal until 
Dr. McDowell, of Kentucky, made the first ovariotomy 
one cold morning in December, 1809. 
" We shall avail ourselves of all that has been discovered 
and taught in special uterine and ovarian diagnosis since 
that time; and you will learn that not only are these dis- 
eases of the utmost consequence per se, but that in their 
reflex and systemic relations they are more interesting and 
important than those of any other specialty. 
"The true conservatism that consists in doing what is 
best for a given case hinges upon a correct diagnosis, when- DR. R. LUDLAM, SR. 
110 
ever it is possible to make one. And in proportion as the 
facilities for such fore-knowledge are developed and ap- 
plied will the surgeon become more and more conserva- 
tive, and know better when to use and when to withhold 
the knife. 
" There is a fascination in the technique of gynaecologi- 
cal surgery, withall its neatness and newness, that is seduc- 
tive and dangerous. It will appear such an easy thing to 
make an ovariotomy, or to perform the various plastic 
operations coming within the scope of this specialty, that 
you maybe led to think yourselves fit for such work before 
you are fully grounded in the elements of pelvic and peri- 
toneal pathology and diagnosis. As the art student is 
tempted to begin to paint before he has any knowledge of 
drawing, so the medical students and the young doctors 
of our day are tempted to paint their field of vision with 
the life-blood of their victims before they can draw a 
rational inference as to their condition, or as to the actual 
needs of a case in hand. The result is that there is too 
much smiting to the right and to the left, in the persons 
of the poor women especially, without regard to ultimate 
consequences. To operate first, and to study the case 
afterward (or not to study it at all), is like hanging a 
prisoner first, and then bringing his case for trial by jury. 
To make a general rule that because a woman who is an 
invalid still has the uterus and its appendages therefore she 
must be mutilated by the surgeon, is an outrage, not only 
upon the rights of her sex, but, also, upon the just claims 
of our profession to scientific probity and to a decent re- 
gard for the principle of the Golden Rule." DR. REUBEN LUDLAMJR. 
111 
REUBEN LUDLAM, Jr., M.D., 
CHICAGO, ILL. 
Dr. Reuben Ludlam, Jr., the son and only child of the 
distinguished gynaecologist whose sketch immediately pre- 
cedes this, was born in Chicago, Illinois, May 18, 1866. 
His educational advantages were of the very best, and, 
having early evinced a taste for the science of medicine, 
this inclination was gratified by his entrance upon the 
study thereof in his father's office. After four years' 
attendance in the Hahnemann Medical College and Hos- 
pital of Chicago, with superior privileges in the way of 
general and dispensary practice, he received his degree in 
the spring of 1886. Eighteen months were then spent in 
the hospitals of Paris and London, in the former of which 
he took special courses in operative and gynaecological 
surgery under several of it most renowned teachers, where 
he also attended the clinics of Pean, Terrillon, Tillaux, 
Terrier, Porak, Doleris, Ricard, and others most assidu- 
ously. 
After five years of general and special practice at home 
and in company with his father, he again went to Europe, 
where he spent four months of close study in Berlin and 
Paris, devoting himself especially to the subject of gynae- 
cology and of surgery connected therewith, in the clinics 
of Olshausen, Gusserow, von Bergmann, with Schimmel- 
busch (by whom he was taught the typical asepsis) and 
Martin in Berlin; and those of Pean, Pozzi, Picque, 
Ricard, Le Dentu, Lucas-Championniere, Berger, Segond, 
and Apostoli in Paris. 
Seven years of special study, experience, and prepara- 
tion at home and abroad fitted him for the post of chef de 
clinique and Lecturer on Gynaecological Surgery in the 
Hahnemann Medical College and Hospital of Chicago, 112 
DR. DONALD MACRAE. 
which position he still continues to hold (1896). In this 
capacity and as first assistant to his father in hospital and 
private practice he has had extraordinary advantages in 
peritoneal surgery, and in all the operations pertaining to 
modern gynaecology. He has also performed many of 
these operations himself, and his technique is as perfect 
as possible. He is an enthusiast in this line of work, and 
will keep the family name at the high mark which it has 
already attained. 
Dr. Ludlam, Jr., is a member of the national American 
Institute of Homoeopathy, the Illinois State Medical 
Association, and the Clinical Society of the Hahnemann 
Hospital, to the last of which he has contributed several 
valuable original papers, translations, etc. 
DONALD MACRAE, M.D., 
COUNCIL BLUFFS, IOWA. 
Donald Macrae, born in Poolewe, Rosshire, Scotland, 
October 3, 1839. Eldest son of the Rev. Donald Macrae, 
of the Free Church of Scotland. Educated by private 
tutors. He entered the literary courseat Edinburgh Uni- 
versity when fifteen years of age, where he remained for two 
years, then studied medicine and was graduated from the 
University, August, 1861. With few exceptions his rela- 
tives belong to the church. His mother was the daughter 
of a Presbyterian minister. Two brothers are ministers; 
one, John, is pastor of the Toorak Presbyterian Church, 
Melbourne, Australia, and Duncan, of Woodgreen Presby- 
terian Church, London, England. Of his remaining 
brothers, two in number, one is a business man in London, 
the other, James, a prominent farmer near Council Bluffs; 
his only two sisters who reached a marriageable age have 
also married clergymen. After a few months of hospital 
service under Sir James Y. Simpson and Prof. Syme, of DR. DONALD MACRAE. 
113 
Edinburgh, he acted as assistant to a physician in Scotland, 
and then joined the Cunard service in capacity of surgeon. 
During the four years and a half in which he held that 
position he crossed the Atlantic seventy-five times. His 
last trip landed him as a passenger in New York, where he 
was united in marriage to Charlotte, second daughter of 
Hon. Joseph Bouchette, Surveyor-General of Canada, who 
died in 1881, at the age of eighty-six years. After his 
marriage on March 4, 1867, he and his wife made a short 
detour through Canada, settling in Council Bluffs, where 
he at once engaged in medical work and soon built up a 
successful practice. The doctor has always been a general 
practitioner, but he has controlled a large clientele for 
general surgical work. He began to do abdominal work 
among the first in his State and the adjacent State of 
Nebraska. His first case dates back sixteen years. Every 
year increased his number of operations, until now he makes 
from twenty to thirty or more sections each year with 
highly successful results. 
He has been connected with the Omaha Medical College 
in various chairs almost since its organization, at the last 
filling the Chair of Practice; and was Dean of the Faculty 
for several years. He resigned his position in the Omaha 
Medical College to fill the Chair of Surgery and Clinical 
Surgery in the Council Bluffs Medical College. This in- 
stitution survived, however, only two years, and again this 
year the Doctor has been called upon to occupy the posi- 
tion of Professor of Railroad and Clinical Surgery in the 
Omaha College. 
In 1887-88 he was President of the Medical Society of 
the State of Iowa, and the same year President of the 
Medical Society of the Missouri Valley as well. At the 
meeting of the International Medical Congress held in 
Washington, D. C., he was one of the Vice-Presidents of 
the Surgical Section, and at the Pan-American Medical 
Congress he was selected by the Governor of the State of 
vol. 11.-8 114 
DR. DONALD MACRAE, JR. 
Iowa to represent the State at the meeting. Dr. and Mrs. 
Macrae are the parents of one son, Dr. Donald Macrae, 
Jr., who is associated in practice with his father. The 
Doctor is surgeon to the St. Bernard's and W. C. A. Hos- 
pitals in Council Bluffs. He is a Mason. Of course, a Pres- 
byterian has very little time or inclination to mingle in 
politics, but he served a term as member of the School 
Board, and in 1890 was elected Mayor of Council Bluff's 
on the Citizen's Non-partisan Ticket by an immense 
majority. 
DONALD MACRAE, Jr., M.D., 
COUNCIL BLUFFS, IOWA. 
Donald Macrae, Jr., was born in Council Bluffs, Iowa, 
January 24, 1870. He was educated at Lake Forest 
Academy, Illinois, and Morgan Park Military Academy, 
Chicago, also attending a literary course of one year in 
the Iowa State University. He studied medicine at the 
University of Michigan, and was graduated from that in- 
stitution in June, 1891. 
On graduating he at once entered into practice with his 
father. Obtaining the offices of County Physician and 
City Police Surgeon, he has had opportunities of doing 
abdominal work in the one, and much emergency surgery 
in the other. He is Surgeon to the C. M. & St. P. Railway, 
and is Secretary of the Iowa State Surgeons' Association. 
He is President of the Council Bluffs Medical Society, and 
Professor of Anatomy in the Omaha Medical College. 
Fie married, November 19, 1891, Mary V., only 
daughter of H. O. Miller, of Omaha, Nebraska, and is 
the father of two children-a girl and a boy. DR. FLORENCE N. SALTONSTALL. 
115 
FLORENCE N. SALTONSTALL, M.D., 
SAN FRANCISCO, CAL. 
Florence Nightingale Saltonstall, M.D., was born 
in San Francisco, Cal., July io, i860. She is the eldest 
daughter of J. P. and Anna J. Ferguson, who came from 
New York to California among the early settlers. 
She received her early education in the public schools 
of her native city, being graduated from the High School 
in 1878 and from the Normal School in 1879. She soon 
after began the study of medicine, which was continued 
until she entered the Hahnemann Hospital College of San 
Francisco in 1883, from which she was graduated with 
honors in 1887. Dr. Saltonstall then went to New York for 
a post-graduate course and attended the Polyclinic in 1887- 
88. When she had finished her studies in New York she re- 
turned to San Francisco, where she has since been engaged 
in active practice. On her return from New York she was 
elected assistant to the Chair of Gynaecology in the Hahne- 
mann Hospital College of San Francisco. 
In January, 1890, she, with Dr. James Lilienthal and 
Dr. James W. Ward, founded the Southern Homoeopathic 
Dispensary of San Francisco, which has been in most suc- 
cessful operation ever since. Dr. Saltonstall has uninter- 
ruptedly carried on a large clinic for the diseases of women 
at this dispensary. In the spring of 1891 she was elected 
Gynaecologist at Fabiola Hospital, Oakland, Cal., which 
position she still holds. 
In 1892 Dr. Saltonstall was elected Associate Professor 
of Clinical Diseases of Women in the Hahnemann Hos- 
pital College of San Francisco. This chair Dr. Saltonstall 
held for two years, which she has just resigned owing to 
the heavy pressure of private work and other professional 
duties. In June, 1893, s^e retired from the practice of 116 
DE. DE WITT G. WILCOX. 
general medicine and devoted herself exclusively to gynae- 
cology. 
In the fall of 1893 s^e went abroad for the study of 
surgical methods among the best operators. She studied 
under Ohhousen, Landau, and Martin, of Berlin; Sanger 
and Zweifel, of Leipsic; Leopold, of Dresden ; and the 
best workers in gynaeocology in Vienna and Paris. 
In May, 1894, she presented to the California Homoeo- 
pathic Medical Society, at the annual meeting, her paper 
of "Sixteen Successive Cases of Vaginal Hysterectomy 
without a Death." 
Her record in private and sanitarium work for the past 
year has been fifteen capital cases without a death, and in 
hospital work twenty-nine capital cases, including coelioto- 
mies and vaginal hysterectomies, with but two deaths, 
both very desperate cases. The minor work has given 
uniformly perfect results. 
Dr. Saltonstall attributes her success in her plastic work, 
as well as in capital cases, to the careful technique and the 
most perfect asepsis that is maintained throughout the 
operation and in the after-care. 
Dewitt g. wilcox, m.d., 
BUFFALO, N. Y. 
DeWitt G. Wilcox was born in Akron, Ohio, January 
15, 1858. His father, David G. Wilcox, was descended 
from John Wilcox, one of the original proprietors of Hart 
ford, Conn., who came over from England with the Rev. 
Thomas Hooker's company in 1645. 
Dr. Wilcox spent his early days in the schools of his 
native town. His spare moments and vacations were 
passed in his father's planing mills, where his fondness for 
mechanics had full play. He was graduated from the Akron DE. DE WITT G. WILCOX. 
117 
High School at eighteen years of age, and immediately 
entered Buchtell College for an elective course of study 
that should Lest prepare him for his chosen profession, for 
while yet a boy he had determined to be a surgeon, and 
all his plans were formulated with that end in view. He 
began his studies in the office of Dr. William Murdoch, of 
Akron, soon, however, going to Cleveland, to become a 
student of that well-known surgeon Dr. Nathaniel Schnei- 
der, who has but recently passed to his reward. 
He was graduated from the Cleveland Homoeopathic 
Hospital College in 1880, and returned to Akron, where he 
practised two years. He then went to London, England, 
to take special instruction in surgery and surgical path- 
ology. The last six months of his stay in Europe were 
spent in the London Temperance Hospital, where he re- 
ceived the appointment of resident house surgeon. His 
opportunities there for surgical experience were of great 
value to him. 
He married Jennie Irene Green, of Alfred Centre, N. Y., 
whose paternal ancestors were the first settlers in Rhode 
Island, and descended from that long and honorable line 
of Greens, without whom the history of Rhode Island 
would be incomplete. Four children have been born to 
them. 
In 1887 certain of the leading physicians of Buffalo, 
N. Y., felt the urgent need of an able surgeon of the 
homoeopathic school in their midst, and Dr. Wilcox was 
induced by them to locate in that city. He was thus 
enabled to begin work at once, and built up a surgical 
practice quite rapidly. He was appointed surgeon to the 
Homoeopathic Hospital, and two years later opened a 
private hospital of his own, which was the first of the kind 
in Buffalo. When the Erie County Hospital was estab- 
lished Dr. Wilcox was one of the original staff members, 
being appointed by the supervisors as visiting surgeon. 
His private hospital has developed into a general hos- 118 
DR. HOWARD A. KELLY. 
pital owned by a number of physicians, and held by them 
exclusively for the better class of their private patients who 
desire the very best hospital facilities. With Dr. Wilcox 
at the head of the institution its success is assured. 
As an operator Dr. Wilcox is at all times perfectly self- 
controlled, never losing his presence of mind. During an 
operation he speaks quietly but briefly to his assistants, 
and his voice betrays even at the most critical moments no 
evidence of excitement or irritability. His nurses and 
assistants are invariably devoted to him because of the 
high respect they feel and because of his kindness of heart. 
He performed his first ovariotomy when twenty-eight 
years of age. He was the first of American surgeons to 
perform nephorrhaphy, which is recorded in the Annals of 
Surgery, March, 1888. 
After fifteen years of general practice and surgery he 
has recently relinquished the former in order to devote 
himself unreservedly to surgery and gynaecology. 
HOWARD A. KELLY, M.D., 
BALTIMORE, MD. 
Dr. Howard Atwood Kelly, Professor of Gynaecology 
and Obstetrics in the Johns Hopkins University; Gynae- 
cologist and Obstetrician to the Johns Hopkins Hospital, 
Baltimore, Md. 
I was born February 20, 1858, at Camden, N. J., the 
son of Henry Kuhl Kelly and Louisa Warner Hard. My 
father's paternal great-grandfather, Thomas Kelly, was a 
linen merchant of Portadown, County Armagh, Ireland; 
his maternal great-grandfather was Michael Hillegas, first 
Treasurer of the United States. My mother is the grand- 
daughter of Captain John Warner, of Wilmington, active 
in the War of 1812, and daughter of the Rev. Alison B. 
Fiard, rector of St. Paul's Church, Chester, Pa. DR. HOWARD A. KELLY. 
119 
When I was about four years old my family removed to 
South Tenth Street, Philadelphia, and during the Civil 
War to Chester, Delaware County,- Pa. Upon my father's 
return from the war we moved out near Fairmount Park, 
a neighborhood which encouraged a strong bent for natural 
history. A short residence at Sandy Hill, near Norristown, 
Pa., in the summer of 1867, greatly strengthened these 
tastes, and I well remember a certain hot-bed at Sandy Hill 
where I loved to lie reading a book, under a glass cover, 
and surrounded by a collection of fifty-two tortoises. An 
unpleasant experience in acquiring the collection only 
increased its value to me. I found a large number of tor- 
toises one day in Lucas's woods, a treasure far too precious 
to be left behind, so I tied my trousers at the ankles and 
stuffed my clothes full of tortoises and waddled home as 
best I could. Unfortunately the tortoises had been creep- 
ing over the poison ivy in the woods, and I shortly devel- 
oped a lively case of general rhus toxicodendron poisoning- 
But my ardor for collecting specimens was not in the least 
abated by this mishap, and butterflies and beetles next 
engaged my attention. 
I owed much, a few years later, to the Academy of 
Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, and especially to Prof. 
E. D. Cope for his kind encouragement in every way in 
prosecuting a favorite study of reptiles. 
I spent six years in the school of Dr. Faires, on Dean 
Street, Philadelphia, where I was so well grounded that, 
upon entering the University of Pennsylvania, in the 
autumn of 1873, I took the Matriculate Latin Prize for 
passing the best entrance examination in that language. 
As my class left Dr. Faires's hands to go to the University 
the Doctor handed a slip of paper to my classmate, Mr. 
Bunford Samuel, now of the Ridgway Library, in Phila- 
delphia, to be opened in one year, stating that he had 
written on it the name of the man who was to take the first 
honors of the freshman year, if it fell to his school. A 120 
DR. HOWARD A. KELLY. 
year later, when the Doctor's prediction was fulfilled, I 
learned to my surprise that my name was the one that 
had been written on the slip, but my pride was hurt by 
the reason the Doctor gave for choosing me out, that I 
was a faithful student and was quite orderly. 
I was graduated in 1877 from the University of Penn- 
sylvania, and took up the study of medicine as the nearest 
approach to purely scientific studies. My great desire 
during boyhood had been to be a naturalist, but I realized 
that I lacked some of the necessary qualifications of a suc- 
cessful naturalist. My class at the medical school was the 
first to be graduated under the compulsory three-years' 
term, but just before the very end of the third year I was 
obliged to give up all work and go west for twelve months 
to get rid of a persistent insomnia, brought on by over- 
work. I was trying at the same time to graduate well in 
medicine, to carry on studies in comparative anatomy, to 
coach some of the delinquents of the class for the approach- 
ing examinations, and to read Hebrew, Spanish, Italian, 
and French, for fun. 
I spent the year 1880-81 in Colorado, joining there my 
college chum, Edward P. Anderson, who was living at 
Colorado Springs for his health. I went west with the 
determination to earn my own living while there, and to 
get the maximum amount of health and strength out of 
the life, by doing any kind of hard manual work that pre- 
sented itself. I found a place on Stark's ranch, at O. Z., 
in El Paso County, forty-five miles northeast of Colorado 
Springs, and succeeded in both my objects; buying and 
selling ponies, and living the life of a cowboy, I supported 
myself, and was completely restored to health. At the 
end of a year, in February, I returned to the University 
and spent another year in the medical school, when I was 
graduated, after passing some pretty bad examinations. 
The year after graduating, 1882-83, I spent in the Epis- 
copal Hospital, Philadelphia, where the large and varied DA. KO IVA AD A. KELLY. 
121 
dispensary service proved an invaluable means of quick- 
ening an interest in scientific medicine. 
I had already had some practice in the post-graduate 
department of the University Dispensary, and set out by 
paying considerable attention to diseases of the eye, ac- 
quiring also a fair experience in the treatment of skin 
diseases. But from the first gynaecological cases attracted 
my especial interest, and by degrees in the course of the 
next four years this line of practice absorbed my whole 
time and thought. I was especially aided in my work at 
the Episcopal Hospital by the deep personal and generous 
interest of Dr. A. K. Minich, my dispensary chief, and in 
the hospital wards Drs. Louis Starr and Morris Lewis 
both stimulated me by their genuine interest in scientific 
medicine. 
There were some shrewd, clever men on the staff of 
residents in my day, and the pleasant rivalry that existed 
among us not only stirred us up intellectually, but helped 
to enliven the monotony of hospital life. It was the 
custom, when one of the residents went out for his after- 
noon off duty, for his alternate to take charge of his wards 
during that time and to make the evening rounds for him. 
The chief business of the alternate during this time, if he 
happened to be a surgical resident, was to catch an im- 
portant emergency operation and to get through with it 
before the resident returned, when he would be naturally 
disgusted at losing the operation and at having to nurse 
another man's work. On the other hand, the medical 
resident delighted to discover some new symptom or com- 
plication which had not been noticed by his associate in 
regular charge of the ward. I remember very well a par- 
ticular interchange of courtesies of this sort. Upon my 
return on one occasion Dr. Edward Mcllvain, a shrewd 
diagnostician, led me up to one of my typhoid fever 
patients, and, straightening himself up, with a triumphant 
air and significant smile he tapped on the patient's chest, 122 
DR. HOWARD A. KELLY. 
and told me to put my ear there. He had discovered a 
pleuritic complication which I did not know existed. I 
took my revenge on another resident by demonstrating the 
true nature of the disease in the case of a man who had 
been suffering intense pain in his right knee, which had 
been persistently treated and wrapped up for some days in 
lead-water and laudanum. I passed a metal catheter into 
the bladder, and by pressure against the posterior right 
pelvis got a distinct thrill and bruit, which could be felt 
and heard through the catheter, showing that it was a case 
of aneurism of the iliac artery; the patient subsequently 
died in the ward, and the post-mortem examination proved 
the correctness of my diagnosis. 
When my term of service in the Episcopal Hospital was 
over I determined to open an office near the hospital, in 
order to hold on to the practice among the poor of Ken- 
sington which I felt sure I should be able to build up. I 
rented a little front room at Mrs. Summerville's, 2316 
North Front Street. Mrs. Summerville was a plain, good- 
natured little Scotchwoman, with a drunken pensioner for 
a husband, and two sons working in the Kensington mills. 
The house was only two stories high, and I had a Hover's 
sofa-bed in the front room, where I saw the patients, and 
ate my meals in the back room, often with six or eight 
patients sitting around waiting until I got through and 
watching every mouthful I took. The sofa-bed, where the 
patients sat by day and where I slept at night, was so near 
the window that any night-caller in a hurry could rouse 
me by simply throwing up the lower sash and catching me 
by the foot. Patients were abundant, and in three years' 
time I had gained a large experience in the practice of 
general medicine and surgery. 
At the end of a year I moved from Mrs. Summerville's 
around the corner to No. 123 East Cumberland Street, 
and, at the same time, as gynaecological cases were multi- 
plying on my hands, I started a little private hospital on DR. HOWARD A. KELLY. 
123 
C Street, taking two upper rooms in a small two-story 
house. The patients were looked after by Mrs. Wood, an 
unusually bright Englishwoman who had herself been one 
of my patients. The hospital attracted friends from the 
start and grew so rapidly that I soon had to take a three- 
story house on Cumberland Street, and some time after- 
ward a still larger house at No. 124 East Diamond Street, 
on Norris Square. Here it was incorporated and put on a 
good business basis through the kind interest of Mr. Wil- 
liam P. Ellison, who from that time on has been the main- 
stay of the Kensington Hospitalfor Women, as it was named 
in the Act of incorporation. Upon leaving Philadelphia I 
transferred the Kensington Hospital to my friend Dr. 
Charles P. Noble, under whose able management it has 
more than doubled its capacity, and moved into a fine, 
comfortable building with every convenience for the best 
modern surgical work. 
My first ovariotomy was performed on May 28, 1884, 
and on June 7, 1884, I removed a large ovarian tumor 
weighing one hundred and sixteen pounds. The physi- 
cians who were present at this operation were Drs. A. K. 
Minich, George Boyd, Joseph Price, T. S. K. Morton, Jr., 
B. A. Randall, West McCaskey, and W. N. Ferguson. 
The patient, who had long been a familiar sight in the 
neighborhood, made a complete recovery and is still 
living in good health. 
What measure of success I have obtained in my work I 
owe to four things : 
First, the fact that, neglecting the time-honored custom 
in Philadelphia of sitting down in my father's house, help- 
ing the older doctors and waiting to grow gray before 
getting into independent practice, I abandoned all down- 
town connections and gave myself up entirely to work 
among the poor; they were immediately responsive and 
always appreciative and brought me within a short time a 
large experience. 124 
DR. HOWARD A. KELLY. 
In the second place, I worked hard and persistently. 
Nothing in all the world has ever been so deeply inter- 
esting to me as the study of medicine, and not the smallest 
attraction in the work have been the many pleasant personal 
relations and warm friendships I have made. 
In the third place, just as soon as I found I was being 
crowded with too much work, I at once secured the best 
assistant I could possibly find and divided the work, so 
that what was done could be done well. My first assistant 
was Dr. Hunter Robb, who joined me upon his leaving 
the Episcopal Hospital, and went with me to Baltimore to 
become first gynaecological resident in the Johns Hopkins 
Hospital. He remained with me until the fall of 1894, 
when he accepted the professorship of gynaecology in the 
Western Reserve University, at Cleveland, Ohio. Dr. 
Joseph Hoffman, my next assistant in Philadelphia, re- 
mains in active private practice in Kensington. 
And, fourth, I did not hesitate to drop my work for 
several months every year to go to Europe to see the work 
of others. This gave me rest and proved a quickening 
influence on my studies, besides starting some of the most 
valued friendships of my life. It has enabled me also to 
form an intelligent judgment as to the relative position of 
American and foreign surgical work. 
I owe a great deal personally to my dear friend Dr. 
Robert P. Harris, of Philadelphia. I called on Dr. Harris 
one day, in 1884, to ask him about some matter in pel- 
vimetry, and from that time on Dr. Harris has been my 
staunch friend. As long as I lived in Philadelphia he was 
a regular visitor at our house in Kensington, where Dr. 
Robb and I both looked forward to his visits with the utmost 
pleasure. His cheery manner was delightful. Coming to 
see us, as soon as the front door was opened he would 
call out from the foot of the stairs, in a high-pitched 
crescendo voice, " Is Dr. Kelly in?" If he got an affirm- 
ative answer, he would come upstairs with a little grunt of DR. HOWARD A. KELLY. 
125 
satisfaction, and nearly always deposit on the table either 
a melon or some peaches or pears or other fruit, in which 
he had a special scientific interest. Then we would all 
discuss the fruit, ,and the latest news of Caesarean section 
or ectopic pregnancy, subjects in which Dr. Harris has 
always taken a deep interest. 
During the year 1888-89, I held the chair of Obstetrics 
at the University of Pennsylvania, dividing the professor- 
ship with Dr. Barton C. Hirst. I then received a call to 
the Johns Hopkins University and Hospital, to become 
Professor of Gynaecology and Obstetrics. The new field 
with its large material, the advantages and conveniences 
offered by the Hospital with its endowment, and the cen- 
tral position of Baltimore, all made the offer an irresistible 
one, and I removed to Baltimore in the fall of 1889, to 
organize the Gynaecological Department of the Johns 
Hopkins Hospital. The post has proved one of inex- 
haustible resources for an enthusiastic gynaecologist, and 
the Hospital already enjoys the confidence of all the 
Southern States and of many of those in the West. This 
is largely due to the Board of Trustees of the Hospital, 
who, animated with the same spirit as the Board of Trustees 
of the University, have left the management of the various 
departments largely in the hands of the chiefs, trusting to 
their personal interest and pride in their work for the de- 
velopment of the Hospital in accord with modern scien- 
tific medicine. More than this no gynaecologist could 
ask. 126 
DR. CHARLES P. NOBLE. 
CHARLES P. NOBLE, M.D., 
PHILADELPHIA, PA. 
Dr. Charles Percy Noble was born in Federalsburgh, 
Maryland, November 15, in the year 1863. He is the 
third son of the late Dr. William D. and Mary A. (Houston) 
Noble. Dr. Noble's family is distinctively American, 
having been residents of Maryland and Delaware since 
shortly after their settlement. Dr. Noble attended the 
schools of his native town until 1880, when upon the 
death of his father he removed for two years to Iowa, 
during which time his studies were continued in the Iowa 
Agricultural College. He was graduated in medicine at the 
University of Maryland in 1884, receiving the highest 
prize, the University gold medal, given to the student 
passing the best general examination, and also the prize 
in obstetrics. In the summer of 1884 he began the prac- 
tice of medicine in Philadelphia. 
Dr. Noble was married to Miss Mira E. Rose, of Stan- 
hope, New Jersey, September 15, 1885. They have three 
children, two sons and a daughter. For five years he did 
a general family practice, during that time, however, 
being connected with the Philadelphia Lying-in Charity 
as one of the assistant physicians and having charge of 
its out-patient service for diseases of women. During this 
time he also did editorial work in the departments of 
obstetrics and diseases of women for the Medical and Sur- 
gical Reporter, then under the editorial management of 
Dr. Charles W. Dulles. In 1889, upon the resignation of 
Dr. Howard A. Kelly as Surgeon-in-Chief of the Ken- 
sington Hospital for Women, Dr. Noble was appointed to 
succeed him. 
The steady growth of the Kensington Hospital for 
Women.has been due in no small measure to the interest DR. CHARLES P. NOBLE. 
127 
taken in its welfare by its surgeon-in-chief, and to the 
large amount of his time which has been devoted to its 
management. This institution, which was founded and 
made famous by Dr. Kelly, has maintained its reputation 
and increased its usefulness under the present management. 
Dr. Noble is also gynaecologist to the Union Mission Hos- 
pital, and is surgeon-in-charge of the department for the 
diseases of women of the Northern Dispensary. He is a 
Fellow of the American Gynaecological Society, and of 
the College of Physicians, the Obstetrical Society, etc., 
of Philadelphia. 
Dr. Noble entered into the field of his special work 
soon after the new era of gynaecology set in, and has 
always been an advocate of the advanced methods. His 
interest in the subject, however, has not been confined 
simply to abdominal surgery, which of late has assumed 
such a conspicuous place in gynaecology as to overshadow 
the plastic work and important therapeutic measures, but 
he has recorded some of his most gratifying successes in 
the latter field. Notable among his operations have been 
the Caesarean sections, two in number, one of which was 
done upon the second woman who had recovered from the 
classical Caesarean section in Philadelphia; and, curiously, 
both this woman and the first one each recovered from 
two Caesarean sections. Dr. Noble was the first surgeon in 
the world deliberately to elect symphyseotomy at term 
over the induction of premature labor as a method of de- 
livery in contracted pelvis. As an operator his technique 
is simple, his movements deliberate, and his attention to 
detail scrupulous, laying more stress upon doing an opera- 
tion carefully and well than upon doing it quickly. His 
results compare favorably with those of the best operators 
of the day. 
The following are Dr. Noble's contributions to medical 
literature; 128 
DR. CHARLES P. NOBLE. 
"Antiseptic Midwifery as Practised in the Philadelphia 
Lying-in Charity." Med. and Surg. Reporter, Phila., 
1888, Iviii. 397. 
" Treatment of Placenta Praevia; a Historical and Criti- 
cal Sketch." Med. and Surg. Reporter, Phila., 1888, Iviii. 
625-631. 
"Treatment of Mammary Abscess." Med. and Surg. 
Reporter, Phila., 1888, Iviii. 475. 
"Treatment of Puerperal Septicaemia." Med. and 
Surg. Reporter, Phila., 1888, Iviii. 604. 
"Hygiene of the Breasts; Treatment of Puerperal 
Nipple Lesions and Mammary Engorgements." Med. and 
Surg. Reporter, Phila., 1888, Iviii. 810. 
"Three Cases of Partial Retention of the Placenta 
after Labor at Term." Med. and Surg. Reporter, Phila., 
1888, lix. 233-235. 
" Treatment of Post-partum Hemorrhage." Med. and 
Surg. Reporter, Phila., 1888, lix. 49. 
"Value of External Examination in Obstetric Prac- 
tice." Med. andSurg. Reporter, Phila., 1888, lix. 488. 
"A New Method of Diagnosis in Obscure Cases of 
Entero-vesical Fistula; Senn's Hydrogen Gas Test." 
Med. and Surg. Reporter, Phila., 1889, lx. 77. 
" Technique of Abdominal Palpation." Med. and Surg. 
Reporter, Phila., 1889, lx. 168-172. 
"Remarks on the Use of the Obstetric Forceps." 
Med. and Surg. Reporter, Phila., 1889, lx. 535-540. 
"Retention of Fragments of Placenta Within the 
Uterus after Labor." Obst. Gaz., Cincin., 1889, xii. 
297-301. Ann. Gyncec., Boston, 1888-89, 463-467. 
"Extra-uterine Pregnancy." Med. and Surg. Re- 
porter, Phila., 1889, Ixi. 537-539. 
"Report of a Case of Abdominal Section ; Acute Pyo- 
salpinx and Abscess of the Ovary Following Abortion." 
Med. and Surg. Reporter, Phila., 1890, Ixii. 164-166. 
" Induced Premature Labor ; Delivery with High For- DR. CHARLES P. NOBLE. 
129 
ceps; Conjugate Diameter, eight centimetres." Obst. 
Gaz., Cincin., 1890, xiii. 59-63. 
"Prolonged Labor, with Craniotomy." Obst. Gaz. 
Cincin., 1890, xiii. 57-59. 
"Unique Csesarean Section." Med. and Surg. Re- 
porter, Phila., 1890, Ixii. 561 Trans. Coll. Phys., Phila., 
1891, 3 s., xii. 118-121. 
"Inflammation of the Uterine Appendages." Med. 
and Surg. Reporter, Phila., 1890, Ixiii. 31-33. 
" Peroxide of Hydrogen." Med. and Surg. Reporter, 
Phila., 1890, Ixii. 545. 
" Gonorrhoeal Salpingitis in its Surgical Aspects." Med. 
and Stirg. Reporter, Phila., 1890, Ixii. 601-606. 
"Primary Perineorrhaphy." Med. Age, Detroit, 1890, 
viii. 457-460. 
"The Control of Hemorrhage Deep in the Pelvis, 
with the Report of a Case of Ovariotomy." Med. News, 
Phila., 1890, Ivii. 449. 
" A Case of Intraligamentary Cyst of the Left Ovary; 
Enucleation; Recovery." Med. News, Phila., 1890, 
Ivii. 689. 
"The Peroxide of Hydrogen; its Uses in Abdominal 
Surgery." Med. News, Phila., 1891, Iviii. 402. 
" Pyosalpinxin Relation to Sterility in Women." Med. 
Age, Detroit, 1891, 297-301. 
" Minor Uterine Surgery." Ann. Gvncec. and Pcediat., 
Phila., 1890-91, Iv. 223-233. 
"The After-treatment of Cases of Abdominal Sec- 
tion." Med. and Surg. Reporter, Phila., 1891, Ixiv. 773- 
776; Journ. Amer. Med. Ass'n, 1891, 73-76. 
"Peroxide of Hydrogen for Cleaning the Hands." 
Med. and Surg. Reporter, Phila., 1891, txv. 237. 
" Ten Cases of Abdominal Section." Ann. Gyncec. 
andPcediat., Phila., 1891, iii. 346. 
" The Dangers of Leaving the Products of Inflamma- 
vol. n.-9 130 
DR. CHARLES P. NOBLE. 
tion in the Female Pelvis." Ann. Gyncec. and Pcediat., 
Phila., 1890-91, iv. 630-633. 
"Abdominal Surgery at the Kensington Hospital for 
Women." Med. Age, Detroit, 1891, ix. 321-327. 
"Four Cases of True Pelvic Abscess." Med. News, 
Phila., 1891, lix. 237. 
" Salpingitis in its Relation to Pregnancy and the Puer- 
peral State." Trans. Amer. Gyncec. Society, 1891, xvi. 480. 
" Remarks on the Diagnosis of the Diseases of Women." 
Trans. D. Hayes Agnew Surg. Society, 1891 ; American 
Lancet, 1891, xv. 81. 
"Pelvic Inflammation in Women." American Lancet, 
1891, xv. 243. 
"A Year's Work in Abdominal Surgery at the Kensing- 
ton Hospital for Women." Ann. Gyncec. and Pcediat., 
Phila , 1891-92, v. 225-237. 
"Endometritis, Considered Clinically." Ann. Gyncec. 
and Pcediat., Phila., 1891-92, v. 513-547. 
"Relief of Partial Intestinal Obstruction Following 
the Removal of the Uterine Appendages." Med. and 
Surg. Reporter, Phila., 1891, Ixv. 162. 
" Review of the Progress of Gynaecology During the 
Past Ten Years." Trans. D. Hayes Agnew Surgical So- 
ciety, 1892. 
" Points in Office Practice in the Treatment of the Dis- 
eases of Women." Times and Reg., New York and Phila., 
1892, xxiv. 615-619; Proc. Phila. Co. Med. Society, 
Phila., 1892, xiii. 253. 
" Certain Aspects of Gonorrhoea in Women." Am. 
Jr. Obst., New York, 1892, xxvi. 551-560; Trans. Am. 
Gyncec. Soc., Phila., 1892, xvii. 143-15 7. 
"A Year's Work in Minor Surgical Gynaecology at the 
Kensington Hospital for Women." Trans. Phila. Co. 
Med. Society, Phila., 1892. 
"Case of True Pelvic Abscess." Ann. Gyncec. and 
Pcediat., Phila., 1892-93, 201. DR. CHARLES P. NOBLE. 
131 
"Report of a Successful Elective Caesarean Section." 
Ann. Gyncec. and Pcediat., Phila., 1892-93, vi. 196-198. 
"Vaginal Hysterectomy for Cancer, with a Report of 
Four Cases." Ann. Gyncec. and Pcediat., Phila., 1892-93, 
vi- 257-259. 
" Symphyseotomy versus its Substitutes, with the Re- 
port of a Case of Symphyseotomy." Med. News, Phila., 
1893, Ixii. 176-181 ; Trans. Coll.Phys., Phila., 1893, 3s-> 
xv. 51-63. 
" The Caesarean Section and its Substitutes." Am. Jr. 
Obst., New York, 1893, xxvii. 208-218. 
"Early Diagnosis and Operation in Cancer of the 
Uterus." Am. Gyncec.Journal, Toledo, 1892, ii. 717-721. 
"Certain Problems in Abdominal Surgery, Based on 
One Hundred Cceliotomies." Am. Jr. Obst., New York, 
1893, xxvii. 625-649. 
" Fibroid Tumors and Hysterectomy." St. Louis Cour. 
Med., 1893, viii- I3^~I3^- 
"Cases of Neglected Pus-tubes; a Contribution to the 
Natural History of Pus in the Pelvis." Ann. Gyncec. and 
Pcediat., Phila , 1892-93, vi. 535-537. 
" The Question of Operation in Cases of Chronic 
Ovaritis." Amer. Jr. Obst., New York, 1893, xxviii. 
59"67- 
" Certain Aspects of Puerperal Septicaemia, with the 
Report of a Case of Acute Puerperal Cellulitis." Ann. 
Gyncec. andPcediat., Phila., 1892-93, vi. 537-539. 
"The Causation of Diseases of Women." Internat. 
Med. Mag., Phila., 1893, ii. 599-607; Jr. Am. Med. 
Ass'n, Chicago, 1893, xxi. 410-415. 
" Uterine Disease and Imperfect Utero-ovarian Devel- 
opment." Med. Standard, Chicago, 1893, xiv. 101. 
"Report of Two Years' Work in Abdominal Surgery at 
the Kensington Hospital for Women." Internat. Med. 
Mag., Phila., 1893. ii. 985-1002. 
" The Relation of Certain Urinary Conditions to Gynae- 132 
DR. CHARLES P. NOBLE. 
cological Surgery." Am. Jr. Obst., New York, 1893, 
xxviii. 753-762. 
" Surgical Shock." Ann. Gyncec. and Pcediat., Phila., 
1893-94, vii. 206-211. 
"A New Uterine Cutting Curette Forceps." Ann. 
Gyncec. and Pcediat., Phila., 1893-94, vii. 340. 
"The Perfect Needle-holder." Ann. Gyncec. and 
Pcediat., March, 1894. 
"Profuse Menstruation." Ann. Gyncec. and Pcediat., 
Phila., 1893-94, vii. 334-340. 
"Procidentia Uteri." Ann. Gyncec. and Pcediat., 
Phila., April, 1894. 
" Report of a Case of Imperforate Hymen, with the 
Retention of Menstrual Blood; together with Remarks 
upon the Question of Physical Examination of Young 
Girls." Med. Record, New York, 1894, xlv. 301. 
"A New Method of Examining the Kidney for Stone." 
Phila. Polyclinic, 1894, iii. 135. 
"Acute Puerperal Cellulitis and True Pelvic Abscess." 
Am. Jr. Obst., New York, 1894, xxix. 447-456. 
"Case of Puerperal Cellulitis." Gaillard's Med. Jr., 
New York, 1894, Iviii. 307-311. 
" Uterine Fibroids." Med. and Surg. Reporter, Phila., 
1894, Ixx. 775-78i. 
" Symphyseotemy versus the Induction of Premature 
Labor." Am. Jr. Obst., New York, 1894, xxx. 50-56. 
"Remarks on the Treatment of Inevitable Abortion." 
Codex Medicus, Phila., 1894, i. 10-14. 
" Puerperal Pelvic Cellulitis and Puerperal Peritonitis." 
Am. Gyncec. and Obst. Jr., New York, January, 1895. 
" Diagnosis of Pregnancy During the First Three 
Months." Trans. Phila. Co. Med. Society, November, 1894. 
" Remarks on Ectopic Pregnancy." Am. Gyncec. and 
Obstet. Jr., New York, January, 1895. 
" Cceliotomy for Puerperal Septicaemia and Peritonitis." 
Am. Gyncec. and Obstet. Jr., New York, April, 1895. DR. E. H. PRATT. 
133 
E. H. PRATT, A.M., M.D., LL.D., 
CHICAGO, ill. 
The life and achievements of him whose name heads 
this biography worthily illustrate what may be done by 
persistent and painstaking effort. 
Edwin Hartley Pratt is a native of Towanda, Pa., and 
was born November 6, 1849, the son °f Leonard Pratt, 
M.D., and Betsey (Belding) Pratt, both of whom are of 
English descent. The father, now a resident of San Jose, 
Cal., was formerly connected with the Hahnemann Medical 
College, Chicago, and for many years was one of the most 
distinguished physicians in the Northwest. He is a man 
of progressive ideas, noted for ability and integrity of 
character, gentleness of manner, and promptness in all 
things. The maternal ancestors were long-lived people, 
and the mother of our subject inherited a rugged consti- 
tution. She is a woman of large stature, energetic, fear- 
less, and persevering, and when convinced of the rightness 
of a purpose or plan allows no obstacle to stand in the way 
of its achievement. Dr. Pratt possesses a happy combina- 
tion of many of the qualities and characteristics of both 
his parents. In physical organization he most resembles 
the Beldings, being large in stature, six feet tall, finely 
proportioned and weighing 250 pounds. In mental make- 
up he has the cheerfulness and hopefulness of his father, 
combined with his mother's indomitable energy, courage, 
and perseverance. His only living sister, Nettie L. Pratt, 
is a young lady noted for her unusual musical attainments. 
She resides at San Jose, Cal. Another sister, Hattie, died 
when thirteen years of age of malignant diphtheria, it 
being one of the first cases in this country. An only 
brother died in infancy. 
Prior to his fifteenth year Edwin attended the common 134 
DR. E. H. PRATT. 
schools, and spent a year at Mt. Carroll (Illinois) Semi- 
nary. In order to give him the advantage of a college 
education his father removed to Wheaton, in DuPage 
County, Illinois, where he pursued the first year prepara- 
tory course at Wheaton College. Upon the opening of 
the second year the college authorities, learning that he 
had interested himself in the organization of a Good 
Templars' lodge, and being opposed to secret societies, 
demanded that he sever his connection with the lodge. 
He was only a day student, living at his own home, and 
his father was a member of the lodge, and feeling the in- 
justice of the demand he refused to comply with it. Leav- 
ing the school, he at once entered the second year class in 
the preparatory department of the University of Chicago. 
He remained at this institution six years, completing a 
thorough course of study, and graduating with the class of 
1871 with the degree of A. B. In college he was known 
as a hard worker, and developed a special aptitude for 
geometry, logic, metaphysics, grammar, and rhetoric, and 
was especially fond of the Odes of Horace and Ars Poetica, 
by reason of their help to him in writing and speaking. 
In the literary society to which he belonged, the " Tri 
Kappa," he was a leader in debate and among the fore- 
most writers and speakers, and made himself popular 
among his fellow students by entering heartily into the 
true spirit of college life. He was a prominent member of 
the " Delta Kappa Epsilon Fraternity." He also had fin 
musical tastes and talents. His own choice was to fit him- 
self for the practice of law, but knowing the disappoint- 
ment of his father should he not enter the medical profes- 
sion, he yielded his own wishes, and in October, 1871, 
entered Hahnemann Medical College, and was graduated 
in the spring of 1873 the degree of M.D. During 
his medical course he acted as quiz master in connection 
with his father's class, that of special pathology and diag- 
nosis, and also during his last year filled the position of DR. E. H. PRATT. 
135 
demonstrator of anatomy under appointment of the in- 
cumbent of that chair. After listening to his valedictory 
address the board of trustees of the college were so favor- 
ably impressed that they at once invited him to become 
demonstrator and adjunct professor of anatomy. In order 
better to qualify himself for the place he visited Philadel- 
phia, and spent the spring term in Professor Keen's school 
of anatomy and in Jefferson Medical College. 
In the fall of 1873 he entered upon his duties as teacher 
in Hahnemann Medical College, lecturing twice each 
week, and in addition filled the place of the professor of 
anatomy when that gentleman was absent, and, as he was 
present but twice during the entire winter, the responsi- 
bilities of the position mainly devolved upon Dr. Pratt. 
Although the mental strain was severe he bore up under it, 
and at the close of the year had the satisfaction of know- 
ing that his work was highly satisfactory. Dr. Pratt was 
now tendered the professorship of anatomy, but the desire 
to engage in active practice, and the thought that he could 
no longer afford to donate his services, led him at first to 
decline the offer. The college authorities, however, know- 
ing the value of his services, were reluctant to let him go, 
and at once tendered him a fair salary. Under this ar- 
rangement he accepted the position, and filled it until the 
spring of 1877. At this time, owing to dissensions be- 
tween the board of trustees of the college and the faculty, 
ten of the thirteen professors resigned, and organized the 
Chicago Homoeopathic Medical College. With these 
doctors Dr. Pratt sympathized most heartily, believing 
them to be in the right, and, although the Hahnemann 
College desired him to continue his connection there at 
the same salary, a sense of duty compelled him to decline 
the offer and accept the professorship of the same chair in 
the new institution without remuneration. This chair he 
filled for seven years, during which time the homoeopathists 
were admitted to the wards of the Cook County Hospital. 136 
DR. E. H. PRATT. 
Dr. Pratt was elected a member of the hospital staff, and 
occupied a position first in the theory and practice depart- 
ment, later in the gynaecological department, and afterward 
was elected attending surgeon of the hospital. 
In 1883, a vacancy occurring in the chair of surgery in 
the college, Dr. Pratt, with the consent of the faculty, 
retired from the chair of anatomy and accepted that of 
surgery. It was here, while handling the complicated and 
obscure cases at the college clinic, that he discovered what 
has at once marked an era in the treatment of chronic dis- 
eases. Inspired by the thought of his discovery he was 
about to announce it to his class, but a second thought 
prompted him to dismiss them with the announcement 
that his next lecture would be " Chronic Diseases from a 
Surgical Standpoint." He had promised an article for a 
medical journal, and being pressed for time he employed 
a stenographer to report this lecture in fulfillment of that 
promise. His purpose of presenting something new had 
been noised about, and when he entered the lecture-room 
he found it crowded to its fullest capacity, among the 
audience being many visitors from other colleges. It was 
a moment of supreme importance to him, and as he ad- 
vanced in his lecture, the heavy, tired, and restrained feel- 
ing which he experienced at the opening passed away; 
there came from him a flood of light and he spoke as under 
the power of inspiration, holding his auditors spell-bound 
to the close, when their breathless silence was broken by 
loud and long applause. Such was the effect of the lecture 
that although it was within three weeks of the close of the 
term, and the students were busy with examinations and 
tired from their winter's work, sixteen members of the 
class presented themselves for treatment under the new 
discovery, which the discoverer had named the Orificial 
Philosophy. The result of the treatment upon these cases 
was so satisfactory, and so many were cured, that the new 
philosophy was at once pronounced a marvellous success. DR. E. H. PRATT. 
137 
From that time the surgical clinic of the college was con- 
ducted on the orificial principle, and for a year was visited 
by physicians of all schools, from all parts of the United 
States, who came to jvitness the workings of the new phil- 
osophy. The spread of the new idea brought so many in- 
quiries that Dr. Pratt found the demands upon his time 
and strength more than he could endure and keep up his 
private practice, and this led him to receive and instruct 
his professional brethern in orificial work in classes instead 
of singly, as was at first his custom. He now holds these 
classes semi-annually for a week, and during that time he 
devotes the time to the lectures and clinical work, allow- 
ing members of the class to bring their most difficult cases, 
upon which he publicly operates. After the second class 
of this kind those present organized the National Associa- 
tion of Orificial Surgeons, electing Dr. Pratt as honorary 
member, and providing in their constitution that there 
never should be but one. This association has had a 
wonderful growth, and promises to be one of the largest 
medical societies in the United States. Such has been 
the effect of the new method for treating chronic cases 
that four fifths of those apparently incurable are speedily 
restored to health. In recognition of his services the 
Chicago Homoeopathic Medical College established a chair 
of "Orificial Surgery," to be filled by Dr. Pratt. Other 
medical colleges followed the example, and now this new 
philosophy is taught in all the medical colleges of this 
country that pretend to keep up with the progress of the age. 
Dr. Pratt was honored with the degree of LL.D, by his 
alma mater in 1886. He is an honorary member of the 
Missouri Medical Society, the Ohio Medical Society, the 
Kentucky Medical Society, and the Southern Association 
of Physicians, and an active member of the Illinois State 
Medical Association, the Chicago Academy of Medicine, 
and the American Institute of Homoeopathy. He has a 
very large and lucrative practice. He is a hard student, DR. E. H. PRATT. 
138 
has an elegant library filled with several thousand of the 
choicest books, and ccntributes largely to current litera- 
ture, besides being the author of a beautifully illustrated 
work on orificial surgery, now in its second edition. 
Dr. Pratt was married June 26, 1877, to Miss Isa M. 
Bailey, of Jersey Heights, N. J. Mrs. Pratt is a lady of 
unusual attainments, with literary and musical tastes and 
abilities of a very high order, and withal a woman of rare 
good sense, and a charming hostess. Both she and Dr. 
Pratt are members of the Apollo Club, of which the latter 
was one of the founders and is now a director. Their 
marriage has been blessed with two children. A daughter, 
Isabel, died when eighteen months old. A son, Edwin 
Bailey Pratt, a remarkably precocious child, was killed, in 
a street car accident, at the age of eight and one-half years. 
The celebrated and beautiful Lincoln Park Sanitarium 
was built for Dr. Pratt's use, and is a Mecca for the increas- 
ing throng of doctors who are seeking to master the prin- 
ciples and practice of orificial surgery. The patronage of 
this place is extensive and of high grade. Drs. F. D. Hol- 
brook, C. A. Weirick, T. E. Costain, and T. H. Trine 
are the doctor's medical corps of assistants. The nursing 
department is under the able superintendence of Miss Emma 
L. Baumbach, who manages a superior training school 
known as the " Lincoln Park Training School for Nurses." 
The school numbers about 40 members at present, and has 
46 alumni. The nurses are selected with great care, and 
are exceptionally competent in every way. Dr. Pratt is 
President of the Lincoln Park Sanitarium Company and 
also of the training school. He is also editor-in-chief of 
the Journal of Orificial Surgery, having Drs. F. D. Hol- 
brook and C. A. Weirick associated with him. This 
monthly journal is wielding a great influence in the medi- 
cal profession, rapidly making converts to the orificial 
philosophy, which seems destined to revolutionize the 
present manner of treating chronic diseases. DR. LIBBIE HAMIL TON MUNCIE. 
139 
LIBBIE HAMILTON MUNCIE, M D., 
BROOKLYN, N. Y. 
Dr. Libbie Hamilton Muncie was born at Jamaica, 
L. I., in 1866. Her father was Robert Lewis Hamilton, 
M.D., a physician of extraordinary skill, and considered 
by competent judges to be far in advance of the ordinary 
practitioner. With quick perception and acute judgment 
he was able to diagnose cases that many other doctors con- 
sidered hopeless, and thereby bring instant relief to his suf- 
fering patients. He was a man who despised anything that 
looked like meanness in his fellow-men, and never hesi- 
tated to condemn that spirit wherever manifested. This 
enabled him to espouse the cause of the down-trodden 
everywhere, and especially the Southern slave, whose 
wrongs ever found a ready response in his soul. Being a 
fluent speaker, he was often heard defending them against 
their enemies, with an eloquence that would have done 
credit to a professional orator. At the age of fifty-two he 
was prostrated with endocarditis, and, despite the com- 
bined efforts of many of the best physicians of Brooklyn, 
passed away at the very beginning of a most flattering 
life-work. 
His widow, Lucinda Curtis Hamilton, was of Scotch 
and Dutch descent, and possessed many of the sterling 
qualities of those two nationalities. She immediately 
opened a private school which she maintained for a num- 
ber of years, thereby providing for her two children, 
Lewis and Libbie. When the subject of this sketch was 
about thirteen years of age her mother was taken very 
ill, and during a protracted sickness of many weeks she 
carried on her mother's work without the loss of a single 
pupil. Removing to Brooklyn Mrs. Hamilton placed her 
daughter in the public school, and she subsequently be- 140 
DR. L IBB IE HAMILTON MUNCIE. 
came a pupil of the Packer Collegiate Institute. The 
pluck of this little woman was manifested in the manner 
in which she provided for herself, to some extent, in this 
institution. She had learned to paint flower pieces so 
deftly that her friends, knowing her needs, readily bought 
her work, for which they returned ample compensation. 
During this time she met in social circles a young phy- 
sician to whom she became united in marriage in 1883. 
From a child her desire had been to practise medicine, 
and even when a girl she often assisted her father in 
placing bandages upon wounds or attending to other 
medical duties about his office. 
After four years of married life it was decided that she 
should receive the education which she had so long de- 
sired, and accordingly entered the New York Medical 
College and Hospital, where she spent three years, grad- 
uating with the highest honors, and selected by the 
Faculty as the valedictorian of the class. 
So great was the manifestation of her medical skill that 
her advice was often sought even before her graduation. 
However, she never loses sight of the fact that gratitude is 
ever due those noble women who, by their skilful pro- 
fessional work and untiring perseverance, have raised pub- 
lic opinion that she and others may enjoy many privileges 
which to them were denied. And never does she fail to 
ascribe to her noble husband praise and credit for the un- 
selfish manner in which he has hailed every opportunity 
for her professional advantage and happiness. 
Soon after her graduation the attention of herself and 
husband was called to the marvellous success of the surgical 
methods of Prof. E. H. Pratt, of Chicago, and they accord- 
ingly both put themselves under his tuition. Dr. Libbie's 
mind, fresh from the study of physiology, readily grasped 
the principles of orificial philosophy, and she returned to 
her Brooklyn home to put them into immediate practice. 
Her success was almost phenomenal. Patients quickly spread DR. LIBBIE HAMIL TON MUNCIE. 
141 
the news of their restoration, until at last the Doctor was 
compelled to abandon outside practice and devote herself 
entirely to the gynaecological work of the office. Her 
quarters at her old office became too small for the prac- 
tice of herself and husband, whose reputation and practice 
were also increasing, and plans were finally adopted to 
build two large houses on the corner of Macon Street and 
Marcy Avenue, one of which was to be used as a sanita- 
rium and the other as a dwelling. During the construc- 
tion of this beautiful set of buildings her practice increased 
to such an extent, and applications came in so rapidly, 
that they felt fully justified in having adopted their 
enlarged plans. The new building was entered in Febru- 
ary, 1895, and work was immediately begun with a suf- 
ficient corps of trained and faithful nurses, whose untiring 
care and dexterity have added not a little to the reputa- 
tion of the sanitarium. The house was soon filled with 
patients, while applications so increased that they were 
compelled in a few weeks to break through the walls into 
the other house, making the two buildings into one 
sanitarium. 
The story of Dr. Libbie Muncie's professional life reads 
like a romance. She is not only a follower of Pratt, but 
is herself also an originator, and is only too willing that 
any physician should come and see for himself her methods 
of orificial surgery, and many are constantly taking advan- 
tage of this opportunity. Physicians commend her for 
the remarkable coolness manifested in the most difficult 
operations, for the dexterity and exactness of every move- 
ment, and for her readiness to answer the many questions 
with which she is constantly plied, so that one physician 
was heard to remark: "I have seen many operations, by 
noted surgeons, too, but never so pretty an operation in 
every respect as that by Dr. Libbie Hamilton Muncie." 
She has adopted largely the Pratt surgical method of 
"vaginal hysterectomy," which requires neither clamp, 142 
DR. EDWARD HENRY MUNCIE. 
ligature, nor great bleeding, and, being the first to apply 
this method in the East, has gained a pre-eminent reputa- 
tion. 
Dr. Libbie is a noble, refined woman of esthetic tastes, 
a kind mother, and a never-failing friend. She, with her 
noble partner, is a devout Christian, ascribing her skill to 
God given endowments and her success to a kind and 
beneficent Providence. The church is the delight of her- 
self and husband, where they may each be found every 
Sunday morning when not necessarily detained. With 
her cheerful disposition, her remarkable skill and unvary- 
ing self-possession, she inspires her patients with hope, 
ever teaching them to abandon the search for the dark 
and bitter phases of life so common among ill persons, 
and look to the bright side and cultivate cheerful dispo- 
sitions. 
Dr. Muncie is a member of the Kings County Society, 
of the American Association of Orificial Surgeons, of the 
Alumni Association of the Woman's College, and Vice- 
President of the Post-Graduate Alumni Association of 
Chicago Homoeopathic Medical College. 
EDWARD HENRY MUNCIE, M.D., 
BROOKLYN, N. Y. 
Dr. Edward Henry Muncie was born in Babylon, 
Suffolk County, N. Y., December 25, 1852. His ancestry 
were of French (Huguenot) and Dutch origin, and were 
among the first settlers on Long Island. Dr. Muncie's 
early childhood was passed on his father's farm. At an 
early age he manifested a desire for " doctoring," and the 
animals on the farm, from the horses to the chickens, came 
in for a share of his skill, and later his family and neigh- 
bors. Consequently he early received the title of doctor, EDWARD HENRY MUNCIE. 
143 
which he then disliked and often resented. At the age of 
eighteen he refused a position in one of the village stores, 
and did house-painting that he might have his evenings 
for study. Later he took charge and kept the books of a 
paint store in Brooklyn. This being too confining he 
obtained a position in the Brewers' and Maltsters' Insur- 
ance Company, 139 Broadway, N. Y., assisting the sur- 
veyor and draughtsman in making maps and sketching 
breweries for the company, and was later employed by 
Perris & Brown, map-makers. 
While here he was taken sick with intermittent fever, 
and was compelled to resign his position and go home. 
After his recovery from this severe illness he determined 
to make the practice of medicine his life-work, and one 
month later found him in the New York Homoeopathic 
Medical College, with poor health and a poorer pocket- 
book. Not receiving an expected remittance he was 
obliged to return home with a sad heart but determined 
purpose. There he spent the winter studying medical 
works and stenography. The following spring and sum- 
mer he executed a number of free-hand crayon portraits, 
among which was that of Prof. R. S. Newton, M.D., dean 
of the New York Eclectic Medical College, who mani- 
fested a kindly interest in young Muncie and persuaded 
him to attend the aforesaid institution, which he did in the 
fall and winter of 1876. The following spring and sum- 
mer he again engaged in portraiture in order to obtain 
means to pay for the next college course. While at work 
on his pictures he would always have his medical works 
before him, and thus by his diligence he finally succeeded 
in obtaining that degree for which he had been so earn- 
estly laboring. 
After graduation, borrowing five dollars with which to 
pay his way home, he entered the old homestead a happy 
conqueror, with his diploma and books under his arm 
and a number of orders for portraits, which, when com- 144 
DR. ED WARD HE NR Y MUNCIE. 
pleted, gave him means for opening a studio on Broadway, 
New York, where he produced some fine crayon and pastel 
portraits for some of the most influential and wealthy per- 
sons in New York and Brooklyn. Continuing his interest in 
medical studies at night until 1881, he then opened an office 
at 63 Livingston Street, Brooklyn, where he soon estab- 
lished a lucrative practice, and in 1883 married Libbie 
Hamilton, only daughter of the late Dr. Robert L. Ham- 
ilton, of Brooklyn, N. Y. He soon after purchased a 
house at 363 Tompkins Avenue, Brooklyn, where his two 
children, Edith and Curtis, were born. 
Dr. Muncie became interested in orificial surgery in 
1888 and-attended Prof. E. H. Pratt's course of lectures 
and operations in this branch at Chicago, and was elected 
a member of the American Association of Orificial Sur- 
geons in 1890. His wife being also a physician they have 
together made frequent visits to Chicago for more thorough 
investigation and instructions in this special line of surgery. 
In 1894 their gynsecological and surgical practice had at- 
tained such dimensions that they saw the need of a build- 
ing for the accommodation and safe care of surgical pa- 
tients, and immediately began the erection of such a place 
on the corner of Marcy Avenue and Macon Street, Brook- 
lyn, into which they moved in February, 1895. Within a 
few weeks this commodious building was filled with patients 
and an ample corps of trained nurses. This place in a 
short time gained the reputation of being homelike and 
cheerful, as the doctors and nurses alike seek to cultivate 
a spirit of hope, good cheer and love, and the patients 
soon feel this wholesome influence which " doeth good 
like medicine." 
Dr. Edward and Dr. Libbie, as they are called, make 
a happy couple, operating, prescribing, and consulting 
together for the best interest of those seeking their advice. 
Their present work is crowned with abundant success, 
and their future promises to be an exceeding greater pros- DR. A. GOLDSPOHN. 
145 
perity. They are as one with their patients, and in thought, 
word, and deed they are before God as instruments in His 
hands to administer to the body and soul of suffering hu- 
manity. 
Dr. Muncie is a member of the County and State medi- 
cal societies in the County and State where he lives, and 
of the American Association of Orificial Surgeons. 
A GOLDSPOHN, M.D., 
CHICAGO, ILL. 
Among the active practitioners of Chicago Albert 
Goldspohn is recognized as a surgeon of more than ordi- 
nary learning, skill, and reputation. Aside from several 
original operations in gynaecology, he has been active 
chiefly in eliminating errors in pathology and treatment 
from this department of medicine. He was born in Dane 
County, Wisconsin, September 23, 1851, and his parents, 
William and Friedericke (Kohlmann) Goldspohn, were 
natives of Germany, and educated there, but came to this 
country before marriage. They very wisely did not retain 
any of the German provincial dialects nor adopt the Eng- 
lish language in their domestic circle, but taught their 
children the proper German (Hochdeutsch) as their mother 
tongue. That was of great value to this their oldest son 
in business as well as in his literary studies, and especi- 
ally while taking a two-year post-graduate medical course 
in Germany. 
As the boy of a small farmer he had plenty to do when 
he was not at school, and never became accustomed to 
idleness. 
He cared little for the usual rural sports derived from 
sundry games and from hunting, but took to books on 
rainy days. A number of times copious tears were shed 146 
DR. A. GOLDSPOHN. 
when he came late to the district school, or when he was 
"spelled down," or was seated among the girls as a pun- 
ishment. His natural inclination to study was fostered by 
his parents, who, being more intelligent than wealthy, 
assisted his own efforts materially with their good-will and 
advice, and with money as far as they could. 
After several years' attendance upon graded schools he 
served an apprenticeship of two and a half years in a drug- 
store and became prescription clerk. While here, a constant 
student of drugs and chemicals, he determined to take a 
thorough literary and scientific collegiate course, and ulti- 
mately to study medicine. Accordingly he entered the 
Northwestern College at Naperville, Ill., took up the Latin 
scientific course, and was graduated in 1875 as Bachelor 
of Science. 
He then entered Rush Medical College, of Chicago, 
and for three consecutive years diligently pursued the 
course prescribed by that institution, taking both the 
winter and optional spring courses of each year, and 
was graduated, with distinction, in 1878 as Doctor of 
Medicine. Succeeding this, he entered Cook County 
Hospital as interne, having obtained the position by com- 
petitive examination. 
This service he looked upon as a great boon, and 
accordingly bent all his time and energy to make the 
most of the extensive and exceedingly valuable opportu- 
nities for experience with the living and observation on 
the dead. 
The next mark he set for himself was post-graduate 
study in Europe. But before this could be realized he 
must first earn the means by general practice, for which 
he was much better equipped than the average beginner. 
His first "shingle hung out" in the suburban town of 
Des Plaines, and practice came fast. His duties were 
continuous and interesting, but oftentimes fraught with 
great hardship and exposure in the country and at night. DR. GOLDSPOHN. 
147 
But he was very successful. Scores of families became 
his grateful friends, and he was enabled to reimburse his 
parents with money advanced for him, and to enter upon 
his European trip. 
Having gratuitously introduced a well-qualified phy- 
sician to his patrons in 1885, he went abroad and en- 
gaged with much energy and enthusiasm in post-gradu- 
ate studies for two years in the Universities of Heidelberg, 
Wurzburg, Strasburg, Halle, and Berlin, directing his 
attention to surgery in general and gynaecology in particu- 
lar. In October, 1887, he began private practice in Chi- 
cago, and about six months later was appointed as one of 
the attending surgeons to the German Hospital, and in 
June, 1892, as Professor of Gynaecology in the Post-gradu- 
ate Medical School of that city, as a recognition of his 
ability. 
