f^^d^L^^X (j, l/f.J
EULOGY
ON
SAMUEL  MCCLELLAN,  M. D,
PREPARED BY ORDER OF THE
MEDICAL SOCIETY OF THE STATE OF NEW-YORK,
AND READ AT THE ANNUAL MEETING IN ALBANY,
FEBRUARY 3, 1857,
BY THOMAS W. BLATCHFORD, M. D.
       ALBANY:
C. VAN BENTHUYSEN, PRINTER, 407 BROADW^.
         1857.
-■Vv y*i 
SAMUELL M'  CLELLAN.M.D
     Born : June 14-^ 1787.
     Died. April 8^1855. 
EULOGY
ON
SAMUEL  MCCLELLAN, M.
PREPARED BY ORDER OP THE
MEDICAL SOCIETY OF TOE STATE  OF NEW-YORK.
AND READ AT THE ANNUAL MEETING IN ALBANY,
FEBRUARY 3, 1857,
BY THOMAS W. BLATCHFORD, M. D.

C. VAN 13ENTIIUYSEN, PRINTER, ALBANY,
       No. 407 Broadway.
         1857. 
  [" On motion of Dr. Goodrich, Dr. T. W. Blatchford was ap-
pointed to prepare a eulogy on the late Dr. Samuel McClellan,
to be read at the next annual meeting."—Transactions 1856, page
210. |
  The resolution of Dr. W. D. Purple, adopted by  this society
in 1849, "requiring a  professional obituary of suitable length"
in case of the death of a member, made that duty devolve upon
the  censor living nearest to the former residence of the deceased.
By a resolution adopted at the last meeting, I  was appointed to
prepare a eulogy upon  the late Dr. Samuel McClellan, to be read
at the present meeting of the society. 
EULOGY.
  Samuel McClellan, the subject of this notice, was the son of
Hugh and Sarah (Wilson) McClellan, and was born on the 13th
day of June, 1787, in the town of Coleraine, in Berkshire, (now
Franklin county,) Mass., and was one of ten  children, eight of
whom reached maturity.  His father had been a captain of the
Massachusetts minute men in the war  of  the revolution, and
served with his company in the capacity of  a scout.  As such he
was attached to the army of Gen. Gates, and was  absent on an
expedition for cutting off Burgoyne's communication with Cana-
da, at the time of the battle of Bemis' Heights.  He was a deci-
ded Presbyterian in  his religious preferences, and belonged to
the Scotch  church, conscienciously adhering to  all  its obser-
vances with strict integrity; all  his children  to a great extent
inherited the  same characteristics.
  The early education of Dr. McClellan was derived principally
from the common schools in the immediate  neighborhood  of his
father's residence.  He subsequently attended the academy at
Deerneld in his native State.  After leaving the academy he alter-
nately taught school and labored on his father's farm.  Being of
a studious turn of mind, he employed his leisure hours in profi-
table reading, and at the age of about twenty-one he commenced
the study of medicine with his brother,  Dr. John  McClellan, of
Livingston, Columbia county, in this State, and who, although
his senior by fourteen years, outlived him a number of months.
He continued in  the study and practice of his profession with
his brother about four years, bringing to it the steady habits and
robust health of a young New England farmer. He  was  exam-
ined and licensed to practise medicine  by the Columbia County
Medical Society.  His brother's health at that time being feeble 
1
 and precarious, and unable himself to attend to  much business,
 a large portion of proft ssional labor devolved upon the subject
 of this notice.  These duties he discharged to the entire satisfac-
 tion of his brother, and of those  who employed him  as his
 brother's substitute.   His being thus early thrown upon his cwn
 resources must have been of incalculable advantage to the young
 physician; and, although he never enjoyed the advantage of lis-
 tening to the lectures of learned professors, perhaps few  young
 men who did, could boast of a better school or of better cliniques.
  About the year 1813, he left the  pleasant scenes of his early
 professional labors, upon which he always  loved to  look back,
 and removed to the town  of Schodack, in Rensselaer county, a
 mile and a half west of the delightful village of Nassau.  He
 was immediately introduced to a most extensive  and  successful
 practice.  Very soon after his settlement here, a malignant fever
 (Typhoid Pneumonia) prevailed extensively throughout  that
 part of the county, as an epidemic.  His time was fully  occu-
 pied.  He was often heard to remark that for weeks together he
 almost constantly lived in his saddle, sleeping only occasionally,
 and then at  short and irregular intervals.   His success in  treat-
 ing this disease, in whatever shape it manifested itself, was ex-
 traordinary.   It was the subject of remark by the community at
 large;  and from that early and  successful beginning,  he  estab-
 lished  a reputation as a  skilful  physician, which he ever  after
 maintained.
  In June 1815, at the age of 27, he married Miss Laura  H.
 Cook,  daughter of Philip Cook, Esq., of  Richmond, Mass., but
 then a  resident of Schodack.  This  connection  proved a very
 happy one, happy for themselves, happy for their children, happy
 for their friends—home under their roof was a home for all with
 a hearty welcome for each, and  no one who has  enjoyed it can
 ever forget  the  amenities which  uniformly  clustered there.
 When the Dr.  died, he had been married 40 years; his widow
still survives him and is in the enjoyment of a good  measure of
health  for one  so far advanced in life's checkered journey.  He
left also two sons and three daughters.  His daughter, Mrs. Bar-
ber, of  Homer, died about 11 years before him.
  Immediately after his  marriage he removed a little nearer the
village where he continued to reside until his death. 
5
  At the time of his removal, Dr.  Mellen  was the  principal
practitioner in that vicinity, but soon after he removed to Hud-
son, where he died.  Dr. Ebenezer D. Basset succeeded Dr. Mel-
len and still occupies the same field.
