BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 
OF 
jtfenner, 
LATE 
PROJ. OF THE THEORY AND PRACTICE OF MEDICINE 
IN THE NEW ORLEANS SCHOOL OF MEDICINE; 
TDZE.A.TT OF THE FAC TT T_T3T • 
ETC., ETC., ETC. 
* 
Extracted from Southern Journal of the Medical Sciences, No. 3, Vol. 1, for Nov.. 1866. 
NEW ORLEANS: 
BOUVAIN & LEWIS, BOOK AND JOB PRINTERS. 112 GRAVIER ST. 
1 8 6 6. BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 
OF THE LATE 
Erasmus Darwin Fenner, M. D., 
Late Professor of the Theory and Practice of Medicine in the New Orleans 
School of Medicine. 
Few members of the Medical Profession have died in this Southern 
country more sincerely and generally regretted, none have lived more 
widely and favorably known and honored than Dr. Erasmus Darwin 
Fenner; and we undertake the erection of this humble tablet to his 
memory with a higher aim than a mere selfish desire to indulge in empty 
laudation of a personal friend. In his life, Dr. Fenner has stepped aside 
from the narrow path of self-advancement, and has exerted himself to 
be useful to his species present with and after him, and it is a duty 
incumbent on us who follow him, and who are permitted the privilege of 
emulating his good example, carefully to enroll his name and hand it 
down to posterity. 
Before the American Revolution for Independence of Great Britain, a 
family of Irish emigrants, of cultivation and refinement, settled in the 
State of North Carolina. One of these, the grandfather of the subject of 
our memoir, occupied the honorable position of one of the Council to 
the Governor of the State. He resided in the town of Newbern. 
This gentleman had three sons-Robert, William, and Richard. All of 
them served faithfully 'on the side of the 4' Rebels." Robert was a 
Colonel, William a Major, and Richard (the youngest) a Lieutenant, 
One of the descendantsnow living, says-" I have my father's (Richard) 
diploma as a Lieutenant, from the Society of the Cincinnati, signed by 2 
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF 
General Washington and General Knox." At the close of the war, 
Richard studied Medicine, and, in an expedition sent out by General 
Washington against the Indians of West Virginia, he received an 
appointment on the medical staff. On his return to North Carolina he 
married, located himself near Louisburg, Franklin County, and com- 
menced the practice of his profession. He was successful, assumed a 
high standing, and for thirty years, not only enjoyed an extensive 
practice, but with it the unstinted confidence of the community around 
him. During this time he was one of the Vice Presidents of the State 
Medical Society, incorporated by the Legislature of that day. In the 
year 1817, and amid his advanced years, he moved to Raleigh, the 
capital, where he became one of the leading practitioners and pursued 
his labors for five years more. Impaired health now forced him to retire 
from practice and return to his estate near Louisburg. But he did not 
remain there long. In 1823, he removed with his large family to the 
State of Tennessee, and settled in the li Western District." Here he 
resided until his death in 1828. We have the best assurance that he 
was a man of the highest tone of character, and that where he has lived 
his memory is still warmly cherished. 
Dr. Richard Fenner had a family of eleven children, six sons and 
five daughters. Of these, Erasmus Darwin was the ninth. He was 
born in the year 1807, on what day we have been unable to ascertain. 
He is represented as having been, in his childhood and youth, the most 
delicate, physically, of the family. The family traditions represent him 
as having, in his youth, been a somnambulist, and many amusing anec- 
dotes are told of him in this connection. In some instances, however, 
his li sleep-walkings" are said to,have been attended with serious con- 
sequences, as severe falls, etc. By one who knew him most intimately 
in early youth, we are assured that " at an early period he evinced the 
peculiar traits which have marked his characfsr throughout life. His 
amiability and vivacity of disposition in all the social relations, made 
him a favorite wherever he was known, and in the virtues of moral 
integrity, energy, indefatigable industry, and stern devotion to duty- 
developed in his maturer years--he was unsurpassed," 
Dr. Fenner pursued his early studies at the Academy at Raleigh, 
North Carolina, under the Rev. Dr, McPheeters. After his father re- 
moved to Tennessee (he was then in his sixteenth year), a competent 
tutor was engaged, and under his guidance he acquired a good education 
in the Sciences and the Greek and Latin languages. He commenced 
the study of medicine under his elder brother, Dr. Robt. Fenner-still 
living, and a highly honored citizen of Jackson, Tennessee-, in the year 
1827. He attended his first course of lectures in 1829; and in 1830 he 
graduated at the University of Transylvania, Kentucky. In this same 
year he commenced the practice of his profession at Jackson, Ten- 
nessee. We are told that "his popular manners and devotion to THE LATE DR. FENNER. 
3 
business, soon brought him into favorable notice, with a remunerative 
practice, and the confidence of an intelligent and appreciative commu- 
nity." In the year 1831, he made the acquaintance of Miss Ann 
Callier, a young lady from the State of Georgia, who is said to have been 
possessed of great attraction of person and manners, and who was at 
Jackson, on a visit to her sister, the first wife of the late David Merri- 
wether of that place. A mutual attachment soon sprang up, and re- 
sulted in their marriage in the following year-1832. In 1833, the 
young couple moved to Clinton, Mississippi, at that time one of the most 
important inland towns of a fertile and thriving country. Here Dr. 
Fenner soon became a popular physician, and he had an extensive and 
lucrative practice. Here, too, his marriage was blessed with the birth 
of a boy-Charles E.-who survives him, and is now a practicing 
lawyer of the City of New Orleans. 
It was at the time of his removal from Jackson, Tennessee, to Clin- 
ton, Mississippi, that our country was passing through one of those 
wonderful attacks of commercial mania that periodically prey on com- 
munities, and Dr. Fenner did not escape the prevailing epidemic. He 
made money rapidly by his professional labor, but he engaged in plant ■ 
ing enterprizes, and endorsed freely for his speculative friends. In 1837, 
the grand crash came, and in a moment all the earnings of faithful toil 
were swept away. But more than al], our friend was now called on to 
bear a burthen heavier than all others known to men of his nature. 
The hand of death was laid on his wife, and he was left alone with his 
little boy. These great troubles, added to the natural desire to appear 
on a larger and more conspicuous professional stage, were not long in 
determining him to make another move, and in the Spring of 1840 he 
appeared in the City of New Orleans. 
It is a matter of real regret that we are denied the material for a more 
minute detail of at leasj; the professional career of Dr. Fenner, up to the 
time of his making New Orleans his home. During the late war we 
were thrown in the neighborhood of Clinton, and we had the privilege of 
conversing with a number of the old citizens of the place and vicinity- 
professional and non-profossional-, and it was really gratifying to note 
how clearly and favorably he was remembered by all. All praised him ; 
not one had an unkind sentiment to utter. The non-professional re- 
membered and cherished his faithful and valuable attentions as a physi- 
cian, and his good example as a citizen true to all the obligations of life. 
