REPORT 
ON 
AMERICAN MEDICAL NECROLOGY. 
BY 
CHRISTOPHER C. COX, A.M., M.D., 
OF MARYLAND. 
EXTRACTED FROM THE 
TRANSACTIONS OF THE AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION. 
PHILADELPHIA: 
COLLINS, PRINTER, 705 JAYNE STREET. 
1861. REPORT ON AMERICAN MEDICAL NECROLOGY. 
In all time it has been regarded a not unworthy task for the 
living to record the merits of the illustrious dead. Exalted virtues 
of character attracting admiration or endearment; noble heroism 
in periods of trial; superior intellectual endowment and cultiva- 
tion ; great practical success; and above all that spirit of compre- 
hensive benevolence which ignores self in pursuit of the advantage 
and comfort of others ; such traits as these should not be suffered 
to die with the mortal part of man's nature. It is no reflection 
upon other learned callings to assert that in none of them is found 
a larger share of true and unostentatious private worth; of sound 
and extensive attainments in literature and science; of more de- 
voted and self-sacrificing labors of love, than in the sublime Profes- 
sion of Physic. And, yet, beyond the limited circle of those who 
have been the recipients of his skill and attentions, by how few is 
the eminent physician remembered after his life-day of toil is over ! 
A few flowers, moistened by the tear of affection, cover his humble 
turf, its only monument, while a marble obelisk rises over the dust 
of his nearest churchyard neighbor, whose hoarded savings have 
left enough, it may be, to satisfy greedy heirs and build a temple 
to his own avarice. Even in our medical societies too little atten- 
tion has been paid to a faithful and connected record of deceased 
members. They are allowed to pass too often away graced by the 
empty compliment of a brief obituary paragraph, or some stereo- 
typed resolution of sympathy and condolence for the benefit of 
surviving friends. It is to be especially regretted that the archives 
of this Association contain only meagre and undigested contribu- 
tions to American medical necrology, although entering upon the 
second decade of its existence. Is it that our ranks have remained 
full ? That ours has been a charmed circle uninvaded by the steal- 
thy foot of death ? That the flush of young blood and the hoary 4 
REPORT ON 
locks of age have been alike spared in the lapse of years ? Alas! 
no; old and young have fallen ! Harrison, of Ohio, whose eloquent 
voice was last heard at Baltimore; Thomas, whose simplicity and 
earnestness gave interest to the same session; Chapman, who pre- 
sided over the first meeting; Drake, the silvery cadences of whose 
eloquence still echo the chambers of memory; these and others, 
are gone. They 
" Have given their honors to the world, again, 
Their better part to Heaven, and. rest in peace." 
But not by ordinary agencies only has death robbed us of our 
colleagues. The sixth annual gathering, which took place in the 
city of New York, will not soon be forgotton by those who sur- 
vived it. On the night of the 5th of May, 1853, a grand banquet 
was spread, and beneath the light of astral lamps and bright eyes 
beaming from extended galleries all passed gayly on until the " sma 
wee hours ayont the twal " came and went again. No shadow of 
the coming event cast before fell upon that scene of hilarity and 
joy. And yet those lingered at that festival who were never to 
unite in another annual gathering; eyes were there destined to see 
no more the fireside groups which had been left behind! On the fol- 
lowing day, ere noon, a train of cars, en route to this city, freighted 
with precious lives, rushed into the open gap on Norwalk bridge 
and left an appalling wreck to tell the story of disaster and death- 
Of the forty-four human beings who lost their lives on that fatal 
occasion were Archibald Welsh and Samuel Beach, of Con- 
necticut; Abel Lawrence Peirson, James M. Smith and James 
Harrison Gray, of Massachusetts; Josiah Bartlett, of New 
Hampshire; and William Cecil Dwight, of New York; all of 
them honored members of this Association. A passing allusion 
to these distinguished men is all that is needed here, their lives 
and virtues having been faithfully sketched and recorded in the 
4th vol. of the Transactions. 
At the annual session of the Association, held at Washington, 
in May, 1858, the undersigned was appointed to report, on Ameri- 
can Medical Necrology, at the next ensuing meeting. Hl health 
preventing his attendance at that time, the appointment was renewed 
by special courtesy, and the period embraced by the report extend- 
ed to June, 1860. No effort has been spared to secure the required 
information from every State and Territory in the Union, and circu- 
lars have been addressed, with that view, to most of the enrolled AMERICAN MEDICAL NECROLOGY. 
5 
members. The responses have been by no means so general as de- 
sired, although much valuable aid has been rendered which will re- 
ceive due credit and acknowledgment in another part of the report. 
Some portions of the country have been represented as entirely 
exempt from death, except among the doctor's patients. One gen- 
tleman writes, in no pleasant mood, that most unfortunately, in his 
State, very few doctors die; and when such casualties happen, the 
subjects of them are not of sufficient importance to merit a public 
recordI 
I shall now proceed with the States in order, beginning with 
MAINE. 
At Brunswick, in this State, on 15th October, 1858, died Parker 
Cleaveland, M. D., LL. D., in the 77th year of his age. He was 
a gentleman of rare scientific attainments, and had acquired, by 
his contributions to Chemistry, Mineralogy, and Geology, an envia- 
ble reputation on both sides of the Atlantic. As an instructor he 
had no superior. For more than half a century he was identified 
with Bowdoin College either as tutor or professor. In chemistry 
he had lectured and taught for thirty years, and was, at the time 
of his decease, professor of this branch in the Medical School of 
Maine. 
Josiah M. Blake, M. D., was born in Otisfield, Maine, July 4th, 
1817, and died at Bridgeton, in the same State, on 18th of January, 
1859. He is reputed to have been an exceedingly accurate and 
thorough anatomist, and as a practical surgeon without a superior 
in Maine. He was esteemed while living and greatly lamented at 
his death. 
MASSACHUSETTS. 
A venerable member of the Association having kindly informed 
me of the death of one of his colleagues in New Bedford, I will be 
excused for introducing a notice of the deceased, at this stage of 
my report, although the subject of it died, as will be seen, a few 
months anterior to the Washington meeting, and is not, therefore, 
properly embraced within the prescribed record. 
Dr. William Cushing Whitridge was born in Tiverton, 
Rhode Island, November 25th, 1784, and died at New Bedford 6 
REPORT ON 
Massachusetts, December 28th, 1857, in the 74th year of his age. 
His father was a distinguished physician in his day, and his sur- 
viving brothers, Dr. Joshua R. Whitridge, of Charleston, and Dr. 
John Whitridge, of Baltimore, rank deservedly high in the cities 
of their adoption. Dr. Whitridge entered Brown University in 
1800, but subsequently followed President Maxey to Union Col- 
lege, Schenectady, N. Y., where he was graduated with distinction 
in 1804. He entered at once as a pupil in his father's office and 
attended one full course of lectures at Harvard University. He 
did not, however, at that time, take a medical degree, and in 1847 
received from Harvard the honorary title of Doctor of Medicine. 
The first theatre of his practice was Tiverton, R. I., where he con- 
tinued to labor with success until 1822, when he removed to New 
Bedford. Here he toiled in a widening circle of professional 
occupation until death bore him from the scene of his labors. 
His personal appearance was highly prepossessing, and his manners 
were simple and unaffected. He possessed a quick and ready 
perception; a rare faculty of analysis; and a remarkable facility 
in the attainment of useful and important facts bearing upon his 
profession. The public confidence in his skill as a physician was 
very great, and at the time of his death he had the largest consul- 
tation practice in New Bedford. Dr. Whitridge was frequently 
delegated by the Massachusetts Medical Society to attend the 
sessions of the American Medical Association, and was present at 
those of Boston and New York. 
Prominent among the physicians and surgeons deceased within 
the last two years, in Massachusetts, is James Deane, M. D., of 
Greenfield, who died in that town, on the 8th of June, 1858. He 
was born at Coleraine, Franklin County, Massachusetts, on 24th 
of February, 1801, his parents being Christopher and Prudence 
Deane. 
In an humble cottage, among the wildest and most beautiful 
scenery of the State, the boyhood of young Deane was passed. 
The hours of his childhood were divided between the labors of the 
farm and the more acceptable duties of the district school. At 
twenty-one he entered himself as a clerk to Elijah Alvord, Esq., 
of Greenfield, then Clerk of the Court and Register of Probate. 
During the latter part of this engagement he was permitted to 
enter the office of Dr. Brigham, a distinguished physician of that 
country, and to occupy several hours of each day in the study AMERICAN MEDICAL NECROLOGY. 
7 
of his profession. In 1829-30 he attended his first course of lec- 
tures in New York city, and received a degree in March, 1831. 
He entered at once upon the practice in Greenfield, with no re- 
sources but a strong will and persevering industry. His success 
was slow but certain. At length he attained to the first rank as a 
surgeon, and continued to enjoy that position until his death. His 
operations were always performed under a high sense of duty, and 
when once determined upon, every requisite preparation was made 
and every possible contingency fully anticipated. His calmness 
amid surrounding difficulties never forsook him, and success almost 
invariably crowned his practice. The operation of ovariotomy, 
performed by him under unusual circumstances, and the complete 
extirpation of the parotid, after unsuccessful efforts on the part of 
other distinguished surgeons, fully attest his superior judgment, 
boldness, and skill. 
In February, 1854, Dr. Deane read a treatise of great value, be- 
fore the Franklin District Medical Society, on the " Treatment of 
Fractures of the Thigh," and in May, 1855, at the request of the 
Massachusetts Medical Society, he prepared a communication on 
the "Hygienic Conditions of the Survivors of Ovariotomy." In 
1854 he was chosen the Vice President of the State Faculty, in 
which he took very deep interest. 
We come now to speak of Dr. Deane as a naturalist. His repu- 
tation in the department of natural science was world wide, but he 
chiefly excelled as a close careful observer and an accurate de- 
lineator, both with the pen and the pencil. The limits of this 
report will not allow of more than a very brief summary of the 
facts upon which his friends claim for him priority as the discoverer 
of certain remarkable fossil footprints. To those who are curious 
upon the subject I would recommend the able and eloquent address 
of Dr. Henry Bowditch " upon the Life and Character of Dr. 