He is a member of the Chicago Medical Society, of the 
American Medical Association, of the Illinois State Medi- 
cal Society, of the American Association of Obstetricians 
and Gynaecologists, and of the Chicago Gynaecological 
Society. 
His contributions, chiefly to gynaecological literature, 
have not been very numerous, but they have always given 
conclusive evidence of originality, ability, and a complete 
survey of the world's allied literature. 
The number of surgical and gynaecological journals that 
make up much of his meat and drink in medicine is un- 
usually large, and his choicest hours are devoted to those 
that are printed in German. 
On October 22, 1879, he was united in marriage to Miss 
Victoria E. Escher, of Chicago, who very materially as- 
sisted him and lightened his burdens while practising at 
Des Plaines. In 1885, himself, wife, and a servant were 
prostrated with typhoid fever, and during his convales- 
cence in June of that year his wife died at the residence of 
relatives in Chicago, from intestinal hemorrhage, while in 148 
DR. IV. H. WARDER. 
the care of able city physicians. This was a severe blow 
to him, but hard work in European universities finally 
healed the wound. On August 4, 1887, just prior to re- 
turning to America, he was happily married to his present 
wife, formerly Miss Cornelia E. Walz, of Stuttgart, Ger- 
many. They have no children. 
W. H. WARDER, M.D., 
PHILADELPHIA, PA. 
Dr. William H. Warder, born near Russellville, 
Logan County, Kentucky, June 12, 1833. His father, 
the Rev. William Warder, was a distinguished Baptist 
divine, whilst his mother, Margaret Moorehead, was a 
sister of Governor Charles S. Moorehead, of Kentucky. 
Dr. Warder was educated at Russellville Male Academy. 
When sixteen years old he came to Philadelphia to learn 
the drug business. While prosecuting his studies in 
pharmacy, chemistry, and therapeutics, he made the ac- 
quaintance of Dr. Paul B. Goddard, one of the most 
distinguished physicians of Philadelphia, who induced him 
to study the other branches of medicine. Before com- 
pleting his studies he was called home by the illness of his 
mother, who was then living near McMinnville, Tenn. 
He shortly after commenced the drug business in McMinn- 
ville, Tenn., and in the meanwhile prosecuted his medical 
studies. In 1859 he was graduated in medicine at the Uni- 
versity of Nashville, Tenn. He soon gained a reputation 
in surgery and general practice. From 1862 to 1864 the 
armies of the United States Government and the Southern 
States overran the country where the doctor then lived, 
and, as he was one of the few prominent men in that 
section who adhered to the Union, he was forced to con- 
fine himself to town work within the Federal lines. In DR. W. H. WARDER. 
149 
1864 he removed to Philadelphia, Pa., where he had 
married, in 1855, Miss Josephine B. Stager. By this 
marriage he has two daughters and a son. His oldest 
daughter married Mr. Frank S. Lewis, and his second 
daughter married Mr. John P. Crozer. His son, Dr. 
Charles B Warder, is a graduate of the Jefferson Medical 
College and the medical department of the University 
of Pennsylvania, and is now in charge of the Department 
for Diseases of the Nose and Throat and Ear of the Union 
Mission Hospital, Philadelphia. 
Soon after Dr. Warder came to Philadelphia he formed 
the acquaintance of Professor S. D. Gross, whose influence 
and inspiration, no doubt in a great degree, formed his 
medical life and future success. 
In 1866 he began a course of examinations upon sur- 
gery in connection with the Jefferson Medical College. 
In 1867 and 1868 he gave private lectures upon inflam- 
mation and its results. From this time until 1875 he 
gave private lectures upon obstetrics, diseases of women, 
use and abuse of forceps, ovarian tumors, fibroid tumors 
of the uterus, and pelvic peritonitis. He was graduated 
from Jefferson Medical College in 1871. In 1874 he was 
elected to the Obstetrical Staff of the Philadelphia Hos- 
pital, where he gave clinical lectures, and performed many 
of the advanced operations in gynaecology. Dr. Warder 
was among the first gynaecologists of this institution to 
perform abdominal hysterectomy, which he did in 1876 
for uterine fibroids. He resigned from the Philadelphia 
Hospital Staff in 1881, and has since devoted himself to 
his private practice and his private hospital for diseases 
of women. 
Dr. Warder was the orator of the Jefferson Medical 
College Alumni Association in 1886, and pronounced an 
eloquent eulogy upon his friend and patron, Professor S. D. 
Gross. He was an active member of the Executive Com- 
mittee of the Alumni Association for a number of years, DR. CHARLES JEWETT. 
150 
and for a term Chairman of the Committee. He was 
active in raising funds to build the Jefferson Medical Col- 
lege Hospital, and has always been a strong advocate for 
advanced medical teaching. He is a member of the 
Memorial Baptist Church, Philadelphia, Pa. 
CHARLES JEWETT, M.D., 
BROOKLYN, N. Y. 
Dr. Charles Jewett was born in Bath, Me., and his 
early education was obtained in the public schools of that 
city. He completed a four years' course of preparation 
for college in three years and received the prize for English 
composition at the time he was graduated at Bowdoin, in 
the year 1864. At the recent centennial (June, 1894) 
the college conferred upon him the degree of Sc.D. 
His ancestry on both sides includes many names well 
known in New England history, some of them prominent 
in State and national councils, others as authors, journalists, 
divines, and as men of letters. His family was descended 
from Maximilian Jewett, who came to this country from 
Bradford, England, in 1639, and settled in Rowley, Mass. 
The Jewetts sprang from the Huguenots. Their lineage is 
traced to one Henri de Juatt, a knight of the first crusade. 
In 1867 he began the study of medicine. He attended 
medical lectures at the Long Island College Hospital and 
at the University Medical School, and was graduated by 
the College of Physicians and Surgeons in 1871. In 1880 
he received the appointment of Professor of Obstetrics and 
Diseases of Children at the Long Island College Medical 
School, and has since then held the position. He is also a 
member of the Hospital Staff, and is recognized as one of 
the leading obstetrical specialists of the country. 
In 1878 he was elected President of the Medical Society 
of the County of Kings, and was re-elected in 1879 and in DR. CHARLES JEWETT. 
151 
i88o. He is at present Physician to St. Mary's Hospital, 
Obstetrician to the Long Island College Hospital, Con- 
sulting Obstetrician to the Kings County Hospital, Con- 
sulting Gynaecologist to the Bushwick Hospital, and Presi- 
dent of the Board of Trustees. 
He was for a time editor of the Annals of the Anatomi- 
cal and Surgical Society, and is one of the collaborators of 
the American Journal of Gyncecology and Obstetrics. He is 
the author of one or two well-known books in his specialty, 
and of numerous papers on obstetrical and other subjects* 
He has also contributed chapters to several obstetrical and 
gynaecological works. 
The manikin-teaching at the Long Island College Hos- 
pital, done under his supervision, is not surpassed in the 
world; and while Vienna and Prague may offer a greater 
chance to study the practice of dealing with deformities 
of the pelvis, there is no course, of which we have knowl- 
edge, that gives so clear an understanding of the mechan- 
ism of normal labor. 
Among the learned bodies with which he is identified are 
the Medical Society of Kings County, the Brooklyn Gynae- 
cological Society and the Brooklyn Pathological Society, 
New York State Medical Society, the New York Academy 
of Medicine, the New York Obstetrical Society, and both 
the British and the American Gynaecological Societies. 
He is Trustee of the Eye and Ear Infirmary and Vice- 
President of the New York Physicians' Mutual Aid Society. 
He has been President of Kings County Medical Society, 
and is now President of the New York Obstetrical Society 
and of the Brooklyn Gynaecological Society. 
He was appointed Honorary Chairman of the Obstetric 
Section of the Pan-American Medical Congress. 
He has performed all the major operations known to 
obstetric surgery, including two laparo-elytrotomies, three 
Caesarean sections, one Porro operation, and was the first 
in America to perform symphysiotomy. FLORA A. BREWSTER. 
152 
Dr. Jewett has a large and lucrative practice. He has 
a handsome home in Brooklyn, N. Y., situated in the most 
beautiful portion of the city. 
FLORA A. BREWSTER, M.D., 
BALTIMORE, MD. 
In gathering the facts relative to the autobiography of 
Dr. Flora Alzora Brewster, it is apparent that the city 
of Baltimore, Md., has, during the past decade, made 
wonderful advancement in the number of successful women 
engaged in the practice of medicine; no one of whom 
stands higher in the medical profession, or has been more 
successful as a physician and surgeon, than the subject of 
this sketch. 
Dr. Brewster was born at Alfred, Allegany County, 
New York, February 26, 1852. She is a daughter of 
Ephraim J. Brewster, of Connecticut-a descendant of 
Elder William Brewster, who came over to America in 
the " May Flower." 
Her mother was Mary E. Burdick, also of English ex- 
traction, who adhered closely to the old Sabbatarian 
doctrine. This sect-also called Seventh-Day Baptists- 
claim that the old Jewish Sabbath should never have been 
changed to Sunday. On the paternal side of her family 
she is descended from the Campbells of Scotland, hence a 
mixture of English and Scotch blood. 
In 1866 she was sent to Alfred University, where she 
obtained her education. After creditably passing the 
examinations she commenced the scientific course, show- 
ing marked ability and great talent for mathematics. In 
1868 a sad bereavement befell her in the sudden death of 
a fond father, which event compelled her to leave the 
university in order to attend to the finances of the family. 
Being thoroughly imbued with that spirit of independence DR. FLORA A. BREWSTER. 
153 
which is characteristic of many women of the present 
age, she accepted a position as copyist in a tax-collector's 
office, which, however, she soon gave up to begin teaching. 
Possessed of fine executive ability she soon became a 
successful teacher, and a longing desire to complete her 
studies made her frugal and careful of her earnings, but 
two years of most laborious work, teaching school and at 
the same time prosecuting her university studies, so 
seriously impaired her health that she was compelled to 
give up the latter and devote her time exclusively to 
teaching. In 1872 she was appointed teacher in the 
Mansfield State Orphan School, Mansfield, Pa., which 
was then the training school for the Mansfield State 
Normal School. She there took the degree of B.E., and 
in 1877 the degree of Master of Elementary Didactics was 
conferred upon her while she was still teaching, and in 
the same year she was appointed Principal of the Smeth- 
port (Pennsylvania) High School and Academy. Showing 
great determination of character and a desire to become 
proficient in whatever she undertook, and possessing both 
mental and physical activity, it is not surprising that 
success has attended her efforts, although in the latter part 
of the year she was forced by failing health, due to over- 
work, to give up teaching. 
She spent a year travelling in the West and Northwest, 
deriving such benefit from her Western sojourn that in 
1878 she went to Chicago, Ill., to assume the business and 
editorial management of the Newsboy s Appeal, an illus- 
trated journal published in the interest of the Newsboy's 
Home, in that city. 
Not content with this field of labor, and desiring a 
wider field for the application of scientific knowledge, she 
decided to become a physician, and the following year 
began to read medicine under Dr. Julia Holmes Smith, of 
Chicago, Ill., at the same time conducting a night school 
on the kindergarten plan in the Newsboy's Home. DR. FLORA A. BREWSTER. 
154 
In March, 1882, she completed the course in the Chicago 
Homoeopathic Medical College, after which she went to 
Baltimore, Md., where she spent six months in the office 
and private hospital of the late Professor August F. Erich, 
the noted gynaecological surgeon. 
Having decided to locate permanently in Baltimore, 
she opened an office and commenced to practise medicine 
there in the fall of 1882. At that time only one woman, 
Dr. Emma Stein Wanstall, who died in September, 1882, 
had succeeded in establishing a paying practice in Balti- 
more. 
No female physician in this city had previously been 
intrusted with surgical cases, but Dr. Brewster believed 
that this field was open to sensible, energetic, and skilful 
female surgeons, notwithstanding the strong prejudice 
against them then existing in the South, and during the 
next four years worked arduously, building up a large and 
lucrative surgical and gynaecological practice, while at the 
same time doing a great deal of charitable work. 
In the spring of 1886 her sister, Cora B. Brewster, 
was graduated in medicine, and was received in her office 
as an assistant. In 1889 they began the publication of 
The Baltimore Family Health Journal, the name of which 
was changed in 1891 to The Homoeopathic Advocate and 
Health Journal, and was made a hospital journal with a 
corps of ten editors. 
In 1890 the agitation caused by the application for the 
admission of women to the medical department of the 
Johns Hopkins University created a lively interest in the 
question of the medical education of women, and was the 
means of enlightening the people of the South in regard 
to the status of women in the medical profession. The 
barriers that had previously existed were gradually re- 
moved, and women could more successfully compete with 
their brother practitioners in the surgical field. 
In 1883 Dr. Brewster was physician and surgeon to the DR. FLORA A. BREWSTER. 
155 
Home for Fallen Women, a charitable institution situated 
in Baltimore, Md.; also physician to the Female House 
of Refuge, a reformatory institution for incorrigible girls. 
She has also given clinics in the Homoeopathic Hospital 
in Baltimore. 
In September, 1892, she spent some time with Professor 
Pratt, of Chicago, studying the principles of orificial 
surgery, and at once made use of them in her surgical 
practice. 
Dr. Brewster has a large practice in gynaecological sur- 
gery extending over the entire South, and has met with 
remarkable success as a skilful and rapid operator, and has 
the unprecedented record of never having lost a surgical 
case. She has invented several instruments for the more 
convenient and effective use of electricity in gynaecological 
practice, and also an electric belt, which practical elec- 
tricians say is a great improvement upon all those pre- 
viously made. 
The Doctor is an ardent advocate of the higher medical 
education of women, and is ever ready to extend a helping 
hand to young women who desire to study medicine or 
become trained nurses. 
In 1892 the existing partnership with her sister, Dr. 
Cora B. Brewster, was dissolved. 
Dr. Brewster's latest enterprise (April, 1893) has been 
the purchase of the large dwelling with handsome grounds 
attached, situated at 1221 Madison Ave., Baltimore, Md., 
where she has opened a sanatorium for the treatment of 
the medical and surgical diseases of women. She has a 
skilful and able assistant, Dr. Donna Anna Waldron, who 
formerly practised medicine in Hot Springs, Arkansas. 
The buildings are well suited for the purpose-heated by 
steam and fitted up with electric, medicated, and vapor 
baths, and all forms of electrical appliances used in medi- 
cal practice, apparatus for the Swedish movement cure, 
and also a traini-ng school for nurses. 156 
DP. WILLIS P. KING. 
In the short time the sanatorium has been opened it has 
already proved a great success, encouraging alike to Dr. 
Brewster and her legion of friends. 
Dr. Brewster is a member of the following societies, 
viz. : Maryland State Medical Society, Maryland and 
District of Columbia Clinical Society, American Institute 
of Homoeopathy, American Health Resort Association, 
Chairman of the Bureau of Gynaecology in the National 
Society of Electro-therapeutists, and also a member of the 
American Association of Orificial Surgeons. 
WILLIS P. KING, M.D., 
KANSAS CITY, MO. 
Dr. Willis Percival King was born in Macon County, 
Missouri, on December 21, 1839. Both his paternal and 
maternal grandparents had emigrated together from 
Madison County, Kentucky to Missouri in 1816, when 
the latter was still a Territory (now Howard County, 
Missouri). 
The Indians were yet in the Territory of Missouri, and 
their incursions upon the new "settlements" were so 
frequent and their depredations so bad that the " settlers " 
had to 11 fort up." The fort occupied by his grandparents 
and their neighbors was known as "Cooper's Fort," 
being named for Col. Ben. Cooper, a man prominent 
among the new-comers and famed as an Indian fighter in 
those days. 
Dr. King's parents, William and Lucy King, were 
cousins and babes in arms when they came to Missouri; 
and they grew to manhood and womanhood in Howard 
County. After the Indians had been removed the families 
moved to a point near where the town of Armstrong is 
now situated, and where his parents were married in 1835 DR. WILLIS P. KING. 
157 
(we believe). After the birth of his oldest brother and 
sister his family removed to Macon County, where the 
track of the Indian was still hot in the sand, and he was 
born there near where the little town of Callao is now 
located. 
There were no school-houses in his neighborhood until 
he was ten years old. At that time a log school-house was 
built, where school was held about three months each win- 
ter. Such was his thirst for knowledge that he used to 
gather hickory bark, and, after the family had retired at 
night, he would lie on the hearth and get his lessons and 
read such books as came in his way. 
Thirsting for better school advantages, he ran away from 
home at the age of fourteen, and worked about the coun- 
try in the spring, summer, and in autumn, and went to 
school in winter. When the Hannibal and St. Joseph Rail- 
road was being built he worked at cutting out the right of 
way and drove cart in the pit one season, and then removed 
to Howard County (which had, in the meantime, become 
quite an educational centre), where he attended school. 
He then taught and went to school alternately, until of 
age. 
In 1861 (June 13) Dr. King married Miss Albina H. 
Hoss, of Pettis County, Missouri. He then began the 
study of medicine, and taught school until ready to com- 
plete a course at college. He was graduated at the St. Louis 
Medical College in March, 1866, and at once removed to 
Vernon County (Southwest), Missouri. After practising 
in the country for two and a half years he removed to 
Nevada, the county seat, where he practised six years. In 
the meantime he attended Bellevue Hospital Medical Col- 
lege, New York, in 1870-71, having the ad sundum degree 
conferred on him after a full course at this school. 
In 1874 he removed to Sedalia, Pettis County, Missouri, 
where he resided and practised for fourteen years. 
In 1884-85 he took a course at the Polyclinic, New York, 158 
DP. WILLIS P. KING. 
and again short courses in the years 1889 to 1892 inclu- 
sive. 
In 1885 Dr. King was appointed Assistant Chief Surgeon 
of the Missouri Pacific Railroad, in charge of the Sedalia 
Division and Hospital, and has had charge of this hospital 
ever since. In October, 1888, the hospital was removed 
from Sedalia to Kansas City, where ,he has ever since 
resided. 
Dr. King began doing general surgical work on his re- 
turn from Bellevue College in 1871, and some ten years later 
commenced gynaecological work. Within the last fifteen 
years he has performed over two hundred laparotomies for 
the removal of ovarian and fibroid tumors and of diseased 
ovaries, with perhaps as good a percentage of recoveries 
as that of any other Western gynaecologist. He, also, 
has removed the uterus by the vagina for cancer and 
by laparotomy for fibroid tumors thirteen times without a 
death. 
His work in gynaecological and general surgery within 
the last ten years has been quite extensive, and has covered 
every class of surgical operations which he deemed justifi- 
able. 
Among the writings of Dr. King may be mentioned 
Stories of a Country Doctor, 400 pages, the tenth thousand 
of which is now in press; " Ligation of the Common and 
External Carotid and Superior Thyroid Arteries for Aneu- 
rism of the Internal Carotid within the Cranium-Re- 
covery;" " Wiring the Fractured Symphysis Pubis, Sup- 
plemented by Steel Pelvic Clamp," and many others. 
These are the most important. 
Dr. King was President of the Pettis County Medical 
Society in 1878; Medical Association of the State of 
Missouri, 1881-82 ; and was senior Vice-President of the 
American Medical Association in 1891-92. 
He did the Caesarean section on the wife of his 
second son, Willis P. King, Jr., at Nevada, Missouri, on DR. HOMER I. OSTROM. 
159 
March 25, 1895. The cause necessitating the operation 
was depression of pubis-the antero-posterior diameter of 
the superior strait being only about two and three-quarters 
inches. The patient died four days later on account of 
impaction of bowels-the operation not being followed by 
any fever or septic trouble. The child (which Dr. King's 
wife is raising) is now nearly eight months old and is a 
healthy, fine boy. 
Dr. King is prepossessing in appearance, with a liappy, 
amiable expression of countenance, at the same time not 
devoid of determination of character. He possesses a 
large amount of personal magnetism, is a natural genius, 
with a heart overflowing with kindness and sympathy, and 
his generosity is proverbial. He is remarkable for his 
great flow of wit and humor, being versatile and quick at 
repartee. His nature is genial, and he has the happy 
faculty of making many life-long friends who appreciate 
his true worth. 
There have been born to him five sons and two daughters, 
of whom four sons and one daughter have grown to man- 
hood and womanhood. 
HOMER I. OSTROM, M.D., 
NEW YORK CITY, N. Y. 
Dr. Homer Irvin Ostrom was born in Goshen, Orange 
County, New York, February 16, 1852. He descended 
from a long line of professional men, representing the bar, 
the church, and medicine, on both his father's and 
mother's side. The talents which have enabled him to 
make such rapid strides in his profession have been the 
development from a trained ancestry. His paternal grand- 
father was the Rev. James I. Ostrom, a prominent Presby- 
terian clergyman formerly of New York City, who made 160 
DR. HOMER I. OSTROM. 
his mark in the early part of the century. His father, 
Dr. Joshua Ward Ostrom, began the practice of medicine 
in New York City, and, shortly adopting the homoeopathic 
system, subsequently removed to Goshen, where he still 
resides, a vigorous example of the promoters of the new 
school, when it was more than a labor of love to advocate 
its principles. Dr. Ostrom's mother was Miss Emily 
Charlotte Gedney, daughter of Dr. Eleazer Gedney, of 
Newburgh-on-Hudson, a physician of note in Orange 
County, and was first cousin to John Quincy Adams. 
Her mother was a daughter of General Bailey, of Revolu- 
tionary fame. 
The subject of this sketch received his education at 
private schools and with tutors, and was early imbued 
with the truth of the curative law of similars. In 1871 
his life-hope sprang strongly within him and he entered 
the New York Homoeopathic Medical College, from which 
he was graduated in 1873. 
Against discouragements, and in the face of obstacles 
which few young men would have had the courage to 
encounter or the ability to overcome, Dr. Ostrom, with 
the determination and fixedness of purpose which have 
marked his course through life, decided to remain in New 
York City and devote himself ultimately to the practice 
of surgery. Believing that every specialist should first 
have the advantage of general practice, he entered upon 
this part of his profession with characteristic ardor, and 
soon built up a practice among the best classes of New 
York society. As early as it was practicable for one 
dependent upon his own energies for advancement, Dr. 
Ostrom withdrew from general practice and devoted him- 
self to operative surgery with a thoroughness which is a 
prominent trait in his character; and better to equip him- 
self for the noble branch of the profession which he had 
chosen, Dr. Ostrom for several years passed his summers 
in Europe studying the methods of the principal operators. DR. HOMER I. OSTROM. 
161 
Nothing has seemed too much or too little for him to 
learn, for, while holding radical and decided opinions, Dr. 
Ostrom has kept himself abreast with his times, and is con- 
stantly reaching out for something better than that which 
he has already attained. He is always ready to adopt new 
methods and views, and is willing upon good reasons to 
change those which he previously held. 
Though a successful and brilliant general operator, his 
almost phenomenal results in abdominal surgery have 
within the past few years brought him a large clientage in 
this department of surgery, and determined him in adopt- 
ing this as his special work. Here his keen insight and 
powers of observation; his rapid processes of thought, 
what he is wont to call to his students, " unconscious cere- 
bration"; his delicate touch; his deep sympathy with the 
sufferings, mental and physical, which such disorders en- 
tail ; and his firmness of character, have added largely to 
his popularity and his control of patients, which in turn 
becomes an element of success. 
Dr. Ostrom's abdominal surgery includes operations on 
every organ in the abdomen. In the winter of 1894 he 
removed successfully a tumor of the pancreas, which some 
other well-known surgeons had failed to remove. This 
was one of the first operations of the kind ever done in 
this country. His operations on the stomach-pylorec- 
tomy and gastrotomy-the gall-bladder, and the liver, 
have been most successful. He has several times, both 
for the removal of tumors and in the course of other 
operations, resected the intestines; in one case of appendi- 
citis the condition demanded removal of several feet of 
the ileum ; this case, in which rupture had taken place 
before the operation, recovered. 
A large proportion of Dr. Ostrom's abdominal oper- 
ations are on the uterus and its appendages. His ovari- 
otomies, including oophorectomies, show a mortality of 2 
per cent.; his average time for performing the latter oper- 
vol. n.-11 162 
DR. HOMER I. OSTROM. 
ation being ten minutes. Dr. Ostrom has long since 
abandoned the use of the clamp and the external treatment 
of the pedicle in his abdominal hysterectomies, his 
method being to remove the entire uterus, closing the 
abdominal wound, and when necessary using the vagina 
for drainage. This method has in Dr. Ostrom's hands re- 
duced the mortality in abdominal hysterectomy to 4 per 
cent. 
Dr. Ostrom's vaginal hysterectomies, or, as he prefers to 
call the operation, vaginal hystero-obphorectomy, illustrate 
in a high degree his facility and rapidity of manipulation 
and skill in meeting unlooked-for difficulties. In this, as 
in all his abdominal operations, he attaches special impor- 
tance to restoring the continuity of the peritoneum, and 
it is a matter of astonishment to see him mike a vaginal 
hystero-obphorectomy, tie all arteries, and sew together 
the peritoneum in fifteen minutes. Dr. Ostrom's last one 
hundred cases contain two deaths. 
As an operator, Dr. Ostrom's characteristics are neat- 
ness, rapidity, exactness, simplicity of manipulation, and 
the use of few instruments. The previous treatment and 
surroundings of the patient are under his direct supervis- 
ion, and controlled by a system as perfect as it is unusual; 
the patient comes to the operation in a good condition, 
and undergoes during it the minimum of shock and 
danger. 
Dr. Ostrom's diagnosis is rapid, and in frequent con- 
sultations found to be accurate and incisive. His habits 
as a student have never been laid aside, and his powers of 
complete absorption enable him to grasp the points of a 
case with certainty and dispatch. 
As much of his work in the operating-room is original, 
Dr. Ostrom has invented a number of instruments pecu- 
liarly adapted to his needs; his corkscrew for lifting the 
tumor out in abdominal hysterectomy, and his uterine 
volsella for vaginal hysterectomy, together with the pecu- DR. HOMER I. OSTROM. 
163 
liar handle needles to be used in the same operation for 
sewing the peritoneum, are recognized as valuable addi- 
tions to the abdominal surgeon's armamentarium. 
Dr. Ostrom performs the larger proportion of his oper- 
ations in his "Private Surgical Hospital," an institution 
which he has built and thoroughly equipped to meet the 
requirements of that class of patients who desire hospital 
care, but wish something more private and exclusive than 
can be obtained in larger hospitals. Dr. Ostrom's hos- 
pital is one of the most complete of its kind in New York. 
His operating-room is a model for aseptic work, and his 
nurses receive especial training from him before they are 
admitted to care for his cases, thus insuring the most ad- 
vanced surgical work, in conformity with his individual 
application of it. 
Dr. Ostrom is a constant and thoughtful contributor to 
medical literature on surgical subjects. One of his early 
principles was to help the profession in every possible 
manner, and if his pen or advice can be of service to 
any other practitioner, it is frankly and freely given. He 
is the author of a Treatise on the Surgical Diseases of the 
Brain, and also of one on Epithelioma of the Mouth. He 
is a member of the American Institute of Homoeopathy; 
of the Homoeopathic Medical State Society ; of the New 
York County Medical Society ; of the Medico-Chirurgical 
Society; of the Academy of Pathological Science ; of the 
Clinical Club ; and is one of the few American Fellows of 
the British Gynaecological Society. He is Professor of Ab- 
dominal Surgery in the Metropolitan Post Graduate School 
of Medicine, and, besides the exactions of a large private 
surgical practice, is Visiting Surgeon to the Metropolitan 
City Hospital. His work in these public hospitals excites 
much interest in the profession, and there are constant 
applications to be present at his operations, and for the 
position of his clinical assistant. Through this work the 
name of Dr. Ostrom is well known. He is often sought 164 
A 71 BICKNELL. 
in consultation, and is frequently called to operate in 
other cities, and upon patients sent to him from all parts 
of the country. 
In spite of his close application to the duties of his pro- 
fession, Dr. Ostrom is a most genial companion, and 
during his leisure hours and in his travels he has gathered 
about him books, pictures, and objects of interest that 
indicate a cultivated and refined taste. His library is an 
extensive and valuable one-for he is an omnivorous 
reader-and no pains are spared to furnish his consulting- 
room with every appliance for his professional work. His 
charity is large, and his generous aid is never withheld 
from a suffering man or woman because they cannot 
remunerate him. He takes the most kindly interest in 
men younger than himself in the profession, and never 
fails to give them valuable advice and assistance. 
In 1877 Dr. Ostrom married Miss Sara Conant, youngest 
daughter of the late Mr. Claudius B. Conant, of New York 
City. They have two children, a daughter and a son. 
It is to men like Dr. Ostrom, who so happily combine 
the thought of the scholar, the earnestness of the student, 
the kindness of the philanthropist, and the courage of a 
surgeon, with the courtesy, breeding, and culture of a 
gentleman, that America points to when she proudly bids 
the world, " Behold my sons !" 
F. T. BICKNELL, M.D., 
LOS ANGELES, CAL. 
Dr. Frederick Thompson Bicknell belongs to one of 
the oldest families in America. So far as is now known, 
all of the name now living in this country are traceable to 
Zachary and Agnes Bicknell, who, with their son, John, 
and servant, John Kitchen, sailed from England in the 
spring of 1635, and landed at Wessaguscus, now Wey- DR. F. T. BICKNELL. 
165 
mouth, within the limits of Massachusetts Bay Colony, in 
the summer of that year, with the Rev. Joseph Hull and 
hundreds of others, mostly from the counties of Somerset 
and Dorset, in the southwest part of England. From this 
little family has sprung a numerous progeny scattered 
over all parts of the country. 
Dr. Frederick T. Bicknell is the son of Nathaniel and 
Fanny Bicknell, both his parents being descended from 
English ancestors. 
To the present day there is an association in Boston, 
Mass., called the "Bicknell Family Association," which 
meets yearly there in commemoration of the Bicknell 
family. This association was organized in 1880. Its 
President is Mr. Thomas W. Bicknell, of Boston, who is 
the editor of The New England Journal of Education; the 
Secretary and Treasurer is Mr. Robert T. Bicknell, of 200 
Devonshire Street; and the Corresponding Secretary is 
Mr. Alfred Bicknell, of 33 Milk Street, Boston, Mass. 
At the close of the meeting and exercises the family 
proceed on foot and in carriages to view the site of the 
homestead of the first parents, Zachary and Agnes. 
In the year 1852 Dr. Bicknell's father moved to Jeffer- 
son County, Wisconsin, where he soon became a prosperous 
and enterprising agriculturist, occupying a prominent posi- 
tion as one of the leading citizens of the county. It 
was there that the subject of this sketch received his early 
education in the district common schools of the county in 
which he resided. Being naturally fond of his books and 
studious he readily grasped the opportunity afforded him 
of receiving a thorough English education. 
At the age of seventeen years he entered the "Albion 
Academy," attending the fall terms, and teaching in a 
district school during the winter months. When the Civil 
War was proclaimed between the North and the South he 
gave up his school to enlist as a soldier in the army, being 
then but nineteen years of age. For three years he was 166 
DR. F T. BICKNELL. 
in active service, remaining with his company until the 
close of the Rebellion. 
He then returned to his home in Wisconsin, and after 
spending a year with his father, who was at that time an 
invalid, he choose his life profession, deciding to study 
medicine and become a physician and surgeon. Entering 
the Wisconsin State University at Madison, he remained 
there two years and applied himself closely to his studies. 
He then entered the office of Dr. John Favill, of the same 
city, as a medical student, remaining with him for some 
time; he then attended the Rush Medical College at 
Chicago, Illinois, where he received his degree in the year 
1870. 
After graduating with high honors he at once located in 
Neosho, Missouri, where he associated himself with an old 
and prominent physician, Dr. L. W. Wills, and remained 
there until the fall of 1873. 
During his residence in Neosho he was married to Miss 
Etta E. Cooper, whom he knew in his early boyhood 
days when he resided in Wisconsin. A daughter was born 
to them, but by her birth the Doctor was deprived of a 
lovely and faithful wife. As the result of this heavy afflic- 
tion he decided to leave this field of practice, and to 
partly divert his mind and better his professional advan- 
tages he, in company with his old preceptor, spent the 
winter of 1874 in New York, where various opportunities 
were offered him to improve his surgical knowledge as a 
clinical student of such eminent men as J. Marion Sims, E. 
Peaslee, T. Gaillard Thomas, and Thomas Addis Emmet; 
also general surgeons, as Lewis A. Sayre, Markoe, Sands, 
Hamilton, and the celebrated old Drs. Wood, Valentine 
Mott, and others of equal eminence. 
During the winter that Dr. Bicknell spent in New York 
City as a student it was his pleasure and privilege to see 
each one of the above-named surgeons operate repeatedly. 
After completing his clinical course there he removed to Z>A. A. A BICKNELL. 
167 
Los Angeles, California, where he remained about three 
months, when he was appointed as surgeon and physician 
to " Surprise Valley Mill and Mining Company," situated 
at Panamint, California, which position he creditably filled 
for over two years. 
He then located in Independence, the county seat of 
Inyo County, Cal., engaging in general practice, estab- 
lishing a very extensive practice throughout the entire 
country, many of his patients travelling hundreds of miles 
to consult him and receive medical and surgical treatment. 
In 1881 he returned to Los Angeles to visit his only 
brother, Judge J. D. Bicknell, who is a prominent lawyer 
in that city, and his only sister, Mrs. James Eastwistle; 
he remained there about a month, when he went to his 
former home in Wisconsin, where his only child, a promis- 
ing daughter, was residing. It was during this visit to his 
childhood home that he became engaged to Miss Carrie 
E. Fargo, of Lake Miles, Wisconsin. He again returned 
to Los Angeles, Cal., bringing with him his daughter, and 
it was then that he decided to locate permanently in this 
beautiful city of sun and flowers, where he has achieved 
prominence as a successful practitioner. 
His second marriage took place in San Francisco, in 
December of 1882, and has proved a happy and congenial 
union. 
The Doctor has filled several important positions in the 
medical profession. He has been President of the County 
Medical Society, was also President of the Southern 
California Medical Society, and was the first Professor 
of Gynaecology in the Medical Department of the Uni- 
versity of Southern California, which position he held for 
several years, ultimately being compelled to offer his resig- 
nation on account of overwork caused by his extensive 
practice, which greatly impaired his health. 
The Doctor is a thorough and skilful surgeon, and 
although among the leading gynaecologists of California, ER. MARIE B. WERNER. 
168 
he does not confine his entire practice to surgery, but has 
a very extensive general practice. 
He is a rapid operator-cautious, conscientious, and suc- 
cessful ; his record in abdominal work is extensive and 
good. Much of his success can be attributed to his extreme 
neatness and close observance of antiseptic rules. 
The Doctor is genial and cordial in manner, kind and 
gentle in the sick-room, and beloved and respected by all 
who have the pleasure of his acquaintance. 
MARIE B. WERNER, M.D., 
PHILADELPHIA, PA. 
Dr. Marie Bersania Werner was born in Philadelphia, 
September 21, 1857. Her father, Charles Augustus Ferdi- 
nand Werner, and her mother, Caroline Wolpert, left 
Germany for America during 1848; meeting some years 
later in Philadelphia they were married and had but one 
child, the subject of this sketch. 
The doctor received her early education in public and 
private schools of this city. She commenced the study of 
medicine at the Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania 
in the spring of 1877, attended three courses of lectures, 
and was graduated from there in March, 1880. She 
served her time as interne in the Woman's Hospital, and 
later as clinician in the same institution for some years, 
having entered into private practice immediately after the 
expiration of her term as interne. The doctor is a mem- 
ber of the following societies: American Medical Asso- 
ciation, Pennsylvania State Medical Association, Philadel- 
phia County Medical Society, Philadelphia Obstetrical 
Society, Philadelphia Neurological Society, Alumni Asso- 
ciation of the Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania. 
Many valuable and interesting papers have been written DR. MARIE B. WERNER. 
169 
and published by the doctor, of which the following is a 
partial list: 
"Battey's Operation for Congenital Malformation." 
Journal of Obstetrics, 1884, vol- xvii. 
" Operation for Abdominal Fistula, with Removal of 
Eleven Gall-stones." Medical and Surgical Reporter, 
Phila., October 23, 1886. 
Paper read before the Alumni Association of the Woman's 
Medical College, March, 1890, entitled "Twenty Con- 
secutive Abdominal Sections, with Remarks." 
" Fistulous Escape of Ligatures after Pelvic Operations." 
Journal of American Medical Association, September 20, 
1890. 
"A Retrospect of Treatment of Pelvic Inflammations." 
Report of the Alumni Association, 1891. 
" Comparative Data in the Treatment of Uterine Tu- 
mors." Annals of Gyncecology, July, 1891. 
"Analysis of Some Statistics on Supravaginal Hyster- 
ectomy." Read before the Obstetrical Society of Phila- 
delphia, September 1, 1891. 
"Who Shall Do Abdominal Surgery?" American Jour- 
nal of Obstetrics, 1892, vol. xxv. No. 5. 
"Some Contraindications to the Use of Opiates." 
Read before the Philadelphia County Medical Society, 
January 27, 1892. 
" Nephrectomy in a Child of Two Years; Recovery." 
Therapeutic Gazette, November 15, 1892. 
"Specialism and the Insane." Medical and Surgical 
Reporter, Philadelphia, December, 1892. 
As an operator in the field of abdominal surgery the 
young doctor's more active career began in 1883, when she 
performed a oophorectomy in an interesting case of congeni- 
tal malformation. The patient, a girl of eighteen years, 
had suffered much from headache, dizziness, and pain in 
the back, and had never menstruated. Physical examina- 
tion showed an absence of the vagina, and a rectal ex- MARIE B. WERNER. 
170 
ploration proved an absence of the uterus. On section a 
well-developed ovary and tube were found on the left side, 
together with a small mass of fibres of uterine tissue, 
representing the uterus, and on the right side the tube and 
ovary were entirely rudimentary. 
This was but the first of a series of cases, many of 
of them important and involving capital operations. 
In 1884, Dr. Werner visited the principal medical 
schools of Europe, and spent eighteen months in special 
surgical studies under Professors von Billroth, Germany; 
von Frisch, von Hacker, and Salter, of Vienna; Schroe- 
der, Kiistner, and Hahn, of Berlin; Sanger, of Leipsic; 
Bruns, of Tubingen ; and Apostoli, of Paris. 
She was the first surgeon of her sex who was allowed 
to work in Professor von Frisch's clinic in Vienna. 
In 1891 she again visited Europe and studied the oper- 
ative methods of Gersung, of Vienna; Sanger, of Leipsic; 
Bantock, of London ; and Savage, of Birmingham. 
She has given considerable attention to gynaecology and 
its connection with nervous diseases and their treatment, 
in which she has achieved a high reputation. In the 
treatment of insane female patients Dr. Werner has a 
strong conviction of the necessity for more careful study 
of each individual case than is usually accorded. She 
does not accept the theory held by some alienists that 
insanity is always an expression of destructive changes in 
nerve-cells, and, therefore, incurable-a theory too com- 
monly made manifest in practice. Close professional 
research and observation have led her to believe that the 
mental disturbances of many insane patients (who are re- 
ceived into an asylum, and kept under restriction for an 
indefinite period, or for the remainder of life) are often 
traceable to pelvic diseases or injuries in which careful 
study and well-directed treatment would frequently ameli- 
orate, if not produce a cure. Such results having been 
obtained in her private practice, led her to apply for a DR. J. H. ETHERIDGE. 
171 
wider field of investigation, which was accorded in 1892 
at the State Hospital for the Insane at Norristown for a 
limited period of six weeks. During this time thirty cases 
were examined and carefully studied and treated. Two 
of this group, suffering from grave pelvic disease, were 
operated on by her and were mentally and physically 
cured ; one in five weeks and the other in several months. 
This work has been reported in her paper on il Specialism 
and the Insane." In the intervals of a busy professional 
life Dr. Werner has contributed a number of articles on 
medical subjects to various medical journals, and has also 
translated several of the works of French authors. She 
attended the meeting of the American Medical Association 
at Nashville, Tenn., in 1890, as the first woman delegate, 
from the Philadelphia County Society, who read a paper 
before the obstetrical section of the Association on "Fis- 
tulous Escape of Ligatures after Pelvic Operations." 
Doctor Werner was the first woman to read a paper 
before the Obstetrical Society of Philadelphia, of which 
she is a member, and, moreover, she was the first woman 
member to sign its Constitution. 
J. H. ETHERIDGE, M.D., 
CHICAGO, ILL. 
James Henry Etheridge, of Chicago, Ill., is a native 
of the Empire State, being born in St. Johnsville, Mont- 
gomery County, March 20, 1844. His father, Dr. Francis 
B. Etheridge, was born in the town of Herkimer, same 
State, and was a son of a Revolutionary soldier, and the 
descendant in the fourth generation of English parents. 
The mother of our subject, Fanny Easton, was a native of 
Connecticut and the sixth generation from England. Dr. 
Francis B. Etheridge was a practising physician forty-seven 172 
DR. J. H. ETHERIDGE. 
years. He moved to Hastings, Minn., in i860, and was 
a surgeon in a Minnesota regiment during the Civil War, 
dying in Hastings in 1871. The subject of our sketch, 
who is a prominent physician in Chicago, and a member 
of the Faculty of Rush Medical College, received most of 
his education in his native State, and had some experience 
in teaching a winter school. He was prepared in mathe- 
matics and Latin to enter the junior year in Harvard Col- 
lege, but the breaking out of the war, and the absence of 
his father in his country's service, disarranged the son's 
plans, and he concluded to go no further in his classical 
studies, but turn his attention to medicine. He read four 
years with his father, attended three full winter courses at 
Rush Medical College, Chicago, and was graduated in 
March, 1869. In preparing for practice he had taken 
careful and exhaustive courses, and on receiving his medi- 
cal degree stepped almost immediately into a fair business 
in the thriving village of Evanston, near Chicago, where 
he remained between one and two years. At the end of 
that period he made a tour of Europe, walking the hos- 
pitals of some of the largest cities, spending several months 
in London alone. On returning, Dr. Etheridge settled in 
Chicago, July 31, 1871, and was elected to the Chair of 
Therapeutics, Materia Medica, and Jurisprudence in Rush 
Medical College. This chair he retained until 1889, 
when he was elected Professor of Gynaecology, the suc- 
cessor of the late William H. Byford. In the year 1892 
he was also elected to fill the Chair of Obstetrics, making 
his professorship in Rush Medical College that of Obstet- 
rics and Gynaecology, the position which he holds at 
present. Dr. Etheridge was elected President of the 
Chicago Medical Society in 1886, and President of the 
Chicago Gynaecological Society in 1890. He is at present 
the Professor of Gynaecology in the Chicago Polyclinic. 
He is Attending Gynaecologist to the Polyclinic Hospital 
and to the Presbyterian Hospital, and is Consulting Gynae- DR. FERNAND HENRO TIN 
173 
cologist to the St. Joseph Hospital, Chicago. He is a con- 
stant contributor to the medical journals of the day, and 
is a member, not only of the Chicago City societies, but 
of the State, National, International, and Pan-American 
Medical Associations. He is also a foundation and life 
member of the International Association of Obstetrics and 
Gynaecology, whose first meeting was held in Brussels in 
September, 1892. Dr. Etheridge was married June, 1870, 
to Harriet Elizabeth, daughter of the late Heman G. 
Powers, of Evanston, Ill., and they have two children, 
both daughters. 
FERNAND HENROTIN, M.D., 
CHICAGO, ILL. 
Autobiography of Fernand Henrotin, M.D. Dr. 
Henrotin was born in Brussels, Belgium, in 1847, and 
came to Chicago when nine years of age. His father, 
Joseph F. Henrotin, was a physician of ability and ex- 
perience, and was a private student of Seutin, the cele- 
brated Belgian surgeon who first introduced starch ban- 
dages in the treatment of fractures. Dr. Henrotin, Sr., 
came to Chicago in 1848, and was familiarly known as the 
"French Cholera Doctor" from his acknowledged expe- 
rience in the treatment of the scourge. The grandfather, 
Clement Henrotin, was also a physician, and practised 
medicine continuously in the "Ardennes" (mountainous 
region in the western part of Belgium) for seventy-five 
years, dying at the age of ninety-six, having attended the 
sick to within one month of the time of his death. He 
was at one time the recipient of a gold medal from the 
Netherlands Government for having been the first physi- 
cian in his section to draw the attention of medical men 
to the value of powdered cinchona bark in the treatment 
of paludal fevers. After graduating from the Chicago High 174 
DR. FERNAND HENROTIN. 
School, Dr. Fernand Henrotin attended Rush Medical Col- 
ege and graduated in 1868. While at college he evinced 
no particular brilliancy of attainments, but was known as a 
good average student, learning with ease, but in no sense 
a phenomenon ; a little too fond of fun, but possessing good 
sense. As a member of the Freshmen Class he sat in the 
front row next to Prof. Daniel Brainard, when he delivered 
his last lecture on cholera, dying from the disease within 
twenty-four hours. During the last term and the following 
year he was Prosector to the Chair of Anatomy. In 1872 
he was appointed County Physician, a position he occupied 
for two years. Later on he became Examining Surgeon 
to the Police and Fire Departments, Brigade Surgeon of 
the Militia, and was appointed on the staff of the County 
Hospital as well as the Alexian Brothers' Hospital. For 
twelve years he was Police Surgeon, and for twenty-one 
years Surgeon of the Fire Department. At present he is 
authorized to use the following titles: Professor of Gynae- 
cology at the Chicago Polyclinic, Senior Surgeon of the 
Alexian Brothers' Hospital, Attending Gynaecologist of the 
St. Luke's Hospital, Consulting Gynaecologist to St. 
Joseph's Hospital, Second Vice-President of the American 
Gynaecological Society, Vice-President of the Chicago 
Medical Society, ex President of the Chicago Gynaecolog- 
ical Society, Corresponding Member of the Belgian Gynae- 
cological Society and the Philadelphia Obstetrical Society, 
Secretary General for America of the International Gynae- 
cological and Obstetrical Congress, etc. He has not 
written very much and it is all in short articles on leading 
pertinent questions. These articles are reasonably good 
and show practical knowledge of the subject-matter. He 
never writes until he has had the necessary experience. 
He has a great book in his mind and is dreaming over it, 
but there is much doubt whether it will ever be written 
because he is too busy and is waiting to become competent 
enough to write it. Almost all he has written is on sub- DR. FERNAND HENROTIN. 
175 
jects pertaining to abdominal surgery. Among these may 
be mentioned " Circular Enterorrhaphy, with Report of 
Successful Case, 1882 ;" " Vaginal Hysterectomy for Peri- 
uterine Suppurations," being the first treatise devoted to 
this subject in this country {American Journal of Obstet- 
rics, No. 4, 1892) ; a practical article on "Appendicitis," 
"Palliative Operations for Fibroid Tumors," "Vaginal 
Hysterectomy for Septic Pelvic Diseases," "Enterostomy 
and Drainage in the Treatment of Diffuse Septic Perito- 
nitis," etc. 
One of his last productions on the "Conservative Sur- 
gical Treatment of Para- and Peri uterine Acute Septic 
Diseases," read in May, 1895, before the American Gynae- 
cological Society, was extremely well received, and brought 
him many flattering notices. As an abdominal surgeon Dr. 
Henrotin has had considerable and varied experience. He 
is only a fairly good operator, but is constantly improving. 
In the spring of 1895 he had the singular experience of 
twice ligating the posterior branch of the internal iliac in 
one week, following it up with ligation of the common iliac 
three weeks later, all three being cases of gunshot-wound 
of the abdomen, and only the last, the one with ligature 
of the common iliac, recovering. This, as far as he knows, 
is the only successful case of ligature of the common iliac 
for gunshot-wound. The Doctor is very partial to vagino- 
abdominal work in suitable cases, and claims to have been 
the first to perform vaginal hysterectomy for pelvic septic 
disease in this country. His most satisfactory work, how- 
ever, is the performance of conservative operations on 
both acute and chronic pelvic disease by the vaginal route. 
He prophesies that, ten or fifteen years hence, when un- 
prejudiced operators occupy the positions now held by 
many of our leading men, and the technique of vaginal 
work has been perfected, a very much larger proportion of 
what is now done abdominally will be accomplished, with 
much better results, by way of the vagina. 176 
DF. C. VON HOFFMANN. 
Dr. Henrotin is 6 feet tall, weighs 200 pounds, and has 
not lost a day from ill health in the twenty-eight years he 
has been engaged in active practice. He is most happily 
married, and consequently is good natured and has no 
enemies. He will not run, however, and on a few rare oc- 
casions has been known to put up a very reasonable fight. 
He believes doctors quarrel entirely too much without 
sufficient cause and without dignity. He does not believe 
that competition is the life of trade, and that the road to 
success lies in pulling top-men down and trampling on 
them in climbing. He is thoroughly disgusted when read- 
ing articles in which billingsgate is forcibly injected, and 
thinks that active, determined, but chivalric rivalry, tem- 
pered by the remembrance of the nobility of the calling 
and a mutual abhorrence of the lie, would accomplish 
more good and bring to the profession more regard. 
C. von HOFFMANN, M.D., 
SAN FRANCISCO, CAL. 
Dr. C. von Hoffmann was born near Detmold, Ger- 
many, February io, in the year 1852. He received his 
early education in Weisbaden at the gymnasium; he also 
studied the higher branches of literature in Berlin and of 
medicine in Bonn and Leipsic, where he passed the Staats 
examination in 1874 and 1875. May, 1875, he was 
graduated from the University of Leipsic, having taken a 
complete and thorough course, not only in the various 
branches of surgery, but also in medicine. 
It was during the summer of 1875 ^at Dr. von Hoff- 
mann was in Zurich with Professor Frankenhausen, where 
he gathered much valuable and scientific knowledge relat- 
ing to his profession. 
After having decided to come to America he selected DR. WILLIAM H. PARISH. 
177 
San Francisco, California, as his future home and field of 
labor, and in the year 1876 he permanently located there, 
where he now ranks among the leading surgeons in that 
city. For about ten years he filled the position of gynae- 
cologist to the German Hospital. Later he was consulting 
gynaecologist to the same hospital. He is associate pro- 
fessor of gynaecology in the Medical Department of the 
University of California, and professor of gynaecology in 
the Post-graduate Department of the same institution, also 
physician to the Alexander Maternity College (Children's 
Hospital). 
Dr. von Hoffmann is a member of San Francisco County 
Medical Society, Medical Society of the State of Cali- 
fornia, Academy of Medicine of San Francisco, San Fran- 
cisco Gynaecological Society, and Society of German 
Physicians. 
He is a careful and skilful operator, with remarkable 
success in abdominal cases. By his honorable bearing he 
has won the esteem of the community in which he resides, 
and has a very large and lucrative practice. 
He is in the vigor of manhood and prime of life, with 
many years of usefulness yet before him. 
WILLIAM H. PARISH, M.D., 
PHILADELPHIA, PA. 
William H. Parish was born on October 23, 1845, 
in the town of Holly Springs, Mississippi. His father, 
Rev. C. Parish, was a Presbyterian clergyman, a native of 
Massachusetts, a graduate of Williams College, and for a 
number of years President of Mississippi College. Dr. 
Parish's mother was Miss Catherine Marr, of Scarborough, 
Maine. 
The subject of this sketch received a classical education, 
vol. 11.-12 178 
DR. WILLIAM H. PARISH. 
largely under the personal instruction of his father, and at 
Mississippi College. 
In 1862, when he was in the junior class, the College 
was forced to close, because its students, about three 
hundred in number, had entered the Confederate Army. 
At the age of seventeen Dr. Parish volunteered, as a 
private, in the 20th Mississippi Regiment, in the Con- 
federate service. At Kennesaw Mountain, in the summer 
of 1864, he was wounded through the left foot. 
After the close of the Civil War he entered a drug-store 
in Clinton, Miss., where he remained for about three 
years. 
In 1868 he accepted an offer as principal of a boys' 
school in Texas, but when about to start from Mississippi 
for Texas he received an offer on the part of his aunt, 
Miss Isabella M. Marr, of Maine, to the effect that she 
would meet the necessary expense attendant upon his 
study of medicine, she knowing that the latter had been 
for some time the earnest desire of her nephew. This 
generous offer was gladly accepted, for the misfortunes 
of war had left Dr. Parish's family in Mississippi without 
financial resources. 
Attracted by the reputation of the great surgeon, Gross, 
William H. Parish entered the Jefferson Medical College, 
and from this institution was graduated in 1870. He at 
once, in competitive examination, won an appointment 
as Resident Physician in the Philadelphia Hospital and 
served in that capacity for two years, having been re- 
elected. He subsequently was elected Obstetrician and 
Gynaecologist to the same Hospital and served as such for 
twelve years. 
For several years he was Chief of the Gynaecological 
Clinic of the Jefferson Medical College Hospital, and at 
one time was Professor of Gynaecology in the Philadelphia 
Polyclinic. These positions he resigned because of the 
demands of other professional work. DR. WILLIAM H. PARISH. 
179 
Dr. Parish now holds the following hospital positions: 
Gynaecologist and President of the Medical Staff at St. 
Agnes's Hospital, Consulting Surgeon at Kensington Hos- 
pital, one of the Consulting Staff at the Woman's Hospital, 
Consulting Obstetrician at the Philadelphia Lying-in 
Charity, and Gynaecologist at the State Hospital for the 
Insane at Wernersville, Pa. 
Dr. Parish is at present Professor of Anatomy in the 
Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania, and also Pro- 
fessor of Obstetrics in the Dartmouth Medical College, 
Hanover, N. H. 
He is a member of various societies, namely, the 
American Gynaecological Society, of which he has been 
Vice-President; the Philadelphia Obstetrical Society, of 
which he is now President, having been recently re-elected 
to a second term after an interval of several years. 
He is also a member of the College of Physicians of 
Philadelphia, of the Philadelphia County Medical Society, 
of the American Medical Association, and of the Histor- 
ical Society of Pennsylvania. 
Dr. Parish is a busy and successful abdominal surgeon 
and general gynaecologist. 
He has repeatedly contributed with his pen to the 
proceedings of different societies, and to the columns of 
various medical journals. 
In 1876 Dr. Parish married Miss Isabel N. De La Motta, 
daughter of Dr. Jacob De La Motta, formerly a prominent 
physician of Charleston, S. C. His wife died in 1891. 
He has one son, Benjamin Dores Parish. 180 
DR. OSCAR Le SEURE. 
OSCAR Le SEURE, M.D., 
DETROIT, MICH. 
Dr. Oscar Le Seure was born in Danville, Illinois, Jan- 
uary 27, 1851. 
His early education was obtained in the common schools 
of his native place. He afterward attended the " Univer- 
sity of Michigan," and from early childhood his desires 
were to be a "doctor." 
In the year 1873 he was graduated from the Department 
of Medicine and Surgery of the University of Michigan. 
He then served six months as House Surgeon in the 
" United States Marine Hospital," at Detroit, Michigan. 
He took a degree from Bellevue Hospital Medical College, 
New York, March, 1874. 
He then returned to his place of nativity, Danville, 
Illinois, to prosecute the profession of his choice, and 
from 1874 until June, 1886, he practised medicine and 
surgery there, establishing a well-deserved reputation as a 
successful practitioner. Being ambitious to become a 
more thorough surgeon, and desirous to work in a broader 
field than that afforded him in Danville, Illinois, he went 
to Europe and spent one year in the study of surgery, 
and six months of that time was on the staff of Paul 
Reclus in the Hotel-Dieu, Paris, France, where he ob- 
tained much valuable knowledge relating to his pro- 
fession. 
After his return to America he located in Detroit, 
Michigan, in 1887,. giving his especial attention to sur- 
gery and gynaecology. When "Grace Hospital" was 
opened in Detroit he was appointed Surgeon to that insti- 
tution, and by his continuous good service he now ranks 
as senior Surgeon in the hospital. 
In 1892 he again went abroad, and visited hospitals in DR. J. E. COWLES. 
181 
Edinburgh, Scotland, and London, England, where, from 
close observation, he gathered still more valuable infor- 
mation, etc. 
In February, 1895, he was appointed by Governor Rich 
a member of the Detroit Board of Health. In June of 
the same year he was appointed Professor of Surgery 
in the Homoeopathic Department of the University of 
Michigan. 
In May, 1894, he was elected President of the Homoeo- 
pathic Society of the State of Michigan. He is a member 
of the American Institute of Homoeopathy, and of several 
medical societies. 
J. E. COWLES, M.D., 
LOS ANGELES, CAL. 
Dr. Josiah Evans Cowles was born May 14, 1855, on 
Hunting Creek, Yadkin County, North Carolina, near the 
home of his great grandfather, Captain Andrew Carson, of 
Revolutionary fame, who, by the way, was also an uncle of 
the celebrated scout, Kit Carson. 
He is the son of Josiah Cowles, Jr., and Mary Evans 
Cowles, and the grandson of Josiah Cowles, Sr. (for forty 
years judge of Yadkin County, N. C.), and Nancy Caroline 
Cowles, daughter of Captain Andrew Carson. The father 
dying when the son was but three and one-half years of 
age, it devolved upon a noble and devoted mother to rear 
and educate her two children, as well as two half-brothers, 
during the trying times of the great civil war and recon- 
struction period immediately succeeding. The better to 
do this she removed to Lenoir, " the Athens of western 
North Carolina," where the subject of our sketch was edu- 
cated at Finley High School. 
For three years after leaving school he was a civil 
engineer, and after declining an appointment to West 182 
DR. J. E. COWLES. 
Point, on account of frail health, began his preparatory 
medical studies by attending a full course at the Maryland 
College of Pharmacy, and a special course in analytical 
chemistry; immediately after which he entered the Uni- 
versity of Maryland, and choose to take a three-years' 
course, although only a two-years' term was then required. 
The last year he spent in the University Hospital, and was 
graduated with distinction March 6, 1880. 
Locating in historic Edgefield, South Carolina, he pur- 
sued a general practice for seven years. 
It was during the first year of his practice, November, 
1880, that he did his first operation for appendicitis by a 
flickering lamp in a cabin, among the sandhills of Edisto 
River, a gallon of horribly fetid pus being evacuated 
through an incision over McBurney's tender point and a 
counter-incision in the right loin, a perforated drainage- 
tube extending from one point to the other. The patient 
made a good recovery, after having been given over to die, 
and gratitude was all the Doctor ever received for his 
services. 
In 1887 Dr. Cowles went to New York City for spe- 
cial study, and for eighteen months profited by the 
teachings of the best surgeons and gynaecologists in the 
city. For the greater part of this time he was physician-in- 
charge of the New York Lying-in Asylum, and one of the 
attending gynaecologists of the Out-door Department of 
Bellevue Hospital. 
He was also Professor V. P. Gibney's assistant, and one 
of the lecturers at the New York Polyclinic. 
In April, 1889, Dr. Cowles removed to the Pacific Coast, 
locating in Los Angeles, California, where he established 
the Pacific Sanitarium, designed for the treatment of sur- 
gical diseases of women, since which time he and his 
friends have done a great many abdominal and other 
operations, with most gratifying results. 
One of these cases was a hysterectomy done by Dr. DR. J. E. COWLES. 
183 
Cowles, May 9, 1894, on a full-blooded Coahuilla Indian 
woman, the first instance, so far as he knows, in which an 
Indian woman has ever been subjected to this operation. 
The tumor, a solid fibroid, weighed twenty-five pounds, 
and was six inches across the pedicle. The woman re- 
covered as though she had only undergone a minor opera- 
tion, temperature never having ranged higher than 99%° 
F., and pulse never above 90. 
Dr. Cowles is a member of the Los Angeles County 
Medical Society, the Southern California Medical Asso- 
ciation, and the American Medical Association. He has 
written several valuable papers, among them a monograph 
on " Puerperal Infectiona paper on "Endometritis;" 
" Report of a Case of Absence of the Vagina, with Re- 
tained Menstrual Fluid;" "Report of a Case of Gangre- 
nous Dermoid of the Left Ovary from Twisted Pedicle, with 
General Peritonitis, Secondary Operation Two Weeks 
Later for Intestinal Obstruction, with Recovery;" " Cases 
of Strangulated Inguinal Hernia, with Operations for 
Radical Cure," etc. 
Dr. Cowles is a churchman, being Senior Warden of St. 
John's Church, Los Angeles. He is also a member of the 
Sons of the Revolution of California. 
In the year 1891 Dr. Cowles wedded Ione Virginia 
Hill, the eldest daughter of T. Clarkson Hill, Esq., a 
prominent Quaker of Chicago, Ill. 
The Doctor's wife is a very superior and lovely character, 
as well as a woman of rare business qualifications, being 
identified with a number of prominent charities in the 
city. 184 
DR. SAMUEL H. PINKERTON. 
SAMUEL H. PINKERTON, M.D., 
SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH. 
Samuel H. Pinkerton, M.D., of Salt Lake City, Utah, 
was born in New York City, May 27, 1857. His early 
education was received in Brooklyn, N. Y. Entering 
upon the study of medicine he received his degree of 
Doctor of Medicine from the Bellevue Hospital Medi- 
cal College in 1883. In October of the same year he 
entered Bellevue Hospital, where he served as interne for 
eighteen months in the third surgical division. 
From 1883 to 1886 he was Prosector to the Chair of 
Anatomy of the Bellevue Hospital Medical College; was 
appointed one of the Assistant Demonstrators of Anatomy 
in the Bellevue Hospital Medical College, January, 1885 ; 
taught operative surgery with Professor J. D. Bryant in the 
Bellevue Hospital Medical College during the years 1884 
to October 15, 1886, when he was advised to leave New 
York City on account of ill-health. 
He located in Salt Lake City, Utah, where he has taken 
up general surgery and gynaecology. Was appointed 
Visiting Surgeon to the Holy Cross Hospital of Salt Lake 
City, Utah, and Surgeon to the Rio Grande Western Rail- 
road in 1887. Dr. Pinkerton is widely known in the West 
as a rapid and skilful operator, and since his residence in 
Salt Lake City has followed most studiously the work of 
the abdominal surgeon, contributing frequently to medical 
literature. 
He is a charter member of the Society of Alumni of 
Bellevue Hospital; a member of the Salt Lake County 
Medical Society and Salt Lake Academy of Medicine. 
He married, October 30, 1889, Mary L. Kissick, daugh- 
ter of the late James B. Kissick, of Keokuk, Iowa. DR. M. BELLE BROWN 
185 
M. BELLE BROWN, M.D., 
NEW YORK CITY, N. Y 
Dr. M. Belle Brown occupies a prominent place 
among the women physicians of New York. She is a 
native of Ohio, and was educated in the High School of 
her native town and at the Oxford Female College. In 1876 
she came to New York to study medicine and was grad- 
uated in 1879. She entered immediately upon the general 
practice of medicine, but for the past ten years has made 
a specialty of diseases of women. She is Professor of 
Gynaecology in the New York Medical College and Hos- 
pital for Women, and Secretary of the Faculty. She is a 
member of the New York County Society, of the American 
Institute of Homoeopathy, of the Consulting Staff of the 
Woman's Hospital in New York, and of the Memorial 
Hospital in Brooklyn. 
Below we quote an editorial written by Dr. Brown for 
the North American Journal of Homoeopathy, on "Woman 
in Medicine," as follows: 
" I have been asked to write upon the topic of women 
doctors. Much more agreeable would it be to treat of 
medicine in its broad application to practice, where sex 
distinctions in the practitioner are not considered, and 
only the decisions of beneficent results are sought after. 
Women doctors are only doctors-that is all; to say more 
or less of them is happily becoming venerable and decrepit 
history. 
"Women in medicine have ceased to be a novelty. 
Their presence in the colleges, at the hospitals, in clinical 
engagements, and with the sick no longer excites partic- 
ular comment. 
"Industrial and social conditions have created for 
women emergencies that the ordinary and hitherto regu- 186 
L>R. M. BELLE BROWN. 
lar arrangements of life will not meet. Let the sociologist 
debate these matters with himself, and the stickler for the 
rigidity of ' spheres ' contribute his customary truthlets, 
the fact remains that a mighty army of earnest, anxious 
women are casting about them for some engagement of 
their energies, worthy, satisfactory, and, in the broadest 
sense, remunerative. Medicine has about itself a peculiar 
invitation for women. 
"The history of sickness is inseparably allied to that of 
woman; both as sufferer and nurse her part is prominent. 
Invidious distinctions in abilities, based upon accident 
of sex, can poorly serve the interest of argument in 
any cause; but, if these were raised against the woman 
doctor, she could surely claim for herself an inheritance 
of actual experience that could not but give her an ad- 
vantage, in initial equipment at least, for the more usual 
exigencies of general practice. 
"Therefore, the rapid increase in the number of those 
who turn to medicine as a calling, quite as really as a 
business. From the two or three of a generation ago to 
the thousands of to-day ! Women doctors are not intru- 
ders. The work of those who undertook and consum- 
mated the movement for the admission of women to the 
full privileges of a physician was too well done to now 
admit of question upon this right. All honor to these 
pioneers in a most noble endeavor ! They met with op- 
position but naturally. Precedent and prejudice are in 
themselves stern barriers to progress, and must effectually 
arrest the purposes of all who cannot establish for them- 
selves an unmistakable right of way. 
