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I----I- -L  "■
•^>^. AN| «5<^
eBITUARY'REPeRT
ON THE LATE
I rof. @3amuel  tof. Wrmor,
COMMITTEE OF THE
Medical Society 0,1 th§ Q&TOtf Q& RM|§
       BROOKLYN:
KIWAKI1 FERGUSON, PKINTER, 762 MYKTLE AVE.
        1886.
-BY THE-- 
 
         REPORT

           ----OF THE---

OBITUARY  COMMITTEE
ON THE LATE
0F  THE .eeUNTY . @F '. KI.-NGS,

        DECEMBER 15, 1885.
      BROOKLYN:
E. FERGUSON, PRINTER, 762 MYRTLE AVENUE.
        188G. 
   The Obituary Committee on the late Dr. Samuel G. Armor respect-
fully present the following minute, resolution, and reports :

   This Societ}r gratefully recalls and pays a tribute to the memory of
its late associate, Dr. Samuel G. Armor, as a Christian gentleman of
noble motives and pure life, whose modest demeanor and hearty frank-
ness won the confidence of all;  as a faithful attendant on the meetings
of the Society and a free and spirited contributor to its  deliberations ;
as a physician, skilful, faithful, and sincere ; as an adviser, honest and
helpful; as a scholar of varied and  thorough learning ; as a teacher,
erudite, winning and instructive ;  as a friend, warm-hearted and  con-
stant ; and as an adornment to the profession to which he had devoted
his life.
   Resolved: That the Society cause  this minute, with  the reports of
its Memorial Committee, to be spread upon its records, and that a  copy
thereof be sent to the family of our deceased friend. 
     A BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH  OF  DR.  ARMOR.

                      By  Dr.  F.  E. West.

   Samuel Glasgow Ar.mou  was born  in  Washington County,
Pennsylvania, January 29, 1819.  He was descended from good
Scotch stock, his father tracing his descent from the  family  of
Miss Armor, the wife of Robert Burns, Scotland's greatest poet;
and his mother, whose maiden name was Glasgow, from the Kirk-
patricks, a family of high standing, in early times among the
nobility of Scotland.
   In 1830 he removed with his parents to Holmes County, Ohio.
   Like most boys in Ohio at that time, he did  not have much
opportunity for  early  education;  but  appropriated  and  im-
proved such as he had to the best advantage.  Says one who
knew him Avell: '• He was a manly boy, of pure, faultless character,
and hence in early life wasted no time in idleness, but, being am-
bitious and industrious, with great  energy of purpose, he early
manifested great capacity to learn, and readily prepared himself
for college."
   He entered Franklin College, at New Athens, Ohio, and re-
mained there two years ; but, because of limited means, was un-
able to graduate. During his first year in this institution, he was
elected Contest Orator for his society, and won the honor against
a talented member of the senior class.
   This same institution, at its commencement on June 26, 1872,
conferred upon him the degree  of LL. D.
   Being a natural orator,  and  an easy and ready  writer, when
just of age, lie entered the campaign of 1810 as an active  young
AVhig politician, making several eloquent speeches, and, in con-
nection with another boy of his own age who afterwards became
his brother-in-law, edited a very spirited Whig campaign  paper.
   On leaving college, he entered the office of his brother-in-law,
Dr. James S. Irvine, who  was  a  leading physician of Millers-
burgh, Ohio, and also clerk of the  courts of Holmes County. 
1              A  BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF DR.  ARMOR.
 When not engaged writing up the court records, he studied med-
 icine, also adding to his general  literary and scientific learning.
    Meanwhile, a young lawyer named Welker, who is now Judge
 of the United States Courts of Northern Ohio, married his sister,
 and induced him to study law, which they  did together, and  he
 was admitted to the Ohio bar in  1843.
    The contentions and  disputes incident to this  profession  he
 did not like, and never  pursued its practice.   His legal study,
 however,  he never regretted, as it was of  great service to him  in
 his career as a physician and teacher.   He frequently  alluded to
 the general principles of evidence in considering medical questions.
    Soon after his admission to the bar, he resumed his medical
 studies, and graduated at the Missouri Medical College of  St.
 Louis in 1811.  Following his graduation, he located in Rockford,
 111.  He was not allowed to remain long, however, in the private
 walks of his profession, but quickly commenced his career as a
 teacher of medicine.