The professional dwelt in praises for bis uniform professional courtesy 
and dignity, and his value in sustaining the true standing of the physi- 
cian. Nearly a quarter of a century had passed away since he had 
dwelt among them, and he had left in his comparative youth, yet the 
memory of him had not faded ; nor will it fade but in the gradual pass- 
ing away of the silvered heads who were his cotemporaries and friends- 
We have, in the Spring of 1840, found Dr. Fenner launched anew 4 
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF 
on the sea of life. He was now on a new theatre. Hitherto his efforts 
had been directed in the channel of what is known as " country practice 
for, notwithstanding he lived in towns, it was at last the country that 
would afford the bulk of practice. We have often talked with him of 
his experiences in this regard, and although he cherished many reminis- 
cences thereof, still he looked back on the arduous labor performed with 
something of a shudder. He felt that he had passed through a good 
school, but he believed that it would have been better for him had he 
made his earliest efforts in a large city. Nature had implanted in him 
a modest ambition to be useful to his species to the fullest extent of his 
ability, and he felt that the end was only to be achieved on the theatre 
now chosen. 
He has often told us that he came to New Orleans with narrow pecu- 
niary means, and with few friends and acquaintances. He lived on the 
most economical scale, and devoted himself to the education of his little 
boy, to whom he clung as his safe-anchor amid the storm of life. 
When we first made Dr. Fenner's acquaintance, in 1848, he was still 
devoted to the instruction of his son, and his evenings were spent in 
cultivating his mind. During the first year of his residence here, he re- 
alized a few hundred dollars from his practice; the next, a little more ; 
the next, a little more ; and so on, until, at the time of our acquaintance 
with him (the eighth year of his residence here), he had a very genteel 
practice, had purchased a home in the centre of the city, and was work- 
ing hard to pay for it. Often have we been deeply interested in the tale of 
his economical life in New Orleans, during at least five years ; and in it 
is to be found an interesting lesson. The work of the city and that of 
the country are as different as possible in many respects-in none, more 
than in the experiences of the medical man seeking patronage. Strange 
as it may appear, amid the throng of the city, and where the bestowere 
of patronage seem most abounding, such a man has a longer probation 
to serve in the harness of poverty than if he casts his lot among the 
fields and forests, where population seems scanty. In the country, 
greater distances lie between men, and physicians are numerically pro- 
portionate. Even if one is preferable above all others, time, distance, 
pecuniary limit forbid his exclusive employment. In the city, there is 
more than one point of difference. The unknown physician, however 
meritorious, is lost for the time being in the very crowd of his seeking; 
the known are accessible to all alike who possess the means of paying, 
and both merit and fashion lift into the path of distinction and affluence. 
Occasionally fortuitous circumstances shape an exception to this rule, but 
the exception only strongly proves the rule. 
Any one at all well acquainted with Dr. Fenner, would know at once 
that his probation would have to be served under the prevailing rule. 
Amply possessed of such equalities as should make a man honored as a 
citizen and loved as a physician, so far from knowing how to press him- THE LATE DR. FENNER, 
5 
self artificially on society, he naturally recoiled from the study of so 
doing, and cherished the conviction that professional merit was sure of 
its reward through a channel more noble, more honorable to the represen- 
tatives of our calling, 
It was in the midst of this probationary struggle that Dr. Fenner 
found a kindred spirit in poverty and just aspirations, and the result 
was the beginning of that more public career which brought him to the 
favorable notice of our brethren at home and abroad, and fixed for him 
a reputation both enviable and enduring. 
In the Spring of 1844 he commenced the publication of The New 
Orleans Medical Journal, in conjunction with Dr. A. Hester, who came 
to this city about the same time as he did, and who, like himself, was 
struggling to live. But we quote from his own pen an account of this 
noble enterprise: 
" Happening to be thrown together in the City of New Orleans, and 
finding our fortunes alike desperate, a fellow-feeling gave rise to an inti- 
macy between us which it is hoped will endure through life. Without 
money, with but few acquaintances, and dependent on a precarious 
practice, which barely afforded the most economical support, we deter- 
mined to project the hazardous adventure of a Southern Medical Jour- 
nal, and trust to the liberality of the medical profession for its support. 
The field was ample, rich, and entirely unoccupied ; but it was difficult 
to see how the experiment could succeed without having one cent of 
capital to start with. We actually had the prospectus printed on credit, 
one of our booksellers being willing to go that far at all hazards, and we 
paid the bill-three dollars-out of the first spare money we had. The 
prospectus being out and distributed throughout the country, we were 
fairly committed to bring out the work ; but, as yet, could find no per- 
son willing to undertake the publication. All we had to give was our 
own labor, which was cheerfully offered, but something more substantial 
was required. We appealed to the booksellers, to the proprietors of the 
city newspapers, and, finally,, to the Medical College, and leading phy- 
sicians of the city for a guaranty of five hundred dollars, but all to no 
purpose. The enterprise was conceived in poverty, and finally poverty 
brought it forth 1 At this stage of our gestation we had the good luck 
to meet with a poor French print'.r, who had a handful of type and 
nothing to do. Him we persuaded, by means of flattering promises, to 
bring out the first number; and thus the New Orleans Medical Journal 
saw the light! Each number made out to pay its own way, but left no 
surplus on hand. In this manner we struggled through the first volume, 
and were entering on the second with prospects somewhat improved, 
when an unexpected rival appeared in the field. The Professors of the 
Louisiana Medical College issued a prospectus announcing the early ap- 
pearance of a new medical journal from their school. A union was 
effected between the two, and the late Professors Harrison and Carpen- 6 
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF 
ter joined ns in the publication of the New Orleans Medical and Surgical 
Journal. In 1848 we voluntarily withdrew from the Journal, and in 
less than two years Drs. Carpenter and Harrison were removed by the 
hand of death, leaving the present worthy editor (Dr. Hester) alone in 
his glory." * 
Both the founders of the New Orleans'Medical Journal have passed 
away, but they have made their impress on society. Both triumphed 
over poverty and the real and fictitious obstacles of life. One did not 
live long enough to enjoy the full fruition of his early efforts ; the other, 
though not reaching the full term allotted man, tasted freely of the sweets 
of consciousness of a life approved and applauded by his fellow men. 
Before us are all the volumes of this Journal. Those issued during 
Dr. Fenner's connection with the editorial corps, are replete with the im- 
press of his pen. Until the third volume was reached he did not ap- 
pear in the original department of the Journal, but in the editorial and 
bibliographical departments we find that he labored with true zeal. His 
name is not attached to articles, but his style is unmistakable to those 
intimately acquainted with him, and the good fruits of his industrious 
pen are freely scattered through the pages. No man can read these 
numerous desultory effusions without being profoundly impressed with 
the conviction that the motives which impelled him were the noblest, the 
most unselfish imaginable. 
After he retired from the editorial chair, Dr. Fenner continued his con- 
tributions to the original department, and his labors as a writer may be 
said to have only ceased with his life. To give some idea of the bent of 
his mind, we name here the titles of some of his papers found in a few of 
the volumes of the New Orleans Medical and Surgical Journal before us. 
1st'. In No. 2, vol. 3-'' Brief Notes on a Medical Tour in the United 
States. Communicated in Editorial Correspondence to this Jour- 
nal : By Erasmus D. Fenner, M. D., one of the Editors." 
