[Extracted from the American Journal of the Medical Sciences for July, 1869.J 
Necrology.—ln the death of Dr. Robley Dunglison, which, as our readers 
are doubtless aware, occurred some three months since, not only the medical 
profession, but the literary and scientific community generally have sustained a 
laeavy loss. Infirm as he was in bodily condition, so that he had been for more 
than a year retired from all public duty, he was still actively employed in criti- 
cal examination of books, in commenting upon and advising with regard to 
works going on or contemplated, and often in affording material assistance to 
friends who consulted him. Nor did he lay down his well-used pen until within 
a few days of the close of his life. 
Prof. Robley Dunglison was born on the 4th of January, 1798, in “the Lake 
Country,” as it is often called, at Keswick, Cumberland, in the heart of Eng- 
land. His education was at first mercantile, to prepare him for taking charge 
of the planting interest of his Great Uncle, Joseph Robley, in the West Indies; 
but this relative dying, he became a medical student, first in his native town, 
whence he removed to London, placing himself with Charles Thomas Haden, of 
Sloane Street, as “ assistant.” He attended a course of lectures in Edinburgh, 
and one at the “ Bcole de Medecine,” and several private courses in Paris, after 
which he passed examination at the Royal College of Surgeons, and the Society 
of Apothecaries, in London, and commenced there the practice of his profes- 
sion in 1819. In 1823 he graduated “by examination” in the University of 
Erlangen, in Bavaria, presenting a thesis on neuralgia. Returning to London, 
he determined to attend especially to obstetrical practice ; was made “ Physi- 
cian Accoucheur” to the Eastern Dispensary, and announced in 1824 a course 
of lectures on “ The Principles and Practice of Midwifery,” for the following 
October. Meanwhile, however, he had made arrangements for emigrating to 
this country. In the course of that autumn, Francis W. Gilmer, sent over by 
the Board of Visitors of the University of Virginia to select Professors, had 
invited him to accept a Chair, the duties of which comprised instruction in 
“ Anatomy, Surgery, the History of the Progress and Theories of Medicine, 
Physiology, Materia Medica, and Pharmacy,” which invitation he accepted. 
By this time, as would be inferred from his appointment, he had attained for 
himself a good position, and acquired not a little professional reputation. He 
had edited and translated Larrey’s Essay on Moxa, Magendie’s Formulary of 
New Remedies, and Hooper’s Surgeon’s Vade Mecum; had contributed largely 
to the “ London Medical Repository,” in which he was a collaborator with the 
erudite Copland, the “ Medical Intelligencer,” the “ Annals of Philosophy,” 
the “ Quarterly Journal of Science and the Arts,” the “ London Quarterly 
Revie#,” the “ Eclectic Review,” and the “ Universal Review,” then conducted 
by the Rev. George Croly, and had published an original work entitled, “ Com- 
mentaries on Diseases of the Stomach and Bowels of Children.” 
In October, 1824, he married Harriette, daughter of John Leadam, Esq., 
Practitioner of Medicine in Southwark, London, and completed his arrange- 
ments for emigration. He left London in that month, but owing to numerous 
delays, and a long voyage, being detained six weeks in the channel, he did not 
reach the American coast until February 10th, 1825, landing at Norfolk, whence 
he proceeded to his new home at Charlottesville. 
There he resided many happy years, during which he enjoyed the intimate 
friendship of Presidents Jefferson and Madison. Nor was he idle during this 
period. Besides his popular and instructive prelections on the several topics 
named above, he produced there his highly esteemed works on “ Human Physi- 
ology,” “Elements of Hygiene,” “ General Therapeutics,” “ Syllabus of Lec- tures on Medical Jurisprudence,” and the first edition of his “ Medical Dic- 
tionary,” in its later forms so universally received. 
In May, 1833, he was elected to a Chair in the University of Maryland, and 
removed to Baltimore, where, however, he did not remain long. His connection 
with Jefferson Medical College commenced in 1836, and in that year he became 
a resident of this city, where he died on the Ist of April, 1869. The final re- 
organization of the College in 1841, and the very successful rise, progress, and 
elevation of the institution were in a great measure brought about by the 
energy, reputation, and high administrative talent of Dr. Dunglison, and form 
a large portion of the great distinction he attained, and the world-wide eminence 
accorded universally to his name. He continued, in the midst of his official 
and professorial duties, to labour indefatigably with his pen. Edition after 
edition of his great Dictionary was called for and issued from the press with 
progressive and valuable improvements. He put forth a work on “New Reme- 
dies;” wrote “The Medical Student, or Aids to the Study of Medicine;” “The 
Practice of Medicine,” in 2 vols.; and “Elements of Hygiene; or a 'Treatise on 
Human Health;” besides editing Translations from the German and French, 
and a periodical, “The American Medical Library and Intelligencer.” 