    In 1817 he accepted an invitation to deliver a special course
 of lectures on physiology in the Rush Medical College of Chicago,
 111., and the following year was tendered the chair of physiology
 and pathology in this institution,  but declined it, as he had just
 accepted the same chair in the medical college at Keokuk, Iowa.
 Here he remained some time, and engaged in the active practice
 of his profession.
    He subsequently resigned his position  at Keokuk, and accept-
 ed the chair of natural sciences in the Cleveland University.
   In  1853  the Ohio  State  Medical Society offered  a prize for
 the best essay on  a medical or surgical topic.   The  prize was
 awarded  to  Dr. Armor for his essay upon the " Zymotic Theory
 of the Essential Fevers."
   This essay gave the doctor a great reputation throughout the
 Western  States, and it  was during the same year that he was in-
 vited to accept the chair of physiology and pathology in the Med-
ical College of Ohio, located at Cincinnati ;  this he did, resign-
ing his position in  the Cleveland University.  Daring the fol-
lowing year he  was transferred  to the chair of pathology and
practice of medicine and clinical medicine, which  position he
continued to fill during his connection with the school. 
A BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH OF DR. ARMOR.              5
   During the reading of his prize essay before the State Society,
then in session  at Dayton, Ohio, Miss Mary A. Holcomb, only
daughter of a retired merchant, a young lady of fine ability and
great culture, was present.
   Their acquaintance soon ripened into mutual attachment, and
they were married in 1856.
   After his marriage Dr. Armor changed his residence to Day-
ton,  continuing his connection with the  college at Cincinnati.  In
Dayton he succeeded in building up  a good practice.
   Previous to the consolidation of  the two medical schools in
Cincinnati,  he  resigned.  The " Cincinnati  Medical Journal," in
commenting upon this resignation, says : " We  have lieard many
lecturers, both in this country and in Europe, but we have lieard
but few who could surpass Prof. Armor in riveting  the attention
of a  class."
   Immediately on resigning, he  was elected to the chair of path-
ology and clinical medicine in the  Missouri  Medical College of
St. Louis.   He delivered one  course of lectures in this school,
but,  although urged to remain, declined to do so, and returned to
his practice in Dayton.
   One of the Philadelphia medical journals  in speaking of his
resignation says :  " Dr.  S. G. Armor, of Dayton, Ohio, one of  the
most able and elegant lecturers in the  great  AYest, has resigned
the  professorship of pathology and  clinical  medicine  in  the
Missouri  University.  To those who  are  acquainted with  Dr.
Armors fine abilities as  a public teacher, no praise of ours will
add  to his fame.   It  is  with no disposition to  disparage  others
that we declare  our conviction that,  in  the peculiar powers of a
didactic teacher, he is not surpassed in the  United  States.   It
seems to us  impossible  that Dr. Armor should  remain long in
private life.  AVith talents which will so greatly enhance the rep-
utation  of any  institution in  whose interest they may be em-
ployed,  we predict for him at no distant day an increase of fame
in some new and more extended field."
   This prediction was not long in attaining a realization, for in
1862 he accepted the chair of institutes of medicine and  materia
medica in the University of Michigan.
   During the  war of the Rebellion, the doctor was sent by the 
6              A  BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF DR.  ARMOR.
 Governor of Ohio to inspect the sanitary condition  of  the Ohio
 troops in the field.  He gathered and reported much valuable in-
 formation, which was of great service to  the medical department
 of the army.
   After connecting himself with  the  Michigan University, he
 removed his residence to Detroit,  where he  soon entered  upon
 a large and lucrative practice ; and, whenever during recent years
 he returned to that city, if only for a few days' visit, he was called
 upon in a professional capacity.
   That he was held in high esteem by the profession of Detroit,
 the resolutions recently adopted by the Detroit Academy of Med-
 icine, and published in the New York medical  journals, test if v.
   In 1866 he was  called  to the chair  of  therapeutics, materia
 medica and general pathology in the Long Island College  Hos-
 pital  of this city, and  the  following  year,  on  the  resignation of
 Prof.  Flint, was transferred to that of practice of medicine and
 clinical medicine.   This position he continued to hold, up to the
 time of his death, October 27,  1885.
   His first wife  died in this  city 1878.   They had one child, a
 daughter, who married Dr.  Ward, of Chicago.   In  1883 Dr. Ar-
 mor married the wife  who now survives him.   She was the widow
 of General Y'orke, of Cincinnati, and is a lady  of culture and fine
 education.
