c*^ls^"^?r^K <^TJ1 &&m ) > » > > > ^ » J» i» 5^ JO "> > ;o .•>) > > JO i* > ^Tte ,>■ 39 3 J > » .JR^ >. J» >J> »£? » _» >J> C-^* JX9 > ) > » » » 3 "> > > -> > > > > » ^^ ^» »\ > » > » a. »3» JO 2» » > -> > > .>> : > "j J 3 B» » ~» *> » > 5 3» :> :> * > >> »?? i » >__.> » -»> >■> -^^ > :>■ S> > » ~~- ~J> * x> > _» .3 z> » \ » > > ^> » • i 23 i ^ >> > :» > ® ■» X> ^ •» h ^ >J A _j 3m B J» ..» >J "51 :eu-Lcr.l ;joc:-ec -f cnth ■ :.,ro._ .;i,-. Goran, to Prepm- ■ ..v.i.io?'.r o" •. James Lloultris. ■.lenoi)"- . »> :> » ■¥>?y> 3 Ji> J>3 j O-T ^oury*\ ta roller,, Co^rmi^ 4t> ^r a- -• ft. H(m6ir O^r, ^meS Nou'lria MEMOIR DR. JAMES MOULTRIE. PROFESSOR OF PHYSIOLOGY IN THE MEDICAL COLLEGE OF THE STATE OF SOUTH CAROLINA, AND MEMBER OF THE MEDICAL SOCIETY OF SOUTH CAROLINA : BEING THE REPORT OF A COMMITTEE OF THE MEDICAL SOCIETY SPECIALLY CHARGED WITH THE DUTY OF PREPARING IT By WILLIAM T. WRAGG, M. D. Chairman of Committee. Mlk on j CHARLESTON, S. C. WILLIAM G. MAZYCK, PRINTER. 50 BROAD STREET . 1869. At a meeting of the Medical Society of South Carolina held on June 1st, 1869, the following Resolution was adopted. Resolved, That a Committee consisting o! Drs. Wm. T. Weagg, T. G. Pbio- leau, E. Gkdjhnqs, E. Horlbeck, and J. E. Holbeook, be appointed to draw up and submit to the Society, a minute in relation to the decease of Dr. Jameb Moulirie, an old and honored member of the Society. W2L too 1^69 ► />»» a/c? .&7U ' • Hv>- ^ MEMOIR OF DR. JAMES MOULTRIE. Dr. James Moultrie, the subject of the Memoir which has been called for by the appreciative voice of the Medical Society of South Carolina, was one of the land-marks on the highway leading from a past to the present phase of Society. Materially differing, in tastes and habits, from a very large number of the prominent figures in the sphere we are now moving in, he stood conspicuously forward, on the canvas, with the physical, moral and sesthetical characteristics of an age fast passing away with all its attributes of scholarly acquirement, individual polish and ex- quisite sense of social and personal refinement. Gifted, by na- ture, with fine mental endowments, which he had cultivated successfully in their application to most of the leading branches of practical, as well as theoretical, investigation, lie was eminent- ly qualified to adorn the circle of which he formed a conspicuous part and wrhich was distinguished, in its day, both here and else- where, for its lofty tone, its dignified bearing and its mental ele- vation. The tone of Society reacts on the individuals T,ho compose it, and, while it is just to say that the habits and manners of any age depend on the characteristics of its members, we may, with no less truth, say that the individual members, themselves, recieve peculiar forms and marks stamped upon them by the association in which they live. As it was common, in the society in which Dr. Moultrie spent the best years of his life, to meet with scho- larly attainment, bland and gentle personal intercourse and the most punctilious regard for the feelings and rights of oth- ers, so it was characteristic of the men, who moved in that so- ciety, to be proficient in all these eminent qualifications. There was a softness of manners, a grace of deportment, an elevation 6 of thought, an elasticity and scope of conversation, in the social re-unions of that day, which was < xemplified in the personal bearing and mental acquirements of each marked member of the social circle. Dr. Moultrie was one of those who bore, in himself, the impress of all that constituted the charm and beauty of that lovely and attractive, society. Of gentle—al- most harmless—manners: graceful and elegant physical appear- ance: masculine mind, assiduously cultivated; and accomplish- ments almost feminine from their softness and delicacy, he stood before the men of anew style of society, in the later years of his life, like the fading hue of an autumn sunset: one of a gen- eration and a style fast passing from sight and sinking out of existence. Dr. Moultrie, and the representative men of the Society we allude to, as they pass from our sight, bear away, with them, the fashion of the time they lived in and as they drop, one by one, into the dark shadow of Death they car- ry, with them, the memories of things we shall, hereafter, read of but see no more. Personal modesty and a diffidence, ineffably charming, were prominent marks of the society of the times we speak of, and there was no one more strikingly distinguished for these pleasing traits of character than the subject of our memoir. Praise, however well merited, would start the conscious blush to his cheek; while a discreditable imputation, no matter how unjust, would promptly meet the gentle