BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS PHYSICIANS OF ALBANY COUNTY. AN ADDRESS DELIVERED BEFORE THE JIUbirpI $orifto of tdf (tab) of Jltbono, SEMI-ANNUAL MEETING, JUNE 9, 1857, BY SYLVESTER D. WILLARD, M. D. VICE-PRESIDENT OF THE SOCIETY «& PRINTED BY ORDER OF THE SOCIETY ALBANY, N. Y. J. MUNSELL, 78 STATE STREET. 185 7. BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS PHYSICIANS OF ALBANY COUNTY. AN ADDRESS DELIVERED BEFORE THE JHebirol Society of tljt Connto of gifting, SEMI-ANNUAL MEETING, JUNE 9, 1857, X BY SYLVESTER D. WILLARD, M. D. VICE-PRESIDENT OF THE SOCIETY. PRINTED BY ORDER OF THE SOCIETY. ALBANY, N. Y: J. MUNSELL, 78 STATE STREET, 185 7. ADDRESS. Mr. President and Gentlemen : It is nine years ago this afternoon since I was admit' ted to a seat in this body. Within this period, I have served as your Secretary longer than any other incum- bent of that office, while at the present I am honored by the position of Delegate to the State Medical Society, and that of Vice President. I can endure the formality rather than subdue the emotions that prompt to a sincere acknowledgment of the distinctions by which your partiality has so repeatedly, and continually been mani- fested. The logical and philosophical acumen, so important in the investigation and discussion of medical sciences, is possessed in so eminent a degree, and brought into such daily use by gentlemen present, who unfold the subtle truths of those sciences in our College, and demonstrate them in our Hospital, that I shall feel myself justified on this occasion, in abstaining from the consideration of any of those subjects, which have been amplified by their learning, and made still more attractive by their eloquence. In turning the pages of the Society's records as I have frequently had occasion to do, 1 have been led to the natural inquiry, who were the men whose names are 4 here inscribed? and I have been pained by the thought that leading useful and honorable lives in the walks of our profession, as many of them did, they should so soon be forgotten, and that even we should know nothing, or comparatively so little of them. At our Semi-Centennial Meeting, in November last, when I had the honor to address you, I took occasion to bring before you a brief history of some of the more prominent members of the Society. 1 regretted that I was obliged to say so little of several of whom much might have been said, and on the other hand, that there were others, of whom but little information could be obtained, even after a good degree of perseverance and research. In fulfilling the duty devolving upon me to-day, I have thought that I could not render the Society better ser- vice, than by striving to rescue from oblivion the mem- ory of a few of its members whose labors here have long been terminated, and so far as possible preserve their history for the use of those who shall come after us. k'For our many thoughts and deeds, our life and love, Our happiness and all that we have been. Immortally must live, and burn and move When we shall be no more.1' AUGUSTUS FITZ RANDOLPH TAYLOR, was the fourth son of John Taylor, Professor of Mathe- matics in Union College, and who died of Yellow Fever in 1800. Augustus was born in New Brunswick, New Jersey, in the month of March, 1783. He was educat- ed under the vigilant eye of his father, and graduated at Union College the year of his father's death. Al- though he was graduated before the completion of his eighteenth year, his limited resources had obliged him to devote a part of his time to the instruction of pupils who were preparing for college, but notwithstanding so great 5 a tax upon his hours of study, he received the highest honors of his class. The same year he went to New Brunswick, and com- menced the study of medicine with Dr. Moses Scott, an eminent practitioner of that city. He afterwards became a pupil of Dr. Benjamin Rush, and spent two winters in his office, and like all the students of that distinguished teacher, acquired for him a love and vene- ration lasting as life. He received his diploma in medi- cine from the University of Pennsylvania in 1804, sub- mitting on that occasion a thesis on insanity. Dr. Rush reciprocated the attachment of young Tay- lor, and presented him with a pocket case containing six lancets, with pearl handles. This useful gift Dr. Taylor carried with him through'his whole life, and they are now held by his son, and highly prized, in evidence of so honored a friendship. Dr. Taylor returned to New Brunswick and com- menced practice, but a large circle of influential friends prevailed upon him to locate in Schenectady, and it was at the second meeting of this Society, in 1806, that he became one of his members. In 1810, he was induced to return to his native city, where he acquired an extensive practice both in Medi- cine and Surgery ; but it was in Midwifery, however, that he seems to have gained his greatest popularity. His cases for several years amounted to two hundred and fifty per annum, and in 1818 to three