" The medical profession is vigilantly jealous against 
innovation or irregularity. Women had to prove their 
right to the possession of parchments that have about 
them a significance belonging to no similar documents in 
all the range of the professions. This was all as it should 
be, and certainly enhances the value of the privilege DR. M. BELLE BROWN. 
187 
finally and fully granted. The right of woman to practise 
medicine is thus established by the fact that she practises. 
The woman doctor feels, therefore, no disadvantage of 
position, and may assume the responsibilities of her calling 
with the confidence belonging to regularity of authority 
and guaranty of law. Cordiality of relationship with 
those who so long preceded women in the field of med- 
icine offers to the woman doctor of this day another 
positive and invaluable advantage. Man or woman, it 
matters little, the physician in either case absorbs it all. 
The woman doctor acknowledges her obligations to those 
who have created and developed the noble profession to- 
day her own. The entire body of literature, which forms 
the theoretic basis of her profession, belongs so entirely to 
the men that women are, as yet, but borrowers. Actual 
practice still finds its greater currents in channels natural 
to its history. Women must find their education in those 
records in the making of which she has no definite place, 
and must seek assistance from a more widely diversified 
experience than is yet possible in her own practice. 
About all that is educative in medicine comes to woman 
from men-freely, generously, and with an entente cordiale 
that makes professional relationship a pleasure and a 
mutual advantage. There are still, of course, lingering 
exceptions to this most happy rule; men who find pleas- 
ure rather than conviction in rehearsing ancient diatribes 
upon feminine disabilities, and who create so many rea- 
sons for woman's failure, as to make the successful woman 
doctor almost doubt her own success; but these are 
happily in a steadily diminishing minority. Let ' the 
shallows murmur ' so that the great streams of fellowship 
flow all toward professional affiliation ! 
"The 'schools,' alas! may still divide physicians, but 
difference in sex cannot. 
"In general practice women doctors are already posi- 
tive factors, too numerous to be overlooked, and too capa- 188 
DR. M. BELLE BROWN. 
ble to be decried. The leading specialties still belong 
almost exclusively to men, but women are already reaching 
beyond the limits of that practice which, most naturally, 
first sought them out, and will unquestionably yet chal- 
lenge competition in every department of their profes- 
sion. Ambition and ability know no limitation of sex. 
Theory, experiment, and specialty usually result from 
long association with a calling, and are not the first en- 
gagements of recruits; generals in command are not called 
immediately from the ranks. The woman doctor entered 
medicine to practise medicine, and it may, we think, be 
claimed of her that in this unified purpose to help and 
heal the sick her work has an intensity and singleness 
about it that have compelled respect and must advance 
her interests. The education of the physician is a complex 
of theory and experience, of books and practice, of lec- 
ture-room and sick-bed. In every respect of opportunity 
for education from the schools, from clinic and hospital 
privilege the woman doctor is at an initial disadvantage. 
The male practitioner draws his professional breath in 
atmospheres steeped with the learnings of his chosen 
calling. The very absorption of such mental environ- 
ments is beyond value. Comparatively little of this is 
woman's privilege. Women have first to make a history- 
then to profit by it. When her schools reflect the wisdom 
of generations and her lecture-rooms speak with the 
authority of personal power, the woman doctor will en- 
large the scope of her exertions, and undertake, with 
confidence, any and every line of suitable professional 
endeavor. Nor is the day for this consummation so very 
far distant. All the advantages of education are now 
required for success in medicine, and are demanded by 
the women equally with the men. Young women, with 
the energies and ambitions of their youth strong within 
them, are now entering upon professional preparation 
under conditions of most exacting regularity. DR. VICTOR H. COFFMAN. 
189 
"'Intuition,' ' a woman's sensitiveness to conditions,' 
and all the worse than twaddle of those who would ad- 
vance their sex as any significant part of their equipment, 
are absolutely repudiated by the woman doctor of to-day, 
who depends alone upon the resources of scientific 
method. Women in medicine regard their parchments 
as a solemn gift to which they owe the full engagement of 
their ultimate abilities. And now, in the full enjoyment 
of liberal opportunity, of grave but grateful responsibility, 
they ask only a fair estimate upon their actual achieve- 
ments." 
VICTOR H. COFFMAN, M.D., 
OMAHA, NEB. 
Victor H. Coffman, M.D., was born near Zanesville, 
Ohio, September io, 1839. He received his literary educa- 
tion at the Iowa Wesleyan University, at Mt. Pleasant, la. 
Began his course in medicine with the Chicago Medical 
College, having read medicine with Dr. Charles W. Davis, 
of Indianola, la., a wonderfully successful physician. At 
the beginning of the war he was solicited to go before the 
Army Medical Examining Board, and, passing successfully 
the ordeal of the medical quiz, was commissioned Assistant 
Surgeon of the 34th Iowa Infantry, August 22, 1862. 
Within one year thereafter he was promoted to Surgeon of 
the regiment, having been constantly on the operating 
staff of surgeons, and always receiving the compliments of 
his superior officers; he was brevetted Lieutenant-Colonel 
for meritorious services at the battles surrounding Mobile. 
Was on duty at Houston, Texas, where he had the honor 
of receiving from Dr. Joseph Nash McDowell (Confederate 
Medical Director) all of his medical supplies and property 
upon his surrender with the Confederate soldiers of Texas. 
His remark to Dr. Coffman was, " I have now taken the 
oath and am as good a Union man as you are." 190 
DR VICTOR H. COFFMAN. 
Dr. Victor H. Coffman, at the close of the war, was grad- 
uated at the Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, and 
on the 14th April, 1867, located in Omaha, Neb., where 
he has continually resided till the present time. He was 
married in the city of Chicago on the 10th day of Sep- 
tember, 1879, to Miss Rose DeVoto. Their family con- 
sists of one son, Weir, and two daughters, Augusta Marie 
and Rose Lyle. The same year on coming to Omaha he 
performed the first ovariotomy ever made in Omaha or 
Nebraska. This operation was at the St. Joseph Hospital. 
His securing the stump of the tumor (which was an im- 
mense one) with a clamp outside the abdominal walls 
caused the death of his patient. His experience of this 
case taught him a lesson, and thereafter in all his future 
operations he secured the stump with silk ligatures, closing 
the abdominal wound without drainage. His successes as 
an ovariotomist are flattering indeed, and challenge com- 
parison with any operator. 
One of his successful cases was that of a girl, fourteen 
years of age, in the western part of the State, removing a 
tumor weighing forty-five pounds, which was within a few 
pounds as heavy as the patient's body after the removal of 
the tumor. 
Dr. Coffman has been in general practice since leaving 
the army, doing an immense business. He has not con- 
fined his business to any specialty, but does general surgery 
and practice, having a high appreciation of his profession. 
He will accept no excuses for incompetency, and to his 
patients exercises the greatest of generosity, though he 
believes in being well remunerated for his services from 
those who are able, and he is equally charitable to the un- 
fortunate. He held the Chair of Practice of Medicine in 
the Omaha Medical College for six years. He is a sound, 
practical teacher, cautious as an operator. 
He abhors the jealousies of the profession, the mercan- 
tile tendencies of the age, and believes in the principle DR. GEORGE WILLIAM PERKINS. 
191 
the patient "paying his money and taking his choice," 
and fair dealing with his associates. 
He stands at the head of his profession as a conscien- 
tious, honorable practitioner. 
GEORGE WILLIAM PERKINS, M.D., 
OGDEN, UTAH. 
Dr. George William Perkins was born on January 6, 
i860, in Topsfield, Essex County, Mass., of native New 
England parentage. His primary education was obtained 
in the public schools of that town. 
In early boyhood he decided to study medicine for a 
profession, and, at the age of sixteen, he entered the 
junior class in Phillips Academy at Exeter, New Hamp- 
shire, to fit for college. Here he spent three years in pre- 
paratory studies, graduating in June, 1879. September 
of the same year he entered the freshman class in Harvard 
College. The next year he was admitted to the junior 
class, having done enough more than the required amount 
of work, during his first year of collegiate life, to entitle 
him to advance a class. During the junior and senior 
years in college his elective studies were chosen from 
among the courses in Natural Science and Modern Lan- 
guages, best adapted to furnish a thorough scientific 
groundwork for the study of medicine. 
In June, 1882, he received from Harvard College the 
degree of A.B., and immediately afterward was appointed 
Assistant in Biology in Harvard University; this position 
he held for the next two years, and at the same time pur- 
sued the study of medicine in the Medical School of Har- 
vard University. 
In the autumn of 1884 he was an applicant for the posi- 
tion of House Officer at the Boston City Hospital, in 
competitive examination with members of the advanced 192 
DR. GEORGE WILLIAM PERKINS. 
classes of the medical school, and received an appointment 
to the House Staff in December, 1884. Here he served 
three months as Medical Externe; three months as Surgi- 
cal Externe; six months as Surgical Interne; and six 
months as House Surgeon, in the "South Surgical Ser- 
vice." During the first six months of this hospital service 
he was also enrolled as a student in the medical college. 
In June, 1885, he had passed all the examinations re- 
quired for the degree of Doctor of Medicine in the medi- 
cal college, but, owing to a requirement of the hospital 
that all house officers must be non-graduates in medicine 
at the time of beginning their interne service, he did not 
actually take the degree of M.D. till June, 1886. 
He was admitted a Fellow of the Massachusetts Medical 
Society in the summer of 1886, and, having received the 
appointment of Division Surgeon for the Mountain Divi- 
sion of the Union Pacific Railway Company at about the 
same time, he came to Denver, Col., in July, 1886, where 
he spent two months to familiarize himself with the duties 
of his new position, and in September, 1886, established 
himself at Ogden, Utah, the headquarters of the Mountain 
Division of the Medical Department of the company, 
where he has since resided. 
Here he took charge of the Railway Hospital, and at 
once entered on a large surgical practice, which has 
steadily grown and extended until he has become widely 
known throughout the " Inter-mountain Region of the 
West " as a skilful and successful operator. 
In 1888 he was also appointed Division Surgeon for the 
Southern Pacific Company. 
In 1894 he was elected President of the Weber County 
Medical Society, and in 1895 Vice-President of the Utah 
State Medical Society. 
He has published in various medical and surgical jour- 
nals occasional reports of unusual surgical cases. DU. C. M. PAGE. 
193 
R. C. M. PAGE, M.D., 
NEW YORK, N. Y. 
Major Richard Channing Moore Page is a prominent 
member of the Confederate Veteran Camp of New York, 
and in October, 1891, was appointed its Surgeon-in-Chief. 
He was born at Keswick, Albemarle County, Va., 
January 2, 1841. His father was Dr. Mann Page, son of 
Major Carter Page, of Revolutionary fame, who served on 
the personal staff of Lafayette in the campaign against 
Cornwallis. 
The ancestral line runs back to the first century of Eng- 
lish settlement in America. 
Major Carter Page was the son of the Hon. John Page, 
son of Hon. Mann Page, son of Hon. Matthew Page, son 
of Hon. John Page, a merchant born in England in 1627, 
who removed to Virginia, became a member of the Royal 
Colonial Council, and died in 1692. Major Page's mother 
was Miss Walker, of Castle Hill, Va., daughter of Hon. 
Francis Walker, M.C., whose brother, Colonel John Wal- 
ker, was aide-de-camp to General George Washington. 
Major Page was educated at the University of Virginia, 
where he was a student when the war broke out. He was 
graduated in Latin and mathematics, and distinguished 
himself in Greek. 
He entered the Confederate Army at the age of twenty 
years, enlisting at Winchester, Frederick County, Va., 
July 14, 1861, as a private in Penderton's Rockbridge 
Battery, attached to General "Stonewall" Jackson's Bri- 
gade, in the army of General Joseph E. Johnston. 
Young Page marched with his companions to join 
Beauregard, and was present at the first battle of Bull Run. 
In October following he was transferred from the Rock- 
bridge Battery to Captain Lewis M. Colman's Morris Ar- 
tillery, and promoted to the rank of Second Gun Sergeant. 
vol. n.-13 DR. R. C. M. PAGE. 
194 
He accompanied Johnston's army in the march to the 
Peninsula, and early in the spring of 1862, after the battle 
of Williamsburg, was brevetted Captain of Artillery. In 
this capacity he served through the campaign around 
Richmond, and against McClellan in the battle of Antie- 
tam, where he received special commendation for his 
brilliant service. He was also actively engaged in the 
battles of Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville. In the 
latter engagement Page's Battery occupied an advanced 
position in the skirmish line, and it was in front of its guns 
that the gallant " Stonewall" Jackson was accidentally shot 
by his own infantry on the night of May 2, 1863. On the 
following morning to Captain Page was accorded the 
honor of firing the signal gun for the commencement of 
the battle. 
It was his battery, also, which first occupied Hazel 
Grove, a point sweeping Hooker's almost impregnable 
works, and forcing that redoubtable fighter to retire. 
Again, at Gettysburg, Page's Battery occupied a front 
position and was exposed to such murderous fire that in 
less than an hour thirty-two of its officers and men were 
killed and wounded. Captain Page himself was dAnger- 
ously wounded, but recovered, and in March, 1864, was 
promoted to the rank of Major of Artillery. 
He served through the Wilderness campaign against 
General Grant, and in October, 1864, was detailed on the 
staff of General John C. Breckenridge as Chief of Artillery 
for the department of Southwest Virginia and East Ten- 
nessee, serving until the end of the war. 
Dr. Page has published a diary kept by him during this 
last period, and it illustrates the pathetic straits to which 
the Confederates were reduced in their desperate efforts to 
continue the struggle. Under date of April 7, 1865, we 
find this entry : " Moved through Wytheville going East, 
colors flying in following order, Lynch, Burroughs, Dou- 
that, and King, four batteries of four guns each ; ' the best DR. R. C. M. PAGE. 
195 
battery of artillery ever seen in that part of the world,' 
remarked one of Lee's inspectors, as the column moved by. 
It was among the last flickers of life before the rapidly 
dying Confederacy entered into eternal rest." 
In February, 1864, Captain Page was captured by the 
Federals during Dahlgren's raid at Frederick's Hall, Louisa 
County, Va., but he managed to escape and rejoin his 
command in a short time. 
After the close of the war, in 1866, he returned to the 
University of Virginia and studied medicine, graduating 
in one session, in June, 1867. In August following he 
removed to New York City, and matriculated in the medi- 
cal department of the University of the City of New York, 
graduating the succeeding March. In April he entered 
the competitive examination for Bellevue Hospital, secured 
first prize, and was admitted on the staff of that institution, 
serving the regular term as House Physician. He was ap- 
pointed District Physician, a political position, but after 
a short time resigned, and entered the Woman's Hospital 
as Assistant. 
In 1871 Dr. Page began to practise on his own account, 
and has resided in New York ever since. 
In 1874 he was married to Mrs Elizabeth Fitch Win- 
slow, of Westport, Conn., widow of Hon. Richard Henry 
Winslow, who founded the bank of Winslow, Lanier & 
Co., in New York City. 
In 1886 Dr. Page was appointed Professor of Diseases of 
the Chest and General Medicine in the New York Poly- 
clinic, a position which he still holds. 
He was also Vice-President of the New York Academy 
of Medicine, and is still a member of the New York Path- 
ological Society, the New York State Medical Society, 
and other important medical societies. Upon him was 
conferred the honor, in the summer of 1888, of an ap- 
pointment as Honorary Vice-President of the Paris Con- 
gress for the Study of Tuberculosis. 196 
DR. IV. B. CRAIG. 
Dr. Page is the author of a number of important medi- 
cal works, among them being a Chart of Physical Signs, 
etc., a Handbook of Physical Diagnosis, and The Practice 
of Medicine. 
He is the author also of a carefully prepared genealogy 
of the Page family in Virginia, including the Nelson, 
Walker, and Randolph families. 
He has written some notable pamphlets, one of the most 
important being on " Metastatic Parotitis," a subject which 
attracted world-wide attention in the case of President 
Garfield. Other pamphlets, perhaps not less able, treat 
of "Typhoid Fever," "Lead-poisoning," and "Bright's 
Disease of the Kidneys," etc. 
Dr. Page is a member of the New York Historical 
Society, the Virginia Historical Society, the New York 
Southern Society, as well as the Confederate Veteran Camp 
of New York. 
W. B. CRAIG, M.D., 
DENVER, COL. 
Dr. William Bedford Craig, the subject of this 
sketch, was born September 17, 1855, at De Kalb, 
Buchanan County, Missouri, near St. Joseph, to which 
place his parents shortly afterward removed. 
His education was acquired in the grammar and high 
school departments of the public schools of St. Joseph, 
Missouri, and by private instruction in Helena, Montana. 
He early evinced an inclination for the study of med- 
icine, and in conformity to such was sent to St. Louis 
and New York, where in due course of time the medical 
degree was conferred in each respective college of his 
selection, viz., Bellevue Hospital Medical College and 
St. Louis Medical College. 
Returning from the East in 1876, Dr. Craig began DR. W. B. CRAIG. 
197 
practice at his old home, St. Joseph, where for about six 
years he was prominently identified with the best profes- 
sional work of the place, especially surgical. 
Dr. Craig was one of the original seven who incorpor- 
ated and founded the St. Joseph's Hospital Medical 
College, now the Ensworth, in which school he taught 
anatomy and orthopaedic surgery. 
In June, 1882, he decided to remove to Denver on 
account of his mother's health, which had for some years 
been declining, and had now become rapidly worse. 
From 1882 to 1891 his entire time and every faculty were 
occupied with a large general practice, and, as a reputation 
for surgery acquired in Missouri had followed him to his 
new home in Denver, surgery, together with diseases of 
women, constituted the major portion of his work. 
Here, as in his former place of practice, the Doctor easily 
took and maintained a leading position in the profession. 
He enjoyed a larger experience, and an ever-widening 
acquaintance and reputation caused him to be called to 
different parts of Colorado and the adjoining States to 
prescribe for the sick or perform major surgical operations. 
In the commencement of 1891, having decided to 
abandon general practice and to devote his entire atten- 
tion to those branches of his profession in which he had 
always been most interested, viz., gynaecology and abdom- 
inal surgery, he visited New York and Philadelphia, 
where he spent many months in the study of the methods 
of teaching and operative technique practised in the 
hospitals and post-graduate schools of those cities, so that 
he might fit himself more perfectly for the special work to 
which he contemplated devoting the remainder of his 
professional life. On his return, by reason of former 
practice in Denver and an extensive acquaintance, he, as in 
former years, immediately acquired a large practice in ab- 
dominal surgery and gynaecology, and although "limited" 
for only about five years, he has performed several hun- DR. JOHN IV. STREETER. 
198 
dred coeliotomies. Among his major operations may be 
mentioned lumbar and abdominal nephrectomy, abdom- 
inal and vaginal hysterectomies, Caesarean section, etc. 
Dr. Craig is a Fellow of the British Gynaecological 
Society and member of the Colorado local and State 
Societies, and holds the following hospital and college 
appointments: Gynaecologist to St. Luke's (Episcopal) 
and St. Joseph's (Catholic) Hospitals. He, also, was 
Professor of Clinical Gynaecology, Medical Department 
of the University, Denver, Colorado, which position he 
resigned to accept the appointment of Professor of Ab- 
dominal Surgery and Clinical Gynaecology to the Medical 
Department of the University, State of Colorado. 
JOHN W. STREETER, M.D., 
CHICAGO, ILL. 
One of the most eminent and successful gynaecologists 
in the West is Dr. John William Streeter, of Chicago, 
Illinois. He was born at Austinburg, Ohio, September 
17, 1841, and is a direct descendant, on his father's side, 
of Stephen Streeter, who came to the Massachusetts 
Colony in 1644, and, on the mother's side, from Roger 
Williams, the founder of the Rhode Island Colony. Dr. 
Streeter's father was Rev. Sereno W. Streeter, a clergy- 
man of the Congregational Church, and his mother, Mary 
Williams. The parents of Dr. Streeter were both graduates 
of the University of Oberlin, Ohio. 
The subject of this sketch received his early education 
at Monroe Academy, near Rochester, New York. Later 
he was for two years a student at the Otterbein University 
at Westerville, Ohio. When seventeen years of age young 
Streeter left home and went into Northern Indiana, where DR. JOHN W. STREETER. 
199 
he taught school and worked on a farm until the spring of 
1862. In July of that year he enlisted as a private in the 
First Michigan Light Artillery, known as Loomis's Battery. 
With his command he took part in the campaigns through 
Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, and Georgia. He par- 
ticipated in all the battles fought by the Army of the 
Cumberland, and was mustered out of service at the close 
of the war with the rank of lieutenant. 
On leaving the army Lieut. Streeter began the study of 
medicine with Dr. Morse at Union City, Michigan, and 
in the fall of that year (1865) he went to the University 
of Michigan, where he attended his first course of lectures. 
This was followed by close reading under the guidance of 
Dr. D. G. Powers, of Coldwater, Michigan, and later 
under Dr. Goodwin, of Toledo, Ohio. After three years 
of study he was graduated at the Hahnemann Medical 
College of Chicago. For two years after graduation Dr. 
Streeter practised among the poor of Chicago for the sake 
of acquiring practical training, which was not at that time 
accessible in any hospital. He then moved into a pleas- 
ant residence portion of the city, and began to build up 
a private practice which rapidly developed into one of the 
largest ever held by a physician in this western metropolis. 
While engaged in general practice Dr. Streeter paid 
marked attention to the diseases of women, and at the age 
of thirty-four he was made Professor of the Diseases of 
Women in the Chicago Homoeopathic Medical College. 
For twenty years he has filled this position acceptably to 
his associates, and to the large classes of students who 
have listened to his lectures. During the most of this 
time Prof. Streeter has been attending gynaecologist at 
the Cook County Hospital, at the Chicago Homoeopathic 
Hospital, and at the Dispensary connected with the College. 
His clinics have been usually large and interesting, and 
his operations very successful. As a teacher he is lucid 
and earnest, and as an operator quick and careful. 200 
PR. GEORGE H. PALMER. 
In addition to his work in public hospitals, Prof. 
Streeter has a private hospital which has grown to be one 
of the institutions of the West. It is, without doubt, the 
most perfect in construction and appointment of any 
private hospital in the world. Thousands of women have 
received treatment within its walls, and are now enthu- 
siastic advocates of the kindly and conservative methods 
which prevail there. For several years Dr. Streeter has 
given up general practice and limited himself to his 
specialty and consultation visits. 
While not a voluminous writer, he has contributed much 
to current medical literature, and whatever he writes is 
eagerly read. 
Dr. Streeter has always been a staunch supporter of the 
National Guard. For fifteen years he has been surgeon 
of regiment or brigade. He is a member of the Associa- 
tion of Military Surgeons and of the Loyal Legion. He 
is also a member of the Calumet, Washington Park, and 
Athletic Clubs. He is now fifty-four years of age and 
apparently in the prime of life. 
GEORGE H. PALMER, M.D., 
SAN FRANCISCO, CAL. 
Dr. George Henry Palmer was born in London, 
Canada, June 13, 1844, and received his earlyeducation 
in the schools of that city. He also commenced the study 
of medicine in London, pursuing a course of three years 
in the office of J. J. Lancaster, M.D., who was one of the 
pioneer homceopathists of what was then Western Canada. 
He was always active in popularizing the new school of 
medicine, and ever on the alert to mould public opinion 
favorably, and to secure legislation recognizing the rights 
of the practitioners of this school of medicine in that 
country. GEORGE H. PALMER. 
201 
Dr. Palmer's college education was obtained in New 
York City, at the New York Homoeopathic Medical Col- 
lege, from which institution he was graduated in the year 
1865. A short time after his graduation he determined to 
make the United States his future home, and adopt the 
country as his own. 
To this end he located in St. Clair, Mich., a beautifully 
situated city on the banks of the St. Clair River. 
He has been conscious of many an inspiration, during 
his daily work, as he surveyed the panoramic views spread 
before him, views of rare beauty and charm, comprising 
water and landscape, with the traffic of the lakes passing 
before his eyes in the various crafts of every kind, whose 
beauty, to his mind, presaged vistas of realities and rela- 
tions in life yet to come that would be greater and more 
pleasing still. 
After a residence of nearly thirteen years in St. Clair, 
during which time he established a large and lucrative 
practice, and filled many positions of trust and responsi- 
bility, he decided to move to a more extensive field of 
labor, and choose San Francisco, Cal., as his future home. 
In the year 1877 he removed to that city, where he has 
since remained. 
Dr. Palmer has achieved notable success in his profes- 
sion, both as a physician and surgeon. 
He has held many positions of honor in the profession, 
and he has been instrumental in forwarding and establish- 
ing the claims of homoeopathy in many ways to public 
recognition. 
He was one of the promoters of the 11 Hahnemann Hos- 
pital College," which was established in 1883, and is now 
recognized as one of the first institutions of this country. 
He fills the Chair of Professor of Surgery in it at this 
time. 
Dr. Palmer is aiso President of the San Francisco City 
and County Homoeopathic Society and ex-President of 202 
DR. CORA BELLE BREWSTER. 
the California State Homoeopathic Society, and he is con- 
nected with other leading institutions of San Francisco. 
He has now a large surgical practice, and as a gynaecol- 
ogist is well known. He is a careful and safe operator, 
and much of his remarkable success as a surgeon must be 
attributed to his caution and strict observance of cleanli- 
ness. , He is a conscientious practitioner, and socially is a 
very popular citizen. 
In the year 1868, in St. Clair, Mich., he was married to 
Susan C. St. Clair, who is a cousin of the wife of the cele- 
brated Professor Bigger, of Cleveland, Ohio. They have 
one son and two daughters. 
Dr. Palmer is in the prime of life, and many years lie 
before him for great usefulness. 
CORA BELLE BREWSTER, M.D., 
BALTIMORE, MD. 
Cora Belle Brewster, M.D., was born in Almond, 
Allegheny County, New York, September 6, 1859. 
She received a portion of her education in Alfred Uni- 
versity, where she remained for five years, during which 
time she applied herself studiously, and received a thorough 
English education, fitting her to accept a position in a 
school as teacher, which she filled with credit for several 
years. The last position which she held as teacher was in 
the high school in Smithport, Pa. 
In 1877 she went West, and took a special course in the 
Northwestern University. While studying in that insti- 
tution she decided to abandon pedagogy, and turn her 
attention to the study of medicine. She was graduated 
from the College of Physicians and Surgeons (Boston, 
Mass.) in May, 1886. During her course of study she 
spent eighteen months in Bellevue Hospital, New York DR. CORA BELLE BREWSTER. 
203 
City, where the field was extensive and abundant oppor- 
tunities were presented for obtaining valuable experience 
in the various treatments of the numerous cases that crowd 
that famous institution. 
In 1891 she went abroad and studied in Paris, under 
Professor Charcot, in nervous diseases and electricity. 
She is a woman of great force of character, strong per- 
sonality, cautious and careful as an operator, with re- 
markable success in saving the lives of her patients. Much 
of her operative work is done in her private sanatorium 
and residence, No. 1027 Madison Avenue, Baltimore, Md. 
Her sanatorium is arranged for giving steam baths, hot air 
and all medicated baths; it also contains a sun-room made 
of glass, for giving sun-baths. The building is well venti- 
lated, and the heating and furnishing are of the most sani- 
tary description. 
Dr. Brewster is a member of the State Homoeopathic 
Medical Society, Maryland, and District of Columbia 
Clinical Society, and Electro-therapeutical Society. 
She commenced the publication of a medical journal, 
The Baltimore Family Health Journal, the name of which 
was changed in 1891 to the Homoeopathic Advocate and 
Health Journal. 
In 1890 Dr. Brewster was elected gynaecological surgeon 
to the Homoeopathhic Hospital and Free Dispensary of 
Maryland, under the auspices of the Maryland Homoeo- 
pathic Medical Society. She studied from both the old 
and new school of medicine, accepting the principles and 
practice of the latter, although when necessary she resorts 
to the remedies prescribed in the allopathic schools. She 
has ever advocated a broad and unrestrained treatment to 
insure the recovery of her patients, using the best features 
of both schools. 
She possesses great activity, both mentally and physi- 
cally, and devotes a certain portion of her time to literary 
work. She has contributed several valuable articles to the 204 
DR. CORA BELLE BREWSTER. 
medical journals, and has achieved marked success as a 
medical writer, surgeon, editor, and practising physician. 
Dr. Brewster descended on both sides from the best Eng- 
lish and American ancestry, tracing the line of descent on 
her father's side to William Brewster, ruling elder of the 
Pilgrim company that founded New Plymouth, the parent 
colony of New England, in the year 1620. Elder Brewster's 
varied, self-sacrificing, and eventful life has given his name 
a place in the history of our land that grows brighter and 
brighter through the broad expanse of time. 
Daniel Webster, in his speech made at the Pilgrim 
Festival, New York, 1850, pays a fitting tribute to Elder 
Brewster : 
"Gentlemen, there was in ancient times a ship that 
carried Jason to the acquisition of the Golden Fleece. 
There was a flag-ship at the battle of Actium which made 
Augustus Caesar master of the world. In modern times 
there have been flag-ships which have carried Hawke, and 
Howe, and Nelson, of the other continent, and Hull, and 
Decatur, and Stewart, of this, to triumph. What are they 
all, in remembrance among men, to that little bark, the 
Mayflower, which reached these shores in 1620? Yes! 
brethren, that Mayflower was a flower destined to be of 
perpetual bloom. 
"Gentlemen, brethren of New England, whom I have 
come some hundreds of miles to meet this night, let me 
present to you one of the most distinguished of those per- 
sonages who came hither on the deck of the Mayflower. 
Let me fancy that I now see Elder William Brewster enter- 
ing the door at the further end of the hall; a tall, erect 
figure, of plain dress, with a respectful bow, mild and 
cheerful, but no merriment that reaches beyond a smile. 
'Are ye,' he would say, with a voice of exultation, and 
yet softened with melancholy, ' are ye our children ? Does 
this scene of refinement, of elegance, of riches, of luxury, 
does all this come from our labors ? Is this magnificent DR. GEORGE BETTON MASSEY. 
205 
city, New York, the like of which we never saw nor heard 
of on either continent, is this but an offshoot from Ply- 
mouth Rock?' " 
"Juis jam locus . . . 
Juae regis in terris nostri non plena laboris." 
Dr. Brewster, although young in years, is old in the ex- 
perience of her profession, and has won an enviable name 
as a successful operator. She is of commanding size and 
striking appearance. She has a warm, impulsive nature, 
and a cordial manner. These characteristics she rightfully 
inherits from her distinguished ancestors. 
GEORGE BETTON MASSEY, M.D., 
PHILADELPHIA, PA. 
Dr. George Betton Massey was born near the village 
of Massey in Kent County, Maryland, November 15, 1856, 
his ancestors having been people of prominence in that 
part of the State for nearly two hundred years. Since by 
intermarriage his father was descended from all four sons 
of the founder of the family, who settled in Maryland in 
1714, he may be said to be of distinctly American parent- 
age, as well as a sharer with the younger Darwin in the 
disputed advantages of restricted heredity. 
His early education was mainly gained under the guid- 
ance of an intellectual mother, nee Betton, of Tallahassee, 
Fla., assisted by governesses, under whose stimulus an 
early love of scientific subjects was developed. The close 
of the war made profound changes in this slave-holding 
section, resulting in the subject of this sketch seeking oc- 
cupation and further opportunities for self-education as 
teacher in a country school in Anne Arundel County, 
Maryland, while yet a month was wanting to the comple- 206 
DR. GEORGE BETTON MASSEY. 
tion of his sixteenth year. The disciplinary qualities 
necessary to success in this field being but slightly devel- 
oped, it was abandoned at the end of the school year, and 
in the autumn of 1873 he went to his maternal uncle, the 
late Dr. George W. Betton, of Tallahassee, Fla , and began 
a systematic year of preliminary medical studies. The 
winter of 1874-'75 was passed as a medical student at the 
Medical College of South Carolina, at Charleston, under 
the kind notice of Drs. Kinloch, F. Peyre Porcher, and 
Middleton Michel, who were doing their best for medical 
education under adverse circumstances, and where he took 
a prize for proficiency in chemistry. The final year of his 
undergraduate medical education was passed at the Uni- 
versity of Pennsylvania, at which institution he was gradu- 
ated in 1876. 
His first experience in practice was as assistant to his 
preceptor in Tallahassee', but an opportunity offering for a 
broader career he accepted the position of Assistant Physi- 
cian in the State Hospital for the Insane at Danville, Pa., 
which he retained until 1879, when he resigned to enter 
private practice in Philadelphia. 
During the earlier years of his practice in Philadelphia 
Dr. Massey was for a time an assistant in the gynaecologi- 
cal clinic of Professor William Goodell at the University, 
and also continued his studies in nervous diseases by serving 
as Assistant Physician in the Orthopaedic Hospital and In- 
firmary for Nervous Diseases, in which latter institution he 
had the highly valued opportunity of observing the work 
of that world-famed authority, Dr. S. Weir Mitchell, and 
his able associates, Drs. Wharton Sinkler and Morris J. 
Lewis. About this time (in 1880) the physicians of the 
infirmary felt the need of a more systematic administra- 
tion of electricity to its patients, and a new position of 
electro-therapeutist was accordingly created by the Board, 
to which Dr. Massey was the first appointee, his special 
predilection for the study of physics from boyhood deter- DR. GEORGE BETTON MASSEY. 
207 
mining his acceptance. This position was held by him 
until 1887, giving unrivaled opportunities for the study of 
electricity as a curative agent in nervous diseases, not 
only through the large clinics that were served, but by 
reason of the fact that he became the electrical assistant 
of Dr. Mitchell, whose early advocacy of electricity in 
medicine did so much to rescue it from quackery. 
Electricity had in fact been recognized at this time for 
years as a remedy in nervous diseases, but those using it 
seemed to think that its only practical value was as a nerve 
and muscle stimulant. When, therefore, the news came 
from Paris about 1885 that Professor Georges Apostoli was 
successfully employing it to reduce fibroid tumors of the 
uterus to an innocuous condition much incredulity was 
expressed, and this was even felt by the subject of this 
sketch, who has since become the most prominent Ameri- 
can advocate of the method. The continued insistance 
upon the importance of his discovery by Apostoli, never- 
theless, finally awakened his curiosity, and determined 
him to try the experiment. He resigned the position at 
the infirmary, but the new position to which he was ap- 
pointed at this time (in 1887), that of Physician to the 
Department of Diseases of the Mind and Nervous System 
at the Howard Hospital, did not furnish the requisite ma- 
terial. It was in this emergency that he was assisted by 
the conscientious philanthropy and true scientific zeal of 
Dr. T. Hewson Bradford, who placed at his disposal a 
number of cases in his service at the Out-patient Depart- 
ment of the Pennsylvania Hospital. He was here enabled 
to prosecute his studies into the value of electricity in 
other affections of women as well as fibroid tumors, and 
he soon obtained important data on the subject, which 
were later embodied in a work on Electricity in the Dis- 
eases of Women, the first complete treatise on the subject to 
be published in any language. His transferrence later to 
the position of Physician to the Gynaecological Depart- 208 
DR. A. MILES TAYLOR. 
ment at the Howard Hospital permitted a continuance of 
the work at that institution, where he has since maintained 
a clinic for the demonstration of electro-therapeutics in 
gynaecology. 
Dr. Massey's long service and earnest devotion to the 
specialty of electricity in medicine, and, in particular, his 
advocacy of the merits of Apostoli's discovery before local, 
state, and national medical societies, and the Pan-American 
Medical Congress, have given him a national prominence 
in his specialty, which has been maintained by a series of 
papers and journal contributions too numerous to mention, 
in addition to the treatise alluded to, which has reached its 
third edition. His zeal for the advancement of electro- 
therapeutics was most conspicuously shown by his taking 
the initiative in the formation of the American Electro- 
therapeutic 2\ssociation in 1890, of which Association he 
became President in 1891, and which he still serves as a 
member of its executive council. 
Dr. Massey was married in 1885 to Miss Harriet L. 
Stairs, of Philadelphia, and has two sons and a daughter. 
A. MILES TAYLOR, M.D., 
OAKLAND, CAL. 
A noble life put fairly on record acts like an inspiration 
to others. Life is a mission, every other definition of it 
is false and misleading, and the secret of success in life 
is for a man to be qualified for his opportunity when it 
presents itself. The name of Dr. Albert Miles Taylor is 
one of the most promising in the field of abdominal sur- 
gery. He has received from nature a striking, well-pro- 
portioned figure, noble and commanding features, a pierc- 
ing glance, a powerful and sagacious understanding, a 
strong character, with a warm and genial countenance, and DR A. MILES TAYLOR. 
209 
generous even to a fault. His life may be briefly sum- 
marized as follows : 
He was born December 31, 1858, on the border of 
Kentucky and Tennessee; he is therefore in his thirty- 
seventh year, and of pure Saxon stock. He is just bud- 
ding into manhood, full of hope and ambition, with a 
post of honor and a record in abdominal surgery unsur- 
passed by any of his age, and a promising future stretch- 
ing out before him. 
He is the son of S. C. Taylor, and was an orphan at the 
age of six years. Not having a silver spoon he received 
his schooling at night schools, later in district schools. 
He applied himself closely to his studies, for while a boy 
he saw that he would be nothing without a good education. 
Up to the time of his graduation in medicine at McDowell 
College, now known as the Missouri Medical College, 
which college was founded by the famous Joseph Nashe 
McDowell, he studied in Chicago and St. Louis colleges. 
After graduating he studied in New York and Europe, 
where he received more honors. He began practicing 
medicine at the age of twenty-one years, in the Eastern 
States, where he had charge of hospitals. In 1884 he 
thought he would go North and try Victoria, British Co- 
lumbia. He practiced there for two years, but found the 
winters too severe for one raised in the sunny South. 
In 1886 he turned his face southward, stopping at Oak- 
land, California, where he located, making abdominal sur- 
gery a specialty. Here, as in other places where he had 
practiced, he met with that success which is only gained 
by a few. He soon saw the difficulty of operating in pri- 
vate houses and hospitals that were not strictly under his 
authority. In 1891 he again went East to study hospitals. 
After doing a good amount of work there, he returned to 
Oakland and opened a private hospital of 19 rooms; this 
was soon filled. After using this hospital for three years 
he found that he could not accommodate those that were 
vol. 11.-14 DI KENNETH A. J. MACKENZIE. 
210 
sent to him from the whole Pacific Slope, and would have 
to build another. After much studying of other hospitals 
he formed his designs and is now building one of the 
finest hospitals on the coast. The hospital is located in 
one of the finest sections of the city of Oakland, on the 
corner of Thirty-first Street and Telegraph Avenue. The 
hospital contains 50 wards, occupying 4 floors. It will be 
heated by hot water, with all the latest improvements. As 
this is a hospital for abdominal surgery the operating 
theatre will be lined with glass in nickel-plated framing, 
both top, sides, and floors. In this way he hopes to keep 
it perfectly antiseptic. 
The Doctor has also organized a training-school for 
nurses, who are lectured daily by the hospital staff of 
physicians and surgeons, which is composed of Dr. Taylor 
and his assistants. 
The hospital will be known as the " Taylor Sanatorium." 
He will endeavor to make the results of operations per- 
formed here second to none. 
KENNETH A. J. MACKENZIE, M.D., C.M., 
L.R.C.P. and S., Edin., 
PORTLAND, OREGON. 
Dr. Kenneth A. J Mackenzie was born in 1859, at 
Cumberland House, Manitoba, the son of Roderick and 
Jane Mackenzie, of Melbourne, Quebec, Canada. His 
father was a chief factor of the Honorable Hudson's Bay 
Company. He is a descendant of a very old Highland 
family of Scotland which forfeited their landed possessions 
on account of their ultra-loyalty to Prince Charles. 
Dr. Mackenzie received his early education in Scotland, 
where he was sent with an older brother to prosecute the 
studies of medicine and civil engineering, respectively. DR. KENNETH A. J. MACKENZIE. 
211 
The death of his brother led to his return to his native 
country, where, after receiving a complete education in the 
High School of Montreal and Upper Canada College of 
Toronto, he began the study of medicine in the McGill 
University, graduating in 1881. He subsequently fol- 
lowed his studies in Edinburgh, where he took the double 
qualifications, and afterward spent a year in Paris, Vienna, 
and Berlin, in preparation for practice. 
He began his career as a practitioner of medicine in 
Portland, Oregon, in 1883. He was appointed Professor 
of Theory and Practice of Medicine shortly after his ar- 
rival and received an appointment on the attending staff 
of St. Vincent's Hospital. He has been and is, in the 
strictest sense of the word, a general practitioner, having 
a strong leaning, however, for the practice of surgery. In 
the domain of gynaecological surgery he has done a great 
deal of work, and there are but few of the major operations 
in abdominal surgery that he has not repeatedly performed. 
Dr. Mackenzie is Chief Surgeon of the Oregon Railroad 
and Navigation Company, the largest system in Oregon 
and the Northwest. 
He was married in 1886 to Cora Scott, daughter of 
Pliny Hardy, a distinguished jurist of New Orleans, and 
has one son and two daughters. 
Dr. Mackenzie has taken a great interest in medical 
education, and in promoting the interests of the medical 
profession. 
He was once President of the Oregon State Medical 
Society, and takes a warm interest in the Portland Medi- 
cal Society, to the Transactions of which he is a frequent 
contributor. DR. J. ED WIN MICHAEL. 
212 
J. EDWIN MICHAEL, M.D., 
BALTIMORE, MD. 
Dr. Jacob Edwin Michael was born near Michaels- 
ville, Harford County, Maryland, on May 13, 1848. He 
was the eldest son of the late Jacob J. Michael, a most 
respected citizen and large land-owner of Harford County, 
Md. He was reared on his father's farm near the Chesa- 
peake Bay, amidst natural surroundings of great beauty. 
Force and character thus were given to his early life, 
which developed the marked characteristics of his later 
life. 
As a boy he had passed much of his time on the shores 
and waters of the Chesapeake. He ever after loved a 
seafaring life. His tastes were rural, and he keenly en- 
joyed his frequent visits to the home of his boyhood. 
He received his preliminary education at St. Timothy's 
Hall, Maryland, and at the Newark Academy, Delaware. 
He next entered Princeton College, from which he was 
graduated in 1871. Whilst at Princeton he was distin- 
guished for his skill in all of the athletic exercises of the 
college. At the time of his graduation, and when in 
thorough physical training, he was probably the most 
superb specimen of physical manhood ever graduated 
from Princeton. 
He entered the medical department of the University of 
Maryland in October, 1871, and was graduated in March, 
1873. As a medical student he was greatly admired and 
easily stood in the front rank, being the leader of one of 
the college factions for the presidency of the class. After 
graduation he went abroad and passed the subsequent year 
in study in the best Continental hospitals and schools. 
His foreign study was of great advantage in an educa- 
tional way, and exercised a large influence in the develop- DR. J. ED WIN MICHAEL. 
213 
ment of his professional career. It early opened to him 
the doorway to professional advancement, and whilst other 
men of his class were toiling for professional recognition 
he at once stepped to the front rank and to distinguished 
professional honors. 
In the fall of 1874, soon after his return from Europe, 
he was appointed Demonstrator of Anatomy in the Uni- 
versity of Maryland. This position at once offered oppor- 
tunities for advancement, and in 1880 he was promoted to 
the Chair of Anatomy and Clinical Surgery. He thus early 
entered upon a career as a surgeon and teacher which 
brought to him both success and distinction. 
As a surgeon he was cool, painstaking, and skillful, and 
in a few years had taken a high rank as an operator. 
As a teacher he was a success from the beginning. His 
command of language and his delivery were of a high 
order, so that he became at once an exceedingly popular 
lecturer and teacher. He was well equipped for profes- 
sional work. 
In 1887 he was elected Dean of the Faculty of the Uni- 
versity, which position he continued to hold up to the date 
of his death, which occurred December 7, 1895. 
In 1890 he resigned the Chair of Anatomy and Clinical 
Surgery and was elected to the Chair of Obstetrics. 
He edited the Maryland Medical Journal for six or 
eight months. He was elected President of the Clinical 
Society of Maryland and occupied the office for one year. 
At the meeting of the Medical and Chirurgical Faculty of 
Maryland, in April of the year 1895, he was honored with 
the Presidency of the Faculty. 
Dr. Michael's courage, hopefulness, and unselfishness 
led him to speak lightly of his ailments, and very few, if 
any, but those very close to him, were aware of this seri- 
ous condition of his health. He had always been proud 
of his great physical vigor, and was reluctant to accept the 
indications of chronic disease undermining his health. 214 
DR. J. EDWIN MICHAEL. 
He continued actively at his professional duties when 
many men of less courage and pride would have found 
comfort in freedom from care and work. He struggled 
to the last, as he had worked during his entire professional 
life, proud, courageous, and anxious to measure up to his 
responsibilities. But, with a courage which few possess, 
he yielded to the law of nature's God that obedience and 
resignation which belong to the strong and great. If he 
had pain and regrets, in the contemplation of his early 
end, they were born of concern and love for others and 
not for himself. He was a most devoted husband and 
father. 
Dr. Michael was a man of striking physical, intellectual, 
and personal characteristics. As he towered above the 
great mass of mankind in stature, so in character and 
intellect he stood above the shoulders of the great ma- 
jority. His mind was vigorous, active, and strong His 
judgment of men, of events and subjects was broad and 
accurate. His opinions were carefully formed, just, and 
positive. He was narrow in no sense, but broad, liberal, 
and tolerant. There was none of the sham and pretence in 
his make-up. He was firm and decided in his convictions, 
and upheld them with courage and tenacity. 
His mind was dominated by a large intelligence, which 
recognized the highest claims of professional duty, of 
citizenship, and of friendship. 
Dr. Michael was a member of the American Surgical 
Association, of the Southern Surgical and Gynaecological 
Association, of the American Medical Association, and of 
the various local medical societies in Baltimore. He was 
also a member of the University Club and of the Monthly 
Medical Reunion. 
Dr. Michael was married to Miss Susie Mitchell, of Har- 
ford County, in December, 1875. Six children have 
blessed this union, four sons and two daughters. DR. E. P. FOWLER. 
215 
E. P. FOWLER, M.D., 
NEW YORK, N. Y. 
Edward Payson Fowler, M.D., one of the most emi- 
nent physicians of New York City, was born at Cohocton, 
Steuben County, New York, November 30, 1834, being 
the youngest son of Judge Horace and Mary Fowler. He 
is descended from old Puritan stock, being the sixth lineal 
descendant of William Fowler, who came to Massachusetts 
in 1630. His grandfather, Eliphalet Fowler, entered the 
Revolutionary Army as a private and retired with the rank 
of major. His mother was the grandniece of Mary 
Philipse, the first love of George Washington, whom her 
parents took to Europe to break off the attentions of the 
young Virginian, then unknown to fame. 
Dr. Fowler entered the New York Medical College in 
1851, and was graduated in 1855 as first-prize man, having 
passed a brilliant course. He immediately entered into 
partnership with Drs. Gray and Hull, who had then per- 
haps the most extensive and lucrative practice in New 
York City. In consequence his practice became unusually' 
large almost from its commencement. 
In addition to the " Old School " system of medicine 
he studied homoeopathy and practiced it in connection 
with the former, looking upon the two systems as compo- 
nent parts of a unit. During his forty years of practice 
he has evinced the possession of skill and ability of such 
high order as to raise him to the highest ranks of the pro- 
fession, his practice being among the best class of New 
Yorkers, including many of the old Knickerbocker families. 
He was always distinctly in opposition to sectarianism 
in medicine, declaring that medicine is a unit and should 
be dealt with as such. His views in this direction were 
recognized by the thinking part of the "Old School," 216 
DR. E. P. FOWLER. 
which in 1878 adopted those rules for New York State 
known as the " New Code." Under this the only quali- 
fication demanded for a physician is the legally required 
medical education, and the " Old School " became prac- 
tically the Comprehensive School. This action was not 
indorsed by the homoeopathists, and consequently Dr. 
Fowler withdrew from his former connection and joined 
the comprehensive school of medicine, not as indicating a 
change in his views, but a consistent agreement with his 
long-expressed doctrine of the unity of medical practice. 
Dr. Fowler served in the Ward's Island and Hahne- 
mann Hospitals, and in 1887 received the honorary 
degree of Doctor of Medicine from the Board of Regents 
of the State of New York, and the appointment of 
Examiner in Anatomy in the first Board of New York 
State Examiners for conferring medical degrees. He was 
one of the founders of the New York Medico-Chirur- 
gical Society and served as its President. He is also a 
member of the New York Academy of Medicine, the New 
York Neurological Society, the Medical Society of the 
County of New York, and other societies. His attention 
has been devoted assiduously to his profession, but he is 
unusually well versed in business affairs. Politically he is 
an ardent Republican, and is a member of the Union 
League Club. 
Dr. Fowler was married in 1873 to Miss M. Louise 
Mumford, now deceased, two children, Edward Mumford 
Fowler and Louise Mumford Fowler, surviving. 
In addition to his city home he has a delightful summer 
residence at Cooperstown, New York. Personally he is a 
man of genial manners and benevolent disposition, qual- 
ities which have gained him the respect and esteem of all 
with whom he has come into contact. 
He has passed much time abroad in travel and study, 
and has contributed generously to medical literature, and 
is the author of valuable medical works, including Etiology DR. AMELIA IV. LINES. 
217 
and General History of Scarlet Fever; Pseudo Typhoid 
Fever; Certain Maladies of the Heart; Abnormalities of the 
Cerebral Convolutions; etc. He has also translated from 
the French and German such works as Charcot's Localiza- 
tion in Diseases of the Brain; Richert's Physiology and 
Histology of the Cerebral Convolutions; and Benedikt's 
Anatomical Study of the Brains of Criminals. 
He has in addition delivered many instructive lectures 
before medical bodies, his discourses showing deep study 
of the subjects under discussion. 
[The foregoing sketch of Edward Payson Fowler, M.D., 
has, by permission, been taken from Makers of New York, 
published by L. R. Hamersly & Co., Philadelphia, Pa., 
1895.-The Author.] 
AMELIA W. LINES, M.D., 
BROOKLYN, N. Y. 
Forty years ago Dr. Amelia W. Lines, of Washington 
Avenue, Brooklyn, N. Y., came to this city. The woman 
physician was entirely unknown here, and Dr. Lines was 
the first to invade Brooklyn. At the end of four decades, 
although her hair has silvered, she is still at her post, while 
many sisters have followed in her path, and the desire of 
her heart, a city hospital controlled entirely by women, 
has been realized - namely, the Memorial Hospital for 
Women. 
Dr. Lines's entrance into Brooklyn was made so quietly 
that even her neighbors did not know for some time that 
one of those dreadful creatures, a woman doctor, was in 
their midst. Her quiet entrance was indicative of her 
career. Unassumingly her plan of action was carried on 218 
DE. AMELIA W. LINES 
until doctors who had been mildly indifferent, because it 
was "only a woman with a bee in her bonnet," grew to 
honor the woman and to respect the bee. 
Dr. Lines came here, not only in the hard position of a 
pioneer in woman's work, but also as the herald of two 
new schools of medical treatment. Electricity and the 
water-cure were practically unknown to Brooklyn nearly 
a half-century ago, and it was a woman who acknowledged 
them as legitimate means of cure. 
Dr. Lines was regularly graduated from the College of 
Hygiene-Therapeutics of New York, and for ten years she 
practiced in Brooklyn without giving a dose of medicine. 
All the advocates of the water-cure flocked to Dr. Lines, 
and her work proved successful. Some of the most emi- 
nent physicians met her in consultation. Even disbe- 
lievers in the water-theory admitted that cures were made 
by her. Many cures were effected in Dr. Lines's own 
house, and under plumbing conditions which made the 
task a gigantic one. 
Gradually the Doctor realized that one or two schools 
of treatment were not applicable to all minds, and she 
embraced homoeopathy, which school she has more gen- 
erally used the last half of her life. 
Dr. Lines's entrance to the medical profession is inter- 
esting. She had never given the subject any thought until 
one day the desk of a brother, a surgeon, who had died in 
the British Navy, came home. As soon as Mrs. Lines, 
who was then a young married woman of about twenty- 
two, saw the roll of diplomas, some bearing names famous 
in the medical world, she wanted them. It could scarcely 
be considered a matter of sentiment, as Mrs. Lines had 
not seen her brother since her second year. A few years 
after this the first water-cure journal was published. Mrs. 
Lines was instantly attracted to it, and gave its contents 
serious study. Soon she began practicing the suggestions 
from it in her little family, and in a short time threw her DR. E. R. BR YANT. 
219 
medicine chest away. Neighbors frequently came to her 
for suggestions. 
Shortly after this Mrs. Lines saved her husband's life 
when the doctors had given him up during an epidemic 
in Cleveland. It was but natural after this that when 
reverses came Mrs. Lines should turn to the practice of 
hygienic treatment as a means of livelihood. She came 
from the West, entered the college, and settled in Brook- 
lyn as soon as she was graduated. Her husband, who was 
converted during his illness, later entered the college, and 
became professor of anatomy and hygiene there. 
"It has always seemed to me," said Dr. Lines, "that 
water is nature's own medicine, and with proper food and 
sunlight constitutes all that is required to adjust the health. 
Still I believe more and more in the use of medicine, as it 
is given with greater intelligence now than formerly, and 
there are certain minds which not only demand medicine, 
but want to realize they are taking something. While I 
believe that what I call nature's restorers would always 
be sufficient, I never persuade anyone to try them, as I 
realize any treatment must be acceptable to the mind to 
be efficacious." 
Dr. Lines still holds her faith in water-treatment, but to 
a large extent has superseded it by electricity, as it is less 
troublesome for patients. She owned the first galvanic 
battery used for medical purposes in the city. Medical 
journals of all schools are widely read in the Lines's 
household, where the best in each is keenly appreciated. 
E. R. BRYANT, Ph.B., Ph.M., M.D., 
SAN FRANCISCO, CAL. 
Dr. Edgar Reeve Bryant was born in Gilroy, Santa 
Clara County, California, May 6, 1866. His early train- 
ing and inclinations were those of a child devoted to God- DR. E. R. BR VANT. 
220 
fearing, Christian parents. His mother, Henrietta F. 
Reeve, who modestly but positively traces her lineage to 
William IV., King of Holland, is indeed a noble character, 
of a bright, intellectual, and literary disposition, ever noted 
for her kind sympathy and generous philanthropy. She has 
sacrificed all for her family. 
His father, Dr. Berryman Bryant, has always been a 
most prosperous and successful physician and surgeon. 
He has practiced medicine in California since June, 1849, 
and is among the pioneer, if not the pioneer, living doctors 
of California. He has always been a student and ever 
willing to accept modern and advanced ideas, and to-day 
that grand old man lives, ripe in experience and knowledge. 
He has won for himself an enviable reputation not only as 
a physician, but as a surgeon, having been a railroad sur- 
geon for years. 
Not only to his noble, loving, and Christian mother, 
but to his indulgent and painstaking father, does Dr. E. 
R. Bryant proudly acknowledge that he owes all for his 
position, reputation, and education. 
E. R. Bryant attended the private and public schools 
of Gilroy and San Jose, the High School of Oakland, and 
was prepared for his college examinations by Carroll M. 
Davis, in Berkeley. He attended the University of the 
Pacific, from which, after four years of hard study, he was 
graduated with distinction in May, 1885, receiving the 
degree of Bachelor of Philosophy. In 1888 the honor of 
delivering the "Master's" oration on Commencement 
Day was voted him unanimously by the Faculty. He dis- 
tinguished himself with a fine address on "Evolution in 
Political Science," and received the Master's Degree 
from the same institution. 
From May, 1885, until the same month in 1886, he 
studied with his father, Dr. B. Bryant. For years he had 
assisted his father in the preparation of medicines, ban- 
dages, dressings, etc., and while quite young had familiar- DR. E. R. BR YANT. 
221 
ized himself with the names and usages of many drugs and 
with the various surgical procedures and dressings, so that 
during the year following his graduation from the literary 
college he was able to understand and learn much from 
his father, who became his friend, companion, and teacher, 
and who directed him in anatomy, chemistry, physiology, 
and the materia medica, as well as in practical work. 
In May, 1886, he matriculated in the Hahnemann Hos- 
pital College of San Francisco, and continued his studies 
there until September of the same year, when he entered 
the Freshman Class of the Hahnemann College of Phila- 
delphia, preferring this class to the Junior Class, to which 
he was entitled to enter, in order to get the full benefits 
of "Old Hahnemann." The following summer vacation 
was spent in the dissecting-room of the San Francisco 
College. During his college course he dissected the whole 
body three times. In April, 1889, he was graduated from 
the Hahnemann Medical College of Philadelphia with a 
general average of 98.3 per cent, on the three years' work. 
After his graduation he entered into active in-door and 
out-door dispensary work, and took courses on physical 
and general diagnosis in the Philadelphia Post-Graduate 
School. In June he and his friend, Dr. A. S. Larkey, took 
a competitive examination in New York, and secured the 
position of Resident Physician and Surgeon in the Hahne- 
mann Hospital of New York City. Here Dr. Bryant 
gained valuable practical experience under such well-known 
educators as William Tod Helmuth, F. E. Doughty, J. 
M. Schley, H. I. Ostrom, J. McE. Wetmore, T. F. Allen, 
L. L. Danforth, and J. H. Thompson. During this time 
he also matriculated in the Medical Department of the 
University of the City of New York, and attended lectures 
at that institution, and studied German in the Sterns School 
of Languages, as his time permitted. 
In March, 1890, Dr. Bryant sailed for Hamburg, where 
he enjoyed the rare privilege of personal acquaintance with 222 
DR E. R. BRYANT. 
and instruction from Dr. Schede. For two months he 
accompanied this eminent surgeon in his daily visits 
through the wards of the Neues Allgemeines Krankenhaus, 
and witnessed all his operations. 
In May he matriculated in the University of Heidelberg, 
where he spent the summer semester. There he took Pro- 
fessor Arnold's "Grosse" and "Kleine" microscopical 
and macroscopical pathological course, and attended the 
clinics of Professors Erb and Czerny. 
In September, 1890, he matriculated in the University 
of Vienna, where he worked almost unceasingly from 
morning until night in the great hospitals, and accom- 
plished an almost incredible amount of work in his year 
and a half sojourn in that city. He studied almost every 
branch of medicine, paying especial attention to pathology, 
general diagnosis and treatment, microscopy, surgery, 
gynsecology, eye, ear, and throat, skin, and venereal dis- 
eases. Among the special courses he took three on gross 
pathology, one on special microscopy of tumors, one on 
microscopy and chemistry at the bedside, five on gynaeco- 
logical diagnosis, two on gynaecological operations, three 
on massage of tubes and ovaries, three on the skin, nine 
on interne medicine, six on surgical diagnosis, seven on 
surgical operations, six on the ear, one of which was a 
purely operative course; six on the throat and nose, one 
on the histology and microscopical pathology of the eye, 
two on refraction, three on eye operations, six on the 
ophthalmoscope, and four on external eye diseases. He 
also worked in Professor E. Fuches's eye clinic for eight 
months. 
On January 1, 1892, Dr. Bryant took the bacteriological 
course at the Hygienic Institute, in Berlin, under Professor 
Rubner, who was the successor of Professor Koch, and who 
gave an identical course. He dissected the whole body 
under Professor Waldeyer, and took a special course on 
the whole anatomy under his assistant, Jablonowski; a DR. E. R. BR YANT. 
223 
thorough course on histology and histological technique 
under Docent C. Bender at the Physiological Institute, 
and a diagnostic and operative gynaecological course under 
Dr. A. Martin, with access to all his operations. 
From Berlin he went to Reichenberg, in Bohemia, where 
he had the unusual good fortune to assist in operations and 
do many minor and some major operations under those 
thorough specialists, C. Wotruba, the surgeon; F. Bayer, 
the oculist and aurist; and Johannovsky, the gynaecologist. 
After six and a half months in Reichenberg Dr. Bryant 
spent two months in Innsbruck in Tyrol, where he enjoyed 
all the privileges of the University and Hospital, through 
the courtesy of his old Vienna friend and teacher, Professor 
W. Czermak. 
Paris was next visited, and during a two months' sojourn 
he visited almost every clinic, and saw every eminent 
medical man. Considerable time was spent with Pean, 
Pozzi, Galezowski, Landolt, Myer, and Apostoli, to whom 
he is very grateful for special favors. 
From Paris Dr. Bryant proceeded to London, where for 
four months he enjoyed the privileges of the London 
Hospital, and filled assistant positions under Drs. Lang 
and Morton at the Royal Ophthalmic Hospital. 
He commenced practice in San Francisco on May 20, 
1893, and, as he succeeded Dr. W. A. Dewey in his prac- 
tice, he was a busy man almost from the beginning. 
He was elected Lecturer on Genito-urinary Diseases and 
the Skin in the Hahnemann Hospital College of San Fran- 
cisco soon after his arrival; later, Lecturer on Anatomy, 
and finally, Professor of Anatomy and Associate Professor 
of Surgery in the same college, where he also gives a course 
on bandaging and surgical operations. He conducts the 
surgical and an eye, ear, and throat clinic in the college; 
the eye, ear, and throat clinic in the Southern Homoeo- 
pathic Dispensary; and a general and surgical clinic in 
the Pacific Homoeopathic Dispensary; is Orthopaedic Sur- DR. EDWARD L. DUER. 
224 
geon and Lecturer to the Fabiola Hospital of Oakland; 
member of the Board of Directors of the Hahnemann 
Hospital College of San Francisco; Secretary of the San 
Francisco County Homoeopathic Society; member of the 
California State Homoeopathic Medical Society, of the 
Homoeopathic State Board of Medical Examiners, and of 
the American Institute of Homoeopathy. He is also a mem- 
ber of the Calvary Presbyterian Church of San Francisco. 
Dr. Bryant's superior advantages and constant studies 
have been rewarded by remarkable success; although he 
has been in San Francisco but two and a half years, he has 
a large and growing clientele among the finest families, 
and has won for himself an enviable reputation as a pre- 
scriber, diagnostician, and operator. He has been very 
successful in all sorts of abdominal operations, and those 
upon the eye, ear, throat, neck, brain, spinal column and 
other organs and regions. His thorough training and 
education, his sound judgment and fearless disposition, 
and his knowledge of anatomy, destine some day to win 
for him a place among America's great surgeons. 
EDWARD L. DUER, M.D., A.B., A.M. Yale, 
PHILADELPHIA, PA. 
Duer, Edward Louis, was born at Crosswicks, New 
Jersey, January 19, 1836, of Dr. George S. and Mary 
Warren Duer. The former was descended from an Eng- 
lish gentleman who held an original grant from William 
Penn of 640 acres of land in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, 
on the shore of the Delaware where Washington and his 
army crossed in 1776. From the maternal side the subject 
of this sketch is descended from General Joseph Warren, 
who fell at Bunker Hill. 
He was prepared for college by private tutor at home. DR. EDWARD L. DUER. 
225 
Entering Yale in 1853 ^e engineering course, he next 
year entered the junior class of the classical department, 
and was graduated A.B. in 1857-a class that contributed 
many men since famous in professional and political life. 
Immediately upon graduation he entered the medical de- 
partment of the University of Pennsylvania, and received 
his degree in medicine in i860. 
That year was the first in which appointments to the 
hospitals of Philadelphia were decided upon merit, and he 
won the desirable post of Resident at the Philadelphia 
(Blockley) Hospital, in an examination in which there 
were forty competitors. It was this experience of eighteen 
months which decided him to pursue obstetrics and the 
diseases of women and children as a specialty. 
At that date gynaecology was not recognized as a branch 
of special scientific endeavor. Dr. J. Marion Sims, of 
New York, and Dr. Washington L. Atlee, of Philadelphia, 
indeed, had won fame in the medical and surgical treat- 
ment of morbid ovarian growths, and the former afterward 
wrote an extended book upon that and kindred subjects. 
But popular prejudice denied valuable clinical instruction 
to students, and research was mainly confined to the indi- 
vidual experiences of general practitioners. Dr. Duer 
determined to make this branch of the healing art his life- 
work, but was prevented from entering upon it at once by 
the emergent demand of the War of the Rebellion. 
In 1862 he was appointed Acting Assistant Surgeon in 
the U. S. Army, and was assigned to duty in the Military 
Hospitals of Philadelphia, to which hundreds of wounded 
were brought after each battle in Maryland and Virginia. 
It was a rare opportunity for an ambitious student, and he 
made the most of it. One case of special interest is 
worth recalling : A gunshot-wound through the shoulder 
had grazed the subclavian artery, which resulted in a 
hemorrhage due to sloughing five days after the injury. 
The surgeons in charge considered the case hopeless, but 226 
DA. ED IVA AD L. D UE A. 
Duer decided to tie the artery, deeply buried as it is under 
the bones and muscles of the chest. He performed the 
difficult task with entire success, and the patient recovered. 
During this hospital service he was elected Visiting Ob- 
stetrician of the Philadelphia Hospital, and remained in 
that relation until 1884. With some difficulty the Guar- 
dians of the Poor, who control that institution, were per- 
suaded to authorize the introduction of clinical instruction 
in gynaecology, and a ward was specially designated for 
that purpose. Dr. Duer's lectures and clinics were largely 
attended by students of all the medical colleges. This 
was the first systematic instruction in the specialty given 
in this city. 