  About the time of his  settlement, Dr. McClellan found  the
following gentlemen practising medicine in his immediate neigh-
borhood, with whom he ever  maintained the most friendly pro-
fessional intercourse, all of whom he survived with one  excep-
tion.   At East Greenbush,  Dr. John Miller; at Sand  Lake, Dr.
Harris; at East Nassau, Dr. Gale;  at Chatham,  Dr.  Root;  at
Chatham Centre, Dr. Joel A.  Wing.  Dr. Root of Chatham still
survives, and is filling out the measure of  his days in active use-
fulness, enjoying the confidence of long tried friendship.
  Dr. McClellan's popularity as an  instructor of medical stu-
dents was very considerable, and, for a physician in a country       i
town, with no professieeal ensign  to attract,  and no city advan- Pr)s~t^/
tages to offer, has, perhaps, seldom been surpassed.  He possess-
ed the faculty of  communicating  instruction in a pleasing, win-
ning manner, gaining the attention, and securing the confidence
of his pupil in a remarkable  degree; and now, his warmest ad-
mirers are to be found among those whom he instructed  Those
who knew him longest, loved him best.  Among the students
who enjoyed the advantages of his instruction, were the follow-
ing, some of wThom have risen to  considerable eminence in their
profession.  Ga^son, Squires, Bell, Chadsey, Beckwith, Coven-  }*"""/^
try, Simpson, Herrick,  Miller, Cole, Carmichael, Boyce, Dan'l
Haynes, &c.
  Of his character as a medical practitioner, I shall let one of
his early pupils speak.   The following communication has been
received in answer to a request to furnish any incidents in the
life of Dr. McClellan, calculated to illustrate his  peculiarities
as a physician.  From others  of his pupils I have received that
which is  only confirmatory of what Dr.  Chadsey  states.  One
says that "one of Dr. McClellan's prominent  characteristics was
an untiring and never-failing devotion to his engagements, even
in chronic  cases, which he visited  perhaps  only once a week.
When the appointed time came he was certain to meet the en-
gagement, unless   circumstances  rendered  it impossible;  but 
6
neither storm  nor wind, cold nor heat, ever prevented." Again,
" Every case of disease for which his attention was solicited, if
of a serious character, enlisted all his energies, whether  the
subject was poor or rich, obscure or of  commanding influence."
Another peculiarity was " his  untiring perseverance in  the  use
of remedies, even when, to  others, the  case seemed hopeless,"
and  this hope  inspiring  principle sometimes  gave rise to  un-
kind remarks from  those who could not appreciate his motives,
though he could point to many recoveries when by others  the
cases had been  considered hopeless.  Again, " The attachment
of his patients and their implicit confidence in him, arose in
part from his uniform  urbanity of manner and  affectionate re-
gard for them, added  to  a  countenance  wThich had  power to
charm the  most indifferent."  The  same correspondent further
remarks, " In my judgment  his crowning  excellency as a  prac-
titioner, consisted in an  unusual power of discrimination and
the proper adaptation of remedies."
  Says another correspondent, " One peculiarity in his charac-
ter was his  constant uniform cheerfulness.  Although at  times
subject himself to depression of spirits,  he never carried dejec-
tion into a sick room."  In a sick room he was cheerful from prin-
ciple.  He believed in  the healing power of cheerfulness, and
there can be no question that a great  deal of his success was
attributable to that feature in his  character.  Conversing  the
other day, with a worthy lady upon  the character of Dr. McClel-
lan, who had been her family physician for nearly forty years,
she remarked in substance,  " The  doctor  did  not give  a  great
deal of medicine to his patients, but his mild, intelligent coun-
tenance and his never  failing cheerfulness inspired them with
confidence and courage which was the best medicine;" she might
have added that " a merry heart" was a remedy of established
reputation three thousand years ago.  (See Proverbs, xvii-22).
  The  following is Dr.  Chadsey's communication:
                               Schenectady, Jan. 12, 1857.
T. W.Blatchford.M.L.;
  My dear Sir : Yours of the 30th ult., came while I was absent
from home, and I now hasten to answer  it.   The  medical  char-
acter of the late Dr. Samuel McClellan, like his moral and religi- 
7
ous character, was honest, decided, firm, and energetic.  He was a
diligent student, well-read in all  the branches of his profession,
and kept himself well posted in all new discoveries and improve-
ments.  He was a constant reader of the best medical journals,
and annually added to his library the works of the best medical
authors.   No book in his library was unread by him.   He pos-
sessed the faculty of grasping at once the theory, principles, and
views of the author before him, and of adapting them to his own
purposes.
   He possessed a most retentive memory.  I never knew him to
forget a patient, nor any of the circumstances connected with the
disease, although years may have elapsed.  This knowledge was
always made available, when afterwards called to prescribe  for
the same patient, or for any in the same family.
   His conversation with his students was almost always upon
medical subjects.  When at leisure in his office, or when riding
on his daily visits to his patients, he  would discuss the diag-
nosis, prognosis, and best mode of treating the case in hand, no-
ticing the  hereditary diseases to which they were liable, the
causes remote and proximate, and every possible circumstance
calculated to throw light upon the case.  He did this in such a
manner as to draw out the knowledge and opinions of his  stu-
dents, and confirm them when  right, and correct them when
wrong.  So  pleasantly and agreeably did he do it, that we felt
the utmost freedom and social equality in his presence, while
we loved and revered him as our teacher. It was doubtless this
faculty which made him the most popular medical preceptor in
the countly. His office  was always well filled with students,
and I do not now remember that he ever had a student who did
not make a  successful practitioner.   He was indefatigable in
his endeavors to make them well  qualified for their responsible
duties.