yet decided repulse which none can administer but the possessor of a great and virtuous soul. Nothing, perhaps, so thoroughly distinguished Dr. Moultrie as his pure and gentle and womanly modesty in all his associa- tion with Society. This trait was not so much an acquired ac- complishment as it was a natural gift, trained and educated to exquisite perfection in the school of our Charleston society as it was in the days of his youth. It moulded his entire character. Formed, as he was, for a prominent place in the grouping of society, his retiring disposition led him always to seek his chosen pleasures in the family circle so that he was far more at home and more prominent in his own drawing room than in the public haunts of men. His domestic attachments 7 were the polished chains that bound him to life. No home more happy than his : no fireside more genial and warmer than that at which he presided. An accomplished musician and profi- cient performer on the piano the flute and the violin, along with the hardly less skilful performers of his family, his domes- tic concerts are represented, by those who remember them, as exquisitely charming. His talent for music was inherited and it was shared in by his brothers and sister. Dr. James Moultrie, Sr., the father of our subject, is pronounced, by those who still remember his performances, to have been possessed of rare taste and skill as a violinist, and, with his sister, the late Miss Eleanor Moultrie, whose touch of the piano had few rivals in her day, our subject en- joyed the rare pleasure of home concerts of no ordinary perfection. He had studied music, thoroughly, as a science, and not only acquired full mastery of its combinations and accords but pursued his investigations into the more recondite laws of Acoustics applied to the theory of musical sounds. This thirst for information, of the most elementary kind, was one of the phases of Dr. Moultrie's mind and it pressed him on to the most abstruse investigation of every subject that engaged his attention. We shall have occasion, further on, to refer again to this specialty of his mind. It is not permitted the eulogist to trench too closely on the sacred ties of domestic life or to strike the cords that vibrate only to the holiest of touches. It cannot be permitted to say more than this that Death has here broken the golden bowl in which were gathered the purest, gentlest and loveliest of all the treasures of the heart. But, stepping from within the do- mestic circle, we may say that gentleness and love marked his personal intercourse with all who shared his intimacy. There was a deep interest felt by him in all that touched his friends. Their cares and joys were his. To seek his advice was to enlist his sympathy and to identify him with you in all that touched you nearest. He seemed to have impersonated the injunction of St. John and to have made Love the embodiment of his char- 8 acter. There never lived a gentler, more earnest and more loving nature. On this groundwork of his character, doubtless, rested, also, the other marked tastes and employments of his mind. He loved agriculture as a harmless, yet ennobling, employment and specially cultivated the more attractive part of it—Horti- culture and Flowers. His garden was always stocked with rarest specimens and when away from home he was ever inter- ested and attracted by the garden and the greenhouse. He loved a rare and beautiful flower almost as he loved a good and valued friend. Dr. James Moultrie was born in this City in the year 1792. His father, Dr. James Moultrie, Sen., (who was a cousin of the hero of Fort Moultrie,) was distinguished, in his day, for his classical attainments; and, by reference to the re- cords of this Society, it will be seen that he was among the earlier members, his name appearing 28th on the list. His proficiency in Latin was such that he read, wrote and spoke the language easily ; and, in the declining years of his life, it was one of the few recreations he partook of, outside of his own home, to be present at the examinations of Bishop England's Classical School wmere, with the gifted Crafts, the learned and eloquent Legare, the scholarly Lance and a few others, who still drank at the fountain of Greek and Roman literature, he sat for hours listening to and participating in, the examinations of the boys; and, from time to time, conducting critical dis- cussions with his accomplished compeers on the nicer points of linguistic discrimination. The earlier years of our subject were spent in the, then, cel- ebrated schools of Drs. Buist and Headly and to the end of his days he used to refer to the harsh—the barbarous treatment inflicted, by the last named, on his unfortunate pupils. His