   In Dr.  Armor's death, many of us lost a valued friend,  the
 profession, a shining  exponent, and  the city and  country, one
 whose place will be hard to  fill.
   Of his twenty years' work in this city, others, who have known
 him longer, will speak.  I  cannot refrain from saying a few words
 however.
   Our acquaintance began about twelve years ago.  During the
past nine years I have known him intimately, and a great  part of
that time,  been closely associated with  him.   He was a man of
wonderful  simplicity  of  character, always cordial and genial in
his greeting.  His  equanimity of temper was  remarkable ; al-
most never have I seen it ruffled.
   His individuality was  decided, a man of firm convictions, yet
never dogmatic or obstinate.  His conversation was always in-
structive, and  he never failed  to  give you something to think 
A BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH  OF DR. ARMOR.
I
about.  His study  had not  been confined to medical subjects
alone, but was quite general, and, having a very retentive memory,
he could talk intelligently, and at times eloquently, upon almost
any subject.  He had travelled a great deal both in this country
and  Europe, and well do  I  recall the  graphic  descriptions of
places he  had visited.   As a teacher of medicine,  he had  few
equals.   This  was  the  universal  testimony  of students  who
listened  to  him.  His style was simple, yet forcible.  He had a
faculty of formulating the important  facts  of a subject in such a
way that students could grasp them intelligently and retain them.
One of his associates in the faculty at Ann  Arbor once said that
Dr. Armor beat any man to put horns on a subject, he  ever saw.
   In practice, he  was remarkably strong in  therapeutics and
prognosis.  For the ordinary  conduct of a  case, I did not regard
him as unusual.  He was  too large  a  man for detail; but, for an
occasion, or in  an emergency, I do not know his  equal.  His re-
source seemed boundless.
   It is a great loss to the world that he did not leave in  some
tangible form his general ideas of therapeutics.
   In my opinion, they  would have been somewhat  of the form
of, and as enduring  a monument as,  Headland's " Action of Rem-
edies."
   In prognosis he  especially excelled.   His faculty for obser-
vation, his sound judgment and analytic mind, together with an
unusually  retentive memory, made  him remarkable in this di-
rection.   Many are  the incidents which recall this power to those
who knew him.
   His writings were mainly for the current medical literature.
   The last published article is a chapter in Pepper's " System
of Medicine," on  " Functional and Inflammatory Diseases of the
Stomach."  Unfortunately his unpublished manuscript consists
solely of short  lecture-notes,  which were of use only to himself.
Had they been written as they were delivered, his already  wide
reputation would have been greatly extended. 
   CAUSES OF  DR.  ARMORS  INFLUENCE  IN  THE
                       PROFESSION.

                 By Dr. Alexander Hi'tchixs.

   Di:. Ai;.moi:'s life was,  to a large extent,  passed prominently
before the eyes of his professional brethren.   Mourned by many,
as the departure of personal friends is mourned, by  many more
his death was felt to be a serious loss.   This means, if it means
anything more than the shock that is felt at sundering the ties of
good-fellowship, that he was contributing something to the sum
of human advantage, and  that those  who knew him believed that
his work was not done,  and that, if further opportunity had been
given him, he had capacity for still further usefulness to  his fel-
lows.  The character of the eulogiums that have been pronounced
upon him all indicate that this is the general belief.
   He has left behind no  monumental work.  There is  no one
rounded effort of his for the present or future generations to point
to as his  special contribution to the world's treasure-house.  He
has  lighted no beacon on a bold headland, whose rays are to
illumine the pathway of any who shall, in later days, be groping
their way with uncertain steps.
   Not  thus is he to be  judged and  his memory recalled.  He
was a man of distinctive personality, doing his duty well in ways
peculiar to himself, and exerting influence for good, wdiose ex-
pression is to be found in  the repetition of that influence in other
lives.  He was  a man  of  mark,  not because  of occasional  out-
bursts of his fullness of power, but because it was his mission to
be a  continual  dispenser  of  that which  was continually being
wrought out within himself.
   From the purely professional side it may not be without avail
to recall certain aspects of his life, which made these characteris-
tics keep him within the  modest circle  of the always welcome
friend, teacher,  and adviser.