Deane," from which we have gleaned much of the material for the 
present sketch. The history of the Doctor's connection with these 
fossil footprints is as follows: In 1835 he first noticed the marks 
upon certain slabs of stratified sandstone, brought from the neigh- 
borhood into the village, for paving. He entered immediately and 
earnestly upon the investigation of these curious remains, writing 
at the same time to prominent naturalists upon the subject. Among 
others he addressed a special letter to Prof. Hitchcock, of Amherst, 
stating his belief that the impressions were those of birds. But 
the Professor was incredulous, and declared they could not be the 8 
REPORT ON 
result of organization. Having again addressed accumulated ar- 
guments to Professor Hitchcock and receiving no reply to his 
letter, he made casts of the specimens and sent them, with a com- 
munication, to the venerable and distinguished Dr. Silliman, editor 
of the American Journal of Science. This paper, dated April, 1835, 
received a cordial welcome at the hands of Prof. Silliman, but, by 
the advice of Prof. Hitchcock, its publication was suspended. In 
1844 a paper upon this subject, with drawings, appeared in the 
American Journal of Science. In 1845 other species of tracks, 
probably those of a Batrachian reptile, are described. In 1847 
the track of a fourth quadruped is announced, and in 1848 the 
traces of still another are portrayed. In 1849 a deeply interesting 
memoir was sent by Dr. Deane, illustrated with numerous plates, 
to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and published in 
the Transactions of the Society. " During all the time," remarks 
Dr. Bowditch, " he was preparing these papers he was constantly 
making drawings of new specimens, hoping that at some future 
day the complete whole might be published as the crowning labor 
of his life." "I know nothing more touching," he continues, "than 
the quiet and determined manner with which he went on accumu- 
lating facts. Utterly unable to see how with his small means the 
work could see the light, he still struggled on in a sublime faith. 
The amount of labor seems to be quite marvellous when I remem- 
ber that he was constantly engaged in an extensive practice which 
spared no certain hours of study. Called hither and thither, over 
a radius of forty miles in extent, surrounded by quackery that 
gnawed at and traduced him, conscious of his powers, yet morbidly 
sensitive to the idea that he was not duly appreciated by some 
whom he respected, it was doubtless with a sense of divine conso- 
lation that he turned to these relics of a past era and with a 
generous ambition labored to present them to his fellows. As La 
Grange of old sought in his ' peaceful mathematics' a relief from 
the world, so our friend found, in this beautiful study, a never 
failing resource from the corroding cares of earth." The mooted 
question I shall not allude to further than to remark that the 
President of the London Geological Society acknowledged Dr. 
Deane as the first observer of the tracks, and for himself and on 
the part of the Society thanked him cordially for so valuable a 
communication, which had placed the subject before the geologists 
of England in a " most clear and satisfactory light." 
In the family and social circles Dr. Deane was pre-eminent for 9 
AMERICAN- MEDICAL NECROLOGY. 
all those virtues which make the devoted husband, father or 
endeared friend. He was of genial temper, and manly in his inter- 
course, both at home and abroad. For the sister arts of music 
and painting he had great taste and much fondness, with none of 
the advantages, however, of regular instruction in either. In his 
profession no man was a greater stickler for the strict observance 
of the etiquette which obtains among physicians, while no one 
was less tolerant of quackery in whatever guise presented. His 
life was one characterized by reverence of the great Creator of the 
universe, and his love of God became a steady flame burning more 
brightly as time receded and eternity advanced. 
The following is a resume of the medicoditerary and scientific 
essays of Dr. Deane, contributed to the journals of the day. In the 
Boston Medical and Surgical Journal appeared- 
Congenital Fissures of the Palate, June, 1837. 
Extraordinary Case of Spasms of the Voluntary Muscles, 1843. 
Polypus in Utero of unusual size, July, 1844. 
Case of Carditis, 1845. 
Iodine Injections in the Treatment of Hydrocele, 1845. 
Inhalation of Ether, cases, 1847. 
Fibrous Tumors of the Uterus, Gastrotomy, 1847. 
Ovariotomy Cases; Practical Suggestions, 1851. 
Lithotripsy in a Female, 1852. 
Tumors of various kinds, Diagnosis, &c., 1852. 
Chronic Laryngitis, case, 1853. 
Popliteal Aneurisms, operations, 1853. 
Union of divided Fingers, cases, 1853. 
Immense Tumor of the Parotid, operation, radical cure, 1854. 
Polypus of the Uterus, 1854. 
Ligature of the Femoral Artery, 1855. 
Case of Osteo-Aneurism, 1855. 
Abscess of the Tibia, Trephining of the Bone, 1856. 
I avail myself of Dr. Bowditch's appendix for a list of his con- 
tributions on the subject of Fossil Footprints. These were- • 
Letter to Dr. Mantell, &c., Silliman's Journal, 1843. 
On Fossil Footprints of Turner's Falls, plate, Silliman's Journal, 
1844. 
On the Discovery of the Fossil Footmarks, 1844. 
Fossil Prints in the New Red Sandstone of the Connecticut Valley, 
Batrachian Reptile or Marsupial Mammalian Tracks. Rain-drops, with 
plate, Silliman's Journal, 1845. 10 
REPORT ON 
Extract from a Letter to Prof. Silliman's Journal of American Science, 
1845. 
Notices of the New Fossil Footprints, 1847. 
Footprints of a New Species of Quadrupeds, Silliman's Journal, 1848. 
Illustrations of Fossil Footprints of the Valley of the Connecticut, with 
nine plates, published in the Memoirs of the American Academy of Arts 
and Sciences, 1849. 
Fossil Footprints of Connecticut River, Journal of Academy of Natu- 
ral Sciences, Philadelphia, 1850-4. 
On Sandstone Fossils of Connecticut River, in vol. iii. 3d part of same 
Journal, p. 173. 
At Boston, Massachusetts, died on 2d January, 1859, Ephraim 
Buck, M. D., in the 72d year of his age, one of the oldest and most 
distinguished medical men of that city. He was firm, honest, con- 
scientious as a man, faithful and judicious as a physician. No man 
was more remarkable for integrity of character; no one, after a life 
of usefulness, has been more honored and respected at its close. 
William Tully, M. D., was born in Saybrook, Connecticut, and 
died in Springfield, Massachusetts, 28th of February, 1859. He 
was graduated in letters at Yale College, in 1806; studied his 
profession with Drs. M. F. Coggswell and Eli Ives; attended two 
courses of lectures at Hanover ; in 1816 was elected a member of 
the Phi Beta Kappa Society of Yale College; and in 1819, upon 
the recommendation of the President and Fellows of the Connecti- 
cut Medical Society, had the honorary title of Doctor of Medicine 
conferred upon him by the Medical Department of Yale College. 
He commenced practice at Enfield, in 1811, but subsequently re- 
moved to Middletown, from which place he was called, in 1824, to 
the chair of Theory and Practice in the Vermont Academy of Me- 
dicine. Of this college he was elected president, and continued in 
that relation until his connection with the institution ceased. In 
1825, he removed with one of his colleagues, Professor Alden 
March, of Albany, to that city, and practised in partnership with 
that eminent surgeon until 1829, when, having been appointed to 
the Professorship of Theory and Practice in the Medical Department 
of Yale College, he removed to New Haven. Here he continued 
to teach and practise until 1851, when, at the urgent solicitation of 
his friends, he transferred his residence to Springfield. While in 
the Vermont school, Dr. Tully delivered seventeen courses of lec- 
tures on Theory and Practice; twelve on Materia Medica and 
Therapeutics; and two on Botany. In New Haven he lectured AMERICAN MEDICAL NECROLOGY. 
11 
twelve years on the branch assigned him, besides pronouncing 
lectures on botany, and giving instruction to a large class of stu- 
dents, who hung with enthusiasm upon his valuable teachings. A 
few months prior to his death, at the request of Dr. Childs, he de- 
livered four lectures before the Berkshire Medical College. In 
addition to these labors, he was, during the largest part of his life, 
actively employed with the duties of a practitioner, his business 
consisting chiefly of consultations, for which his vast resources and 
great powers of analysis eminently fitted him. 
Dr. William Tully was no ordinary man, and, however much 
portions of the medical world may differ from the views advanced 
in his lectures and written works, all must concede to him extraor- 
dinary ability. He was emphatically a student and a thinker. 
Few men acquired so much or so thoroughly digested the know- 
ledge attained. In the pursuit of learning he was almost an enthu- 
siast, and his investigations into the intricacies of science were 
profound and philosophical. No man was more respected for his 
learning by those who best knew him, or more highly regarded for 
his genial social qualities. His colloquial powers were remarkable. 
He was ever ready to dispense the varied stores of his gifted intel- 
lect, and physicians and students drank eagerly the instruction 
which flowed without effort from his lips. 
It is well known that at the time of his death Dr. Tully was en- 
gaged in the publication of a serial on Pharmacology and Thera- 
peutics. That his researches are marked by great learning and 
much originality none I presume will deny. Of the soundness of 
his classification of remedies and his therapeutics every reader 
must judge for himself. As a matter of curious interest to those 
who have not read Dr. Tully, we record his classification, which 
certainly has the merit of a novel nomenclature, in the opinion of 
some smacking too strongly of the coinage of the study. He re- 
gards certain distinct and specific medicinal powers, twenty-three 
in number, as the foundation of as many classes of medicinal agents. 
These classes are arranged into groups, as follows:- 
Nexus Primus. 
1. Antiphlogistica (antiphlogistics). 
2. Nauseatica (nauseants). 
3. Leantica (demulcents). 
4. Neuragica (mineral sedatives). 
5. Narcotica (narcotics). 
6. Erethistica. 
7. Euphrsemca (nervine stimulants). 
8. Antisbestica (arterial stimulants). 
9. Oraesthetica (acrid stimulants). 
10. Tonica (tonics). 
11. Styptica (styptics). 
12. Adenagica (alteratives). 12 
REPORT ON 
13. Diuretica vel uragoga (diuretics). 
14. Diaphoretica vel hidrotagoga (dia- 
phoretics). 
Nexus Secundus. 
15. Blennagoga. 
16. Emmenagoga (emmenagogues). 
17. Ecbolica (abortives). 
Nexus Teetius. 
18. Errhina (errhines). 
19. Erstomatica (sialagogues). 
20. Emetica (emetics). 
21. Cathartica (cathartics). 
Nexus Quaktus. 
22. Autoxyntica (antacids). 
Nexus Quintus. 
23. Ergastica. 
In person Dr. Tully was tall and commanding. His height was 
6 feet 2 inches, and his weight over 200 pounds. Of firm and elas- 
tic step, he seemed much younger than he really wras. He died at 
his post, laboriously occupied with his writings, leaving a large 
circle of friends and admirers to lament his loss. 
RHODE ISLAND. 
Daniel Otis, M. D., was born in Scituate, Massachusetts; gradu- 
ated in medicine at the Medical School of Boston in 1850; and died 
by accidentally taking morphine, June 13,1858, in the 32d year of 
his age. He located at Providence, in the year 1850, and was, up 
to the time of his death, a highly acceptable physician. He is 
represented as having possessed much polish and urbanity of man- 
ners, and an elegant, commanding figure, tall and well-proportioned. 
David C. S. H. Smith, M. D., died in Providence, April 4th, 1859, 
of apoplexy, from which he had suffered a slight shock one year 
before. He was a son of the late distinguished Nathan Smith, the 
first surgeon of his day in New England, brother to the lamented 
James Morven Smith of Springfield, Massachusetts; and also to 
Nathan Ryno Smith, the eminent Professor of Surgery in the 
University of Maryland. Dr. Smith was born in Hanover, New 
Hampshire, in 1796, and graduated at the Medical Department of 
Yale College in 1816. His perceptions were clear, and his diag- 
nosis of disease was remarkably exact. Hence his opinions, espe- 
cially in the consultation room, were highly valued. His love for 
natural history was very strong, and he particularly excelled in 
botany and entomology. Dr. Smith was six feet in height, and 
admirably proportioned. AMERICAN MEDICAL NECROLOGY. 