Dr. Duer has been, or is at present, Obstetrician of the 
Preston Retreat, Gynaecologist to the Presbyterian and 
Maternity Hospitals, and Consultant to the Philadelphia 
Home for Incurables. He was for two years President 
and for two years Vice-President of the Philadelphia Ob- 
stetrical Society; is a member of the American Gynaeco- 
logical Society, American Medical Association, State 
Medical Society, County Medical Society, and Patho- 
logical Society. He was one of the founders of the 
Philadelphia Polyclinic College, and was for several years 
its gynaecologist. He is also an honorary member of the 
D. Hayes Agnew Society. 
The exigent demands of an extensive private practice 
have prevented him from contributing largely to profes- 
sional literature, although many noteworthy cases have 
been reported by him in the medical journals. His most 
noted paper was an exhaustive monograph upon " Post- 
mortem Deliveries," a work of great research. DR. J. B. MURPHY. 
227 
J. B. MURPHY, M.D., 
CHICAGO, ILL. 
Murphy, John B., of Chicago, Ill., was born Decem- 
ber 21, 1857, at Appleton, Wis. He was educated at the 
public school, and was graduated from the high school. 
Dr. J. R. Reilly, of Appleton, was his preceptor. He was 
graduated from Rush Medical College in 1879. He was 
interne in Cook County Hospital from February 1, 1879, 
to October 1, 1880; he then practiced medicine in Chicago 
until September, 1882. From that date he studied at the 
universities and hospitals in Vienna, Munich, Berlin, and 
Heidelberg until April, 1884. Since that time he has 
practiced surgery in Chicago; is Professor of Clinical Sur- 
gery in the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Chicago; 
Professor of Surgery in the Post-Graduate Medical School, 
Chicago; Attending Surgeon to Cook County Hospital 
for the past ten years ; Attending Surgeon in the Alexian 
Brothers' Hospital; President of the Medical Staff of Cook 
County Hospital; and President of The National Associa- 
tion of Railway Surgeons. 
His principal professional writings have been "Gunshot 
Wounds of the Abdomen;" "Actinomycosis Hominis," 
he being the first to recognize the disease in this country; 
"Early Operation in Perityphlitis;" "Echinococcus of 
Liver;" "Original Experimental and Clinical Research 
in Surgery of Gall-bladder, Liver, and Intestinal Tract," 
illustrating the utility and application of his Anastomosis 
Button in abdominal surgery. The Anastomosis Button 
invented by him is very ingenious, and has revolutionized 
the surgery of these organs. It relieves intestinal surgery 
of many of its dangers and simplifies its technique very 
materially. 228 
DR. ERIC A. VONDERGOLTZ. 
ERIC A. VONDERGOLTZ, M.D., 
NEW YORK, N. Y. 
Eric Augustus Vondergoltz, M.D., was born June 
21, 1862, at Shoenau, Prussia, Germany. He obtained 
his early education in the schools of his native place. 
In the year 1883 he commenced the study of medicine 
at Zurich, Switzerland. His foremost anatomical and 
gynaecological teachers were Herman Von Meyer, H. Von 
Fehling, T. T. Bischoff, of Basel; and August Socin. 
Dr. Vondergoltz was graduated from the University of 
Basel the 20th of October in the year 1887. In 1888 he 
removed to New York City, where he at once commenced 
the practice of his profession. He soon acquired distinc- 
tion as a skilful surgeon and expert diagnostician. 
He devotes himself exclusively to gynaecology and ab- 
dominal surgery, and his practice in that line has been 
very successful. He is a conscientious, careful, and cau- 
tious operator. 
In 1894 he was elected Professor of Gynaecology in the 
Metropolitan Post-Graduate School of Medicine, New 
York City, N. Y. 
He has written a number of valuable medical articles, 
among which are the ''Inaugural Dissertation at Basel in 
1887 ;" " Die praecipitirten Geburten von Basel;" "Das 
Ergotin in da Geburtshilfe;" "Placenta Praevia;" "Enu- 
resis Nocturna;" "Lysol, A New Disinfectant;" "Ex- 
tirpation of Healthy Ovaries;" "Forceps in Breech- 
position;" "Clinical Observations on Gynaecology;" etc. 
Dr. Vondergoltz was married to Miss Clara H. Shultz, 
of New York, in 1891. They have two children, Gladys 
E. Vondergoltz and Eric A. William Vondergoltz, Jr. DR. JAMES W. WARD. 
229 
JAMES W. WARD, M.D., 
SAN FRANCISCO, CAL. 
Ward, James William, physician and surgeon, was 
born in Minneapolis, Minn., March 14, 1861, son of Wil- 
liam E. and Elvira Canney Ward. His father, one of the 
early settlers of Minneapolis and largely identified with its 
growth and prosperity, moved in 1870 to California and 
located near San Jose. The son obtained his preliminary 
education in the public schools of Minneapolis and San 
Jose, and in 1878 was graduated at the high school, stand- 
ing at the head of his class. 
He began the study of medicine first with a private 
instructor, then in the office of Dr. F. E. J. Canney, of 
San Francisco; and in 1881 he was admitted to the New 
York Homoeopathic Medical College. By special permis- 
sion he took the three-years' course in two years, being 
graduated M.D. in 1883 with the highest honors of his 
class. He was appointed on the medical staff of Ward's 
Island Homoeopathic Hospital, and was soon after made 
Resident Physician of the Hahnemann Hospital of New 
York City. 
In 1885 he resigned and returned to San Francisco, 
where, during the session of 1885-86, he held the Chair of 
Physiology in the Hahnemann Medical College. During 
the following year, and until 1889, he lectured on gynae- 
cology. His professional career has been marked by extra- 
ordinary success, and he stands among the foremost surgeons 
on the Pacific Coast. He is a recognized authority on 
gynaecology and abdominal surgery, on which he has 
written extensively for medical journals, and his major 
operations have been numerous and remarkably successful. 
In 1890, with Dr. J. E. Lilienthal and Dr. F. N. Ward, 
he founded the Southern Homoeopathic Dispensary. Since 230 
DR E. J. CHAPIN MINARD 
1893 he has been Gynaecologist to the Fabiola Hospital 
of Oakland, and for a number of years Chairman of the 
Medical Board and Consultant to the Nursery for Homeless 
Children; he is also one of the founders of the Homoeo- 
pathic Sanatorium of San Francisco. He is a member 
of the American Institute of Homoeopathy, the California 
State and San Francisco County Medical Societies. 
His first report of abdominal work was made before the 
California State Homoeopathic Society in 1893. It was a 
report of " Coeliotomies Performed at Fabiola Hospital," 
and consisted of a year's work of capital operations in the 
hospital for i892-'93. It recorded the histories of forty 
capital cases with but four deaths. His second report of 
gynaecological work was made in 1895 before the State 
Society. It was entitled "A Year's Work at the Sana- 
torium without a Death." The work comprised twenty- 
five capital and eighty minor cases, performed by Drs. 
James W. and Florence N. Ward. The uniform success 
of the work, not only as far as the lives of the patients 
were concerned, but also the rapid and thorough care of 
the patients, was the chief characteristic of the paper. 
In 1895, in company with Mrs. Ward, he made a tour 
of Europe, visiting the large clinics and hospitals, and 
giving special attention to gynaecological surgery. 
E. J. CHAPIN MINARD, A.M., M.D., 
BROOKLYN, N. Y. 
Eliza Jane Chapin Minard was born in Kirkland, 
Oneida County, N. Y., January 16, 1840, and reared 
amid propitious surroundings, being the only daughter in 
a clever family, with five brothers who idolized her from 
her birth. Two of these brothers are yet living. 
Her father, David Jewett Chapin, was a farmer and DR. E. J. CHAPIN MINARD. 
231 
stock-raiser of small means and a politician. He was 
one of the early members of the Republican Party which 
was founded at Angelica, New York, October 17, 1854. 
Her mother was Alice Pierce Glazier, of Worcester, 
Mass., whose ancestry extended along the Mayflower 
directly to Devonshire, England-the beauty of whose 
women she bore regally, and with true Puritan hatred de- 
spised all aggrandizement inherited; so much so that her 
family coat-of-arms received from Richard II., "for valor 
in war and commerce on sea," was not used during her 
lifetime. She was the companion of her boys, "who could 
do no evil," and one girl was not worth changing her 
mode of training. It was only when her daughter became 
companionable that she was partly reconciled to her not 
being a boy. 
Dr. Minard was a delicate, sunny-haired girl, who walked 
and talked when ten months old, to the delight of a merry 
household. When eight years of age she came near dying 
from an attack of scarlet fever, which left her still more 
delicate. This was the turning point of her life. 
Owing to her delicate health her father took her with 
him, as much as possible, in his out-door work, so that 
they became close friends and companions for the remain- 
der of his life, and when separated temporarily from him 
she kept up her intercourse by an active correspondence. 
Under her father's guidance she learned to ride, drive, 
fish, geologize, and botanize. He was never too busy to 
bait her hooks when fishing, and tell a story replete with 
instructions. It was in one of these drives with her 
father, when she was twelve years old, that her profession 
was chosen. 
A young doctor, who had just returned from Geneva 
Medical College, was showing off a span of Canadian 
ponies given to him by his father, the prominent surgeon 
of the county, when on meeting him they stopped to talk, 
and her father discussed the one woman student who had 232 
DR. E. J. CHAPIN MINARD. 
been admitted to his class. The young doctor said, 11 Oh ! 
we never minded her, we had so much to do to keep her 
from getting ahead of us; we had to work, I tell you." 
When the doctor drove on her father turned to her, re- 
marking, "If I had one thousand dollars to spare on your 
education after you have had your academic course I would 
make you a physician." She said in her heart, " If papa 
will give me the academic course, I will get the medical 
course;" and she did. It was her father's desire that all 
his children should have an academic education. 
She became a school-teacher at fourteen years of age, 
and began her medical training by seeing all the clinical 
work in the neighborhood. When eighteen years of age 
she entered the university course at Alfred Center, Western 
New York, which opened up a larger field of study for 
her, and, it being a school for both sexes, her brothers 
attended also. 
At the beginning of the late Civil War, when the first 
call came for soldiers to quell the Southern Rebellion, 
among thirteen of the University students who responded 
to the call were two of her brothers. She left the Univer- 
sity, took her brother's school, and began to teach again. 
Her salary was reduced three dollars a quarter because she 
was a 'woman, although heretofore she had received the 
highest wages because she was competent. Everybody 
seemed compelled to work. She taught one term and then 
broke down with fever. 
The enlistment of the students disarranged the studies 
and broke up the classes of the University, and when she 
recovered from the fever she received the following mes- 
sage from the battlefield of Antietam : 
"September 18, 1862. 
"Dear Sister Jennie : 
" We are both alive and in the hospital. Life has been 
very uncertain for the past few days, and Lee is retreating 
across the river. The country is safe and peace is only a DR. E. J. CHAPIN MINARD. 
233 
question of time. Women will be needed to care for the 
crippled. Take our joint funds, return to the University, 
and from there to the Medical College, as you planned 
when a little girl, so you ' may learn forever,' as you used 
to say. 
" And if we are not at the call of the roll, you may say 
Good-by to the boys in our name, for we may 
Have said Aye / to the bullet's call. 
" Advise papa and mamma to go up to the ranch and 
wait for us. Charlie." 
The brothers returned from the army uninjured. (The 
youngest was discharged from the hospital.) They both 
met their parents as agreed upon. 
They were afterward graduated from the University, but 
the sister never saw her mother again, she having died during 
the Doctor's medical studies. The enlistment had taken 
teachers and pupils alike. The four Latin classes were put 
into one, and that one into the Virgil course. The only 
thing she could remember of that six months' Latin course 
was, il I sing of arms and a man." If ever she hated any- 
thing, it came near being the President, to whom fell the 
class, and Virgil. 
Just previous to her graduation she received the follow- 
ing letter from her eldest brother, who had married Miss 
Mariette Armour, a lovely and highly accomplished lady 
of Central New York; 
" Milwaukee, Wis., June 22, 1863. 
" Dear Sister Jennie : 
"So you are to graduate from college next week; I 
congratulate you ; and you write ' you intend to go to 
Philadelphia to study medicine.' I have humored you 
from the time I named you ' Jane ' till the present time. 
Now let me be heard. I offer you a place in my home- 
Mariette joins me-as our guest; and I urge you to come. 
We keep servants. 234 
ZM'. E. J. CHAPIN MINARD. 
" Father and mother with brother John passed through 
here on their way to the far West. 
" Yours truly, 
" Emery." 
A sad-faced little woman in a Quaker-gray dress, and 
having a University degree, went out of the college campus 
and took the train for Philadelphia, Pa., alone. The 
moans from the sorrowing relatives and friends of those 
lost on the battlefield of Gettysburg had not yet ceased. 
Life was about as desolate as could be made. She found 
work ready for her at the college. The internes and pro- 
fessors were yet absent upon the field of Gettysburg; the 
dispensary and obstetrical department needed help; one 
sickly under-graduate in charge glad enough to get it; her 
work began on the day of arrival. She attended lectures 
in Philadelphia, and spent the summers in the more easily 
visited clinics of the city of New York. Here she be- 
came a student of Wood, Clark, Taylor, Flint, Blackwell, 
Loomis, and a host of other famous physicians who have 
moved on to the great unknown. Reminiscences of these 
great doctors are many. Two are here quoted : 
"Dr. Southack, assistant surgeon to Dr. James R. Wood, 
had been persuaded to take a class of twelve women stu- 
dents in operative surgery for one hundred dollars, after 
the male class had finished, at the Bellevue Dead-house. 
The great master-stroke in amputation of the thigh was 
given to the class, and when her turn came she whirled 
the heavy knife around the thigh and met the starting- 
point, to her own and the class's astonishment, and to the 
amazement of Southack, who said, ' Good for you, Chapin, 
not one of the male class did that stroke this term.' " 
" Wood was a great surgeon, but very eccentric. South- 
ack said, ' He was not easy to work for, as he was never 
sure which way he would throw his knives; but they 
usually went straight out behind.' Fine operating-tables 
and antiseptics were little known at that time, but the DR. E. J. CHAPIN MINARD 
235 
clean sharp instrument, the steady hand, and the keen eye 
were the same then as now. He did more real work for 
the New York Infirmary class than any other volunteer 
consulting surgeon." 
Dr. Taylor untaught in his diagnosis of obstetrics all 
her Paris teaching at Philadelphia, where they taught by 
the touch-softening and shortening of the neck. Yet the 
Philadelphia school put the 11 eye into the end of the 
finger." 
The unsettled condition of surgery and pathology, the 
learning from one great master and unlearning from an- 
other, would have annoyed a less enthusiastic student. 
Her classmates used to say of her that " they believed 
she would rather listen to an attack on a professor's the- 
ories than to attend a reception," which she loved dearly. 
Her first purchase in medical literature was Paget's Pathol- 
ogy and Virchow's first edition of his Cellular Pathology. 
Bellevue, the old Eye and Ear Infirmary, the Demilt, 
Northern, and other dispensaries were open to her studies. 
To sit in the amphitheatre of the old Eye and Ear Infirm- 
ary, like a man, without let or hindrance, as one of three 
women students, was sufficient for one summer's clinical 
work. Once the door opened, and kept open, made it 
easier for the next woman student. The three women 
students who first sat in the amphitheatre of the New York 
Eye and Ear Infirmary were Drs. Abbott, of Maine; 
Blackmar, of Michigan; and Chapin, of New York. 
The opportunity to test chloroform and ether, and to 
use them in the needs of obstetrics and surgery, pleased 
her exceedingly. She became an expert in the administra- 
tion of anaesthetics. She advocated their use in uncompli- 
cated midwifery, and by the time of her graduation she 
became quite popular because of her ability to use chloro- 
form carefully. Her thesis was upon chloroform. The 
first vesico-vaginal fistula done in the Woman's Hospital 
of Philadelphia, Pa., with the shotted suture, in a case of 236 
Z>A'. E. J. CHAPIN MINARD. 
twenty years' standing, was put in her charge, and after 
seven operations it was successful. 
The assistant in obstetrics put the forceps into her hands 
at the close of the second year. She often said she would 
never have practiced surgery but for the aid of anaesthetics, 
so great was her hatred of pain. Surgery owes to these 
aids the great stride it has made since McDowell operated. 
Her comprehension of the planes of the pelvis, through 
her knowledge of mathematics, made her popular with her 
teachers as a demonstrator. She was graduated after a three- 
years' course in medicine, and received the degree of A.M. 
from her Alma Mater the same year, 1866. 
She believed that the physician's life should be a silent 
one. Medical etiquette stood high in her estimation and 
was the guide of her medical career. New York so fas- 
cinated her that on her graduation she came to this city 
and entered the New York Infirmary as assistant physician, 
and for two and a half years practiced as an externe. The 
Children's Clinic was separated from the main one by her, 
she giving an extra hour every day to its care. Pepsins 
were being advocated for general treatment of cholera 
infantum. An associate and herself made their own wines 
and cordials, and felt that they helped to fix the valuation 
of these preparations at that time. She settled at length 
in Brooklyn, N. Y., and gradually combined gynaecology 
and obstetrics with general practice. 
She married Louis F. Minard, a Mexican veteran, in 
1873. He died at the end of ten years, and she then 
began a special study of gynaecology. She opened a few 
rooms in a small house, and with care and attention did 
much good work. She is a teacher born and bred; she 
never refuses to lend a helping hand; is quick to see 
where help is needed, and has been the means of educat- 
ing seven girls. Her best advice to the young is " not to 
make mistakes " and " not to be satisfied with mean things." 
As a friend she fills Swift's highest measure : DR. E. J. CHAPIN MINARD. 
237 
" Her friendship was exactly timed, 
She shot before your foes were primed." 
When asked what one thing had pleased her most during 
her professional life she answered, " The highest compli- 
ment I ever received was the following: A woman, forty- 
nine years old, mother of twelve children, who had always 
had a midwife attend her, said to me, as she unexpectedly 
placed a fee in my hand, ' I have had all the tenderness 
and privacy of a woman and all the feeling of security of 
a male physician.' '' 
Dr. Minard is a member of the Medical Society of the 
County of Kings, the Brooklyn Pathological Society, the 
New York State Medical Association, the American Medi- 
cal Association; and was appointed Gynaecologist to the 
Brooklyn, E. D , Dispensary, which position she held seven 
years. In this clinic she had ample opportunity of seeing 
rare cases. Her forte lies in correct diagnosis of diseases. 
It was in this clinic that she discovered her three cases of 
floating kidneys. 
From the New York State Medical Association she was 
sent as a delegate to the Tenth International Medical 
Congress, which met in Berlin, Germany, August 8, 1890. 
On her return she wrote a very fine description of the 
Congress "as she saw it," which was read before the 
Kings County Medical Association, March 10, 1891, and 
was published in the Journal of the American Medical 
Association, April 25, 1891. After mentioning several 
very prominent surgeons whom she had met there, she 
alludes to her " friendly reception by the Secretary, Dr. 
Lassar, the acceptance of her credentials as delegate, the 
presentation of the queer little badge, the assignment to 
the Gynsecological Section, without fuss or blunder;" all 
of which attentions "were very agreeable." 
The following extracts are taken from this publication : 
" Germany is now the only civilized government where 
women are not allowed to practice medicine as physicians. DR. E. J. CHAPIN MINARD. 
238 
Women here obtain their diplomas, usually, from Zurich, 
and are admitted to all the rights of midwives (which are 
many), but are not allowed to use the forceps, write a 
death certificate, or one of vaccination." 
"The admission of women delegates to this Congress, 
in the face of the decisions of former sessions, was hailed 
with enthusiasm by the women of Berlin. ' How did you 
do it? You do more in America in twenty years than we 
do here in a hundred,' was the greeting. ' Meet us in 
Rome in 1893, where co education has existed since Agnes 
of Coronna captivated with her mathematics and her 
beauty,' were the parting words." 
"There will never be more women in medicine than 
will be needed. The great advance made in gynaecology 
owes more to her entrance into medicine than will ever be 
told." 
"The woman physician stands to-day side by side, not 
as a rival, but as a helper, to her brothers in the profession. 
Then open wide every avenue of learning to her ! Only 
the best will satisfy her now." 
"It is such a pity that so much vital force should be 
expended in hewing out new roads for learning." 
" I returned from that great gathering at Berlin fully 
believing that only upon the foundation of a university 
training, with ancient and modern languages, may the 
Western student hope to cope in knowledge with the 
scholars of the Old World, in scientific and' medical re- 
searches in the future, without regard to sex." 
When asked if she would recommend medicine to a 
young woman as a lucrative profession, her answer was: 
" My advice would be the same as to a young man. It 
would depend upon the character and aptitude of the 
individual." 
The ability to make money does not belong to either 
sex exclusively or to many. It is, moreover, the one pro- 
fession where a woman may cultivate gray hairs with a DR. F. H. BANGS. 
239 
certainty that the old doctors will be preferred to the 
young ones; it has been questioned whether woman can 
stand the physical strain of work in the medical profession. 
The number of years which many have endured this strain 
is sufficient answer. 
F. H. BANGS, M.D., 
SAN JOSE, CAL. 
Dr. Frederick H. Bangs was born October 31, 1859, 
at Jackson, Mich. He received his early education in the 
common schools of his native place. When he was sixteen 
years of age he was graduated from Mason high school. He 
attended the State Agricultural College of Michigan for 
two years. He was also one year in the Medical Depart- 
ment of the University of Michigan, where he studied as- 
siduously, gaining much valuable information. 
He then entered the Cleveland Homoeopathic Hospital 
College, of Cleveland, Ohio, where he graduated in March, 
1880. 
From constant study and close application to his chosen 
profession his health was greatly impaired, which necessi- 
tated an outdoor life for two years. 
After restoring his health he located in Arcata, Hum- 
boldt County, Cal., in the heart of the famous red-woods 
region. Here a fine opportunity was offered him to in- 
crease his knowledge of surgery. Accidents frequently 
occurred requiring surgical treatment, which he embraced 
with delight, for by his skillfulness as a surgeon he was 
enabled to be the means of giving great relief to the poor 
unfortunate sufferers he was called upon to aid. 
Still persevering in his professional duties, he took a 
post graduate course at the College of Physicians and Sur- 
geons of Chicago, Ill. The surgeons at that time con- DR. HERMAN BOSKOWITZ. 
240 
nected with this medical institution were Christian Fenger, 
M.D., and Nicholas Senn, M.D. 
In 1890 Dr. Bangs removed to San Jose, Cal., where a 
broader field was open to him for his especial line of sur- 
gery-gynaecology. Still grasping for greater surgical 
knowledge, and being a progressive man, he determined 
to take a special course under the celebrated E. H. Pratt, 
M.D., of Chicago, Ill., in orificial surgery. 
In October, 1893, he established a private sanitorium in 
San Jose, Cal., which contained the best operating room 
in the country. His skill and success in abdominal sur- 
gery brought him so many patients that he was compelled 
to enlarge the sanitorium and make many additions to the 
building, until now he has a very perfect institution, and 
does a great deal of major surgery. 
His success has been marvellous. He has performed 
vaginal hysterectomy, by Dr. Pratt's method, eighteen 
times without a death. Ovariotomy and coeliotomy many 
times. 
Dr. Bangs ranks among the leading gynaecologists and 
surgeons of California. He is a careful and cautious ope- 
rator, and always unwilling to use the knife without a good 
cause. 
In August, 1888, he was married to Miss Bella May, of 
Arcata, Cal. 
HERMAN BOSKOWITZ, M.D., 
BROOKLYN, N. Y. 
Dr. Herman Boskowitz died at his residence, 137 
Duffield Street, Brooklyn, N. Y., December 25, 1882. 
He was a native of Prague, Bohemia, where he was born 
in the earlier years of this century. 
Having received a preliminary education in his native H. BOSKOW1TZ, M.D DR. HERMAN BOSKOWITZ. 
241 
city, he entered the University of Vienna and was gradu- 
ated with honor. He was one of the favorite students of 
the distinguished Professor Rokitansky, by reason of his 
attentiveness and proficiency; and the mutual regard 
continued until the death of the great pathologist. 
Dr. Boskowitz held a commission for some time as Sur- 
geon in the Austrian Army, which, resigning, he supported 
himself by teaching languages. His attainments in this 
department were extensive; he was familiar with Latin, 
Greek, Hebrew, Arabic, Slavonic, Turkish, French, Span- 
ish, and Italian. 
In 1848 he was an active sympathizer in the Republican 
and Revolutionary movements, and upon their betrayal 
was compelled to leave Europe. Coming to the United 
States, he first took up his residence in Jersey City, N. J., 
but soon removed to the city of New York, where he 
remained about five years, and then removed to Brook- 
lyn, in which city he enjoyed a large and lucrative practice 
until the time of his death. 
He took an active interest in politics, both general and 
local, and was of avowed anti-slavery sentiments. He was 
a personal friend and supporter of Horace Greeley. 
Although a Hahnemannian in his practice, he took part 
in the establishment of the Eclectic Medical College in 
New York, and was a member of the Brooklyn Academy 
of Medicine, the Eclectic Medical Society of the State of 
New York, and the National Eclectic Medical Association. 
He was affable and courteous to all; warm and constant 
in his attachments ; appreciative and confiding ; generous 
in his honesty, impoverishing himself for friends.- Trans- 
actions National Eclectic Medical Association, 1882-'83. DR. GEORGE W. BOSKOWMZ. 
242 
GEORGE W. BOSKOWITZ, A.M., M.D., 
NEW YORK, N. Y. 
George W. Boskowitz, A.M., M.D., Dean of the 
Eclectic Medical College of New York, is a well-known 
eclectic physician. He was born in New York City on 
October 8, 1856. 
His father, Herman Boskowitz, born in Austria, arrived 
in this country in 1848, and, as a physician of the homoe- 
opathic school, practiced in Brooklyn, N. Y., where he 
was much respected for upward of twenty years. 
Dr. Boskowitz, subject of this sketch, was graduated 
from the Eclectic Medical College in the city of New 
York in 1877, and has practiced in that city with success 
since that time. In 1890 the Waynesburg University con- 
ferred upon him the degree of A.M. 
He is looked upon by the profession as a clever surgeon, 
whose operations are generally attended with success, while 
as Dean of the Eclectic College he has displayed much 
executive ability. 
Dr. Boskowitz has served two terms as President of the 
Eclectic Medical Society of the State of New York. He 
is Ex-President of the Eclectic Medical Society of the City 
and County of New York; Consulting Physician to the 
Eclectic Free Dispensary and Consulting Surgeon to the 
Woodstock Hospital; honorary member of the Vermont 
and Massachusetts Eclectic Medical Societies; member of 
the National Eclectic Medical Association; Ex-President 
of the Regents' State Board of Medical Examiners to 
represent the Eclectic School of Medicine. He is also 
Trustee of the Eclectic Medical College of the City of 
New York. The Doctor is recognized as a writer of the 
school of medicine to which he belongs, and was for many 
years editor of the Eclectic Review. DR. WILLIAM W. HITCHCOCK. 
243 
Dr. Boskowitz is a member of Darey Lodge, F. and 
A. M., New York City, and was its Master three years; 
also, Olympic Lodge, I. O. O. F.; Grace Lodge, K. of H.; 
Cremation Society, and many other organizations. 
He was married April 10, 1891, in New York City, by 
Felix Adler, to Lena B. Toms, daughter of Captain A. P. 
Toms, of Stamford, Conn. 
WILLIAM W. HITCHCOCK, M.D., 
Dr. William W. Hitchcock, the subject of this sketch, 
was born in Mt. Carroll, Illinois, November 16, 1855. 
His father, William E. Hitchcock, was of English stock 
who figured prominently in the Revolutionary War against 
the British. His mother, whose maiden name was Drusilla 
B. Reed, was of Scotch parentage and was reared in New 
England. 
Dr. Hitchcock's early educational advantages were con- 
fined to the common h'gh schools and a collegiate course 
in the scientific department of Cornell University. Being 
of a studious disposition he early evinced a desire to pur- 
sue the study of some profession. After delving with 
Blackstone for some time, under the tutorage of Judge Z. 
A. Wellman, of Iowa, he resolved to change to medi- 
cine and surgery. During the winter of 1876 he took a 
preparatory course in anatomy, physiology, and chemis- 
try in the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Keokuk, 
Iowa, after which he matriculated at Rush Medical College, 
Chicago, graduating from this institution in the spring of 
1879. Standing a competitive examination at the close of 
the winter term for positions in the out door department 
and districts of the city, for medical and surgical services 
to be rendered the poor, he was one of the successful can- 
LOS ANGELES, CAL. 244 
DR. WILLIAM W. HITCHCOCK. 
didates. This practice, though not remunerative, was no 
doubt the stepping stone for a successful career in his suc- 
ceeding years of private practice. 
It was here that he had impressed on his mind the whole 
truth so many times demonstrated, although not always 
acknowledged, 11 that the poor is the doctor's best friend." 
It was during this experience among the sick poor that he 
moulded that kindly will and framed that gentle touch so 
soothing, so alleviating of sorrow and suffering. 
In the fall of 1879 he located for the practice of his 
profession in the village of North Liberty, Ind. It was 
during his sojourn here that he met Miss Ella Haller, the 
beautiful and accomplished daughter of Mary E. and Hon. 
Christian Haller, whom he married in the spring of 1880. 
Being ambitious to further pursue the study of his pro- 
fession he attended a course of lectures at Bellevue Hos- 
pital Medical College, New York City, where he was again 
graduated in 1881. Soon after graduating Dr. Hitchcock 
located in the manufacturing city of South Bend, Ind., 
where he enjoyed a large and lucrative practice, making 
orthopaedic and general surgery his special work. 
In 1887 Dr. Hitchcock moved to Los Angeles, Cali- 
fornia. About this time he became deeply interested in 
gynaecology, and being a conservative operator explored 
thoroughly and investigated the claims for electricity to 
effect a cure without ablation of important organs. This 
investigation proved so fascinating and interesting that he 
has become one of the recognized medical electricians, 
and is frequently called upon to lecture before students 
and practitioners. 
This investigation naturally drifted his surgical work to 
that of gynaecology, and it is here that his skill as a sur- 
geon has been exemplified to that of an almost phenom- 
enal success. He has performed several hysterectomies for 
fibroma and cancer, and seventy-six coeliotomies, including 
seven operations for surgical appendicitis, with but a single DR. JOSEPH HILL HUNT. 
245 
death, not having seen or encountered a stitch-hole abscess 
during this experience, which speaks well for modern 
methods of care and technique in the preparation of cases. 
All cases were operated on at private surgical sanitoriums, 
where every detail regarding asepsis could be carried out. 
Dr. Hitchcock has devised many useful devices to lighten 
the burden and facilitate the surgeon's work, among 
which may be mentioned a modification of Esmarch's and 
Martin's elastic webbing bandage, which was first used on 
his illustrious patient, Father Edward Sorin, founder of 
Notre Dame University, in the Fall of 1881. His Physi- 
cian's Pocket Day-book and Ledger, which has exhausted its 
sixth edition, is worthy of mention. 
Dr. Hitchcock is strictly ethical, and has done much to 
further the interest of sanitation and the suppression of 
quackery. He has always taken an active part in national, 
State, and local medical associations, and is a firm believer 
in the importance of a National Board of Health, whose 
president should be a member of the Cabinet and a repre- 
sentative medical man. 
Dr. Hitchcock has one child, a daughter, May Daphine. 
JOSEPH HILL HUNT, M.D., 
BROOKLYN, N. Y. 
Dr. Joseph Hill Hunt is, by reason of his manifold 
activities and interests and his attractive personality, one 
of the best known and most popular of the physicians in 
Brooklyn, N. Y. Though he has made his home in that 
city for the past twenty years or more, he is a New Jersey- 
man by birth and lineage, and first saw the light in a cosy 
farm-house nestled in a peaceful valley near Newton, N. J. 
This event bears date, in the records, of April 12, 1848. 
The Doctor's father, Samuel Hill Hunt, is at this writing 246 
DR. JOSEPH HILL HUNT. 
a hale, bright-minded, positive man of more than four- 
score years, who keeps his youthful interest in books and 
history, his lore of statesmen and statecraft being remark- 
ably wide and accurate. In addition to the duties of bank 
president, which office the elder Hunt has filled for many 
years, he served his State in the Legislature, and was known 
as a shrewd and wise councillor of unimpeachable integrity. 
Beyond Samuel and Mary Price Hill, his wife, the line 
extends through John, who passed most of his life on the 
farm now owned by the subject of this sketch, but in a log- 
cabin, some remains of which are still on the premises; 
and Ralph, who received from his parents, in lieu of land, 
aa education and a legacy of ^195, and who served in the 
Revolutionary War, dying at the ripe age of eighty-nine 
years. The descendants of John are, indeed, remarkable 
for the great age attained by all of them, for, with two 
exceptions, all were over sixty years of age at the time of 
their demise, and the aggregate ages of the twelve children 
was 802 years. 
Going still further back into the family history, we 
find other great-grandfathers and great-uncles who dis- 
tinguished themselves in the development of the country, 
and who fought its battles against the "Redcoats" and 
the Indians. One died a prisoner among the Tripolitans; 
another was captured by redmen during the French and 
Indian Wars, but survived to take arms against the foes of 
American liberties in 1776. This one was a slaveholder, 
and left his negroes as a bequest to his daughters. And thus 
the line goes back to Ralph, a settler of Newtown, Long 
Island, and a shareholder in a tract of land bought from 
the Indians. Ralph had some of the sturdy and belligerent 
quality that gives strength of character to his descendants, 
for we read that he was denounced, in 1663, for resisting 
the authority of the Dutch in New Amsterdam, and he 
shortly after allied himself to the settlers of English blood 
in Connecticut, the Governor of that colony appointing DR. JOSEPH HILL HUNT. 
247 
him lieutenant of its military force, and his commission 
bearing the signature of the Second Charles. He also 
served his town as magistrate. 
Dr. Hunt got his first "book-learning" in the country 
school, but he was unconsciously laying the foundation 
for a scientific education in his rambles about his father's 
farm and among the environing fields, hills, and swamps. 
He thus, without conscious effort, came to know the plants, 
the trees, the birds, the fish, and particularly the minerals 
of his home-land, so that when, in later years, he was called 
upon to write and lecture on natural history, he found 
his subject easy and his enthusiasm fresh and communi- 
cable. 
After the district school had done its more or less per- 
fect work, young Joseph was sent away to the Institute 
in Chester, N. J., where he prepared for a more advanced 
course of study at the Washington College, in Lexington, 
Va. The war was then over, and the President of this 
ancient school was no less a person than General Robert E. 
Lee, commander of the Confederate forces. General Lee 
was as able a teacher as he was a military leader, and his 
pupils to this day speak of him with a loyal, affection and 
lament his death. 
The habits of observation that Joseph Hunt formed on 
the farm he kept during his pupilage in Virginia, and 
he made many forays into the surrounding country seek- 
ing knowledge and experience. On one occasion he and 
some other pupils ascended one of the tall hills that are 
within reach of Lexington and were caught in a terrific 
storm. The lightning was incessant, and bolts of it passed 
between the bodies of the youngsters as they stood in the 
driving rain and piercing wind. They unloaded their 
pockets of everything made of metal-knives, keys, 
watches, and so on-lest the electricity should be drawn 
to them; but in the end, while they lost the view for 
which they made the climb, they were none the worse. 248 
DR. JOSEPH HILL HUNT. 
It was his interest in minerals and geology that first 
turned the mind of Dr. Hunt to the associated theme of 
mining and engineering, and had he chosen he could 
have cast his fortunes in that field with undoubted ad- 
vantage; indeed, he did for a time pursue his engineering 
studies seriously; but after his return to the North other 
interests presented themselves; he saw that there was a 
field in medicine that offered even wider opportunities for 
scientific research than did engineering, while the humane 
instincts, that in him are especially pronounced, turned 
him the more readily to the healing art. His first preceptor 
was the late Dr. Jacob S. Wigton, of Spring Valley, Rock- 
land Co., N. Y., but he entered the College of Physicians 
and Surgeons, New York City, and was graduated there 
in 1873. 
Since he began practice he has resided in Brooklyn. 
His present home is a spacious brownstone building on 
the corner of Bedford Avenue and Quincy Street, the 
one the principal driveway in the city, the other a retired 
and shaded thoroughfare. Here he has his ample library, 
with many quaint old works in rare bindings; his collec- 
tions of minerals, relics, objects of ethnological interest, 
photographs-for he was among the earlier devotees of 
the camera - and many odd and suggestive relics and 
trophies, such as a traveled man and a man of reading 
will pick up in his wanderings. 
On the rehabilitation of the Brooklyn Institute Dr. Hunt 
was one of the first to give his service and encouragement 
to that admirable association. He was the first president 
of its department of mineralogy, and he frequently lec- 
tured before that and other departments, while he also 
arranged large and important exhibitions of minerals, 
contributing liberally from his own cabinets, his collec- 
tion of quartz being almost unique in its brilliancy, extent, 
and completeness. He also planned much of the work 
for the department, this work including the Saturday and DR. JOSEPH HILL HUNT. 
249 
holiday excursions to mines, quarries, and other places 
where fine minerals were to be had for the searching, for 
he knew more about these localities than most of the 
members. The large and perfect zeolites of Paterson 
would not have come to general notice had it not been 
for him, and his discoveries in the mineralogical wealth 
and variety of the glacial drift of Brooklyn have been im- 
portant. He has made a special study of pseudomorphism, 
and had embodied the results of that study in a pamphlet, 
which is perhaps the clearest popular exposition of the 
subject now extant. 
In the extent of his other services and affiliations Dr. 
Hunt exemplifies the wide view and persistent energy of 
his family. He is a member of the New York Mineral- 
ogical Club as well as of the Brooklyn Institute, of the 
Brooklyn Microscopical Society, the New York Scientific 
Alliance, the Torey Botanical Club, of a Pedestrian Club 
that inaugurated its work with a long and trying tramp 
through the White Mountains, of the Long Island His- 
torical Society, and the American Association for the Ad- 
vancement of Science. He has visited Mexico and has 
explored out-of-the-way sections of that land with his 
usual enthusiasm, bringing back many trophies of his tour 
and giving lectures on its people, scenery, and history. 
He has inquired into the history of the redmen, and has 
acquired a considerable museum of their arms and imple- 
ments in stone and copper. 
But it must not be supposed from these facts that he has 
been unmindful or neglectful of his profession. Far from 
it. His list of offices alone will prove the confidence and 
affection in which his fellow surgeons and physicians hold 
him; for these include the places of Vice-President, Assistant 
Secretary, Trustee, and Librarian of the Medical Society 
of the County of Kings ; President of the Brooklyn Patho- 
logical Society; Instructor in Histology and Pathology 
and Assistant Surgeon at the Long Island College Hos- 250 
DR. JOSEPH HILL HUNT. 
pital; Demonstrator in the Brooklyn Anatomical and Sur- 
gical Society; Associate Editor, from its foundation, of 
the Brooklyn Medical Journal; Collaborator in La Revista 
Medico-Chirurgica ; member and Trustee of the Brooklyn 
Medical Society, Brooklyn Medical Book Club, Medical 
Society of the State of New York, The New York Academy 
of Medicine, American Public Health Association, Amer- 
ican Medical Association, Alumni Association of the 
Brooklyn College of Pharmacy, in which he was at one 
time Professor of Materia Medica, Botany, and Pharma- 
cognosis, and of the College of Physicians and Surgeons; 
Surgeon of the Atlantic Avenue Dispensary; one of the 
organizers of the Bushwick and East Brooklyn Dispen- 
sary; Associate Surgeon of the Brooklyn Throat Hospital; 
Pathologist of St. Mary's Hospital; Surgeon of the Central 
Throat Hospital; member of the XV. Medical Club and 
of the Pan-American Medical Congress. He was for six 
years a member of the Brooklyn Board of Pharmacy. 
He is known as the author of about a hundred bio- 
graphical sketches of the old masters in the healing art, 
which were published in the Brooklyn Medical Journal, 
illustrated from rare old plates in his collection, and of 
other biographies in various magazines and volumes of 
transactions. Among other published papers are his " Car- 
bolic Acid as a Local Anaesthetic," "Jaborandi in Puer- 
peral Convulsions," " Internal Strangulation of the Ileum," 
" Gastrotomy in Tubal Pregnancy," "Irreducible Um- 
bilical Hernia," "Bichromate of Potassium as an Expec- 
torant," "The Pharmacopoeia of 1890," "Minerals of 
Mexico," "Pseudomorphs," and various other scientific 
papers; while his lectures on botany and materia medica 
before the Brooklyn College of Pharmacy have covered 
a wide ground. He is a member of the Washington Ave- 
nue Baptist Church, of the Hamilton Club, and of the 
Masonic Order. 
Dr Hunt's first wife was Elizabeth E., daughter of DR. MARY PUTNAM JACOBI. 
251 
George Duncan, of Jersey City. His present wife, nee 
Emily I. Benners, is a native of the Island of St. Thomas, 
in the Danish West Indies. In his home and social life 
Dr. Hunt is fortunate and happy; his tastes are such that 
he never knows ennui and never lacks for occupations of 
interest. His practice is extensive and successful. He 
keeps abreast of the discoveries and improvements in medi- 
cine-improvements that come so fast in these years that 
it takes the best of one's time simply to keep posted. In 
his practice he secures not merely the confidence of his pa- 
tients, but their lasting friendship; and in his care of them 
he exhibits the skill, the charity, the kindliness, as well as 
the scientific enthusiasm of the ideal physician. (Written 
by Mr. Charles M. Skinner.) 
MARY PUTNAM JACOBI, M.D., 
NEW YORK, N. Y. 
Dr. Mary Putnam Jacobi was born in London, Eng- 
land, August 31,1842. Her father, George Palmer Putnam, 
the well-known book publisher in New York City for many 
years, was a native of Maine, and returned with his family 
to the United States in the year 1847. Her mother, Vic- 
torine Haven, was born in Massachusetts. 
Dr. Mary Putnam Jacobi obtained her first schooling, 
other than from her mother, at the Twelfth Street Public 
School, when fifteen years of age, and in 1859 commenced 
the study of medicine in the city of New York, under the 
preceptorship of Dr. James L Brown. She then attended 
lectures at the Woman's Medical College, Philadelphia, 
Pa., from which in 1864 she was graduated Doctor of 
Medicine, having previously matriculated in the New York 
College of Pharmacy, being the first woman to receive a 
diploma from that institution. 252 
DR. MARY PUTNAM JACOBI. 
In 1868 she went to Paris, France, and was the first 
woman admitted to the Ecole de Medecine, whence she 
was graduated in 1871. She remained in Paris during the 
siege of the Franco-Prussian War in order to finish the 
experiments for her thesis. 
After her return from abroad she was in 1872 admitted 
to the Medical Society of the County of New York, at the 
suggestion of its President, Dr. Abraham Jacobi, being 
the first woman to receive this honor. 
In 1872 she was appointed Professor of Therapeutics in 
The Woman's Medical College of the New York Infirmary, 
and held that position until 1888. She has practiced 
medicine since 1872. 
In 1873 s^e became the wife of Dr. Abraham Jacobi. 
Three children have been born of this marriage. 
In 1874 Dr. Mary Putnam Jacobi was sent as a delegate 
from the Medical Society of the County of New York to 
the Medical Society of the State of New York, at its annual 
meeting held at Albany, N. Y. In the same year she was 
elected President of the Association for the Advancement 
of the Medical Education of Women, and continues to 
serve in that capacity. 
When the New York Post-Graduate Medical School and 
Hospital was opened in 1881, she was invited to a place 
in its faculty, as Clinical Lecturer on Diseases of Children, 
being the first time in this country that a lectureship in a 
male school was ever filled by a woman. This chair she 
held from 1881 to 1884. 
She has been Visiting Physician to the New York Infirm- 
ary for Women and Children since 1880, and to St. Mark's 
Hospital since 1893 ; also Medical Examiner for the Equit- 
able Life Insurance Company of New York City since 
1891. 
She is a member of the New York Pathological Society, 
New York Neurological Society, New York Society for the 
Relief of Widows and Orphans of Medical Men, and of DR. MARY PUTNAM JACOBI.- 
253 
The New York Academy of Medicine ; having been the 
first woman admitted to a membership in these societies. 
The facile admission of Dr. Mary Putnam Jacobi to 
these various memberships and honorable positions in the 
medical societies and institutions in the city of New York, 
at a time when the propriety of female recognition was 
still being so hotly contested in other cities, was partly 
due to the previously acquired honor of her Paris diploma. 
Her graduating thesis had also secured for her a bronze 
medal, the second prize awarded. Not to be despised, 
moreover, was the support derived from the influence of 
Dr. Abraham Jacobi. 
She was the first to formulate, definitely, a cyclical 
theory of menstruation, and to associate its detail with 
those of clinical and anatomical facts; upon this she also 
formulated a general theory for the treatment of endo- 
metritis. 
She made an extensive experimental study of the effects 
of cold pack and massage in the treatment of anaemia, 
anticipating in several respects the results announced a few 
months later by S. Weir Mitchell, M.D., in his essay on 
"Fat and Blood." 
The following are the titles of the various contributions 
to medical literature made by Dr. Mary Putnam Jacobi 
as far as the year 1894 : 
" Septicaemia and Pyaemia," New York Medical Record, 
1872, the first paper read by a woman before a medical 
society in the United States. "Pathogeny of Infantile 
Paralysis," read before the Medical Society of the County 
of New York, December, 1873; published in the American 
Journal of Obstetrics, May, 1874- This article contained 
the first collection of recorded autopsies of this disease. 
" Microcephalus," New York Medical Record, 1875. "The 
Question of Rest for Women during Menstruation," an 
essay which won the Boylston prize in Harvard Univer- 
sity in 1876. "An Original Essay on Buhls's Disease," DR. WILLIAM H. PANCOAST. 
254 
American Journal of Obstetrics, 1878. "The Value of 
Life," Ibid., 1879. " Quinine and the Cerebral Circula- 
tion," Ibid., 1879. " Cold Pack and Anaemia," Archives 
of Medicine, 1880. "Fibroid of the Uterus," American 
Journal of the Medical Sciences, 1880. " Case of Rotary 
Spasm," Journal of Mental and Nervous Diseases, 1880. 
"Trephining the Sternum," American Journal of Obstet 
rics, 1881. "Specialism in Medicine," Archives of Medi- 
cine, 1882. "Dermoid Cysts," American Journal of Ob- 
stetrics, 1883. "Studies in Endometritis," Ibid., 1885. 
"Menstrual Subinvolution," Ibid., 1885. " New Theory 
of Menstruation," Ibid., 1885. "Infantile Paralysis," Ar- 
chives of Medicine, 1885. " Primary Education," Popular 
Science Monthly, 1886. " Brain Tumors," Wood's Refer- 
ence Handbook. "Loss of Names in Aphasia," Journal 
of Mental dnd Nervous Diseases, 1886. "Quinine in 
Pneumonia," New York Medical Journal, 1887. "Pseudo- 
muscular Hypertrophy," Archives of Medicine, 1888. 
"Hysteria and other Essays," Ibid., 1888. "Place of 
Language in the Curriculum of Education," Journal of 
Psychology, 1888. " Electricity for Uterine Fibroids," 
American Journal of Obstetrics, 1889. "Empyema," 
New York Medical News, 1890. "Spinal Myelitis in 
Children," Keating's Cyclopcedia, 1890. "Case of Tumor 
of the Spinal Cord," International Medical Journal, 1890. 
" Electricity in Diseases of Children," Cyclopcedia of Elec- 
tro-Therapeutics, 1893. " Congenital Ptosis," New York 
Medical Record, 1894. 
WILLIAM H. PANCOAST, M.D., 
PHILADELPHIA, PA. 
Professor William H. Pancoast, the President of the 
Medico-Chirurgical College of Philadelphia, is the son of 
the late distinguished Dr. Joseph Pancoast, and was born DR. WILLIAM H. PANCOAST. 
255 
October 16, 1835, in the city where he at present resides. 
Although barely past the meridian of life, he has reached 
an enviable position in his profession. 
He received his literary education at Harvard College, 
and was graduated therefrom in 1853 as A.B., later, on fur- 
nishing original papers, receiving the degree of M.A. He 
probably inherited from his father those traits of mind 
which led him to seek knowledge, and imbibed from him 
the tastes which directed his attention to medicine as his 
special field of study and occupation. 
He was graduated from the Jefferson Medical College in 
1856, and subsequently supplemented his education by 
three years' residence at the great medical institutions at 
London, Paris, and Vienna, and gained much general 
information by travel upon the Continent and in England. 
Returning well equipped, so far as the best schools of 
the world could do that work, he quickly obtained a large 
practice, and thus supplied the deficiency that experience 
alone is capable of supplying. Like his father he turned 
his attention to anatomy and surgery, and devoted him- 
self to them with an intelligence and a persistency of pur- 
pose that soon brought him into eminence, which in turn 
urged him to continual study of the current discoveries in 
these branches of science. 
His ability was generally recognized in the profession, 
and in 1862 it received a flattering attestation in his 
appointment as Demonstrator of Anatomy, and, subse- 
quently, that of Adjunct Professor in his Alma Mater. 
He held that position in Jefferson Medical College for 
twelve years, acquitting himself so creditably that, when 
his father resigned the Chair of Anatomy and Clinical 
Surgery in 1874, he was chosen by the Trustees to fill the 
vacancy, and that advanced station he occupied till the 
spring of 1886, proving himself fully adequate to the 
duties of the professorship, both in the thoroughness of 
his knowledge and his faculty for imparting it to the 256 
DR. WILLIAM H. PANCOAST. 
students who came before him-a gift which does not 
always accompany the possession of information. . 
The esteem and affection in which he was held by the 
pupils were expressed upon his resignation by their many 
kindly words individually spoken, and by a general re- 
quest that he should sit for a portrait, which they after- 
ward presented to the Trustees of the College. 
Professor Pancoast during his connection with Jefferson 
Medical College, as well as before, was an exceedingly 
busy man. 
He was Visiting Surgeon to the Philadelphia Hospital 
for eighteen years, the Managers of which subsequently 
appointed him, on his resignation in 1885, Emeritus Sur- 
geon of the institution, this being the first time that rank 
was established in this old and celebrated hospital. 
He was also Senior Surgeon, second in command, of the 
Sixth and Master Streets United States Military Hospital, 
and during the war did service at the front on several 
occasions, for which he was elected a member of the 
Loyal Legion. 
Since 1859 he has been Surgeon and Consulting Surgeon 
of the Charity Hospital, and one of the Trustees. 
He also filled (and continues to hold many of) the fol- 
lowing mentioned posts: He was President of the Phila- 
delphia County Medical Society, Vice-President of the 
Pennsylvania State Medical Society, First Vice-President 
of the American Medical Association, member of the 
International Congress held in Philadelphia in 1876, mem- 
ber of the American Association of Medical Editors, and 
a permanent member of these and other medical and 
scientific societies. 
In the recent effort to maintain the integrity and suc- 
cess of the Ninth International Medical Congress he took 
a prominent and active part, and, during the important 
convention of the body held at Washington in September, 
1887, he was a member of the Executive Committee of DR. LEWIS HALLOCK. 
257 
the Congress and President of the Section on Anatomy, 
and a delegate from this Ninth International Congress 
to the National Medical Societies of Europe to advance 
its interests. 
On Professor Pancoast's identification with the Medico- 
Chirurgical College he was elected to the Chair of General 
Descriptive and Surgical Anatomy and Clinical Surgery. 
In 1887 he received the highest honor in the gift of the 
Trustees in being elected President of the College. 
When the International Medical Congress held its 
session in Washington, D. C , during September, 1887, he 
had the pleasure of conferring one of the degrees of the 
College, that of F.M -C.C. (Fellow of the Medico-Chirur- 
gical College) upon eighteen eminent physicians from 
England, Scotland, France, Germany, Russia, Italy, 
Egypt, and Roumania. 
Professor Pancoast is a member of several city, state, 
and national societies, and of learned bodies in London 
and Paris. He is also President of the International Red 
Cross Society of Philadelphia, which, under his manage- 
ment and that of the Executive Committee, has performed 
valuable service. 
[Copied by permission from Encyclopedia of Contemporary Biography 
of Pennsylvania, published by Atlantic Publishing and Engraving Co., 
New York, N. Y. The Author.] 
LEWIS HALLOCK, M.D., 
NEW YORK, N. Y. 
The oldest practising physician in the city of New- 
York, probably in America, is Dr. Lewis Hallock 
He was born in New York City, June 30, 1803, where 
he has resided without interruption ever since, except dur- 
ing a few years of his boyhood, when he went to school. 
His father, Jacob Hallock, was a lineal descendant of 
Peter Hallock, first of the name in this country, and one 
vol. n.-17 258 
DR. LEWIS HALLOCK. 
of the Pilgrim fathers who came to America in 1640, and, 
with the colony of thirteen members, purchased from the 
Indians a large tract of land in Southold, L. I. They 
were the first white settlers in that part of the island. 
Jacob Hallock, soon after his marriage to Miss Sarah 
Mather, moved to New York City, and engaged in mer- 
cantile pursuits until his death in 1813. He left two sons, 
Horace, a younger son, who became a successful merchant 
in Detroit, Michigan, the other, the subject of this sketch, 
Dr. Lewis Hallock, finished his preparatory studies at 
Clinton Academy, East Hampton, Long Island, then the 
second incorporated academy in the State. 
He commenced the study of medicine with a relative, 
Dr. Elisha Hallock, of Southold, L. I. In the following 
year he returned to New York, and entered the office of 
Dr. John W. Francis, Professor of Obstetrics in the Col- 
lege of Physicians and Surgeons, in the city, from which 
he was graduated in 1826. 
After practicing allopathy with average success for fifteen 
years, Dr. Hallock was induced to try the efficacy of 
homoeopathic remedies in some special cases. The result 
was so gratifying that, after a careful trial and comparison 
of a year, he became an avowed convert, and joined the 
homoeopathic ranks, being about the twelfth member of 
the small association. He is now the sole survivor of the 
six members of his graduating class, who had embraced 
the system before him. 
In the year 1814 Dr. Hallock united with others in 
founding the American Institute of Homoeopathy, and sub- 
sequently became a member of the County, State, and 
National Societies, and one year held the office of Presi- 
dent of the City and County Society. He has twice de- 
clined the office of a Professor in the New York Homoeo- 
pathic Medical College, but has acted as a member of the 
Board of Censors since the organization of that body for 
examining each graduating class of students. DR. LEWIS HALLOCK. 
259 
On the fiftieth anniversary of his graduation Dr. Hallock 
was much surprised by the reception of the honorary degree 
of Doctor of Medicine from the faculty and trustees of the 
New York Homoeopathic Medical College. The diploma 
was presented at a dinner given in his honor, by his early 
friend and classmate, Dr. Gray, at the Fifth Avenue Hotel. 
Dr. Hallock is in the enjoyment of excellent health, 
does not look to be more than seventy years of age, and 
judging from appearances is likely to be a centenarian.1 
Dr. Hallock attended the annual meeting of the 
American Institute of Homoeopathy, held at Newport, 
Rhode Island, in June, 1895, when a perfect ovation was 
given him. " On being escorted to the platform (a com- 
mittee being appointed for this duty) the audience arose 
and cheered. Then a most interesting scene followed; it 
was moved that Dr. Hallock (who will be ninety-two years 
old next week, and is one of the two surviving founders of 
the organization, the date being 1844, and the only one 
present) give the Institute an opportunity of greeting him 
personally. An amendment that the Secretary do this in 
behalf of the Institute was conceded, and the Secretary 
did so, amid cheers and loud applause. There were cries 
of ' speech,' and Dr. Hallock arose and made a few appro- 
priate and pleasing remarks." 
In 1885 Dr. Hallock had his golden wedding, and his 
family were well represented upon that happy occasion. 
He has lost three sons, but has living three daughters, 
seven grandsons and seven granddaughters, and nine great- 
grandchildren. 
Dr. Hallock is a most remarkable man in many respects. 
His health is comparatively good. His mental faculties 
are perfect; his hearing and eyesight good; and he enjoys 
the great blessing of having natural teeth. 
1 The foregoing sketch of Dr. Lewis Hallock is taken by permission 
from " New York-The Metropolis. Its Noted Business and Professional 
Men.'' Published by the New York Recorder, 1893. 260 
DE. LEWIS HALLOCK. 
During the ninety-three years of his earthly pilgrimage 
he has led a very exemplary life; has never contracted 
the habit of smoking, drinking, chewing, or swearing. He 
is a member of the Presbyterian Church, and lives up to 
his faith in every respect. His life is a beautiful example 
of Christian obedience and love. 
Two years ago Dr. Hallock lost his wife. His youngest 
daughter, who is very devoted to him, resides with him 
and regards with jealous care his every wish. 
On the evening of March 30, 1896, "The New York 
Medical Club " gave Dr. Hallock a complimentary dinner 
at the Savoy Hotel, New York City, the occasion being the 
anniversary of the seventieth year since he was graduated 
in medicine (1826). Several interesting and eulogistic 
addresses were made by distinguished members of the 
club, and at the close of the banquet festivities Dr. Wil- 
liam Tod Helmuth, after making a pleasing address, ended 
his remarks with the following beautiful and appropriate 
lines: 
A man who knows this century, 
And who walked in his youth 
Amid its earliest days ; 
Watching its glory as it steadfast grew 
To light the Universe with brilliant rays. 
Who, though the decades as they went and came 
And left their impress on the Nation's brow, 
Passed calmly on-he sits before us now ; 
Patient and modest in his daily life ; 
Ardent and earnest in the ways he trod ; 
Sweet and forgiving in this world of strife : 
An honest man-the noblest work of God. DR. JARVIS S. WIGHT. 
261 
JARVIS S. WIGHT, M.D., LL.D., 
BROOKLYN, N. Y. 
Jarvis Sherman Wight, M.D., Brooklyn, N. Y., a 
descendant of Thomas Wight, an emigrant from the Isle 
of Wight about 1635, was born at Centreville, Allegany 
County, N. Y., January 4,1834. In 1861 he was graduated 
from Tufts College, receiving the degree of B.A. Attend- 
ing medical lectures at the College of Physicians and 
Surgeons, New York, and at the Long Island College 
Hospital, he received the degree of M.D. from the latter 
institution in 1864. 
The Trustees of Tufts College conferred on him, in 
1882, the degree of A.M., and, in 1894, the degree of 
LL.D. He is a member of the following societies: Medi- 
cal Society of the County of Kings, Brooklyn Surgical 
Society, Society of Medical Jurisprudence and State Medi- 
cine, City of New York, Medical Society of the State of 
New York, American Medical Association, The American 
Academy of Medicine, The American Surgical Associa- 
tion, and The British Medical Association. 
He has held the following public positions: Assistant 
Surgeon, by contract, in the U. S. A.; and in the Long 
Island College Hospital, Adjunct Surgeon, Assistant Sur- 
geon ; Professor of Materia Medica and Therapeutics; 
Registrar of the College; Professor of the Principles and 
Practice of Surgery and Clinical Surgery. He is Visiting 
Surgeon to the Long Island College Hospital; Professor 
of Operative and Clinical Surgery, and Dean of the 
Faculty. He is Consulting Surgeon to St. Mary's Hospital 
and the Eastern District Hospital. 
Among the operations he has performed may be men- 
tioned : " Ligations of the Common Carotid, Subclavian, 262 
DR. JARVIS S. WIGHT. 
and Femoral Arteries;" 11 Amputations of the Knee, Thigh, 
Shoulder, and Scapula with Shoulder and Clavicle;" 
" Laparotomy for Gunshot-wounds of Abdomen;" "Ne- 
phrectomy;" "Nephropexy;" "Urethrotomy without 
Guide" Stab wound of Heart, with Recovery." It may 
be noted that he is a rapid operator; has removed the 
female breast and contents of axilla and closed the wound 
in fifteen minutes; has amputated the entire shoulder, 
bgating the subclavian in one hour and thirteen minutes. 
He is convinced that time saved in an operation is con- 
servative of life. 
Some of the instruments he has invented are : An artery 
forceps, a forceps aneurism needle, a self-threading needle 
especially adapted to closing abdominal wounds, a pressure 
forceps for arresting hemorrhage-the first made ; a beaked 
knife for opening the sheaths of bloodvessels, an ether 
inhaler, a bone drill, a pile clamp, and hysterectomy 
clamp. 
He has been teaching for a quarter of a century, at 
times giving from eight to ten lectures a week. He has 
held, not infrequently, six clinics per week, and often has 
had to perform capital operations on the Sunday follow- 
ing. He has never read a lecture and never takes notes 
into the lecture-room. 
A few of his original papers may be noted : " Shorten- 
ing of the Lower Limb after Fracture of the Femur," 
" Lecture on Injuries of the Arm and Forearm," " Struc- 
ture and Function of Upper End of the Femur," " Rela- 
tions of Hygiene to Practical Medicine," "Inequalities 
in the Lengths of the Lower Limbs Before and After 
Fracture of the Femur," "Several Papers Showing the 
Difference in Brain Development of Educated and Un- 
educated Men and Women," "The Inrotators of the 
Thigh and Three Cases of Injury to the Hip," "Have 
Surgeons Been Mistaken as to the Nature of Fractures 
of the Base of the Radius?" "The Displacements of DR. JARVIS S. WIGHT. 
263 
the Femoral Fragments, etc.," "Fracture of the Neck 
of the Femur," "The Deviations of the Heads of 
Confirmed Inebriates and Incurable Epileptics, etc.," 
" Dislocation of the Spine, etc.," " A Plea for the Treat- 
ment of Criminals," " Subpubic Dislocation of the 
Femur," "Structure of the Os Calcis, etc.," "Fracture 
of the Femur Near the Knee-joint," "Dislocation of the 
Carpus," "Two Cases of Dislocation of the Astragalus," 
" The Death Penalty," " A Case of CEsophagotomy," " On 
Exsection of the Knee-joint," " On the Value of Internal 
Treatment in Malignant Disease," "Ten Cases of Anchy- 
losis of the Elbow joint," "An Inquiry into the Structure 
of the Albumen Molecule," " Treatment of Cancer of the 
Breast." Among the papers in book form may be men- 
tioned : A Treatise on Myodynamics ; A Memorial of Frank 
Hastings Hamilton, M.D. ; Suggestions to the Medical 
Witness; A Memorial of Orlando Williams Wight, A.M., 
M.D. 
Dr. Wight married January 9, 1871, Mary, daughter of 
Joseph Center, Esq. He has three sons. The eldest, 
Joseph Center, is a lawyer; the second, Jarvis Sherman, 
Jr., is a physician; the youngest, Carol Van Buren, has 
not yet finished his education. 
The following extracts are taken from Professor Wight's 
writings: 
A Plea for the Treatment of Criminals.-The great 
criminal class should be taken care of with a wise fore- 
sight, under the highest and best administration of affairs, 
based upon the most complete understanding of the laws 
that govern society and the State, and the laws that 
dominate the physical and mental development and well- 
being of man." 
A Memorial of Frank Hastings Hamilton.-" He who 
expounds the doctrines and precepts of surgery to multi- 
tudes of young men during the best part of a long life 
deserves remembrance and a benediction ; he who prac- 264 
DR. ERNEST LAPLACE. 
tices among the poor, as well as the rich, has his reward 
here and hereafter." 
Suggestions to the Medical Witness.-"Hear the other 
side of the question and be silent, that you may hear, 
for the truth may be found between the two sides." 
A Memorial of Orlando Williams Wight, A.M., M.D. 
-"And when our eyes, and ears, and hands are weary, we 
rest and think, and then we say these motions that our 
common senses feel are only fragments of the Eternal 
motions that a higher sense reveals." 
ERNEST LAPLACE, M.D., LL.D., 
PHILADELPHIA, PA. 
Dr. Ernest Laplace was born in New Orleans, La., 
July 9, 1861; was educated at Georgetown University, 
Washington, D. C., where he was graduated in arts in 1880, 
and obtained the degree of Master of Arts in 1887. He 
studied medicine in the University of Louisiana, taking a 
four-years' course, during two years of which he was a 
resident student in the Charity Hospital of New Orleans. 
He was graduated in medicine on the 19th of March, 1884, 
having been unanimously elected the valedictorian of the 
graduating class. He then studied medicine in Paris, ob- 
taining the degree of Doctor of Medicine in the " Faculte 
de Medecine de Paris." During a year he was special 
pupil of the immortal Pasteur, and also studied pathology 
in Paris under Cornil. In Paris he took special courses in 
surgery under Verneuil, Trelat, and Pean. 
Proceeding to Vienna in October, 1887, he studied 
pathology under Kundrat and surgery under Billroth and 
Albert, during six months. 
In Berlin he spent a year in Koch's laboratory under 
Robert Koch's personal training, and studied pathology DR. ERNEST LAPLACE. 
265 
under Virchow, while he studied surgery under Bergmann, 
Hahn, and Kiister. 