father, however, soon removed him to a school at Ham- mersmith, England, where, under the care of Dr. Anderson he completed his preparatory studies: when, together with his father and the rest of the family (all of whom had removed to England and resided there during this period,) he returned to this coun- 9 try and received the degree of Bachelor of Arts at the South Car- olina College, then in its infancy ; but in what year is uncertain as neither the Diploma of the College or of the Clariosophic So- ciety (both of which are still in the possession of his family) are dated. He then entered himself, as a Student of Medicine, in the office of Dr. Robert Wilson, one of the well known Physicians of that day. He received his Medical Diploma, it is beleived, at the University of Pennsylvania in the days of Rush, Wistar, &c. On returning to his native City, about 1811, he entered him- self, for some time, as a Clerk, in the Druggist establishment of Dr. Kirkland but the war with England soon breaking out he, with many of the young physicians of that time, took service with the forces and he did duty, for some time, as Surgeon of a Hospital in Hampstead. Soon after he recieved from Govenor Joseph Alston the ap- pointment of "Physician of the Port of Charleston and also of the Gaol of the District of Charleston." His Commission bears date May 22nd, 1813. On the 1st August 1812 he joined this Society and his name very soon appears as its Secretary pro tempore. In 1814 he was elected member of the Committee on Accounts. In 1815 he was chosen Anniversary Orator for 1816 but re- signed the appointment for reasons which are not recorded. August 1st, 1816 he was appointed one of a Committee of three to "inquire into the cause of the complaints of want of sufficient number of physicians to attend the Shirra's Dispensary and to recommend any alterations they may think proper, advantageous to the institution." The Committee proposed a plan by which two members of the Society, each month, pledged themselves to do the duty : He, himself, with Dr. Philip P. Mazyck taking the first term. On January 1st 1817 he was elected Treasurer and again in 1818, to the same office: there having been no meetings on the Anniversary days In September 1817 he was one of a Committee to confer with o 10 the City Council (at their request) on the means of improving the health of the City. In February 1818 he was appointed on the Committee to regu- late the mode of examining Candidates for Licenses to practice Medicine in the State,as provided by Act of Assembly, and the Rules recommended having been adopted, he was chosen, by the Society, one of the Examiners. The certificate of this Board of Examiners, it should be remembered, was, at this time, of equal force with the Diploma of a Medical College in after years. In 1818 he was appointed on a Committee to revise the origi- nal Laws of the Society or to frame new ones. The Committee brought in an elaborate Report which was highly commended by a Resolution passed by the Society. In the same year he was chosen, by the Society, a Delegate to attend a Convention, called to meet in New York, for the pur- pose if framing a National Pharmacopoea. In 1819 he was elected Vice President and in 1820 President of the Society. In March 1820 he was on a Committee to examine the Treas- urer's Books. On the 2nd October, of the same year, he delivered an Essay on the "Connexion of Medicine with the Elementary Sciences" which has, unfortunately, like so many of the most valuble of the Society's papers, been lost. In the same year he was the reporter from a Committee to revise the Fee Bill, recommending additions, which were adopt- ed, and the Report incorporated into the old Bill as a supple- ment. In the same year he was on a Committee to enquire into the propriety of establishing a Lunatic Asylum in, or near, the City of Charleston. These various duties must have occupi- ed a very large share of his time during this year. During the Summer of 1822, when the idea of establishing a Medical College in the State was in its inception, Dr. Moultrie corresponded with Dr. Cooper, of Columbia, on the subject: fully agreing with him on the propriety and feasabitity of the undertaking but differing from him both as to plan and location. 