13 
CONNECTICUT. 
This State reports the death of but one physician of commanding 
eminence within the past two years, the late Timothy Phelps 
Beers, M. D., Professor of Obstetrics in the medical department of 
Yale College. Dr. Beers was born in New Haven, December 25th, 
1789, and died after a brief but painful illness on the 22d of Sep- 
tember, 1858, in the sixty-ninth year of his age. He was graduated 
at Yale College in 1808; studied his profession in New Haven 
with the venerable Eli Ives, M. D.; attended a course of lectures 
in tne University of Pennsylvania at the session of 1811-12; and 
in the spring of 1812 commenced the practice of his profession in 
New Haven. In the summer of the succeeding year he was ap- 
pointed surgeon to a regiment of militia under the command of 
Gen. Hezekiah Howe, and was for some time stationed at New 
London. This constitutes his only absence from regular professional 
duty during a long life. In 1824 the Connecticut Medical Society 
recommended him for the degree of Doctor of Medicine, which was 
accordingly conferred by Yale College. In 1830 he was elected a 
Professor in the Medical Institution of Yale College, and filled the 
post with great distinction and ability for a period of sixteen years, 
when he tendered his resignation. No man ever devoted himself 
with more singleness of purpose to the practice of our noble art 
than did the subject of this sketch. Body and mind were continu- 
ally taxed. Nothing could seduce him from the duties of his 
calling. In winter and summer, by day and by night, in storm or 
shine, whether called to the abodes of ease and luxury, or to the 
miserable hovels of poverty and vice, he was ever ready to give 
the benefit of his skill, without stint, and often without the hope 
or expectation of earthly reward. Dr. Beers was wholly unselfish. 
He had a large heart prompting to deeds of benevolence and an 
open hand ever ready to administer. How many acts of kindness 
during his long professional career were witnessed only by God 
and the humble recipients of them! He was a man without guile. 
No one ever questioned his honesty. He was always frank, sincere, 
truthful, inspiring the utmost confidence in his opinions while his 
beaming countenance and cheerful manner shed peace and consola- 
tion through the mansions of the rich and the cottages of the poor. 
He was emphatically a good man, sustaining himself with integrity 
and credit in every relation. 14 
REPORT ON 
For the department of medicine, to which his life was especially 
devoted, he possessed remarkable qualities. With a temper always 
equable in its manifestations, he seems to have been designed by na- 
ture for the duties of the obstetrician. Ever patient and forbearing, he 
was not ruffled by the thousand and one annoyances of the lying-in 
room, while his astonishing power of endurance of labor and fatigue 
sustained him amid the cares of a large and perplexing business. 
As a manipulator he was distinguished for his extraordinary skill 
and delicacy, and his intimate acquaintance with his art rendered 
him prompt and successful in the management of the most difficult 
cases. The epitome of his excellent qualities are thus summed up 
by one of the distinguished Ex-Presidents of this Association, 
Prof. Jonathan Knight, who was the classmate and friend of .Dr. 
Beers in college; his fellow-student in Philadelphia; and who 
entered with him upon a brilliant course of professional success 
about the same time. "I can truly say," remarks Dr. Knight, 
" that during the period of fifty years, while there have been few 
of the indiscretions of youth, or of the unholy aspirations of 
struggling manhood, I have never heard from his lips, or witnessed 
in his conduct, a word or a deed inconsistent with the character 
which he sustained before the world of an upright, truthful, 
benevolent man, of a kind hearted, intelligent physician, and for 
many years of a sincere Christian." 
" He's gane, he's gane ! 
Ah! drop the saut tear on his urn, 
The light again will ne'er return 
That cheer'd ye a'; 
The fire that bleezed nae mair will burn 
In yonder ha' 1" 
NEW YORK. 
Frederick Fanning Backus was born in Bethlehem, Connec- 
ticut, on 15th June, 1794, and was the son of Rev. Azel Backus, 
D. D., a gentleman distinguished for his learning, virtue, and fine 
pulpit abilities, and who was for many years the acceptable Presi- 
dent of Hamilton College, Oneida County, New York. The subject 
of this sketch was graduated at Yale College in 1813, at the early 
age of nineteen years. His medical education was conducted in 
New Haven, under the direction of Dr. Eli Ives, and he had the 
honor to attend the first course of lectures delivered in the medical AMERICAN MEDICAL NECROLOGY. 
15 
institution of Yale College, from which school he received his 
diploma in the spring of 1816. He at once selected Rochester, 
then a very small village, as the theatre of his future practice. 
His business expanded with the rapid growth of the place, until it 
became the most extensive in that and the adjacent country. In 
1818 he was united in marriage to Rebecca, daughter of the late 
Col. William Fitzhugh, of Maryland, who still survives. Practice 
in a country, at the time of his settlement almost a wilderness, was 
attended by severe exposure and hardship. His professional labors, 
for many years, were so unremitting that his extraordinary exertions 
broke down, beyond complete reparation, a constitution naturally 
healthy and vigorous. In 1843 Dr. Backus was elected to the 
Senate of New York, which required him to be a large portion of 
the time at the seat of government. In this new sphere he ac- 
quitted himself admirably. 'The establishment of the Western 
House of Refuge for Juvenile Offenders, at Rochester, was the 
result of his efforts, and the Asylum for Idiots, since located at 
Syracuse, owes its success to his convincing advocacy. The Com- 
mittee reports upon these institutions, drawn up by himself, indicate 
great soundness of views and a profound sympathy for the unfor- 
tunate and afflicted. Upon the close of his senatorial duties he 
resumed the active labors of his profession, until bad health com- 
pelled him to relinquish them. Three years prior to his death he 
had a violent paralytic seizure, from which he never fully recovered. 
In the winter of 1858 a recurrence of the same affection took 
place, accompanied by considerable cerebral disturbance. Again 
he rallied sufficiently to visit his old friends, but in the month of 
August he was, for the third time, prostrated, and continued to fail, 
both in mind and body, until the 3d of November, when convulsions 
supervened succeeded by coma and death. As a physician Dr. 
Backus was highly esteemed, both by his professional confreres and 
the community among whom he labored. In the social circle he 
was exceedingly courteous, and as a husband, parent, friend, affec- 
tionate, kind, sincere, and constant. "But the crowning feature of 
Dr. Backus' character," says Dr. E. Armstrong, who communicated 
a brief memoir of him to the Medical Society of the State of New 
York, "is that he was a sincere and humble Christian. In 1819 
he became a member of the First Presbyterian Church in Rochester. 
In this connection he continued up to the time of his death, and, 
although not distinguished for any outward display of zeal, he 
evinced the sincerity of his faith by the consistency of his daily 16 
REPORT ON 
life and conversation." The crowds of all classes and denominations 
which attended his funeral obsequies, the impressive funeral dis- 
course and the general demonstrations of sorrow exhibited on the 
occasion, show the estimate placed at home upon his qualities as a 
man, citizen, and medical practitioner. 
H. H. Bissell, M. D., died at Buffalo, N. Y., September 17th? 
1858, for more than twenty-five years a distinguished practitioner 
of medicine in that city. We regret that no extended notice of 
Dr. Bissell has been received. 
James A. Billings, M. D., died at Batavia, N. Y., on 2d of Sep- 
tember, 1858, in the sixty-third year of his age. He was an active 
practitioner for forty years. It is said that he was a man of sound 
judgment and more than ordinary ability. His practice was 
uniformly as extensive as the most active pursuit of it would 
allow. On his return from his attendance upon the annual meeting 
of this Association, held in Washington, May, 1858, he was seized 
with paralysis from which he only partially recovered. He was 
unselfishly devoted to his profession, and his loss, therefore, has 
been deeply felt by a large circle of those who were the recipients 
of his skill for so many years. 
William H. Ellet, M. D., died in New York city, January 26th, 
1859, studied his profession in the office of Dr. McNevin, of New 
York, and subsequently received his diploma from Rutger's Medical 
College. In 1835 he was elected professor of chemistry in the 
College of South Carolina, and continued to teach for thirteen 
years with signal success. For the discovery of a new and cheap 
method of preparing gun-cotton the legislature of South Carolina 
decreed him a valuable present of silver plate. It is remarked that 
in everything relating to the chemistry of gas manufacture he had 
no superior in the country. 
NEW JERSEY. 
Jabez G. Goble, M. D., died in Newark, N. J., on 6th of Feb- 
ruary, 1859, of inflammation of the bowels, at the age of sixty 
years. His academic course was pursued at Hamilton College. In 
1823 he graduated, as a Doctor of Medicine, at the College of Phy- 
sicians and Surgeons in New York, and immediately after settled AMERICAN MEDICAL NECROLOGY. 
17 
at Newark, where he devoted himself to a very large and laborious 
practice until 1832. From that time he gradually withdrew, and 
directed his energies into other channels of employment. 
His public official positions were numerous and important. A 
warm friend of education, he has the credit of having originated 
most of the excellent features of the present school system of New 
Jersey. His death was a subject of public condolence, having been 
one of the number of those who aided the early development of 
Newark, and an active practitioner of medicine for over thirty 
years. 
PENNSYLVANIA. 
John Kearsly Mitchell, M. D., was born in Shepherdstown, 
Virginia, and was the son of Dr. Alexander Mitchell. After com- 
pleting a course of academical study at Edinburgh, he entered 
the office of Prof. N. Chapman, of Philadelphia, in 1816, and was 
graduated at the University of Pennsylvania three years after that 
period. His health failing, he made three voyages to Canton, after 
which he located himself in Philadelphia and entered at once upon 
the active duties of his profession. 
In 1828, he became a Lecturer in the Philadelphia Medical In- 
stitute, and it was in this connection he made his valuable discovery 
of the " Penetrativeness of Fluids." 
In 1828 he published, in the A. A. Medical and Surgical Journal, 
an article on Chronic Dysentery. 
In 1830, he edited Farraday's Chemical Manipulations, adding to 
the text copious notes of his own. 
In 1831, he contributed an essay on a new practice in acute and 
chronic rheumatism. 
In 1832, he was appointed by the Franklin Institute Lecturer on 
Chemistry in its application to the arts, and held this position for 
five years. During this period he performed, for the first time, the 
experiment of solidifying carbonic acid. 
In 1836, he published an article of much importance upon the 
" Chemical and Pharmaceutical History and Toxicological Effects of 
Arsenic." 
In 1840, he retired from both the Philadelphia Medical Institute 
and the Franklin Institute. 
In 1841, he was invited to the vacant chair of Theory and 
Practice of Medicine in Jefferson Medical College, the duties of 18 
REPORT ON 
which he performed with singular ability and acceptance up to the 
time of his death. 