  Dr. McClellan loved the practice of medicine—not  as a mere
business by  which to support himself—he loved his profession
for its own sake.  He visited the poor as  freely and as cheerfully
as the rich, and the warm glow of satisfaction which at times
would suffuse his countenance, on the recovery of patients in
the humbler walks of  life, for whom great anxiety had been felt,
told that his heart was  in it, and that he cared more for their re- 
 covery than for the pecuniary remuneration to which he might
 be entitled.   I have indeed, often thought that the joy he mani-
 fested in such cases, was quite equal to that experienced by  the
 restored sufferer himself.
   His  retentive memory, his strong,  well-balanced mind,  his
 discriminating judgment, aided  by his own extensive and rich
 experience, made him almost infallible in diagnosis.
   On his first visit to the bedside he was not content with care-
 lessly looking at the tongue, feeling the pulse, and asking two
 or three commonplace questions;  but his enquiries usually  ex-
 tended to all  the minutiae of the disease, its history and causes,
 predisposing  and exciting, remote and contingent,  inherent or
 acquired.   He asked  concerning the constitutional  effects of
 former attacks of disease, and as to the existence of any idiosyn-
 crasies, or any  peculiarities in the  action of remedial agents.
 He  never wTould prescribe until he had as it were daguerreo-
 typed the disease on his mind, in all its possible influences upon
 the system.   When he could thus see it and know it, and only
 then, was he  ready to combat it.   When he had thus  carefully
 formed his diagnosis, it was seldom  varied, and  seldom  was he
 disappointed.
   It  was his acknowledged skill in diagnosis,  together  with
 his urbane and kind deportment  towards his medical  brethren,
 that made him the standing and almost only counsellor with the
 physicians around him.  I  have  frequently known  him to ride
 twenty, thirty, and forty miles to hold consultations.  Physician
 and patient seemed equally anxious for his advice.
   His remedial agents  were always chosen for their simplicity
 and efficiency.  He never prescribed general remedies for merely
 local  diseases.  His first object was  to remove the cause, and
 afterwards, if necessary, combat the  effects.   He never  played
 with  disease, but endeavored  if possible either to  master it or
 modify  it in its incipient stage.  This he made the point tfappui
 in his  practice.  He never interfered with the vis medicatrix
 nature,  but always strove to assist  nature in her salutary efforts.
 If remedies  failed to produce the desired effect, he resorted to
others more efficient, without any undue regard for old conven-
tional  maxims.  When  he  had decided on the treatment  he
deemed necessary to institute, no earthly power could  easily 
                               9

divert him from his purpose ; no false sympathy of friends ; no
squeamishness ; no faint heartedness ; no undue tenderness, or
sensibility.   The fear of offending patient or friends  by any di-
rections or prescriptions never influenced him to turn aside from
what he knew to be best.   No  skilful nurse or officious friend,
could vary his  determination.
   " He knew his duty, and knowing dared perform it."
   Dr. McClellan  was a Christian.  He  loved  his Savior ; he
loved the prayer-meeting ; he loved  the family altar ; he  loved
the house of God, but knowing  the  influence the mind exerts
over  the physical system, especially when diseased, he never
would himself, neither was he willing others should talk to his
patients about  death, in a depressing or  discouraging manner *
He said his business was to heal  the  body and to do  that it was
his duty to avail himself of all  the means in his power, and not
the least of these did he consider a cheerful, hopeful  state of
mind.   For this purpose  he was in the  habit of relating  anec-
dotes  in the hearing of  his patients, even when they were very
sick, until he caused them to laugh, in which he would join most
heartily.  This, he said, was good medicine, and at  times the
best.  It affected  the  whole system, and  excited to action every
dormant fibre.   When he  considered the result of a case doubt-
ful, his practice was to request the friends to send for the clergy-
man  of  their choice.
   Up to fifty years of age  Dr. McClellan was constantly in the
habit of performing all  the minor and most of the  capital opera-
tions  in surgery.  He was  a skilful  operator.  After he passed
his fiftieth  year, he declined all surgical  operations; for what
reason I am not able to say.  It was not for want of opportunity,
nor of entreaty.
   Dr. McClellan was greatly beloved by all who knew him, and
but few persons within  ten miles of his  residence were willing
to die or to be very sick without calling upon him.   His practice
  * There is an honest difference of opinion among physicians on this subject. While all
would deprecate doing any thing to retard recovery, there are those who feel,  that at the
proper time, no subject is more appropriate to a sick room than that of religion; and that
frequently its cheering and consoling influence is of the most  marked advantage.   Where
physicians are not in  the habit of introducing it except in cases of approaching dissolution,
the effect would be very likely to be injurious, but not so where the habit is different.  If
I am correctly infonr.ed iJr. McClellan, especially for the last few years of his life, was in
the habit of frequently introducing the subject of personal religion, though not in a depress-
ing and discouraging manner.                                     t. w. u.
       2 
10
 was very extensive ; during the three years that I was with him,
 he charged ten thousand dollars.   To charge such an amount in
 a country practice required almost incessant toil.
   I will close  this, communication  by relating  two or three
 anecdotes of the Doctor, which will illustrate certain points in
 his character, better than I could do in any other way.
   He was called on a very hot day in July to visit a lady resid-
 ing in a neighboring village, in consultation with her physician.
 The lady was of a highly excitable disposition, and strongly
 marked nervous temperament.   She had been the subject of
 powerful religious excitement, and during this she had a dream
 which made a very deep impression on her mind already border-
 ing on monomania.  The case was  represented to be hopeless.