In London he studied under Sir Joseph Lister and Sir 
William Savory. Returning to America in March, 1888, 
he was immediately appointed Visiting Surgeon to the 
Charity Hospital of New Orleans and Demonstrator of 
Pathology and Bacteriology in the Medical Department of 
the University of Louisiana. In June of the same year he 
was elected Professor of Physiology in the High School of 
the University of Louisiana. .These functions were, how- 
ever, soon to be interrupted by a call from Philadelphia 
offering him the Chair of Pathology in the Medico-Chirur- 
gical College. This was accepted, and in October, 1889, 
he moved to Philadelphia, and became Professor of Path- 
ology and Bacteriology. In December, 1889, he was elec- 
ted Surgeon to the Philadelphia Hospital, and delivered 
clinical lectures on surgery before audiences consisting of 
students from the various colleges of Philadelphia. In 
1892, upon the resignation of Dr. H. Earnest Goodman, 
Dr. Laplace was elected to the Chair of Surgery and Clini- 
cal Surgery, which position he still holds in the Medico- 
Chirurgical College. In 1891 he became Secretary of the 
Faculty, and in 1892 was elected Dean of the Faculty, 
which position he held four years, having resigned last 
May (1896) from pressure of other duties. He is, further- 
more, Senior Surgeon to the Medico Chirurgical Hospital, 
Surgeon to St. Agnes's Hospital, Surgeon to the Samaritan 
Hospital, and Pathologist to St. Joseph's Hospital. 
He was commissioned in 1891 by the Governor of Penn- 
sylvania to study in Berlin and report on the Koch treat- 
ment of tuberculosis. He represents the Governor of 
Pennsylvania as a member of the State Quarantine Board, 
and, besides being a member of the local learned societies, 
is a member of the Anatomical Society of Paris. 
Among his contributions to the enrichment of medical 
science are the discovery of the acid-sublimate solution 266 
DR. ALFRED C. CARPENTER. 
and its application to antiseptic surgery, a work done in 
Koch's laboratory in Berlin in 1887. Also "Sulpho- 
carbolic Acid as a Disinfectant and its Use in Hygiene," 
also published from Koch's laboratory. 
Numerous articles on surgical subjects: "A New Oper- 
ation for the Cure of Varicose Veins," "A New Opera- 
tion for the Suture of a Fractured Patella," " The Surgical 
Treatment of Insanity and Idiocy," "Early Interference 
in Abdominal Traumatisms," and many others. 
He has perhaps devoted more time to the surgery of the 
brain than to any other department of science, having 
introduced many interesting points in the practice of that 
special department of surgery. 
In July, 1895, the degree of Doctor of Laws was con- 
ferred upon him by Georgetown University. 
ALFRED C. CARPENTER, M.D., 
NEW YORK, N. Y. 
Dr. Alfred Clark Carpenter was born in the town 
of Greenville, Orange County, New York, September 16, 
1866. He is the youngest son of Ora G. and Phoebe 
Carpenter. 
Dr. Carpenter received his early education in a small 
country school, and, when he was ten years of age, his 
parents moved to the village of Port Jervis,'where he con- 
tinued his studies in the public school, and completed 
them in the academy of that place. 
He began the study of medicine in the office of Dr. 
William L. Cuddeback, of Port Jervis, and entered the 
medical department of the University of the City of New 
York in 1887. Being studious and unceasing in his efforts, 
he was graduated with honors in the class of 1889. After 
graduation he was one of the successful candidates in a DR. ALFRED C. CARPENTER. 
267 
competitive examination, and received the appointment 
as interne on the staff of the Randall's Island Hospitals, of 
New York City. This position he filled as house surgeon 
for eighteen months. At the close of his service he was 
presented with a very handsome testimonial from the 
nurses and employes of the hospital, showing the esteem 
and respect in which he was held. This testimonial Dr. 
Carpenter prizes most highly. 
After leaving the hospital he was asked by the Commis- 
sioners of Charities and Corrections to return to accept 
the position of Medical Superintendent, with a very hand- 
some salary. This was most flattering; but being very 
ambitious and energetic, and believing a great future was 
in store for him, he declined the offer, and began the prac- 
tice of his chosen profession. 
By his unceasing efforts, and his progressiveness and 
skill, remarkable success attended him from the beginning, 
and he now enjoys the fruits of his labors in having a 
very large practice, which is confined, principally, to sur- 
gery. 
Dr. Carpenter is a natural-born surgeon. His coolness, 
quickness, and skill in using the knife are the first things 
which impress the observer during his operations. Great 
decision, quickness of perception, and untiring energy are 
among the leading traits of this promising young man. 
He has made the diseases of women and gynaecology a 
special study since the beginning of his professional career, 
and during his first five years of practice performed over 
five hundred laparotomies, with a mortality of less than 
two per cent. In this branch of surgery he has acquired 
great experience, and a wide reputation as a skillful and 
quick diagnostician and successful operator. 
He is a careful but bold surgeon, and very conservative 
in his work. He has done Caesarean section with most 
happy results. 
Dr. Carpenter enjoys the distinction of having success- 268 
DR. ALFRED C. CARPENTER. 
fully performed abdominal section upon the youngest case 
on record. (Patient was only two months old.) He is 
also the only operator that ever introduced two Murphy 
buttons at one sitting on the same case, which was also a 
success. 
He has one of the finest appointed private sanatoriums in 
the city at 219 East Nineteenth Street. 
The building is well adapted for the purpose. Every 
room is finished with hard-wood floors, and is free from all 
material which would gather dust, cleanliness being so 
important a factor toward the recovery of the patient. 
The pleasant surroundings give the sanatorium a home- 
like appearance. Here he gives private instructions in 
gynaecology to those who wish to make this branch a 
specialty. 
He was instructor in gynaecology at the Post-Graduate 
Medical School and Hospital of New York City for five 
years. 
He also held the appointment as Visiting Surgeon to the 
Outdoor Poor Department of Bellevue Hospital for five 
years. 
Among the several papers which he has written on his 
specialty are : " Mechanical and Surgical Methods of Treat- 
ing Retro-displacements of the Uterus," "On Endome 
tritis," "Abdominal Section on Infants," "Vaginal Hys- 
terectomy for Puerperal Sepsis," etc. 
Dr. Carpenter is a self-made man ; although young, he 
has won for himself an envied name in the field of abdomi- 
nal surgery. DR. LISSA M. BARNETT. 
269 
LISSA M. BARNETT, M.D., 
BROOKLYN, N. Y. 
Dr. Lissa M. Barnett has been known for twenty years 
as one of the most successful practitioners in Brooklyn. She 
is a native of Augusta, Maine, where her grandfather, 
Ephraim Clark, was one of the best known members of the 
Society of Friends. His gifts of spiritual insight marked 
him as a man held in high esteem among the Quakers, 
and would in a more worldly community have been re- 
garded as akin to genius. He possessed in a high degree 
the imaginative and poetic temperament which, controlled 
by a strongly religious bent, made a seer of visions out of 
one whom nature had endowed with the essential attributes 
of a great literary artist. But it is out of such intellectual 
soil that some of the most conspicuous professional ability 
of New England has grown. 
Asagiri, Dr. Barnett experienced no "call" to take 
her place in the prominent walks of life. She married 
very young and was left a widow with one child, while 
scarcely out of her teens. Rudely awakening to the real- 
ities of life, she began to cast around for a career that 
would make her independent. 
The venerable Dr. Henry Hill, of Augusta, was an old 
friend of her family, and he encouraged her desire to begin 
the study of medicine. Under his guidance she entered 
on the course of preparation, and by his advice went to 
Boston to complete her studies. She carried a letter of 
introduction to Dr. Emily Hunt, one of the pioneers in 
the practice of medicine by women. Dr. Hunt dissuaded 
her from entering a career of which she regarded the toil 
and hardship as more certain accompaniments than any 
substantial rewards. She told her visitor that, for a woman 
possessing youth, beauty, and an inherited gift of artistic 270 
DR. LISSA M. BARNETT. 
expression, the stage was the true career, and the profes- 
sion of medicine came near being slighted for the pursuit 
of dramatic art. But the hesitation was only of brief 
duration, though it served to disenchant the eager student 
with Boston. 
It was a journey to New York and an introduction to 
Dr. Edmund R. Peaslee that fairly opened to Dr. Barnett 
the career of her choice. This most eminent physician, 
gentle and sympathetic man, gave her needed advice and 
encouragement. Under his direction she began her serious 
preparation for the profession at the Woman's Free Medi- 
cal College, on 8th Street, New York City, an institution 
no longer existing, but which had a career of some years 
of sustained usefulness while enjoying the liberal support 
of Mrs. Thomson, of Boston, Mrs. Merwin, of New York, 
and other liberal-minded enthusiasts in the cause of wo- 
man's emancipation. After her graduation, in 1874, Dr. 
Barnett occupied for a brief period the Chair of Physiology 
in The Woman's Free Medical College, and thereafter took 
up her residence in Brooklyn, where she began a career 
of practice which is one of the most brilliant attained by 
any of her sex. 
Her first intention was to make a specialty of nervous 
diseases, and with this end in view she studied for a time 
under Dr. Sequard, and devoted special attention to the 
nervous class of patients at the Infirmary of the Woman's 
Free Medical College. In pursuit of this specialty she 
also qualified before Judge McCue, of the Supreme Court 
of the Second Judicial District, as a medical examiner of 
the insane. 
It was a point strenuously insisted on by Dr. Sequard, 
that nervous diseases in women were in a majority of cases 
the result of functional derangements, and the attention 
of Dr. Barnett was early led to an examination of the con- 
ditions under which the constitution of women became 
undermined. This conducted her to the broad field of DR. L/SSA M. BARNETT. 
271 
gynaecological practice, which she has since occupied with 
eminent ability and success. If that success has been due 
to one thing more than another, it is to the consistent 
application of the principle that the patient needs to be 
studied quite as much as the disease. 
Dr. Barnett is a great stickler for the principle that no 
detail of a patient's history, condition, or environment is 
so small as not to deserve the study of the physician, so 
long as it has any bearing on the mode of treatment. She 
has sedulously avoided the habit of dealing with disease 
as if it were an abstract entity, and has kept the fact 
steadily in view that the differentiation of disease is as 
endless as the constitution and character of patients. To 
adapt her treatment to each case with all the care that a 
special study of the individual could command has been 
her constant aim, and she attributes the measure of success 
which she has attained largely to a painstaking and labor- 
ious adhesion to this method. 
Dr. Barnett has always assumed that medicine is a pro- 
gressive science, and her mind has been open to impres- 
sions from all quarters whence a sound impulse was to be 
expected. She was one of the first to discern the far- 
reaching possibilities of electro therapeutics, and, in the 
use of electricity in her practice, she has endeavored to 
keep pace with the rapid advance in the practical and 
scientific application of that still undefined force. She has 
had no sympathy with that attitude of the medical mind 
which repels novelties merely because they are new, and 
she has steadily contended that, even in the most absurd 
perversions of the art of healing, some grains of truth 
might be found worth the attention of the progressive 
physician. The one object of all practice being the care 
of the patient, she has always been ready to regard as 
worthy of investigation anything that had a demonstrated 
capacity to attain that end. 
She is thus a standing disproof of the assertion that "in DR. ST. CLAIR SMITH. 
272 
the hands of women practitioners the science of medicine 
stands still." Her whole professional career shows that 
there can be no more ardent apostle of medical progress 
than a woman, and none more hospitable to new ideas 
from whatever quarter they may come. 
ST. CLAIR SMITH, M.D., 
NEW YORK, N. Y. 
Dr. St. Clair Smith has occupied, almost since his 
graduation in 1869, a prominent and active place in the 
medical history of New York homoeopathy. 
Born March 15, 1846, in Cayuga Co., New York, he 
received in boyhood the ordinary common school edu- 
cation. 
Subsequently he attended the academy at Aurora and 
Auburn in this State. 
He commenced the study of medicine in 1867 at the 
New York Homoeopathic College and Hospital, graduating 
in 1869. 
Until November, 1870, he was Resident Physician at the 
Five Points House of Industry. 
Moving to Brooklyn, he was appointed the First Resi- 
dent Physician at the Maternity Hospital in that city. 
Coming back to New York in 1872, he became associated 
with Dr. T. F. Allen; this connection lasting for eight 
years. 
From 1872 until 1877 he lectured on materia medica at 
the Homoeopathic Medical College in this city. 
The winters of 1879, 1880, and 1881 he was Professor 
of Physiology in the same institution. For one year he 
occupied the Chair of Diseases of Children. 
For the next succeeding four years he held the Chair of 
Materia Medica, resigning to take the Professorship of 
Theory and Practice of Medicine, which he still holds. DR. H. C. CROWELL. 
273 
In the winters of 1878, 1879, and 1880 he was Professor 
of Physiology in the New York Medical College for 
Women. 
For twelve years Dr. Smith was Visiting Physician to the 
Five Points House of Industry, and is at present the Superin- 
tendent and Consulting Physician to the same institution. 
He is a member of the American Institute of Homoe- 
opathy, the Homoeopathic Medical Society of the State of 
New York, and the Homoeopathic Medical Society of the 
County of New York. 
He was married in 1880 to Kate, the daughter of Ferdi- 
nand Zogvaum, of New York.1 
H. C. CROWELL, M.D., 
KANSAS CITY, MO. 
Homer Cutler Crowell, M.D., was born in West 
Westminster, Vermont, January 14, 1852. The family of 
Crowells from whom he descended originated with the 
Cromwells; later they discarded the letter M in their 
name. They came from Cape Cod, where they followed 
the sea as an avocation, until his great-grandfather, who 
had a family of nine sons, resolved to place them upon a 
farm remote from the sea, consequently so hazardous a 
pursuit as that of seafaring was abandoned and they turned 
to rural employment. He moved to his country home many 
years ago, since which time in place of sailors have sprung 
physicians, lawyers, ministers, and other followings. On 
his mother's side the Cutlers are more of an intellectual 
turn of mind, as the family have almost entirely been 
scholars of some note. 
Dr. Crowell's early education was obtained in private 
schools and academies. He was graduated in medicine at 
1 From New York-The Metropolis, 1895. 274 
DR. E. A. TUCKER. 
the Medical Department of the University of Vermont 
July 1, 1875. The winters of 1878 and 1879 were spent 
in New York City, where he devoted himself to the study 
of general medicine and surgery. 
He engaged in the practice of general medicine in East 
Syracuse, N. Y., in the year 1875, where his skill as a 
practitioner soon enabled him to rank among the leading 
physicians of the county. He spent one year in New York 
City preparatory to making a specialty of gynaecology. 
In 1888 he removed to Kansas City, Mo., and devoted 
himself to doing abdominal surgery, and he is at the pres- 
ent time one of the most prominent gynaecologists in the 
State, gaining for himself an enviable reputation as an 
operator and conservative, safe counsellor. 
Dr. Crowell has taken an active part in various medical 
societies, and he has contributed some able and valuable 
articles to medical journals. He now holds the Chair of 
Clinical Gynaecologist in the University Medical College 
of Kansas City. 
As an operator he is careful, cleanly, and rapid. He 
has done a goodly amount of abdominal and gynaecologi- 
cal surgery with most happy results. He is in the prime 
of life, splendid physique, and commanding in appearance. 
E. A. TUCKER, M.D., 
NEW YORK, N. Y. 
Dr. Ervin Alden Tucker, Assistant Visiting Physi- 
cian to The Sloane Maternity Hospital of the College of 
Physicians and Surgeons; Attending Obstetrician to the 
Maternity Hospital (Department of Public Charities); 
Tutor in Obstetrics and Gynaecology in the College of 
Physicians and Surgeons (Columbia University). 
Dr. Tucker was born February 2, 1862, at Attleboro, DR. E. A. TUCKER. 
275 
Mass. His parents were Almon H. and Lydia Harriet 
(Sweet) Tucker. His paternal ancestry can be traced 
back to Robert Tucker, of Weymouth, Mass. (1635), who 
was a direct descendant of Willielmus Tucker, of Thorn- 
ley, Devon County, England (1079). 
His early education was obtained in the common schools 
of Attleboro, Mass., and he was prepared for college in 
Mowry and Goff's Classical School, Providence, R. I. In 
1881 he entered Amherst College, choosing Amherst at 
the suggestion of his old friend and teacher, Mr. J. O. 
Tiffany. He followed the "scientific course" at Amherst 
in preference to the "classical," in order to devot more 
time to the sciences and modern languages, which h knew 
would be useful later, as he had long before enterir j col- 
lege resolved to become a physician. His devotior to the 
languages was such that a prize for scholarship in T rench, 
Italian, and Spanish was given him at the end of the junior 
year. He was graduated from Amherst in 1885 with the 
degree of B.S., and in 1888 received the degree of A.M. 
from the same college. 
The year 1885-'86 was spent in Stamford, Conn., teach- 
ing modern languages in Betts's Academy, and reading 
medicine under the direction of Dr. A. M. Hurlburt. 
Then he spent three years in medical study in the College 
of Physicians and Surgeons in New York City-two years 
under the preceptorship of the late Professor H. B. Sands, 
and one year under that of Professor George S. Hunting- 
ton-graduating in 1889 as one of the " ten honor men " 
in a class of 166, and taking the second Harsen prize 
($300) for "proficiency in all the branches of medical 
teaching." 
For six months after graduation he was Assistant Resi- 
dent Physician in the Nursery and Child's Hospital, New 
York City, where he derived valuable experience in chil- 
dren's diseases and obstetrics under the able tuition of the 
resident physician, Dr. J. M. Mabbott. 276 
DR. E. A. TUCKER. 
In December, 1889, he went to Germany. After "pol- 
ishing up " his German in Gottingen he devoted all his 
time to obstetrics, spending one semester in Berlin under 
the instruction of Olshausen, Winter, and Diihrssen, and 
another in the Frauenklinick in Munich under the instruc- 
tion of Winckel. His holidays were spent in visiting the 
maternity hospitals in Leipzig, Dresden, Prague, Vienna, 
and Paris. In the spring of 1890 he was notified that he 
had been appointed Instructor in Practical Obstetrics in 
the College of Physicians and Surgeons, and Resident 
Physician in The Sloane Maternity Hospital, New York City. 
In December, 1890, he returned from abroad to enter 
upon the duties imposed by these positions. From 1890 
to 1895 he had the satisfaction of seeing the service in- 
crease from about 400 to over 900 confinements a year, 
thus making The Sloane Maternity the largest obstetric 
hospital in this country, and giving to the students of the 
College of Physicians and Surgeons a most valuable clin- 
ical experience in obstetrics. 
Upon resigning in July, 1895, position of Resident 
Physician, in order to enter upon the private practice of 
obstetrics as a specialty, he received the appointment of 
Assistant Visiting Physician to The Sloane Maternity Hos- 
pital, and was also appointed to act as Tutor in Obstetrics 
and Gynsegology in the new four-years' course which was 
then being established in the College of Physicians and 
Surgeons. 
In November, 1895, the Commissioners of Public Chari- 
ties appointed him one of the Attending Obstetricians of 
the Maternity Hospital, the obstetric division of the City 
Hospital on Blackwell's Island. 
Dr. Tucker is a member of The New York Academy of 
Medicine; The New York Obstetrical Society; the New 
York County Medical Association ; the Medical Society 
of the County of New York; the West-end Medical So- 
ciety, etc. DR. CARL KURTZ. 
277 
In 1893 he married Miss George Anna Crispell, of Rond- 
out, N. Y., a granddaughter of Dr. Peter Crispell, who 
was in his day the most prominent obstetrician in Ulster 
County, N. Y. 
Although Dr. Tucker may be classed among the younger 
practitioners his reputation as a skillful diagnostician and 
expert operator is already established, as shown by the 
prominent people who have availed themselves of his ser- 
vices, and by the constantly increasing demand for his 
advice in consultation in obstetric cases. 
Dr. Tucker has a pleasing and attractive manner which 
is calculated to endear him to his patients and friends. 
He is devoted to his profession, possessed of a kind and 
generous heart, and his field for active work is broad, 
claiming his skill and sound judgment in all that relates to 
the art of obstetrics. 
CARL KURTZ, M.D., 
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA. 
Dr. Carl Kurtz is the son of Joseph Kurtz, M.D., a 
prominent physician of Los Angeles, Cal. He was born 
in Los Angeles, Cal., in the year 1868, and received his 
early education in the public schools of his native city, 
graduating from the High School in 1885. 
After spending two years in the College of Medicine of 
the University of Southern California, he left for New 
York City to attend Bellevue Hospital Medical College, 
from which institution he was graduated in the year 1889. 
The same year he went to Europe, where he remained from 
June to October, attending the Clinics at Heidelberg, 
Halle, and Berlin, Germany. 
In October, 1889, he matriculated in the University of 
Munich, and in the following winter was admitted as in- DR. CARL KURTZ. 
278 
terne under Professor Frans Winkel in the Konighehen 
Universitats, Frauenklinick, Munich, where he remained 
as interne until September i, 1890. 
He also matriculated in the University of Vienna in 
1890, taking special courses under the celebrated Professor 
Billroth, and Albert Braun and others of like distinction. 
On May 14, 1891, he entered the " Stadischas Krank- 
enhaus Moabit," in Berlin, as Voulantararzt under Pro- 
fessor Sonnenburg, there remaining as surgical assistant 
until 1892, doing credit to himself and his profession. 
He there displayed his fine ability as a promising young 
surgeon. 
After gaining much valuable information from those 
renowned surgeons, who were his medical and surgical 
instructors, he returned to Los Angeles, California, during 
the early part of 1893, and became associated with his 
father, Dr. Joseph Kurtz, in the practice of medicine. 
From early childhood he evinced a talent for surgery, 
and entering upon the duties of his profession became a 
gynaecologist, and during the past year conducted the 
Gynaecological Clinic at the College of Medicine, He 
was selected an Associate Professor of Gynaecology in 1895. 
The same year he was appointed a member of the City 
Board of Health. 
He has held several medical positions of trust. He 
was appointed Trustee and Consulting Physician to the 
Maternity Hospital at Los Angeles, Cal. 
Dr. Kurtz is a rising surgeon with a bright future before 
him. As an abdominal operator he is remarkably success- 
ful, and has displayed great skill in major surgery. He 
attends his cases with great care and caution, and is con- 
scientious in the extreme. DA. ALLEN M. THOMAS. 
279 
ALLEN M. THOMAS, M.D., 
NEW YORK, N. V 
Dr. Allen Mason Thomas was born at Wickford, 
Rhode Island, September 26, 1856. He is the son of 
Allen M. Thomas and Charlotte Proctor Smith, both of 
Rhode Island. His eldest brother, Elisha Smith Thomas, 
lately deceased, was Bishop of Kansas. 
Dr. Thomas is of good, old New England stock, trac- 
ing his direct lineage, through historic names in Rhode 
Island, back to the earliest settlements in that State. 
Through the paternal branch he is associated with the 
Revolution, through his great-great-grandfather, Captain 
Samuel Thomas, who held a commission under George 
HI., but at the outbreak of hostilities joined at once the 
colonial troops. 
His lineal descent on this side also embraced two of the 
Colonial Governors of Rhode Island, John Coggeshall 
and Walter Clarke. On the maternal side he traces his 
ancestry, in a direct line, to William Carpenter, William 
Arnold, and Richard Waterman, three of the twelve early 
settlers of Providence, Rhode Island, in 1636, whose names 
appear on the famous "Initial Deed" of Roger Williams. 
The Thomas family trace their origin to Sir Rhys ap 
Thomas, K. G., of Wales, and their shield bears his arms. 
Dr. Thomas obtained his early education in a private 
school at Wickford. When fifteen years of age he was 
sent to the Episcopal Military Academy at Chester, Conn., 
where he remained from 1871 to 1873. He was graduated 
at Yale Scientific School, taking the "medical course," 
in the year 1877, and in the year 1880 he was graduated 
from the New York College of Physicians and Surgeons. 
In 1882 he was appointed House Surgeon at the Chambers 
Street Hospital. 280 
DR. ALLEN M. THOMAS. 
Dr. Thomas accepted the position of Assistant Physician 
at the New York State Emigrant Hospital, on Ward's 
Island, July, 1882. He served as Physician-in-chief to 
the New York State Emigrant Hospital from 1883 to 1885, 
and from 1886 to 1888 he was Physician-in-chief and 
Superintendent of the same institution. He then traveled 
and studied in Europe for a short period. Upon his re- 
turn to America he began private practice in New York 
City in the spring of 1889. 
At present he is Attending Physician to the Nursery and 
Child's Hospital, and was President of the New York Clin- 
ical Society for 1895 and 1896. 
Dr. Thomas is also a member of the following societies: 
The New York Obstetrical Society, The New York Acad- 
emy of Medicine, Medical Society of the County of New 
York, Hospital Graduates' Club, Alumni Association of the 
New York Hospital, and Fortnightly Medical Society. 
While Dr. Thomas was in Paris, France, he was in at- 
tendance at the Pasteur Institute during the investigation 
immediately following the discoveries of M. Pasteur in re- 
lation to hydrophobia. 
Dr. Thomas does not confine himself to obstetrical sur- 
gery, but devotes himself also to the general practice of 
medicine. He is devoted to his profession, progressive in 
his ideas, a careful, thoughtful practitioner, a continuous 
student, and in touch with the rapid achievements of med- 
ical science. 
His experience as a diagnostician, coupled with his 
thoroughly conscientious work in whatever he undertakes, 
has endeared him to his patients and the community in 
which he lives; and being in the very prime of life, we 
trust that he may live many years to fill his mission of use- 
fulness. DR. ALEXANDER HUGH FERGUSON. 
281 
ALEXANDER HUGH FERGUSON, M.D., 
CHICAGO, ILL. 
Alexander Hugh Ferguson, M.D., C.M., Professor of 
Surgery in the Chicago Post-Graduate Medical School and 
Hospital, Surgeon to the Chicago Hospital, Cook County 
Hospital for the Insane, and Charity Hospital, was born 
February 27, 1853, in Ontario County, Canada. His 
parents were Alexander and Ann (McFadyen) Ferguson, 
natives of Scotland, of which he is proud, and can himself 
talk the Gaelic language. Dr. Ferguson was educated at 
the common schools, Rockwood Academy, Manitoba Col- 
lege, Toronto University, and Trinity Medical School, 
where he was graduated, in 1881, as first silver medalist. 
He received post graduate training in New York, Glasgow, 
London, and Berlin, taking a thorough course in bacteri- 
ology under Professor Koch, believing it essential for a 
surgeon to have a practical knowledge of this branch of 
medical science. 
In 1882 he left a promising practice in Buffalo, N. Y., 
and went to Winnipeg, to please his mother, who was then 
living there. In the same year he was appointed Registrar 
of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Manitoba, 
and in the following year (1883) he took the most active 
part in founding Manitoba Medical College, which has 
been a phenomenal success, and now enjoys the name of 
being one of the high-grade medical schools in Canada, 
the course being four years, eight months each year, after 
first passing an entrance examination before the University 
of Manitoba. All of the examinations are conducted, not 
by the college, but by the university authorities, which 
insures thorough teaching. Dr. Ferguson was Professor of 
Physiology and Histology for three years, and taught these 282 
DR. ALEXANDER HUGH FERGUSON 
branches with much acceptance. In 1886 he took the 
Professorship of Surgery upon the resignation of Dr. James 
Kerr, who now holds a similar chair in Columbia Univer- 
sity, Washington, D. C. It wras as a teacher of surgery 
and as an operator that he gained his wide reputation. 
He was a member of the staff of the Winnipeg General 
Hospital and Surgeon-in chief to the St. Boniface Hospi- 
tal, which furnished him all the material that was desired 
for clinical and operative purposes. The major operative 
work of Brandon and Morden Hospitals was also done by 
him, being called to these places when several difficult 
cases had been collected. He enjoyed the respect and 
confidence of the profession and people, as well as the 
loyal devotion and veneration of his students, which is so 
beautifully expressed in addresses presented to him when 
leaving Canada to take his present position in Chicago. 
The Sisters of Charity refused to accept his resignation as 
Surgeon-in-chief to their hospital, with the hope that some 
day he might return. This is a compliment which Dr. 
Ferguson values very highly. He was Registrar and Treas- 
urer of the College; a member of the University Council; 
was the first President of the Manitoba branch (pioneer) 
of the British Medical Association, formed in 1892 by Mr. 
Ernest Hart, editor of the British Medical Journal, and the 
Government appointed him a member of the Provincial 
Board of Health. 
On December 18, 1893, the chair of Surgery in the 
Chicago Post-Graduate Medical School and Hospital was 
offered to Dr. Ferguson, which, after due consideration, he 
accepted, and assumed his duties in June, 1894. 
There is hardly a major operation on the body but he 
has performed. His work on hydatids of the liver has 
been the most extensive of any man in America, which 
was instrumental in first bringing him into notice. He has 
successfully performed partial hepatectomy, splenectomy, 
nephrectomies, craniectomies, thyroidectomies, hip-joint DR. ALEXANDER HUGH FERGUSON. 
283 
amputations, excisions, thoracoplasty (Schede), pylorec- 
tomy, excisions of the caecum, herniotomies (radical cure), 
cholecystduodenostomies, appendicectomies, ovariotomies, 
hysterectomies, etc., all of which would be too numerous 
to mention. Suffice it to say, that Dr. Ferguson has opened 
the abdomen over eight hundred times. He was the first to 
use Murphy's button to unite the duodenum to the stomach 
after removing a cancerous pylorus. The patient, aged 
thirty-nine years, gained sixty-three pounds in weight, 
and is now, over three years after the operation, in good 
health, working on a farm. He was the first to make an 
anastomosis with Murphy's button after excision of a can- 
cerous csecum, 1893; the man is still alive and able to earn 
his own living. 
The doctor has devised an operation for the cure of 
vesico-vaginal and recto-vaginal fistula, which was first 
published in the British Medical Journal, February 24, 
1894, and again in the American Journal of Obstetrics, vol. 
xxxi., No. 4, 1895. He also made advances in the radical 
cure of hernia, and invented an operation for the closure 
of biliary fistula. The principal papers published by Dr. 
Ferguson are: "Hydatids of the Liver," Northwestern 
Lancet, February 1, 1893; "Vesico-vaginal and Recto- 
vaginal Fistula," British Medical Journal, February 24, 
1894; "Operative Treatment of Diseases of the Gall- 
bladder," Journal of the American Medical Association, 
January 19, 1895; "On the Radical Cure of Inguinal 
and Femoral Hernia by Operation," Annals of Surgery, 
May, 1895 ; " Biliary Fistula," Chicago Medical Recorder, 
September, 1895 ; " Pylorectomy in America," The Inter- 
national Journal of Surgery, May, 1896; "Varices of the 
Leg," Chicago Medical Recorder, June, 1896 ; " Thoraco- 
plasty in America, and Visceral Pleurectomy, with Report 
of a Case," Journal of the American Medical Association, 
January, 1897, etc. 
Dr. Ferguson is recognized as one of the best surgeons 284 
DR. SARAH J. MCNUTT. 
in Chicago, and all his time is devoted to the teaching and 
practice of surgery. * He is a member of the British Medi- 
cal Association, the American Medical Association, Chicago 
Medical Society, Chicago Gynaecological Society, the Phy- 
sicians' Club of Chicago, Military Tract Medical Associa- 
tion, Wayne County Medical Society, and also a Fellow 
of the Chicago Academy of Medicine and of the American 
Association of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists. 
In religion he is a Presbyterian. He is a member of the 
Scottish Rite, 33d degree A. F. and A. M., and other 
societies. In 1882 Dr. Ferguson was married to Miss 
Thomas, daughter of the late Edward Thomas, Esq., a 
wealthy pioneer of Nassagaweya, near Guelph, Ontario, 
Canada. His family consists of two sons, Ivan Havelock 
and Alexander Donald. 
SARAH J. McNUTT, M.D., 
NEW YORK, N. Y. 
Dr. McNutt's ancestry is of special interest, not only 
from the distinguished men which it includes, but also 
from the women eminent in medical skill and in affairs 
with whom she claims kinship. Her direct ancestor went 
from Scotland with Edward Bruce at the time of the inva- 
sion, and thereafter settled in the north of Ireland. Her 
great-grandfather, William McNutt, married Sarah James, 
granddaughter of Lord Elgin, thus reuniting his line with 
the earlier Scottish ancestry. In 1750 they came to 
America and settled on a tract of land now the city of 
Manchester, N. H., where her father, James McNutt, was 
born. 
Dr. McNutt's mother, Adeline Waite, was a descendant 
of the Swayne family, who trace back to the Danish King 
of that name, who conquered England in 1013. DR. SARAH J. MCNUTT. 
285 
Richard Swayne, an English Quaker, came to America 
in 1635, and, with his son John, was one of the nine pur- 
chasers of the Island of Nantucket in 1659. This John 
Swayne married Mary, daughter of Nathaniel and Sarah 
Weir. In the genealogical records of the Island is found 
this paragraph: "The nine purchasers gave the husband 
of Sarah Weir a tract of land and other inducements to 
come with them to the island and bring his wife Sarah- 
and for over thirty years she was the only physician on 
the island, and was very successful in the treatment of 
fevers." Franklin Folger, an authority on Nantucket 
genealogy, says: "Sarah Weir was a most efficient and 
useful woman in the early settlement, and her skill as a 
physician has given her a character and a name worthy of 
enduring fame." William Swayne, Jr., great-grandson of 
Richard above mentioned, married Mary Pollard, great- 
great-granddaughter of Mary Starbuck, daughter of Tris- 
tram Coffin, the first chief magistrate of Nantucket. Mary 
Starbuck was called by writers of her period "the great 
woman," "a ' Deborah' among them,for her wisdom and 
great ability, being as often consulted in town affairs as 
she was in religious matters." She died in 1717. A year 
previous was born her great-granddaughter Rachel Hussey, 
afterward Rachel Bunker. Of her it was said: "During 
her time she discoursed much Christian fortitude and res- 
ignation and closed a life of usefulness with calmness and 
serenity. For thirty-three years she was eminently success- 
ful in her profession, having in that time assisted at the 
birth of twenty-nine hundred and ninety-two children." 
In the direct line also of Mary Starbuck were Lucretia 
Mott, eminent in philanthropy, and Rev. Phoebe Hanna- 
ford, the preacher and philanthropist. 
Dr. McNutt's grandmother and Benjamin Franklin were 
cousins. She has read letters from Franklin to her grand- 
mother, still in the possession of her family, in which he 
signs himself "Your own cousin, Ben." 286 
DR. SARAH J. MCNUTT. 
Of such a lineage, rich in examples of high endeavor, of 
conspicuous successes, of forceful character, worthily comes 
Dr. McNutt. 
She was graduated from the Albany Normal School and 
later attended the Emma Willard Seminary, at Troy. She 
then took a special course in languages. School-teaching 
occupied her for several years, and the experience and 
insight into human nature thereby gained she has always 
considered a most valuable preparation for her life-work. 
In 1877 Dr. McNutt received her degree at The Woman's 
Medical College of the New York Infirmary and served as 
interne for two years in the hospital connected with the 
college. She was instructor in the college for a number 
of years in gynaecology, and later was appointed consultant 
to the same department in the dispensary. She served five 
years as Assistant to the Chair of General Surgery, and dur- 
ing that time was college instructor in that department. 
Two weeks after the founding of the New York Post- 
Graduate Hospital she was asked to accept a position in 
connection with the Department of Children's Diseases. 
A month later she became instructor and soon after lec- 
turer, which position she occupied until 1888. During 
this time she was brought face to face with the fact-now 
almost incredible-that in the city of New York, with a 
population of over a million and a half, there was not a 
single ward in any hospital devoted exclusively to chil- 
dren under two years of age. To realize the need of such 
an institution was with her to take immediate steps to pro- 
vide one. The result was her founding of the "Babies' 
Wards ' ' with twenty-four beds. Besides the relief afforded 
they supplied an opportunity for bedside instruction that 
then could not be obtained elsewhere. The "Babies' 
Wards'' with seventy beds is now one of the prominent 
features of the new Post-Graduate Hospital. Out of the 
"Babies' Wards" grew the Babies' Hospital, to which 
she was attending physician for two years. She was forced DT. SAJU4JT J. MCNUTT. 
287 
to withdraw her interest from this, her favorite charity, as 
her special work had grown so greatly as to demand her 
entire attention. In 1888 she resigned from the faculty 
of the New York Post-Graduate Medical School and since 
has devoted her time and energies to gynaecology and spe- 
cial surgery. 
She was one of the incorporators of the Post-Graduate 
Training School for Nurses, the founding of which and 
its subsequent growth are due to the judicious manage- 
ment and energy of her sister, Dr. Julia G. McNutt, her- 
self a painstaking, successful physician. The graduates of 
this school have had the benefit of a variety of experience 
and instruction in the Presbyterian, Post-Graduate, Roose- 
velt, St. Elizabeth's, Nursery and Child's Hospitals, and 
the Manhattan Eye and Ear Infirmary. 
Dr. McNutt was frequently brought into contact with 
that numerous class of people who, while in health are self- 
supporting, but who, in illness, cannot afford to pay for 
the attendance of a trained nurse. To meet the necessi- 
ties of such people the "Du Bois Fund" was established 
by the late Mrs. Cornelius Du Bois, at the suggestion and 
on the advice of Dr. McNutt. 
No mention of her professional career would be com- 
plete without reference to her work in the Morgue, which 
extended over a period of several years. The idea of 
utilizing the material at the Morgue for instruction in the 
pathological conditions of children was original with her, 
and its value can be attested by the various members of 
her classes at the New York Post-Graduate Medical School. 
Under her supervision they had practical experience in all 
the operations performed on children. She also found 
there an opportunity to perfect herself in gynsecological 
surgery and abdominal work. 
She is the only woman who has been admitted to mem- 
bership in the American Neurological Society. Extracts 
from the paper on the case of " Double Infantile Hemi- 288 
DR. SARAH J. MCNUTT. 
plegia," which she presented to the Society on that occa- 
sion, have been quoted frequently by both American and 
European writers. 
Dr. McNutt is also a member of the following societies: 
The New York Academy of Medicine, Medical Society of 
the County of New York, New York Pathological Society, 
New York Physicians' Mutual Aid Association. She is 
examiner for the Penn and for the Niederland Life Insur- 
ance Associations. 
The following are some of the papers read and published 
by her: 
" Therapeutics of Children's Diseases.'' Quarterly Bulletin of Post- 
Grad. Clin. Soc., 1884. 
"Acute Diffuse Nephritis following Intestinal Catarrh." Quarterly 
Bulletin of Post-Grad. Clin. Soc., December, 1884. 
" Report of a Case of Entire Destruction of Left Lung, with small re- 
mains of Right Lung.'' N. Y. Path. Soc. 
" Report of Case of Croupous Pneumonia in an Infant.'' Alum. Assoc, 
of Woman's Med. Coll. 
" Intracranial Hemorrhage in Children." Post-Grad. Clin. Soc., Janu- 
ary, 1885. Medical Record, 1885. 
"Apoplexia Neonatorum." Alum. Assoc, of Woman's Med. Coll., 
1885. Amer. Journ. Med. Sciences, 1885. 
"Seven Cases of Spastic Hemiplegia." Arch. Pediatrics, 1885. 
" Double Infantile Hemiplegia.'' Amer. Neurol. Assoc., 1884. Amer. 
Journ. Med. Sciences, 1885. 
"A Rare Case of Meningocele." Post-Grad. Clin. Soc., 1887. 
" Infant-feeding." Alum. Assoc, of Woman's Med. Coll. 
"A Case of Retention Cyst of the Vagina." Alum. Assoc, of Woman's 
Med. Coll. 
"A Case of Multiple Tumors of Cerebrum in a Child." Amer. Neurol. 
Assoc., 1888. Transactions Amer. Neurol. Assoc., 1888. 
" Pachymeningitis Internae Hemorrhagicae." Path. Soc., 1888. Med. 
Record, 1889. 
" Epithelioma Ovarii." Alum. Assoc, of Woman's Med. Coll., 1890. 
"Hygiene of Childhood-Dress." Alum. Assoc, of Woman's Med. 
Coll. 
Dr. McNutt is one of the attending Physicians in the 
Gynaecological Department of the New York Infirmary. 
She has been connected with the Dispensary of the New DR. SAMUEL D. GROSS. 
289 
York Infirmary continuously since her graduation; for 
nineteen years she has worked in the Gynaecological De- 
partment and for eleven years in the Children's. 
Anxious to see every phase of surgical work, she has 
visited and studied at the principal hospitals of Europe. 
She is resourceful, enthusiastic, untiring; and combines 
an abundance of common sense, with great mechanical 
ingenuity. 
Charity is one of the dominant traits of a physician who 
has caught the inspiration of the profession. She has a 
heart which is as large as her knowledge of medicine is 
broad; and her charitable work has not been dropped 
since her practice has become lucrative; she spends her 
time and strength just as generously as she did in the 
earlier days. Her kindness to young practitioners is well 
known and appreciated. 
That such a physician should be successful goes without 
saying. The practice of her profession has broadened and 
ennobled Dr. McNutt. Dr. McNutt has elevated and 
illustrated her profession. 
SAMUEL D. GROSS, M.D.,1 
PHILADELPHIA, PA. 
Dr. Samuel D. Gross was born near Easton, Pennsyl- 
vania, July 8, 1805. His early education was gained at 
schools in Wilkesbarre and Lawrenceville, after which he 
began the study of medicine, first under Dr. Swift, of 
Easton, later under Dr. George McClellan, of Philadelphia. 
He entered the Jefferson Medical College, from which 
he was graduated in 1828, and at once began the practice 
of his profession in Philadelphia. During this early period 
1 Taken by permission from Makers of Philadelphia. Published by 
L. R. Hamersly & Co., Philadelphia, June, 1894. 290 
DR. SAMUEL D. GROSS. 
of his career he translated several French and German 
medical works, and wrote an important original treatise, 
Diseases and Injuries of the Bones and Joints, which was 
published in 1830. . . . 
In 1833 he became Demonstrator of Anatomy in the 
Medical College of Ohio, at Cincinnati. Two years after- 
ward he accepted the Chair of Pathological Anatomy in 
the Medical Department of the Cincinnati College, where 
he delivered the first systematic course of lectures on mor- 
bid anatomy ever given in the United States. . . 
In 1840 he became Professor of Surgery in the Univer- 
sity of Louisville, Kentucky. He retained this position 
until 1856, with the exception of one year's service, in 1850, 
in a similar position in the University of New York. 
While in Louisville he was one of the founders of the 
Kentucky State Medical Society, and afterward its Presi- 
dent. 
He returned to Philadelphia in 1856, and became Pro- 
fessor of Surgery in the Jefferson Medical College, a chair 
which he filled till 1882, when he resigned and was made 
Professor Emeritus. 
During these fifty years of service as an instructor in 
medical science Dr. Gross lectured to a larger number of 
students than any other surgeon in this country. It is said 
that his name is attached to more than ten thousand diplo- 
mas of students from all parts of the United States and 
many foreign countries. 
As a teacher he was highly popular, and remarkably 
successful in the art of imparting knowledge, and his re- 
tirement from Jefferson Medical College was viewed with 
universal regret. . 
As an operator he held the foremost rank, being clear 
in diagnosis, cool and self-possessed in action, and quick 
in deciding on the proper course of treatment. He never 
lost a patient on the table from shock or loss of blood. His 
work was performed well, rapidly, and brilliantly, but DR. LE WIS A. SA YRE. 
291 
never with careless haste or reckless experiment. His ex- 
tensive knowledge of disease made him safe and sure in 
his diagnosis, and no students were ever better taught than 
those under the happy instruction of Dr. Gross. . . . 
He was a member of medical societies in all parts of 
the world. 
In 1867 he was President of the American Medical 
Association, and he was the founder of the Philadelphia 
Academy of Surgery and of the American Surgical Asso- 
ciation. He was twice a delegate to the British Medical 
Association, and was President of the International Medi- 
cal Congress at Philadelphia in 1876. 
He received the degree of D.C.L. from the University 
of Oxford in 1872, and of LL D. from Jefferson College 
and the University of Pennsylvania, from the University of 
Cambridge, England, in 1880, and from the University of 
Edinburgh a few days before his death, which took place 
May 6, 1884. 
No other American physician or surgeon of the century 
has attained a greater reputation at home or abroad. 
LEWIS A. SAYRE, M.D., 
NEW YORK, N. Y. 
Lewis Albert Sayre, a distinguished physician and 
surgeon of New York City, was born at Bottle Hill (now 
Madison}, Morris County, New Jersey, February 29, 1820. 
He is descended from a revolutionary patriot, his grand- 
father, Ephraim Sayre, having been a brave soldier in the 
War of the Revolution, in which he held the office of 
Quartermaster. 
His son Archibald was a wealthy farmer of Morris 
County, a leader in all public affairs of the community. 
The son of the latter, Lewis A. Sayre, when a boy of but 
four years of age, was intrusted with the honorable task of 292 
DR. LEWIS A. SAYRE. 
reciting a poem of welcome before La Fayette, the dis- 
tinguished soldier and friend of Washington, on his 
triumphal tour through this country in 1824. This inci- 
dent made a marked impression on the boy, and he re- 
ferred to it with pleasure in a conversation with a descend- 
ant of La Fayette during the Bartholdi statue presentation 
banquet. 
Young Sayre received his early education in the local 
academy of his native place, and afterward studied at the 
Wantage Seminary at Deckertown, New Jersey, subse- 
quently taking a collegiate course at the Transylvania 
University, Kentucky. He was graduated there in 1839. 
His uncle, with whom he then lived at Lexington, Ken- 
tucky, wished him to enter the Church, but the young 
man's predilection was for the profession of medicine, 
and, deciding to devote himself to that study, he proceeded 
to New York, where he entered the College of Physicians 
and Surgeons, graduating in 1842 with the degree of 
M.D. His graduation thesis on "Spinal Irritation" was 
published in a medical journal, and excited much attention 
by the evidence of unusual ability which it displayed. 
He continued in the college until 1852, with the position 
of prosector to the professor of surgery, engaging mean- 
while in private practice, which grew so great at length 
that he was obliged to retire, when he was appointed 
emeritus prosector. In the following year he was ap- 
pointed Surgeon to Bellevue Hospital, and in 1859 was 
made Surgeon to the Charity Hospital on Blackwell's 
Island, and Consulting Surgeon there in 1873. 
When the Bellevue Hospital Medical College was organ- 
ized, in 1861, Dr. Sayre took a leading part in this 
movement, and on the formation of its faculty he was 
made Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery and Fractures and 
Luxations. He still holds the orthopaedic surgery pro- 
fessorship. 
Dr. Sayre was one of the founders of the New York DR. LEWIS A. SAYRE. 
293 
Pathological Society, assisted in the formation of The 
New York Academy of Medicine and the American Medi- 
cal Association, and was made Vice-President of the last- 
named Association in 1866, and its President in 1880. In 
1866 he was appointed Resident Physician of the city of 
New York, a position in which his ability and energy were of 
the utmost value to the metropolis, while his reports covered 
such important subjects as drainage, sewerage, compulsory 
vaccination, and the treatment of cholera. In 1876, while 
acting as a delegate to the International Medical Con- 
gress at Philadelphia, he presented a paper on "Morbus 
Coxarius," or hip-joint disease, the operation for which he 
was the first American surgeon to perform successfully and 
without resulting deformity. He was also successful in his 
treatment of Pott's disease and lateral curvature of the 
spine. 
In 1871, and again in 1877, Dr. Sayre went abroad, 
where he was received with flattering demonstrations as 
the greatest living practitioner in his special field of sur- 
gery. He lectured before the medical schools of the lead- 
ing British cities and gave practical demonstrations of the 
value of his mode of treatment, receiving the warmest 
thanks of the profession. 
During the latter visit he prepared and published his 
important work, An Illustrated Treatise on Spinal Disease 
and Spinal Curvature. He has also published A Practical 
Manual of Club foot and Lectures on Orthopcedic Surgery 
and Diseases of the foints. All these works are recognized 
authorities on their respective subjects, and have been 
translated into several languages. In addition to these 
works he has written numerous papers for medical periodi- 
cals on subjects connected with his extended practice. He 
is a member of many medical societies of the United States 
and the leading societies abroad, and is the inventor of a 
number of instruments which have proved of the greatest 
service in surgery. 294 
DR. JULIA W. CARPENTER. 
Dr. Sayre was married in 1849 to Miss Eliza A. Hall, a 
lady of rare intellectual endowments. Of his three sons, 
two have died. The third son, Dr. Reginald Hall Sayre, 
is associated with him in practice. 
His daughter, Miss Mary Hall Sayre, is a brilliant and 
accomplished lady, who aids her father greatly by trans- 
lating for his use articles from foreign medical journals. 
(The foregoing sketch of Lewis A. Sayre, M.D., has, 
by permission, been taken from Makers of New York, 
published by L. R. Hamersly & Co., Philadelphia, 1895. 
-The Author.) 
JULIA W. CARPENTER, M.D., 
CINCINNATI, OHIO. 
Dr. Julia Wiltberger Carpenter is a native of Cin- 
cinnati, Ohio, the Queen City of the West. Her family 
were among its early settlers. Her paternal great-grand- 
father, Abraham Freeman, was an Englishman, the oldest 
son, and entitled to the whole inheritance. 
Thinking this unjust he divided the estate equally with 
the other children ; came to the United States, and settled 
in Cincinnati, Ohio. Owning the tract of land through 
which Freeman Avenue now runs, this avenue was named 
for him. 
Her grandfather, Captain Joseph Carpenter, a man of 
education and enterprise, was, in his earliest manhood, 
editor and proprietor of the first newspaper published in 
Cincinnati, called The Western Spy. Copies of this paper 
are to be seen at the Young Men's Mercantile Library 
Association. 
Her father, Dr. Isaac Bates Carpenter, recently deceased, 
was a graduate of Jefferson Medical College in Philadel- 
phia. After practicing there several years, he married and DR. JULIA W. CARPENTER. 
295 
returned to Cincinnati, Ohio, and engaged in mercantile 
business. From this he retired about fifteen years before 
his decease, and enjoyed a life of ease and literary pursuits. 
Her mother, Susan Ellmaker, was the daughter of David 
Ellmaker, of Philadelphia, one of the eleven men who 
founded St. Andrew's Episcopal Church, and who with 
his wife, Julia Wiltberger, now rests in its church-yard. 
Dr. Julia Carpenter is one of six children, and the only 
one who has become a physician. She choose this profes- 
sion because it was open to women, and not because she 
preferred it above everything else, for there is no depart- 
ment of study that did not have some charm for her. Her 
mother tells how she insisted on going to school at four 
years of age, and has practically kept it up ever since. 
Her education was a very thorough one, including the 
higher mathematics, with mathematical astronomy and the 
sciences. 
The Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania, in 
Philadelphia, is her Alma Mater in medicine. The Doctor 
was interne one year in the Woman's Hospital connected 
with this college, and before going to Europe to study she 
spent two years in the McMicken University at Cincinnati, 
studying French, German, and practical chemistry. 
Over two years were then passed in Europe, studying one 
year in the hospitals of Vienna and one year in the hos- 
pitals of Paris. From the various professors with whom 
she studied in these two cities she has very complimentary 
certificates. After several months more of travel through 
Europe she returned to Cincinnati, and opened an office 
in the middle of November, 1878. 
Dr. Thad. A. Reamy immediately called and advised 
her to join the Cincinnati Academy of Medicine. For this 
Dr. Carpenter expressed a readiness if the society was 
friendly enough to elect her to membership. Dr. Reamy 
then proposed her name for membership, and she was 
unanimously elected. 296 
DR. JULIA W. CARPENTER. 
Two days later, December 18, 1878, in the Cincinnati 
Daily Gazette there appeared the following notice in the 
first editorial column : 
"The Cincinnati Academy of Medicine has shown its 
good sense and freedom from antiquated prejudices in elect- 
ing Dr. Julia W. Carpenter to its membership. She is the 
first practitioner of her sex to receive this mark of apprecia- 
tion. It is well deserved. She has adopted her profession 
not from necessity, but inclination, relinquishing volun- 
tarily the life of ease with which so many young women are 
content, and preparing herself for her professional duties 
by thorough study at home and abroad. The time has 
passed, here at least, when industry and ambition can be 
set down as incompatible with social station or feminine 
refinement." 
Dr. Carpenter's entrance paper at the Academy of Medi- 
cine was on an eye subject, " Keratoscopy." This was 
afterward published in the Cincinnati Lancet and Clinic, 
March 1, 1879, and was copied into several other medical 
journals, including one in St. Petersburg, Russia. She has 
continued to contribute occasional papers to the various 
societies of which she is a member, and these appear after- 
ward, as usual, in the journals. As a writer her style is 
concise, clear, and forcible. 
The Doctor has held a number of positions of honor, 
viz.: Vice President of the Cincinnati Academy of Medi- 
cine, Professor of Physiology in the Women's Medical 
College connected with the Presbyterian Hospital for 
Women, Cincinnati, one of the staff of the Presbyterian 
Hospital, and one of the associate editors of the Women's 
Medical Journal. She is a member of the following societies: 
Cincinnati Academy of Medicine, Cincinnati Obstetrical 
Society, Ohio State Medical Society, and the American 
Medical Association. 
In Dr. Carpenter's case there was no period of waiting 
for a practice. It began at once. Those of her friends DR. EDWARD A. AYERS. 
297 
who had opposed her studying medicine soon became 
proud of her success. 
Dr. Carpenter has not gone beyond minor surgery in 
that domain. Her special interest is more in the causes of 
disease, and the trend of her thought and study is in the 
line of the prevention of disease, and the overcoming of 
it by the application of the knowledge of the body as it is 
acquired. 
EDWARD A. AYERS, M.D., 
NEW YORK, N. Y. 
Dr. Edward Augustus Ayers, No. 8 East 34th Street, 
New York City, was born in the city of Jacksonville, Ill., 
December 20, 1855. His father, Marshall Paul Ayers, 
moved with his parents from Philadelphia, Pa., to Jack- 
sonville in 1831, at the age of seven years, and settled in 
the then village of Jacksonville, because it was to be a 
college town and represent the educational extension of 
the Eastern universities in the West. His mother, Laura 
Allan, daughter of John Allan, a Presbyterian minister, of 
Huntsville, Alabama, moved to this young community soon 
after her maturity. 
Dr. Ayers received his education in the district school, 
high school, and Whipple Academy, graduating from the 
Illinois College in 1877. His medical education began 
under the tutelage of the widely known and highly hon- 
ored surgeon, Dr. David Prince. 
After spending a preliminary season at the Miami 
Medical College in Cincinnati, he entered the Medical 
Department of the University of the City of New York, 
from which he was graduated, in 1880, in a class of 204. 
His "Thesis on Massage" received honorable mention. 
The eighteen months following graduation were devoted 
to clinical study and laboratory work. The ten years 298 
DR. EDWARD A. AYERS. 
following this period were spent in association with the 
distinguished surgeon Dr. John A. Wyeth, to whose in- 
spiring influence and surgical genius much credit is due 
in this trying period of professional development in the 
great city of New York. 
Dr. Ayers acted as Assistant Secretary of the New York 
Polyclinic during the first five years of its existence, treat- 
ing, in fact, the first patient ever attended beneath its roof, 
and took an active part in the evolution and formation of 
this pioneer post-graduate school. The Clinical Depart- 
ment of Obstetrics was placed in his hands in 1884, and, 
after building up the work to satisfactory proportions and 
developing a high degree of interest in the advancement 
of this science among the physicians attending the insti- 
tution, he was elected Professor of Obstetrics in 1887. 
Dr. Ayers was the organizer and founder of the Mothers' 
and Babies' Hospital, an institution organized for the care 
of homeless and needy mothers during confinement. The 
hospital now cares for forty patients a month, and in its 
aid to poor mothers, its training for physicians and nurses, 
and its influence in the advancement of obstetric methods 
along the line of the best modern science, it has a vast 
influence for good and is an enduring honor to those re- 
sponsible for its existence. It is one of the Doctor's special 
ambitions to bring the scientific development of obstetrics 
in this institution up to the highest standard possible, 
whereby it shall become a recognized example of the best 
obstetric work. During the years of his service as a 
teacher over four thousand physicians have received train- 
ing in his classes in the science and art of obstetrics. 
Dr. Ayers was one of the first of modern instructors to 
give practical instruction in abdominal palpation, pelvi- 
metry, and other antepartum investigations aiming at the 
prevention of the many unnecessary accidents compli- 
cating child-bearing, a custom which, next to the preven- 
tion of infection, has done more to advance the standard DR. ED WARD A. A YERS. 
299 
of obstetrical work than any other improvement of modern 
times. 
Of the more important contributions to medical litera- 
ture by Dr. Ayers are the following : A paper on " Version 
before Labor;" "Studies in the Decidua and Retained 
Membranes of the Ovum;" " Amnionitis; " "The De- 
cidua in the Diagnosis of Extra-uterine Pregnancy;" 
"Puerperal Infection," a paper read before the Pan- 
American Medical Congress, held in Washington in 1893; 
"Symphyseotomy and its After-effects, with a Description 
of a New Method and the Report of Four Successful 
Cases," which was read at the Academy of Medicine, 
January 23, 1896, in which he advocates a method of 
performing the operation in preference to those of Mori- 
sani and Pinard, which is carefully described, and has been 
tested in eight cases operated upon by the author and a 
number of other physicians. This was the first paper to 
give a complete report of the after-effects of symphyse- 
otomy in America, the records of which will have a de- 
cided influence in extending the good favor in which this 
operation is held. Ayers's Physical Diagnosis and Pro- 
phylaxis in Obstetrics will shortly appear in book-form. 
Among the appliances in medicine, "Ayers's Improved 
Thomas Perforator " and "Ayers's Ligature Tightener" 
may be mentioned. 
Dr. Ayers married Miss Joy Lindsley, of Washington, 
D. C., daughter of the late Dr. Van Sinderen Lindsley, of 
Nashville, Tennessee. 
Dr. Ayers is a member of The New York Academy of 
Medicine, Medical Society of the County of New York, 
and New York Pathological Society; Trustee and Professor 
of Obstetrics in the New York Polyclinic Medical School; 
Physician-in-Chief of the Mothers' and Babies' Hospital, 
and is connected with the Central Hospital of Brooklyn 
and various other organizations. 300 
DR. HENRY PARKER NEWMAN. 
HENRY PARKER NEWMAN, A.M., M.D., 
CHICAGO, ILL. 
Henry Parker Newman, A.M., M.D., son of James 
and Abby (Everett) Newman, grandson of James Madison 
Newman, and a descendant of the old Fairbanks and 
Everett families of New England, was born at Washington, 
N. H., December 2, 1853. 
His boyhood was spent in Hillsboro Bridge, N. H., and 
his early education acquired at the public schools there 
and at the New London Literary and Scientific Institute. 
He began to read medicine with Dr. George Cook, of 
Concord, N. H. (since Surgeon-General of the State), and 
afterward attended lectures at Dartmouth Medical College. 
It was this old and honored institution which conferred 
upon him the degree of A.M. in 1893. 
Dr. Newman was graduated from the Detroit College of 
Medicine, Mich., in 1878. 
While a senior student he was House Physician at St. 
Luke's Hospital, Detroit. 
He then spent two years in study in Germany in the 
Universities of Strasburg, Leipsig, and Bonn. 
Returning to the United States he settled permanently 
in Chicago. 
While a man of broad professional culture and interest 
from the first, Dr. Newman's special efforts have been di- 
rected to gynaecology, and his writings and original re- 
search have been in that line. 
He has achieved brilliant and successful results in plastic 
gynaecological surgery, and has devised new and original 
surgical methods and invented a number of very practical 
instruments for use in his special branch of surgery. 
He has been Editor of the Department of Obstetrics and 
Gynaecology in the North American Practitioner since DR. HENR Y PARKER NE WMAN. 
301 
1893, in which journal appeared, in 1889, a "History of 
Obstetrics " from his pen. He is also the author of papers 
on "Shock and Nervous Influences in Parturition," " The 
Remote Results of Shortening the Round Ligaments for 
Uterine Displacements," " Curettage, Trachelorrhaphy, 
and Ventro-fixation," "The Sequelae of Abortions," "A 
Plea for More Thorough Training in General Medicine 
and Obstetrics on the Part of the Gynaecologists," " Fads 
and Fallacies Gynaecological," etc. 
He also edits the Gynaecological Department of Medicine 
and contributes to the current medical literature of the 
day. 
Dr. Newman is Corresponding Fellow of the Detroit 
Gynaecological Society; member and Chairman of the 
Committee on Membership of the Chicago Medical So- 
ciety ; Fellow and Secretary of the Chicago Gynaecologi- 
cal Society; Fellow of the American Gynecological So- 
ciety; member and Treasurer of the American Medical 
Association and of The American Academy of Medicine; 
member of the Illinois State Medical Society, of the Chi- 
cago Pathological Society, and of the International Medi- 
cal Congress, having been a delegate to the tenth congress 
in Berlin, 1890. Dr. Newman is a Founder of the Inter- 
national Periodical Congress of Obstetricians and Gynae- 
cologists ; a Director and formerly President of the Post- 
Graduate Medical School, Chicago, and Professor of 
Diseases of Women in the same since 1888 ; Professor of 
Clinical Gynaecology, College of Physicians and Surgeons, 
of which institution he has been an active promoter since 
its organization in 1881 ; Surgeon in the Department of 
Diseases of Women in the Post-Graduate and Chicago 
Hospitals ; Attending Surgeon to St. Elizabeth's Hospital; 
and Gynaecologist-in-chief to the West Side Free Dispen- 
sary. 
In 1894 the Doctor established " The Marion Sims 
Sanitarium," a small but elegantly appointed private hos- 302 
DR. FRANK HARTLEY. 
pital, and the success of this model institution is a source 
of great gratification to its founder. 
Dr. Newman is a man of dignified presence and kindly 
manner, affable and entertaining in society. In 1882 he 
married Fanny Louise, daughter of L. S. Hodges, a lead- 
ing lawyer of Chicago. Their children are Helen Everett 
and Willard Hodges, living, and Eugene Bush and Isabel 
Fairbanks, deceased. 
FRANK HARTLEY, M.D., 
NEW YORK, N. Y. 
Dr. Frank Hartley was born in Washington, D. C., 
June io, 1857. He belongs to an old and prominent New 
England family, being the son of the Hon. John F. Hart- 
ley and Mary D. King, of Saco, Maine. On his paternal 
side Dr. Hartley is descended from the Fairfields, origin- 
ally Beauchamps. The name " Fairfield," properly inter- 
preted, means " A fair field and no favor." 
It is a trite saying in Saco, Maine, " that fifth cousins, 
once removed, are near for Fairfields." On his mother's 
side Dr. Hartley is descended from William Kinge, the 
celebrated English Puritan who settled in Salem, Mass., in 
1635- 
D-. Hartley received his early education in Washington, 
D. C., at the Emerson Institute, from which place he pre- 
pared for Princeton College, entering the Class of 1877. 
After finishing his education in college he entered the 
Medical Department of the College of Physicians and 
Surgeons in the city of New York, where he became a 
student of Dr. H. B. Sands, and was graduated in 1880. 
In the same year he entered the Bellevue Hospital, upon 
the surgical staff, where he served for a period of eighteen 
months. DR. FRANK HARTLEY. 
303 
In 1882 he went abroad to study, and completed his 
surgical education in Berlin, Heidelberg, and Vienna. He 
remained in Europe for two years, and returned to New 
York City in 1884, where he became identified with Dr. 
H. B. Sands, and was associated with him in his private 
work, as well as being appointed his assistant at the Roose- 
velt Hospital. 
In 1886 Dr. Hartley was appointed Visiting Surgeon to 
the Bellevue Hospital, which position he held for four 
years, and which he relinquished upon being appointed 
Attending Surgeon to the New York Hospital in 1889. 
During this period, from 1886 to 1889, he was Assistant 
Surgeon at the Roosevelt Hospital and Attending Sur- 
geon to the Bellevue and New York Cancer Hospitals. 
During this time Dr. Hartley devoted himself particularly 
to the early work in Dr. Sands's articles upon appendicitis, 
and published at that time the first article, embracing his 
own and Dr. Sands's experience in the early operation for 
appendicitis, giving the history and lesions found in some 
sixteen cases of that disease. 
Subsequently Dr. Hartley wrote upon the 11 Congenital 
Deformities of the Neck, the Thyroid Gland, and the 
Operative Treatment of Club-foot." His greatest work 
was the " Intracranial Method of Operation for the Relief 
of Trigeminal Neuralgia," in which the ganglion of Gasser 
was extirpated. In this operation he was an independent 
discoverer with Professor Krause, of Altona, Germany, 
the name of the operation being the Hartley-Krause 
method. 
Dr. Hartley continued in the service of Roosevelt Hos- 
pital until 1896, during which time he was the active aid 
of both Dr. Sands and Dr. Charles McBurney, and has 
since 1885 been associated with the College of Physicians 
and Surgeons; first, as Demonstrator of Anatomy, and, 
subsequently, as Instructor in Operative Surgery upon the 
Cadaver. DR. ELLEK M. KIRK. 
304 
Dr. Hartley has been an active member of many socie- 
ties, including the New York Surgical Society, of which 
he is now President; New York Clinical; Medico-Surgi- 
cal; New York Dermatological; and Alumni of Bellevue 
Hospital Societies. He is at present Attending Surgeon 
to the New York Hospital, where he is actively engaged in 
the work. 
Although Dr. Hartley is comparatively young in years, 
he has a large and extensive medical experience, which he 
has acquired by his perseverance and a determination to 
succeed in his chosen profession, which have won him an 
enviable reputation as one of the leading surgeons of New 
York City. 