   Dr. Armor was distinctively and always a physician.  Utterly
removed from any taint of braggadocio or the  intrusiveness of
shop-talk, his purpose  in  life, his bent of habits and his conver-
sational drift led those  who were in contact with him to the in- 
          CAUSES OF  DR. ARMOR'S INFLUENCE IN THE PROFESSION.        9

 evitable sense that he was in every fibre  the medical man.   He
 lived in the engrossing environment of the one absorbing  life-
 work of professional contemplation  and deed.  The impression
 that he made on his  associates was that of one pre-occupied with
 his profession.   Association, occupation,  study, the illumination
 of diverse knowledge, all trended on the professional road.  YVitb
 other casts of mind and habits of living,  this  might drive head-
 long into pedantry ;  with him, in his round of duties, it meant an
 influence.   And this influence, without pretence or intrusiveness,
 was Dr. Armor's mission.   He was a born teacher :  he found his
 place and held  it to the end.
    His congenial, and it might almost be said with accuracy  his
 exclusive, associations w-ere with his professional  brethren.   A
 glance over the many unbroken  years of his official connections
 sufficiently confirms this statement.  His life was spent among
 medical men.  For many years his duties drifted him away from
 the ordinary relations of professional  life,  and, separated from
 the particular ambitions and competitions that bring into bold
 relief and friction the personality of most men, he  instinctively
 sought  sympathy and association among those  whose tendencies
 of life corresponded with his own, and on  a plane removed from
 any contests where rivalry begets restraint.   It was less a matter
 of premeditation than a necessity arising out of what he was.   By
 reason of this, it was congenial to him to be  the helpful, and not
 patronizing, associate of those who were working their way up
 into the places of professional life.  The instinct of medical study
 made student life agreeable to him, and the teacher became, per-
 force, the associate of  the taught.  It needs no sentences to ex-
 plain another cause of Dr. Armor's influence.
   In keeping with those same characteristics  was his easy  and
 steady affiliation with the organized societies of medical men.   He
 drifted naturallv to conventions of his kind, absorbing from others
 and contributing of his own.  At  the  meetings  of this Society,
 scarce one more regular ; in smaller coteries of similar intent, he
was drawn as regularly,  the  magnet in either being  the same ir-
resistible drift toward  that  which made  up the fullness of  his
life.  From large1 motives he had a profound  sense of the impor-
tance  of organized societies of medical  men.   He held the sure 
10       CAUSES OF DR. ARMORS INFLUENCE IN THE PROFESSION.
 conviction that  the  profession of medicine  lay as a necessary
 foundation for a  wise and judicious and effective practice of the
 art.  He held, as all sober  men must know,  that the practice of
 medical arts, unanchored to the esprit du corps that holds fast and
 unique the body of the medical profession, must inevitably disin-
 tegrate into innumerable deceit.   His ways led him within these
 walls from choice, but that  choice was moved by a judgment con-
 vincing  him that these societies  were the protection of profes-,
 sional honor.   To this, also,  is to be ascribed somewhat of the
 influence he held among us.
    In recalling these aspects of his memory it is not a small mat-
 ter, or one to be  treated  lightly, that Dr. Armor's ways were
 apart from those of the great mass of his brethren.   It  is not  to
 his credit or discredit, it is not for  eulogy or censure, for ap-
 plause or sneer, that the business  instinct  was  entirely  subordi-
 nate in his mental constitution.  Had his abilities been  directed
 other than as  they were, and the acquisitive element found a
 financial playground, the Dr.  Armor that we  knew  would not
 have been.  It is the mere statement of a fact in his career, with-
 out prejudice  to  the  hosts  of  his  peers  who  are honoring the
 profession he  adorned  and  whose  construction is different from
 his.   But it does add clearness to one  other aspect of his influ-
 ence,  that he  was approachable  without possible  intervening
 cloud of competition.   He could never be in want, but no combi-
 nation of opportunity could have ever diverted him from his con-
 genial task.