 She dreamed  that she was converted, that all her sins were for-
 given, and that  she had gone to heaven.   Some of her weak, but
 well meaning friends viewed it as a premonition, and presumed
 that her departure was at hand.  They  gathered  in crowds
 around her, and  several of them praying all together, apparently
 vieing writh each other  who could pray the loudest,  for her im-
 mediate entrance into heaven.   At this  stage of the  Babel con-
 fusion the doctor arrived.  He was amazed beyond measure at
 the scene before him, and for a moment scarcely knew what to
 do.  He  entered the room with  a quiet noiseless step,  almost
 unobserved by  any one but the  patient herself.   Carefully
 avoiding the  legs  of those  who were prostrate in  prayer, he
 reached the bed  side;  the eyes of the patient were riveted upon
 his.  He felt her pulse carefully, and in a  low whisper said to
 her, "let me see  your tongue."  She immediately complied; after
 satisfying himself of the purely nervous character  of her com-
 plaints, and the absolute necessity of perfect quiet, he suddenly
 turned around to a little man kneeling by the bed, and who
 seemed  to be  taking the lead, and as  if he had been a child,
 quietly took him up under his arms, walked him carefully out
 of the  room, allowing him not the least opportunity to remon-
 strate, and giving him a gentle push, said  "friend you go  home,
 this  lady will not  go to heaven  to-day." The room was soor
 cleared, strict directions for perfect quiet with nourishing food,
and very little if any medicine, soon restored the lady to perfect
health. 
21
   At another time a patient,  formerly  a  strong muscular man
 had long labored under sympathetic irritation of the stomach,
 and for two weeks had been able to retain  nothing whatsoever on
 his stomach.  He  had been  under the  care of a neighboring
 physician without relief, and had become  very weak, emaciated,
 and excitable.  After satisfying himself as to the true nature of
 the case, the  doctor thought  if  he  could produce  a sudden
 powerful impression upon  the whole nervous system,  he  could
 divert the  morbid action,  and relieve the stomach; accordingly
 he  gave him a small dose of calomel, dry, mixing it with a little
 sugar, and  allowing him  one tea-spoonful of water to wash it
 down.  With his huge arms folded on his breast, he took his
 stand  immediately over the  patient to watch him.  He looked
 him full in the face with an intense stare.  Very soon the man
 attempted to raise  his head as usual to vomit.  The Dr. quickly
 and forcibly put his head back upon the pillow with one  hand,
 clenched his fist, and shook it menacingly in his face, saying in
 a rough and angry tone: If—you—raise—your—head—again—■
 from — that — pillow — I —will—knock—it—back—so—hard—
 that — it — will — stay — where — I — put—it.   And—if—you
 —vomit—up—that—medicine—I—will— pound —your — head
 —to—a—jelly."   The patient was amazed, alarmed, frightened.
 He gazed upon those large dark eyes which glared so fearfully
 upon him.   The longer he gazed, the more alarmed he became,
 until finally he drew himself down and  covered his  head with
 the bed-clothes, not knowing what would befall him next.  The
 agony was over, the stomach was quieted and the man was cured.
   On visiting a robust, obstinate,  self-willed, ignorant man, la-
 boring under strangulated hernia, which had resisted the milder
 means for reduction for several hours if not days, the  Dr. pre-
i pared a strong decoction of tobacco3 and took it to the patient
 directing him to drink it.   He swore he  would not  drink it—
 that he would die first.  The Dr. said nothing, but unlocked his
 large case of instruments and spread them in fearful array very
 deliberately before the patient.   After he'had everything in order
 as if to operate, he turned  around to the man, who by this time
 was almost petrified with fear, and said in a cool, deliberate, de-
 termined tone, " If you do not drink this  tobacco tea immedi- 
12
 ately, I will cut your belly open  in  two minutes, whether you
 live or die."  The patient drank it instantly; nausea and relaxa-
 tion speedily followed, the hernia was reduced, and the patient
 saved.
   At another time when about  to  extirpate a schirrous breast,
 the lady said to him with tears in her eyes, " my  dear  doctor
 how can you be so cruel and hard hearted as to do this bloody
 deed !"  " My good woman," said the Dr., " if it was necessary
 to save your life, I could not only remove  this  breast but the
 other also, and amputate every limb of your body with as much
 pleasure as I would eat my dinner."
   Fearing that I may have made this letter  too  long already, I
 add no more, but subscribe myself
                        Your obedient servant,
                                  ALONZO J. CHADSEY.
   Dr. McClellan, as might have been expected from his charac-
 ter thus faithfully delineated, by one who knew him well, and
 one so capable of doing justice to his memory, was a true lover
 of enlightened medical science,  setting his lace as a flint against
 all the multi-formities of quackery.  He could see no propriety
 in throwing aside the accumulated wisdom of ages for ephemeral
 dogmas, advocated by disappointed, needy partisans.  How could
 he consistently with the discharge of sworn duty, reject remedial
 agents of long tried and approved power, and substitute those of
 doubtful efficacy and short lived reputation; to say nothing of
 those robbed of all power by being reduced to the negation point
 itself.  He felt that human life was too sacred a trust to be thus
 trifled with; not  that he thought the science of medicine perfect,
 or that there was  not room enough  for  improvement; by no
 means; he was willing to accept of aid from any eource; he only
 required that the aid proffered should possess at least the  sem-
 blance of rationality ;  that it should be in accordance with cer-
 tain known  and fixed  principles,  certain established laws, to
 gainsay which is simply absurd.  All rational improvements he
 hailed  with  pleasure;  but the longer he practised, the  more
 extended his experience, the more wary he  became of new no-
tions and new remedies.  Gray headed compeers can you blame 
13
  In the year 1829, he passed through a  very severe  ordeal;
testing at once his patience as a man, and his skill and faithful-
ness as a  physician  and  surgeon.  It was  that  of a suit for
malpractice;  and as that was an occurrence which produced a
great excitement and lasting impression in all this region, I will
give some account of it, since I was one of the witnesses subpoe-
naed on the trial.