hundred ; a remarkable number for one engaged in private practice only. It may be inferred that however strong his in- clinations, he must have had very little leisure to devote to literary pursuits. He managed to keep a case-book, but it was only for private reference and an aid to his memory. He was several times President of the Medical Society of the County of Somerset, and in 1824, was elected 6 President of the Medical Society of the State of New Jersey—an institution organized in 1766. He was after- wards re-elected to the same office. He was repeatedly elected to civil offices, and was for a time Mayor of the city of New Brunswick. At the period of his death he was a member of the Legislature of New Jersey. Dr. Taylor had a good knowledge of anatomy; he observed symptoms and their phases with great accur- acy, and had considerable facility in forming a correct estimate of the nature and extent of diseases. In later years his business changed, and he was mostly employed as consulting physician in the city and its vicinities, over which his practice had in previous years very generally extended. So great was his reputation, that the old settlers and many others whom he had at some time at- tended, were unwilling to die or even recover from a severe illness, until he had been called in counsel. Dr. Taylor's manners were mild and unpretending; his disposition was naturally amiable. He was averse to pretension or affectation in either the rich or the poor, and he was sincere and cordial in his intercourse with everybody. In appearance he was above medium height, quick in his movements, with a ruddy complexion, a large, full, hazel eye, heavy brows, a square, full fore- head; a well shaped mouth, and a perfect set of teeth. There was a shade of care in his countenance, but in conversa ion it lighted up and became expressive of his ablvU1n a° ""h " r?" dreM ™S »]™ ™d re<™*" Serous / 7" 1,bGral t0 R fault' and retimes where he rh t^ ^ ^^ ™ for hi* —ices ^ the nrof "ght ^ "<* be afford^ to the injury o beinT S1°n,;nd "^ unf«q«ently to the annoy nee of being imposed upon himself, by those who would escape paying a physician. For many years he was in the habit of engaging in 7 prayer before commencing his daily professional duties ; he united with the Presbyterian Church a short time before his death. In the month of March, 1841, he had an attack of apoplexy and paralysis, from which he partially recovered, but it recurred, and he died on the 16th August following, at the age of fifty-eight years. His son, Dr. Augustus F. Taylor, is still a practition- er, in New Brunswick, and his brother, the venerable Dr. John Taylor, resides in Lansingburgh. DR. CHARLES DEKAY COOPER was the fourth of ten sons of Dr. Ananias Cooper, and was born in Rhinebeck, Dutchess county, in this state, in the year 1769. His ancestors were among the early emigrants from England to Massachusetts, mention hav- ing been made of them as early as 1634. His father was a practicing physician in Rhinebeck, and an active whig during the revolution. Dr. Cooper commenced the study of his profession under the direction of his father, and was afterwards a student of Dr. Crosby, in New York city. His favorite study was anatomy, and he made several anatomical preparations. He had likewise a taste for surgery, but there is only the account of one minor ope- ration preserved. Dr. Cooper came to Albany in 1792. Two years afterwards he was appointed lay Gov. George Clinton and the Council of Appointment,. Health Officer to the Port of Albany. The yellow fever was at that time raging in New York, and a quarantine was accordingly established four miles below this city, and for a length of time " vessels having on board, or suspected of having on board, any person or persons infected with any infec- tious distemper," were detained at that point. Dr. Cooper became a member of this Society in 1808. Whatever might have been his attachment to his pro- 8 fession, he did not long continue in professional life, but entered the arena of politics, indeed as early as 1804 " he was warmly engaged as an active partisan in the electioneering campaign between Burr and Lewis."* In 1806 he had been appointed Judge of the County Courts, and in 1808 he succeeded Richard Lush as clerk of the county, and was re-appointed to this office in 1809, 1811, 1812 and 1815. He occupied from time to time other political offices, and among them was that of Indian agent. From the Indians of Oneida and Onondaga Castle, to whom he Was commissioned with moneys to pay their yearly an- nuities from the State, he received the name " Tight Blanket," because, they said, he held the money as se- curely as they did their blankets. In 1817 he was appointed by Lieutenant Gov. Taylor and the Council of Appointment, who came into execu- tive authority, on the resignation of Governor Tompkins, Secretary of State. Dr. Cooper was a man of great physical force and power of endurance. He was quick in his movements, and well skilled in the art of fencing. He could spring upon his feet so quickly as to catch a designated pigeon in the street, a feat he has often performed. He excelled in the athletic sports, and could run with remarkable speed. It is said of his brother, Capt. William Cooper, that he could run half a mile and return quicker than any horse. Dr. Cooper died suddenly on the 31st of January, 1831, in the sixty-third year of his age. Says that distinguished political historian, Hon. Jabez D. Hammond, of Dr. Cooper, "I knew him long and well as a remarkably correct man, and a man of integ- rity and lionor."f * Hammond's Political History of New York, vol. 1, page 211. tVol. l.page 440. 