   Thoroughly in harmony with  these characteristics  was the
 fact that Dr. Armor's position  among his fellows was  prominent
 by reason of his large and general  acquirements. He was a large
 and varied reader.  His acute intellectual grasp and a logical
 habit of mind  enabled him to so classify his information as to
 make it available when needed.   His habit of thought was essen-
 tially logical.  Though not a disputant,  he always argued  Some
 of our soundest as well  as most brilliant and successful brethren
grasp their situations with rapid precision, and would find it dif-
ficult  to re-state  the argument for the benefit of  others   Dr
Armor's  mental habits were cast in another  mould   He  was
under the necessity of going over the argument to himself before 
        CAUSES OF DR. ARMORS INFLUENCE IN THE PROFESSION.        11

 the  conclusion was  reached.   And this was equally true  in  his
 relations with his professional friends.   In consultations, in  so-
 ciety discussions, in written papers, and in scientific coterie, this
 mental habit was uniform.  He was a lecturer by necessity, and
 he could not escape from this thraldom.  It takes a very mod-
 erate experience to perceive that, for the average man, similarly
 endowed with these mental habits, the courtesy of his associates
 might at times be put to severe strain.  Dr.* Armor, however, had
 in him the gentle instincts that would not permit him to be tedi-
 ous or monopolizing, as well as the  large  experience and broad
 culture  that rapidly  sifted out the unimportant detail  which
 (though few men can be exhaustive)  made him  uniformly  in-
 structive and helpful.
    It will  hardly be questioned, in these  days when so much is
 being  said and so little done in the way of a higher medical edu-
 cation, that there is  an appreciated need of something other than
 is offered in the  medical schools and gained in the ordinary activ-
 ities and attrition of medical life.   That the arts of medicine  are
 practised at their best by large numbers of medical men must be
 held as  true.  That the all-around men, capable of meeting off-
 hand the diverse emergencies of human ills, are scattered all over
 wherever civilization  has  pushed its way is, likewise, without
 doubt,   That these  men are Useful, and  honest, and well-doers,
 and needful, does not admit of debate.  It is a meaningless fling
 that no  great competency is required to practise medicine ;  for
 the routine details of  all professions and occupations  are being
 performed  with  accuracy  and  satisfaction everywhere by men
 who, honorably  and acceptably doing their allotted work, have
 neither the desire nor the ability to do other than they are doing,
 and who will pass on so  to the  end.  The needs of the world
 would hardly be satisfied  if a  so-called liberal education were
 exacted  of all novitiates in medical  study, and it by  no means
 follows that, if by common consent this exaction were demanded,
 all medical men  would be planets in the professional firmament.
 But it is, nevertheless, true that  the  profession of medicine is
 strengthened by its  men of varied power and accomplishment,
 and that medicine has been made a profession by the men who
have had the power to evolve and arrange its principles.  The 
12       CAUSES OF DR. ARMORS INFLUEVCE IN  THE PROFESSION.
 great mass of the honest workers therein must be content  to use
 the principles furnished to their hands, and be glad to honor the
 men who have been more worthily endowed with higher powers
 and larger opportunities.
    It is no reckless eulogy or fulsome apotheosis to say, as wre
 look back upon the life that was spent among us, that Dr. Armor,
 who did his duty well, did it well in his station, because he be-
 lieved in and  labored  for the upbuilding of the profession; that
 he is to  be remembered as  one who, fitted for large  opportuni-
 ties, filled  his  place with  honor to himself and advantage  to his
 brethren;  and who, endowed with  large  natural  gifts, adorned
 them with the graces of general culture.  The days of hero-wor-
 ship are fleeing fast away from these days of intense individualism
 and widespread information.  Dr. Armor was not a hero; on the
 contrary, he was  a  plain, unobtrusive  man,  well endowed, who
 helped his fellow-men.
    And we  shall none  of us lose by recalling him.  A man so
 placed that he can spend his life in strengthening the  foundation
 of the edifice  he  occupies,  to base it more firmly for those who
 are to occupy it when he is gone, may well inspire us  all to self-
 scrutiny as  to how possible it may be for us to make life easier
 for those about us now, and more fruitful and enjoyable for  those
 who are to  take the places we must  leave.
   The oft-quoted—but, among men living the life we are living,
 the never-too-often-quoted—maxim of Lord Bacon is fitting to this
 memorial notice of our friend :
   " I hold every man a debtor to his profession, from the which,
 as men of course do  seek to receive countenance and profit, so
 ought they of duty to endeavor themselves,  by way of  amends,
 to be a help and ornament thereunto.  This is performed, in some
 degree, by the honest and liberal practice of  a profession :  when
 men shall carry a respect, not to descend into any course that is
 corrupt and unworthy thereof, and preserve themselves free from
 the abuse wherewith the same profession is noted to be infected.
 But much  more is this performed  if a man be able to visit and
 strengthen the roots and foundations  of the science itself, thereby
 not only growing it in reputation and dignity, but  also amplify-
ing it m perfection and sustenance." 