In this tour, which comprised the cities of Baltimore, Philadelphia, 
New York and Boston, besides many places of less note in point 
of size, we find Dr. Fenner beginning that extensive acquaint- 
ance among professional men, outside New Orleans, which may be 
said to have been peculiar to him. It was on this tour (May, 1846), 
that he became one of the members of the' first meeting of the embryo 
American Medical Association, held at New York. He there presented 
his credentials from both the Mississippi State Medical Society, and the 
Medico-Chirurgical Society of Louisiana. It is really refreshing to 
read his letters from the cities named. It is clearly seen that his was 
truly a professional tour, and as such he enjoyed it and profited by it. 
2d. In No. 3, vol. 3-" Case of Rupture of the Heart, and Compound 
Fracture of the Thigh, in which the Patient Survived Twenty-Eight 
Hours and a half Reported by E. D. Fenner, M. D." 
* See Fenner's Southern Medical Reports, vol. 1, p. 468. THE LATE DR. FENNER. 
7 
3d. No. 4, vol. 3-" An Account of the Yellow Fever that Prevailed 
in New Orleans in the Year 1846. By E. D. Fenner, M. D." 
This is the first of a series of reports on epidemics of this disease coming 
nnder his personal observation, which, for clearness and honesty of de- 
tail, will never be surpassed, and which will constitute a large part of 
the fertile soil from which, at some day, another worker will eliminate 
valuable results for our species. 
4th "An Account of the Yelloiv Fever at New Orleans in the Year 
1848. By E. D. Fenner, M. I)., etc., etc." 
But just here we find Dr. Fenner embarking in a new professional 
enterprise, and one which, although he abandoned it at the end of two 
years' hard work, and for the want of the pecuniary patronage of his 
professional brethren, will always redound to his credit. We know that 
Dr. Fenner abandoned his position of editor of the New Orleans Medi- 
cal and Surgical Journal most reluctantly. It has been seen how, in the 
early struggles of the originators, factitious obstacles were thrown across 
their path, and that poverty forced them to a compromise which nothing 
else could have extorted. All this finally culminated in the retirement of 
Dr. Fenner, and in 1849 and 1850 we find him editing and issuing, 
solely on his own responsibility, volumes one and two of " Southern 
Medical Reports; consisting of General and Special Reports on the 
Medical Topography, Meteorology, and Prevalent Diseases in the fol- 
lowing States : Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, North Carolina, South 
Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Arkansas, Tennessee and Texas. To be 
published annually. Edited by E. D. Fenner, M. D., of New Orleans; 
Member of the American Medical Association, Member of the Physico- 
Medical Society of New Orleans, and of the Louisiana State Medical 
Society, Corresponding Member ot the State Medical Society of Missis- 
sippi, the Medical Society of Montgomery, Alabama, the Attakapas 
Medical Society, and of the New York Academy of Medicine." 
Had Dr. Fenner left no other mark behind him, his " Introductory 
Address" in the first volume would have most his name 
from oblivion. No medical man can read it without feeling that he, 
himself, is exalted in being allowed the privilege of fraternity with its 
author. Devoid of the embellishments of a studied rhetoric, simple as 
the lispings of a child, it breathes all that is noble, all that is honorable, 
all that is indicative of a just ambition to be useful to his species. 
The labor spent by the editor in contributions to these volumes was 
great indeed, and it is indeed an honor to his name to note the list of 
those of our profession who lent their pens in aid, viz : 
From Louisiana-C. J. Forshey, M. D.; E. H. Barton, M. D.; J. C. 
Simonds, M. D.; James B. Dungan, M. D.; Wm. A. Booth, M. D.; J. 
Rhodes, M. D.; 0. Carey, M. D.; W. P. Sunderland, M. D.; A. R. 
Kilpatrick, M. D.; R. T. Gibbs, M. D.; P. B. McKelvey, M. D. 
From Alabama-J. G. Bassett, M. D.; Geo. A. Ketchum, M. D.; F. 8 
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF 
A. Bates, M, D.; Wm. H. Anderson, M. D.; H. V. Wooten, M. D.; 
Thos. Fearn, M. D. 
From Georgia-E. M. Pendleton, M. D.; J. C. C. Blackburn, M, D.; 
R. D. Arnold, M. D.; H. F. Campbell, M. D. 
From Mississippi-S. C. Farrar, M. D.; C. H. Stone, M. D.; C. S. 
Magoun, M. D.; A. M. Clemens, M. D.; Samuel A. Cartwright, M. D.; 
A. C. Holt, M. D.; Thos. Affleck, Esq. 
From Tennessee-^Lewis Shanks, M. D. 
From Scnth Carolina-Thos. Y. Simmons, M. D.; Editors of Charles- 
ton Medical Journal and Review; W. F. Holmes, M. D.; South Caro- 
lina Medical Association; John B. Porter, M. D.; Samuel H. Dickson, 
M. D.; Wm. T. Wragg, M. D.; John L. Dawson, M. D. 
From North Carolina-W. H. McKee, M. D. 
From Texas-J. J. B. Wright, M. D.; N. S. Jarvis, M. D.; Ashbel 
Smith, M. D. 
From Arkansas-Richard H. Coolidge, M. D. 
From California-Thos. M. Logan, M. D. 
But the pecuniary patronage of the Profession did not suffice to pay 
the expenses of this noble enterprize, and these two volumes, while 
they stand a monument to the memory of the Editor, are no less a 
silent, stern rebuke to the apathy of those whose pittances would have 
fostered an undertaking valuable and honorable to us all. The failure 
of this work, solely for want of pecuniary support, must always be a 
source of regret and shame to all real friends of our profession in the 
South. 
But this failure did not damp the ardor of Dr. Fenner. There was a 
bottom to his purse, but there was hardly a limit to his energy. With 
his pen he continued to labor, each year contributing the results of his 
observations, and in 1854 we find him issuing a pamphlet of eighty-four 
pages, entitled-"History of the Epidemic Yellow Fever, at New 
Orleans, La., in 1853: By E. D. Fenner, M. D., etc., etc." This is 
the most complete paper of the kind from his pen, and for accuracy 
and minuteness of detail it is not surpassed. 
This leads us to note here the deep interest so continually manifested 
by Dr. Fenner, during his long residence in New Orleans, in the health, 
and, consequently, the material welfare of the city. Few men, amid 
the allurements of life, could keep so continually burning the fire of 
unselfish interest in the prosperity and happiness of the community 
amid whom they had cast their lot; and fewer still would have devoted 
so much energy, so much patient industry, to the discovery of the real 
cause of the deplorable epidemics which have been the chief, if not the 
only, cause of our lagging behind in the great onward march of the 
cities of this country. His investigations were not confined to the facts 
occurring around him ; he looked back far into the past, and recorded 
all that bore the impress of truth. He did not reach the goal of his THE LATE DR. FENNER, 
9 
just ambition, but he has left behind him a mass of truthful observa- 
tions, which will constitute the richest ore that will pass through the 
hands of the smelter who will one day eliminate the pure metal. Let 
who will hereafter unfold his pages, one attribute we claim for them ; 
they are truthful to the fullest extent of Dr. Fenner's ability to appre- 
ciate truth, and his measure of such appreciative power was no mean 
one. Yes, we claim for Dr. Fenner here, that he was the soul of 
professional, of scientific honesty. He loved his profession because he 
believed it to be the noblest, and he would not have degraded it by even 
a shade of false record. He felt and taught, that truth was the life of 
medicine. 