11 Dr. Cooper desired to locate a part of the professors in Colum- bia and a part in Charleston. Dr. Moultrie pref(rred an undivided school and to have it situated in Charleston. His views and reasons were fully set forth, at a subsequent time, in an elaborate Memorial to the Legislature, to be noticed here- after. In 1822 Dr. Moultrie, as Chairman of a Committee for Examining into the State of preservation of the papers of the Society, previous to the year 1800, made a Report in which the fact is stated, with regret, that these papers are few in number and the few that remain rendered valueless by the want of those that have been lost. Subsequent Committees, raised for the purpose of extending this examination to the papers of later dates, have made similar Reports. The loss of these old papers is of serious import. Many of them were, evidently, of the highest historical importance, on subjects of the deepest interest, not only to us, as members of this Society and of the medical profession, but to the community at large. Subjects of vital importance were fully discussed in them. At the time they were, many of them, prepared, the standing of this Society in public estimation was such that con- stant reference was made to it for advice on points of Hygiene and Sanitory Police. The Intendants of the City, officially, ap- plied to the Presidents of this Body for directions for avoiding or lessening Epidemics and constant intercourse was kept up with similar Societies, in this and Foreign Countries, on matters of public health. Under the new order of things no such referen- ces may again be made to us ; but it is a matter of some honest pride to know that there was a time when the Physicians of Charleston were placed upon the level they ought to occupy in all well educated countries and were believed, by the community and its representatives, the men in office, to be the best adivsers on questions of purely Sanatory bearing. It was in this same year, 1822, that this Society memoria- lized the State Legislature for power to establish a Medical Col- lege and to exercise all the incidental rights of conferring De- grees in Medciine, Licences to practice &c.: and also for pecu- 12 niary aid for putting the plan in operation. The Memorial was drawn up, with signil ability, by Dr. Moultrie and was entire- ly successful, so far as the rights and powers asked for were concerned, but failed to elicit pecuniary assistance. Without this Dr. Moultrie thought it would be hazardous for the par- ties, moving in the matter, to undertake it and he accordingly declined to use any means for encouraging the experiment with- out external aid. Some of the active promoters of the scheme, however, thought it might be done without Legislative assistance and, accordingly, at the next Session of the Legislature, (1823,) the necessary Acts were obtained and in due time the College went into operation. Here one of the characteristic traits of Dr. Moultrie's mind was displayed—caution. Fully impressed, himself, with the value of the undertaking he was striving to promote, he thought that others ought to see it in the same light and foster it with the same devotion. But he did not think that it would be pru- dent for the ardent young men, who were ready to give their time and talents to an institution in which the whole State (as he had demonstrated) was so deeply interested, to pledge their slender private resources, also, to a scheme, in which the whole Society, they represented, was equally interested and in which the whole State, through its accredited agents, the Legislature? had just given solemn act of approbation. This commendable cautfon, on the part of Dr. Moultrie, while it displays one of the best traits of his own character, evin- ces a most appreciative opinion of the ultimate justice of the La- gislature which he believed would, in due time, open the hand of liberality to the claims of merit, as it finally did: and also sets out, in bold relief, the admirable energy and self-reliance of the other actors in this movement who, leaning on themselves alone assumed all the responsibilities of the novel undertaking; the very first of its kind in the Southern country and earlier in date than most of the Schools of the Northern States. In the his- tory of the Medical College of South Carolina the names of Prioleau, Dickson, Frost, Ravenel, Holbrook and Ramsay must ever stand out in strong relief not only as the founders of the 13 Young School but as its strength and ornament in its palmy days of proud success. In January of the succeeding year, 1824 the necessary steps for going into operation were taken and Dr. Moultrie was on the Committee for preparing the plan and actively co-operated \iith Dr. Dickson, the Chairman. The Chair of Anatomy was allotted to him but he declined accepting it on the ground above alluded to (viz.) "that a liberal appropriation was essential to the success of the enterprise, as without a building, Anatomical preparations and Library the operations of such an Institution cannot succeed" and "that a stated Salary should be allowed to each Professor for a stated time or until the remuneration equal the