In 1849, appeared his treatise on the " Cryptogamous Origin of 
Malarious and Endemic Fevers." 
In addition to these papers, he published others on " Practical 
Interrogation of Nature;" the "Corpora Lutea;" and "The Wis- 
dom, Goodness, and Power of God, as illustrated in the properties 
of Water." 
Dr. Mitchell's personal appearance was singularly attractive and 
commanding. He was a fluent and eloquent speaker, both behind 
the lecturer's desk and upon the public platform. He possessed 
a keen appreciation of the arts, and had fine literary taste, as evi- 
denced by his popular contributions in prose and poetry to the 
leading journals of the day. As a practitioner he became very 
popular, and was consulted by patients from all parts of the country. 
He was a member of the College of Physicians; of the Philadel- 
phia Medical Society; of the American Medical Association ; of 
the Society of Medicine in Greece; of the American Philosophical 
Society, and of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. 
Prof. Mitchell died in the city of Philadelphia, April 4th, 1858, of 
typhoid pneumonia. 
Robert Hare, M. D., late Professor of Chemistry in the Uni- 
versity of Pennsylvania, died in Philadelphia, of typhoid pneu- 
monia, on 15th of May, 1'858, in the 76th year of his age. He was 
born in that city in 1781, and was the son of a brewer, which cir- 
cumstance no doubt gave early direction to the specialitie in which 
he excelled. He entered the Chemical Department of the Univer- 
sity of Pennsylvania as a student, in the year 1800, and two years 
subsequently invented the Hydro-Oxygen Blowpipe, which was 
immediately applied by him to the fusion of platinum and other 
refractory metals. 
In 1818, he was elected Professor of Chemistry in the Medical 
Department of the University of Pennsylvania, which position he 
continued to occupy, discharging its duties with marked ability, 
until 1847, when he tendered his resignation. This was succeeded 
by his immediate appointment as Emeritus Professor in the same 
department. His contributions to science while a teacher, were 
numerous and valuable. 
In 1819, he invented his " Calorometer," and two years after his 
" Deflagratorpowerful arrangements by which the heating effects 19 
AMERICAN MEDICAL NECROLOGY. 
of confined currents of galvanism are exhibited in the incandes- 
cence and fusion of platinum and other metals. A few years later 
he invented an improved self-generating gas-holder; his " Eudio- 
meter," an ingenious and delicate instrument for the analyses of 
gases; and a number of other forms of apparatus. He also dis- 
covered a means of denarcotizing laudanum and of detecting mi- 
nute quantities of opium. 
His communication, in person, to the British Association for 
the Advancement of Science and the American Association for the 
same object; his articles in Silliman's Journal, the Transactions of 
the American Philosophical Society and other periodicals, are the 
only records of his brilliant discoveries. He never published a 
systematic treatise on his favorite science, the Compendium of Chem- 
istry being designed merely as a text-book to his lectures. 
After his resignation of the duties of his chair he devoted him- 
self chiefly to meteorology, especially to the elucidation and defence 
of his electrical theory of storms, so strenuously opposed by Espy 
and Redfield. For more than half a century he was one of the 
most industrious and untiring of scientific discoverers, pushing his 
researches with a skill and success rarely surpassed in this or any 
other country. 
Dr. Hare, when in his prime, was a fine specimen of physical 
and intellectual vigor, and, even to the last, his presence at once 
commanded the deferential regard of every member of the many 
scientific and social circles in which he moved. His face, surmount- 
ed by a large mass of brain, was in repose not remarkably expres- 
sive, but when roused during the performance of a favorite experi- 
ment, with the magnificent collection of apparatus by which he 
surrounded himself, his countenance became peculiarly indicative 
of emotion. 
In the foregoing allusions to this eminent man I have availed 
myself of the notes of a gentleman, himself a distinguished che- 
mist, and a warm admirer of Dr. Hare, Prof. A. L. Kennedy, of 
Philadelphia. 
Dr. John H. Weir, nephew of Prof. J. K. Mitchell, was born in 
Philadelphia, September 1st, 1819, educated at Middlebury College, 
Vermont, and graduated as a Doctor of Medicine at Jefferson Col- 
lege in 1842. After practising his profession for some years, the 
war between Mexico and the United States broke out, and Dr. Weir 
became connected with the United States Army as surgeon. After 20 
REPORT ON 
hostilities were at an end he returned and resumed the active duties 
of his profession, suffering, however, from a chronic disease of the 
bowels, superinduced by the Mexican campaign, and which led 
ultimately to his death on 12th of September, 1858. 
Dr. G-. D. Thomas, a highly esteemed member of the Blair 
County Medical Society, Pennsylvania, died at Altoona in that 
county, on 26th October, 1858, in the 44th year of his age. No 
materials for a sketch of his life are accessible. 
Gavin Watson, M. D., was born in Pittinain, Scotland, June, 20th, 
1796. After the usual preliminary education, he read medicine, 
attending a regular four years' course at the University of Glasgow, 
from which institution he received the degree of Surgeon in 1817. 
He first tried country practice at home, but finding it there, as else- 
where, unremunerative, he sailed for the United States in 1823, 
resolved to embark his fortunes among strangers. He selected 
Philadelphia as his home, and very soon became recognized by the 
community as an able and successful physician. He was very fond 
of botanical studies, and especially of making collections in ferns 
and mosses. A great variety of these, indigenous to the United 
States, he presented to the London and Edinburgh Botanical Socie- 
ties, in return for which he was made a life member of each of 
those scientific bodies. 
He was an active member of the Horticultural Society of Phila- 
delphia, and also of that of Natural Sciences in the same city. 
In 1852 the University of Pennsylvania conferred upon him the 
Doctorate of Medicine. 
Dr. Watson died of cancer of the stomach, an inherited affection, 
on 21st of October, 1858. 
Dr. Wilson P. Vasey was born in Bucks County, Pa., and died 
of pneumonia, in Philadelphia, December, 26th, 1858, aged 31 
years. He was a graduate of Jefferson Medical College, of the class 
of 1851, and at the time of his early decease, which was doubtless 
precipitated by his exhausting labors, he had a large general prac- 
tice. Dr. Vasey was held in very high esteem by both the profes- 
sion and citizens of Philadelphia. 
Henry Lorain, M. D., died at Clearfield, Pa., March 8th, 1859, 
in the sixtieth year of his age. He received his degree from the AMERICAN MEDICAL NECROLOGY. 
21 
University of Maryland, in 1825, and for thirty-five years thereafter 
possessed a very large practice, and enjoyed, in an. eminent degree, 
the confidence and esteem of all with whom his professional minis- 
trations brought him in contact. He was candid and courteous as 
a man, able and successful as a practitioner. 
Thomas Dent Mutter, M. D., was born at Richmond, Virginia, 
April, 1811. Having graduated at Hampden Sidney College, he 
entered the office of Dr. Semmes, of Alexandria, Virginia, but 
subsequently became a pupil of Professor Samuel Jackson, of 
Philadelphia. He attended lectures in the University of Pennsyl- 
vania, where he graduated in 1830. His studies were continued in 
Paris, in which city he became the pupil of Dupuytren, and an 
interne of the hospital under that distinguished surgeon. 
After a long absence he returned to Philadelphia, where his 
success, for the first year, was not equal to his expectations, but, 
encouraged by his old preceptor, Dr. Jackson, he opened a lecture- 
room and commenced a course upon operative surgery. His atten- 
tion was chiefly devoted, at this time, to the most improved operations 
in orthopaedic surgery as practised by Dieffenbach and others. An 
essay upon that specialities published by him at the time, attracted 
much attention. In 1841 he was elected Professor of Surgery in 
Jefferson Medical College, and rose rapidly to distinction, as a 
teacher and operator. Thoroughly acquainted with his subject, he 
possessed a remarkably fine delivery and the faculty of impressing 
his thoughts and experience upon the minds of his crowded class. 
His brilliant operations thronged the amphitheatre with both 
physicians and students whenever the hour for his clinique arrived. 
Private and consultation practice poured in upon him year after 
year, until his physical powers, never very vigorous, began to give 
way. 
The medico-literary productions of Dr. Mutter were very few. 
A pamphlet on the "Salt Sulphur Springs of Monroe County, 
Virginia;" an essay on "Club Foot;" an edition, with copious and 
valuable notes, of " Liston's Lectures on Surgery and on the Diseases 
and Accidents requiring Operations;" comprise the sum of his 
works. He had intended to prepare a treatise on surgery, which, 
doubtless, had health and life been spared him, would have been 
of great value to the profession. In the spring of 1856 he resigned 
his chair in Jefferson College, and was at once elected Emeritus 
Professor. He repaired to Europe, soon after, with the hope of 22 
REPORT on 
reviving his shattered health, returning, however, little, if at all, im- 
proved. At length, worn out by gouty and other complications, he 
died at the Mills House, in Charleston, S. C., on the 16th of March, 
1859. 
As a gentleman, Professor Mutter was exceedingly courteous 
and polished. As a surgeon he was neat, expert, and rapid; while 
his gentleness of manner and remarkable success rendered him 
universally popular as an operator. 
The valuable pathological collections, made by him at home and 
abroad, were left by his will to the physicians of Philadelphia, as 
the foundation of the Mutter Museum. Thirty thousand dollars 
were also appropriated ibr the maintenance of the museum; the 
payment of a curator; and the endowment of a lectureship on 
" Surgical Pathology." To the hospital of the Protestant Episcopal 
Church, Philadelphia,he bequeathed $20,000 for founding "award 
for incurables." 
MARYLAND. 
Samuel Tyler, M. D., the son of Dr. William Tyler, was born 
at Frederick, Maryland, on 10th of December, 1820, and died at 
that place, after a brief illness from exhausted powers, on 26th of 
July, 1856. Although the death of this eminent young physician 
occurred anterior to the period properly embraced in my report, 
few names are more deserving of permanent record in the archives 
of the Association. Dr. Tyler graduated at the University of 
Pennsylvania, in the spring of 1842, and entered at once upon the 
practice in connection with his father. His nice discrimination as 
a diagnostician of disease and his remarkable skill and dexterity 
as a surgeon soon attracted the confidence and esteem of the com- 
munity in which he had lived from his infancy. 
In the first year of his practice, Dr. Tyler reported for the Ame- 
rican Journal of Medical Sciences, an interesting case of Placenta 
which was subsequently noticed in the first volume of 
Simpson's Obstetric works, republished in Philadelphia, pages 
654-5. The importance of the facts arrested the attention of the 
Edinburgh obstetrician, and he adduced them to corroborate his 
own views of practice in similar cases. Many other cases were 
reported by Dr. Tyler to the various medical journals of the coun- 
try. As a surgeon, Dr. Tyler had no superior of his age. An 
accomplished anatomist, he possessed the firmness of purpose, cool- AMERICAN- MEDICAL NECROLOGY. 