He is quiet and unassuming in manner, having strong 
personal magnetism, and is appreciated by friends and pa- 
tients for his sincerity and true worth. He has a lucrative 
practice, but devotes much of his time to the New York 
Hospital. 
ELLEN M. KIRK, M.D., 
CINCINNATI, OHIO. 
Dr. Ellen M. Kirk is of Scotch-English descent, and 
is the daughter of Jonathan Huston and Marcella Kirk, of 
Guilford Township, Winnebago County, Illinois. Her 
father is descended from the early Quakers of Cecil County, 
Maryland, his grandmother, Mary Alien Kirk, being a 
near relative of Ethan Allen, of Revolutionary fame. Her 
mother is descended from the early English settlers of New 
Jersey. They were among the pioneers of the State of 
Illinois, and were married July 3, 1844, commencing life 
upon the farm where they still live. Two years ago they 
celebrated their golden wedding with their surviving three 
children and grandchildren about them. Dr. Kirk's early DR. ELLEN M. KIRK. 
305 
educational advantages were such as the district school 
afforded, to which she walked daily, a distance of two 
miles. At the age of fifteen she entered Forest Hill Semi- 
nary, a school for young women located in Rockford, 
Illinois, and then conducted on the plan of Mt. Holyoke. 
Two years were spent in this institution, when she taught 
a few terms in the country schools near her home. Then, 
thinking to make teaching a profession, she decided to 
enter the Illinois State Normal School, and devote herself 
to special preparation. 
About two years were thus spent, when, feeling the need 
of remunerative employment, she entered regularly into 
the work of teaching until 1875. The greater part of this 
time was spent in the public schools of Rockford, seven 
miles from her birth-place. 
Early in this experience her attention was frequently 
called to the great disparity in work and pay of male and 
female teachers. Attending regularly the Teachers' Insti- 
tutes, and hearing the subject of salaries discussed in the 
one sided manner which usually characterized it, she be- 
came convinced of tbs injustice and determined upon a 
change of profession. 
Her attention had been attracted to the study of medi- 
cine by reading the achievements of the few women then 
in the field, combined with an impulse in that direction 
as the result of a past experience. 
Some years before, while caring for an aunt whose illness 
proved fatal, the consultations of physicians, differences of 
opinion, and methods of treatment aroused in her a keen 
desire to understand more of the " whys " and "where- 
fores" both of disease and medicine. 
While pondering over the best means of undertaking 
the study, a young woman, who had taken her degree from 
Ann Arbor, Mich., located in Rockford, Ill. Dr. Kirk 
immediately made her acquaintance and became a student. 
For over two years all the time that could be spared from 306 
RR. ELLEN M. KIRK. 
her school duties were spent on chemistry-doing much 
laboratory work, anatomy, physiology, and general reading. 
During these years of teaching, by exercising great econ- 
omy, sufficient money was saved from her earnings to meet 
the demands of her medical education. 
October, 1875, found her on the way to New York to 
enter the New York Medical College and Hospital for 
Women, from which she received her degree in the spring 
of 1877. Realizing the need of immediate experience and 
special study she remained in New York one year, devoting 
her entire time to dispensary and hospital work and special 
lecture courses. 
May 9, 1878, she located in Cincinnati, a stranger with 
a few letters of introduction to local physicians from 
former professors, and a purse containing only money 
upon which she was paying ten per cent, interest. 
Determining to trust to her own ability and efforts, 
rather than call upon her father for assistance, she accepted 
deprivations and sacrifices as invaluable adjuncts in her 
education, and, believing in the possibilities of herself and 
the future, never faltered during those trying first years of 
her professional life. 
One year later, she, with an associate, and the co opera- 
tion of a few interested and philanthropic people, opened 
a Free Dispensary for Women and Children, which afforded 
a large clinical experience, and rapidly made the want of 
a hospital connected with the work felt. Their effort was 
crowned with success, and the Ohio Hospital for Women 
and Children was incorporated October 12, 1881, and in 
June, 1882, a small but well-equipped hospital was opened 
to patients. 
This building proved inadequate to meet the demands, 
and in 1888 a suitable commodious building was purchased, 
and the hospital recognized as a permanent institution. 
Through all these years Dr. Kirk has been untiring in her 
efforts in behalf of this cherished work. It had afforded DR. MARY WOOLSEY NOXON. 
307 
an excellent opportunity for large gynaecological experi- 
ence and study, and the conclusion that proper adjustment 
of clothing, rest, and conservative treatment will save 
many a patient from the operating table; not ignoring the 
importance of surgery, to which she resorts when inevi- 
table, but deprecating the tendency to the prominence of 
the knife in the treatment of pelvic disorders. Her own 
success fully justifies this conclusion. 
She is a member of the American Institute of Homoe- 
opathy, State and City Societies. 
She is a clear, concise, and able writer, but not a fre- 
quent contributor. 
She enjoys a large and lucrative practice as a reward for 
faithful devotion to her profession. 
MARY WOOLSEY NOXON, M.D., 
NEW YORK, N. Y. 
Dr. Mary Woolsey Noxon was born in Poughquag, a 
small town in Dutchess County, N. Y., in 1845. Her 
parents were Mary W. and Elenore Noxon. 
As a child she delighted to accompany the family phy- 
sician upon his rounds, doubtless strengthening, if not 
developing, in his companionship the inclination which, 
later, ruled her life. She soon possessed herself of an old 
pair of saddle-bags, and filled them with bottles of quack 
medicines, which she freely dispensed to the colored labor- 
ers, and even to the animals about the place. 
Her desire to study medicine was met by decided oppo- 
sition from her family, as at that time the woman-physician 
had not conquered the prejudices of the world. However, 
Miss Noxon won her way, and was graduated from The 
New York Medical College and Hospital for Women 
(Homoeopathic) in 1873. Afterward she availed herself 308 
DR. MARY WOOLSE Y NOXON. 
of opportunities for European studies during various vaca- 
tions abroad. 
Immediately after graduation she established herself in 
New York City, acquiring very speedily an extensive and 
lucrative practice. She became a member of the county 
and S'.ate medical societies and of the American Institute 
of Homoeopathy. In her later years she served as one of 
the Consulting Staff of the Hahnemann Hospital of New- 
York City. 
Dr. Noxon was unusually endowed. She possessed a 
magnificent physique and robust health; also mental 
powers beyond the average, which her wealth enabled 
her to cultivate fully. Thus equipped, she entered upon her 
chosen life-work, not urged by ambition nor for gain, but 
through intense attraction for its possibilities. Those whose 
privilege it was to know her can bear testimony to the tre- 
mendous energy she threw into her profession, taxing her 
phenomenal constitution to its utmost endurance. She 
knew her art, and her faith in its resources to alleviate 
disease was firm and sure. 
She was honest in intention, frank and often exceed- 
ingly brusque in speech, with a broad and masculine sense 
of humor. She was loyal to friends and patients, and 
untiringly charitable. Her memory was encyclopaedic; 
she was full of resource in emergency; rarely intuitive 
and perceptive; most tenacious in purpose, and direct 
in action. Her manner was usually very suave, and with 
a magnetism that inspired instant confidence in the most 
timid or doubting patient. 
These attributes, combined with unerring diagnosis and 
success in treatment, gained for her the unbounded love 
and respect of her immense clientele. She was to each 
patient not only physician, but friend, consulted in ill- 
ness, in family affairs, in pecuniary emergencies; indeed, 
in every crisis of life. 
Upon such qualities does her reputation rest; by them DR. MARY WOOLSEY NOXON. 
309 
alone was her success achieved. She accepted no pro- 
fessorship; wrote neither books nor articles for publica- 
tion ; reported no cases; attended no meetings of county 
or State medical societies; and this from no lack of inter- 
est, but because for any exertion beyond her direct work 
she had neither time nor vitality. 
She was in constant consultation with the best physicians 
and surgeons of both schools and of every specialty. Dr. 
J. Marion Sims was her warm friend and admirer. The 
beginning of her acquaintance with him illustrates the de- 
termination of her character and the directness with which 
she achieved any purpose. 
While still a student in the homoeopathic college where 
she was graduated, she determined also to secure the benefit 
of Dr. Sims's instructions. She went boldly to his clinic 
in Lexington Avenue, enrolled her name without allusion 
to her status or her school, and obtained the especial re- 
gard and assistance of this eminent surgeon. Nor was his 
interest in her ever lessened. His last professional call, 
the night before his sudden death, was made with her upon 
one of her patients, and the news of his death the next 
morning was a prostrating blow to her. 
While in college she had a decided fondness for surgery, 
and was ever ready-too ready, her professors feared-to 
undertake surgical work, as when, in the dispensary of the 
college, with the aid of another student, she successfully 
removed a large tumor from the head without professorial 
permission or supervision. 
By the bedside or the operating-table her gentleness was 
exceptional and won from her patients an adoring affection. 
Fortunately, she determined finally upon gynaecology 
as her specialty, restricting her surgery to minor opera- 
tions, in which she was prompt and successful. 
So entrenched was she in the confidence of her patients 
that a well-known physician has said they prospered better 
under an inferior treatment of hers than under the hesi- 310 
DR. DOWLING BENJAMIN. 
tating but superior care of another. It would be diffi- 
cult to convince her patients that her treatment ever was 
inferior. 
Outside of professional works Dr. Noxon was not a 
reader. Literature, as such, had no charm comparable 
to information upon her favorite theme-the alleviation 
and cure of suffering. Her relaxation was found in the 
comedy and farce of life as enacted about her; in the 
bright and naive sayings of children, of whom she was 
very fond; and in the antics of pets of all kinds, which 
she delighted to gather about her. 
Probably owing to the intense strain of mind and body 
to which she subjected herself in her earlier professional 
career, a valvular lesion of the heart developed, which, on 
several occasions, seriously .threatened her life ; but, know- 
ing the limitations to which this subjected her, she learned 
to avoid and suppress undue excitements and bodily 
strain, and thus evaded death from heart-failure, but, 
nevertheless, died instantly from apoplexy, January 16, 
1895, to be enshrined henceforth in thousands of loving 
hearts. 
DOWLING BENJAMIN, M.D., 
CAMDEN, N. J. 
The ancestors of Dowling Benjamin have for genera- 
tions taken an honorable part in the history of Maryland, 
Virginia, and North Carolina. His great-grandfather, 
Joseph Benjamin, of an English family, settled in Mary- 
land in 1774. The next year he went to Virginia, and 
immediately after the news of the battle of Bunker Hill 
reached that State he joined Harry Lee's Light Horse 
Legion, then organizing at Amelia Court House, and 
served with it during the Revolutionary War. After the 
war he settled in Charlestown, Maryland, and was one of DR. DOWLING BENJAMIN. 
311 
the first trustees and founders of the Methodist Church in 
that locality. His son, Isaac Benjamin, Sheriff of Talbot 
County, the Doctor's grandfather, married a Miss Alex- 
ander, of a prominent Scotch-Irish family, two of whose 
members had served respectively as President and Secre- 
tary of the historic Mecklenburg Convention of North 
Carolina in 1775, signing the original Declaration of 
Independence, there first officially promulgated. The 
Doctor's maternal grandfather served in the War of 1812. 
Dr. Benjamin was born in Baltimore, Maryland, in 
1849. After obtaining an English education in the public 
schools, he made a study of the ancient and modern 
languages and sciences, under private tutors, preparatory 
to entering an advanced class in Dickinson College. He 
got a position in a drug-store and soon passed the examina- 
tion of the State Board of Pharmacy. Thus well qualified, 
he began the study of medicine, and the celebrated D. 
Hayes Agnew was one of his medical preceptors. He was 
graduated in 1877 from the University of Pennsylvania, 
in the medical department, having passed the highest ex- 
amination in all branches, and was honorably mentioned 
by the faculty on receiving his degree. 
While a student the truth and transcendent importance 
of the bacteriological pathology (germ theory) of the in- 
fectious diseases and contagious fevers, then being devel- 
oped by Pasteur, Koch, and Lister in Europe, was quickly 
grasped by his keenly logical and scientific mind. Secur- 
ing and studying all the imported literature and investiga- 
tions of these great pioneers in antisepsis, which could 
not be found in any American text-book, and making 
original research and microscopical investigations at night 
in the laboratories, he wrote his graduating thesis on in- 
fection or antiseptic practice. This was believed by med- 
ical scholars to be the first clear, logical, and convincing 
presentation of the germ theory by an American medical 
writer. The Professor of Practice of Medicine at the DR. DOWLING BENJAMIN. 
312 
University, after carefully reading, so pronounced it and 
endorsed it, and afterward taught the germ theory. Indeed, 
the Professor of Clinical Surgery of the University had 
not adopted the antiseptic practice so late as 1881. (See 
International Encyclopedia of Surgery, vol. i. page 599, 
where the old system is described.) 
So far in advance of the usual practice and beliefs of 
the profession was this thesis, that " convincing and clear " 
as it seemed to Professor Stille, logical and beautiful in 
diction (it is yet extant) as it is, it was refused publication 
at the time by the Medical Times, then edited by his friend, 
Professor H. C. Wood, and by other leading medical 
journals, on the ground that "the theory of germs (mi- 
crobes) being the cause of disease was not tenable." 
However, upon the early adoption of the bacteriological 
view of infection and its careful practice by Dr. Benjamin 
have hinged some of the most remarkable results ever 
attained by a living practitioner of medicine ; for instance, 
in his more than twenty years' practice he has never had a 
death in confinement. Most of the deaths in confinement 
come from microbes getting in contact with the lesions. 
In all his large practice, including the time while sur- 
geon to the P. R. R., W. J. & C. A. R. R., Camden Iron 
Works, and Cooper Hospital (over ten years, including 
thousands of injuries and wounds of all kinds), no instance 
of blood-poisoning or lock-jaw (microbic diseases) occurred 
in any of his cases; a remarkable example of aseptic prac- 
tice. Only last year he published in the Journal of the 
American Medical Association, October 17, 1896, his great 
paper on the treatment of diphtheria, showing that he had 
not a death from that disease for over ten years, including 
a hundred cases, many of them of the most malignant 
kind. This paper was accompanied by letters from several 
fellow-practitioners indorsing and emphasizing his state- 
ments. 
While the Doctor was quietly attaining his wonderful DR. DOWLING BENJAMIN 
313 
results of less than i per cent, of death-rate for over a 
decade, the general average death-rate from the disease in 
all the United States was 47 per cent., and in Europe 50 
per cent., according to the official figures. Even the 
recent 1895 antitoxin treatment gives a death-rate of over 
20 per cent., and even 38 per cent., according to some of 
our best authorities. The leading medical journals are 
now discussing Dr. Benjamin's results, and the Journal of 
Practical Medicine says, editorially, "it is most astonish- 
ing." These features alone would undoubtedly make his 
death-rate in general practice the lowest on record. 
Thoroughness is one of his greatest traits, and when he 
investigates a subject his report can be relied upon as ex- 
haustive and accurate. This is also shown in many legal 
contests in which he was medical expert, as well as in his 
writings. 
Dr. Benjamin settled in Camden in 1877. The follow- 
ing year, as expert for counsel in the Emma Bethel murder 
case, he produced a profound impression upon the legal 
fraternity by demonstrating for the first time in the world's 
history, in a court of law, by chemistry and the micro- 
scope, contrary to all text-books on chemistry and medical 
jurisprudence, and to the astonishment of the State's 
experts, that the octahedral crystal was not conclusive 
evidence of the presence of arsenic, but could be produced 
by another metal (antimony). Up to that time the 
octahedral crystal would hang the accused. 
Dr. Benjamin has taken an active part in all movements 
tending to raise the standard of the profession. In 1884 
he successfully urged, in the face of strong opposition, the 
American Medical Association to proclaim officially the 
necessity of having a full three-years' course in the medical 
colleges. Those who were present at that meeting dis- 
tinctly remember that great battle; his resolutions having 
been opposed by some of the leading professors of medical 
colleges, precipitated an exciting scene. 314 
DIL DOWLING BENJAMIN. 
The New Jersey Medical Society adopted his resolution 
to that effect after he had agitated it for two years. He 
became the spokesman of the physicians of the State before 
the Senate Committee and aided largely in getting the 
measure passed in Trenton. In his speech before the Com- 
mittee in the Senate Chamber he clearly showed in pun- 
gent language that the possession of a diploma even from 
some of the best medical colleges was not a guarantee of 
a proper medical education. This was indeed a great 
triumph, not for the interest of any set of men, but for 
the profession and the public as well. The law that was 
finally passed appointed a State Board of Examiners. 
It may be properly noted here that in 1888 Dr. Benjamin 
performed the first successful hysterectomy (removal of the 
entire womb and ovaries) in the State of New Jersey, for 
a large fibroid tumor of the uterus. He afterward per- 
formed abdominal section for the removal of ovarian 
tumors, fibroids, pus-tubes, and pelvic abscesses in women 
twenty-one times with uniform success; showing that in 
this class of diseases no better work could be done any- 
where. Broad and comprehensive in mind, he estimates 
all the possibilities in a case and is ready to meet them. 
Dr. Benjamin has served as Surgeon to the Cooper Hos- 
pital, and is now Obstetrician-in-Charge of the Maternity 
Department, and Gynaecologist in that institution. He 
was for two years Assistant Surgeon of the Sixth Regiment, 
and Surgeon and Major of the Veteran Corps of the same 
regiment, National Guard of New Jersey. He has been 
Medical Expert and Surgeon to the Pennsylvania Railroad 
for fifteen years. He is Lecturer on Obstetrics in the New 
Jersey Training School for Nurses, and has also filled a 
Lectureship in the Medico-Chirurgical College, Philadel- 
phia. He has served as President of the State Sanitary 
Association of New Jersey, and President of the Camden 
District Medical Society, etc., and he has represented his 
State as a Delegate in National and International Medical DR. DOWLING BENJAMIN. 
315 
Conventions. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity 
and of the M. E. Church. 
Many of Dr. Benjamin's papers have been of great 
practical value and have attracted national attention, and 
are in demand by the leading medical journals. His 
"Observations on the Relations of Temperatures to Diseases 
in Dwelling-houses" {Med. Bulletin, 1886) was copied by 
the Scientific American and all the leading journals, medi- 
cal and non-medical. The State Board of Health of Iowa 
(composed of nine physicians and the Attorney-General) 
recommended and published it at the expense of the State 
for free distribution; giving the eminently satisfactory 
reasons in their report to the Governor for so doing " that 
it would save so many lives and prevent so much sickness." 
Other States did the same. What higher compliment could 
a public oenefactor receive ? This essay has become a 
part of standard text-books. 
Some of his published papers are as follows : 11 Typhoid 
in Water," "Contagion," "Hysterectomy," "Puerperal 
Convulsions," " The Trained Nurse," " Antiseptic Opera- 
tions," "Treatment of Pneumonia," "Ovariotomy," 
"Ventral Hernia," "Present Position of Antiseptic Prac- 
tice," "Treatment of Fracture," "Ovarian and Fibroid 
Tumors," "Treatment of Diphtheria," and a systematic 
work on Nursing and Confinement. (Lakeside Publishing 
Co., N. Y.) 
In 1889 Dr. Benjamin married Miss Sarah Cooper White. 
They have three children. Mrs. Benjamin is a lineal de- 
scendant of Edwin Marshall, identified with the Penns 
in the early colonial history of Pennsylvania. She is an 
intelligent, highly cultivated lady, and an earnest Chris- 
tian, who devotes most of her time to contributing to the 
welfare and happiness of her charming family. 
Dr. Benjamin has done much for charity, and esteems 
it a privilege if he can ennoble his profession and be of ser- 
vice to humanity. 316 
DR. LOUIS LIVINGSTON SEAMAN. 
LOUIS LIVINGSTON SEAMAN, M.D., LL.B., 
NEW YORK, N. Y. 
Dr. Louis Livingston Seaman, was born October 17, 
1851, in Newburgh, N. Y., and is the grandson of Valentine 
Seaman, M.D., who introduced vaccination into New 
York in 1799. 
Dr. Valentine Seaman was graduated from the University 
of Pennsylvania in 1792, having been a special student in 
the office of Dr. Benjamin Rush, and during his life filled 
many important stations with honor and distinction. He 
was one of the Surgeons of the New York Hospital from 
1796 till his death in 1817, and was the first surgeon to 
teach clinical surgery in this institution or in America. 
He was President of the Medical College which was the 
forerunner of the present College of Physicians and Sur- 
geons, now a part of Columbia University, and numbered 
among his private office students many who in after years 
attained eminence in their profession, notably Drs. Valen- 
tine Mott, John C. Cheeseman, Isaac Wood, William F. 
Seaman, Thomas Cock, and Kearney Rodgers. His con- 
tributions to medical literature were voluminous and im- 
portant; among them was the first Pharmacopoeia ever 
published in America, a treatise on Midwifery, one on 
Kine Pock and Vaccination, one on Yellow Fever, and 
il A Dissertation on the Mineral Waters of Saratoga," pub- 
lished in 1793, which is most remarkable for the accuracy 
of its analysis as compared with those made in recent 
years. His father, Willett Seaman, was a merchant in 
New York in 1760, and was one of the founders of the 
New York Hospital and one of its original governors. 
To his paternal ancestor, Captain John Seaman, 
Charles I. issued a colonial grant in 1637 at Hempstead 
Plains, L. I. The descendants of Captain Seaman were DR. LOUIS LIVINGSTON SEAMAN. 
317 
prominent in the Dutch, Indian, and Revolutionary Wars, 
no less than twenty-two of them being in one Long Island 
company in the Revolution. 
Dr. Louis Livingston Seaman is descended on his moth- 
er's side from Robert Livingston, Fin t Lord of the Manor, 
and from Philip Livingston, signer of the Declaration of 
Independence. He is also eighth in descent from Colonel 
Abraham de Peyster, who was Mayor of New York in 1691, 
and ninth in descent from Philip Pieterse Schuyler and 
Margritta Van Schlictenhorst, whose families were so con- 
spicuous in the early French, Indian, and Revolutionary 
Wars ; also ninth in descent from Major Hendrick Cuyler, 
who commanded the Albany troops in the French and 
Indian Wars, 1685-'89. 
Dr. Seaman was a member of the first class that entered 
Cornell University in 1868. He commenced the study of 
medicine in 1873, under the preceptorship of Dr. Samuel 
D. Gross, of Philadelphia, at Jefferson Medical College, 
from which he was graduated M.D. in 1876, being the 
gold medalist; was also graduated M.D. from the Univer- 
sity Medical College of the City of New York, after a post- 
graduate course, in 1877; and was graduated LL.B, from 
the University of New York, Law Department, in 1884. 
Dr. Seaman was appointed house physician, Charity 
Hospital, B. I., in 1876, serving one year; was then ap- 
pointed resident surgeon to the New York State Emigrant 
Hospital, Ward's Island, serving two years; was superin- 
tendent of the State Emigrant Insane Asylum, and chief 
resident surgeon to the Emigrant Institutions, W. I., 1879- 
1881. In 1881 he was appointed Chief of Staff of the 
Charity, Maternity, Epileptic and Paralytic, and Peni- 
tentiary Hospitals, Blackwell's Island, and of the Training 
School for Nurses connected with these institutions. He 
remained in this position until 1885. In 1886 he made 
a tour around the world, in the course of which a con- 
siderable time was spent in the hospitals of India and 318 
DR. LOUIS LIVINGSTON SEAMAN. 
China in the study of contagious and epidemic diseases 
peculiar to the Orient. 
Returning to the United States, Dr. Seaman established 
himself in the practice of his profession in New York City, 
in which he has since been engaged. He has been visiting 
physician to the New York Asylum for Lying-in Women 
since 1888, and consulting physician to the Colored 
Orphan Asylum since 1889. 
During his visits to Europe in 1881, 1886, 1890, and 
1892, Dr. Seaman attended lectures at the University of 
Edinburgh and at Vienna, and during the cholera epi- 
demic, in 1892, made a special study of cholera in the 
hospitals of Paris and at Hamburg. 
Dr. Seaman is a member of the American Medical 
Association, Medical Society of the State of New York, 
Medical Society of the County of New York, New York 
County Medical Association, and Fellow of The New York 
Academy of Medicine. He is also a member of the New 
York Medical Union, New York Pathological Society, 
American Association for the Advancement of Science, 
Society of Medical Jurisprudence of New York, American 
Academy of Political and Social Science, International 
Medical Congress, Lotos, Press, Reform, Players' and 
Opera Clubs, and of the Society of Colonial Wars, and is 
Vice-President of the Cornell University Club. 
He has been in the practice of his profession since 
1876, and was a delegate to the International Medical 
Congress, London, 1881, and Berlin in 1890. He has 
devised an apparatus for auscultatory percussion, and 
another for fractured patella, and is the author of papers 
on these subjects, as well as upon the " Social Waste of 
Great Cities," "Prison Labor and Public Utility," etc. 
Dr. Seaman married, in 1889, Miss Fannie Blackstone 
Freeman, of New York City, a great-great-granddaughter 
of Sir William Blackstone, the eminent jurist. Mrs. 
Seaman died in 1895. DR. ISIDOR P. STRITTMATTER. 
319 
ISIDOR P. STRITTMATTER, M.D., 
PHILADELPHIA, PA. 
Isidor Paul Strittmatter, M.D., 999 North Sixth 
Street, Philadelphia, Pa., son of Francis X. and Elizabeth 
M. (Huber) Strittmatter, grandson of Andrew Strittmatter, 
was born August 16, i860, at Carrolltown, Pa. 
With a preparatory education obtained in the public 
schools and at St. Vincent College, Westmoreland County, 
Pa., he began to read medicine in 1877, and attended two 
courses of lectures at Jefferson Medical College, Philadel- 
phia, receiving his degree from that institution in March, 
1881. 
Dr. Strittmatter was interne at the German Hospital, 
Philadelphia, for eight months following graduation; at 
St. Mary's Hospital, Philadelphia, for the year 1882; and 
since that time has been in the private practice of medi- 
cine and surgery in that city. In 1888 he was appointed 
Visiting Surgeon to St. Mary's Hospital, which position 
he resigned in January, 1897, in order to give his time to 
his hospital, which is devoted to general surgery and gynae- 
cology. 
From 1887 until January, 1897, he has conducted this 
private hospital at 999 North Sixth Street, Philadelphia, 
Pa. The building was inadequate to accommodate the 
numerous patients requiring surgical treatment who de- 
sired to avail themselves of Dr. Strittmatter's skill, a cir- 
cumstance which necessitated his making an addition of 
ten rooms to the house, and also a complete and perfect 
operating-room. Dr. Strittmatter uses an operating-table 
of his own devising, which is made of bird's-eye maple, 
beautifully polished, and has all the appurtenances neces- 
sary to make it complete in every respect. 
It was the writer's pleasure to visit Dr. Strittmatter's DR. ISIDOR P. STRITTMATTER. 
320 
"Sanatorium" recently, and the quiet and neatness which 
pervade the entire building impress the visitor as being 
a most delightful "home" to seek relief from the various 
ailments that he specially treats. The capacity permits 
the comfortable housing of twenty patients. The ventila- 
tion is arranged after a special plan, permitting the en- 
trance of air near the floor, and escape of the superheated 
or foul air near the ceiling. 
The halls have vents on the top of the house, permitting 
a complete change of air in a few minutes. The whole 
water-supply of the house passes through a large filter in 
the cellar, is carried to the roof to a 500-gallon tank, from 
which it is again distributed to the various water outlets 
in the house-insuring a constant, abundant, clean water- 
supply. 
Heating facilities are by hot water system, insuring 
equable, desirable temperature. The plumbing is after an 
original plan, the traps being all exposed and located 
either in the halls concealed, or portions of the building 
not used for surgical work or for patients. The traps are 
all arranged to permit of opening, cleansing, and disin- 
fection. The protection against fire consists of a three- 
inch hose attachment reaching to all the floors, while three 
independent stairways, one of which is fire-proof, render 
escape easy and safe. 
Although in favor of using electricity in surgical and 
gynaecological work much less than in past years, each 
private room is supplied with a power of 1000 milliam- 
peres galvanic current, as well as faradic, permitting the 
attachment of current controller and milliamperemeter or 
current breaker for faradic. 
As an operator Dr. Strittmatter is careful; at the same 
time he makes a thorough diagnosis of a case before con- 
senting to operate, as he is not in favor of operating unless 
absolutely necessary. 
He is full of vigor and in the prime of life, is deeply DR. J. RIDDLE GOFFE. 
321 
interested in his chosen profession, and is most solicitous 
to relieve his patients. He is enthusiastic, generous, and 
liberal in his views, and possesses a goodly share of mag- 
netism. 
Dr. Strittmatter during the first year after his gradua- 
tion became a member of the Pathological Society of 
Philadelphia and Philadelphia County Medical Societies, 
feeling a deep interest in their transactions, until his 
rapidly growing private practice prevented his regular at- 
tendance. He is a member of the American Medical 
Association, the Medical Society of the State of Pennsyl- 
vania, the Obstetrical Society of Philadelphia, the James 
Aitken Meigs Medical Association, and of the Northern 
Medical Association of Philadelphia. 
J. RIDDLE GOFFE, PH.B., M.D., 
NEW YORK, N. Y. 
Dr. J. Riddle Goffe was born in Wisconsin, August 
io, 1851. He is descended in direct line from William 
Goffe, the regicide, a friend of Cromwell, and brother-in- 
law of Hampton, one of the judges and signers of the 
death-warrant of Charles I., King of England. As a 
matter of family history, we might add that, upon the 
restoration and accession of Charles II., the King declared 
these judges outlaws, and Judge Goffe, in company with 
Judge Whalley, fled to the United States, and sought the 
protection of the colonists, and were by them secreted and 
protected until their deaths. 
Major John Goffe and Captain John Goffe, descendants 
of the regicide, and direct progenitors of the subject of 
this sketch, held important commands in the Revolu- 
tionary Army. Major Goffe commanded a detachment at 
Ticonderoga, and the old book, giving the roster of the 322 
DR. J. RIDDLE GOFFE. 
officers in his command, is still in the possession of the 
family. Captain John Goffe commanded a detachment 
of New Hampshire troops under General Stark, and has- 
tened with him to the front on the memorable occasion 
when he announced that familiar philippic, "To-morrow 
the enemy are ours, or Mollie Stark is a widow." 
Dr. Goffe's mother, Betsey Riddle, was born in New 
Hampshire, in 1819, and also numbers among her ances- 
tors prominent Revolutionary heroes. 
Dr. Goffe's parents were among the early pioneers in the 
State of Wisconsin, going there with a colony of settlers 
from the State of New Hampshire, which was their original 
home, and at Kenosha, Wis., where they located. 
Dr. Goffe was born on the 10th of August, 1851. He 
took his preparatory course for college in the high school 
of his native town, and entered the Literary Department 
of the University of Michigan in the fall of 1869, gradu- 
ating with his class in 1873. 
While in college Dr. Goffe became a member of the 
Psi Upsilon fraternity. He also acquired some taste for 
journalism by acting as correspondent of the Detroit 
Daily Post, and spent the summer, after his graduation, 
in journalistic work in the city of Cincinnati. In the 
autumn of that year, however, he abandoned the proposed 
career of a journalist and became principal of the public 
schools at La Porte, Indiana, where he continued for five 
years. His leisure hours were spent in studying natural 
sciences and comparative anatomy, which developed a taste 
for the study of medicine. 
In 1879 he entered Bellevue Hospital Medical College, 
in New York City, where he remained two years, gradu- 
ating in 1881, after which he served six months in a branch 
of Charity Hospital, and the succeeding eighteen months 
in the Woman's Hospital. Upon leaving the Woman's 
Hospital, in the spring of 1883, he began a regular practice 
in New York City. The experience gained at the Woman's DR. J. RIDDLE GOFFE. 
323 
Hospital naturally directed his professional efforts in the 
line of gynaecology, of which he has made a specialty. 
Dr. Goffe has made a name for himself among his medi- 
cal and surgical confreres by contributing to surgical sci- 
ence an original method for disposing of the pedicle in 
supravaginal hysterectomy for fibroid tumors. 
This operation was an effort to perfect a satisfactory 
method of dropping the pedicle into the pelvic cavity, 
thus disposing of it according to the method adopted in 
disposing of the pedicle after ovariotomy. It was first de- 
vised and employed by Dr. Goffe in an operation which 
was performed by him May 29, 1888, and was repeated on 
three other cases in rather rapid succession, all of which 
recovered. It was presented to the Obstetric Section of 
The New York Academy of Medicine, in March, 1890, and 
published in the A merican Journal of Obstetrics and Dis- 
eases of Women and Children, vol. xxiii. No. 4, April, 1890. 
The method has been compared to that of Schroder, but 
it differs from Schroder's in two or three important par- 
ticulars, which consist, first, in large, distinct peritoneal 
flaps with which the stump and all traumatic tissue involved 
in the operation are buried beneath the peritoneum; sec- 
ond, the method of controlling hemorrhage from the ute- 
rine artery inside of these flaps, so there is no puncture of 
the peritoneum. The advantages of the operation over 
the method of total extirpation are: 1st. That it restores 
the pelvic organs to their normal relations in the pelvis. 
2d. It requires less time. 3d. It is more easily done ; and, 
4th, the local after treatment is nil. 
The operation has been adopted by many operators, 
among whom may be mmtioned Dr. Haywood Smith and 
Dr. Treves, of London, and Dr. Baer, of Philadelphia. 
Dr. Goffe has since reported fifteen cases done by this 
operation with only one death. 
Dr. Goffe's first and very unexpected attempt at surgical 
work consisted in ligating, in case of hemorrhage, the deep 324 
DR. J. RIDDLE GOFFE. 
and superficial femoral arteries. This occurred while he 
was reading medicine during his final year as Principal of 
the High School. It so happened that one day he found 
upon the railroad track, along which a freight-train had 
just passed, a man who had evidently just been run over 
by the train. The left leg was crushed and bruised in 
several places and the bones broken, and through a large 
wound in the upper part of the thigh the deep and super- 
ficial femoral arteries could be seen bleeding. Hastily 
obtaining a piece of tarred twine from the baggage-room 
of the station near by, he threw ligatures around the 
arteries and had the hemorrhage entirely under control 
when the surgeon arrived. 
Dr. Goffe has written many papers bearing upon the 
subject of gynaecology, some of which have been perma- 
nent and lasting contributions to the advancement of that 
specialty. Among these may be mentioned his article on 
"The Differentiation of Pelvic Cellulitis," read before the 
Alumni Association of the Woman's Hospital in 1884, in 
which the author took the position that, for all practical 
purposes, in the consideration of pelvic inflammations in 
women the all-important feature was a localized peri- 
tonitis, and not a cellulitis; in other words, he differen- 
tiated pelvic cellulitis out of existence. Among his other 
papers may be mentioned " The Treatment of Chronic 
Endometritis;" "Re-opening the Abdomen for Acute 
Septic Peritonitis, following Coeliotomy;" "In What 
Way can Uterine Disease be Prevented?" "Some Prac- 
tical Points in Diagnosis-Normal and Abnormal Posi- 
tion of the Uterus." Also his article on " Caesarean Sec- 
tion, with Report of a Case," in which he was associated 
with Dr. A. B. Tucker; and "The Development of the 
Intrapelvic Treatment of the Stump after Hysterectomy 
for Fibroid Tumors, and its Present Status." 
At the time of writing Dr. Goffe is First Vice-President 
of the New York Obstetrical Society, and holds the posi- DR. J. RIDDLE GOFFE. 
325 
tion of Visiting Gynaecologist to the New York City Hos- 
pital and Assistant Gynaecologist to the New York Skin 
and Cancer Hospital. Upon leaving the Woman's Hos- 
pital as interne, Dr. Goffe became at once connected with 
the New York Polyclinic Medical School and Hospital, 
where he went through the various lower grades of Assistant, 
Instructor, Lecturer, Adjunct Professor, and, finally, Pro- 
fessor of Gynaecology, to which position he was appointed 
in 1894. In January, 1895, he was elected Secretary of 
the Faculty of that institution, which position he still 
holds. 
Dr. Goffe's early experience in journalistic work de- 
veloped a fluency in writing, which has availed him 
greatly in his medical career. In 1892 he became con- 
nected with the American Medico-Surgical Bulletin, and 
assumed charge of the departments of Gynaecology, Ob- 
stetrics, and Paediatrics, which he conducted for two 
years. This position he resigned to become editor of 
the New York Polyclinic, which position he also held for 
two years. In January, 1896, he resigned from this posi- 
tion and assumed the editorship of the Medical News, 
which at that date removed its home from Philadelphia 
to New York; the latter position he still holds. 
Dr. Goffe is a member of the American Gynaecological 
Society, the New York Obstetrical Society, The New 
York Academy of Medicine, Medical Society of the 
County of New York, etc. He also is a member of the 
University Club. 
In 1890 Dr. Goffe married Miss Eleanor Taylor, a young 
lady prominent in New York society and daughter of an 
old Massachusetts family. ER. MARGARET A. CLEAVES. 
326 
MARGARET A. CLEAVES, M.D., 
NEW YORK, N. Y. 
Dr. Margaret Abigail Cleaves was born in Louisa 
County, Iowa. Her father was of Dutch and English 
lineage and her mother of Scotch and Irish, but by birth 
both were Americans. Her father, Dr. John Trow Cleaves, 
was born in Yarmouth, Maine, in 1813, and her mother, 
Elizabeth Stronach, in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1820. In 
1843 they were married, in Columbus City, Louisa County, 
Iowa, where D". Cleaves practiced medicine until his death, 
in October, 1863. He was a man of high standing in his 
profession, but found time to devote to public affairs, in 
which he took a deep interest. He was twice elected a 
member of the Iowa Legislature, in 1852 and 1861. 
Margaret was the third of seven children. Her educa- 
tion was obtained in the public schools and in the Iowa 
State University, but, because of limited means, she was 
unable to finish the collegiate course in the latter institu- 
tion. She began teaching before her sixteenth birthday, 
and alternately attended and taught school for several 
years afterward. 
In 1868 the family moved to Davenport, Iowa. There 
Margaret resolved to become a doctor instead of continu- 
ing teaching, and entered upon the study of medicine. 
She feels that the influence which determined her choice 
of this profession was that of her father, whose intimate 
companion she was from her earliest recollection. 
In 1870 she entered the Medical Department of the 
State University of Iowa, and in 1871 entered the office 
of her preceptor, Dr. W. F. Peck, who was Dean of the 
Faculty and Professor of Surgery in the University. She 
accompanied him in his professional work, saw all sorts of 
cases, and assisted at surgical operations. She was gradu- DR. MARGARET A. CLEAVES. 
327 
ated from this University March 5, 1873, standing at the 
head of her class. 
Shortly afterward she was appointed Second Assistant 
Physician in the State Hospital for the Insane, Mount 
Pleasant, Iowa, where, while attending with great earn- 
estness to the study of her profession, she found full scope 
for the broad charity and refined humanity of her nature. 
She was a veritable pioneer in such work, for, up to that 
time, only one other woman in the world had occupied 
the position of physician to the insane, and she was a 
contemporary. Dr. Cleaves remained in the hospital 
three years, and then resigned to commence private prac- 
tice in Davenport. She was subsequently appointed one 
of the trustees of the asylum. She testified as insanity 
expert in cases of murder and forgery in the Iowa courts 
in 1876 and 1877. It has been said that she has done 
more to influence having women appointed as physicians 
to insane hospitals than any other person. 
In 1878 she was President of the Alumni Association of 
the Medical Department of the State University of Iowa. 
While practicing medicine in Davenport she became a 
member of the Scott County Medical Society, being the 
second woman admitted to that body, and the first to be an 
active member. For several years she was its Secretary. She 
also joined the Iowa State Medical Society, to which she was 
again the second woman to gain admission, and the first 
to become an active member, and was the first woman 
admitted to the Iowa and Illinois Central District Medi- 
cal Association. While residing in Davenport she was an 
active member of the Davenport Academy of Sciences. 
In 1879 the Board of Trustees of the Iowa State Hospi- 
tal for the Insane choose her their delegate to the National 
Conference of Charities, which that year met at Chicago. 
In that conference she read a paper on "The Medical 
and Moral Care of Female Patients in Hospitals for the 
Insane." It attracted widespread attention and was DR. MARGARET A. CLEAVES. 
328 
printed in a volume-Lunacy in Many Lands-which was 
published by the Government of New South Wales. In 
June, 1880, she was appointed by the Governor of Iowa 
a State Delegate to the National Conference of Charities 
in Cleveland, Ohio, and thus the distinction was conferred 
upon her of being the first female delegate from Iowa to 
that body. She reported for the State to the conference, 
and her report was subsequently incorporated in the Gov- 
ernor's Annual Message. 
That same year she was appointed Physician-in-Chief in 
the Female Department of the Pennsylvania State Lunatic 
Hospital, in Harrisburg, another position never before held 
by a woman. During this time she was a member of the 
Dauphin County Medical Society and the Medical Society 
of the State of Pennsylvania. In 1881 she was sent as a 
delegate to the annual meeting of the National Association 
of Medical Superintendents for Asylums for the Insane by 
the Board of Trustees of the Pennsylvania State Lunatic 
Hospital, and also by the same Board to the annual meet- 
ing of the National Conference of Charities at Boston. 
After three years of hard work Dr. Cleaves was compelled, 
by failing health, to resign her position. Her annual 
reports will be found in the published reports of the 
Hospital. 
She went abroad in 1883, remaining nearly two years, 
visiting insane hospitals in Scotland, England, France, 
Italy, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Belgium, every- 
where receiving flattering courtesies from men of recog- 
nized eminence in the treatment of insanity. She witnessed 
operations in general hospitals in England, France, and 
Germany, and in Paris was for several months a regular 
attendant at lectures and clinics. 
After returning to the United States she opened in Des 
Moines, Iowa, a private home for the treatment of patients, 
conducting also an office practice in connection with her 
work. In March, 1885, she was appointed one of the DR. MARGARET A. CLEAVES. 
329 
Examining Committee of the Medical Department of the 
State University of Iowa. It was the first honor of that 
kind bestowed on a woman by any standard medical school 
in the United States. In July, 1886, she was sent as a 
State delegate to the annual meeting of the National Con- 
ference of Charities, which was held in St. Paul, Minn. 
During her residence in Des Moines she was an active 
member of the Polk County Medical Society, the Medical 
Society of the Missouri Valley, and of the Iowa State 
Medical Society. Before all these societies she read papers, 
and served the last-named body as Chairman of Obstetrics 
and Gynaecology in 1889, being the only woman in this 
Society who had ever received such an appointment up to 
that time. 
Her work was not confined to medicine alone. She 
took a deep interest in whatever pertained to the advance- 
ment of woman, and in 1880 became a member of the 
Association for the Advancement of Women. She organ- 
ized the Des Moines Woman's Club in 1885, and was its 
first President, and in the same year assisted in organizing 
the Marshalltown Woman's Club, of which she is now an 
honorary member. 
Becoming interested in electro-therapeutics she went to 
New York in 1887, and to Paris to Apostoli in 1888, to 
prosecute her investigations. After her return she con- 
tinued to practice in Des Moines, but in 1890 retired from 
that field and opened an office in New York. 
Dr. Margaret A. Cleaves has written various papers 
which have been read before numerous societies. Many 
have been published, both in Europe and America, and 
all of them are distinguished by painstaking research, 
clearness of statement, and logical reasoning. Among 
them are: " Mental Responsibility in the Commission of 
Crime," Scott County Medical Society, Davenport, Iowa, 
1876. " Insanity a Physical Disease, and the Necessity for 
its Early Recognition by the General Physician," Ibid., ER. MARGARET A. CLEAVES. 
330 
i877« "Medical and Moral Care of the Female Patient 
in the Hospitals for the Insane,'' Transactions National 
Conference of Charities, Chicago, June, 1879. " Nervous 
and Mental Phenomena Associated with Pelvic Disease,'' 
Iowa State Medical Society, 1878; Transactions of the Iowa 
Medical Society, 1879. "Neurasthenia and its Relation 
to Diseases of Women,'' Ibid., 1880. "Treatment of 
Uterine Fibroids by Electrolysis," Ibid., 1887. "Women's 
Dress; Its Influence on the Body,'' Medical Society of the 
Missouri Valley; Omaha Clinic, 1888. "Vesical Hemor- 
rhage in Pregnancy, with Report of a Case,'' Kings County 
Medical Association, Brooklyn, N. Y. ; New York Medical 
Record, 1890. " The Colony of Insane at Gheel," Belgium; 
Medico-Legal Society, 1891; Journal of Mental Sciences, 
London, England, April, 1891. "The Chemistry of Food 
and Nutrition," Brooklyn Woman's Club. " The Franklinic 
Current in the Treatment of Disease,'' Alumni Association 
of The Woman's Medical College of the New York In- 
firmary, 1892. " Franklinization in Mental Diseases," 
Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, March 1, 1892. 
"The Use of the Galvanic Current in Articular Inflam- 
matory Exudations," American Electro-Therapeutic Asso- 
ciation, Philadelphia, September 9, 1892; Times and Regis- 
ter, Philadelphia, 1892. " Metallic Electrolysis," American 
Electro-Therapeutic Association, Chicago, September, 
1893; Journal of the American Medical Association, Revue 
Internationale d' Electrotherapie, and in Transactions of 
the American Electro-Therapeutic Association, 1893. "The 
Sinusoidal Current and its Use," New York Electro- 
Therapeutic Society, 1893. " A New Electrode for Hydro- 
electric Applications of the Continuous Current," NewYork 
Medical Record, 1894; Revue Internationale d' Electro- 
therapie ; A rchives d' Elec tricite, Me die ale, Experimentales 
et Clinique, 1894. " Special Hydro-electric Applications," 
American Electro-Therapeutic Association, New York, 
September, 1894, Journal of the American Medical Asso- DR. MARGARET A. CLEAVES. 
331 
ciation, 1894; and in Transactions of the American Electro- 
Therapeutic Association, 1894. "Means of Controlling 
the So-called Static Induced," Ibid., and Archives d' Elec- 
tricite, Medicale, Experimentales et Cliniques. "Electric 
Light as a Diagnostic and Therapeutic Agent," presented 
to the American Electro-Therapeutic Association, New 
York, September, 1894; Ibid. "Franklinization as a 
Therapeutic Measure in Neurasthenia," American Medical 
Association, Atlanta, 1896 ; Journal of the American Med- 
ical Association, 1896. "The Expenditure of Electrical 
Energy," American Electro-Therapeutic Association, Bos- 
ton; Transactions of the American Electro-Therapeutic 
Association, 1896. 
In 1891-1892 Dr. Cleaves edited the Asylum Notes for 
the Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease. 
Dr. Cleaves is a Fellow of the Medical Society of the 
County of New York, The New York Academy of Med- 
icine, American Medical Association, and American 
Electro-Therapeutic Association, Associate Member of 
the Alumnae Association of The Women's Medical College 
of the New York Infirmary, Societe Fran^aise d'Electro- 
therapie, New York Electrical Society, and American 
Authors' Guild. 
In October, 1892, she was unanimously elected Secre- 
tary of the American Electro-Therapeutic Association, 
and again appeared as a pioneer, which she essentially has 
been in the avenues now open to women. She served the 
Association in this capacity for two years. 
She was Instructor in Electro-therapeutics at the Post- 
Graduate Medical School for three years, and for five years 
past has lectured on this subject, both at the Post-Graduate 
Medical School and at her own clinic, known as the New 
York Electro-Therapeutic Clinic, Laboratory, and Dis- 
pensary, and to physicians from every part of the United 
States, both men and women, largely the former. 
Since 1892 she has held the position of Chairman of the 332 
ER. MARGARET A. CLEAVES. 
Committee on Standard Meters for the American Electro 
Therapeutic Association, and has also served as a member 
of the Committee on Static Machines and Condensers, 
and on the Committee on Electric Light Apparatus for 
Diagnosis and Therapy. 
In April, 1895, s^e founded the New York Electro- 
Therapeutic Clinic, Laboratory, and Dispensary, which 
was opened for work April 6, 1895. This was the first 
clinic devoted exclusively to teaching electro-therapeutics. 
The double purpose of the clinic is to aid in the advance 
of electro-therapeutics by original research, and interest- 
ing results have been obtained in defining the value of 
negative insulation for static application, and instructing 
practitioners and students of medicine in electro-therapeu- 
tics and the electrical treatment of the poor. The clinic 
is thoroughly equipped with all the best modern electrical 
apparatus used in medicine. 
Dr. Cleaves's work, almost her entire student and pro- 
fessional life, has been among and with men, and she 
occupies the unusual position of a woman who is sought 
after as a teacher by men in the profession from all over 
the United States. For the five years in which she has 
taught electro-therapeutics the majority of her pupils have 
been men. In no way has Dr. Cleaves ever been made 
to feel that there was anything unusual in her position, 
the relation between her and her students being one of 
bon camaraderie. She has been dependent upon herself 
throughout her entire career. 
Though a very busy woman and her chosen fields of 
labor and study have taken her far away from the paths 
followed by most women, she has sacrificed none of those 
sweet, helpful, and peculiarly womanly characteristics' 
which endear her to her friends. She is a woman who 
combines in a most felicitous way gentleness of speech 
and manner, with firmness of character. She has keen 
insight and quick sympathies, yet cool judgment. DR. 7: G. RICHARDSON. 
333 
PROF. T. G. RICHARDSON, M.D., 
LATE DEAN OF THE TULANE UNIVERSITY, NEW ORLEANS, LA. 
On May 26, 1892, at 8.30 p.m., the spirit of a revered 
teacher and valued citizen passed away to its rest. While 
his death was not a surprise to those who knew of his long 
and painful illness, still it came as a shock to the many 
who owed a large part of their medical training to Dr. 
Richardson. 
Dr. Richardson was born at Lexington, Ky., January 
3, 1827, and was the son of William Richardson, for many 
years before his death cashier of the Northern Bank of 
Kentucky, Louisville. His mother was Synia Higgins, 
whose father was a contemporary and personal friend of 
Daniel Boone. 
In 1837 he removed with his parents to Louisville, and 
in 1845 matriculated in the Medical Department of the 
University of Louisville. The same year he entered the 
office of Professor S. D. Gross, M.D., as a private pupil, 
having as a companion Dr. Nathan Bozeman, now of 
New York, who was also his classmate at the University. 
In 1847 he was appointed resident student of the Louis- 
ville Marine Hospital. He graduated at the University 
in the spring of 1848, and immediately afterward was 
appointed by the Faculty demonstrator of anatomy, which 
position he filled for eight years. During a large portion 
of this period he was engaged in anatomical investigations, 
and in 1853 published a large volume, entitled Elements 
of Human Anatomy, besides occasional contributions to 
the Western Journal of Medicine. This medical periodical 334 
DR. T. G. RICHARDSON. 
being suspended in 1855, he founded the Louisville 
Review in connection with Professor Gross. 
Resigning the position of demonstrator of anatomy at 
Louisville, in 1856, he was at once offered the chair of 
anatomy in the New York Medical College, that of surgery 
in the Kentucky School of Medicine, and that of anatomy 
in the Medical Department of the Pennsylvania College, 
at Philadelphia. He decided to accept the latter, and re- 
moved to Philadelphia in the fall of 1856. While there 
he established, in conjunction with Professor Gross, who 
had accepted the chair of surgery in the Jefferson Medical 
College, the North American Medico-Chirurgical Review, 
and continued to act as junior editor until its suspension, 
in 1862, although he had in the meantime removed to 
another field of duty. While at the Pennsylvania Medical 
College he was associated with Professors Alfred Stille, 
Francis Gurney Smith, and other gentlemen well known 
to the profession throughout the United States as teachers 
and authors. 
In 1858 he was invited to the chair of anatomy in the 
medical department of the University of Louisiana, to 
succeed Prof. Nott, and removed to New Orleans in the 
latter part of the year. This school was at that time one 
of the largest in the country, and, with such distinguished 
professors as the late Warren Stone, M.D., Thomas Hunt, 
M.D., and others of like distinction, attracted annually 
more than four hundred students. He was at the same time 
appointed one of the attending surgeons to the Charity 
Hospital, and lectured upon clinical surgery in addition 
to his didactic lectures upon anatomy in the medical 
college. He was the first to perform successfully the 
operation of vesico-vaginal fistula, after the method of Dr. 
Nathan Bozeman, which had then but recently been intro- 
duced to the profession. He soon became engaged in a 
large surgical practice, which was only interrupted by the 
outbreak of the civil war. DR. T. G. RICHARDSON. 
335 
Leaving New Orleans before its capture by the Federal 
forces, in 1862, he joined the Confederate Army of Ten- 
nessee, of which he was made practically, although not 
nominally, assistant medical director, and subsequently 
medical inspector on the staff of Major General Braxton 
Bragg. He was present on the field at the battles of 
Murfreesboro, Chickamauga, and Missionary Ridge, in 
the second of which it became his melancholy duty to 
amputate the thigh of the gallant Major-General Hood. 
He accompanied General Bragg, after the retirement of 
that distinguished officer from the Army of Tennessee, to 
Richmond, where he continued his duties as medical in- 
spector during the summer of 1864, and by request of the 
surgeon in charge, Dr. Hancock, and the attending sur- 
geons, Drs. Cabell, Hoyt, Tom, and Wellford, he per- 
formed a large part of the capital operations at the immense 
hospital after the battles of Rapidan, Spottsylvania Court 
House, and Cold Harbor. He subsequently accompanied 
General Bragg to North Carolina as medical director of 
that department, and was present on the field at the battle 
of Averysboro, and also that of Bentonville, where a mere 
handful of Confederates, under General J. E Johnson, 
made their last unsuccessful fight. 
Still adhering to the fortunes of his friend and chief, 
General Bragg, he joined the retreating column of govern- 
ment officials, with President Davis at its head, and con- 
tinued with them until the formal dissolution of the Con- 
federate Cabinet, at Washington, Ga., and the dispersion 
of its members. 
He returned to New Orleans in the succeeding fall, and 
resumed his position in the University of Louisiana, and 
was immediately chosen Dean of the Medical Faculty. In 
1873, upon the resignation of Professor Warren Stone 
from the chair of surgery, he became his successor, and his 
ability as a director and teacher aided in elevating the 
college to its present high standing. DR. T. G. RICHARDSON. 
336 
In 1877 he was elected president of the American 
Medical Association, at its annual meeting in Chicago, 
and presided at the subsequent meeting in Buffalo, 
N. Y. 
For a number of years he devoted the summer months 
to travel. He travelled over all the ground usually cov- 
ered by tourists, and besides a large amount of territory 
not often visited by them. He crossed the Atlantic many 
times; spent two summers in Mexico ; ascended the Ama- 
zon ; scaled the Andes ; visited the Sandwich Islands, and 
went up and down his own country until no place of im- 
portance had been left unseen. In all of his journeyings 
he was accompanied by his devoted wife; she wras one of 
the three ladies who first looked down into the crater of 
Popocatapetl. 
In addition to the literary productions mentioned, Dr. 
Richardson contributed a number of articles to the New 
Orleans Medical and Surgical Journal and the Medical 
News and Library of Philadelphia. He also wrote a life 
of the distinguished anatomist and naturalist, Professor 
John D. Godman. He was a corresponding member of 
the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Philadelphia 
and of the Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, 
and an active member of the Louisiana State and the 
Orleans Parish Medical Society (representative men of the 
South). 
For many years Professor Richardson was a member and 
elder of the First Presbyterian Church, counting its pastor, 
Dr. B. M. Palmer, among his most valued friends. 
Dr. Richardson was married twice. His first wife was 
the daughter of Professor Charles W. Short, M.D., of 
Kentucky. Three children blessed this marriage. A tragic 
fate overtook the mother and children. They were on a 
steamboat coming down the Mississippi to join him; the 
boat sank, and among the victims were Dr. Richardson's 
wife and children. DR. T. G. RICHARDSON. 
337 
His second wife was Miss Ida Slocomb, daughter of 
Mrs. Cora A. Slocomb, who survives him. 
As an administrator of the Tulane University, from its 
origin in 1884, he was zealous in behalf of the Medical 
Department, and secured for it important benefits. He 
never failed to encourage and aid his successor in every- 
thing calculated to promote the welfare of the college; 
and the very last official letter, written two years after his 
retirement from active service, to the Dean of the Medical 
Department, proved conclusively his unalterable devotion 
to his beloved college and his judicious and generous appre- 
ciation of its needs. In this memorable letter of March 3, 
1891, Dr. Richardson wrote: "lam authorized by Mrs. 
Richardson to place at your disposal $50,000 for the erec- 
tion of a building for laboratories of chemistry, physiology, 
pathological anatomy, microscopy, etc., and for suitable 
anatomical rooms, provided that for this purpose the Fac- 
ulty can obtain from the administrators of the Tulane 
University of Louisiana either of the two lots contiguous 
to the building of the Medical Department; work upon 
the new building to be begun within a year of this 
date. " 
The Medical Faculty replied, March 6, 1891, as fol- 
lows: "The generous and philanthropic offer of Mrs. 
Richardson to contribute $50,000 for the building of labor- 
atories, on which now depend the future progress and 
prosperity of the Medical Department, is most gratefully 
accepted. In addition to the respect, affection, and ad- 
miration that her gentle and noble character arouses in all 
who know her, Mrs. Richardson has by this act deserved 
the profound and lasting gratitude of all who have at heart 
the welfare of New Orleans, the relief of human suffering, 
and the gratitude especially of those on whom is imposed 
the duty of promoting the prosperity of the Medical 
Department. 
" Professor T. G. Richardson, M.D., for very many 338 
DR. T. G. RICHARDSON. 
years our honored colleague and Dean, is earnestly solic- 
ited to become the chief counsellor and agent of the Fac- 
ulty in everything that may concern the expenditure of 
this gift, to the end that every dollar may be disbursed 
prudently and wisely for the greatest benefit of the Med- 
ical Department, of the public, and to the perfect satis- 
faction of the donor." 
Difficulties arose as to securing either of the lots con- 
tiguous to the old building; the Faculty did not desire 
the responsibility of taking charge of the donation, and 
for other reasons a letter was addressed, May 9, 1891, to 
United States Senator R. L. Gibson, President of the 
Board of Administrators, signed " Ida A. Richardson, ap- 
proved T. G. Richardson," which was briefly as follows: 
" If the administrators will furnish a suitable site for a 
medical college I will contribute $100,000 toward the 
erection of the building, to be paid from time to time as 
the work progresses." The administrators accepted this 
donation, and provided, at an expense of $35,000, an 
admirable site. 
Such is a brief history of the inception of the new col- 
lege building, due to the conjoint liberality of T. G. Rich- 
ardson and his wife, Ida A. Slocomb. Their timely gift 
will prove an incalculable advantage to the college, to 
many generations of its students, and to the cause of med- 
ical education, on which depend those inestimable bless- 
ings to the people, the prevention and cure of disease. 
Radiating from our city, these blessings will be disseminated 
far and wide over our land, and will be shared by count- 
less sufferers-by the rich and the blest, and yet even more 
by the destitute and the wretched. Our new building will 
stand an enduring monument not only to the generosity 
and worth of the donors, but also to their exceptionally 
enlightened appreciation of the value of medical knowl- 
edge to the welfare of the people ; and this building will 
serve as a memorial to bind in lasting union two names DR. T. G. RICHARDSON. 
339 
which were united for nearly twenty-five years (November 
12, 1868, to May 26, 1892,) in faithful and devoted 
love. 
Dr. Richardson's influence in behalf of the college did 
not end with his life. Through him exceptionally appre- 
ciating the needs of medical education, and in loving 
remembrance of him, Mrs. Ida A. Richardson has added 
very largely to the original gift in order that everything 
lacking and indispensable to insure the usefulness of the 
new building may be supplied. 
Dr. Richardson added honor to his profession by con- 
tributing liberally to every good cause, not only money, 
but also the great influence which high character and great 
ability gave him. He was one of the largest contributors 
toward building the monument erected at Danville, Ky., 
to the memory of Ephraim McDowell, M.D. Though 
racked by agonizing pain, and fully conscious that death 
was near at hand, the anti-lottery cause, involved in 
doubtful conflict, had no friend, in like pitiable condition, 
so resolute and so valuable, and none less bitter to 
opponents. 
Hand-in-hand with his beloved and honored wife, he 
crowned these numerous and invaluable services to his 
contemporaries, within and without the medical profession, 
by contributing with a liberality, unexampled in the 
South, to the progress of medical education, for the 
benefit of generations to live after him. 
Surely if any man, then this man "wrought his life in 
noble deeds"; the medical profession profited by his 
labors, and mankind is better for his living. He taught 
well by precept, yet better still by example, and he has 
strengthened many to serve profession and humanity less 
selfishly. During his professional life there have lived 
many thousands of physicians, and of all these thousands 
I know not one throughout the United States who better 
served, and not one throughout the extended length and 340 
DR. T. G. RICHARDSON. 
breadth of the South who as well served the medical 
profession as did Dr. Richardson. 
He possessed superior characteristics, which, during the 
intimacy of long friendship, specially attracted and im- 
pressed me. He had a profound and active mind, eager 
to the last for new knowledge, and earnest in search of 
truth, however unpalatable it might prove. Hence he 
was always a student and in step with the onward march 
of medical science. He regarded every subject broadly 
and from every side, and often surprised me by his 
thorough knowledge and appreciation of the arguments 
of those whose conclusions he opposed. The breadth of 
his mind and the extent of his knowledge, both of science 
and of human nature, rendered him tolerant of opinions 
opposed to his own, and charitable to human frailties. 
He possessed pre eminently one of the distinguishing 
marks of great ability, not only the mastery of many 
details, but a profound comprehension of the elementary 
principles which bind details together and on which these 
are founded. 
He was distinguished not only for physical, but also for 
great moral courage. Actuated by a high sense of duty, 
he more than fulfilled whatever he promised, and was 
exceptionally punctual and efficient. He never subordi- 
nated official duty to personal convenience or private 
obligations, and used office and its influence not for self, 
but for the general welfare. 
He abhorred hypocrisy, falsehood, prevarication, scan- 
dal, and gossip with a vehemence proportionate, as is 
usual, to nobility of soul. Profanity, obscenity, vulgar 
wit met with no assumption of " I am holier than thou," 
but were ignored as if unheard. 
Beneath a calm, manner and habitual reserve in the 
expression of his emotions, there throbbed a loving and a 
loyal heart. In his friendships he manifested the unusual 
combination of saying little but doing much, so that his DR. JOSEPH EASTMAN. 
341 
deeds in behalf of friends who needed his services always 
surpassed their expectations, and the longer he was known 
the greater was the trust reposed in him and the higher 
the value attached to his friendship. 
[The foregoing sketch of Professor T. G. Richardson 
has, by permission, been made chiefly of extracts from the 
June, 1892, number of the New Orleans Medical and 
Surgical Journal, and from the Memorial Address on the 
professional services of T. G Richardson, M.D., delivered 
April 5, 1893, by Professor Stanford E. Chailie, A.M., 
M.D., Dean of the Medical Department, Tulane University, 
New Orleans, La.-The Author.] 
JOSEPH EASTMAN, M.D., LL.D., 
PRESIDENT OF THE CENTRAL COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS AND 
SURGEONS, INDIANAPOLIS, IND. 
Dr. Joseph Eastman, of Indianapolis, Ind., was born in 
the Bleecker Mountains in Fulton Co., N. Y., in 1842. 
He is the son of Rilus Eastman, who was born in Amherst, 
Mass., his ancestors being among the earliest settlers in 
New England. The Doctor's mother's name was Catherine 
Jipson. She was of German descent. 
Dr. Eastman's early education was confined to winter 
schools and night study; on reaching the age of eighteen 
he became a proficient blacksmith, having worked three 
years at that trade. 
At the breaking out of the Civil War, early in 1861, he 
enlisted as a volunteer in the 77th N. Y.; went to the front 
and took part in four battles. After the battle of Williams- 
burg he became a victim of fever, and was sent to Mt. 
Pleasant Hospital, Washington, D. C. After his recovery, 
Dr. Charles A. McCall and Dr. Harrison Allen (both now 
in Philadelphia) placed him on medical duty in that hos- 342 
DR. JOSEPH EASTMAN. 
pital, later having him discharged from his regiment and 
appointed Hospital Steward in the U. S. Army. Through 
the courtesy of these doctors he was permitted to attend 
three courses of medical lectures in the University of 
Georgetown, where he was graduated in 1865. He then 
passed the army examination and was commissioned 
Assistant Surgeon to the United States Volunteers, and 
served in that capacity until May, 1866, when he was 
mustered out of service at Nashville, Tenn. 
On his way home from the army he stopped at Indian- 
apolis, and located in a country village a few miles west 
of the city, where he followed the general practice of medi- 
cine and surgery for a period of nine years. In 1868 he 
married a daughter of Thomas Barker, of Indianapolis. In 
1870-71 he attended a course of lectures in the Bellevue 
Hospital Medical College, where he was again graduated 
in 1871. At the solicitation of Drs. Parvin and Walker 
he accepted the position of Demonstrator of Anatomy in 
the College of Physicians and Surgeons in Indianapolis, 
locating in that city in November, 1875. Soon after he 
was appointed Consulting Surgeon to the City Hospital, 
a position which he held for nine years, delivering lec- 
tures on Clinical Surgery during that time. During this 
same period he assisted Professor Parvin, now of Phila- 
delphia, in most of his gynecological operations. In 1879 
Dr. Eastman was one of the organizers of the Central 
College of Physicians and Surgeons, of Indianapolis, ac- 
cepting the Chair of Anatomy and Clinical Surgery. After 
having taught anatomy in the two colleges for seven ses- 
sions a special chair was established in the last-named 
institution, that of Diseases of Women and Abdominal 
Surgery, which he has held ever since. For the last seven 
years he has been President of this college. 