9 DR. ARCHIBALD HAMILTON ADAMS, whose name is enrolled as a member of the society in 1808, was a son of Dr. William Adams, who came to this country from Ireland, just before the close of the last century, and died in Maryland, at the advanced age of one hundred and three years. His son,* who accom- panied him, had completed his medical education, pro- bably at the University of Edinburgh, for he presented to Dr. Henry Adams, of Cohoes, when his student, in 1803, his manuscript notes from the lectures of Dr. Dun- can, professor of theory and practice of medicine, taken while he was a student at the University, in 1786. Dr. Adams settled in Schenectady, and as was usual with the educated physicians of that day, a large num- ber of students flocked to his instructions, and among these were Dr. Thomas Dunlap and Dr. A. G. Fonda, of Schenectady, Dr. John Tonilier, of New York city, Dr. Van Dyck, of Schoharie, and Dr. Adams, whom 1 have just mentioned. Dr. Adams acquired considerable reputation as a surgeon, and his practice extended many miles to the north and west. Dr. Adams was a man of spare frame, and in his ap- pearance, is said to have borne a marked resemblance to Dr. Rush, of Philadelphia. In one of his limbs he was lame, the consequence of an attack of rheumatism, so that he always walked with a cane. His manners were remarkably pleasant and urbane. He had the faculty of communicating his knowledge, and took special interest in instructing his pupils. He seldom prepared a remedy until he had first * Since the above was in type, I made a visit to Dr. Adams of Cohoes, in order to satisfy myself on this point. He was unable to recollect whether Dr. A. H. Adams was born in Ireland or America, but assured me that he had his manuscript notes above mentioned. He was con- fined to his bed by a lingering illness, and was so feeble that my inter- view with him was necessarily brief. 2 10 written the prescription, which was always done in Latin. He was kind and benevolent in his disposition, and is said to have exercised great liberality towards the poor, often discharging them from their legal obligations to him, when he was satisfied that they could not make pay- ment, without sacrifice of personal comforts, and this he did with a freedom and sincerity that evinced the genu- ineness of his motives. It is more than intimated that he had—as most men have—a failing; his was a great fondness for the weed. When his labors for the day were over, he often retired, with his long Holland pipe, the bowl resting upon the candlestick, which was placed upon a stand by his bed, and with the other end in his mouth, he regaled himself until, amid the perfumed clouds of smoke, he was lost in balmy sleep. Dr. Adams was an agreeable companion; although, not a professor of religion, he was regular in his attend- ance upon the services of the sanctuary, and sustained an unblemished moral reputation. He died in 1811, at the age of forty-two years. Those who were associated with Dr. Adams speak in high praise of his excellence, as a physician, his skill as a surgeon, and his virtues as a man. DR. WILLIAM HUMPHREY was the son of John Humphrey, and was born in Albany, on the second day of February, 1796. His parents were both natives of New Hampshire, but at an early period came to this city. His father died of cholera at an ad- vanced age in 1832. William was sent to Union College, where he was graduated in 1813. Having made choice of the medical profession he commenced his preliminary studies with Dr. Eights, and afterwards attended the lectures at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, and received the honors of that institution in 1819. 