23 
ness and steadiness of nerve, muscular dexterity, and preparation 
for emergencies which distinguish the fearless and successful ope- 
rator. He was the first in Maryland to adopt anaesthetic agents in 
surgery. Dr Tyler was very handsome, of polished manners, and 
of a highly social nature. 
Dr. Horatio Claggett was born in Pleasant Valley, Washing- 
ton County, Maryland, on 1st of July, 1793. After completing his 
academic education, he attended a course of medical lectures in the 
University of Pennsylvania, and subsequently, a second course in 
the University of Maryland, where he was graduated in the first 
year of the organization of that school. At the age of nineteen 
years he commenced assisting his father, an eminent practitioner, 
and from that time to his death was a devoted and laborious mem- 
ber of the profession. Close attention to books, observation of dis- 
ease at the bedside, a discriminating judgment and untiring industry, 
soon inspired confidence in his ability, and attracted to him a large 
and lucrative business. 
" Thirty years ago," says his friend, Dr. Maddox, "when the pre- 
sent mode of using quinine as an anti-periodic was not taught in 
our medical schools, nor practised by our leading city physicians, 
he was in the habit of cinchonizing his patients by full doses of 
quinine. We believe he was the first to use full doses of quinine 
in the early stages of fever in this region of country, and was re- 
markably successful in the management of intermitting malarious 
diseases." 
He was singularly fortunate in the treatment of epilepsy, and 
was often consulted by persons from distant States of the Union 
suffering from this distressing malady. 
Dr. Claggett was graceful in manner, of humane and generous 
disposition, affable and agreeable in all his social relations. More 
than all, he was a devout Christian, having been for many years 
prior to his death a consistent member of the Protestant Episcopal 
Church. 
He died 5th March, 1858, of albuminuria, accompanied by 
enlargement of the prostate gland, which had been a source of 
serious inconvenience to him for years. 
Dr. Frederick Dorsey was born in Ann Arundel County, 
Maryland, in the year 1774, and died in Washington County, 
Maryland, in October, 1858, at the age of 84 years. His practice 24 
REPORT ON 
extended through a period of nearly three score and ten years, and 
he was associated in his profession, at the time of his death, with 
both his son and grandson. As a general practitioner Dr. Dorsey 
acquired great eminence, but was more esteemed, perhaps, in the 
department of midwifery than in any other branch of practice. 
Some time before his death he had officiated on 11,000 cases. 
"In a number of instances," remarks Hon. John Thompson Ma- 
son, in an interesting address on his life, " which I might name, he 
has been the accoucheur of three generations. On one occasion I 
remember to have seen a cotillon on the floor composed of sixteen 
persons, fourteen of whom he had introduced into this dancing 
world, while the two exceptions, married ladies and heads of fami- 
lies, had been his patients, at delicate periods no less than thirteen 
times." He was also an admirable surgeon, and as ready to apply 
his skill in difficult cases as those who devoted themselves to this 
branch. He was one of the first in our country who adopted 
etherization in surgical operations. Indeed, although fond of the 
old writers and especially wedded to many of the views of his 
preceptor, Dr. Rush, he was a great devourer of everything new 
and valuable in physic, and kept well up with the current medical 
literature of the day. An original letter from Dr. Rush addressed 
to the subject of this memoir, 24th April, 1800, may not be uninte- 
resting, as illustrative of the views of treatment held by that 
distinguished man at the time. 
Dear Sir : Accept of my thanks for your long and interesting letter. 
I am sorry to hear that you have met with malignant bilious fevers so early in 
the year. It indicates the continuance of a malignant constitution of our atmo- 
sphere and portends a sickly autumn. 
Fevers of great morbid action in pregnant women require more bleeding than in 
other people. You will find this remark confirmed by several facts in my defence 
of bloodletting. Had you bled your patient more freely, I am persuaded no symp- 
toms of abortion would have ensued. I hope she has recovered. I never lost a 
woman in the yellow fever whom I bled liberally in a state of pregnancy, nor did 
abortion in a single case follow the use of that remedy. 
I have no advice to give you respecting your epidemic, but to follow the dictates 
of your judgment and conscience in the treatment of it. Do not rely exclusively 
upon any one mode of depletion. Try them all according to circumstances. Re- 
member that bloodletting holds the first rank in the list of depleting remedies, 
and that it should always be preferred except in those cases in which the ex- 
citement of the system is prostrated below the point of reaction. Here emetics, 
purges, and sweats produce the most salutary effects. The lancet may be some- 
times employed to succeed them with the greatest advantage. 
Have you tried the bark after the 7th day of your fever? I have lately given 
it in the decline of a bilious fever, after plentiful evacuation, with success. AMERICAN MEDICAL NECROLOGY. 
25 
With'best wishes for your health and happiness, I am, dear sir, your friend and 
elder brother in the profession of medicine. 
Benj. Rush. 
Philadelphia, 24th April, 1800. 
At one time, probably no man in the United States had a more 
extensive country practice than Dr. Dorsey. He would often 
make a circuit of from sixty to eighty miles in twenty-four hours. 
On a single day, in his country practice, he visited and prescribed 
for as high as one hundred and eighty-six patients. On his last 
birthday, he rode on horseback upwards of twenty-five miles. It 
is a well established fact that in a single week he rode more than 
five hundred miles on horseback. 
Dr. Dorsey was remarkable for his fondness for amusements of 
all kinds, especially horse-racing, fox-hunting, and chicken-fighting; 
and his passion for sport continued to the day of his death. After 
his sixtieth year, he went all the way to New York to attend a 
main of cocks. With a horse-race, or chicken-fight in view, he 
would ride thirty or forty miles before breakfast. "I remember 
once," says Mr. Mason, "that our household was thrown into great 
alarm in the night, by loud shouting, barking of dogs, and blowing 
of horns. My mother calmed our fears by assuring us it was only 
Dr. Dorsey going out to take a fox-hunt. For several hours during 
the early part of the day, he might have been seen coursing through 
the fields in hot pursuit of the fox and hounds. That night he 
slept at Casper Snively's, in the lower part of Pleasant Valley, a 
distance of at least forty miles. Imagine a man, with such a ride 
before him, yet refreshing himself before undertaking it, with a fox- 
hunt of several hours' duration." The love of these sports never 
interfered with his duty to the sick, and, whatever the temptations 
offered, he cast all aside when a call was made upon his profes- 
sional services. These were always given with alacrity and good 
will. 
"No man," observes his eulogist, "was fonder of good eating, yet 
no one was oftener required to put up with what was bad, or who 
had his appetite subjected to severer tests. On one occasion, after 
a hard ride, he was invited to partake of a homely meal. His 
over-kind hostess discovering that his knife was not quite as clean 
as it might have been, deliberately, in his presence, licked it, that 
she might wipe it cleaner. 
"But once his stomach did quail. He had tapped a woman with 26 
REPORT ON 
dropsy, and measured the water drawn from her in a pint bowl, 
furnished for the purpose. After he had finished the operation, he 
was asked to supper. About to refresh himself with a drink of the 
milk set before him, to his horror he discovered it was contained 
in the identical vessel with which he had a few moments before 
been made so familiar, under such different circumstances." 
Dr. Dorsey's character presented a strange combination of ap- 
parently incongruous elements. A lover of the social board, and 
an exhaustless talker at the fireside, he was nevertheless a constant 
laborer, neglecting neither rich nor poor of his immense practice. 
An enthusiastic lover of fox-hunting, horse-racing, and chicken- 
fighting, he was nevertheless, for more than half a century, a mem- 
ber of the vestry of his parish; attended regularly the State 
Episcopal Convention; and devoted himself, with the ardor and 
energy of its most pious member, to the interests and prosperity 
of the church. His benevolence and hospitality were unbounded. 
He knew nothing of the infirmities of life, and up to the period of 
his last illness bore about with him the buoyancy and happiness of 
youth. His presence ever cheerful and engaging, was a blessing 
to every sick room he entered. No man was ever more esteemed 
during life for his many excellent qualities; no one more lamented 
at his death. 
Dr. Richard W. Bowie died near Upper Marlborough, Prince 
George's County, Maryland, on the 31st day of January, 1859, in 
the forty-ninth year of his age. He read his profession with Dr. 
W. Harper, of Prince George's County, and graduated with dis- 
tinction, at the University of Maryland. 
As a physician, his skill and fidelity were widely appreciated both 
by the community and his colleagues. In all social relations he 
was greatly esteemed, and in the family circle warmly loved for 
his genial, affectionate and confiding disposition. He was identified 
with all enterprises of genuine benevolence, was a prompt and 
cordial friend to the widow and orphan, and died as he lived an 
exemplary and devout Christian. 
Dr. Jacob Fisher was born in Sussex County, Delaware, Decem- 
ber 2, 1796. His father dying when he was a mere child, his early 
education was acquired chiefly by his own efforts, stimulated by an 
extraordinary ambition in one so young. 
In 1821, he graduated at the University of Maryland, and imme- AMERICAN MEDICAL NECROLOGY. 
27 
diately thereafter located in Kent County, Maryland. Here he 
soon acquired a most extensive practice, and was engaged in active 
professional duty when his last illness overtook him. On the 9th 
of April, 1856, he was attacked by paralysis, and continued help- 
less from that time until 18th of February, 1859, a period of nearly 
three years, when he quietly breathed his last in the midst of an 
affectionate and interesting family circle, whose unremitting care 
and attention contributed to his comfort during a long and painful 
affliction. Although unable to read during his last illness, his 
mind was unimpaired, and his interest in the current improvements 
of medical science never for a moment deserted him. Dr. Fisher 
was tall and portly in appearance, and possessed of much suavity of 
manner and most agreeable and instructive conversational powers. 
Dr. Samuel K. Handy was the fourth son of Captain George 
Handy, of the Revolutionary Army. He was born in Somerset 
County, Maryland, on the 23d of October, 1800, and died 15th of 
November, 1859, in the sixtieth year of his age. 
His first course of medical lectures was attended in the Univer- 
sity of Pennsylvania, and his second in the University of Mary- 
land. In the latter school he graduated in 1821, from which time 
until his death, Dr. Handy practised in Somerset County, Maryland, 
with great distinction and success. 
His death took place suddenly, of lung congestion, caused by 
heart-disease. His gentlemanly bearing and high-toned liberality 
attracted to him a vast circle of friends and admirers. As a physi- 
cian, he was prompt and judicious, abounding in medical resources. 
His disposition was marked by great kindness and benevolence. 
Rich and poor have good reason to remember the untiring energy 
with which he served them, night and day, in every season through 
a long series of years. 
Richard H. Thomas, M. D., late Professor of Obstetrics in the 
University of Maryland, the son of John Chew and Mary Snowden 
Thomas, was born June 20th, 1805, at Fairland, Ann Arundel 
County, Maryland. His parents were both of old Maryland fami- 
lies, and his father represented for several years his district in Con- 
gress, both as a member of the House and of the Senate. His aca 
demical training was conducted by able teachers, and he early exhi- 
bited those sterling traits of character and that mental superiority 
which distinguished him in later years. He graduated in letters with 
honor at the University of Pennsylvania, in 1822. Selecting medi- 28 
REPORT ON 
cine as a profession, he accomplished the usual curriculum, and, 
after attending two full courses of lectures in the University of 
Pennsylvania, received his diploma from the Faculty of that vene- 
rable institution in 1822. 