But of his devotion to New Orleans, almost his last hours give 
evidence. The last paper he penned, which was prepared for the pages 
of the Southern Journal of the Medical Sciences, and the proof sheets 
of which he corrected just before he was taken sick, contains the 
following paragraph-a valuable legacy to our community, if heeded. 
"If our people would avail themselves of this knowledge, and carry 
out the measures it inculcates, we have every reason to believe such 
diseases might be prevented or eradicated when they exist. All efforts 
hitherto made to prevent their extension oy means of quarantine and 
sanitary cordons have failed, and we have but little reason to hope they 
\v*ill ever succeed. For twenty years we, and some others, have labored 
to convince the people of New Orleans, that the only way to make the 
city healthy, is to malic and keep it clean. But we have labored in 
vain. In the mysterious course of events, the hand of the tyrant has 
been brought to our aid, and the results are marvellous. Will our 
citizens profit by this experience, and continue to enforce their own 
health ordinances as the federal military authorities enforced them ? 
If they do not the consequences will surely be deplorable." 
The hand that penned these lines is laid low ; the unselfish mind that 
bent itself to labor for the welfare of a whole community has taken wings 
and fled the material tenement that held it ; the silent sheet of paper 
alone holds up the solemn legacy and begs acceptance; but alas! the 
vision of efficient quarantine again absorbs us ; we are drunk with the 
pleasing reflection of our ability to hold disease at arm's length and laugh 
him to scorn, while we revel in the very first causes that give him being, 
and send him striding over the world. The time is not yet for New 
Orleans to take lessons of wisdom at the fountain so freely supplied by 
other civilized communities. Her ear is deaf to the voices that tell her 
truly that great cities before her have, by the enforcement of local sani- 
tary regulations, been changed from sickly to healthy ; her eyes are 
blind to the fact that she herself is as eminently capable of originating 
disease as any community on earth. New Orleans ignores the ringing, 
the trumpet-tongued truth, that for years and years she has instituted 
quarantine, and yet that quarantine has failed to keep disease away from 10 
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OP 
her. She ignores the fact that even military quarantine failed to keep 
disease out of her limits ; and, more than all, she ignores the fact that 
although her great enemy, yellow fever, was brought through quaran- 
tine, still it found the city, for the first time in its history, clean, and 
it failed to become epidemic. We have been sorely chastised by disease, 
but the shortsighted grasp at the dollar of to-day paralyzes the public 
spirit of our people, and a heavier rod still will have to be laid upon them 
before they will arouse from their lethargy. We have energy amongst 
us, hut it is perverted; in the individual scuffle for self-advancement, 
the interest of the great community is lost sight of, and our energy is 
wasted. 
But, devoted as Dr. Fenner was to the welfare of the community in 
which he had cast his lot, he was far' more devoted to the welfare and 
advancement of his profession. He believed that the profession of 
medicine, cultivated and honestly pursued, was the noblest on earth; he 
felt that it was too much neglected, and he regarded it as a solemn duty for 
every member thereof to contribute his humble energies for its advance- 
ment. We have seen how he, at the time of his greatest obscurity and 
poverty, succeeded in developing the literary energies of our brethren of 
the South ; it remains to show the rich fruits of bis great crowning effort 
to improve the system of medical education in this country. 
From the time of our earliest acquaintance with Dr. Fenner, we found 
him thoroughly imbued with the idea of taking the initiative in this 
regard; but he lacked the encouragement of kindred spirits, and year 
after year he had to content himself with the expression of his views to 
one or two friends, waiting patiently the good time for action. Dr. 
Fenner's experience had been a peculiar one. More than any other man 
of his time here, he had made himself personally acquainted with the 
general system of medical education in this country, as well as with 
the resources for teaching possessed by all the cities, North, South, East 
and West. More, he had long seen the importance of practitioners 
intended for the South being clinically taught in the South. Lastly, he 
had for years lived on a soil (New Orleans) incomparably rich in the 
material for practical instruction, with the primeval forest (if we may be 
allowed the comparison), cleared away by the most liberal legislative 
enactments and bounties ever known, and yet languishing for that deep 
cultivation which monopoly ever forbids, and honorable rivalry ensures. 
Often have we heard him express his wonder that inland points like 
Louisville and Nashville should, with their limited resources, be able to 
command medical classes of three to four hundred students, while New 
Orleans, with her immense clinical advantages, (really enough for two 
thousand students) with her inexhaustible supply of anatomical mate- 
rial, and with State munificence exceeding an hundred thousand dollars, 
should be languishing along with an average class of one hundred and 
seventy-five to two hundred. To his mind nothing was clearer than THE LATE DB. FENNEB. 
11 
the proposition, that the establishment of a second school here, on a 
proper basis of practical instruction, would at once gUe New Orleans 
her proper position as the medical centre of the South. This, with Dr. 
Fenner, was a foregone conclusion, because all the elements of success 
presented themselves to the man who would undertake the enterprise of 
development. He scorned the idea of a pitiful effort to appropriate one 
inch of the soil already under cultivation, or to pickup one grain grown 
thereon ; he only urged the occupation and cultivation of the vast and 
fertile waste around him. 
At last, in the spring of 1856, Dr. Fenner found the time, the money, 
and the kindred spirits available for maturing the cherished plan of years, 
and all his energies were now bent to the establishment of the New 
Orleans School of Medicine. Under the general law of the State of 
Louisiana, the charter of an institution of the kind was at once obtain- 
able, and the organization of the School was forthwith effected as 
follows : 
E. D. Fenner, M. D., Professor of Principles and Practice of Medicine, 
and Dean of the Faculty. 
J. M. W. Picton, M. D., Professor of Diseases of Women and Children. 
Thos. Peniston, M. D., Professor of Clinical Medicine, etc. 
Samuel Choppin, M. I)., Professor of Surgery. 
C. Beard, M. D., Professor of Anatomy. 
Howard Smith, M. D., Professor of Materia Medica, etc. 
I. L. Crawcour, M. D., Professor of Medical Chemistry, etc. 
A. F. Axson, M. D., Professor of Physiology. 
D. Warren Brickell, M. D., Professor of Obstetrics. 
Anthony Peniston, M. D., Adjunct Professor of Anatomy. 
The Faculty, as thus organized, purchased a large piece of ground on 
the corner of 'Common and Villere streets, immediately opposite the 
gate of the Charity Hospital, and at once proceeded to erect thereon an 
elegant and commodious building. Through the liberality of private 
citizens friendly to the enterprise, the means were found for purchasing 
a handsome musuem, and by the first of November of the same year the 
new institution was ready for the reception of students. The prospectus 
of the School, announcing the organization, and placing before the 
profession the plan of action, was scattered throughout the country, and 
the new institution was advertised in the medical and secular papers. It 
was not long before kindly letters of encouragement came in from our 
professional brethren of the surrounding country; and even while grave 
predictions of failure, on the part of the unfriendly, were filling the local 
air, the bright little gleams of success were streaming quietly through 
the mists on the honest workers. At last the hour of trial came, the 
beginning of the lecture season, and the opening of the great Matricula- 
tion Book. To realize the anxiety of that moment, one must have been 
of that little organization of nine. Words can convey no definite idea. 12 
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF 
Suffice it to say, that no less than seventy-six matriculates enrolled their 
names in the first session, affixing the seal of success to the enterprise. 