11 He returned to Albany and commenced business here, continuing it as his health would permit until his death. Dr. Humphrey did not possess a large degree of physical energy, his health was delicate for several years, and the disease which terminated his life was consumption. It was the subject upon which his thesis was written in 1819. Dr. Humphrey possessed a fine mind and keen reason- ing faculties ; his education was through, and he excelled as a linguist. His mind was of a reflective order. His manners were exceedingly mild and amiable. His con- version was marked by great simplicity and earnestness. He was uniformly cheerful, but had no exuberant elasticity of spirits. He had gravity in thought as well as in conversation, and was careful to avoid everything that appeared like pedantry in private or professional life; he never volunteered his opinion, and was unwilling to express it on any subject with which he was not familiar. His ambition was to do right, and to be useful to his fellow men, rather than to acquire fame in his profession. A native modesty and unassuming manners prevented that rapid rise in his profession which is so often incident to the aspiring who possess less talent and fewer virtues. Says one in noticing his death: "His virtues were numerous and beamed with an effulgence which attract- ed the attention and elicited the admiration of all who knew him; his benevolence warmed the hearts and cheered the homes of the comfortless. His name was synonymous with all that was noble and disinterested." He made occasional contributions to Medical Journals of the day; his style is said to have been chaste, simple, and forcible. It is impossible now to refer to any of the few articles from his pen. He died on the Pith of March, 1829, in the thirty-first year of his age. He was elected Secretary of this Society in 1822, and continued to hold the office until the period of his death. 12 Dr. Humphrey was a sincere Christian, and met death in the calm triumph of a Christian failh. DR. SAMUEL STRINGER TREAT, the second son of Richard S. Treat, and grandson of Dr. Samuel Stringer, a surgeon of distinction in the American army, was born in Albany, in 1799. He en- joyed the best advantages the city afforded for laying the foundation of his education, and he commenced the study of his profession in the office of his grandfather He afterwards attended medical instruction at the Col- lege of Physicians and Surgeons, and graduated in 18-">2 and the same year united with this Society. Dr. Treat was a man of more than ordinary intellect, oi a quiet, retiring disposition, and with only a moderate love for the perplexities of the profession he had chosen. Inheriting the ample estate of his grandfather he felt none of that necessity that stimulates and presses young men into the arena of professional life. He was for a short ime the partner of D, Eights, and gained the esteem and confidence of his patrons; this was perhaps less on account of his attainments and skill as a physician than t e natural result of intelligence combm "' amiability, gentle and winning manners. He was com- panionable, generous and warm hearted ; his conversa tion was spiced with wit and humor. He was tall and slender m person, and his dress exhibited extreme neat ness; indeed there was something in his appearance meet him when and where you might, that would have impressed even a stranger with the conviction that he was a gentleman. His social excellencies endeared him to a large circle of friends. He was a good student Z s^encl "' bUt "^ n° PartlCUlar We «"to The ordeal to professional distinction was not passed 13 when he became a victim to disease of the lungs, of which he died on the 29th of February, 1S32, at the age of thirty-three years. He died in the communion of the Protestant Episco- pal Church. DR. HEXRY VAX OLIXDA was born in the town of Charleston, Montgomery county, in this state, on the 9th of April, 1805. He was the son of Cornelius Van OLinda, and descended in the seventh generation, from Peter Van OLinda, who came from Holland, and died at Charleston, at an advanced age, in 1715. Until he was seventeen he spent his time upon his father's farm. In 1822 he commenced the study of medicine with his brother, Dr. Peter Van OLinda, of this city, and under the direction of an elder brother, the Rev. Douw Van OLinda, he acquired a consider- able knowledge of the Latin and Greek languages, and was thereby enabled to form the habit to which he uni- formly adhered, and in which he took great pleasure, of tracing the technicalities of the profession, to their strict- est derivations from those languages. He made good improvement in the collateral branches of the profession, and during one course of lectures was the assistant of that learned and distinguished teacher, Dr. T. Romeyn Beck, in his chemical lectures. He was licensed to practice by the Medical Society of the county of Montgomery, in 1826, and shortly after entered into business with his brother. Albany was the field of his labor. Dr. Van OLinda was ardent and earnest in whatever he undertook. He had not the advantages of most of the students at the present day, but the deficiencies from the want of such he labored diligently to overcome. He was indefatigable in his attention to his patients, and 14 counted no sacrifice on his part too great for them while under his care. From such faithful attendance a strong: friendship often grew between him and his patients. After ten years of severe labor, a scrofulous disease began to develop, and it continued through his life. His- health at length failed, and in the winter of 1835 he sought relief by a short sojourn in Savannah, and the ensuing winter he spent in St. Augustine, Florida, with a few of his patients and friends. The relief