In 1827 he commenced practice in Baltimore city, which steadily 
increased, notwithstanding repeated long absences from home occa- 
sioned by the delicate health of his wife. In 1831 he was asso- 
ciated with a number of prominent medical gentlemen in the Balti- 
more Institute of Medicine; delivered lectures and held obstetrical 
examinations. In 1834 he visited most of the hospitals of Europe. 
From this time both his general and obstetrical practice constantly 
increased, and in 1847 he was elected to the chair of Obstetrics in 
the University of Maryland. In addition to the arduous duties of 
his profession and of his professorship, Dr. Thomas was a faithful 
and devoted preacher of the Gospel. As an acknowledged member 
of the Society of Friends (Orthodox) he travelled over a large 
part of this country and also in Great Britain, attending the meet- 
ings of his own society, and frequently holding large public meet- 
ings. He was often enabled, by his admission to the couch of suf- 
fering or death, to minister to the souls as well as the bodies of his 
patients, and was another example of the compatibility of high 
professional attainment and success with the most simple faith in 
a crucified Redeemer. 
In this sketch of the late Professor Thomas, I have been kindly 
aided by his son, Dr. James Carey Thomas, of Baltimore. 
The ability and success of Dr. Thomas, as a physician, none who 
knew him will question. As an accoucheur, he was always prompt, 
full of resources, and of great dexterity as a manipulator. His 
goodness of heart was shown in his devotion to the poor, and his 
cordial co-operation in all benevolent enterprises. Few men, in 
any calling, have been more respected for sound attainments or 
more beloved for gentleness of manner and integrity of life. 
Dr. Berwick B. Smith, son of Professor Nathan R. Smith, and 
grandson of Dr. Nathan Smith, of New England, was born on 4th 
July, 1826; graduated in letters at Princeton, in 1846 ; in medicine 
at the University of Maryland in 1849; and died in Baltimore of 
phthisis pulmonalis on 20th March, 1860, in the thirty-fifth year 
of his age. 
Dr. Smith received his medical and surgical education in the AMERICAN MEDICAL NECROLOGY. 
29 
office of his illustrious father, and was, at the time of his decease, 
Demonstrator of Anatomy in the University of Maryland. 
Dr. Smith was retiring in his habits, and of great gentleness 
and amiableness of disposition. As an anatomist he had no supe- 
rior for his years, while his surgical operations evince that steadi- 
ness of nerve, precision and despatch, so characteristic of his 
distinguished sires. 
The name of Charles Frick, M. D., deserves prominent mention 
in connection with those last alluded to, who within a year have 
been lost to the Faculty of the University of Maryland, and to the 
Profession at large. 
Professor Frick was the son of the late Judge Frick, of Baltimore, 
and was born in that city August 8,1823, and died March 25, 1860. 
After a thorough course of academic education he became, at an 
early age, an engineer on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, and con- 
tinued in that position for a number of years. In 1843 he matricu- 
lated in the University of Maryland as a student, and was graduated 
with honorable distinction in the spring of 1845. He was shortly 
after elected one of the resident Physicians to the Baltimore City 
and County Almshouse, where he devoted himself assiduously to 
the careful study and diagnosis of disease, and the study of morbid 
pathology, for which abundant opportunities were afforded in that 
extensive Charity. After a brief interval he became associated 
with a number of prominent gentlemen of his own age, in the 
establishment of the Maryland Medical Institute, in the man- 
agement of which his genial manners, varied attainments, and 
extraordinary teaching qualities were generally remarked. In 
1849 he was appointed physician to the Maryland Penitentiary, a 
post he continued to occupy, with great credit to himself and ad- 
vantage to the State, for a long term of service. It was about this 
time he gave to the world a treatise on Renal Pathology and his 
minute analysis of blood and urine. In 1855 he became one of 
the physicians of the Protestant Infirmary of Baltimore, and 
shortly after was elected a Professor in the Maryland College of 
Pharmacy. In 1857 he visited the principal hospitals of London 
and Paris, with a view to additional improvement, and resumed 
practice on his return with renewed energy and success. In 1858 
he was elected Professor of Materia Medica and Therapeutics in 
the University of Maryland, and soon placed himself in the first 
rank of impressive and instructive medical teachers. 30 
REPORT ON 
He had just finished a second course of lectures, with increased 
reputation, when, upon performing the operation of tracheotomy, 
in an aggravated case of diphtheria, which came under his charge 
in the wards of the Baltimore Infirmary, he inhaled the fatal poison 
of the disease. Two days after he was taken to his room, and on 
the Sunday following, after submitting to a similar operation upon 
his own trachea, quietly passed from life into death, in the midst 
of an affectionate household band and a wide circle of surviving 
friends and admirers. 
A death so untimely, occurring to one who filled a large space 
in public regard, thrilled and subdued all hearts. His remains 
were followed to the grave by a vast concourse of medical men, as 
well as citizens of all classes. Every demonstration of respect 
was shown the memory of the gifted and beloved physician, and, 
at a large meeting of the Faculty of Baltimore, addresses were 
made and resolutions passed expressive of the grief which had 
fallen upon all hearts. 
Quis desiderio sit pudor aut modus 
Tam cari capitis ? 
Of the resolutions adopted at the general Faculty meeting, the 
following furnishes an epitome of Dr. Frick's character, and affords 
a fitting close to this brief sketch. 
" Resolved, That we deeply deplore the decease of Professor 
Charles Frick, a man young in years, but old in the practice of all 
those virtues which ennoble mortality; a friend honest, sympa- 
thizing, and steadfast, a physician hardly in his prime, but already 
eminent for his cultivated mind, his accurate and confident judg- 
ment, and, above all, for his ready and unselfish devotion to the 
cause of suffering humanity." 
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 
The only death to be recorded here is that of Dr. William H. 
Berry. He was born in Georgetown, D. C., and died in Wash- 
ington, in February, 1859, at the early age of thirty-two years. 
He graduated in Letters at Princeton, and in Physic at Philadel- 
phia ; spent some time in attendance upon the hospitals of Europe, 
and afterwards settled in Washington, where he was appointed, 
about two years prior to his death, Physician to the City Alms- AMERICAN MEDICAL NECROLOGY. 
31 
house. Dr. Berry was a man of fine talents and rapidly advancing 
reputation. 
NORTH CAROLINA. 
Dr. Armand John De Rosset died in the city of Wilmington, 
N. C., on the first day of April, 1859, in the ninety-second year of 
his age. I introduce a portion of the biographical notice presented 
to the North Carolina Medical Society (of which Dr. De Rosset was 
an honorary member), by Dr. James F. McKee, of Wilmington. 
"His very advanced age; his high professional attainment; his 
extensive and successful practice; and his devotion to the Medical 
Profession as student and practitioner, for a period of more than 
seventy years, entitle him to a biographical notice among the pro- 
ceedings of our society. 
"His paternal ancestors were from Narbonne, France, in the 
neighborhood of Montpelier, and were of so-called noble blood. 
His great grandfather, Louis, was a military officer, holding his 
commission from the British Government. This is accounted for 
from the fact that he was a Huguenot, and from the further fact that 
the English nation claimed the sovereignty of several provinces of 
France. He held also the honorable title of 'Doctor of Laws' as 
well as ' Doctor of Medicine.' 
"His grandfather, Armand, graduated in 1720, in Basle, Switzer- 
land, and was compelled to emigrate by religious persecution. 
"His father, Moses John, was born in London soon after the 
emigration, and the whole family subsequently came to this country. 
Here his father married 'Amy Ivey,' whose sister was united to 
General Moore, of revolutionary memory. 
"The doctor was born in New Hanover County, on the 17th day 
of November, 1767. He was a graduate of Princeton College-, 
studied medicine under the celebrated Dr. Rush; and received his 
medical diploma from the College at Philadelphia. At his gradua- 
tion he received the highest mark of distinction which was then 
conferred by the College. His thesis was written in Latin, and pub- 
lished by the faculty. 
"He married a grand-niece of David Hume, the historian, and 
settled in Wilmington for the practice of his profession. His 
grandfather, his father, himself, and his two sons have been all 
practitioners of medicine in that place. In 1847, the doctor wrote 
of himself-'I have been practising medicine fifty eight years, and 32 
REPORT ON 
have prescribed for six generations in one family.' At that period 
he was eighty years of age. His last professional service, however, 
was rendered at the age of ninety-one, in the capacity of accoucheur 
to a lady. He must have practised medicine, therefore, for a 
period of sixty-nine years. Such another instance can scarcely be 
found in our country. 
"This brief statement," continues Dr. McKee, "bears ample 
testimony to the estimation in which he was held as a physician. 
For sixty-nine years he retained the practice which he had acquired 
in early life. His character was formed amid the stirring events 
of the Revolution. He was possessed of great energy, a sound 
judgment, and strong sense. His distinguished scientific attain- 
ments, were applied to the practical duties of his profes- 
sion, in a manner which always commanded a very extensive 
practice, and this practice was lucrative and generally successful. 
"As a man, he was remarkable for his strict integrity. His 
principles were those taught and practised by his ancestors. His 
manners were those of the old school, which we lament to say are 
passing away. He was generous, charitable, hospitable, kind and 
gentle, yet always firm. He was, in every respect, a model of the 
Christian and gentleman." 
SOUTH CAROLINA. 
Peter Cordes Gaillard, M. D. (a descendant of the Huguenots 
who emigrated to South Carolina at the time of the revocation of 
the edict of Nantes) was born in Pineville, S. C., in the year 1815. 
In 1835 he graduated in Letters at the South Carolina College, and 
soon after repaired to France, availing himself while there of all 
the means of useful knowledge within his reach. On his return 
he continued the study of medicine with great assiduity, and re- 
ceived the degree of Doctor of Medicine from the Medical College 
of South Carolina in 1837. After his graduation he spent a 
winter in Philadelphia, improving himself by the superior advan- 
tages afforded by that venerable seat of medical learning. He 
then again visited Paris, and, returning in 1839, entered at once 
upon the duties of a practitioner in Charleston, with no adventitious 
aids, being dependent entirely upon his own merit and exertions. 
He succeeded to a wide theatre of occupation, and secured the 
lasting affection and confidence of all who entered within the circle 
of his skill and attentions. Very soon he became the assistant 33 
AMERICAN MEDICAL NECROLOGY. 
editor of the Charleston Medical Journal, by invitation of one of its 
originators, and by his ability greatly enhanced the value and 
reputation of that periodical. At the opening of the Roper 
Hospital Dr. Gaillard was appointed one of the attending physi- 
cians, and, in connection with his regular duties, delivered clinical 
and other discourses of much merit. Subsequently he was ap- 
pointed one of the consulting physicians of the Hospital. At a 
little later period he was chosen President of the Medical Society 
of South Carolina, one of the oldest local societies in the country. 