Never shall we forget the calm expression of humble gratification worn 
by our friend on this occasion. He was winning a victory over those 
who most unaccountably opposed him ; hut, better far, in his estimation, 
he was receiving a just reward at the hands of those for whom he had so 
long, so zealously, so honestly worked without price. He regarded the 
name of each matriculate recorded as a reward for the past and a pledge 
for the future. 
But let not the reader imagine that the labor of Dr. Fenner was con- 
fined to effecting so much as is alluded to. On the contrary, in the 
very midst of success ruin was threatened. We have seen that under 
the general law of the State, the School found its power of organization 
and its privilege to confer degrees. Of this there could be no question, 
but by the opponents of the scheme of course a legal opinion to the 
contrary could be found, and at once the air resounded with disagreeable 
doubts, and the Legislature was approached on this point, as well as on 
the point of prohibiting the Professors and students of the New Orleans 
School of Medicine from enjoying access to the material of the Charity 
Hospital. The Medical Department of the State University, for years 
munificently endowed, and having the freest access to a mass of mate- 
rial which could not be legitimately consumed by three large colleges, 
claimed all, and on the ground of its being a State institution. Alto- 
gether contrary to his tastes, a total stranger to all the politicians of the 
hour, and more than all, a total stranger to all the wiles and arts of 
diplomacy, Dr. Fenner had to quit the lecture-room and appear in the 
lobby. Into this position he was forced, and such a triumph as he 
accomplished is not often allotted men. To the attacks of enemies, 
personal and general, he had but one mode of reply. He-told our legis- 
lators that the objects of the New Orleans School of Medicine were 
identical with those of the State institution; that the Faculties of the 
two were alike constituted, viz : of free and enlightened citizens claiming 
the privilege of doing good; that in fostering a State institution the 
people of Louisiana did not mean to curtail the privileges of other citi- 
zens, nor to create in the bosom of the State a withering monopoly ; that 
the material for teaching medicine in New Orleans was not equalled in 
this country ; that the vast proportion of it was not only not used, but 
could not be used by any single school; that, even if be and his col- 
leagues were granted the privileges they sought, all the material could 
not then be used by two schools. He asked them if men of enterprise 
and industry should seek to reclaim and make productive any inundated 
and useless lands of the State, whether they could think of paralyzing 
such energy by denying them the privilege, because of objections that 
might be urged by those whose lands may have been reclaimed by State 
assistance, and who were now afraid of competition ? He told them that THE LATE DR. FENNER. 
13 
he and his colleagues did not desire to divide the classes of the Univer- 
sity ; on the contrary such a result could never repay them for the 
labor. No, their object was to bring one thousand students annually to 
New Orleans, instead of one hundred and seventy-five, and that in doing 
this the very State institution that was now opposing him would be most 
benefitted. In proof of the soundness of the views held, he pointed them 
to the flagrant fact, that while the New Orleans School of Medicine, in 
its very first session, had now matriculated seventy-six students, (the 
largest first class known in this country) the University had matriculated 
the largest class known in its history. This, he urged, was the result 
of the conviction on the part of the patrons of medical schools, that where 
honorable rivalry existed not only would medicine be cultivated, but all 
the interests of the student would be most fully subserved. All this was 
urged in that calm and dignified manner peculiar to Dr. Denner. The 
argument was irresistible, aud not only did he have the School char- 
tered and endowed with the diploma granting power by special act, but 
he had the professors and students of the institution granted all the 
privileges of the great Charity Hospital. Dr. Fenner appealed to the 
pride, intelligence, and sense of justice of the servants of the people of 
the State, not to the passions and prejudices of individuals, and his 
triumph was full and complete. 
But there was yet another step to be taken, in order to demonstrate 
the fact that the State most fully recognized the real value of the New 
Orleans School of Medicine. As much as the Faculty and their private 
friends had done towards establishing the School, Dr. Fenner justly 
considered the State under obligations to give solid aid, inasmuch as it 
was a clear proposition that she was at last the reaper of the richest part 
of the harvest annually grown by the efforts of the Faculty. In the 
second session the class of the School increased to one hundred and 
twenty-six, and that of the University was now swelled clear beyond 
the highest point ever before reached. Dr. Fenner went before the 
Legislature, pointed them to the great patent results, calculated and 
explained what it all meant in dollars and cents (to say nothing of a 
nobler aspect) to the State, and asked and obtained an appropriation of 
twenty thousand dollars for the purpose of enlarging the building, 
increasing the museum, etc., etc. He did not get this without opposi- 
tion, but it was the spirit of monopoly contending against that of 
enlightened and liberal advancement in civilization, and the triumph 
of Dr. Fenner was again complete. 
After this Dr. Fenner and his colleagues continued their labors, and 
the season before the war broke out, the fifth session of the School, the 
New Orleans School of Medicine had largely over two hundred students, 
and the aggregate of students in the city of New Orleans was largely 
over six hundred. In this fvas the triumph of triumphs. Here was the 
palpable realization of all that Dr. Fenner had predicted. Not only 14 
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF 
had he established his own school on the rich soil that had before lain a 
waste, but he had aroused a spirit of rivalry in the cultivation of medi- 
cine here, that at once doubled the patronage bestowed on the State 
institution, and attracted classes that at once made New Orleans the 
medical centre of the South. More, the material fact was now attracting 
attention, that students of medicine were now spending an aggregate of 
about four hundred thousand dollars per annum in Louisiana, far the 
larger part of which, under the old regime, would have been poured into 
the lap of the North. Can any one who is at all familiar with medical 
matters in this country, doubt for one moment that if there had been no 
war New Orleans would be now teaching one thousand students of 
medicine annually ?-thus realizing the very words of Dr. Fenner's 
original prediction : " If the New Orleans School of Medicine is unmo- 
lested, in ten years we will have an aggregate of one thousand students 
in New Orleans, and a third school will have sprung up." 
We have been thus particular in reciting the more prominent incidents 
connected with the founding of this School, for it marks the most 
important epoch in the history of our friend. To say that Dr. Fenner 
founded a school would not be doing him justice ; to say that he founded 
a most valuable one, and, in doing so, overcame factitious obstacles 
which would have effectually deterred most men and buried them amid 
disaster, is but doing the most ordinary justice. Besides, the recital 
gives the reader another bright instance of the wonderful triumphs to 
be accomplished by human probity and energy. It is as disagreeable to 
the writer as it possibly can be to any one else to recall the unpleas- 
ant features of the struggle, but this is necessary in the proper delinea- 
tion of the picture. Light and shade together give life to canvass and 
measure the true approach to justice to the conception of the artist. 
From the date of the founding of the New Orleans School of Medicine 
to the beginning of the war-live years-Dr. Fenner's pen was not idle. 
His labors as a teacher were great, but he found time to contribute to the 
pages of the New Orleans Medical News and Hospital Gazette, a 
monthly journal published here during seven years prior to the great 
struggle. He even became one of the editors of this journal. 
As a teacher, the career of Dr. Fenner was certainly to be admired. 