      DR.  ARMOR'S PLACE  IN  THE  PROFESSION.

                By Dr. Alexander J. C. Skene.

    Marble, bronze and canvas, under the magic touch of the art-
 ist, are made to perpetuate the material forms of those who are
 gone ; but this is all  that the artist can do.  The lifeless  image
 can bring back the  living reality to the memory of those only
 who knew the being while living.
    The pen-portrait of the faithful biographer alone can preserve
 men as manifested by their thoughts and actions while in life.  It
 is the immortal wrork of the man that we most  highly  prize and
 most desire to  perpetuate.  All  men  have a physical being  that
 can be photographed ; few leave a monumental life-work worthy
 of preservation.
    The thoughts, words  and  deeds of Dr. Armor, if preserved
 and faithfully  portrayed, would show one of Nature's master-
 pieces, an honor to the race, acceptable to the critic, and valuable
 as a model to the  aspiring student.
    Dr. Armor was the beneficent physician.  He  was known as
 such, and will be remembered as just that manner of man.
    All he did and all he  said were for the benefit of those  who
 needed his aid  and care.
    Not the scholar bending over his books at the midnight hour,
 lost in thought  and far from  the sorrows and suffering of the
 human race ; not the  theorist toying with some corpuscle or cell
 while the human being from which it was taken lay tortured with
 pain, perhaps dying, for want of a drop of water or an  anodyne;
 not  the ambitious man, reading,  searching, experimenting and
 writing in the hope of doing something that would bring fame,
 fortune and immortality in the memory of men ;  not the renowned
 discoverer laboring in the laboratory to solve the problems of
 life, disease and death,  enthusiastic and happy in his systematic
 work, because believing that indirectly he is benefitting his kind.
    Dr. Armor was not a discoverer, neither was he  generally
'known as an original  worker in any special field of investigation;
 but in his knowledge of  the discoveries  of  others,  and in his
 power to classify, harmonize  and adapt them to the every-day 
14
DR. ARMOR'S  PLACE IN THE PROFESSION.
wants of the human race, he was without a rival in his day.  He
lived and labored continually to adapt  human knowledge to the
wants of mankind.
   Knowledge  to him was  valuable  only so far  as  it gave him
power  to do his work as a physician.   He  gathered from  all
sources every scrap of knowledge which could help him in his
practice, but he never lingered to muse and speculate about the
possibilities of any crude theories, no matter how fascinating they
might be to a lover of abstract science.
   He was a workman who  loved his work,  and valued it so far
as it gave tangible and useful results.
   Men of this type are generally called practical; in the case1 of
oar fellow and friend, practical meant useful.   In  this he was a
representative American  physician : one possessing all that was
requisite and necessary to the object of his life.
   He was competent—eminently so by nature and culture.  He
enjoyed his wrork, and did it with all his might.  The tall, strik-
ing figure, strong and kindly face, and voice which was manly and
musical, gave him  a respectful hearing  at all times and in  all
places.
   His manner was peculiarly simple, indeed quite plain at times.
There  was a dash of hearty off-hand freedom which had in  it
more of the AYestern prairie than of the parlor or French salon,
and was not at first acceptable to  the reserved autocrat of the
East.  But, though rugged and unconventional, he was ever pure
and kind, and sure  to win respect and esteem in time.
   His social conduct toward his patients was exactly what the
highest culture of the present age demanded.  He looked upon
patients  and their friends as intelligent  beings, whose rights had
the first  claim to respect.  He  had  nothing in him akin  to the
pompous autocrat of the profession, whose stronghold and safety
are dignity and a mysterious use of words.  Neither had he any
trace of the glib-tongued shopman of  the profession, who talks
for effect.
   He gained  confidence (by a free  expression of his views  re-
garding disease and treatment),  and kept it by faith in  his own
knowledge, trust in the intelligence of his patients, and his ow^n
uncompromising honesty. 
DR. ARMOR'S PLACE IN THE PROFESSION.              15
   He knew nothing whatever about  acting for personal favor.
His code of professional ethics was based upon his  own honesty
of purpose  and confidence in the intelligence and  honesty of
the great mass of the  people.  This placed him in the highest
relations to  the most worthy and appreciative of  his fellow-men,
and guarded him from the annoyance of the butterflies and moths
of society that are attracted by glare.