It is not our purpose, nor is this the place or the occasion, to engage in any 
critical dissertation on the value of these and the other productions of Prof. 
Dunglison not enumerated here. It is well known that they were well received 
at the time of their publication, took the position of standards on their several 
topics, and most of them passed through several editions. His Dictionary 
retains and will long retain its position as an unequalled compilation of profes- 
sional knowledge and learning. The mere record of the career we have thus 
briefly sketched constitutes a monument as lasting as time itself in honour of 
the subject of such a memorial. 
Professor Dunglison was during the latter half of his life, permanently an 
invalid; yet such was his fortitude and energy that he did not allow his infirmi- 
ties or sufferings to interfere with the performance of his numerous and varied 
duties. Gout had made him exceedingly lame; but when unable to walk he 
would ride to college, and when unable to stand he would sit during the delivery 
of his lectures. For many years the symptoms of cardiac disease were urgent 
and alarming. Intermission of pulse with dyspnoea and afterwards painful and 
menacing attacks of angina were ultimately followed by dropsical accumulation, 
which, added to his other annoyances, at last forced even his elastic and tena- 
cious resolution to succumb, and he resigned his chair with the reluctant con- 
sent and unaffected regret of his colleagues, in the spring of 1868. The trustees 
of the College, when accepting his resignation, immediately conferred upon him 
the well-deserved title of “Emeritus Professor of the Institutes of Medicine 
and Medical Jurisprudence.” 
From every quarter and in every form expressions of sorrow at the necessity 
of his retirement were offered him; and he attained the rare enjoyment of know- 
ing how widely and affectionately he was beloved and esteemed. It is given to 
few among us to meet with such disinterested expressions of attachment and 
regard. 
The progress of his maladies—for their name was legion—singularly slow, 
was, however, uninterrupted, and he gradually grew worse, retaining in the 
midst of all discomfort, privation, and pain, the clearness of his intelligence and 
his capacious memory. It was impossible to render him indifferent to the wel- 
fare of his friends, or the interest of the beneficent institutions with which he 
had been connected. Especially did he keep up his warm sympathies with the 
blind, whom he had always made objects of peculiar attention. For many years 
he had been “ Chairman of the Committee of Instruction” in the admix-able 
Institution for the Blind in this city, and had laboured most earnestly and 
patiently in the preparation of a Dictionary for their use, in connection with 
Mr. Chapin, the Principal. 
The high appreciation in which Prof. Dunglison was held abroad and at home 
may be measured in some degree by the numerous diplomas and certificates of 
honorary fellowship which accumulated upon him. Before he left England 
he was Member or Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons; the Society of Apothecaries; the Hunterian Society; and the Medical Society of London ; the 
University of Erlangen ; the Linnosan Society of Paris ; the Royal Society of 
Arts-Letters, &c., of Nancy; the Soci6t6 de Mldecine of Paris; the Royal 
Academy of Marseilles; the Society of Pharmacy of Paris; the Physico-Medical 
Society of Erlangen ; the Academic Society of Medicine of Marseilles, &c. &c. 
But the list, too extensive to be made complete here, even in this youthful 
stage of his life, became by frequent additions truly enormous ; amounting to 
more than a hundred, among which are to be included almost every scientific, 
literary, and academical body of repute on this side of the Atlantic. It should 
be remarked too that in all those admitting personal presence, he was no in- 
active member, taking generally a full share of labours as officer or chairman 
of committee. Thus he soon became Dean of Jefferson College, whose affairs 
he administered with eminent success. He died President of the Musical Fund 
Society. He had been Yice-President of the Sydenham Society of London; of 
the Pennsylvania Institution for the Instruction of the Blind ; and of the 
American Philosophical Society. 
A post-mortem inspection of his remains exhibited an almost unexampled 
extent and diversity of diseased conditions. The semilunar valves of the aorta 
were osseous cups, the coronary arteries of the heart ossified, and the organ 
itself considerably hypertrophied. The arteries generally were not only filled 
with plates and rings of bone, but strikingly morbid on the internal surface, 
presenting everywhere lines and fissures, and degeneration. The gall-bladder 
contained a calculus of great size, and the hepatic duct was filled with smaller 
concretions. The kidneys were rugose, dark coloured, and studded with serous 
cysts. S. H. D.