He was not gifted with an easy How of language, and his modesty for 
some time proved an obstacle. He was not long in harness, however, 
before he was forced to feel that he had the warmest sympathies and 
the unbounded confidence of his pupils. They soon learned to appre- 
ciate the fact that his lectures, didactic and clinical, were well digested, 
and were founded in what he believed with all his heart to be true. He 
never indulged in theoretical discussions ; 1st, because this was-not the 
natural bent of his mind; 2d, because he believed it was a waste of the 
precious time of the student. He faithfully endeavored to keep himself 
au courant with the valuable innovations in medicine, and these he THE LATE DR. FENNER. 
15 
clearly expounded to his classes. One idea, cherished during all his 
professional career, he dwelt on and developed most profitably to his 
pupils, viz: that the practice of medicine must be distinctly geographi- 
cal. That is, for a man to be really fitted for the general practice of 
medicine in any particular geographical region, he must be at least clini- 
cally educated in that region. For the stern advocacy of this doctrine, 
from the moment he began to edit the New Orleans Medical Journal, Dr. 
Fenner has been, by the illiberal, sneered at for " sectionalism" (political 
sectionalism), but .these sneers never disturbed him ; and it is gratifying 
to know that, although late, yet before his death, and in time for him to 
enjoy the realization, the geography of disease has become a topic of 
acknowledged importance, and the ablest of minds are directed to the 
subject. With Dr. Fenner the idea of fully developing the material for 
teaching medicine in the South, had a far more noble end in view than 
any self-aggrandizement. He believed tlidt the sick of our country 
could not get that which they required at the hands of men educated in 
a Northern climate, at least not until such men had learned the pecu- 
liarities of disease here by actual contact; and he contended that it 
was proper that the practical experience should be acquired in early 
pupilage if possible, not after the commencement of private practice. 
More, he thought it the duty of the profession to rise to this platform 
from the beginning, so that the soil would be most thoroughly culti- 
vated, and those on whom our people relied would be most competent for 
their work. Often have we heard him say: " What does the most 
cultivated Northern physician know about treating our yellow fever, or 
pernicious fever, or our diarrheas ? While I certainly would respect 
the cultivation of their minds, I must confess I'd rather have an intelli- 
gent and experienced plantation overseer to treat me with one of these 
diseases." Norin this was there one iota of prejudice ; it was but the 
illustration of the great fact long patent to him, now becoming patent to 
all, that disease wears different faces in different climates, or assumes 
different intrinsic form; or, indeed, that there are diseases distinctly 
peculiar to different geographical regions. 
And just here is the proper place, perhaps, for calling attention to ail 
idea entertained by Di'. Fenner in relation to our great pestilence, yeb 
low fever. We have said that he was not given to indulgence in the 
promulgation of theory as a teacher; yet, on some few of the more 
prominent points connected with disease in our midst, he had his own 
opinions, based on his own long protracted observations. In general 
terms, Dr. Fenner Was decidedly inclined to embrace the doctrine of the 
"unity of fevers," and as he grew older he was more and more inclined 
to believe yellow fever but a grave form of our malarial diseases. This 
idea he based on his repeated observations in New Orleans of what he 
termed ''the gradual change of the prevailing intermittents and remit- 
tents of spring and early summer into the true vomito, and then the 16 
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF 
gradual change back again as the fall advanced towards winter." We 
have often discussed the question with him, as it does not become us to 
discuss it here, but his convictions were firm. Just to test his ideas, we 
have said to him : " But how do you account for it that in 1853, and 
since, we have the distinct evidence of the active communicability oi 
yellow fever, not in New Orleans, but in all the region of country 
around ? Remittents and intermittents have no such characteristics." 
'' It is but a variation in type (he would reply), a greater degree of 
malignancy. Every intelligent physician here must have noticed varia- 
tions in the types of our epidemics. Sometimes we can treat yellow 
fever most satisfactorily with quinine; at others quinine is death. 
Sometimes depiction is, to a reasonable extent, admissible ; in other 
epidemics depletion is death. The first step for the intelligent physician 
is to recognize the type of the epidemic. If he is blind to this, his 
patient must suffer. Then why shall we not admit the communicable 
and non-communicable types of yellow fever ?" 
We have alluded to Dr. Fenner's love for his profession, and we have 
shown how he labored to promote its welfare. Without exaggeration 
we consider him the best friend of the profession, and of its individual 
members, we ever saw. For those older than himself he always evinced 
the deepest veneration; for those younger, he had always a cheering 
voice and a helping hand. The nobleness of his nature forbid his 
imagining for a moment that the struggling stranger and beginner would 
be at all in his way. lie felt that he had worked so faithfully as to 
merit a genteel support at the blinds of the community, and it really 
seemed a source of happiness to him that an industrious and deserving 
young physician was succeeding. No strange young physician ever 
presented him with a letter of introduction without receiving the warmest 
welcome, and he was sure to leave his presence with the just conviction 
that he had secured the sympathies of at least one man in the great city 
where he had cast his lot. How very many will attest the truth of all 
this ! 
In all ways and at all times Dr. Fenner was to be found the active 
defender of his profession, and a most striking example of this activity 
was evinced at the beginning of our late war. On account of the want 
of organization in the Medical Department of the army, and for which 
the professional corps were in no way responsible, one of the Richmond 
secular papers made a bitter and most unwarrantable attack on the whole 
medical corps. Immediately Dr. Fenner, far removed as he was from 
the scene, took up the gauntlet, severely rebuked the uhjust conduct of 
the paper, exposed the parties to whom the derelictions belonged, 
demanded the publication of his article in the same paper, triumphed at 
a single blow, and on all sides received the plaudits of his brethren. And 
all this he did with the utmost calmness and dignity. When we sug- 
gested to him that it was more than probable that the paper that would THE LATE DR. FENNER. 
17 
issue the attack on the profession would refuse to publish his defence, 
he replied: '' They shall publish it." 
On appther occasion a professional man of high standing was to be 
indicted for an alleged base offence. We found Dr. Fenner exerting 
himself to stop proceedings. While consulting us on the subject, we 
suggested that it was a grave point for consideration whether, in the 
interests of society at large, he or any other man had a right to thus 
attempt to shield crime-that position, either social or pecuniary, could 
not modify crime. He replied : " I know it; it is wrong ; but think of 
his innocent family ! and, then, for the honor of the profession ! I am 
afraid he is guilty, but I must stop it." And he did stop all proceed- 
ings from that day. 
How widely different the circumstances that aroused him to action, 
and yet how promptly, how cheerfully did he act under the great single 
motive ! 
In strictly private life, Dr. Fenner was surely to be admired. He 
was universally polite and kind, and without that effort which tells of 
the cold calculation, that it is best to be so. Even to those who did not 
merit it, or even who, for their acts, would have justly received the 
frowns of any other man, he extended the same treatment to the fullest 
extent compatible with dignity and self-respect, and thus heaped coals 
of fire on their heads. Throughout the community, amongst rich and 
poor, high and low, he was accepted as the model of a simple, dignified 
and polite gentleman ; and he never went among strangers that he did 
not at once increase his list of friends and admirers. In a material view 
he was careful and economical. His own wants were simple, for he was 
temperate in all things. He leaves no record behind him of charity 
dispensed and paid for in poor asylums and newspaper puffs for erecting 
them ; but he built his own private monuments in the hearts of poor 
kindred clothed, fed, and educated, even unto the day of his death. 