   He started out in life with an inherent love of knowledge and
an inherited honesty of purpose, and these were his guides through
all his professional career.
   His professoreal robes  were  as pure and white when he laid
them aside as they  were when he  put them on in his youth,  one
year after he graduated in  medicine.
   He was naturally constituted for a physician : fine perceptive
powers associated with good reason and judgment; in short, a
well-balanced large brain sustained by a strong body, and a heart
which brought him into sympathy with the human  race and gave
him the desire  to be useful to those around him.
   The wdiole course of training from boyhood up was all in the
way of making him complete and fully  capable of the great  ob-
ject of his life.  This raised him  high  in the ranks of men,  and
made him a true specialist  in medicine—one with a wonderfully
comprehensive grasp  of all that he required  for his every-day
duties.  There is something supremely  satisfying in contrasting
such an one with the pseudo-specialists who flutter in the rays
of one small artificial  lamp, believing  it to be  the light of the
whole universe.
   Equally gratifying it is to compare such a man with the be-
nighted generalists who, having learned all nursery  songs, feel
competent to interpret the works of  all the masters in the art
of music.
   Dr. Armor's knowdedge  of special  pathology was  ample but
not  perhaps exhaustive, and in  physical diagnosis,  in certain
lines, he may have had many equals,  but, in general  pathology
and the art  of diagnosis generally, he had few if any rivals.
   No man could  grasp more  comprehensively the nature of a
given disease, its local lesions and its secondary and ultimate ef-
fects upon the general organization, the influence of the patient's 
in
DR. ARMOR S PLACE IN THE PROFESSION.
 surroundings to favor or protract  recovery, and find the means
 of relief suggested by  the  state of the patient in  all his con-
 ditions and relations.
    He never lost sight of the patient's interests while looking at
 a morbid condition, and he left no  stone unturned to bring relief.
 In this,  he was certainly one of the leading physicians of this age.
    As a therapeutist, he occupied the highest plane.   Below him
 on one side were the votaries of drugs still clinging to the almost
 obsolete idea that medicine alone is potent in the management of
 disease—men with full belief in the total depravity of the physi-
 cal as well as spiritual state of mankind, wdio were bound to war
 against disease with the heaviest artillery in the materia medica.
 Far below him on the other side  stood  the fungous growths in
 medicine, the  products of  this resiless,  feverish, nervous age—
 men with faith without a spark of reason, who believe or affect to
 believe that they can heal  the  sick with  remedies  as intangible
 and incomprehensible to themselves as to their patients.   Near
 to but yet beneath him were those men of science  well  versed
 in the nature of disease and the means of detecting it, but with a
 modern skepticism in the curative power of remedial agents__the
 devotees of expectant treatment.   Beside him were ever found
 the exponents of preventive medicine, who kept him company as
 far as they went his way.  From all of these he gathered  useful
 knowledge.   He clearly and kindly  scrutinized all  of them, and,
 when he could find nothing useful in them, he profited by their
 folly and their blunders.
    Over  twenty years ago, while  he was  professor of therapeu-
 tics, he had mastered the subject  so far as the literature went,
 and he had systematized the knowledge of  this branch of medi-
 cine far more completely than any one else in this country.  The
 suggestions of others were made useful,  and,  in  short, lie made
 more  of  the  knowledge of  many of the masters than they did
 themselves.   Headland's " Therapeutics," as expounded by Ar-
 mor, was greater than the  original.  He was to America what
 Trousseau was to France, and Anstie to England.
   His lectures of twenty years ago embodied all the facts con-
tained in Anstie's work on " Stimulants and Narcotics," published
ten or twenty years later. Those who  lieard him  lecture  at the 
DR. ARMOR'S PLACE IN THE PROFESSION.              17
time referred to, and subsequently read the book of Anstie, know
this to be true.
    His knowledge of therapeutics was not by any means limited
to the great principles of the healing art—he was  equally  fa-
miliar with all the details of actual practice.  Some of the  great-
est generals are said to have been  thoroughly familiar with the
duties of the private soldier, so this great  physician knew well
the minor as well as the major points in the care of the sick.  He
not only could solve the great problems in pathology and  thera-
peutics, but was equally expert  in directing how  to administer
food or medicine, or do anything that could add in any  way to
the comfort or welfare of a patient.  This came from his having
been at one time largely engaged in private practice where one
who has the capacity learns many things not  taught in hospital
practice.