labour required." The School, therefore, went into operation without him and the following are the names cf those who gave its first e'ckt to a School second to no other in high and honorable standing (viz.) John Edwards Holbrook, M. D., Professor of Anatomy, James Ramsay, M. D., Professor of Surgery, Samuel Henry Dickson, M. D., Professor of Institutes and Practice of Physic, Thomas G. Prioleau, M. D., Professor of Obstetrics and Diseases of Women and Infants. Henry R. Frost, M. D., Professor of Materia Medica, Edmund Ravenel, M. D., Professor of Chemistry and Pharmacy, Stephen Elliott, LL. D., Professor of Natural History and Botany. Thus launched upon a vigorous career, the Medical College of South Carolina struggled through no puny infancy. Min- erva-like it stepped int:- existence mature in strength. But if the admiring public saw no unprovided want in its perfection the Faculty themselves perceived that there was an unfilled niche for which the perfect statue was ready chiseled and in due time we shall see it filled. In September of this same year (1824) the Board of Health of Savannah addressed a letter to the Board of Health of Char- les u.>n asking for information as to the nature of the Epedemic 14 Fever then prevailing in Charleston, the condition of the City and the probable origin of the Disease i. e. whether of local or- igin or imported. Dr. Moultrie was one of this Committee. It may be interesting here, in view of the prevailing opinions on the origin of Yellow Fever in the Cities of the United States, to refer to the singular unanimity with which Local causes were, at that day, assigned as those producing the Disease, in opposi- tion to the importation theory. At the meeting of April 1st, 1825, Dr. Moultrie, from the Committee on the Library, brought in a Report showing how much injury the Society had suffered from the negligence of members in not returning Books and recommending a remedy. He continued to serve as Chairman of this Committee for many years, making frequent Reports. At the Anniversary Meeting this year we find his name on the list of Essayists for the ensu- ing year. At the meeting of January 2d, 1825, he was appointed on a Committee "to investigate, and Report upon, such nominations for the Honorary Membership of the Society as may be offered for consideration." At the same meeting he was made Chair- man of a Committee "to examine, and Report upon, the relative merit of such Classical dissertations as may be offered to the Society by candidates for its Diploma and to decide upon the in- dividual to whom the Premium shall be given." At the May meeting of this year the appointment of Dr. Moultrie on a Committee to examine into certain charges brought against a member of the College Class afforded him an opportunity of displaying the gentler-ess as well as justice of his his nature. He could not exculpate the offender but he com- mended him to mercy. At the June meeting this year he brought in a well considered Report on certain alterations to the Constitution proposed at the February meeting by Dr. T. Y. Simons. It was proposed to make the Presidency of the Society permanent—to this the Report was adverse : to do away with the Rule by which mem- bers of a certain length of service became Honorary and ceased to contribute—to this, also, it was adverse : and to Petition the 15 Legislature to repeal the Law allowing a License to be given to non-Diplomated applicants—to this the Report was favourable and admirable reasons adduced for consideration of the So- ciety. At the Anniversary Meeting this year two touching incidents occurred so characteristic of the feeling of professional courtesy and refined bearing we have already alluded to that we will ven- ture to recall them to the consideration of the Society. The venerable Dr. Matthew Irvine had been elected President and "on motion it was unanimously adopted that Drs. T. Y. Simons, Isaac Johnson and Hume be requested, as a Commttee, to wait on Dr. Matthew Irvine, the President elect, and announce to him his election and to request that he would favour this Society with his presence at the Anniversary Dinner." Again it is re- corded that "on motion it was unanimously carried that Drs. Dickson, T. G. Prioleau and J. Moultrie, Jr., be appointed a Committee to wait on Dr. Samuel Wilson and to express the re- spect of the Society to the Doctor and while congratulating him on his convalescence from a serious indisposition to convey their regret at being deprived of his presence at the Society, and to tender him the homage of their respectful consideration and re- gard. Are such incidents barren of interest ? At the February meeting in 1827, Dr. Moultrie was ap- pointed one of a committee to "to