to his mal- ady thus obtained was only temporary and palliative. He made a voyage to Europe, but his constitution was. so much impaired that he derived but little benefit from it. He returned, and after a painful illness, died on the 30th of September, 1846, in the forty-first year of his age. Dr. Van OLinda was a man of agreeable manners, social habits, and prepossessing in his personal appear- ance. He was fond of rural sports, and sometimes indulged in them by excursions with a part}' of friends to the northern counties for hunting and fishing. He made no pretensions to being a great man, but he was faithful and diligent in the duties of his profession, and occupied a respectable position in it. He had a large practice; and this statement I am allowed to render more definite by saying that after twenty years in the profession, during ten of which he was an invalid, at times absent for months from duty, and at other times unable to perform it, yet at the time of his death his out- standing accounts amounted to seventy thousand dol- lars, of which only about three thousand could be col- lected. This vast amount of service, rendered mostly to the poor, in such a simple, unostentatious manner, should embalm a man in the memory of future generations as a benefactor to his country and his race. But alas ! how soon are such deeds forgotten. 15 It is not my object to exalt the merits or attainments of those of whom I speak, nor shall I willingly abstain on the other hand from a just estimation of the abilities and efforts of any who have failed to gain the laurels of the profession. And among the members of this Society who have occupied a humble sphere in professional life was DR. JAMES M. BROWN. He was a native of Albany, the son of Major Brown, and was born on the 25th February, 1804. His father died when he was only five years old, but he received careful and gentle training from his mother, who was a woman of exceedingly mild and amiable disposition, and of a consistent Christian character. He received a good English education, and, when a boy, applied him- self quite diligently to study. At the early age of sixteen years, he began the study of medicine under the direction of Dr. Christopher C. Yates, and was subsequently a student of Dr. Piatt Williams. In 1823, he attended lectures at the Vermont Academy of Medicine. He received his license to practice from this Society, of which he became a member in 1828. He began practice and met with only indifferent success during a period of sixteen years. In the autumn of 1844, he was induced to remove to Delphi, Indiana. Here he found consider- able business, but continued ill health in his family led him to return to Albany after a short period. But he was not successful in the efforts to re-establish himself here, and pecuniary embarrassments and misfortune followed in rapid succession, such as were calculated to keep his mind constantly depressed. Many, indeed most of his patients were among the poorer classes, from whom it was quite impossible to obtain remuneration; still however an appeal to him for any service that he was able to bestow was never unanswered. 16 In disposition Dr. Brown was generous, frank and sincere. In all his trials he never inclined to charlatan- ism, or waivered in his adherence to his profession. He shrank from publicity, and his sense of responsibility made him the subject of great mental suffering, when- ever he had a very sick patient. He was rather timid, and his great respect for the opinion of others, made him regard his own with too much diffidence ; and I think he lacked confidence in his own abilities. His health was so impaired that he was unable, during several of the last years of his life, to make severe physical exertions or endure great fatigue. He needed health and success to stimulate and encourage him; sickness and disap- pointments abated his ardor. Thus twenty-six years rolled away. In the spring of 1854 he was appointed Resident Phy- sician at the Alms House Hospital. A few weeks after his appointment, and in the discharge of duties incident to the office, he contracted a Typhoid fever, which was prevailing there, and by which his life was terminated on the 23d day of May, 1854. His age was fifty years. Says one who well knew Dr. Brown, " The tone of his last letter to me, written just before his illness, was unusually hopeful and cheerful; the expressions of Christian faith which it contained ; the glimpses of his habitual frame of mind, afforded during his illness; and more than all his Christian life are to us cheering evi- dences that the summons, though it came suddenly, was a summons to immortal joy." I saw him once after his appointment as Resident Physician, and I thought that his new and uniform duties had given elasticity to his spirits, and vigor to his step. In a conversation with me, his attending physician, Dr. Spencer, confirmed, by relating a touching incident which he witnessed, the allusion just made to the exer- cise of his devotional spirit during his fatal illness. 