Upon the foundation of the State Medical Association, in which he 
was actively interested, he was unanimously selected as the first 
anniversary orator, and in due time delivered an able discourse on 
Hygiene. He was especially energetic in the formation of the 
society for the "Relief of Widows and Orphans of deceased and 
disabled indigent members of the Medical Profession in South 
Carolina," and to his attention to the financial department, at a 
period when he had many and various demands upon his time, is 
due the prosperous condition in which it was left at his death. 
Upon the transfer of Professor Dickson to the Jefferson Medical 
College, to supply the vacancy occasioned by the death of Dr. 
Mitchell, Dr. Gaillard was chosen to take Dr. Dickson's place in 
the South Carolina School. The reputation he acquired, as an 
able and eloquent teacher, was all that his friends could desire. 
No man ever secured a larger share of esteem and confidence in so 
short a period than did Dr. Gaillard. 
He was frequently appointed by the State and local societies as 
a delegate to the American Medical Association, and the Report on 
Hygiene, presented at the Charleston meeting, was from his pen. 
In 1858 he was appointed by the City Council of Charleston to 
attend the Quarantine Sanitary Convention at Baltimore. His 
attention was especially directed to the important questions re- 
lating to yellow fever. He believed it to be importable, and in a 
modified way contagious. His views on these and other topics 
connected with the fatal scourge it was his intention to embody in 
a published work upon the subject. Much valuable material and 
many important facts had been collected, when death arrested his 
labors. 
"As a member of the medical profession in Charleston," remarks 
Dr. Wragg, who was so obliging as to furnish a sketch of his life, 
"Dr. Gaillard's influence and example were of the utmost value. 
From his earliest professional years he impressed upon the medical 34 
REPORT ON 
community an onward and upward movement which he steadily 
fostered and increased to the last moment of his honorable career. 
With an unseen and unfelt power (so gently exercised that no one 
seemed to be aware of it, not even himself) he raised the tone of 
professional ethics to its highest standard, and fixed it upon the 
lofty pedestal of genuine philanthropy. 
"As a citizen, his influence was not less felt. Of pleasing and 
most prepossessing address, his manners attracted attention from all 
who were brought within the circle of his social relations. With 
the mildness and gentleness of a child he combined the most un- 
yielding firmness of character, and carried into the arduous and 
harassing scenes of his busy existence a suavity and grace of man- 
ner that rarely failed to command and secure to him a full observ- 
ance from others of all the courtesies and amenities which he so 
fully accorded to them. His energy and industry were unfailing. 
His devotion to books caused him to expend much of his time and 
means in collecting and using them, and at his death he was pos- 
sessed of one of the largest and most select medical and miscella- 
neous libraries to be met with in private houses. Industry and 
economy of time were characteristic of his habits. Nothing ever 
tempted him to pretermit what he always considered as the first 
claim upon him, viz., his business obligations, and among these the 
wants of his patients invariably met with promptest attention. 
Not even the necessary refreshment of his (latterly) diseased and 
worn-out body ever induced him to neglect a patient, and frequently 
he rose from his bed feverish and breathless to answer the calls of 
the sick and suffering. Cheerfulness and hopefulness attended him 
to the last, and when the oil of life was running to its dregs, its 
light and flame were absolutely undiminished. Within three days 
of his death he lectured to his class and visited his patients, and 
when the final summons came, which he so cheerfully obeyed, he 
laid himself down to die like a soldier at his post." 
GEORGIA. 
Died, at Albany, May, 1858, in the 61st year of bis age, Roger 
Q. Dickinson, M. D., one of the oldest, most successful, and highly 
respected physicians of the State of Georgia. He was, at the time 
of his decease, president of the State Medical Society. AMERICAN MEDICAL NECROLOGY. 
35 
At Augusta, Georgia, of tetanus, on the 6th of January, 1859, 
George M. Newton, M. D., late Professor of Anatomy in the Medi- 
cal College of Georgia, aged 49 years. Professor Eve, late Presi- 
dent of this Association, says of him: "He was a man of undoubted 
talent, great industry, indomitable perseverance, inflexible integrity, 
but of exceeding modesty. He would never deliver a public intro- 
ductory ; never wrote an article for a medical journal; never prac- 
tised his profession ; yet he was a most profound anatomist, a skilful 
assistant in the most difficult operations. Few ever taught anatomy 
more clearly than he did. By his will, the Orphan Asylum of 
Augusta gets over $150,000. 
LOUISIANA. 
Dr. John W. Picton was born in the town of Woodbury, New 
Jersey, on the 16th of November, 1804, and died, after a long and 
painful illness, on 28th of October, 1858. At the age of fourteen, 
he was entered a pupil in the military school at West Point. After 
serving the army seven years he married, and selected the profession 
of medicine as his future calling. He studied in Philadelphia, and 
after graduation, located in New Orleans, where he soon rose to 
distinction, attracting notice on both sides of the Atlantic by cer- 
tain brilliant achievements in surgery. 
Dr. Picton practised medicine and surgery in New Orleans for 
thirty-two years. Few men ever attracted more devoted friends, 
few have ever left in any community more enduring and grateful 
recollections. He was gentle in his disposition; honorable in his 
bearing: an accomplished gentleman; a sterling physician; and a 
devoted Christian. He was one of the founders of the New Orleans 
School of Medicine, and, at the time of his death, filled with rare 
ability the chair of Diseases of Women and Children in that institu- 
tion. 
A very eloquent discourse, entitled "The Pious Physician," was 
delivered upon the occasion of Professor Picton's death, by his 
pastor, Rev. B. M. Palmer, M. D. Did the limits of this report 
allow, it would be profitable to draw largely from this able and 
finished production, which does no less credit to the head than the 
heart of the distinguished author. 
Dr. Picton was of medium height and portly figure, presenting 
a handsome and commanding presence. He was distinguished 36 
REPORT ON 
for habitual neatness of dress, suavity of manners, and was a model 
of temperance and gentility. He died of disease of the heart and 
kidneys. 
More recently has died Dr. A. Davizac, of New Orleans, a 
native of New York, in the 55th year of his age. He was a quiet, 
unobtrusive gentleman, did an extensive practice for many years, 
and died beloved by all who knew him. 
OHIO. 
Henry Francis Kcehne, M. D., was born in Germantown, Ohio, 
April 17th, 1833, and died February 8th, 1858. After completing 
his preliminary education, he entered a leading mercantile house, 
in Dayton, Ohio, in 1849. Here chemistry, botany, mineralogy, 
and physiology were, in the intervals of his store duties, favorite 
studies. By the benevolence of a gentleman who supplied the 
means, young Kcehne entered the office of Dr. H. Gatch Carey, of 
Dayton, and applied himself diligently to the study of medicine. 
In March, 1854, he graduated with high distinction as a doctor of 
medicine in the Medical College of Ohio. Shortly after he was 
selected, from a large number of applicants, resident physician of 
the Commercial Hospital at Dayton. Here his admirable qualities 
as a physician were developed and attracted general remark and 
admiration. Combined with skill of treatment was a singular 
suavity and gentleness of manner, which rendered him an object of 
endearment to his patients and others. After the expiration of 
his term of service at the Commercial Hospital, he was appointed 
assistant physician to the Southern Ohio Lunatic Asylum. Twice 
during his connection with this Institution, he visited the principal 
lunatic asylums of Canada and the Eastern States, returning with 
an increased stock of information in regard to the proper manage- 
ment of such Charities. A political change in the appointing 
power at length deprived him of a position suited to his tastes, and 
in which he was gaining much reputation in the management of 
the insane. General practice was unsuited to one of his sensitive 
nature, and although he entered upon it with his usual energy, 
he soon began to give way under its cares and duties. In May, 
1857, he attended the meeting of the American Medical Association 
held at Nashville. It was during this absence that severe haemop- 
tysis and other symptoms gave evidence of the existence of that AMERICAN MEDICAL NECROLOGY. 
37 
most fatal and insidious of all maladies, consumption. On the 13th 
of November following, he left for a winter's residence at the South. 
On his arrival at Marianna, Florida, his malady became alarmingly 
worse, and Dr. C. A. Hintz, a sympathizing physician and friend, 
administered to his comfort and relief. His last illness was borne 
with cheerful fortitude, and he died surrounded by kind friends, in 
the full hope of that holy faith, in the daily practice of which he 
had long lived. His remains were conveyed to Dayton, Ohio, 
where they were finally consigned to the grave by a large throng 
of citizens and friends. 
" There was," remarks his preceptor, Dr. H. Gatch Carey, " a 
fascination investing the person of Dr. Koehne, that won the respect 
and admiration of all who came in contact with him. He did not 
tower above every one in community in his accomplishments and 
great acts, yet there was no man of his age that could boast of so 
many strong personal attachments. There was an urbanity, a 
genial, bland courteousness in his actions, that impressed all who 
knew him. Rarely had any one so few enemies." 
MICHIGAN. 
Died, at Detroit, May 7th, 1858, Lucius Gain Robinson, M.D., 
in the thirty-third year of his age. He was editor of the Medical 
Independent, a journal published at Detroit, from March, 1856, to 
March, 1858, and was also a member of the American Medical 
Association. 
A. L. Leland, M. D., died, at Detroit, November 14th, 1858, 
aged forty-five years. He was a native of Massachusetts, a gra- 
duate in arts of the University of Cambridge, and in medicine of 
the Berkshire Medical School, Massachusetts. It is said, he was 
modest and retiring in his demeanor; gentlemanly, courteous, and 
honorable in his intercourse with mankind, and particularly so 
with his professional brethren. Fitted by education to enjoy and 
adorn refined social life, his loss was deeply felt by a large circle of 
friends, and by his medical brethren. 
UNITED STATES ARMY. 
Died, at Baton Rouge, Louisiana, August 29th, 1858, Benjamin 
F. Harney, M. D., surgeon in the United States Army, in the 38 
REPORT ON 
seventy-third year of his age. He was appointed surgeon to the 
3d Infantry, U. S. A., on 17th August, 1814; served actively in 
the late war with Great Britian; also in the Black Hawk and 
Florida wars, and was medical director in the Mexican war. It is 
said he twice declined the appointment of surgeon-general of the 
United States Army. 
A private letter from Surgeon Charles S. Tripier, of the army, 
observes that " when not in the field, his station for many years 
was at Baton Eouge, Louisiana, in which vicinity his personal 
qualities were such as to give him probably a greater influence 
than any other individual ever possessed in that region. Surgeon 
Harney was unquestionably the first to introduce the practice of 
giving large doses of quinine in the malignant malarial fevers of 
the South. No man of less nerve would have ventured upon so 
bold an experiment. He had the satisfaction of seeing his views 
adopted and their value acknowledged very generally by his col- 
leagues of the profession at the South." 