    As a teacher, he  had the highest conception of the duties and
responsibilities committed to his care.  Some one has said that
the system of education in one country in Europe made scholars,
while in another it made useful men.  Dr. Armor took his inspi-
ration from the latter.
    In the class-room he labored most  effectually to  familiarize
his students with the great laws which underlie pathology and
therapeutics, but never bewildered them  with obscure things or
disjointed facts.  He gave the key that unlocks the doors to all
the departments of medical science and  art, so that his pupils
could find their own way ;  and he also taught them  how to ob-
serve, think and act for themselves.   He made rational practi-
tioners, not imitators.
    The influence of this  teacher, in the  class-room and in con-
sultation at the bedside, during the past quarter of a century, did
more to establish the reputation of American physicians than the
labors of any one man in the country.   This came not  from his
scientific ability alone,  but largely from a strong desire to make
all with whom  he came  in contact better practitioners.
   His influence  wTas far greater than it  otherwise would  have
been because  his  interest was not self-centred.   AYhile  others
were straining every nerve to attract the  attention and approba-
tion of the world, he was ever busy trying  to help them  to  do 
18            DR.  ARMORS PIACE IN THE PROFESSION.
good wrork, regardless of himself.  His influence will long be felt.
It is present now, and stops the praise of his name long before it
begins to be extravagant.  Could he hear this much said of him-
self, he would be sure to say that the testimony offered was evi-
dently from biased witnesses.
   This thought raises the question as to what he left undone, if
anything.   All who  knew him well  agree that he did not  write
enough.  His knowledge and experience and remarkable style of
writing made him the best qualified man in this country to  write
a work on the practice of medicine, but this was not done.   This
is the only duty wdiich l:e neglected.  How complete  his labors
would have been had he done this !
   The reason for this may be found in the fact that he knew full
well that so many make books out of that which they read in the
works of others, and some write far more than they read without
knowing how much others have done.    Both parties labor for
personal glory, not the advancement of science, and he may  have
dreaded being in any way like these.  He certainly was too  hard
to please with his own work to make book-making easy for him.
This is the only  regret that has been expressed by others while
commenting upon his life.
   Would  that kind fortune had furnished him with some one
who could have preserved  to this country the products of his
fertile brain!   To these wTho come after this, all is lost, save here
a little and there a little among those who knew him and learned
of him.
   Much as a work by such  a man would have been valued, it
may be asking more than was possible  for him.   AYe know our
own wishes, and yet do not always know how impossible it may
be for others  to gratify us.  Dr. Armor did enough to merit all
the praise that can be given him.  He left the profession in this
country better than he found it, and made a host of friends and
admirers in and out of  the profession who will cherish his mem-
ory in time to come.  Thousands of professional men rose higher
in professional life  because of his  inspiring precepts  and exam-
ple.   He gained honors for the whole profession by teaching the
people to  respect  and honor him, and through him  the whole
fraternity. 
DR. ARMOR'S PLACE IN THE PROFESSION.
19
   He was unknown to many, no doubt, who never looked high
enough  to see  him.   The crowd that can see greatness only in
gold, and wdio pay homage to those who have the power to op-
press  their fellow-creatures, would not notice Dr. Armor.  Those
who live in the higher realms of  life, and feel that knowledge and
self-sactifice  and devotion  to others is the stamp  of  immortal
greatness, knew him, and felt that he was worth knowing.
   So it was  in his own profession of medicine.  The men arrest-
ed early in development, who  have to give all their time to secure
a bare existence, know little of him.  It was the bright stars in
the profession avIio knew him as the good, beneficent physician
and beloved associate.
   Though there was little of  that political sagacity in him which
is most potent in winning the  approbation of kings, he might
have had royal decorations bestowed upon him had he lived in
any of the older countries; but a better award was allotted to
him :  the  confidence, gratitude and esteem  of the ablest heads
and greatest hearts among the people of America.
   This will  last when crests and  coronets and marble  monu-
ments have crumbled and are  forgotten.   His influence while
here was ever to  guide us onward and upward.  As a laborer in
the vast fields of medical science and art, he  wras a master joyous
and happy, at peace Avith all his co-workers both great and small.
As  he marched along, he made  the journey through life with its
duties and cares all bright by his hymns of praise to nature and
nature's laws.
   Though now unseen, in thought he is still visible  as from the
other  shore he beckons us on to higher attainments. 
 
 
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