  A young married man twenty-three  years of age, residing at
East Nassau, had been at Lebanon on business, and there met
with an  accident  which  proved to be a compound  oblique
fracture of both bones of  the leg.   The next  day he was carried
in a wagon a distance of nine miles to his  house,  which was
six from the Doctor's residence; the friendly " Shakers" having
adjusted the leg in a box  in the best and gentlest manner  they
could, with  suitable  stuffing, bandages, &c.  The Doctor was
called to take charge of him  immediately on his arrival.  At
first it was supposed to be a transverse fracture and after adjust-
ing the bones, and applying bandages,  the limb was placed on a
double inclined plane, and the patient left comparatively easy.
The next day or  sooner, it was ascertained that the fracture was
oblique in  both  bones.  The inclined plane was then laid aside,
and an extension apparatus put on, and all necessary directions
given.  The  patient however  was exceedingly irritable, and at
times perfectly  ungovernable.   He wTas constantly interfering
with the treatment by loosening bandages, and changing position,
notwithstanding both patient and friends were repeatedly told of
the consequences of such interference.  The patient at last utter-
ly refused to submit to extension, and insisted upon having the
apparatus  removed, let the consequences  be what they might.
Extension  therefore was abandoned and the limb again placed on
the  inclined plane, but still  his interference  and that of his
friends with  the treatment was as constant  as  before,  and the
result  was, as had been  anticipated,  a short,  crooked  leg—
sloughing  of the heel, the formation of abscesses, &c, &c.
  The accident  occurred  on  the 12th of  Sept., 1827.  In the
summer  of 1829 an action for damages was brought before the
Rensselaer Circuit, Judge Wm. A. Duer presiding.  The trial
lasted  from the  11th until the 17th of June, and resulted in a
verdict for defendant of  six  cents costs.   A great  number of 
14
 witnesses were examined,  both male and female.   Every thing
 on the part of plaintiff and his  friends was done to excite sym-
 pathy.   The young gentleman appeared to be a perfectly helpless
 ruined  cripple ;  was brought into court, when many thought he
 might as well have walked.  Indeed three or four of the medical
 witnesses testified that they had examined the parts concerned,
 and saw nothing to prevent his walking if he was so disposed.*
   Among the witnesses were the following medical gentlemen—
 Drs.  Hale, March, Langworthy,  Spoor, Anderson,  Beckwith,
 Wing, Van Armee, Turk, Martin, Dayton, Haines, Ball, Bassett,
 Whitbeck, Crosswell, Squires, Blatchford, &c.
   These gentlemen, with very few exceptions, and I now remem-
 ber only a single one, testified to the good standing of the defen-
 dant, to his skill and judgment, approving the  method of treat-
 ment pursued, and the apparatus selected.
   The  individual  referred to whose  testimony was strongly
 against  the Doctor, and  decidedly in favor of the plaintiff, left
 the country the same year or the year following ; but before he
 left lie  received a rebuke from the College in which he  was a
 professor, which he never forgot, for immediately after the trial,
 that College,  (Castleton, Vt., and to their credit be it told,) con-
 ferred upon Dr.  McClellan the honorary degree of M. D.,  " as a
 testimonial of their appreciation of his talents, and as some little
 reward  for the annoyances and perplexities to which he had been
 subjected."   In  like manner, and  tor a similar purpose, he was
 soon after, (1835,) elected a permanent member of this  society,
 and that at a time when only two  members could be elected
 during the year.
   In the examination of witnesses,  and in the summing  up, the
 counsel for the plaintiff seemed to take it for granted that every
 " surgeon must be an Astley Cooper ;"  and  every  physician a
 Benjamin Rush ; and that they must be held answerable for any
 deficiency in  skill or judgment.  The counsel for defendant, on
 the other hand, contended that a well educated mind  and ordi-
 nary skill with proper  attention, was all that  the law demanded
 or  any  one had a right  to expect.  By the  kindness of  Hon.
 Hiram P. Hunt, one of the counsel for the defence,  I have been
«™**5i hT befn.riS^1y informed, it was not long after the trial that he throw away hia
crutches and made his lame leg do good service. 
15
favored with the perusal of his copious  notes of the trial, and
also with a sketch of Judge Duer's charge to the jury.   The
charge is so very clear and lucid in stating the law, and sifting
the evidence, and is also so entirely in accordance with sound
common sense, that I think I shall be doing  both the profession
and the public a favor by transcribing it, especially so, since the
evil of such litigation is a growing evil, and has already reached
such a point, that medical men are very reluctant to undertake
the management of broken bones or dislocated joints,  not be-
cause  they feel themselves incompetent to the task, but simply
because they are unwilling  to  be subjected  to the expense, an-
noyance, and mortification of a trial, to say nothing of the unjust
system of mulctuary practice now in vogue.
   Is it not humiliating to know that there are those in our  pro-
fession who are ever ready, not only to  lend their influence to
these vampires, when solicited, but sometimes to originate the
thought, and urge it on, when they must know there is  no just
ground for action ?  Perhaps their motive may  be to gratify a
pique against the surgeon, for some imaginary wrong, or having
been  disappointed in their own success, they hope to rise  upon
the fall of a brother.   Such  motives, however, are too base, too
contemptible and low, to  be harbored in any honorable breast,
or by  any one who deserves  the title of physician.  Not  that
ignorance and incompetence should be shielded from the arm of
justice; by no means; but  I am now speaking of educated  men,
professional brethren,  in good and regular standing.  Would it
not be more to our credit—more in accordance with the spirit of
our excellent code of medical  ethics to hide  a brother's faults,
rather than to expose them, remembering that we too may have
faults  which would appear to less disadvantage in the shade,
than in the foreground of the picture.