17 DR. TEX EYCK GAXSEVOORT. Was the youngest son of Conrad Gansevoort, of Alba- ny. He was born, however, in Minden, Montgomery county, N. Y., on the 5th of January, 1803. He was educated at Union College, and graduated with some distinction as a scholar, in 1822. He presently com- menced the study of medicine in the office of Dr. Chas. D. Townsend, and was graduated in medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, in 1825. For a number of years he pursued his profession in this city, and became a member of this society. Subsequently he removed to Bath, in the county of Steuben, where he rose to a pro- minent rank as a physician and surgeon ; throughout the county his services were widely sought. As an operator in surgery he had a considerable degree of skill. Dr. Gansevoort had a well balanced mind, a correct judgment, and a good knowledge of medical literature. There was no rashness, or love of novelty in him, and he was considered emphatically a safe and reliable practi- tioner. But there is nothing so attractive in the physi- cal labors, mental anxieties, and professional responsi- bilities of a physician as to lead men willingly to assume them. Necessity is the strongest motive to such duties. In a new and mountainous country great fatigue and exposure is inseparable from the practice of medicine; and possessed of a comfortable fortune, Dr. Gansevoort very naturally began to limit his professional duties to the circle of his relatives and friends ; meanwhile he became largely interested in mercantile and other business ope- rations. Thus, with health hitherto uninterrupted, and everything around him by which to make his life useful and desirable, in September, 1842, he was attacked with Typus fever ; the disease advanced to a fatal termination. He had not quite completed his fortieth year. Writes a member of the Steuben county Bar: "By 3 18 the liberality and generosity of his conduct towards all with whom he had intercourse, and which were marked traits of his character; by his probity as a citizen, the simplicity of his manners, his kindness of heart, and many amiable virtues, Dr Gansevoort won the regard of all who knew him." We are reminded, gentlemen, by the minutes of the last meeting which were just now read by the Secretary, that another seat has recently been made vacant in this body. While speaking as I have done, of those whose places we are now occupying, I can not well forego the melancholy pleasure of paying a just tribute to the me- mory of our late associate, DR. HIRAM A. EDMONDS. Ridgefield, in Connecticut, the birth place of Dr. Ed^ monds, has furnished Albany with several of its promi- nent citizens, and our country with that distinguished and charming author of world wide reputation, "Peter Parley." It is an ancient town, joining Westchester county, in this state, on its western border. The high hills upon which it is situated slope gradually towards the south until they meet that beautiful sheet of water fourteen miles distant, Long Island Sound. From some of the lofty eminences, when the sky is clear, the eye may gaze upon the rocks of New Haven far in the east, the Highlands of the Hudson in the west, and stretch in the distant south over the blue waters dotted with sails, and for a range of forty miles, gaze upon the white sands of Long Island, the opposite shore. Ridgefield is a place of historic interest, having been consecrated to liberty by the blood of its own sons. In 1777, the British, in passing fromDanbury to Norwalk, heartlessly destroyed the homes and the lives of the in- habitants. The enemy were met here by two scouts 19 from the Americans ; one was commanded by General Arnold, ami in the repulse which he gave them, his horse was slain ; General Arnold dealt a death blow to the soldier who was advancing to slay him also. The other force was commanded by General Wooster, of New Haven, who, before he went to battle, let those under his command into the church, of which he was a member, and there consecrated himself and his soldiers to God, and the liberty of his country. It will be recol- lected, that in this engagement General Wooster re- ceived a wound, which proved fatal a few days after. About fifteen were slain on each side, and the name of Edmonds is on the list of wounded. Three miles south of the place where these scenes were enacted, at a few rods from the right of the main road, along which the enemy passed, there stands, at the foot of a hill, a neat brown cottage. It has " no boast of he raldry or pomp of power." The fence in front of it is plain and simple, and an old orchard in its rear, affords a pleasant background to the picture. In this quiet abode Hiram Augustus Edmonds was born on the 21st of September, 1824 Here, too, the days of his boyhood and youth glided away. He at- tended the academy in Ridgefield, an institution of some repute, and there continued until he was prepared for the duties of a teacher. Pursuing these duties he sub- sequently went to Southport, a seaport village, in the southern part of