draw up a circular, to be sent to the Trustees and Faculty of the different Medical Col- leges throughout the United States, proposing the extension of the term of Medical Studies, and such other alterations in the regulations of those Schools as may seem desirable." The cir- cular was drawn up with great ability, by the Chairman, Dr. T. Y. Simons, and submitted to the Society at a subsequent meet- ing. At an extra meeting, March 13th, Dr. Moultrie read an Essay, characterized as "very interesting and ingenious," on "the probable uses of the Lymph." On the 10th April he delivered, by appointment, an Eulogium on Dr. Samuel Wilson, for which he received a, vote of thanks 16 from the Society, with the request of a copy for record on the Minutes. At the June meeting he brought in an elaborate and most ad- mirable report on a motion "for enquiring into the expediency of publishing the Fee bill, and the propriety of appointing a Board of Censors" thereon. In February of 1828 a committee, of which Dr. Moultrie was Chairman, was appointed "to consult with the Faculty in order to revise the Rules regarding the relations existing be- tween the Medical Society and the College." The Report was presented to the Society in October, a id having been thorough- ly discussed at the November meetiug, clause by clause, was adopted without amendment. In 1829 Dr. Moultrie took the deepest interest in an event of the most painful kind, the agitation of which shook this Soci- ety to its very heart, and threw a gloom over a large part of the community. One of the members of the Faculty was arraigned, by his colleagues, before the Society for incompetence. He had been one of the active promoters of the College and a pop- ular lecturer before the Classes. Dr. Moultrie, at an extra Meeting, May 18th, moved that a committee be appointed with power to consider the accusations against the accused submitted by the Faculty of the Medical College of South Carolina, and to call for such documents and evidence, and to takesuch steps, in the arrangement of the whole affair, as may be necessary to enable the Society to proceed in a deliberative and intelligent manner, and that certain preliminary propositions submitted, relating thereto, be referred to them for consideration: 1st. Whether the Society had cognizance of the case. 2d. If they ought to exercise their power. 3d. The mode of conduc- ting the trial. On the 25th the Committee reported through its Chairman. This Report is marked by deep and earnest feeling, clear and cogent statement and a most profound appre- ciation of the magnitude of the interests involved. It may be taken rather as a measure of the author's gentle nature and tender consideration for the feelings of others than as a spe- cimen of his mental calibre. 17 In September of this year a letter was received from the Bri- tish Consul, addressed to the President of the Medical Society, enclosing a list of Queries from the Royal College of Physicians in London. It was referred to a Committee consisting of Drs. Geddings, Moultrie, Horlbeck, Waring, and Porcher. In No- vember this Committee submitted a most complete and valuable Report. At the Anniversary meeting this year Dr. Moultrie was elected Trustee of the Medical College. He was, also, one of the Essayists for the ensuing year: and Chairman of a Commit- tee "to consider the various subjects recommended by the Pres- ident in his address." In June 1830 this Committee Reported, by their Chairman, in an admirably drawn paper concluding with a Circular addressed to the Public at large urging upon the general attention the great importance of a thorough preparato- ry education for all aspirants for the Medical Diploma. This Circular admirably exemplifies the more striking features of the author's mind i.e. close, minute and carefully arranged views of the subject he is considering. At the Anniversary Meeting this year he was again put on the Book Committee and drawn as one of the Essayists. In 1832 he was elected a Trustee of the Medical College un- der the new Rule whereby Professors of the College were pro- hibited from being Trustees and vice versa. It was in 1833 that Dr. Moultrie was induced to join the Medical College under its new Charter; a place having been made for him by taking the subject of Physiology from the Chair of Practice and erecting it into an independent Professorship. Here the peculiar characteristics of his mind—elaborate and minute research—had full play for development. The subject was, at that time, comparatively in its infancy. The Professor was fully up with it but there were many points upon which but little light had yet been thrown by Chemistry and the Micro- scope. To elucidate these dark spots the