   Nearly  all of these vexatious suits let it be remembered are
brought in consequence of supposed errors in reducing fractures
or dislocations, and some  of our best surgeons have been made
to suffer, and yet the  ignorant quack, who professedly knows
nothing save  that  which "comes to him" intuitively, or the
better informed charlatan, who with  unblushing effrontery pro-
mises  to  cure  what  he  knows is  incurable,  passes  on un- 
16
 molested*.   They may offer human victims as a  daily sacrifice
 upon the altars  of their humbugs, either by administering that
 which directly destroys life, or withholding that which would re-
 store and prolong it, and no legal advice is sought, no summons
 issued, no  jury impannelled, but when a well educated sur-
 geon, by more than ordinary skill and by uncommon diligence
 and attention, restores  to soundness and activity a broken, dis-
 located, shattered  extremity, although, perchance, on close  ex-
 amination it is found not quite as straight, nor as long as its fel-
 low, though abundantly  capable of performing any service  for
 which it was intended, then forsooth the surgeon must be dragged
 before the public in regular court costume, and  defend a suit
 against an ingrate, not a man, or submit to an extortionate settle-
 ment; and especially so if he has the reputation of being possessed
 of property sufficient to pay if the game succeeds.
  In this suit, the judge charged in substance as follows : " The
 law holds surgeons  responsible for all requisite  skill."   There
 is a difference between skill and diligence.  Men differ in skill
 according to talents.  The law,  therefore,  requires  only the
 ordinary skill of a well educated surgeon.  As to diligence the
 rule iSj different inasmuch as this is  in the power of all men
 nearly in an equal degree.  This  may again be modified by age of
 patient, sex. &c.   It is also a general rule that with patients of
 discreet minds the surgeon should explain his  operation.  Then
 in sound minds, the surgeon is not bound to use force to compel
 a patient to submit to an operation, even if the surgeon supposes
 it necessary to save life.  As to children and persons  not capa-
 ble of  deciding for themselves, the surgeon must not operate
 without consent of guardian or parent.  The case  then presents
 two questions.  1st. Whether the defendant has manifested pro-
 per skill.  2d. Whether he has manifested sufficient diligence.
 First then, as to skill, Dr. Anderson gave it as his opinion that
 extension was improper.   But defendant shows by other wit-
nesses that  his mode was an  approved one.  It then becomes
 unimportant to you to decide between  these modes.  For a sur-
  * " By an anomaly in legislation and penal enactments, the laws, so stringent for the
repression and punishment of fraud in general, and against attempts to sell poisonous sub-
stances for food, are silent, and of course inoperative, in the cases of both fraud and poison-
ing, so extensively carried on by the hosts of quacks who infest the land.;'
                                Introduction to Code of Medical Ethics. 
17
 geon is not  answerable for his judgment in  a  particular case.
 It must be left to the surgeon himself.
   You are then to inquire into  defendant's skill on the mode
 adopted, and also  his diligence in treating  the case.  The frac-
 ture was supposed to be transverse, and  therefore defendant set
 about making an inclined plane, but when the fracture  was
 ascertained to be oblique, the defendant wished for his " exten-
 sion box;" some little time elapsed, and defendant  is not re-
 sponsible for it even if he acted under a mistake from wrong
 information.   The leg was properly reduced  and all necessary
 directions  given.
   Dr.  Turk,  living near by, was called in, found the leg in pro-
 per position  and again properly dressed  by him  and he  left it
 so.  Dr. Martin was in the room the same day Dr. Turk dressed
 it, or the day after, and the plaintiff said the extension had been
 loosened by plaintiff's father.  The next time defendant  was
 there, after  Dr. Turk dressed it, Drs. Whitbeck and Beckwith
 accompanied him, extension was then off.   Bones were displaced
 and overlapped, and  were not brought into  apposition at that
 time.  It follows then, either that Dr. Turk was mistaken as to
 leaving bones in proper position, or that extension had been taken
 off after Dr. Turk left.  Defendant told plaintiff he would have
 a short leg if he did not let it be extended.  If defendant had
 plaintiff's  consent to reduce it, he ought to have done it, but not
 if prevented  by plaintiff's own choice, or if  you believe that
 plaintiff had  taken off extension, or deceived defendant, but you
 must be convinced beyond all reasonable  doubt that  defendant
 did desist in  consequence of the refractory conduct of plaintiif.
 Other evidence throws light  on this point,  viz.,  that of Dr.
 Haines.  Dr. Haines  went with defendant,  defendant was  not
 obliged to abandon plaintiff, though he would have been justified
 out of regard to his own reputation.  Dr. Haines says the limb
 was not extended, and that defendant then told him he  had
 abandoned extension  in  cpnsequence  of plaintiff's opposition.
Jf this is true all responsibility is taken off from defendant, and it is
perfectly natural.  There is nothing to impeach Dr. Haines' tes-
timony.  This is the  substance of this  cause.  What was  the
reason that extension was abandoned'?   Whitbeck,  Beckwith,
3 
18
Martin, Dusenbury, and others tell you it was by plaintiff's own
directions.  The heel sloughing is not unusual, and besides the
defendant applied  the proper  remedies.   Plaintiff  repeatedly
slipped down in bed against a rope contrary to defendant's posi-
tive directions, &c, &c.  Plaintiff'is bound to make out his case
affirmatively.   This is the rule in ordinary cases, and much more
so, where a professional man is sued for malpractice.  The de-
fendant is entitled to the benefit of  any doubt on your minds."