Since 1886 Dr. Eastman has limited his practice abso- 
lutely to diseases of women and abdominal surgery. Dur- 
ing this period he has opened the abdominal cavity over DR. JOSEPH EASTMAN. 
343 
500 times and performed hysterectomy, suprapubic and 
infrapubic, over 120 times. 
His Private Sanatorium for Diseases of Women and 
Abdominal Surgery, five stories high, with an elevator 
and the most modern facilities of every kind to render 
his work successful, speaks plainly of what an indomitable 
energy in the surgical type of a man will accomplish. He 
is the second in the world, and the only American sur- 
geon who, in operating for extra-uterine pregnancy, has 
dissected out the entire sac which contained a living child, 
and saved the life of both mother and child (see Hirst's 
American Obstetrics, vol. ii. pp. 269, 270). While yet 
doing general surgery he exsected the knee-joint five times, 
with five recoveries and five useful limbs; and performed 
lithotomy five times in the male, with five recoveries. 
At the beginning of his special work he visited the 
hospitals of London, Birmingham, Paris, Strassburg, 
Munich, Vienna, Leipsic, Dresden, Halle, and Berlin, 
critically examining the methods of the distinguished 
operators in the department of diseases of women and 
abdominal surgery. 
In 1891, in recognition of his original professional work, 
the degree of LL.D, was conferred upon him by Wabash 
College, the first and only time in the history of this old 
institution that this honor has been given to a medical 
man. 
The Doctor has one daughter, Mary, and two sons, 
Thomas B. and Joseph R. Eastman, associated with their 
father in practice and teaching. 
Dr. Eastman is a member of the American Medical 
Association, and at their meeting last June in Milwaukee, 
was elected Chairman of the Section of Obstetrics and 
Diseases of Women. DR. ALBERT VANDER VEER. 
344 
ALBERT VANDER VEER, M.D., A.M., Ph.D., 
ALBANY, N. Y. 
Physicians are, without doubt, among the most impor- 
tant members of a community. From the very nature of 
their profession, they are thoughtful, sharp-sighted men, 
always abreast of the knowledge of the times, and ready 
to apply it as opportunity affords. In public life, when- 
ever the time or inclination for such labor exists, the 
physician is pre-eminently the man whose work will re- 
dound to the credit of the community in which it is done. 
Fortunate, indeed, is the city whose leading physicians find 
time to aid in the conduct of its affairs. 
The subject of this sketch, Dr. Albert Vander Veer, 
although scarcely of middle age, has attained a prominence 
in his profession which easily makes him its local head as 
well as places him far along in the ranks of its recognized 
leaders. He was born in the village of Leatherville, in 
the town of Root, Montgomery County, State of New 
York, on July io, 1841. His father was an energetic and 
successful business man, whose tanneries gave the name to 
the place. His early education was received at the public 
school at Palatine and at the Canajoharie Academy. 
When eighteen years of age Albert Vander Veer began 
the study of medicine, for which he had a strong inclina- 
tion, with the late Dr. Simeon Snow, of Currytown, New 
York. After a year's work on the rudiments the young 
man came to Albany and entered the office of the late Dr. 
John Swinburne. During the years 1861 and 1862 he 
attended the lectures of the Albany Medical College, where 
so many physicians of prominence have been taught the 
elements of the profession. In the spring of 1862 the 
student, now thoroughly imbued with ardor for his profes- DR. ALBERT VANDER VEER. 
345 
sion, became one of the original "One Hundred," was 
commissioned as a United States medical cadet, and 
ordered to report for duty at Columbia College Hospital 
at Washington, D. C. While at this post he attended a 
course of lectures at the National Medical College, from 
which institution he received the degree of doctor of medi- 
cine in December, 1862. After graduation Dr. Vander 
Veer was commissioned assistant surgeon of the Sixty-sixth 
Regiment, New York Volunteers, and in June, 1864, was 
raised to the grade of surgeon with the rank of major. 
He served with his regiment until the close of the war. 
Upon returning to New York he attended a full course 
of lectures at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, and 
in the spring of 1866 established himself in Albany as a 
general practitioner. In July, 1869, he was called to the 
chair of general and special anatomy in the Albany Med- 
ical College, where as a student he had received his first 
instruction and which had in 1869 conferred upon him 
the honorary title of M.D. In the same year he became 
attending surgeon to the Albany Hospital, and in 1874 
was appointed attending surgeon to St. Peter's Hospital. 
In January, 1882, he was appointed professor of surgery 
in the Medical College, which position he holds at the 
present time, and in which he ever labors strenuously for 
the promotion of the interests of the institution and of 
the profession. 
In October, 1874, Dr. Vander Veer visited Europe, 
where he remained until the following April, occupying 
his time chiefly in professional study and visiting the great 
centres of medical instruction, where he watched with 
absorbing interest the brilliant operations of the renowned 
surgeons and specialists. 
The next ten years of Dr. Vander Veer's life were years 
of unremitting labor in his chosen profession. But the 
labor brought its rewards. In 1882 Williams College con- 
ferred upon him the degree of A.M., and Union College, 346 
DR. ALBERT VANDER VEER. 
as well as Hamilton, honored him with the degree of 
Ph.D. 
In 1884 Dr. Vander Veer again visited Europe, this 
time accompanied by his wife, formerly Miss Margaret E. 
Snow, daughter of Dr. Simeon Snow, his old preceptor. 
During this sojourn he was entertained by Mr. Lawson 
Tait, whose fame as a surgical specialist is known all over 
the world. During the trip he also read a paper before 
the Copenhagen Medical Congress. 
Besides being ex-President and member of both the 
county and State medical societies, Dr. Vander Veer is 
also a member of the Boston Gynecological Society, the 
British Medical Association, the International Medical 
Congress, the British Gynecological Society, the American 
Surgical Association, the Holland Society of New York, 
of which he is the Vice-President of the Albany district, 
having had conferred upon him at the last Holland Society 
dinner in New York the order of " Oranje-Nassau " by the 
Queen of Holland. 
He is also one of the executive officers of the Pan- 
American Medical Congress, an active member of the 
Southern Surgical and Gynecological Association, Ameri- 
can Association of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, etc. 
To all these he gives some portion of his time, systemat- 
ically divided. In addition, he is busily at work at every 
available moment upon his college lectures or gathering in 
writing the results of his varied surgical experiences for 
the benefit of his professional brethren. 
Among the subjects upon which Dr. Vander Veer has 
lectured or written are: "The Operation for Stone, as 
Observed in some of the London Hospitals, together with 
a Report of Cases from Private Practice;" "Operation 
for Closure of Cleft of Hard and Soft Palate" (series of 
American Clinical Lectures); " Report of Three Cases of 
Excision of the Rectum;" "Report of Eight Cases of 
Uterine Fibroids;" " History of Abdominal Surgery in DR. ALBERT VANDER VEER. 
347 
Albany, with report of Seventy-five Cases;" "Reports 
of Ten Cases of Gastric Ulcer," etc., some of his earlier 
works. Of late Dr. Vander Veer has devoted much of his 
time to abdominal surgery at the Albany Hospital, and to 
a steadily increasing, extended consultation and operating 
practice outside of his own city. 
Among his later publications are to be found: "The 
Use of the Curette in Uterine Surgery;" "Uterine 
Hemorrhage, Puerperal and Non-puerperal; " "The Man- 
agement of Cancer of the Uterus, Complicated by Preg- 
nancy, with Report of a Case;" " Hystero-epilepsy, 
with Report of Cases; " " Retro-peritoneal Tumors: their 
Anatomical Relations, Pathology, Diagnosis, and Treat- 
ment ; " " Tubercular Peritonitis ; " " Report of Cases of 
Cholecystotomy, with Special Reference to the Treatment 
of Calculus Lodging in the Common Duct; " "The Re- 
lation of the Board of Health to the Public ; " "Appen- 
dicitis: the Relation of the Physician and the Surgeon in 
the Care of Cases; " " Comparison between Perineal and 
Suprapubic Cystotomy;" "She Thought It was Her 
Change of Life ; " " The Medico-Legal Aspect of Abdom- 
inal Section;" "Extra-uterine Pregnancy;" "Con- 
cealed Pregnancy: its Relations to Abdominal Surgery ; " 
"The Relation of the Abdominal Surgeon to the Obstetri- 
cian and Gynecologist;" "Intestinal Obstruction;" 
" Report of Cases of Coeliotomy performed at the Albany 
Hospital from July to November, 1893, Presentation 
of Pathological Specimens," etc. 
The pressure of increasing professional duties does not 
prevent Dr. Vander Veer from taking an active interest in 
municipal affairs, and the value of his services as a mem- 
ber of the Board of Health, the Historical Society, etc., 
are fully recognized. He is a member of the First Presby- 
terian Church, and was selected as a Commissioner to 
attend the meeting of the General Assembly at Omaha. 
Whatever of eminence he has attained has been secured 348 
DR. J. HENRY CARS! E NS. 
by close application, unremitting labor, and a determined 
following of those inclinations which, in his youth, led 
him to choose for his own the responsibilities of the silent 
profession. Honored by his associates, loved and respected 
by his patients, Dr. Vander Veer's career may well be 
emulated by all young men who are ambitious to secure 
for themselves the approval of their fellows and the emolu- 
ments which come of necessity to the leader in any pro- 
fession. 
J. HENRY CARSTENS, M.D., 
DETROIT, MICH., 
Was born June 9, 1848, in the city of Kiel, in the Ger- 
man province of Schleswig Holstein. His father, John 
Henry Carstens, a merchant tailor, was an ardent revolu- 
tionist, and participated in the various revolts in the 
memorable years of 1848-49. He had been captured and 
was in prison when his son was born; after some months 
he was released and began attending to his business, but, 
fearing that he might be again imprisoned, he packed up a 
few goods and, with his family, left in the dead of the 
night for America. On his arrival he settled in Detroit, 
where he has since remained. One of his grandfathers 
was an architect and builder; another a shipbuilder; 
many of his uncles, with other relatives, were officers in 
the army and navy, and nearly all of them participated in 
the revolution and were forced to leave Germany and 
come to the United States. 
J. H. Carstens is the elder of two children. His earlier 
education was received in the public schools of Detroit, 
supplemented by six years' attendance at the German- 
American Seminary. While receiving instruction at the 
latter institution his parents lived on a farm four and a 
half miles from the city, which distance he was compelled DR. J. HENRY CARSTENS. 
349 
to walk twice a day. He evinced, even as a boy, an eager 
desire for intellectual work, excelled as a student, and 
took high rank in his studies, especially in those pertaining 
to natural sciences and mathematics. Before he had 
attained his fifteenth year he was compelled to engage in 
business, and, after some time devoted to lithography, he 
entered the drug store of William Thum, and afterward 
f erved in Duffield's drug store and with B. E. Sickler. He 
became proficient in the various details of the business, 
served one year as prescription clerk in Stearns's drug 
store, and then began the study of medicine, his name 
being the first on the matriculation book of the Detroit 
Medical College. Even before graduation he had charge 
of the college dispensary, and after his graduation, in 1870, 
he was immediately put in charge of the college dispen- 
sary, and a few years later held the same position in St. 
Mary's Hospital Infirmary. He was appointed lecturer 
on minor surgery in the Detroit Medical College in 1871, 
and afterward lecturer on diseases of the skin and clinical 
medicine. 
He has lectured on almost every branch of medical 
science, the most important subjects so treated being dis- 
eases of women and children, differential diagnosis, ner- 
vous diseases, physical diagnosis, pathology, chemistry, 
materia medica, and therapeutics. His taste and practice 
gradually tended to the diseases of women; and, after 
holding the professorship of materia medica and therapeu- 
tics in the Detroit Medical College for some years, in 1881 
he accepted the professorship of obstetrics and clinical 
gynecology, a position he has ever since held; and on the 
consolidation with the Michigan College of Medicine he 
was appointed to the same position in the Detroit College 
of Medicine. As a lecturer on medical subjects he has 
performed most satisfactory labors, is thorough in his 
investigations and in the application of knowledge gained 
by practical experience and unremitting research. He is 350 
DR. J. HENRY CARSTENS. 
terse, clear, and practical, and easily wins the respect of 
those who come under his teaching. 
In view of the experiences of his father, it is but natural 
that Dr. Carstens should have a strong taste for politics. 
Ever since he has been old enough to understand the 
political situation in this country he has been a staunch 
Republican. Before his twentieth year he delivered polit- 
ical speeches, and this he continued for many years, 
speaking in either English or German in many parts of the 
State of Michigan. In 1876 he was elected chairman of 
the Republican City Committee, and at the same time was 
a member of the County Committee. During the year he 
held these positions he materially assisted in securing 
Republican control of the city and county. Both as an 
organizer and as an earnest and effective worker he has 
rendered valuable aid in gaining victories for his party, 
and has been often tendered party nominations. He has, 
however, thus far refused to become a candidate for office, 
with the exception of a nomination as member of the 
Board of Education, to which he was elected in 1875 and 
re-elected in 1879. T^77 he was appointed president of 
the Board of Health, and during his term of office ren- 
dered valuable assistance in checking the spread of small- 
pox, which was then prevalent. On the organization of 
the Michigan Republican Club he was elected a director. 
His rapidly increasing professional duties of late years 
have prevented active political work, and, with the excep- 
tion of an occasional speech, his whole time has been 
devoted to his profession. His contributions to medical 
literature have been various and extended. 
He has reported many clinical lectures and has trans- 
lated various articles from German and French medical 
journals. Among the more important of the articles 
written by him may be named : " Cleft-palate and Iodo- 
form;" " Medical Education ; " "Embolism;" "Vac- 
cination; " " Household Remedies; " " Phantasia; " DR. J. HENRY CARSTENS. 
351 
"Clinical Lectures ; " "A Case of Obstetrics; " " Dysen- 
tery Cured without Opium;" " Strangulated Hernia;" 
" Hemorrhoids; " " Clinical Lectures on Gynecology; " 
"A Case of Epilepsy Caused by Uterine Stenosis;" 
" Three Cases of Battey's Operation;" "Uterine Can- 
cer;" "Menorrhagia and Metrorrhagia;" "Cancer;" 
" Ergot in Labor; " " Mechanical Therapeutics of Amen- 
orrhoea;" "A Different Method of Treating a Case of 
Freshly Ruptured Perineum " Fibroid Tumor Removed 
by Laparotomy; " " Vesico-vaginal Fistula; " " Loewen- 
thal Theory of Menstruation ; " "Mastitis; " "Laceration 
of the Cervix Uteri;" "Two Successful Porro-Csesarean 
Sections; " "Laparotomy with and without Drainage; " 
"Six Years' Work in Abdominal Surgery, Technique, 
Vaginal Hysterectomy, etc.;" and a small book on 
' 'Amenorrhcea, Dysmenorrhoea, and Menorrhagia. ' ' Lately 
he has only written on questions of abdominal surgery, as 
he has for years given up general practice, and even 
obstetrics, to be able to give his whole time to gynecology 
and coeliotomy. He has made about five hundred abdom- 
inal sections, with a mortality varying from 7 to 15 per 
cent, (different years, etc.). Nearly all of his articles 
have been extensively copied by medical journals in this 
country, and some by European journals. 
He holds the position of gynecologist to Harper Hos- 
pital, attending physician to the Woman's Hospital, and 
obstetrician to the House of Providence. He is a member 
of the American Medical Association and of the Michigan 
State Medical Society, of which he was vice-president in 
1885; president of the Detroit Medical and Library Society; 
a member of the Detroit Academy of Medicine and of the 
British Gynecological Society ; honorary member of the 
Owosso and Kalamazoo Academy of Medicine and the 
Northeastern District Medical Society ; vice-president of 
the American Association of Obstetricians and Gynecol- 
ogists ; ex-president of the Detroit Gynecological Society, 
etc. 352 
2)/?. HENRY O. MARCY. 
His advance as a physician has been steady and sure; 
he has been a continuous student and a hard worker ; his 
practice has grown into an extensive and remunerative 
one, and he finds his time and hands fully occupied. He 
has given to certain diseases close and special attention, 
and has worked out for them peculiar, independent, and 
successful modes of treatment. Among his professional 
brethren he holds the place due to his talents and manly 
character, and is ever ready to aid any enterprise that may 
be originated for the good of the public. Although his 
professional duties are onerous, he finds time for general 
reading, and keeps well informed in a wide range of intel- 
lectual culture; is thorough and earnest in all that he 
undertakes; and has the undivided good-will and respect 
of the community in which he dwells. 
He was married October 18, 1870, to Hattie Rohnert, 
who had for some time been a teacher in one of the public 
schools. 
HENRY O. MARCY, A.M., M.D., LL.D., 
BOSTON, MASS. 
Dr. Henry O. Marcy is of New England birth and an- 
cestry, and is a graduate of Harvard University. He was 
a surgeon and medical director in the late war between 
the States. He was a special student in Europe in 1869 
and 1870, and was the first American pupil to receive the 
instruction of Mr. Lister at Edinburgh. At this time he 
commenced original investigations upon the pathological 
conditions incident to surgery, especially the relation of 
bacteria to wounds and their role in infectious diseases, 
publishing from time to time his researches and' discov- 
eries. For this purpose he equipped a bacteriological 
laboratory, and for several years employed Dr. Samuel N. DR. HENRY a MARCY. 
353 
Nelson as assistant in this work. Dr. Marcy early became 
interested in abdominal surgery, and saw much of the 
pioneer work of Dr. H. R. Storer, of Boston, and of that 
of the late Dr. Gilman Kimball, of Lowell. In 1880 he 
opened a private hospital for the special treatment of sur- 
gical diseases of women, which is continued at the present. 
Dr. Marcy is a most skilful operator, and he elaborated 
the method of the peritoneal covering of the stump, 
after the removal of ovarian and uterine tumors, for intra- 
abdominal treatment of the pedicle, and the closure of the 
abdominal wound without drainage, now so generally 
accepted and practised. 
The profession is indebted to his researches for the 
demonstration of the advantages derived from the use of 
buried animal sutures, closing, layer after layer, all aseptic 
wounds, even the major amputations, and hermetically 
sealing with iodoform-collodion without the use of the 
drainage-tube. The advantages to be derived from 
animal-especially tendon-sutures were demonstrated by 
a long series of comparative studies, which taught the 
replacement in large degree of the aseptic buried material 
by vitalized connective tissue. Dr. Marcy's methods for 
the reconstruction of the pelvic structures have been very 
generally adopted. His contributions to medical litera- 
ture have been very numerous and extend over a wide 
range of surgical subjects. He is, perhaps, best known to 
the profession by his writings upon hernia, his latest pub- 
lication upon the subject being "The Anatomy and Sur- 
gical Treatment of Hernia," a large, illustrated, quarto 
volume, published in 1892 by D. Appleton & Co. 
Dr. Marcy is an active member of various societies, 
has been honored with the presidency of the American 
Academy of Medicine, and in 1892 was president of the 
American Medical Association. 354 
DR. WALKER GILL WYLIE. 
WALKER GILL WYLIE, M.D., 
NEW YORK, N. Y. 
The subject of this sketch, Walker Gill Wylie, M.D., 
was born in Chester, S. C., September 2, 1848. His 
father, Alexander Pierson Wylie, was a surgeon and physi- 
cian of considerable note, and for more than forty years 
he practised medicine in Chester County. His antecedents 
were Scotch-Irish Protestants, from the North of Ireland, 
as were many of those who early emigrated to East Ten- 
nessee and the Carolinas. Dr. Alexander Pierson Wylie 
was a strong Union man, and opposed secession from a 
moral standpoint. For forty years, or more, the grand- 
father, Peter Kelsey Wylie, held the office of Probate 
Judge in his district. The nullification principles and 
measures of John C. Calhoun he bitterly opposed. 
The maiden name of the mother of Dr. W. Gill Wylie 
was Juliette Agnes Gill, whose father was Robert Walker 
Gill, a merchant of Lancaster. Her ancestors were 
English. 
Dr. Wylie's early educational advantages were confined 
to the village school, which was the only opportunity 
offered then of obtaining an education. 
When at the age of sixteen years, the war cry was pro- 
claimed calling men to arms, inspired by that Southern 
chivalry so characteristic of the youths of the ante-bellum 
days, he volunteered his youthful services to the Southern 
army as Lieutenant. At this tender age he commanded a 
company in front of General Sherman's army in its march 
from Savannah into North Carolina. When hostilities 
had ceased between the North and the South, he entered 
the University of South Carolina, previously known as the DR. WALKER GILL WYLIE. 
355 
College of South Carolina. After an attendance of two 
years, he graduated from all the studies of the scientific 
course, and at twenty years of age (in 1868) he entered 
Bellevue Hospital Medical College in New York city. 
In the year 1870, by competitive examination, he secured 
the position of "interne," or house surgeon. In 1871 he 
graduated, but still retained the position of house surgeon 
of the hospital for a year and a half. In 1872 he was 
appointed as "interne" of the New York Woman's Hos- 
pital. This position was also secured upon another 
competitive examination, which held for eighteen months. 
Dr. Wylie's progressive nature, and an ardent desire to 
obtain still greater knowledge relating to his chosen pro- 
fession, induced him to go to Europe and make an especial 
investigation and study of hospital nursing and systems of 
hospital management. 
Having obtained this desired knowledge, he presented 
at the Cooper Institute, before an audience composed 
entirely of ladies, a paper on "Training Schools for 
Nurses. ' ' 
At that time the subject was quite new, consequently the 
paper attracted much attention. Encouraging results came 
from this movement, and the consequence has been to 
revolutionize the system in the United States. 
The Bellevue Training School was organized twenty 
years ago, and Dr. Wylie has personally examined every 
graduate during that entire time. He was greatly inter- 
ested in hospital work, and co-operated with the State 
Charities' Aid Association in this matter. 
His private practice in New York city dates from 1873. 
In 1876 he issued a book upon Hospitals ; Their History, 
Organization, and Construction. This was the Boylston 
prize essay of Harvard University for 1876. 
Dr. Wylie also studied hospital construction, and the 
sanitary arrangements in buildings won success and dis- 
tinguished him as a sanitary engineer. 356 
DR. WALKER GILL WYLIE. 
But his remarkable skill in gynecology and great success 
in abdominal surgery soon made him very prominent in 
this especial line of surgery, and placed him among the 
most brilliant and successful operators. By his skilful 
operations cases heretofore considered incurable have been 
restored to health. No one surgeon has been more emi- 
nently successful in abdominal section or laparotomy. 
Indeed, his percentage of recoveries in this line of surgery 
remains unprecedented. Much of his success must be 
attributed to sound judgment, extreme cleanliness, and a 
natural skill combined with a perfect knowledge of 
abdominal surgery. 
In 1882 he was appointed visiting gynecologist of Belle- 
vue Hospital. He still holds this position. In 1877 he 
became associated with the late Dr. J. Marion Sims. 
In 1878 Dr. Wylie established a private hospital, located 
at No. 215 West Forty-third street, New York city. Asso- 
ciated with him in his hospital and general practice is his 
brother, Dr. Robert H. Wylie, also a surgeon of consider- 
able prominence in all the essentials necessary to make a 
distinguished operator, and is only second to his renowned 
brother. 
Dr. W. Gill Wylie is associated with many societies and 
medical associations, such as the American Medical Asso- 
ciation, New York State and New York County Medical 
Societies, the New York and the Northwestern Society, the 
New York Pathological Society, the New York Academy 
of Medicine, the American Gynecological Society, the 
British Gynecological Society, and various others. 
He is Professor of Gynecology in the New York Poly- 
clinic Hospital, and is Consulting Surgeon of the Seney 
Hospital, Brooklyn, N. Y. He is the author of numerous 
treatises and papers relating to his specialty, gynecology. 
In June, 1877, Dr. Wylie was married to Miss Fannie 
H. Damon, a daughter of Edward A. Damon, a merchant 
engaged in business in St. Louis, Mo. Dr. and Mrs. Wylie DR. EGBERT GUERNSEY. 
357 
have four very interesting and promising children-two 
sons and two daughters. 
The Doctor is full of energy, hale and vigorous, with a 
prospect of a long life before him. Much of his wonder- 
ful success may be attributed to his remarkable good health. 
May he long live to enjoy the fruits of his success, and 
continue in his earnest efforts to relieve the afflicted and 
suffering who throng his presence seeking relief. 
EGBERT GUERNSEY, M.D., 
NEW YORK, N. Y. 
To Dr. Egbert Guernsey the new school of medicine 
owes much of its life and success. Grasping with his 
broad and liberal mind the truths of the dual action of 
drugs, he has ever been constant in advancing their prin- 
ciples, and it is greatly through his efforts that the two 
schools of medicine have come within touch of one 
another. He has ever been foremost in advocating a 
broad and unrestrained medical training, and his time and 
experience have always been at the call of younger and 
less experienced medical brethren. 
To the poor and needy his skill and purse are ever free, 
and well may Bret Harte say in The Man Whose Yoke Was 
Not Easy, speaking of his friend and physician, Dr. 
Guernsey: "He handed me a note. It was from a cer- 
tain physician; a man of broad culture and broader 
experience; a man who had devoted a greater part of his 
life to the alleviation of sorrow and suffering; a man who 
lived up to the vows of a noble profession; a man who 
locked in his honorable breast the secrets of a hundred 
families; whose face was kindly, whose touch was as gentle 
as the dying Narcissa; a man who, through long contact 
with suffering, had acquired a universal tenderness and 358 
DR. EGBERT GUERNSEY. 
breadth of kindly philosophy; a man who, day or night, 
was at the beck and call of anguish; a man who never 
asked the creed, belief, moral or worldly standing of the 
sufferer, or even his ability to pay the few coins that 
enabled him (the physician) to exist and practise his 
calling; in brief, a man who so nearly lived up to the 
example of the Great Master that it seems strange I am 
writing of him as a doctor of medicine and not of 
divinity." 
Descended on both sides from the best English and 
American ancestry, Dr. Guernsey was born in Litchfield, 
Conn., July 8, 1823. The name of his first American 
ancestor, John Guernsey, who is said to have emigrated 
from the Isle of Guernsey in 1638, appears among the 180 
Puritans who established the New Haven Colony. The 
mother of Dr. Guernsey was Amanda Crosby, a direct 
descendant of Enoch Crosby. 
Dr. Guernsey's descent is through Joseph, the son of 
John, whose name appears in the records of Milford, Conn., 
in 1659; thence through Joseph. John removed to 
America, Dutchess County, N. Y., where his son Noah, 
the grandfather of Dr. Guernsey, was born. He removed 
to Litchfield, Conn., having previously married Miss Hol- 
lister, who was a direct descendant of William Clinton, 
the first Earl of Huntingdon, A. D. 1350, whose descen- 
dant in the eighth generation became Lord High Admiral 
of England, and in 1571 was created Earl of Lincoln, the 
title being subsequently merged into that of the Duke of 
Newcastle. 
Dr. Guernsey prepared for college at Phillips's Acad- 
emy, Andover. Before completing his college course, 
determining on medicine as his future profession, he 
entered the office of Dr. Valentine Mott, and graduated 
in 1846 at the Medical Department of the University of 
the City of New York. 
Beginning the practice of his profession in Williams- DR. EGBERT GUERNSEY. 
359 
burg, now part of Brooklyn, he was soon after appointed 
City Physician. In 1850 he definitely determined upon 
New York City as his field of work. Up to this 
time he had followed the old-school practice. Careful 
investigation of homoeopathy impressed him with its im- 
proved methods. Using the best features of both systems, 
he has always been a liberal practitioner, and unquestion- 
ably to-day stands first and foremost in that large class of 
medical men who prefer to be allied to neither one nor the 
other system, but use both according to the exigencies of 
the moment. 
For six years Dr. Guernsey held the chair as professor, 
first of materia medica, and then of theory and practice, 
in the New York Homoeopathic Medical College. In 
1870 he organized the Western Dispensary, since united 
with the Hahnemann Hospital, of which he was also one 
of the organizers. 
In 1877, mostly through his instrumentality, the Inebriate 
Asylum on Ward's Island was converted into a hospital 
and placed under the charge of a competent Board of 
Physicians, with Dr. Guernsey as president of the board. 
He was for nineteen years one of the trustees and for four 
years vice-president of the State Insane Asylum of the 
State of New York at Middletown. He has been president 
of the County and State Medical Societies, and was for a 
period, from 1864 to 1868, surgeon of the Sixth Regiment 
of the State National Guard of New York. 
Possessed of great activity, mentally as well as physi- 
cally, almost from the beginning he has given a certain 
portion of time to literary work. While still an under- 
graduate in the University the Doctor became city editor 
of the Evening Mirror, being thus associated with N. P. 
Willis and George P. Morris. This was in 1845. In 1848 
he started the Brooklyn Daily Times, and was its editor-in- 
chief. In 1872 he was associated with Dr. A. Gerald Hull 
in editing Fahr's Manual. In 1872 he started the New 360 
DR. CORNELIUS KOLLOCK. 
York Medical Times, and has since continued as its 
editor. 
While a young physician he wrote a school history of 
the United States, which became generally used through- 
out the country. In 1855 he published Domestic Practice, 
which has since passed through eleven editions, was re- 
published in England, and translated into the French, 
German, Spanish and Danish languages. He has been at 
all times an extensive contributor to medical journals. 
He was married in 1848 to Miss Sarah Lefferts Schenck, 
a descendant of one of the imperial seneschals to Charle- 
magne. Two children blessed this union, a daughter and 
a son. The death of his son (which occurred July 24, 
1893), a promising young physician, has been one of the 
hardest blows which have fallen to Dr. Guernsey's lot. 
Most keenly he feels the loss of his son, who was endowed 
with a warm, sympathetic, and generous nature, ever ready 
with his medical skill and his purse to aid and give relief 
to the suffering, and there is no one who will not feel, as 
they read the lines which tell of his removal to another 
sphere, that the life which was so full of love and kindly 
deeds, now freed from the contamination of earth, will 
blossom in that other world, upon which he has opened his 
eyes, in immortal beauty and fragrance. 
Whether as professor, editor, author, or physician, Dr. 
Guernsey's strong personality has exercised a remarkable 
influence upon all with whom he has come in contact. 
CORNELIUS KOLLOCK, M.D., 
CHERAW, SOUTH CAROLINA. 
Dr. Cornelius Kollock was born near Cheraw, S. C., 
December 7, 1824. He received his early education at 
the Cheraw Academy, entered the sophomore class of CORNELIUS KOLLOCK, M. D DR. CORNELIUS KOLLOCK. 
361 
Brown University in 1842, graduated in 1845, studied 
medicine three years, and took the degree of M.D. at the 
University of Pennsylvania in 1848. Afterward he spent 
eighteen months in Europe, principally in Paris, attending 
lectures and hospitals, and taking private lessons of 
Malgaigne and Cazeaux. Returning home, he engaged 
in general practice in Cheraw, giving special attention to 
surgery, gynecology, and obstetrics. 
He has done abdominal section quite a number of times 
for the removal of ovarian tumors and other pelvic growths, 
also for knife- and gunshot-wounds of the bowels. His 
success in operations for intestinal obstructions has been 
good. His cases of strangulated hernia (which were 
many) have all resulted in recoveries. He has removed 
the uterus twice, both times successfully; has done Cae- 
sarean section once, after Sanger's improved method, 
saving mother and child. In the conservative treatment 
of pyosalpinx he has had good results, and of that treat- 
ment he is an earnest advocate, while he as earnestly 
opposes craniotomy on the living foetus. 
He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Medicine, 
and of the American Gynecological Society; has been 
President of the South Carolina Medical Association; was 
Vice-President of the American Gynecological Society in 
1892 ; was Vice-President, the same year, of the Southern 
Surgical and Gynecological Association, and was elected 
its President at its late meeting in New Orleans. 
Dr. Kollock, as a practitioner of surgery, has secured to 
an unusual extent the confidence, gratitude, and esteem of 
his patients. He possesses in an eminent degree the 
special qualifications requisite to the surgeon. His gen- 
erous nature and his unselfish character have endeared 
many hearts to him, who will ever hold in grateful remem- 
brance his many noble acts of charity and fidelity to the 
duties of his profession. 362 
DR. JACOB GEIGER. 
JACOB GEIGER, M.D., 
ST. JOSEPH, MO., 
Was born in Wurtemberg, Germany, July 25, 1848. 
His father, Anton Geiger, a classmate of Niemeyer in the 
University of Tubingen, died in 1851. Two brothers 
having emigrated to America, the subject of our sketch, 
with his mother, followed them in the spring of 1856. 
Two years later Mrs. Geiger died, leaving the boy penni- 
less and an orphan in a strange country. 
With untiring energy and pluck he set about to acquire 
an education, attending the district schools, and later 
attending Homer Seminary, and graduating from Bryant's 
Business College. Having read medicine with Galen E. 
Bishop, of St. Joseph, Mr. Geiger began the practice of 
medicine in that city prior to his twentieth birthday. 
In the spring of 1872 he received the degree of M.D., 
after pursuing a regular course in the University of Louis- 
ville, Ky. With characteristic energy the Doctor began 
his professional career by working heartily in the different 
medical societies and contributing valuable and original 
articles for their consideration. The Ensworth Medical 
College and Hospital and the colleges from which this 
college emanated owe their existence in a large degree to 
the wisdom and zeal of Dr. Geiger. 
While devoting his attention for the past three years 
almost entirely to surgery, the Doctor is possessed of a 
broad scholarship in all that pertains to his chosen profes- 
sion. One of the organizers of the Marion-Sims College 
of Medicine, St. Louis, he holds the chair of principles 
and practice of surgery and clinical surgery in that insti- 
tution, and holds the same chair in the Ensworth Medical 
College and Hospital, St. Joseph, Mo., and is one of the life DR. ISABELLA M. PETTET. 
363 
trustees of the latter institution. He is a member of the 
following medical societies: American Medical Associa- 
tion, Mississippi Valley Medical Society, Missouri Valley 
Medical Society, Missouri State Medical Society, North 
Kansas Medical Society, Western Association of Obste- 
tricians and Gynecologists, Grand River Medical Society, 
St. Louis Medical Society, Buchanan County Medical So- 
ciety, and the District Medical Society of Northwestern 
Missouri, of which he is president. 
Dr. Geiger's ability as a teacher, his expertness as a 
diagnostician, and his skill as a surgeon, coupled with a 
kind heart and a noble, generous disposition, have en- 
deared him to the community and State in which he 
dwells. Being still in the prime of life, possessed of in- 
domitable will and tireless energy, much may be expected 
of him in the future. 
Possessed of excellent business qualifications, the Doctor 
has accumulated a comfortable fortune. In 188 7 he mar- 
ried Miss Louise Kollatz, a most estimable lady, of St. 
Joseph; but leaves no one to bear his name, as no chil- 
dren have been born to them. The Doctor is a Master 
Mason and in religion is a Presbyterian, being a member 
of the First Presbyterian Church of his adopted city. 
ISABELLA M. PETTET, M.D., 
NEW YORK, N. Y. 
Isabella M. Pettet, M.D., was born in Holstein, Ger- 
many, June 6, 1843. In the year 1868 she came to the 
United States and first located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 
where she became engaged in missionary work of the 
Methodist Episcopal Church. 
She returned to the city of New York in 1874, and 364 
DR. ISABELLA M. PETTET. 
entered Bethany Institute in 1875, connecting herself after- 
ward with the Mission of the Mariners' Church of the New 
York Port Society, acting as interpreter to the mission- 
aries sent out to visit the families of seafaring men, most 
of them being Germans, with a limited knowledge of the 
English language, which made it difficult for them to 
understand the missionaries rightly. 
While she was interested in this work she saw large num- 
bers of sailors walking the streets having no particular 
object in view. The thought occurred to her that it would 
be well to invite them to attend church, and although her 
lady companion objected strenuously to such a proceed- 
ing, as this line of work had always been intrusted to men, 
considering it improper to address men on the street, Dr. 
Pettet carried her point, feeling assured that the Divine 
Master's will was in the work, and with His guiding hand 
they started out to invite the sailors to come to church. 
At first their motives were ridiculed, and "Jack Tar" 
laughed at them, but gradually the brave "Jack Tar" 
became convinced that it was for his good, and the here- 
tofore empty church was filled every evening. They 
then began to hold meetings for the sailors every morning 
and evening, which were seldom attended by less than two 
hundred or mors seamen. After the close of church ser- 
vices Dr. Pettet would take aside as many men as she 
could instruct in Bible truths; this work she continued 
from day to day for about three years. 
She met with such encouragement that she decided 
to carry the war into Africa and visit the sailor board- 
ing-houses-a proceeding which the proprietors of the 
boarding-houses bitterly resented. Persecutions were then 
heaped upon Dr. Pettet, and words cannot express what 
she suffered at the hands of intoxicated boarding-house 
keepers and their wives. They used the vilest language 
toward her, and, not content with abusive words, threw 
burning brooms, decayed eggs, grease, etc., over her DR. ISABELLA M. PETTET. 
365 
clothing, which compelled her to take a detective with 
her for protection. This did not deter her from fol- 
lowing in the self-imposed path of duty, and with the 
help of our Lord she was enabled to accomplish a great 
work. She restored to their parents many boys who had 
run away from their homes ; many a well-educated man, 
yes, even noblemen, whom the vicissitudes of life had 
thrown into the maelstrom of the slums of a great city, 
were restored to their families and Christian society. 
She is the recipient of grateful letters from all parts of 
the world from men thus saved from ruin, and who have 
started missions in various parts, like " The Strangers' 
Rest" in Liverpool and London, even in the far East, 
keeping in touch with the good work. These are the 
Doctor's most cherished remembrances, where she has 
devoted a greater part of her life to the spiritual welfare of 
humanity. 
Rather with a desire to increase her usefulness in the 
missionary field and among the afflicted, too poor or 
ignorant to call for the services of a physician, in order 
to aid them she commenced the study of medicine in 
1878, and was graduated from The New York Medical 
College and Hospital for Women in 1881. 
For ten years she has had a large general practice, 
mostly among the needy, especially those of her own sex, 
doing a great amount of gratuitous work for them like a 
good Samaritan. 
In fact we may well say that the entire life of this 
noble-hearted woman has been devoted to relieving the 
sufferings of others, and to aid and cheer them through 
their weary pathway of life. 
For five years Dr. Pettet has made gynaecology or 
diseases of woman her specialty, and she has achieved 
remarkable success in that line. 
Dr. Pettet is on the Medical Staff of the New York 366 
DR. AUGUSTUS PALMER DUDLEY. 
Medical College and Hospital for Women. She is a 
member of the New York County Society, etc. 
She has but one child, a promising son, sixteen years of 
age, in whom she takes especial delight. He is worthy a 
mother's love. 
AUGUSTUS PALMER DUDLEY, M.D., 
NEW YORK, N. Y. 
In Phipsburg, Me., July 4, 1853, Augustus Palmer 
Dudley, the subject of this sketch, was born. He is the 
third son of Palmer Dudley, who married Frances Wyman, 
a daughter of Captain Francis Wyman, a native of Phips- 
burg, Me. On his mother's side he is descended from the 
Percys of the North of England and the South of Scotland, 
whose lineage can be traced to the tenth century, and 
from the Wymans, of Wales. His maternal grandfather, 
Francis Wyman, also his paternal grandfather, Patrick 
Dudley, were soldiers and pensioners of the war of 1812, 
being respectively Orderly, Sergeant, and Ensign of Com- 
pany F, South Militia, at Fort Hunnewell's Point. 
His paternal great-grandfather, William Oliver, and his 
maternal great-grandfather, William Wyman, both served 
in the Revolutionary War. His father, Palmer Dudley, 
was for many years prominent in the affairs of his native 
town. On March 18, 1843, be was by Governor Kava- 
nagh commissioned Ensign of Company F, of Infantry, in 
the 1st Regiment of the 1st Brigade, and 4th Division of 
the Militia of the State of Maine, which commission he 
held for seven years, and was honorably discharged on 
April 18, 1851. 
Dr. Dudley received his preparatory education at the 
public schools and at the Portland Academy. Being 
studious and earnest in his endeavors to not only acquire DR. AUGUSTUS PALMER DUDLEY. 
367 
knowledge, but to become a physician and surgeon, he 
entered the Medical Department of Bowdoin College at 
the age of twenty-four, and was graduated with high honors 
from Dartmouth Medical School in the year 1877. He 
commenced the practice of medicine in Portland, Me., but 
possessing natural surgical abilities he desired to seek a 
broader field, where his surgical advantages would be 
greater, and therefore removed to New York City in the 
year 1881, where he entered the Woman's Hospital as 
house surgeon, which position he filled for eighteen months. 
He then went to San Francisco, Cal., where he had charge 
of the California Woman's Hospital for one year. He re- 
turned to New York in 1884 and resumed his practice, and 
has been remarkably successful in his specialty-abdominal 
surgery. 
He was appointed Instructor in Diseases of Women at 
the Post-Graduate Medical School in the year 1887, and 
Visiting Gynecologist to the Randall's Island Hospital and 
Northeastern Dispensary. 
Dr. Dudley's success as a skilful operator has given him 
an honored reputation. During the past three years he 
has three times performed successfully the Caesarean sec- 
tion, in all three cases saving mother and child. 
In May, 1893, he was made Professor of Diseases of 
Women in the Post-Graduate Medical School to fill the 
vacancy caused by the death of Prof. Charles Carroll Lee. 
He has written numerous papers on his specialty, among 
which are : " Vaginal Hysterectomy in America," " Vari- 
cocele in the Female," "Surgical Treatment of Sub- 
involution," "A New Method of Surgical Treatment for 
Restoration of Lacerated Perineum," 11 A New Method of 
Surgical Treatment for Certain Forms of Retro-displace- 
ment of the Uterus with Adhesions," etc. Dr. Dudley is 
a fluent writer, easy and progressive. He has written ex- 
tensively for various medical journals, some articles of 
which have been translated into French and other foreign 368 
DR. AUGUSTUS PALMER DUDLEY. 
periodicals. He is a member of the New York Academy 
of Medicine, New York Obstetrical Society, American 
Gynecological Society, American Congress of Physicians 
and Surgeons, etc. 
He is a contributor to various medical journals and other 
medical literature. 
His great success in abdominal surgery can only be at- 
tributed to sound judgment, with a thorough knowledge of 
his business and the care necessary to obtain good results 
in critical operations. Although comparatively a young 
man, he has won for himself an envied name in the field of 
abdominal surgery. 
He is greatly interested in the Dudley genealogy, and 
in the summer of 1891 made a trip to Europe for the pur- 
pose of tracing back the lineage of his American ancestors. 
Through the courtesy of Sir Bernard Burke he was granted 
free access to the records of Dublin Castle, and, by the 
kindness of Dr. William E. Dudley, of Bath, England, he 
was enabled to secure a complete history of the Irish branch 
of the family, as above described. 
Dr. Dudley married, July 15, 1884, Susanna Stephens, 
daughter of Jesse Mason, of Victoria, B. C. She died 
July 30, 1888, aged twenty-six years, seven months, leav- 
ing no children. September 14, 1891, he married Cas- 
sandra H. Coon, daughter of W. J. Adams, of San Fran- 
cisco, Cal. By his second marriage he has two interesting 
little girls. 
Dr. Dudley is of a warm-hearted, sympathetic nature. 
May he be spared many years to enjoy, to the fullest extent, 
the fruits of an industrious, energetic life. DR. THEODORE GAILLARD THOMAS. 
369 
THEODORE GAILLARD THOMAS, M.D. 
NEW YORK, N. Y. 
Dr. Theodore Gaillard Thomas was born on Edisto 
Island, South Carolina, on the 21st day of November, in 
the year 1831. He is descended, on the male side of his 
house, from Rev. Samuel Thomas, a missionary sent to 
America by the Church of England, in the year 1704, to 
establish the Episcopal Church in South Carolina. 
On his mother's side Dr. Thomas is a descendant of 
Joachim Gaillard, a Huguenot gentleman who left France 
at the revocation of the edict of Nantes, and settled in 
what is known as the Orange District, S. C. Many prom- 
inent families came with him to this country at the same 
time, among them the Hugers, the Ravenels, and many 
others. 
His early education was obtained in Charleston, S. C., 
and in 1852 he was graduated from the " Medical College " 
of that city. Shortly thereafter he came North and became 
Resident Physician in Bellevue Hospital, New York. After 
completing this course he located in the City of New York, 
where, with Dr. Donaghe, he established, in connection 
with the "University of New York," a "quiz" class, 
which attracted much attention and became very success- 
ful. He succeeded Dr. Bedford as lecturer in this insti- 
tution. 
After serving as Resident Physician in Bellevue and 
Ward's Island Hospitals, he went to Europe for study and 
to acquire more knowledge regarding gynecology and 
other branches of his profession. He remained in Europe 
nearly three years, returning to America with a mind well 
stored with medical knowledge, and a full determination 
to make a success in his profession. 370 
DR. THEODORE GAILLARD THOMAS. 
Many who admired Dr. Thomas for his brilliant oratory 
and wonderful ability as a lecturer, will be surprised to 
learn that his first lecture was considered a perfect failure 
by his friends. But it was his first and last failure, as we 
know, for since then none of his colleagues has addressed 
more delighted audiences, among which old visiting phy- 
sicians frequently, in their eagerness to hear and see the 
lecturer, crowded out those whose matriculation fee gave 
them the better right. 
Upon his return from Europe he entered into partnership 
with Dr. John T. Metcalfe, who, at this time, "had his 
finger upon the pulse of fashionable New York." He was 
associated with Dr. Metcalfe fifteen years or more. From 
this time henceforth his success was assured, and he rapidly 
rose to distinction and fame. His general practice became 
very large, but he devoted himself especially to obstetrics, 
and made a great reputation in this branch of medicine. 
He has been surgeon or physician to Bellevue, the Roose- 
velt, St. Luke's, the Stranger's, Blackwell's Island, and the 
Woman's Hospitals. 
He was appointed Professor of Obstetrics at the College 
of Physicians and Surgeons, and held that chair for many 
years, succeeding Professor Chanler R. Gilman. 
When the Professorship of Diseases of Women was 
established at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, he 
resigned the chair of Obstetrics and accepted this, Dr. J. H. 
McLane succeeding him in the former position. 
In the year 1863 he was appointed Physician to the 
Woman's Hospital, and four years later he became Con- 
sulting Physician, and in 1873 he was appointed one of the 
attending surgeons to the same institution. He held this 
position until a few years ago, when he resigned, and was 
requested by the Board of Governors to name his suc- 
cessor. 
As an obstetrician his name is especially identified with 
the operation of laparo^dytrotomy, which he presented to DR. AUGUSTIN H GOELET. 
371 
the profession as a substitute for the then very dangerous 
operation of Caesarean section, and Stillmore dangerous one 
of craniotomy. He has performed the operation a number 
of times with remarkable success. 
As a gynecologist he has devoted himself with special 
taste to laparotomy. In this branch of surgery he has 
acquired great experience and a world-wide reputation as 
a skilful and quick diagnostician and successful operator. 
His coolness, quickness, and skill in using the knife are the 
first things which impress the observer at his operations. 
Great decision, quickness of perception, and untiring 
energy are, to the impartial observer, among the leading 
traits of this great man's character. 
He is a fluent and able writer. He published a work 
on Diseases of Women, in 1868, which found its place 
waiting for it, and attained an immense sale. This work 
went through six editions, was translated into the Ger- 
man, French, Spanish, Italian, and Chinese languages. It 
was the most complete work on this subject then in 
existence, and made for its author an immediate reputation 
as a gynecologist of the first rank. 
Dr. Thomas married Miss Mary Willard, a granddaughter 
of the celebrated Emma Willard, who was author, poet, and 
educator of women. 
Three sons bless this union, none of whom have adopted 
medicine as a calling. 
AUGUSTIN H. GOELET, M.D., 
NEW YORK, N. Y. 
Dr. Augustin H. Goelet was born April i, 1854, near 
Wilmington, North Carolina. He is the son of Dr. Edward 
H. Goelet and Virginia Lane Goelet. His father was a 372 
DR. AUGUSTIN H. GOELET. 
prominent surgeon in Greenville, North Carolina, where 
he practised for many years previous to his retirement 
from his profession. When the late Civil War was pro- 
claimed he was farming, solely for pleasure, on his estate, 
" Millbrank," near Goldsboro, North Carolina. The war 
wrecked his entire fortune. 
The grandfather of the subject of this sketch was born 
in New York, but left his home to enlist in the Revolution- 
ary War. He formed the acquaintance of Col. Buncombe, 
one of North Carolina's most prominent citizens, and he 
afterward married the sister of Col. Buncombe, and settled 
in eastern North Carolina, his estate then being the famous 
"Buncombe Hall." The County of Buncombe, situated 
in the western part of North Carolina, was once a part of 
the vast estate belonging to the Buncombe family, being 
a land grant by the Government for services rendered 
during the Revolutionary War. 
Dr. Augustin H. Goelet was educated at the Cape Fear 
Military Academy at Wilmington, North Carolina, and at 
the University of Virginia, where he attended his first 
course of medical lectures and was graduated in several 
branches of medicine. In 1874 he was graduated in med- 
icine from Bellevue Hospital Medical College, New York, 
and entered one of the reception hospitals for Bellevue. 
This was largely an emergency hospital, which afforded 
facility for a large and varied surgical experience. The 
work was under the immediate supervision of the late Prof. 
Frank H. Hamilton, and later, Prof. James R. Wood 
visiting surgeons. 
Dr. Goelet settled in New York City after completing 
his hospital course, and for many years engaged in gen- 
eral practice, a large proportion of which was surgery. 
Very early, however, he became interested in diseases of 
women (gynecology) and has made it a specialty. Through 
the courtesy of Drs. T. Gaillard Thomas, Thomas Addis 
Emmet, and the late Charles Carrol Lee, he was enabled DR. AUGUSTIN H. GOELET. 
373 
to observe closely the best operative work at the Woman's 
Hospital. 
About the time he became interested in gynecology, 
Dr. Sims was advocating his operation of division of the 
cervix for the relief of dysmenorrhcea associated with 
flexions. Dr. Goelet gave the operation a fair trial, and 
becoming convinced that it was unsatisfactory and an un- 
wise procedure, abandoned it in favor of dilatation, which 
he upheld strenuously. 
When, later, divulsion was being lauded, he opposed this 
operation and entered a vigorous plea for moderate dilata- 
tion and drainage by means of a hard-rubber tube as a 
substitute, which was more rational and more satisfactory 
in its results. 
Dr. Goelet has always been an operator of the most 
conservative type. While he is a strong advocate of 
measures tending to effect a cure without ablation of 
important organs, he has perhaps done as many laparoto- 
mies as any gynecologist not connected actively with a 
large hospital, and his results have been excellent. He 
numbers two Csesarean sections among his achievements. 
Holding conservative views it was but natural that he 
should be led to investigate the claims for electricity when 
they were put forth. He visited Paris for this purpose, 
and after observing Apostoli's work, became convinced 
that there was a great future for electricity. He took it 
up and has won much success and fame. He stands 
to-day the acknowledged leader in gynecological electro- 
therapeutics in this country. 
Shortly after his return from Europe he was offered and 
accepted the editorship of the Archives of Gynecology and 
Obstetrics, which he retained for two years, relinquishing 
it only to complete a work upon Gynecological Electro- 
therapeutics, which has won him well-deserved renown. 
He was very active in organizing the American Electro- 
therapeutic Association, and is one of its founders and was DR. HERMANN J BOLDT. 
374 
its third President. This Association, though still young, 
has attained phenomenal success. 
Dr. Goelet is a Fellow of the New York Academy of 
Medicine, the New York Obstetrical Society, and the 
Societe Fran^ais d'Electrotherapie, Fellow and late Presi- 
dent of the American Electro-therapeutic Association. 
He is a member of the American Medical Association, the 
New York County Medical Society, the New York County 
Medical Association. He is also Gynecologist to the West 
Side German Clinic. 
He has contributed liberally to medical journal litera- 
ture and has invented many surgical and gynecological 
instruments. His clinics and lectures at the West Side 
German Clinic have been largely attended by physicians 
visiting the metropolis for special instruction, and his 
lectures have been widely published. He is at his best in 
elucidating the technique of gynecological methods. 
HERMANN J. BOLDT, M.D., 
NEW YORK, N. Y. 
Dr. Hermann J. Boldt when a small child came to 
this country with his parents. He was born on June 24, 
1856, near Berlin, at " Neuentempel," the homestead of 
his father, Hermann Boldt, who was a prosperous and promi- 
nent agriculturist, but lost his fortune by placing implicit 
confidence in the honesty of a supposed friend. 
Dr. Boldt obtained his early education from private 
tutors, and later, in the public grammar and high schools. 
His power of endurance, his indomitable will power that 
knows no obstacles, and his wonderful working capacity 
have been observed among his colleagues in his profession. 
Although he has allowed himself but three or four hours 
sleep for years, so vigorous is his constitution, he does not 
exhibit any ill effects from this extreme strain. DR. HERMANN J. BOLDT. 
375 
As his means were limited-not sufficient to allow him to 
pursue his medical studies-he studied and practised phar- 
macy until he had acquired the necessary money to enable 
him to enter college. He entered the University of New 
York, and was graduated from the medical school with the 
class of 1879. 
Prof. Pallen early recognized his ability and he became 
his assistant at the University Medical School. 
For twelve years or more Dr. Boldt had an unusually large 
general practice, enabling him to lay a broad foundation 
for his life-work before devoting himself to gynecology, 
which he has since made a specialty, and the unsurpassed 
success attending his abdominal operations justly entitles 
him to the rank of a distinguished gynecologist. 
He probably has done more gynecological surgery (for 
his years) than any contemporary surgeon. He spends 
three months of his life abroad almost every year, visiting 
the European hospitals and eminent colleagues, and he 
has thus become familiar with the methods of nearly every 
gynecologist in the world. 
Dr. Boldt was the first physician in this country to 
investigate the physiological action of cocaine, and is 
quoted in Europe an authority on the subject. He was 
among the first to remove the fibromyomatous uterus in 
toto, and is one of the strongest advocates of vaginal hys- 
terectomy for cancer, and his large experience with this 
operation for malignant disease entitles his words to be 
considered authoritatively. 
He has invented a number of gynecological instruments, 
and an operating-table for abdominal surgery, which is 
now in general use. He is the author of many important 
papers. One of these, on " Salpingitis," is quoted by most 
authorities of the day; in another, " The Treatment of 
Suppurative Disease of the Uterine Appendages," he de- 
monstrated a fact that has since been universally accepted, 
that idiopathic rupture is no very rare occurrence. Among DR. HERMANN J. BOLDT. 
his other writings are: ''The Advantage of doing Inter- 
mediate Trachelorrhaphy," " Cardiac Neurosis due to 
Uterine Displacement," "Histology of the Uterine Mu- 
cosa," "Exfoliative Cystitis," "The Manual Treatment 
of Pelvic Diseases," " The Treatment of Posterior Displace- 
ment of the Uterus," " The Treatment of Inoperable 
Cancer of the Uterus," and several other articles of 
importance. 
From the commencement of Dr. Boldt's medical 
career he has at various times filled many important posi- 
tions connected with the medical profession. He soon 
became instructor at the New York Post-Graduate Medi- 
cal School and Hospital. He is at present professor of 
gynecology there; he is also gynecologist to the German 
Poliklinik, and to St. Mark's Hospital, consulting gyne- 
cologist to the Beth Israel Hospital, and Chairman of the 
Section of the New York Academy of Medicine which is 
devoted to his specialty. 
He is a member of the American Gynecological, the 
International Gynecological, the British Gynecological, 
and the Obstetrical and Pathological Societies, and the 
Academy of Medicine. 
In the year 1891 Dr. Boldt went abroad and was married 
to Miss Hedwig Kruger, the daughter of a publisher of 
Berlin. 
Dr. Boldt has risen rapidly to great distinction in his 
profession, and he is justly entitled to this well-earned 
reputation. He is a man who is generous, and sincere in 
his attachments, a charming and interesting friend to 
those who have the good fortune to know him intimately. 
He is comparatively a young man in age, but old in the 
experience of his profession. We earnestly desire that he 
may enjoy a long life, to fulfil his mission-that of healing 
and relieving poor afflicted woman. DR. W. E. B. DAVIS. 
377 
W. E. B. DAVIS, M.D. 
Birmingham, Ala. 
Dr. W. E. B. Davis was born November 25th, 1863. He 
is a native of the South. His father, Dr. Elias Davis, was 
a physician, as was also his grandfather and great-grand- 
father. His father was killed in the late Civil War. Dr. 
Davis received his early education at Trussville, Alabama, 
and afterwards attended the University of Alabama. 
After leaving the University he attended medical lectures 
in Louisville, Kentucky, Nashville, Tennessee and New 
York City, and received his medical degree from Bellevue 
Hospital Medical College in the year 1884. He was 
then given a partnership with his brother, Dr. J. D. S. 
Davis, in Birmingham, who had an extensive practice, and 
after three years of active work he went to Europe, where 
he visited the hospitals in London, Berlin and Vienna, and 
obtained much valuable information and knowledge. 
The partnership with his brother still exists, and two years 
ago they established a hospital in Birmingham for the 
diseases of women and surgical cases, which has proved 
a great success in every way. Dr. Davis does the gyne- 
cological work, and his brother the general surgery. In 
the year 1891 Dr. Davis was elected President of the Tri- 
State Medical Society of Alabama, Georgia, and Tennes- 
see, to succeed Dr. Robert Battey, of Rcme, Georgia. 
This is one cf the leading medical societies in the South, 
and it is regarded as a great compliment to be chosen to 
its chief office. He is at present a member of the Exec- 
utive Council of the Society. He has been Secretary of 
the Surgical Section of the American Medical Association 
and also one of the Vice-Presidents of the Association, 
and he is at present a member of the Judicial Council, 
and also a member of the Executive Committee of the 378 
DR. IV. E. B. DAVIS. 
Surgical Section, and, as such, a member of the General 
Business Committee of the Association. He was one of 
the Honorary Presidents of the Section of Abdominal 
Surgery and Diseases of Women of the first Pan-American 
Medical Congress, which was held in Washington City in 
1893. He is a Fellow of the American Association of 
Obstetricians and Gynecologists and also of the British 
Gynecological Society. He was Secretary of the Alabama 
Surgical and Gynecological Association, an association 
which he and his brother organized, and from this Associa- 
tion, chiefly through his labors, was developed the Southern 
Surgical and Gynecological Association, which is one of 
the leading special societies of America. He has filled the 
position of Secretary of the Association since its organiza- 
tion, and is editor of its Transactions and ex-officio mem- 
ber of its Executive Council. This Association has done 
more toward giving the South recognition in the medical 
world than any other organization in that section. It has 
no superior in this country, and its proceedings are held 
in the highest esteem by the profession everywhere. In- 
deed, the Association has won a world-wide reputation. 
Nearly every prominent surgeon and gynecologist in the 
South is a member. However, it does not limit its 
membership to the South, but receives members from 
every section, but it is understood that its sessions are 
to be held in the South. He was for a time a member of 
the Surgical Staff of the Hospital of United Charities of 
Birmingham, and it was largely through his efforts that the 
Diseases of Women Department was established. He was 
recently selected to fill the Chair of Gynecology, Obstetrics, 
and Abdominal Surgery in the Birmingham Medical 
College, which will enter upon its first term in October. 
This school has an able Faculty and promises to be one of 
the leading institutions in the South. It has adopted a 
high standard of requirements, and is abundantly supplied DR. W. E. B. DAVIS. 
379 
with every facility necessary for successful teaching. Dr. 
Davis has contributed a number of articles to medical 
journals and medical societies on abdominal surgery. 
He recommended an operation on the common bile duct, 
which will, no doubt, be adopted largely by the profession. 
He has also modified the technique in a number of abdom- 
inal and gynecological operations. He and his brother 
edited the first medical journal in Alabama, and it was 
recognized as one of the best monthlies in the South. He 
afterward assumed the editorship of the Gynecological 
Department of the Alabama Medical and Surgical Age, 
and of which he is still a collaborator. He is also a col- 
laborator of some other journals. He was an associate 
editor of the American Gynecological Journal during its 
publication. His surgical work has been remarkably 
successful, and in the field of abdominal surgery he has 
gained much well deserved reputation. As stated above, 
his practice is chiefly devoted to gynecological and abdom- 
inal work. His brother stands to-day as one of the most 
skilful surgeons in the South. He is a very brilliant 
operator, and their work has been more successful by the 
intimate association which exists between them. Dr. J. 
D. S. Davis is the Professor of the Principles and Practice 
of Surgery and Clinical Surgery in the Birmingham Medical 
College. 
Dr. Davis left Birmingham in 1892, and went to 
Rome, Georgia, where he could have a better oppor- 
tunity to do abdominal surgery in such an institution 
as he and Dr. Holmes had in that city. However, he 
only remained away from Birmingham a few months- 
after his return he and his brother established their private 
hospital. When he left Birmingham for Rome the Ala- 
bama Medical and Surgical Age stated that his departure 
from the State had caused universal regret, and that he 
did the leading abdominal surgery and diseases of women 380 
DR. GEORGE TUCKER HARRISON. 
practice in Alabama. And further, that he had done more 
to advance abdominal surgery in Alabama than any other 
man in the State. Another prominent journal in speaking 
of him as the Secretary of the Southern Surgical and Gyne- 
cological Association says : " He is about thirty-five years 
of age, but does not impress one in manner and appearance 
as being over twenty-five. He is a bundle of energy, a 
wiry, wary worker. Any society cannot score other than 
a success that has such a man at the helm. He stands 
forth as a shining example to the young men of the medical 
profession." 
Dr. Davis is unmarried. His mother makes her home 
with him and his brother, her only children. 
GEORGE TUCKER HARRISON, M.D., 
NEW YORK, N. Y. 
Dr. George Tucker Harrison was born at the Univer- 
sity of Virginia, July 23, in the year 1835, and he is peculi- 
arly identified with that famous institution, founded by 
Thomas Jefferson, and which has been the pride of the 
entire South for nearly a century. 
Dr. Harrison belongs to one of the oldest and most 
aristocratic Virginia families. 
He mourns the death of a sainted Christian mother, 
who died on the nth day of March, 1893. 
She was "descended from the Washingtons, the Lew- 
eses, the Carters, of Virginia (all families of great dis- 
tinction), and, allied through her father with good old 
English blood, she inherited and transmitted the gracious 
traditions of the beautiful old regime. She knew and was 
part of Virginia society at its very best. But far more 
beautiful and memorable were the exquisite purity and DR. GEORGE TUCKER HARRISON. 
381 
gentleness of her nature, the charm of a temper so sunny, 
and a sensibility so tender, that none could fail to be won 
to love-the magnanimity of a soul which threw the illumi- 
nation of its own charity over the foibles and failings of all 
the world. 
The annals of the saints must be searched for a history 
more lovely and more pure, a life of religious consecration 
more filled with Christian graces. 
In the labors of charity, in the devotions of her Church, 
in the intimacies of society, in the sanctities of home, her 
very being was a living gospel, an irrefutable testimony of 
the sacredness of truth. Such was the beautiful life and 
character of the mother whose loss Dr. Harrison mourns. 
His father, Gessner Harrison, and his grandfather on 
his mother's side, George Tucker, both held professor- 
ships in the institution at the time of Dr. Harrison's birth. 
Both of these gentlemen were possessed of remarkable 
abilities, attained national reputations, were known to 
eminent scholars abroad, and were especially honored and 
esteemed throughout the South. 
Gessner Harrison was the son of Dr. Peachy Harrison, 
who was a distinguished physician of great scholarly attain- 
ments, who was a member of the celebrated Virginia Con- 
vention of 1829 and 1830, and later of the Virginia Senate. 
He was an enthusiast in the study of languages, and at the 
age of twenty-one years was appointed professor of ancient 
languages in the institution (University of Virginia), 
serving through a long term of thirty-one years, and 
also through a long period as Chairman of the Faculty. 
He was the author of a remarkable Latin grammar, an 
exhaustive and original work on The Greek Prepositions, 
and a Geography of Ancient Italy and Soiithern Greece. 
George Tucker, the maternal grandfather of Dr. George 
Tucker Harrison, was also a man of great force of charac- 
ter and diverse talents. He was Professor of Moral Phil- 
osophy from the inception of the University till his resig- 382 
DR. GEORGE TUCKER HARRISON. 
nation in the year 1845. While professor he published 
the well-known fife of Jefferson, in two volumes, and 
several works on political economy, among them his Pro- 
gress in the United States in Fifty Years, a pioneer but 
extended treatise of deduction from the census reports. 
Like his father before him, Dr. George Tucker Harrison 
was graduated from the University of Virginia, taking the 
degree of M.A. in 1854. Two years later he graduated 
from the medical department of the same institution. 
He spent about nine months following his graduation in 
St. Joseph's Hospital, Philadelphia. He then settled in 
St. Louis, Missouri, where he practised his profession till 
the certainty of secession suddenly called him to Virginia. 
Upon the outbreak of hostilities between the North and 
the South he offered his services to his State. He was ap- 
pointed assistant surgeon at first, but very soon afterward 
made surgeon. He was present under General Beaure- 
gard at the first battle of Bull Run, and continued in the 
service till the close of the war. 