Hr. Harney was, at the time of his death, the senior surgeon of 
the army. 
Died, at Gainesville, Texas, October 3d, 1859, Assistant Surgeon 
William H. Babcock, M. D., United States Army. Assistant 
Surgeon Babcock entered the army August 29th, 1856, and was 
immediately ordered to Florida, where he participated in the cam- 
paign of 1856 and 1857, against the Seminole Indians. His subse- 
quent service was on the frontiers of Texas. His military career, 
though brief, was alike honorable to himself and satisfactory to the 
department. 
Died, at Fort Hamilton, New York Harbor, March 16th, 1860, of 
asthma, Dr. Joseph Eaton, Assistant Surgeon United States 
Army. 
Doctor Eaton entered the army as surgeon's mate, in the 3d 
regiment of artillery, April 4th, 1812, and served with the army 
on the Canada frontier. He resigned that appointment on the 12th 
day of December, 1813. On the 14th of April, 1814, he was ap- 
pointed hospital surgeon's mate, and in April, 1818, post-surgeon. 
On the reorganization of the medical department of the army in 
1821, Doctor Eaton was retained in service, with the commission 
of assistant surgeon, which commission he held at the time of his AMERICAN MEDICAL NECROLOGY. 
39 
death. The military life of assistant surgeon Eaton covered a 
period of forty-eight years of honorable and faithful service. 
UNITED STATES NAVY. 
Surgeon Benajah Ticknor died at Ann Arbor, Michigan, Sep- 
tember 20th, 1858, aetat. seventy years. 
He entered the navy December 10th, 1814, and was promoted 
July 10th, 1824. He served at sea fifteen years and four months; 
on shore ten months; and at the time of his death had been in the 
navy forty-three years and eight months. He was conscientious, 
truthful, and industrious, and a professing Christian. In person 
he was tall and slender, modest and retiring in his deportment, and 
delighted in reading the classics and history whenever leisure 
permitted. Hejwas exemplary, abstemious, and punctual in his 
habits. 
Surgeon Thomas Williamson was born in Calvert County, 
Maryland, 1st of August, 1791. He was educated at St. John's 
College, Annapolis, studied medicine in Annapolis, and graduated 
at the University of Pennsylvania. 
H On 13th of May, 1813, he was appointed Surgeon's Mate in the 
United States Navy. He was successively attached to the ship 
Adams (Captain Morris, commander), frigate Congress, under Isaac 
Hull, and the brig Prometheus (Captain Wadsworth). Until 1818, 
Dr. Williamson was actively engaged in sea service. About this 
time strong inducements were offered him by his brother to take 
charge of a lucrative private practice, from which he was about to 
retire, but the love of the navy triumphed, and he declined the 
flattering bait. In 1821, he made a cruise in the ship John Adams, 
on the coast of Brazil, and subsequently on the coast of Africa. 
Previously to this he had been promoted to the rank of surgeon, 
his commission bearing date March 27th, 1818. In 1822, the U. S. 
ship Macedonia, reached Norfolk, with a malignant yellow fever 
on board, which was rapidly destroying officers, doctors, and men. 
Dr. Williamson volunteered to go to the help of the sick and 
dying, and by his noble exertions saved many lives which would 
have been otherwise lost to the service. This noble conduct of 
Surgeon Williamson was duly appreciated by the Navy Depart- 
ment, and especially by Commodore Biddle, who, even in after life, 
whenever occasion presented, gave evidence of his grateful recol- 40 
REPORT ON 
lection of the assistance rendered. In 1823, he was attached to an 
expedition against the pirates who infested the Gulf of Mexico 
and Thompson's Island. In October of the same year, he returned 
to Norfolk with the survivors of the fleet in which the yellow 
fever had made fearful ravages. His next order was to the Naval 
Hospital. In 1826, he was selected as one of three to choose, near 
the mouth of the Chesapeake, a suitable site on which to erect a 
naval hospital. In August, 1830, he was detached from the hos- 
pital and ordered to the frigate Brandywine, then fitting out for a 
Mediterranean cruise, upon which occasion letters were written by 
Commodore Barron, expressing, in the most complimentary man- 
ner, the value of the services rendered by Dr. Williamson while 
on hospital duty. In May he returned home and was immediately 
put on duty again at the hospital near Norfolk, where he continued 
until 1839, when he was ordered as fleet surgeon to the Ohio, then 
coursing in the Mediterranean under Captain Hull. Many letters 
from distinguished persons could be cited to show the high esti- 
mation placed upon his services as hospital surgeon. In 1841, he 
was ordered to Philadelphia, as one of a board of examiners of 
candidates for examination of assistant surgeons, a duty which had 
frequently been required of him before. In the following June, 
he was returned to the Norfolk Hospital, where he remained until 
1847. In 1848-9, he was on duty at the rendezvous in Norfolk. 
In June, 1850, he was ordered as fleet surgeon to the coast of Brazil. 
Upon this cruise his health broke down, and he was compelled to 
return home. In 1852, having become sufficiently restored for the 
resumption of duty, he received orders once more to the hospital 
at Norfolk. It was at this time a French steamer entered Norfolk, 
with a most malignant yellow fever on board. The sick were re- 
moved to the hospital where they received the unremitting atten- 
tions of Surgeon Williamson. The French government appreciated 
this noble service, and the Emperor Napoleon caused a gold medal 
to be presented to the doctor, as a testimonial of his gratitude and 
regard. 
Early in July, 1855, Doctor Williamson was the victim of a 
severe illness which left him ever after shattered in health. Super- 
added to this, domestic losses broke heavily upon his sensitive 
nature, and crushed that sprightly and cheerful demeanor which had 
always been so characteristic of his earlier days. Still his natural 
energy would not allow him to be idle. He was again employed AMERICAN MEDICAL NECROLOGY. 
41 
at the Norfolk Rendezvous, and died, at the post of duty, on 12th 
January, 1859. 
" Dr. Williamson's character as a naval officer," observes Surgeon 
Ninian Pinkney, to whom we are indebted for the leading events 
of his life, " is fully attested by the high consideration in which he 
was held by all who were associated with him on duty, never hav- 
ing failed to gain their respect and esteem, and in many instances 
their grateful love. His ideas of duty as an officer were very rigid, 
and he never swerved from its dictates, but sacrificed every selfish 
consideration in its performance. It can in truth be said that 
unselfishness was a predominant trait in his life. To others he 
yielded every enjoyment, for himself he claimed none. In devo- 
tion to his country and its institutions, and in love to his native 
State particularly, he was enthusiastic. 
"The community in which he passed thirty years of his life gave 
testimony to Dr. Williamson's character by their respect, esteem, 
and devotion, and he merited all they bestowed. Yielding implicitly 
to the promptings of his philanthropic spirit, the sick, the afflicted, 
the distressed of every name and condition, found in him a sympa- 
thizing friend, ever ready to help them according to his ability. 
"But all the high toned, noble qualities of his heart shone with 
the greatest lustre in the bosom of his family, in the privacy of 
domestic life. There not one act of his life ever sullied their bril- 
liancy. Devoted to his family, he cherished the most ardent desire 
for their comfort and happiness, and with unceasing exertions he 
endeavored to accomplish these ends. His continual wish and aim 
seemed to be to do good in every relation of life, and however 
surrounded by adverse circumstances, he was actuated by the spirit 
of his motto, 
' Trust in God, and fear not.' " 
Died, at Brooklyn, New York, March 16th, 1859, Samuel Jack- 
son, M. D., Surgeon of the U. S. Navy, in the 72d year of his age. 
He joined the navy in 1812, and was commissioned as surgeon in 
1818. He had been in service over forty-six years, and ranked as 
a valuable officer. A detachment of fifty marines, with the band 
belonging to the North Carolina, formed the escort to the grave in 
Greenwood Cemetery. 
Surgeon Edward Hudson was born in Philadelphia, July 23d, 
1819, and died at Brooklyn, New York, on 23d January, 1859. 42 
REPORT ON 
He was originally a dentist, but becoming dissatisfied with his pro- 
fession, although a very lucrative one, offered himself to the Board 
of Examiners for admission into the surgical corps of the navy. 
One of the candidates at that time, it is said, was so diffident of 
his own powers and so modest as to absent himself, resolved not 
to appear. Dr. Hudson went in pursuit of him, and almost by 
force brought him before the Board. The retiring young man 
was examined, and passed No. 1 on the list of successful applicants. 
This gentleman was the late Dr. Kane, afterwards known as the 
great Arctic explorer. 
Doctor Hudson entered the navy, September 11th, 1843, and 
was promoted July 29th, 1858. His whole term of naval service 
was fifteen years and four months, nine years and eleven months 
having been passed at sea, and three years and three months on 
shore. In the various social and domestic relations of life no man 
could be more highly esteemed than was Dr. Hudson; as a surgeon 
he had great skill, and most indefatigable industry. 
It will be observed that the States of New Hampshire, Vermont, 
Delaware, Virginia, Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, Kentucky, 
Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Iowa, Wisconsin, and California are 
not represented in this report, although circulars have been for- 
warded to prominent medical men in each of them, requesting 
information upon the subject of this paper. It is too much to hope 
that within the period of two years there have been no deaths 
among the Faculty in those portions of the Union. To such as 
have promptly responded to our appeals, we desire to return the 
most grateful acknowledgments. Our thanks are especially due 
to Drs. H. J. Bowditch, J. Church, Paul Spooner, of Massa- 
chusetts; Dr. Usher Parsons, of Rhode Island; Professor 
Jonathan Knight, of Connecticut; Drs. S. S Purple, Alden 
March, and E. W. Armstrong, of New York; Dr. L. A. Smith, 
of New Jersey; Drs. A. L. Kennedy, Nebinger, and Robley 
Dunglison, of Pennsylvania; Drs. J. Carey Thomas, G. S. Fisher, 
and Thomas Maddox, together with Hon. J. Thompson Mason, 
Samuel Tyler, Esq., and Sydney C. Long, Esq., all of Maryland; 
Dr. H. Lindley, of District of Columbia; Dr. H. Gatch Carey, 
of Ohio; Dr. E. A. Anderson, of North Carolina; Drs. Wragg 
and Geddings, of South Carolina; Dr. E. D. Fenner, of Louisi- 
ana; Dr. W. W. Whelan, Chief of the Medical Bureau of the 
Naval Department, and Surgeons Ruschenberger and Pinkney, AMERICAN MEDICAL NECROLOGY. 
43 
of the same service; Surgeon General Lawson, Acting Surgeon 
General Dodd, and Surgeon Charles S. Tripler, of the United 
States Army. 
In conclusion, allow me to urge upon the Association the pro- 
priety of continuing, from year to year, a correct record of the 
distinguished dead of the Profession throughout the country. It 
will be a work, of constantly increasing interest to those who sur- 
vive, and furnish in after years a body of valuable matter for the 
reference of the historian and biographer. 
All of which is respectfully submitted. 
CHRIS. C. COX.