   In the year 1823,  when  President  of  the Rensselaer  County
Medical Society, to which office he had been elected  the second
time, Dr. McClellan  communicated to that society that singular
case  of self performed  cesarean  section on the person  of  a
mulatto girl living in Nassau.  Twins were extracted—the wound
cleansed and properly  dressed,  and the girl  recovered.   The
time  she chose for the operation was while the family were at
dinner; the place, behind  the  barn on a snow bank—and her
instruments, her master's razor and  a  darning needle.  The case
was copied into several medical journals.  It was first published
in the New-York Medical and Physical Journal for March, 1823,
page 41, to which journal it was sent  by order of the Rensselaer
County Medical Society.*  It was also published in the London
Medico-Chirurgical Review, vol. 5 (1823), page 236.  The editors
of the latter journal doubted the correctness of the story.  It
was nevertheless true, and only tends to show how tenacious of
life the human body sometimes is, and to  what extreme injuries
it may be subjected,  and still,  life continue, and  health be
restored.  Dr. Bassett,  whose patient she was, is still living as
the subjoined letter will prove :
,,  ^    ^                   Nassau, N.Y., January, 1857.
My Dear Doctor :                                   J'
      The obstetric case referred to in your's of the 11th inst.
occurred January 29, 1821.  The wound  healed by the  first
intention.  Bleeding was resorted to, once.  There was suppres-
sion of urine which required  the  use  of the catheter for about a

^t^.T^^&S °f the RenSselaer Count7 Medical Society, convened at
of"idf oeSm^althe se'0retar7 be requested to transmit a copy of the report of a case


                                          ASAPH CLARK, Sec'y. 
19
week.  These with laxatives completed the  cure  in about  20
days.  She left Nassau the May following perfectly well.  Six
years after I saw her in Troy.   She was living  with a Mr. Rogers
in the capacity of a servant girl.  Since then  I have  not heard
of her.                    With respect, truly yours,
                                           E. D. BASSETT.
   Dr. T. W. Blatchford.
   Besides this case, I am not  aware that Dr. McClellan ever
furnished any thing for  publication.   He was like too many of
our  professional brethren, reluctant to give  the results of his
experience to the  world. When we see an associate  so capable
of enlightening the  medical public, one whose long and well
tested  experience  must have loaded  his mind with  invaluable
facts, willing to bury both  body and experience  in  the same
dark silent grave,  it makes one feel doubly sad.  There is such
a thing as speaking after  death, and if the duty and the privilege
do not belong to the toil wTorn physician, to whom does it belong'?
How is medical science  to advance and bless mankind, unless
assisted by  the recorded  experience of the  honest,  intelligent
working-men of our profession 1  Traditionary experience is too
short lived and too equivocal.
   About the year  1832, his practice being too extensive for him
to manage alone,  and yet do justice to the  sick, he took Dr.
John Coventry, now of Newark, N. J., into partnership with him,
and afterwards  Dr. Elbridge  Simpson, now  of Hudson, N. Y.
These gentlemen had been students of his, and now, being asso-
ciated in a new capacity, the union proved advantageous to all
concerned.   In 1840, Dr. Montillio Beckwith, who studied with
him in 1824, became his partner, and they continued thus associ-
ated until the time of Dr. McClellan's death.  These gentlemen
enjoyed each other's  confidence to a  very great degree.  In the
conduct of  either  nothing ever occurred to mar the harmony of
their daily  intercourse,  or even to interrupt their mutual good
feeling towards each other.
   Not long after his  marriage, Dr. McClellan united  with  the
 Presbyterian church, in  Nassau, and  always  sustained a consist-
 ent walk and conversation.   He was a liberal supporter of the
 various charities which claim  the  attention  of the  evangelical
 christian community.  Being at heart a Presbyterian, and  that 
20
 being his mother church, the church of his ancestors for  many
 generations, it was not until after a long and painful struggle, not
 until  after the church in which heat first professed religion, and
 in which he had long served as a ruling elder, had declared her-
 self for the "new school" division of that cherished denomination,
 that he could bring his mind to leave it.  But not being willing
 to sympathise  in  what he considered dangerous movements,
 measures fraught with  consequences which he considered  fatal
 to the progress of those truths  he had always loved, he, with his
 wife, asked and obtained . letters of dismission and united  with
 the Reformed Dutch  church in the same place.   This was in
 1842.   Here he found a field of usefulness, as he  thought more
 congenial to his views and feelings.   This new connection proved
 a very pleasant one to himself, and profitable as far as his ar-
 duous professional labors would allow to his new associates.
 After  a suitable time he was elected a ruling elder in that church,
 an office which he held up to the time of his death, discharging
 the active duties of it with ability and success.  His strong well
 informed mind,  decided views of christian duty, energetic  hab-
 its, and warm heart, fitted him in an eminent degree, the for office.
   Punctuality, as has already been hinted, formed a conspicuous
 trait in his character.   He believed punctuality to proceed from
 moral  principle; he was, therefore, careful to meet all his  en-
 gagements, but in none of his appointments was he more partic-
 ular to observe strict uniform punctuality, than in occupying his
 seat in the house of  prayer, both on the Sabbath, and at  the
 weekly meetings of the  church. When he  was not there, every
 one knew that a paramount duty elsewhere engaged his attention.
 This feature in his character was the more remarkable when we
 remember the  extent of his engagements, and  likewise that no
 class of men are presumed by the  community at large, to  have
 a more valid excuse for tardiness in the discharge of such duties,
 if not the frequent neglect of them,  than the physician in  full
 practice; and yet, I am informed, it was very seldom that  Dr.
 McClellan could not so arrange  his professional labors as to be
 present in his seat on  the Sabbath, at least  during one  service.