Lecturer applied all his strength. No light that could be brought to bear upon them, from any source, was lost. Discrepant opinions were, imparti- ally, laid before the Class ; their comparative merits calculated 18 to a nicety, and a laboured effort made to clear the sutject of all uncertainty. It may be questioned if such elaborate investigations are as well calculated for beginners as less learned but more enticing prelections. Perhaps this was felt by his hearers. But it was his avowed purpose, in his teachings, rather to lecture his hear- ers up to his level than to lower himself to theirs. The contributions which he made towards the advance of Phys- iology were not given only to his Class in these elaborate Lec- tures but they were also presented to a large range of readers through the public journals. Many of these views were appre- ciated by students of the subject not only in this country but in Europe and the visit of the celebrated London Physiologist Marshall Hall to Charleston, several years ago, afforded Dr. Moultrie an interesting occasion of seeing that his theories were apprecated by some of the best thinkers on the subject. In 1834, on the occasion of the reorganization of the College, after the protracted and we may, perhaps, say accrimonious, dis- sentions that had sprung up between the Society and the Pro- fessors, Dr. Moulrtie delivered the opening address to the Class. It is a fair specimen of the author's style and full of evidence to the fact that, whatever might be said of the elevated train of thought in which the Lecturer might indulge—too high, in his sientific investigations, for the reach of his unskilled pupils— there was, nevertheless, always to be found, in all that came from his pen, ample evidence of a most cultivated and well stored mind and, also, of a graceful and accomplished elocution, pol- ished and refined by the aid of an elaborately and carefully stored memory. He continued to occupy his place here through all the best days of this successful institution till 1867 when the advancing infirmities of age warned him to desist from his honorable la- bours. Throughout the long period of time during which we have traced our Subject's course, through his connection with this Society, he conducted, most successfully, a large and lucrative practice and many a silent tear has moistened the eye of his 19 former patients as they have thought of his bland and sympa- thising intercourse with them in their hours of pain and sick- ness. There was a Conversation Club, composed of the literary men of the City, of which he was a member and in the discus- sions of which he bore his part. The meetings of the Club were full of interest: they were held at the houses of the members, in rotation. The subject was introduced by the host and commen- ted on, in his regular turn, by each member as the Moderator of the evening passed the word to him. Matters of both local and general interest were introduced. Scientific and practical questions were analyzed, and much curious information gath- ered which might have been preserved with advantage. In 1847 delegates were sent from this Socictv to the Conven- tion which assembled in Philadelphia for the purpose of organ- izing a National Medical Association and Dr. Moultrie was one of them. He took an active part in the work of organiza- tion and when this was accomplished he was chosen one of the Vice-Presidents. He ever took a deep interest in the subse- quent meetings of that body, attending them frequently, and when it assembled in Charleston in 1851 he was naturally looked to as the best entitled to receive the honour of the Presi- dency. We all remember ho-w pleasant these meetings were. No one more genially entered into the spirit of the occasion and none more fully realized the nationalizing tendency of the movement. When, in 1851, the Association assembled in St. Andrew's Hall, it was at the invitation of the State Medical Association which Dr. Moultrie had been mainly instrumental in originating; and when it adjourned resolutions of the most flattering kind were introduced by a prominent member from New York and a memento presented to the State Association which still graces this Hall. Dr. Moultrie was an active member of several Societies, apart from those of a medical character. About the time of the organization of the State Medical Association there was esta- blished, mainly at the suggestion of the late Professor P. C. 20 Gaillard, "The Society for the relief of the Widows and Or- phans of Deceased and Indigent Members of the Medical Pro- fession." Here, again, the peculiar characteristics of Dr. Moultrie's gentle and loving nature were displayed in strong relief. Possessed of ample means