Charitable, he was, but it was so ordained that it was to be almost con- 
fined to the circle of his relatives, inasmuch as he believed it his duty 
first to assist them. It was our privilege, during many long years, to 
watch the steady stream of his bounty bestowed on these. Of religion, 
he made no public profession, but he fully accepted the great Chart of 
Christianity, and acted as fully up to the spirit as we find men capable 
of doing. He was fond of going to church, and rarely missed doing so 
once on each Sabbath ; but this fondness did not lapse into the studied 
antipathy to the lighter enjoyments of this life. On the contrary, he 
enjoyed the fine music of the opera, and some of the happiest of his 
evenings were spent at the well-regulated theatre. Having no family 
save his son, it was natural that his mind should seek relaxation beyond 
his office, and in this way, as well as in the society of ladies, he found 
his lighter pleasures. Long, long will his regular appearance at the 
dinner and tea table, on Sunday, be missed by those who for years on 18 
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF 
years expected and welcomed him. These were what he called his 
" family recreations," for in each house he was recognized as one of the 
family. Here the little children all knew him and loved 
Often have we heard them cry out, "there's Dr. Fenner!" and yet he 
had, in opening the gate in the dark, but cleared his throat in his 
peculiar manner. 
As a physician Dr. Fenner would have been valuable in any com- 
munity. His perceptive powers -were not quick, but he was honestly 
observant, was extremely cautious, read faithfully, stored his own 
experience away carefully, and frankly communed with his fellow-prac- 
titioners. We consider him one of the safest practitioners we ever met. 
For Surgery and Obstetrics he had no taste, and he always promptly 
deferred to those who more carefully cultivated these branches of medi- 
cine. We have never been able to discover anything like timidity in 
his professional duties, and this after a long and intimate association 
with him ; but we have always found him prompt to acknowledge error 
in diagnosis, and willing to have his patient reap the benefit of addi- 
tional counsel, and to any extent. His opinions were always deliber- 
ately formed, and it required close argument to change them; but he 
always seemed to eschew that empty tenacity which characterizes the 
bigot. In sickness at home Dr. Fenner was our physician, and we 
always felt real confidence in him. 
Ending his earthly career at the close of one of the most important 
epochs in history, it is both just and interesting to note his connection 
therewith. Dr. Fenner had never swerved from the true path of the 
physician to take part in politics, but he was far from being ignorant of 
or insensible to, the events transpiring around him. He was well versed 
in the history of his country, was eminently proud of her career and 
position ; but he had long been disposed to despondency on account of, 
the utterly corrupt condition of political parties, the aggressive tendency 
of the Northern mind, and the sensitiveness, jealousy, and anxiety of the 
people of the South. Withal, the secession of the State of South Caro- 
lina took him by surprise, and he considered the act, not as essentially 
wrong, nor at all unnatural, but as unwise and hasty. Contrary to the 
general opinion around him, he regarded the step as the first in civil 
war, and this he regarded as the greatest calamity that could befall the 
land. When the question was put to the people of his own State he 
voted against it, still hoping that moderation might prevail. This vote 
we believe he cast as conscientiously as one ever was cast on earth. 
Not that he did not consider his section sufficiently aggrieved to warrant 
separation, but because he feared the resultant evils would be even 
greater than those complained of. The innate benevolence of his own 
nature made him hope that other men were all the same, and that the 
Northern people would ere long see their error, their injustice, and 
return to the path of tight laid down by the fathers of the country. THE LATE HR. FENNER. 
19 
More, he did love the whole country as his country, and it was a bitter 
reflection that it was now to be bathed in blood. But the vote of the 
State of Louisiana was cast for secession, and having been educated in 
that political school which taught preeminently that State allegiance 
was paramount when the right of a State was being invaded, at once he 
yielded his own primary convictions of expediency and followed the 
fortunes of his State. As soon as Virginia became the theatre of actual 
war, he repaired thither and devoted himself to the suffering sick and 
wounded from Louisiana-all at his own expense and with an earnest- 
ness unsurpassed. He was the originator of the Louisiana Hospital 
at Richmond, and labored unceasingly until it was properly established. 
He visited the commands from Louisiana wherever stationed, and looked 
into the wants of the sick and wounded. In the fall of 18G1 he returned 
to New Orleans, and during the whole winter he devoted himself, as a 
member of a special committee, to the business of forwarding supplies of 
all sorts to the suffering Louisiana soldiers. When the city of New 
Orleans fell, in the spring of 1862, he remained at home. This he did 
from a conviction that he could be of infinite service to the many desti- 
tute and helpless families whose male friends were all in the army. At 
last came the stern order of Gen Butler for all to take the oath of alle- 
giance to the United States, or be banished from the city. He did not 
take the oath, and for months he was not molested. In May, 1863, 
however, the order was more thoroughly executed, and as he persisted 
in his refusal he was driven from the city. He took passage, with many 
others, on board a schooner, and landed within the Confederate lines at 
Pascagoula. Thence he went to Mobile, and at that city he remained 
almost constantly until the close of the war in the spring of 1865--just 
two years. Of his labors there, Louisiana soldiers will warmly attest. 
Without ever belonging to the army proper, he was awarded the privi- 
lege of attending the sick and wounded from Louisiana, and special 
wards were assigned him in a beautiful private hospital of the Sisters of 
Charity. To these wards he devoted himself unceasingly. On one 
occasion we accompanied him on his morning visit, and it was indeed a 
refreshing sight to witness the evidences of confidence and affection on 
the part of the sufferers. He treated them all like his children, and they 
looked upon him not only as the humane and skillful physician, but as a 
parent. When he told them that it was not possible to procure for them 
a luxury craved in sickness, they were resigned and uncomplaining, 
because they knew he had uttered words of truth. And to say that he 
regretted the meagre means for their comfort at his disposal, is not 
expressing what he felt; from the bottom of his heart he deplored it. 
In their presence he was ever cheerful and encouraging, always urging 
resignation tc privations; away from them, his heart ached for them, 
and he labored ever to mitigate their condition. Long will his memory 
he blessed by those who passed under his care as sick or wounded. 20 
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF 
It was in the midst of his arduous labors in Mobile, and in the last 
year of the war, that Dr. Fenner experienced the first great shock to his 
accustomed robust health. There is no doubt that the condition of the 
struggling South, now anything but encouraging, depressed him greatly. 
His friends perceived a change in his appearance, and we can attest that 
his conversation and correspondence betrayed serious despondency. At 
last he was seized with diabetes, which greatly prostrated him, and his 
friends were alarmed. At the close of the war he retired for awhile to 
Canton, Mississippi, and spent some months in quiet repose at the home 
of his nephew. There his health improved, and when he returned to 
New Orleans, although those who had not seen him for more than two 
years were grieved to perceive so great physical deterioration, still those 
in more recent association with him were gratified to note a marked 
improvement on the condition of a few months before. He found his 
business affairs in utter confusion, and his property in process of confis- 
cation. Of course this was calculated to depress, but he bore himself 
with great fortitude, and passed through the long and extremely hot 
summer quite comfortably. Among other troubles, that of recovering 
possession of the New Orleans School of Medicine (then occupied as a 
negro school) officially devolved on him. He spared no labor in this 
regard, and fully succeeded by the beginning of fall. Being at once 
determined, with his colleagues, on reopening the School at the usual 
time in November, he had to bring his mind back again to the great 
duty of teaching, and this was no easy task. The beginning of the lec- 
ture season found him in improved health, a mere trace of his old affec- 
tion clinging to him. The School opened most favorably, and he found 
full stimulus to exertion. Those who were associated with him, and 
those who followed him as pupils, will never forget how faithfully he 
labored. He really did far more than his duty. During the session he 
discussed quite frequently the establishment of a first-class medical 
journal in New Orleans. He regarded it as indispensable to the profes- 
sion of the Southwest, and, although greatly preferring that the labor 
should be undertaken by younger men, he expressed his determination 
to establish such a journal if the work was not undertaken by others by 
the close of the lecture season. No one did undertake the work, and 
on the 4th day of May, 1866, the first number of the Southern Journal 
of the Medical Sciences appeared, with Dr. Fenner as senior editor. 