He knew that he seldom failed in meeting his engagements with
his fellow men at the appointed  time and place, and he  was not 
21
 willing to harbor the thought that his engagements in the house
 of God were of minor importance.
   Dr.  McClellan was a warm advocate of the temperance refor-
 mation.  He  felt that the best interests of man, for time and
 eternity were connected with its success, and he was early in
 the field promoting it.   His constant and extensive familiarity
 with suffering and destitution convinced him that intemperance,
 either direct or  remote,  was  the  cause of nine-tenths  of the
- wretchedness he met with.  He saw a remedy in  the total abol-
 ishment of the cause, but how that could be effected was a ques-
 tion with him, easier asked than answered.  He heartily adopted
 the "pledge," knowing that if all, or even the influential majori-
 ty, would sign it, and religiously adhere to  it, the evil would be
 cured.  He first advocated the "half-way pledge," and then the
 "teetotal;"  but still the lurid flood rolled  on in  its desolating
 course, with augmented and augmenting fury.  Within the nu-
 merous pledged circles, were found backsliders in abundance.
 These  sympathising with the outside crowd, increased the army
 of the aliens, and the Dr., with  many of the  early and  warm
 friends of temperance, scarcely  knew what to  do, except to be
 careful not to let down his watch, and not cease both by precept
 and  example, to advocate the cause he sincerely loved, until ar-
 rested by death.
   Dr. McClellan was also a  man of strict  veracity. What he
 related as truth he believed to be truth.  If it was not, he him-
 self was deceived.  Truth with  him needed not the tinsel garb
 of fiction, and fiction at his hand wras never decorated  in the
 spotless  robe of truth.  With  him yea was yea, and nay, nay.
 No one who knew him doubted his word, any more than they
 did their own senses.
   Dr. McClellan continued to discharge his  laborious and varied
 duties with his usual activity and promptitude up to June, 1854.
 For a year, or more, he had occasionally suffered from an unusual
 irritation  in  the rectum and adjacent parts, which he  was at
 a loss  to  account for.  At times  it caused him considerable
 apprehension, lest it might  prove  an  organic  difficulty, and
 perhaps malignant.  Defecation was at times  extremely diffi-
 cult, and the  pain, both  at the  time and long  afterwards, was 
22
very severe and lancinating.  The  discharges themselves were
seldom natural.   They were frequently mixed with blood, and,
at times, blood in considerable quantities  was passed without
fceces.  He  now began to  emaciate, and, very perceptibly, to
lose strength, but  notwithstanding his increasing feebleness, he
continued his professional engagements without any intermis-
sion until the period above mentioned, when he  felt himself
compelled to decline business which required him to ride.  He
now became tolerably well  convinced that his  disease was
cancer of the rectum, and that for it there was no relief.
  He first communicated his views to his pastor, the Rev. R.  K.
Steel, telling him what he supposed would be the progress of
the disease, its different stages, and about the period and manner
of its termination; and he  did it with  as much composure as if
he had been speaking of some one else. " So correct was he in
this early diagnosis," says Mr. Steel,  "that  the  progress and
termination  of the disease was almost  to the letter as he had
predicted it would be."
  He now sought  the advice of several physicians.  Drs. Pruyn,
of Kinderhook, and March, of Albany, visited him, besides seve-
ral  of the  neighboring physicians.   A tumor of considerable
size was found occupying a large portion of the rectum.  It was
hard, unyielding  and irritable.   Dr. March removed a portion
of it and brought it to this city for  microscopical examination.
Dr. Hun  examined it and found  it to possess the characteristics
of cancer.  Decomposition, however, had far advanced before
it was  submitted  to  the microscope.   When  the  result of the
examination was communicated  to him, he  received  it without
any emotion.  He was prepared for  it.   His sufferings at times
were excruciating, but he never  murmured.   He  marked the
steady progress of his disease with the utmost  calmness and for-
titude.   He was a Christian,  and now  he experienced the sus-
taining and comforting power of his religion, and could say in
confidence, " I know that my Redeemer liveth."  His faith was
firm, his  hope bright.  Immortal  life was secured, and he was
happy—happy notwithstanding  the severity of the  conflict;
and  on  the 8th of April, 1855, he  died, without a struggle,
peacefully falling  asleep in Jesus.   Just before he died he re- 
23
peated to his  pastor the words of the dying apostle," I know
whom I  have  believed, and  am persuaded that He is able to
keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day."
  During the greater portion  of his life Dr. McClellan enjoyed
a large share of health.  Sickness seldom interrupted him in his
daily routine  of duties.  He  was a noble specimen of man to
look  upon.  He had a highly benignant, intelligent counte-
nance, largely developed.  His  person was much above  the
ordinary height and size.  His weight in health varied from 225
to 245 pounds, but  disease and pain made sad havoc with him
during his last illness.  As  is the  case in most organic diseases,
his  emaciation was  extreme. The  contrast  between the at-
tenuated  form confined in  the narrow limits of its last resting
place, and the once commanding, controlling presence  of the
living, moving man  in health, was  very wide.   Scarcely  one
feature remained to  mark  personal  identity, except for those
who  ceaselessly  watched and witnessed the steady inroads of
disease.   Yet, notwithstanding this extreme emaciation, I am in-
formed his appetite seldom failed him, and almost to the last he
partook of his three meals  a  day, and often with quite a relish,
showing that  his constitution' was prepared for great powers of
endurance. He remained in  the full possession of his faculties
until within a few hours of his departure.  His mind was never
clearer and he was  never more capable of giving an opinion on
any subject.
   Such in part is  the  character  of our late associate.  Let us
emulate his virtues, and we may hope to reap a like reward.