Dr. Harrison was married in October following the 
close of the late Civil War, and in 1868 he removed to 
New York City. 
The great Northern metropolis afforded the most ade- 
quate field of labor for a man of ambition and high aspira- 
tions. Yet the young physician did not fail to realize that 
amid so great competition only superior abilities and 
indomitable energies and will could gain a foothold for a 
Southerner. But being known to the eminent surgeon, 
Dr. T. A. Emmet, he fortunately secured through his 
kindness a position upon the house-staff of the Women's 
Hospital, and served the regular term in that capacity. A 
short time subsequently he was appointed assistant surgeon 
to the same hospital under Dr. Emmet, serving for a period 
of fifteen years. When his term of regular service on the 
house-staff in the hospital had closed he began the general 
practice of his profession on his own account, making a DR. ALEXANDER J. C. SKENE. 
383 
specialty of gynecology and obstetrics, along which lines 
he is considered one of the ablest physicians in the city. 
While enjoying a very lucrative practice, he is known as 
a careful and conscientious practitioner who is more de- 
voted to medicine for the sake of science than for purely 
personal reasons. 
In 1890 he wasPresident of the New York County Medi- 
cal Association, declining a re-nomination an account of a 
lack of time to devote to the duties of the position. In 
1892 he was elected President of the New York Obstetrical 
Society. He is an honorary member of the Medical Society 
of Virginia, he is a member of the Obstetrical Society of 
New York, member of the Academy of Medicine, member 
of the New York State Medical Association, member of 
the New York County Medical Society, and fellow of the 
American Gynecological Society. 
Dr. Harrison has a pleasant home on West Twenty-third 
Street, and a family of two daughters and one son-Gess- 
ner, named for his grandfather, who is a graduate of 
medicine of five years' standing, and was a member of 
the staff of the Charity Hospital of New York. 
Dr. Harrison is one of the representative men of the 
Southern Society, representing the South not alone by 
virtue of his illustrious ancestry, but by his own character- 
istic abilities, large hospitality, and broad-minded patri- 
otic sentiment. 
ALEXANDER J. C. SKENE, M.D., 
BROOKLYN, N. Y. 
Dr. Alexander J. C. Skene, President of the Long 
Island College Hospital, has not only taken a high position 
in the ranks of his profession, but is conceded to be one of 
the ablest gynaecologists in the United States. Nor is he 384 
DR. ALEXANDER J. C. SKENE. 
interesting for these considerations alone, for he shines as a 
lover of the fine arts, not altogether as an admirer of the 
moment, but an ardent and penetrating student, and one 
who endeavors to put in practice the suggestions received 
from his readings. Young men have no greater friend than 
Dr. Skene. He has always been careful to encourage talent 
wherever and whenever he found it, and did not at the 
proper time fail to tell others that many a promising youth 
was retarded by reason of the ignorance or obstinacy of 
those to whom his future was intrusted. In addition, he 
has been in war and in peace a defender of the Union and 
a lover of the free institutions of the country. A thorougly 
upright citizen, a Brooklynite in sympathies, and a courteous 
man at all times, are the striking traits of Dr. Skene's per- 
sonality. 
It is pleasing indeed to be able to trace one's ancestry, 
but unless our ancestors have left the means it becomes a 
difficult task, and one in which there is an exceeding ten- 
dency to arrogate the names of the proud, the powerful, 
and the pretty. In these times, when there is so much of 
the commonplace about men and things, it is entertaining, 
at least, to have one individual now and then who is capable 
of going back a few centuries and pointing out the stock 
from which he sprang, more particularly if such stock has 
played an important part in the affairs of a nation or the 
world. A race of warriors, statesmen, and professional men, 
closely identified with a great part of the history of Scot- 
land, is the family in which the subject of this sketch claims 
kindred, and which he honors in no less degree than any 
of the eminent ones who have gone before him. The genesis 
of the history of the Skenes begins with a circumstance 
that would make delightful reading in any novel. It ap- 
pears that when Malcolm IL, king of Scotland, was return- 
ing from the defeat of the Danes at Mortloch.in Moray, in 
xoio, he was pursued by a ravenous wolf, which was about 
to attack him, when a young son of Donald of the Isles DR. ALEXANDER J. C. SKENE. 
385 
thrust his arm, which was wrapt in the plaid, into the 
wolf's mouth, and with his dagger slew the beast. The 
king, appreciating the boldness of the action, gave to the 
young man certain lands which now form the parish of 
Skene, in Aberdeenshire. This incident gave rise to the 
family name, Sgian, which means a dagger, or a dirk, and 
which occupies, together with three wolves' heads, a very 
conspicuous place in the family's armorial bearings. John 
de Skene, in the thirteenth century, joined the forces of 
the usurper, Donald Bain, but afterward proved his loyalty 
to his king, Alexander, and was forthwith restored to the 
royal favor. His great-grandson, John, who lived during 
the reign of Alexander III, was so well informed politi- 
cally and so esteemed for his impartial virtue as to be 
chosen one of the arbiters between Bruce and Balial, both 
of whom were contestants for the crown. A grandson, 
Robert de Skene, was a firm friend of Bruce, fought at 
Bannockburn, and received a charter from his leader in 
1318. Coming down through the centuries, we find 
Alexander Skene fighting at the side of King James during 
the horrible battle of Flodden; and later we see James 
Skene, his direct descendant, leading the charges at the 
battle of Pinkie, where he fell, in 1547. Major George 
Skene distinguished himself under the Duke of Marl- 
borough in the wars that were fought during the reign of 
Queen Anne, and in 1720 purchased the estate of Cares- 
ton in Forforshire. Two more Skenes were soldiers, and 
died fighting, one in Spain and another at the battle of 
Preston, in 1745. 
While in the early history of the Skene family we find 
warriors plentiful, it must be remembered that there were 
litterateurs and lawyers also, though their attainments did 
not shine with the lustre of the martial doings, a fact that 
was owing, in a great measure, to the turbulent condition 
of the times. However, at a later date, the non-martial 
of the Skenes found fame and fortune in the pursuance of 386 
DR. ALEXANDER J. C. SKENE. 
their respective professions. In 1575 history records the 
fact that John Skene and Sir James Balfour were ap- 
pointed a commission by Regent Morton to examine 
and make a general digest of the laws of Scotland. So 
thoroughly was the work done that Skene, who performed 
the more arduous duties connected with the undertaking, 
received a public commendation, and was pensioned in 
addition. In 1587, so great was his favor with the king, 
he was chosen to proceed to Denmark for the purpose of 
concluding a marriage with the Princess Anne. This 
Skene is reputed to have been a very scholarly man. Ac- 
cording to Sir James Melville, who wrote a short biography 
of him, he was able to harangue in Latin, and could think 
and speak as well as any man. He was, without doubt, 
the most celebrated of the Skene litterateurs. 
Coming down to 1590, we read of one Gilbert Skene 
who was professor of medicine in the King's College, Aber- 
deen, and afterward physician to the king, which position 
he resigned in 1594. He was afterward knighted. 
One of the most interesting of the Skene family was James 
Skene, the long and faithful friend of Sir Walter Scott, 
co-worker and co-partner with him, and responsible for 
many of the most interesting scenes which Scott has so 
cleverly portrayed. Andrew Skene, who, in 1834, suc- 
ceeded Lord Cockburn as solicitor-general of Scotland^ 
was also a member of this fine old family. And this date 
brings us close on to the birth of a man who, in the fair 
light of this century, will rank high above his noble and 
literary ancestry. This is Dr. Alexander J. C. Skene, 
President of the Long Island College Hospital, and one of 
the most famous as well as the most widely known physi- 
cians in the world. 
In the parish of Fyvie, Aberdeenshire, in the year 1837, 
Dr. Skene was born. His childhood and youth were 
spent there, and at the age of nineteen, hearty and full of 
health, with more knowledge than the average youth of DR. ALEXANDER J. C. SKENE. 
387 
that age possesses to-day, he embarked for this country. 
During his stay in Scotland he had become deeply 
enamored of the medical profession and expressed a strong 
desire to study the science. He. was also intensely fond 
of zoological studies and often spent whole afternoons 
viewing the life that fills " the peopled grass." Immedi- 
ately on his arrival in this country he entered the Uni- 
versity of Michigan, and from there he proceeded to the 
Long Island College Hospital, from which institution he 
graduated in the year 1863. The young M.D. took his 
diploma when the Civil War was in its hottest period, 
when everybody, man, woman, and child alike, were on 
the qui vive night and day to await developments and 
learn the issue. Young Skene had good, honest, martial 
blood in his veins, and the moment he saw an opportunity 
for his usefulness he proffered the government his services 
and went to the front to stanch the blood flow of the 
Union troops. He rendered a signal service, and between 
his spells of bandaging and amputating he found time to 
study surgery. Dr. Skene at his entrance on the battle- 
field was delegated acting assistant surgeon at Port Royal 
and Charleston Harbor, S. C., and afterward at Decamp's 
Hospital, David's Island. 
Previous to his entrance into the army, Dr. Skene had 
been appointed an assistant to Dr. Austin Flint, Professor 
of the Institutes and Practice of Medicine, and when the 
war was over he returned to his alma mater, and received 
the appointment of adjunct professor at the Long Island 
Medical College. And here the real fame of Dr. Skene 
begins. While connected with the hospital he was brought 
into contact with thousands of critical cases and thereby 
gained experience that proved effective. In this way his 
name and his ability have spread throughout the broad 
extent of this country and across the ocean into the most 
famous medical centres of the world. From his student 
days he has been the most persevering kind of mortal. His 
time has been constantly spent in study and the observation 388 
DR. ALEXANDER J. C. SEE NE. 
of diseases, which accounts in part for the varied and exten- 
sive character of his knowledge to-day on all things medical. 
He is a keen-eyed individual whose glance does not miss 
the least visible details, but is kind and gentle in manner 
and a most charming companion when he grows reminis- 
cent. Dr. Skene has no superior, it is fair to say, in the 
matter of diagnosing a case. That has always been his 
forte, though it must be said in addition that few men are 
able to control instruments with the same deft hand. All 
readers of medical journals have invariably met his con- 
tributions, which have always been characterized by their 
abundance of thought and nice easy style. He is the 
author of the admittedly best work ever written on the 
diseases of women. It was published by Appleton in 1883, 
and contains choice cullings of twenty years' experience. 
The book has had a vast circulation, and was lauded by 
the medical authorities of Europe as liberally as it was 
here. In addition to being president of the Long Island 
Medical College he also occupies the chair of gynecology. 
He was formerly professor of gynecology in the New York 
Post-Graduate Medical School; president of the American 
Gynecological Society, of the Kings County Medical 
Society, and the New York Obstetrical Society; and is 
corresponding member of the British, Boston, Detroit, 
and Belgian Gynecological Societies. 
Apart from Dr. Skene's conquests in medicine there is 
another side to his career that may be information for the 
readers, as it is entertainment for him-he is a sculptor; 
an amateur sculptor, in the terms of his own modesty. 
When at leisure, which is not often, he delights in mudding. 
He is also something of a litterateur, having read exten- 
sively and written for magazines on hundreds of subjects. 
He lives in a modest house on Clinton and State Streets. 
He drives a great deal and thoroughly enjoys life, always 
preserving the best of health. He is a large man of fine 
physique and wears a black mustache and beard. He is 
still in the flush of ambition and of life. DR. JOSEPH EDWARD JANVRIN. 
389 
JOSEPH EDWARD JANVRIN, M.D., 
NEW YORK, N. Y. 
Dr. Joseph Edward Janvrin was born at Exeter, 
N. H., January 13, in the year, 1839. He is descended 
from John Janvrin, who came from the Isle of Jersey in 
1705, and located at Portsmouth, N. H., marrying a Miss 
Knight of that place. Dr. Janvrin's father, Joseph Adams 
Janvrin, and his mother, Lydia A. Colcord, were both of 
Exeter. He is a lineal descendant of the historical Adams 
family of Quincy, Mass. His grandmother, Abigail Adams 
Janvrin, was the daughter of Dr. Joseph Adams, of Ports- 
mouth, N. H., a cousin of President John Adams. 
Dr. Janvrin was graduated from Phillips Exeter Academy, 
and is now President of the Alumni Association of that 
famous institution. Like many of our professional men, 
he spent some time in teaching, but teaching did not 
satisfy him, and he soon decided upon medicine as his life 
work. He began to study in 1859, at Exeter, under Dr. 
William G. Perry. He was thus engaged until the spring 
of 1861, when upon the breaking out of the Civil War he 
joined the 2d New Hampshire Regiment, the first three- 
year regiment from that State, and was shortly afterward 
appointed Assistant Surgeon. He remained in the service 
until August, 1863, and during the last few months of his 
service was Acting Surgeon of the 15th Regiment of New 
Hampshire Voluntetrs. He returned home and attended 
a course of lectures in the Medical Department of Dart- 
mouth, at the same time becoming a pupil of Prof. E. R. 
Peaslee, at the time one of the Faculty of the College. 
In the autumn of 1863 Dr. Janvrin came to New York 
and graduated from the College of Physicians and Sur- 
geons in 1864. In January, 1865, he entered private 
practice with his former preceptor, Dr. Peaslee. This 390 
DR. JOSEPH EDWARD JANVRIN. 
association continued until the death of Dr. Peaslee in 
January, 1878. 
From 1868 until 1872 Dr. Janvrin held the position of 
Visiting Physician to the Department of Heart and Lung 
Diseases in the Demilt Dispensary. In 1872 he was ap- 
pointed Assistant Surgeon to the Woman's Hospital in 
the State of New York, which position he held until 1882, 
when he was appointed to fill the position of Gynecologist 
to the New York Skin and Cancer Hospital. Dr. Janvrin's 
practice has been principally in the surgical field of 
gynecology. 
Although a constant and zealous worker and practitioner, 
he has found time to contribute many valuable papers to 
the medical press upon subjects connected with this branch 
of surgery. Among them : "A Case of Interstitial Preg- 
nancy," American Journal of Obstetrics (New York, No- 
vember, 1874); "The Simultaneous Closure of the Rup- 
tured Cervix and Perineum; Report of Fifteen Cases," 
American Journal of Obstetrics (May, 1884); "A Case of 
Tubal Pregnancy of Unusual Interest, with some Remarks 
as to the Treatment of such Cases," Transactions of the 
American Gynecological Association for 1886; "On the 
Indications for Primary Laparotomy in Cases of Tubal 
Pregnancy" (Same for 1888); "A Clinical Study of 
Primary Carcinomatous and Sarcomatous Neoplasms be- 
tween the Folds of the Broad Ligaments, with a Report 
of Cases" (Same for 1891) ; " On the Limitations for Va- 
ginal Hysterectomy in Malignant Disease of the Uterus," 
Medical Record (New York, July 9, 1892); "Vaginal 
Hysterectomy for Malignant Disease of the Uterus," 
Journal of Gynecology and Obstetrics (New York, Septem- 
ber, 1892); " The Palliative Treatment of such Cases of 
Malignant Disease of the Uterus and Adnexa as are not 
amenable to Radical Operations," Gaillard's Medical 
Journal (New York, January, 1893); and several others 
on kindred subjects. DR. JOSEPH EDWARD JANVRIN. 
391 
Many of these papers were decidedly in advance of 
contemporary medical thought, and established the repu- 
tation of Dr. Janvrin as a leading specialist of his time. 
The articles bearing upon " Primary Laparotomy in 
Cases of Tubal Pregnancy " were quoted extensively in 
the medical journals both of this country and abroad, and 
due credit has been given to Dr. Janvrin, not only for his 
persistence in recommending the operation at so early a 
date, but also for his successful performance of it in quite 
a number of cases. 
Since the Doctor's paper and the report of his cases the 
"primary" operation has been pretty universally accepted 
by the profession. 
The Doctor is a member of the following New York 
societies: Academy of Medicine, County Medical Society, 
County Medical Association, State Medical Association, 
and the New York Obstetrical Society, of which he has 
been president for two years. He is also a member of the 
American Gynecological Association, American Medical 
Association, and corresponding member of the Gyneco- 
logical Society of Boston. 
Dr. Janvrin married Miss Laura L. Lawall, of Easton, 
Pa., September i, 1881. ' 
It is a pleasure to meet Dr. Janvrin in his delightful city 
home, and to come under the influence of his quiet cour- 
tesy and kindly consideration. 392 
DR. MALCOLM MCLEAN. 
MALCOLM McLEAN, M.D., 
NEW YORK, N. Y. 
Dr. Malcolm McLean is the third son of the late 
George W. and Rebecca J. McLean, the former a native 
of New York City, and son of Gen. John McLean, who 
was Commissary-General under Governor Clinton, of New 
York, and an officer in the American Revolution. Mrs. 
McLean was the daughter of James McCormick, Esq., of 
Baltimore, a wealthy merchant of that city, and whose 
estate included the land upon which the Johns Hopkins 
Hospital now stands. 
Dr. McLean's father was a graduate of West Point Mili- 
tary Academy in 1818, and served in the Florida and 
Civil Wars. His mother was a lady distinguished for her 
sterling qualities as a wife and mother, as well as for her 
very high intellectual attainments. She was a most care- 
ful and experienced reader, and had great ability as a 
writer, and commanded the love and admiration of those 
who were brought within the circle of her influence. 
Having expressed a great desire that some of her sons 
should adopt the learned professions, the subject of this 
sketch decided to join the ranks of medicine. 
He was born at Rahway, New Jersey, April 18, 1848, 
and received his early education in the schools of Eliza- 
beth, N. J.,' completing his preparatory course for entrance 
to Princeton College in the Classical School of Mr. John 
Young, of that city. 
As a scholar he showed special taste and ability for ac- 
quiring the languages, and excelled in physics, chemistry 
and physiology. In the latter study his proficiency was so 
marked that the teacher always employed him to make the 
drawings and other demonstrations for the class. DR. MALCOLM MCLEAN. 
393 
On the breaking out of the Civil War his plans for life 
were materially interrupted, it becoming necessary for him 
to abandon the idea of taking the course at Princeton. 
Entering a large drug store, he was soon put in charge 
of the laboratory, and took a prominent part in compound- 
ing prescriptions. The character of his work in this 
department attracted the attention of the late Dr. Lewis 
Oakley, who prevailed upon him to enter at once upon 
the regular study of medicine. While studying in Dr. 
Oakley's office young McLean showed qualities which 
gave promise of a career far above mediocrity in his pro- 
fession. At the age of seventeen he manually compressed 
the femoral artery during high amputation of the thigh, 
and on several occasions gave evidence of considerable 
surgical skill. 
In 1866 he entered the College of Physicians and Sur- 
geons of New York, and made rapid progress in his studies. 
In the public Quiz Classes of the College he acquitted 
himself with great credit, and on one occasion he was 
called up in the lecture-room for a special compliment by 
the late Prof. Willard Parker. 
In 1868 he was a successful competitor for the position 
of Junior Assistant on the Staff of Bellevue Hospital, and 
during his service on the Second Surgical Division was 
associated with Drs. McBurney, Polk, Wylie, Bronson and 
others who have attained eminence in their profession. 
At that date the maternity was connected with the Hos- 
pital ; and in this service Dr. McLean showed such pecu- 
Isar zeal and aptness in his work as to attract the attention 
of Drs. Fordyce Barker and Geo. T. Elliot, who were the 
Visiting Obstetricians in the service. Dr. Elliot intrusted 
to Dr. McLean a series of experiments with the then new 
remedy, chloral, and, in a paper read before the Medical 
Society, gave him credit for his service in a very compli- 
meatary manner. 
At the termination of the house service in Bellevue 394 
DA. MALCOLM MC LEAN. 
Hospital, Prof. Elliot urged the young surgeon to under- 
take the course at the Woman's Hospital; but unfortu- 
nately the Commissioners of Public Charities and Correc- 
tions had selected Dr. McLean for their Examining Physician 
for the ensuing year, an office which he filled with marked 
ability. 
In 1870 he opened his office for private practice in the 
northern limits of the city, and soon became well known 
and popular in professional circles. 
By training and disposition he seemed destined to be- 
come a general surgeon, and during the first five years of 
his practice he performed some difficult operations. 
In obstetrics his success was marked, and at an early 
date he was called upon by neighboring practitioners for 
counsel and assistance in complicated cases. 
In 1873 he went to Europe, and spent the season in 
visiting the hospitals and universities of the large cities. 
In 1875 Dr. McLean married Mary Permelia, the only 
daughter of Dr. Geo. W. Jewett, of New York, and has 
two sons and one daughter. 
After eight or ten years of very busy general practice, 
Dr. McLean's reputation as an obstetrician and gynecologist 
had begun to have the effect of bringing to his office many 
cases of diseases peculiar to women, and thenceforward he 
devoted himself with great earnestness to that branch of 
medicine. He has written many papers bearing upon ob- 
stetrics and gynecology, some of which have been well 
received and reproduced in foreign cities. His articles 
on "The Management of Placenta Previa," "The Occi- 
pito-Posterior Positions," and "Conservatism in Gyne- 
cology" have been particularly noticed, as also "Some 
Remarks on the Misapplication of the Obstetric Forceps." 
He also has written a valuable contribution to the subjects 
of "Extra-Uterine Pregnancy" and "Rupture of the 
Uterus." 
Dr. McLean is the inventor of a female catheter which DR. MALCOLM MCLEAN. 
395 
is probably the best instrument of its kind in use. He also 
has devised a valuable modification of Barnes' dilators 
and many other useful instruments. 
For the past ten years he has been a very successful and 
busy operator in private and hospital practice, his time 
being largely engaged in the work of his private hospital 
and of the St. Andrew's Infirmary for Women, in New 
York, which latter institution owes its origin to his personal 
efforts. Among his important cases may be noted several 
very large fibroids and sarcomata of the ovaries; a case 
of extra-uterine pregnancy, operated on at the twelfth 
month; a case of rupture of the uterus, etc. 
He has reported several very singular cases in obstetrics, 
among which may be noted "A Case of the Child Crying 
in Utero," and " The Conversion of a Face Presentation 
into a Vertex by Rotation within the Pelvis." 
Dr. McLean is a careful laparotomist, and is one of the 
most cautious of operators. His list of cases covers nearly 
all the diseases calling for these operations. Another 
writer-an eminent medical authority-has said of him, 
"he is a careful, conscientious surgeon, slow to have re- 
course to the knife, but skilful in its use-a practical, 
thorough physician." 
The Doctor has filled the office of Vice-President of the 
New York Obstetrical Society, and is at the time of this 
writing Chairman of the Obstetric Section of the Academy 
of Medicine, New York. He is Consulting Gynecologist 
to the Randall's Island Hospitals and Surgeon-in-charge 
of the St. Andrew's Infirmary for Women. 
Dr. McLean is a clear speaker, going straight to the point 
in debate with concise and logical argument. He is not a 
fluent writer, but his papers are carefully prepared and are 
eminently practical. 
He has devoted considerable research to the subject of 
archaeology, and he has earned an enviable reputation as an 
Egyptologist and Bible student. 396 
DR. JOSEPHINE GRIFFITH DA VIS. 
Physically, the Doctor is short of stature, with a strong, 
athletic frame. He is of very abstemious habits, and is 
exceedingly fond of field sports. He is an expert with 
the rifle, and is one of the finest archers in the country, 
while his reputation as a surf swimmer is equal to the best. 
In his intercourse with patients and fellow-physicians 
alike he is courteous, frank and true; and while he is 
quick to repel a wrong, he is lenient as a critic and faith- 
ful to every obligation as a friend. 
The Doctor is a member of the Protestant Episcopal 
Church, and is a regular attendant at the services. 
JOSEPHINE GRIFFITH DAVIS, M.D., 
NEW YORK, N. Y. 
The subject of this sketch awakens a genuine interest 
in all who are watching the progress of human society, 
and especially the social progress of women. She was 
born in Washington, Washington County, Pa., the eldest 
of nine children. Her ancestors on her father's side were 
Welsh Quakers, three of them having come to this country 
with William Penn. On her mother's side they were 
Welsh and German. From such ancestry she inherited 
strong physical and mental qualities. 
From a child she was fond of study, and from her 
father, who was a physician, she apparently inherited a 
passionate fondness for the study of medicine. There 
came to her also an experience in her childhood well 
calculated to prepare her for her subsequent life-work, 
the constant care of the younger children of the family. 
The good people of little Washington, to whom she was 
very dear as a child, remember her as a nurse almost 
always carrying an infant in her arms, or in some way min- 
istering affectionately to its wants. In this way Josephine DR. JOSEPHINE GRIFFITH DA VIS. 
397 
was hindered from attending school as she desired, but 
nothing could repress her ardor for study. As far as 
possible she attended the public schools of her native 
place. 
Washington is known widely as the seat of several edu- 
cational institutions, chief among them Washington and 
Jefferson College, and an excellent female seminary. 
The late Alexander M. Gow, a prominent educator in 
Western Pennsylvania, early took a deep interest in the 
child's welfare, and it is to him more, perhaps, than to 
any other person, as she feels, that she owes her success 
in obtaining an education. As she evinced marked ability 
in study, as superintendent of schools and principal of the 
high school he saw to it that she was allowed to pass on 
from grade to grade as she made progress without waiting 
for her less proficient classmates. It was he who first in- 
cited her to become a teacher. She received a No. i cer- 
tificate from the high school, and having her choice to 
enter the seminary in town or attend the normal school, 
now the "Southwestern Normal School," located at Cali- 
fornia, Pa.; she choose the latter. In this school she re- 
ceived the highest certificate of proficiency, and after her 
first year of teaching a permanent, or "professional," 
certificate, the highest then conferred. 
Her first year as a teacher was spent in a rural district, 
and was followed by three years in the public schools of 
Monongahela City, Pa., where she achieved signal success. 
She cherishes these years as among the most delightful of 
her life. With high ideals of a teacher's mission, she loved 
her work and threw her whole soul into it to realize it. 
Subsequently she was married to Mr. F. A. Davis, of 
Ohio. Three children were the fruit of this union, all of 
whom died in early infancy. The next step in her career 
is accounted for by one of her friends by saying : 11 The 
mother bird with an empty nest and active brain must 
find something to occupy her faculties." Fond of teach- 398 
DR. JOSEPHINE GRIFFITH DA VIS. 
ing she choose medicine, in which she had always been 
greatly interested, as that profession in which she could 
still be a teacher in a broader field. 
In 1873 she began the study of her profession under the 
direction of a special instructor. Later she spent one year 
in an eclectic school. But feeling that she must have more 
than this school could give she entered the Woman's 
Medical College of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, the best 
equipped medical college for women in existence. Here 
she bent all her energies to her work and completed the 
course of training in the college with eminent success, 
graduating in 1877. 
Dr. Davis immediately entered the Woman's Hospital as 
an interne under the tutelage of Dr. Anna E. Broomall, the 
resident physician. This also proved to be a privilege of 
great value to her. She began her independent practice in 
Philadelphia, remaining there about three years, spending 
her summers at Long Branch, N. J. She thus became ac- 
quainted with many New Yorkers, and was finally induced 
to settle in the city of New York. During the summer of 
1891 she was occupied with hospital service in Brooklyn. 
To her work in New York she brought the untiring zeal 
and earnestness of purpose that have characterized her 
whole life, the rule of which has ever been fidelity to 
principle coupled with unflinching integrity of purpose. 
Dr. Davis is a member of the American Medical Asso- 
ciation, New York State Medical Association, and of the 
New York County Medical Association, having the honor 
of being the only woman member in the latter. She is 
also a member of the American Electro-therapeutic Asso- 
ciation, and of the Alumnse Association of the Woman's 
Medical College of Pennsylvania. To honor her Alma 
Mater has been one of the ambitions of her life. 
Among her associates in the medical profession she is 
known as an intelligent, tireless worker in the interest of 
her patients, and a physician of almost unbounded re- DR. JOSEPHINE GRIFFITH DA VIS. 
399 
sources. She at the same time regards every success she 
wins as so much gained for the advancement of her sex. 
Hindered through her entire youth by adverse circum- 
stances, which only such resolution as hers could have 
overcome, she has been handicapped in her medical career 
by the breaking of both her limbs, one of them twice. 
This has restricted her practice largely to chronic diseases, 
or those which did not demand much emergency work. 
Her practice, while extensive as a general one, has become 
largely gynaecological and in difficulties of the pelvic 
organs. As an obstetrician she aims to minimize the 
dangers attendant upon maternity by teaching her patients 
how to live and to become in every respect successful 
mothers. She has written some able articles on this and 
other subjects, one on the " Use of Methyl-violet in Malig- 
nant Disease," and one on the " Uric Acid Diathesis and 
Electricity in its Treatment," which have recently attracted 
wide attention. 
A grateful patient and friend, himself a journalist, 
speaks thus enthusiastically, but we believe justly, of her: 
" Dr. Davis has a personality that at once impresses itself 
on all with whom she comes in contact. She possesses 
that subtle something that immediately secures the con- 
fidence of her patients, so that without hesitancy they in- 
trust her with their inmost secrets, assured that their trust 
will in no wise ever be betrayed. She seems endowed 
with a power of diagnosis that is like the X ray. Her 
ideals and aims are high, in intellect she is strong, in pro- 
fessional learning broad, in temperament a true woman, 
cheerful and hopeful. She is an honor to her profession, 
and will leave the world the better for having lived in it."1 
[J Written by Rev. George B. Gow, D.D., Poughkeepsie, N. Y.-The 
Author.] 400 
DR. J. MARION SIMS. 
J. MARION SIMS, M.D., 
NEW YORK, N. Y. 
[Extracts taken, by permission, from a memorial sketch of the life of 
J. Marion Sims, M.D., by W. Gill Wylie, M.D., read before the Medical 
Society of the County of New York, January 28, 1884 ] 
Mr. President and Gentlemen : I am happy to say 
that Dr. J. Marion Sims has left an autobiography of sev- 
eral hundred pages, giving a full account of his life and 
work up to 1868. 
What I have to say to-night, up to the time when I first 
met Dr. Marion Sims in 1868, has been taken directly from 
the manuscript of his autobiography. In his autobiogra- 
phy, after some preliminary remarks, he begins: . . . 
"I was born in Lancaster County, South Carolina, Jan- 
uary 25, 1813, about ten miles south of the village of Lan- 
caster. . . . The ancestors of my father, John Sims, 
were of the English colonists of Virginia. My mother, 
Mahala Mackay, was the daughter of Charles and Lydia 
Mackay, of Scotch-Irish origin. The family came to 
America about 1740." .. . . 
Dr. Sims says: "My father, feeling the want of an 
education himself, was determined to educate his children, 
and so he began with me at a very early age. . 
This was in 1818. Mr. Blackburn, a Scotchman, had just 
opened a school in a log cabin in the old field very near 
the ford of a creek. ' ' It was here the doctor received his 
first lessons. 
In 1825, when twelve years old, he went to Lancaster 
village, where his father had removed the previous year, 
and this same year the Franklin Academy was inaugurated 
at Lancaster; he attended school here for five years, and 
it was here that he met Theresa Jones. He became sin- J. MARION SIMS, M.D. DR. J. MARION SIMS. 
401 
cerely attached to her, and, long before they were en- 
gaged, she was a great influence in his life, and together 
with his mother, who was a sincere, good woman and 
devoted mother, had much to do in establishing his good 
habits, noble sentiments, and high moral character. . . . 
In 1830 he entered the South Carolina College at 
Columbia, S. C. . . . Having entered as a junior, he 
was graduated from this college in December, 1832. . . . 
When twenty years old he began to read medicine under 
Dr. Churchill Jones. He remained with Dr. Jones for a 
year. Dr. Jones was a good surgeon, and it was here that 
Dr. Sims imbibed a desire to distinguish himself in 
surgery. 
In November, 1833, he left for Charleston, S. C., to 
attend medical lectures at the Charleston Medical Col- 
lege. . . . 
October 1, 1834, he left home for Philadelphia, to 
attend lectures at the Jefferson Medical College. He was 
graduated from this college on March 1, 1835. . . . 
He went home in May, 1835 ; his father rented him an 
office, and he began the practice of medicine in Lancaster 
village. After waiting about two weeks he had his first 
patient, a case of cholera infantum. The child died. In 
two weeks after this he was called a second time, and 
again to a child with cholera infantum. He made up his 
mind 'that if this child died he would quit the town, and 
when it did die, a few days later, he took down his sign 
and prepared to go West. He was disgusted with med- 
icine, and, if he had had money, he would never have 
given another dose. He says : " On the 13th of October, 
1835-and the thirteenth, by the way, has always been a 
lucky day for me, and so had Friday, I was born on 
Friday- ... I started for Alabama." 
By chance he met some people that he knew, and he 
settled down in Mount Meigs, a small cross-roads place 
about twenty miles from Montgomery, Ala. He bought 402 
DR. J. MARION SIMS. 
out one of the two doctors in this place and began 
practice. 
Dr. Sims was married on December 21, 1836, to Miss 
Theresa Jones. In January, 1837, with his wife he returned 
to Mount Meigs, and had a fair country practice. 
In 1838, Dr. Blakey, living about ten miles distant in 
Macon County, offered Dr. Sims a partnership in a large 
practice among rich plantations. He accepted the offer, 
bought a little land and put up a double log cabin, and 
soon had a good practice. The first two of his children 
were born in this cabin. . 
In July, 1840, he nearly died of congestive chills, and 
determined to move to a more wholesome neighborhood. 
On December 13, 1840, he moved to Montgomery. 
He says: "The year 1840 was a memorable era in my 
life, and seemed to be a turning-point in my career. For 
the first five years of my professional life, 1835 to 1840, I 
was willing to turn aside to do anything to make money. 
But when I went to Montgomery I gave away my dog, 
sold my gun, and I have never loaded or fired a gun since. 
I devoted myself to my profession, determined to succeed, 
if industry and application could command success. I 
had an ambition for surgery-general surgery-and I was 
performing all sorts of beautiful and brilliant operations. 
This was before the days of anaesthetics. I had made, in 
five or six years, 1840 to 1845, suc^ a reputation for 
surgery that people came to me from all parts of the 
State." 
. In May or June, 1849, he used the silver wire as sutures, 
and succeeded perfectly in closing the first vesico-vaginal 
fistula, and in two weeks more he cured two more 
cases. 
In May, 1853, he came North. In September, 1853, he 
bought the house, No. 79 Madison Avenue, and although 
very much reduced in strength and health, still suffering 
from diarrhoea, he went to work. DR. J. MARION SIMS. 
403 
The Woman's Hospital was inaugurated at 83 Madison 
Avenue on May 1, 1855. Patients came in and it soon 
proved a success. . . . In 1856 he had fully recovered 
his strength and worked steadily at the hospital, and had 
a large private practice to attend to. In June, 1861, he 
went to Europe for the first time. . 
He writes: " When I got home I found that we were in 
the midst of a great civil war, and' I was made so unhappy 
by the state of affairs then existing that I made up my 
mind to take my family abroad, and we sailed from New 
York in the Great Eastern in July, 1862." 
He remained abroad until 1868, spending most of the 
time in Paris and London. He performed many oper- 
ations, and his reputation was as great throughout Europe 
as it was in his own country. Dr. Sims was a true Amer- 
ican and a believer in the Republic. In September, 1868, 
he returned to New York and took an office at 13 East 
Twenty-eighth Street, and soon had a large practice. . . . 
He remained here for the winter, visiting his family in the 
summer of 1869, and returned to New York in the fall. 
In 1875 he was elected President of the American Med- 
ical Association. . . . In 1877 he decided to go 
abroad. . . . He returned to New York in 1879. . . . 
In 1880 his son, Dr. Harry Marion Sims, returned from 
California and entered into practice with his father. 
Dr. Sims was elected President of the American Gynaeco- 
logical Society in 1880. In December, 1880, Dr. Sims, 
when tired out from constant work late in the afternoon, 
gave his seat in his brougham to two ladies, and mounted 
the box with the driver and rode thus for some distance. 
This little act of gallantry was like Dr. Sims, but very un- 
usual, and, in such weather, very imprudent for a man of 
sixty-nine years. It undoubtedly was the exciting cause 
that lighted up an attack of pneumonia which nearly cost 
him his life. 
During the first six weeks of his severe illness I was in DR. J. MARION SIMS. 
404 
constant attendance. For ten days he was in a typhoid 
and semi-delirious state. For him it was a fearful struggle. 
He never could bear pain well, but he had no fear of death. 
For weeks his left lung was completely solidified, but 
his heart stood the strain and surprised both Dr. Metcalf 
and Dr. Loomis; the latter visited him daily. About the 
ist of February, 1881, his temperature, which had never 
remained any length of time near normal, began to rise 
steadily higher and higher every evening, and it was plain 
that in this climate he could not live much longer. We 
waited for a change for the better in the weather, but it 
did not come. With his temperature at 1020 F. and the 
weather thermometer at 200, we took him South. After 
leaving Washington, every mile that we traveled seemed 
to improve him, and when he reached Charleston, in his 
native State, we felt sure that he would get well. His 
recovery was slow, and, although he was never the same 
man physically, yet in a year's time he looked well, and 
was again at work. He returned North still quite feeble 
and went abroad in June. . 
In September, 1882, he came home much improved in 
health. His digestion was poor and he complained of 
severe pain about the heart. . 
As the weather grew cool in November he went abroad 
and spent most of the winter in Rome, where he had a most 
successful practice among the nobility of Italy. He re- 
turned home July 13, 1883. . . . 
On November 13th, at 9 p.m., he went with his son, 
Dr. H. Marion Sims, to see a patient. On his return 
home he coughed considerably, and, after taking some 
morphine to check it, went to bed. ... At 3 a.m. 
he sat up to take some water and fell back and expired 
without uttering a word. An autopsy showed that he died 
of atheromatous degeneration of the coronary arteries. Bronze Statue of the late Dr. J. MARION SIMS erected in Bryant Park 
and presented to the city of New York, on Saturday, October 20th, by 
the subscribers to the fund. 
(COPYRIGHT, 1894, BY WILLIAM WOOD & CO.) DR. J. MARION SIMS. 
405 
J. MARION SIMS, M.D. 
An address delivered October 20,1894, in Bryant Park, New York, 
on the unveiling of the statue of Dr. J. Marion Sims. 
BY GEORGE F. SHRADY, M.D., 
NEW YORK, N. Y 
Ladies and Gentlemen : We have met on this occa- 
sion to do honor to a medical man, and through him to 
show a becoming appreciation of the labors of his fellows. 
Strange as it may appear, in consideration of the motive 
which has actuated this recognition of valuable services to 
mankind, and the previous opportunities that have been, 
from time to time, offered for conferring similar honors 
on the profession, this is the first instance in this country 
in which an heroic statue has been erected to a member of 
that fraternity. 
Heretofore fame has restricted her tributes to achieve- 
ments in every other line of high human endeavor-war, 
poetry, music, literature, art, patriotism, statesmanship, 
and philanthropy have in turn mounted the pedestal, 
while the genius of medicine, with finger upon closed lips, 
has humbly and mutely awaited the verdict of an appreci- 
ative humanity. 
This new departure which we this day inaugurate can 
be hailed, from many points of view, as an omen of good 
import, as the beginning of an end in which cherished 
traditions shall no longer hamper the well-directed efforts 
of such as work in other spheres of human usefulness. The 
public, however, is not so much to blame for lack of a 
general appreciation of the work of the doctor as would at 
first appear. It has in reality no means of estimating dis- 
tinctive merits. It was, therefore, proper, in order to 
initiate such a movement as the present one, that the pro- 
fession itself should take the lead, and indicate a fitting 406 
DR J. MARION SIMS. 
subject for such an honor. This was done by the Medical 
Record, which made an appeal to the profession in this 
and other countries for funds with which to erect a monu- 
ment to the memory of one of its acknowledged leaders. 
A committee was appointed, of which the late Dr. 
Fordyce Barker was chairman, which comprised leading 
specialists from every part of the United States. Our 
own city was represented by Drs. T. Gaillard Thomas, 
Thomas Addis Emmet, William T. Lusk, William M. 
Polk, Paul F. Munde, the editor of the Medical Record, 
and Mr. William H. S. Wood, as treasurer of the fund. 
The subscriptions were mostly limited to one dollar 
each, and coming as they did from members of the pro- 
fession in every part of the civilized world, attested, in an 
unmistakable manner, the good name and great fame of 
the American surgeon. 
This distinction came, then, from his peers, who were 
best able to judge his qualifications for it, and who with 
one accord were delighted to honor him. 
It was eminently fitting also that such a tribute should 
be paid to American surgery in general, through one of 
its chief representatives. He was a product of the soil 
as well as the exemplification of one of the principles 
which has placed American surgery where it is to-day, 
holding the sceptre of the world. 
Nothing in all the line of progress during the century 
has acquitted itself so creditably as this very science of 
life-saving by operative procedure. And America specially 
points with pride to her great achievements in this notable 
art, to her notable discoveries in alleviating human suffer 
ing, her successful efforts in prolonging human life, and 
in the acc.uracy, skill, and daring of her brilliant oper- 
ators. 
America gave ether to the world, invented the new sleep 
which numbs the touch of sharpest steel, brings sweet peace 
in the eternal war with agony, and wafts pain to oblivion DR J. MARION SIMS 
407 
on the drowsy wing of night. She opened new fields for 
exploration within the human body, made abdominal sur- 
gery, with its brilliant successes, the possibility of the age, 
and with dauntless blade and master hand snatched victory 
from the long hidden intrenchments of death. In fact, 
in every department of surgical procedure the American 
surgeon has left his impress for good either in the inven- 
tion of new methods or in the modification of old ones; 
and has given American surgery a world-wide recognition 
for originality of conception, boldness of execution, and 
success of practice. 
In his own department Sims, a born and typical Ameri- 
can, was a leading worker. He established a school of his 
own, which has now won fame throughout the world. 
Indeed, it is safe to say that Sims's name is associated 
with more original operations and more new instruments 
for making such operations successful than that of any other 
American surgeon. His was the germinal thought im- 
planted in a disposition for untiring work, which changed 
impossibilities into triumphs, restoring health and happi- 
ness to countless numbers of suffering womanhood. 
If it be true that no fame is lasting unless founded on 
labors which promote the happiness of mankind, the name 
of Sims must live as long as generations succeed each 
other, and will punctuate the progress of history by its 
cherished memory. 
But Sims, although ambitious, did not seek for fame. 
When it came to him he viewed it with an innocent sur- 
prise. When it was all done, when during his tour of the 
capitals of Europe, operating in the large hospitals and 
before the renowned surgeons of the day, his breast stud- 
ded with the starry decorations of France, Portugal, Spain, 
and Italy, he could not understand why he was so cordially 
noticed, forgetting that he himself was the focal point 
toward which all the then great lights centred. 
Indeed, it was said of Sims that he could practice and 408 
DR. J. MARION SIMS. 
earn his living in any city of Europe, by virtue of what 
became for him a cosmopolitan reputation. 
He was, however, virtually alone in his conviction of 
ultimate success. His few professional friends, who were 
at first enthusiastically hopeful, became, in the face of his 
early failures, mistrustful and discouraged. While they 
admired his ardor they pitied his delusion. In his darkest 
hours came confidential advice from his brother-in-law: 
"When you began these experiments," said he, " we all 
thought that you were going to succeed at once, and that 
you were on the eve of a great discovery. We have watched 
you and sympathize with you, but your friends here have 
seen that you are breaking down with overwork. And 
besides, I must tell you frankly that with your young 
family it is unjust to them that you continue in this way. 
You have no idea what it costs you to support your hos- 
pital, now for over three years, and my advice is to give it 
all up." His answer came quickly and to the point: 
" My dear brother, if I live I am bound to succeed. I 
am as sure that I will carry this thing through as I am that 
I now live. I have done too much already. I am going 
on with these experiments to the end, it matters not what 
it costs, if it costs my life." 
The destiny of discovery forced him against many ap- 
parently overwhelming obstacles to finally fulfil his mission. 
Thus a backwoods doctor of Alabama, struggling for his 
daily bread, hampered by sickness, working for the work's 
sake, his ardor glowing in the very ashes of his hope, with 
desperate cases forced upon him, compelled to follow in a 
given line, and conscious of a duty he owed to his poorest 
patient, was ever busy in his long and lonely drives in de- 
vising the newer means of relief. Turning to account a 
trivial circumstance in the treatment of a patient, what was 
before a perplexing problem became a solved discovery. 
A new method of operating was thus suggested, and with 
an almost overpowering enthusiasm in the possession of DR. J. MARION SIMS. 
409 
the principle he eagerly put it to the test. His first opera- 
tion was upon a female slave. It failed, as did others upon 
similar subjects. But there was enough of encouragement 
in each to prick his ambition and spur his purpose. He 
must have suitable means to the end, so he equipped a 
little hospital of his own, and with the humblest of poor 
patients accomplished the greatest of triumphs. 
The stitches used in his operation were necessarily so 
deeply placed that they could not be securely tied, and 
were themselves a source of infection. And then another 
step was taken. He had been lying awake for an hour 
wondering how to tie the suture, when all at once an idea 
occurred to him to run a perforated shot along the string, 
and when the suture was tightened to compress the shot, 
thus making the knot secure. He became so elated with 
the discovery that he lay there until morning performing 
in imagination all sorts of operations upon the patients in 
his little hospital. But the shot did not answer every pur- 
pose, for the silk of the suture still made union impossible. 
Just at this time he was walking from the house to his office 
when he picked up a piece of fine brass wire. "A wire is 
the thing," said he. A neighboring jeweller made him a 
fine wire of silver, and with it the thirtieth operation was 
performed upon the long-suffering yet hopeful slave, and 
the principle was forever established. 
These incidents are merely sketched to present an out- 
line of some parts of his character; how the greatest ending 
may have the most insignificant beginning. Whenever a 
great discovery is to be made the idea of it compasses the 
individual round and about, it possesses him by day and 
by night, at all hours and in all places, until the misty 
conjectures form the rainbow of promise, which frames the 
prospect of a world beyond. Thus Sims found Fame wait- 
ing with her chaplet. From little things to great ones is 
the lesson of every invention. With Sims all the successes 
of his great operations hinged not only upon the wide 410 
DR. J. MARION SIMS. 
utility of the famous instrument now inseparably associated 
with his name, but upon the accidental suggestion of a 
cast-off suspender wire. 
So also the little hospital maintained by himself from 
the limited income of a poor, sickly, and hard-worked 
practitioner, with its beds occupied by bondwomen, was 
the germinal conception of the present Woman's Hospital 
in this city, the only institution of its kind in the world, 
and an eternal monument to the ardent zeal and lofty 
purposes of its brilliant founder. Thus while here the 
statue preserves the memory of the good man, of the faith- 
ful worker, of the great inventor, of the broad philanthro- 
pist, the Woman's Hospital becomes for him and all of us 
an ever-living principle, extending its charity, widening 
its influences, perfecting scientific skill, and fulfilling its 
divine mission of alleviating suffering and saving the lives 
of waiting generations of stricken womanhood. 
But Sims was not only a leader in his own department, 
but was always ready to devise new methods of treatment 
in the broader domain of general surgery. As a striking 
instance of this he was the first to boldly advocate the 
operative invasion of the abdominal cavity for gunshot- 
wounds of that region. When the lamented Garfield was 
shot, Dr. Sims, in a cabled interview from Paris, advised 
that such an exploration should be made. Astonishing as 
it was, and as much criticism as it then provoked, it would 
be the first of all expedients at the present day. 
Suffice it to say that every man having his place, Sims 
has found his. If brains, opportunity, environment, and 
energy fit him for great things, he is singled out as a 
memory of good accomplished, as an emulation for kin- 
dred spirits, as an exponent of the progressive idea, and 
as an acknowledged benefactor of his race. The realiza- 
tion of such a position for Dr. Sims is manifest in the 
reverential duties of this hour, which consign his lovable 
memory to the heritage of a grateful humanity. 
Taken, by permission, from Med. Record, Oct. 27, 1894. DR. J. MARION SIMS. 
411 
J. MARION SIMS, M.D: 
An address delivered October 20, 1894, in Bryant Park, New York, 
on the unveiling of the statue of Dr. J. Marion Sims. 
BY PAUL F. MUNDE, M.D., 
NEW YORK, N. Y. 
Mr. Chairman, Ladies, and Gentlemen: You have 
heard from my distinguished friend, the preceding speaker, 
who and what manner of man Dr. Sims was. To me has 
been delegated the honor of enlightening you as to the 
reasons why he was selected for the peculiar distinction of 
having a statue erected to his memory. I say "peculiar 
distinction" because, while in our parks and squares are 
found the statues of soldiers, statesmen, poets, merchant 
princes, and clergymen, nowhere until to-day, so far as I 
am aware, does there stand a statue of a physician. There 
have been several public monuments and busts erected to 
prominent physicians in other cities, notably a monument 
to Dr. Ephraim McDowell, the discoverer of ovariotomy, 
in Lexington, Ky.; a bust to Dr. Benjamin Rush, in 
Philadelphia; and a monument to the "Discovery of 
Anaesthesia," the heroes of which are not mentioned, in 
the public garden of Boston. But this statue to Dr. Sims 
is the first of its kind erected in this country. And why 
has this great distinction been awarded him? Simply and 
solely because, among the many eminent physicians and 
surgeons whom America has produced, he stands pre- 
eminent as the man through whose genius, perseverance, 
and energy a special branch of medical science and practice 
was so renovated, improved, and elevated as to create an 
era in medicine and raise America from the place of the 
docile and receptive pupil to the proud position of the 
teacher of older nations. 
This claim is allowed Dr. Sims without dispute, even by 412 
DR. J. MARION SIMS. 
those European nations who are most jealous of their own 
achievements in medical science. 
Up to fifty years ago the special branch of medicine to 
which Dr. Sims devoted himself, as soon as sufficient op- 
portunity offered, had made comparatively little progress. 
About the middle of the present century three men in 
Europe, by their individual efforts, each in his own land, 
raised this branch of medicine to the dignity of a specialty, 
and placed it on a sound scientific basis. These men were 
Simpson, in Great Britain, Recamier, in France, and 
Scanzoni, in Germany. But in spite of their efforts the 
treatment of these diseases advanced but little, and the 
one needful factor, the knife, was rarely used. Then, 
like a meteor, appeared the genius of Sims ! In the 
Southern town where he had for many years followed the 
practice of a successful general surgeon, as my predecessor 
has already stated, accident caused him to stumble on a 
method of operating and curing a hitherto practically 
incurable injury. Strange to say, the instrument which 
enabled him to achieve this success, and which remains 
indelibly associated with his name, owed its origin to the 
happy thought of a bent kitchen spoon ! An ordinary 
man would not have grasped the situation; but the genius 
of Sims at once comprehended the immense value of his 
discovery, and led him on to improvement after improve- 
ment, until the whole procedure was perfected. 
The field of Montgomery, Ala., then became too narrow 
for his ambition, and in 1853 he came to New York. His 
one great object here was to establish a hospital for the 
exclusive treatment of the diseases peculiar to the female 
sex; and long and hard did he work, until, after much 
opposition from physicians and laymen, and many a dis- 
appointment, in 1855 he was at ^ast able to form the 
Woman's Hospital Association. On the opening, in 1856, 
of a temporary hospital in Madison Avenue, among other 
speakers to commemorate the occasion, Dr. Valentine DR. J. MARION SIMS. 
413 
Mott, who was the foremost surgeon of his time both at 
home and abroad, made the following remarks: " Go on, 
Dr. Sims, in your work of charity and benevolence ! Al- 
though no marble urn or inanimate bust may tell of your 
honor and renown, you will yet have in all coming time 
a more enduring monument; and that monument will be 
the gratitude of woman." The latter part of Dr. Mott's 
prophecy has long since been fulfilled. And to-day we 
are assembled to celebrate the unveiling of the statue which 
Dr. Mott scarcely expected to see erected. 
The limited accommodations of the hospital soon proved 
insufficient, and after many delays funds were secured for 
the erection of the first pavilion of the present Woman's 
Hospital, at Forty ninth Street and Park Avenue, the land 
for which was given by the city. Since then one other 
pavilion and a number of cottages for tumor operations 
have been donated by private citizens. 
This Woman's Hospital, founded by Dr. Sims, was the 
first institution of its kind in the world. Its work became 
world-known under his teachings, and those of his col- 
leagues, Emmet, Thomas, and Peaslee. And from its 
walls have issued scores of young physicians, and thousands 
of professional visitors, who carried what they had there 
seen and acquired to the four corners of the globe. 
A sojourn of several years in Europe made Dr. Sims's 
name familiar to the medical profession abroad, and many 
opportunities were there afforded him of demonstrating 
his peculiar methods of operating. But his name became 
particularly well known after the appearance, in 1866, of 
the only book of any magnitude which he ever wrote, the 
originality and boldness of which aroused admiration and 
surprise all over the professional world. By the older 
physicians it was even regarded with more or less distrust 
and incredulity. This was particularly the case in Ger- 
many, then so very conservative in this branch of medi- 
cine, but now the boldest of the bold in her daring 414 
DR. J. MARION SIMS. 
achievements with the knife. I well remember how, in 
1867, Scanzoni, the Nestor of German gynaecology, whose 
assistant I then was, brought a copy of the translation of 
Dr. Sims's book, which had just appeared, to the clinic, 
and emphatically expressed to me his opinion that, orig- 
inal and ingenious as Sims's views and methods were, 
he still was only an enthusiast, whose illusions were not 
capable of realization. And that was less than thirty years 
ago ! And in these thirty years these very "illusions" of 
Sims, subject, of course, here and there, to the modifica- 
tions of increased experience, have become the accepted 
rules of practice all over the world. It may truly be said 
that this book of Sims made a revolution in modern gynae- 
cological practice. 
With Sims came the revolution which upset the conser- 
vative "do-little" methods, and opened wide the field of 
active, radical, scientific, and rational treatment by sur- 
gical means of the diseases and malformations which for- 
merly were merely palliative or left unrelieved. As the 
exponent of a new system in gynaecological therapeutics 
Sims may truly, to use the term of the clergyman who de- 
livered his funeral oration, be looked upon as an "apostle." 
Without disparagement to the patient labors of previous 
workers in the same field, I must insist that the greatest 
triumphs in this specialty have been achieved since Sims 
first taught us how to use his speculum, the scissors, the 
knife, and the needle for the cure of the diseases to which 
he paid particular attention. J. Marion Sims may, there- 
fore, with all propriety, be called The Father of Modern 
Gynaecology, and it is to this universally admitted claim 
that he owes the distinction of being the first physician to 
whose memory a statue has been erected. 
The genius of Dr. Sims was not limited to the specialty 
with which for all time his name will be connected. Quite 
early in his career he wrote an article on " Convulsions in 
Infants" (Trismus nascentium), in which he advanced DR. J. MARION SIMS. 
415 
the very plausible theory, borne out by later experiences, 
that these convulsions could be prevented and relieved by 
removing the pressure exerted on the brain through the 
soft skull of the child by the simple plan of placing it on 
its side, instead of permitting it to lie constantly on the 
back. Again, he was among the first, if not the first, to 
recognize an abscess of the liver and open it by a free 
incision. Obstruction of the gall-bladder was also the 
subject of an article by him, in which he described the 
operation of opening that organ, and thus relieving the 
symptoms. One of Dr. Sims's last original achievements 
has already been referred to by the preceding speaker-I 
mean his criticism of the treatment of the wound of Presi- 
dent Garfield. I well remember how vehemently his views 
were opposed by the leading surgeons of this city, who 
insisted that it was presumptuous for him, a surgeon in an 
entirely different line of practice, to offer such radical 
suggestions to them. But Sims's views soon gained ground, 
and to day, only twelve years later, the correctness of his 
prophetic assertion is so well recognized that any surgeon 
who would fail to carry out Dr. Sims's advice to at once 
open the abdominal cavity in case of injury by gunshot or 
other perforating wound, and suture the wounded organs, 
would be considered criminally negligent! If only one 
such case out of one hundred is saved by this practice, 
it is so much gained, since without the operation death 
is inevitable. 
I hope I have been successful in demonstrating why a 
statue has been erected to the memory of Dr. Sims. It 
certainly is not my object to deliver a fulsome eulogy of 
this great man. He needs no flattery. The record of 
his deeds speaks for itself. His memory and the recol- 
lection of what he has done for suffering mankind will 
be far more enduring than his statue or the granite on 
which it stands. Let his life be a shining example for us 
to follow! 
Taken, by permission, from Med. Record, Oct. 27,1894. 416 
TRIBUTE TO EPHRAIM MCDOWELL. 
RESPONSE TO THE TOAST, " EPHRAIM 
McDowell." 
Delivered, without manuscript, at the annual banquet of the Chicago 
Gynaecological Society, October 18, 1895. 
BY JOSEPH EASTMAN, M.D., LL.D , 
INDIANAPOLIS, IND. 
In a hallowed spot, a typical American home, in Rock- 
bridge County, Va., November n, 1771, a male child was 
born. It has been said that " great men, like great moun- 
tains, stand alone, with the valley of ancestry on the one 
side and the gulf of posterity on the other." This tower- 
ing character, however, did not stand alone, for the foot- 
hills of his ancestry were of decided magnitude, prophetic 
of a genius destined to become one of the greatest bene- 
factors of the human race. His ancestry for three genera- 
tions commingled with the best Scotch and Irish blood, 
coursing the arteries of men and women of strong bodies 
and strong characters-characters emphasized, energized, 
and vitalized on historic battle-fields with red-skins, red- 
coats, wild beasts and hardships of the primitive Virginia 
forests. 
Figuratively speaking, this child was number nine in a 
family of eleven children. When thirteen years of age 
his parents moved to Danville, Ky., a long, tedious, and 
even perilous journey; a journey in itself well calculated 
to develop and toughen the fibres in our valiant hero. 
At Danville he grew up to full physical manhood, tall, 
well proportioned, beautiful. What a wonderful advan- 
tage it is to grow up in the country, to commune with 
nature, to enjoy the beauties of green fields instead of 
paved streets; to gaze on great oaks and elms instead of 
steeples and chimneys; to see the radiant tints of the 
morning dawn and the beauties of the setting sun ; where TRIBUTE TO EPHRAIM MCDOWELL. 
417 
the mind can grow commensurate with a healthy body; 
where one can develop and cultivate the greatest of facul- 
ties-that of thinking-without having the continuity of 
thought interrupted by the rattling of electric cars, the 
rumbling of omnibuses, or the shrieking whistle of steam 
engines; where one can see in reality what art galleries 
only imitate, and while enraptured with the works of 
nature and the created, become filled with the realization 
of the existence of a Creator. And then, too, to be reared 
under the influence of such parents as our hero had. The 
lasting impressions of our lives are received beneath the 
cloudless sky of childhood, while our guiding star is the 
approving twinkle of the paternal eye, the chief luminary 
of our pathway, the vitalizing sunshine of a mother's coun- 
tenance, and every footstep guided by the subduing influ- 
ence of a mother's love. 
After obtaining his literary education at Georgetown, 
Ky., he went as a student of- medicine to Dr. Humphries, 
in Stanton, Va. History tells-us little of this Dr. Hum- 
phries except that he was educated at the University of 
Edinburgh, but surely he, too, was a man of great intel- 
lectual endowment. Dr. Samuel Brown, of Kentucky, 
and Dr. Hosack, of New York, were also his pupils and 
arrived at a great distinction as practitioners and teachers 
of medicine and surgery. In i793~'94 our hero attended 
lectures at the University of Edinburgh. Pause for a 
moment, and think of a young American so ambitious 
that the entire faculty of this great university could not 
satiate his thirst for knowledge, for going outside he em- 
ployed Dr. John Bell, a great character, so enraptured in 
teaching anatomy and surgery that he filled his pupils to 
overflowing with professional zeal. In 1795 our hero re- 
turned to America and began the practice of medicine at 
Danville, Ky., where he soon had a large clientage, often 
riding fifty and one hundred miles on horseback. He 
faced dangers from storm and flood, in clouds and dark- 
VOL II.-27 418 
TRIBUTE TO EPHRAIM MCDOWELL. 
ness at night, at times becoming lost in the dense forest. 
He was actuated by the higher principles of his profession; 
he feared neither man nor devil; he knew no fear except 
the fear of doing wrong. The degree of his happiness 
was determined by the magnitude of his undertaking. 
On December 13, 1809, he was called to see a Mrs. 
Crawford, whose attending physician had thought her 
pregnant, although he knew she had gone beyond the 
usual time. Our hero being a thorough master of all that 
was known of that highest department of our art, namely, 
diagnosis, declared that she had an ovarian tumor and at 
once suggested its removal. Had he deceived her by an 
untruth, or kept back from her the whole truth, she would 
have known it, would have read it in his countenance, 
and would not have replied : " Doctor, I am willing and 
ready." But he stated to her that so far as he knew the 
operation had never been done-that it would be an ex- 
periment, therefore he could make no promise as to the 
outcome. He thus unlocked the bosom of confidence 
with the key of personal magnetism. By his manly pres- 
ence and honest words he planted a new hope in the heart 
of despair. This woman made the journey, sixty miles, 
on horseback on a bleak December day, in compliance 
with the wisdom of this great and good man, that she 
might be near him so that in a critical moment he could, 
with his own hand, ward off the approaching danger. 
When it became known what he was about to undertake, 
he found a mob was gathering about his house. He 
learned that if the patient recovered it would be well with 
him, but if she died from the operation he was to be at 
the mercy of a merciless mob. He offered up a prayer 
and proceeded with his task. This prayer in fervency 
and literary merit has rarely been equaled. Permit me 
to remark, greater heroism was never displayed by man or 
woman. Martyrs burned at the stake could not escape 
the death if they would. This personification and crystal- TRIBUTE TO EPHRAIM MCDO WELL. 
419 
lization of heroism would not abandon his principles, and 
escape the danger if he could. More than that, genuine 
heroism must be deliberate, must be premeditated, must 
be actuated by a pure, a high, a holy and beneficent mo- 
tive. It was not a maddening pseudo heroism stirred up 
by the rattle of drum and shriek of fife on battle-fields, 
where man seeks to slay his fellow-man. 
I insist that the heroism of Napoleon or Grant can never 
be compared to that of this cool, calculating, thinking man. 
I repeat, the heroism that seeks to destroy human lives is 
incomparable with that which seeks to save human life and 
establish principles which shall not only save one life, but 
which shall continue to save human lives throughout all 
coming ages. The operation was completed, and during 
nearly a century has not been improved upon ; his technique 
was almost identical with what we have to-day. The sub- 
stitution of a gauze for the drainage-tube still more nearly 
approaches the ligatures which he allowed to hang out the 
lower angle of the wound-the best of capillary drainage. 
Mrs. Crawford lived thirty-two years after the operation. 
Our hero made the operation thirteen times with eight re- 
coveries, and when nearly sixty years of age returned from 
visiting a patient, laid down his instruments for the last 
time, and secured that rest which he never could enjoy while 
a call to the bedside of a suffering patient was pending. 
Surely such a life of unselfish devotion to the cause of 
humanity would make him a fit companion for the gods. 
" To such a life there is no death ; 
What seems so, is transition. 
His life, his mortal breath, 
Was but a suburb of the life elysian 
Whose portals we call death." 
He was an honest man, honest to his patients, honest to 
his God, and therefore honest to himself. He was a great 
man with a large head, a large capacity for thinking, and 420 
TRIBUTE TO EPHRAIM MCDOWELL. 
a large, a true, and a loving heart-essential qualifications 
for a great surgeon. 
He was a wise man. With inborn wisdom he accumulated 
and applied knowledge. He was a brave man. No truer 
heroism has or ever will be recorded on the immortal 
pages of never-ending history. He was a humane man. 
He owned slaves, occasionally bought one to unite families 
-but never sold one. He did not approve of traffic in 
human blood. 
He was a handsome man. 
" Beautiful eyes are those that show, 
Like crystal panes where heart-fires glow, 
Beautiful thoughts that dwell below. 
Beautiful lips are those whose words 
Spring from the heart like song of birds- 
And yet whose utterance produce girds. 
Beautiful hands are those that do 
Work that is noble and brave and true, 
Moment by moment the long day through." 
His was a beautiful life. 
" Beautiful lives are those that bless, 
Some silent river of happiness, 
Whose secret fountains few can guess." 
Virginia is justly proud of her statesmen, of her orators 
and her soldiers, "but shall not the achievements of her 
statesmen succumb, at last, to the pitiless logic of events ? 
Shall not the voice of her orators grow fainter with coming 
ages? Shall not the victories of her soldiers be found at 
last only in the libraries of students of military campaigns, 
while the fame of this village surgeon, like the ever-widen- 
ing waves of the inviolate sea, shall be wafted to the utmost 
shores of time, hailed alike by all nations in all ages for 
having lessened the burden and prolonged the span of 
human life." A thousand years hence, if a student of 
medicine shall ask who first did ovariotomy, the answer 
will be prompt and unequivocal. As a result of this self- TRIBUTE TO EPHRAIM MCDOWELL. 
421 
sacrificing life and marvellous achievements there goes 
forth a benediction to every home in the civilized world; 
from every hearthstone in Christendom there returns a 
blessing to the memory and resting-place of Ephraim 
McDowell. All honor to this honest, great, wise, heroic, 
good, kind, gracious, loving, and lovable man ! 
[Published by permission of Joseph Eastman, M.D. 
-The Author.]