the county, and became principal of the Southport Academy. He continued thus occupied from 1846 to 1851. The employment was well suited to his tastes, and he found pleasure in devoting himself to it; he continued to occupy a portion of his time in classical and philosophical studies with great advantage. The following incident which occurred in the beginning of his instructions will serve to illustrate his promptness and ingenuity. It occurred when he was about seventeen 20 years of age. At an association of teachers he was called upon to illustrate upon the black board the ration- ale of a certain rule in mathematics. He was taken by surprise, but did not like to acknowledge that he was not fully prepared to explain the very thing that a teacher was supposed to understand. He must make the attempt and break down, or ask to be excused. With that quickness of thought peculiar to himself, he walked up to the board and wrote a row of figures, ihen turning to the teachers he said: "Ihave been requested to illustrate the principle of this rule; but in order to make the subject more interesting, I propose that we all should take a part in it. Will some one now tell me the first step ?" Of course some one immediately com- plied. "Very well," said he. " Will some one now tell me the reason of this step ?" Another gave the rea- son. "Do any of you see any thing wrong in this rea- soning, or would you express it differently ?" No ob- jection being made he said, " Very well. Now will you tell me the next step V And so he led them through the entire thing to be illustrated, making them all do the work. Afterwards, he received the congratulations of the President of the Association, for the happy manner in which he had conducted one of the exercises of the meeting. While teaching, he made choice of the medical pro- fession, and began his preparatory studies with Dr. Sherwood, of Southport, finding opportunity, mean- while, to attend some of the lectures at the Medical department of Yalo College. His residence of five years in Southport was a period profitably spent, pecu- niarily, as also in intellectual, social and religious im- provement. In the autumn of 1851, he came to Albany and united with the Albany Medical College. At this institution he graduated with an excellent standing for scholarship 21 at the close of the term of 1853. He had decided to make Albany his place of residence, and at once began business here. Dr. Edmonds was in his twenty-ninth year when he entered his profession ; he brought to it a mind well developed, disciplined by study, and a mature judgment. In nothing did he act with rashness or presumption. There were no marked eccentricities in his character, and if he had any remarkable quality, it was that of common sense, and a knowledge how to use it. He pos- sessed great frankness and stern integrity. His language was simple, unstudied, unaffected ; his manners were affable, but as simple and unstudied as his language. He was punctual in all that related to business, and was averse to incurring a debt for a single week, indeed, 1 have heard him say that since he lived in Albany he had not owed a dollar for half of that time. He abounded in anecdote, and had great love for the ridiculous. In indulging this passion he played upon his friends without reserve, but he never hesitated on the other hand to as- sume the place in the story that might turn the mirth upon himself. His social and genial humor made his society at all times acceptable. He was given to levity, but never in such a manner as to compromise a Christian consistency. He assumed in his profession an honorable position which his propriety, his judgment, his diligence to business would have enabled him always to main- tain. In the autumn of 1854 he was seized with a cough which grew upon him until it became evident that pul- monary tuberculosis existed. He continued his business with intervals of absence from the city, until 1856, and at length, on the 13th April, 1857, calmly ' 'Like a shadow thrown Softly and sweetly from a passing cloud, Death came upon him." 22 In so a brief period it would have been impossible for a man to distinguish himself in the medical profession, but the time was long enough to indicate that had life and health been spared, Dr. Edmonds would have been a prominent physician and a useful man, as he was a sincere and devoted Christian. For three years and until the period of his death, he was Superintendent of the Mission Sabbath School on Lydius street, and unless absent from the city was uni- formly present at its exercises. But I conclude these brief biographies in the language of a distinguished medical author : "Happy" says he, "if when our account is made up we shall each be found in his appropriate sphere, like our honored fellow mem- bers, to have done some service to the community. Then whether in the morning of life, or at its fervid bustling noonday, or in the declining hour, we depart, our memories will be cherished and our names implore the passing tribute of a sigh,"