himself, with no direct de- scendants upon whom, in coming years, the heavy hand of want might, by remote contingency, fall, he gave himself to this cause with ardour. No one more regularly performed the duties en- tailed by the offices he held in the Society and no one more genially participated in the annual festivities of the members. These duties were to him labours of love; he entered upon and discharged them with the deep and fervid glowing of his warm heart. There was, also, the "Elliott Society of Natural History," and the " Historical Society," in each of which he took much interest; and several foreign Societies, both Medical and Sci- entific, of which he had been made member. Among his papers are the certificate of membership of the " Socie'te' de Me'decine de Marseille," dated October 16th, 1816, and accompanied by a very complimentary letter from the Secretary General of the Society: and also one from the "Socie'te' Phrdnologique de Paris." An analysis of Dr. Moultrie's more important papers might very appropriately form a part of this Memoir; but the destruc- tion of his private library, by the war, and of so many of the other private collections, with the loss of the Society's papers, has put it out of our power to procure material for the work. But these productions are, most of them, extant, though out of reach at present, so that there will be no ultimate loss of his contributions to medical science. We have now only to refer, in conclusion, in general terms, to the loss the community has sustained, both professionally and socially, in the death of our colleague. This can hardly be appreciatively determined so soon after the event. It will be only gradually, as on succeeding occasions his presence and co- operation are missed, that we shall be able to measure its highth and depth and breadth. It will be when occasion may demand 21 cool and dispassionate judgment on subjects in which high ethi- cal and aesthetical interests of the profession are at stake that his vacant place will eloquently speak his loss. It will be when the calm, cool judgment of the matured minds of the community is demanded on some grave question of high social interest that his sagacious counsel will be missed. We have dwelt on same of the most marked features of his mind: there were also peculiarities in his personal habits stri- kingly distinguishing him in his intercourse in Society. We have said that his productions of the pen, and his oral teachings were distinguished by profound and minute investigation and elaborate and often curious discrimination which gave them an appearance of metaphysical subtility. Nothing of this was ap- parent in his conversational intercourse. Here he shone in re- markable contrast with himself in his public and prepared pro- ductions. The difference was this: his high sense of conscien- tious obligation to those from whom he had derived thoughts or ideas prompted him to give them justice in his use of their theories or facts: hence the labored, elaborate, minute, meta- physical character of these productions : while his conversation, disencumbered of all this oesthetical—this imaginary obligation to others, and coming freshly forth as the outgushing of his own thoughts, was clotted in the garb of natural simplicity. A sweet smile and a hearty laugh gave cheer to his interlocutors and infused the loyalty of his own nature into those about him. Here we take leave of our honored comrade. So lately has his well known form been seen going in and out among us, that we hardly realize the truth that we shall never look upon his face, never hear his gentle voice or press his manly hand again. The grave has opened so suddenly to receive him that we did not know the digger was at work, But his summons was not so unexpected as to find him unprepared. Life had been for him a round of duties, and he had used his diligence to perform them. He was of those who fulfilled the injunction of the wise man, and what he found for his hand to do he did with his might. 22 We have shown him true to his fellow man, we believe he was true to his Maker and Master. WM. T. WRAGG, M.D., Chairman. THOS. G. PRIOLEAU, M.D. E. GEDDINGS, M.D. J. E. HOLBROOK, M.D. E. HORLBECK, M.D. MEMOIR DR. JAMES MOULTRIE, PROFESSOR OF PHYSIOLOGY IN THE MEDICAL 'COLLEGE OF. THE STATE OF SOUTH CAROLINA, AND MEMBER OF THE MEDICAL SOCIETY OF SOUTH CAROLINA : BEING THE REPORT OF A COMMITTEE OF THE MEDICAL SOCIETY, SPECIALLY CHARGED WITH THE DUTY OF PREPARING IT. [.D. */ By WILLIAM T. WRAGG, M. Chairman of Committee. CHARLESTON, S. C. WILLIAM G. MAZYCK, PRINTER, 5<5 BROAD STREET . 1869. I FROM THE MEDICAL SOCIETY OF SOUTH CAROLINA, CHARLESTON, S. C V CC C C. •«* < c f( < c c «< < << <. • « c< <-o >i CC-