But, alas, for human calculations ! On the very day on which this new 
evidence of the energy and professional love which animated him 
appeared, our friend passed away forever from the scene of his labors. 
At the close of the lecture season his friends were congratulating him 
and themselves on the fact of his coming through the winter's work 
with, apparently, no further impairment of health. Late in April, how- 
ever, he was seized with a paroxysm of what he regarded as simple 
intermittent fever. He was in active practice at the time, and, although THE LATE DR. FENNER. 
21 
he took remedies to prevent a recurrence of the paroxysm, he worked on 
unceasingly. Before his friends were aware of it, he had had two or 
three of these attacks, and the impression produced was distinct and 
disagreeable. He called on us one morning, told us he had had a chill 
the'evening before, that he felt badly, but that he was on his way to 
visit the sick. To remonstrate was useless. In the evening we called 
to see him; the work of the day had greatly prostrated him, but he was 
sitting at his table. We begged him to take his bed, urging that he 
was seriously sick. He replied : " I know I am not well, but it is 
nothing serious. I'd be ashamed to go to bed for such sickness. I 
have patients whom I cannot neglect." We left him with gloomy fore- 
bodings. Next morning we called again, and found him prostrated on 
his bed and surrounded by his friends. He had sent for us, though we 
missed the messenger. A glance at his countenance was enough to sat- 
isfy us of the gravest illness. He was at once removed to the home of 
his nephew, and in a few hours it was manifest that he was over- 
whelmed by fever of asthenic form. He lived just one week, but rarely 
during that time giving any ground for hope. Indeed, the march to the 
grave was steadily progressive. His illness was a very painful one. 
Cerebral symptoms manifested themselves within a few hours after he 
took his bed, and the intellect was gradually obtunded. He could 
always be aroused to consciousness, even within a few hours before his 
death. Very early in his illness he began to lose the power of articu- 
lation, and it was indeed painful to witness his ineffectual efforts to 
speak to his surrounding friends. He evidently clearly appreciated the 
gravity of his condition. Even in the midst of this great struggle with 
death, the mind of our friend could not be wholly diverted from the 
great field of his long protracted labors. Frequently, in his delirium, 
he was muttering of the School of Medicine, and several times he looked 
into our face and said: 11 Have you arranged that article for the Jour- 
nal? he is a good writer ; be careful." 
Dr. Fenner's illness was a short one, and the announcement of his 
death took the mass of his friends and acquaintances by surprise. The 
general expression of true sorrow that burst from the hearts of the 
people-publicly and privately-is the proudest testimonial that could 
be awarded his worth in the community. His funeral was devoid of 
"pomp and circumstance," but it was one of which those who loved 
him may well fee] proud. It was a true representation of the whole 
community ; rich and poor, high and lowly, men of all vocations, the 
soldiers whom he had so tenderly nursed-and, above all, the widow 
and the orphan, all were thronged there to take the last farewell. Never 
can wc forget the tears that trickled, the sobs that burst from the tender 
widowed hearts of those at whose sides in time of sickness and distress 
he had oft stood in all the attributes of the good physician and the 
sympathising friend.-Al] bespoke the willing verdict that God's 22 
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF 
creature had well filled his mission, and that, although it was hard to 
part with him, the pang was mitigated by the reflection that he had been 
called to a better 
Thus, in our humble way, have we endeavored to preserve the name 
of a valued physician and good man from that cold oblivion to which 
the mass of our species are consigned.-That the task is but poorly 
performed, we are well aware. It has been done amid the absorbing 
hours of general practice and under the infliction of impaired health. 
Should another pen do better in after time, no one will be more gratified 
than ourself. 
In recording the more prominent incidents of Dr. Fenner's life, and 
in portraying his character as these incidents and a long and intimate 
association have clearly prompted, we have studiously avoided the ex- 
aggerated tone so apt to characterize even the biographical sketch. We 
have truly endeavored to show him to posterity such as he was.- 
Moulded as he • was by Nature, had he pretended to be more than he 
really was, he would have fallen in the estimation of those contemporary 
with him; and it would be unjust to his memory if we should do that 
which he would have scorned to do for himself. 
In an Obituary notice, a contemporary has recently said of him- 
At all times ambitious of success, Dr. Fenner struggled to attain an 
enviable distinction among his fellows."-Never was a greater error con- 
ceived, and it is due Dr, Fenner's memory that it be pointed to. His 
greatest ambition was to be useful to his species, to fulfil the mission of 
a man. That he was not selfish, is seen in the facts that in his life he 
shared freely with others in need, and that he died without being pos- 
sessed of wealth. It was easy for him to have done otherwise. 
That he '' struggled to attain an enviable distinction among his fel- 
lows," is truly an error. In pursuing the path he did, the enviable 
distinction necessarily followed. That he was modestly grateful for it, 
we have no doubt; but it was too empty a bauble for him to waste his 
life in struggling for it. 
Outside New Orleans, no medical man of the city has ever enjoyed so 
extensive a professional acquaintance and reputation; at home his status 
was all that the heart could desire. And in uttering this truth, not one 
iota of merit is detracted from others. We have shown that Dr. Fenner 
was well born, well educated ; that without being possessed of that bril- 
liancy of intellect which dazzles the throng, and nearly always bespeaks 
some concomitant obliquity-some want of moral or mental balance, he 
was possessed of a sound mind and solid judgment. We have shown 
that he was a zealous laborer in medicine, being the first to rescue the 
profession of the Southwest from literary oblivion, the first to establish 
in this country the system of real clinical teaching, and the medium 
through whom the city of New Orleans promptly rose from a fifth to a 
first class position for students of medicine. We have shown that he THE LATE DR. FENNER, 
23 
was appreciated as a valuable physician, for he came amongst us in 
poverty, always supported himself most genteely, reared and fully 
educated his son for an honorable vocation, freely dispensed his bounties 
on his needy relatives, performed all his pecuniary obligations to society, 
died possessed of a handsome competency, and will always be mourned 
by those who during long years relied on his skill. We have shown 
that he was an urbane and polished gentleman, that he carefully 
eschewed excesses of all sorts, save it be that of charity. Nor did he 
know how to struggle to be all this. The fount of his heart was almost 
illimitable, and the great stream flowed silently, deeply, on through life 
to that ocean of eternal happiness not seen by human eyes, but -which is 
at last the reward for labors well performed. Dr. Fenner's was an 
example to be emulated. D. W. B.