Page:A cyclopedia of American medical biography vol. 1.djvu/117

 ANDERSON

ANDERSON

Desmarres, and afterwards practised in New York in 1858. Two years later he left the city again for Europe, spending part of a year in Wurzburg, with Prof. Miiller, devoting himself to the study of pathological and microscopical anatomy, and part in Berlin with Graefe. After his return he devoted a large portion of his time to those public institutions to which he had become attached, the German Hos- pital and Dispensary, as well as the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary; in the lat- ter he filled the place of executive surgeon for about eighteen months before his death. He was one of the founders of the Ophthalmological Society of New York and of the American Ophthalmological Society.

His contributions to ophthalmological literature are all of importance. He pub- lished in "Graefe's Archiv, " Bd. viii. Abthl. 1, Klinische Notizen on —

1. "Intraoculare Blutungen."

2. " Auflagerungen auf die Lamina elastica anterior."

3. "Cancroid der Conjunctiva bulbi." Further, a paper on "Canthoplasty:

a Clinical Study," in the "Transactions of the American Ophthalmological Soci- ety," vol. ii., part 2. Besides these, the "Transactions" of the above-named societies contain a number of valuable communications relating to diseases of the eye. Among these a report of "Eight Cases of Subretinal Effusion," in all of which a spontaneous cure was observed. Dr. Althof was esteemed by his col- leagues for his extensive and well digested information; for his extraordinary powers of diagnosis, wonderful manual dexter- ity, and sound judgment; for his great, unselfish devotion to the duties of his profession. E.N.

From a biog. by "E. N. " in the New York

Med. Jour., 1877, vol. xxv.

Tr. Am. Ophth. Soc, New York, 1878,

vol. ii.

Anderson, Alexander (1775-1870).

In the death of Anderson, who died on the seventeenth of January, 1S70, in Jersey City, the bookmaker's craft and

the world of book-readers lost a long- familiar friend.

He was the pioneer engraver on wood in America, the virtual inventor of the art on this side of the Atlantic. His name was familiar to booksellers and readers in America from the beginning of the pres- ent century; and the mysterious little monogram "A.A." in the corners of woodcuts in educational books attracted the attention of millions of children in schools and at firesides when experiencing the delight of his pictures.

Dr. Anderson was of Scotch descent, his father being a native of Scotland. He was born near Beekman's Slip, New York City, on the twenty-first of April, 1775, two days after the first bloodshed in the old war for independence had occurred at Lexington and Concord. His father differed in politics from most of his countrymen in America at that time, who were generally distinguished for their loyalty to the king; and at the time of Alexander's birth he was the publisher of a republican newspaper in the city of New York called "The Constitutional Gazette." He continued to publish it in opposition to the ministerial papers of Rivington and Gaine until the autumn of 1770, when the British took possession of New York City. Then the "rebel printer" was compelled to fly, with his books and printing materials, nearly all of which were lost before he reached a place of absolute safety in Connecticut.

At the age of twelve years young Anderson began to use the graver for his own amusement. He was a timid lad, shrank from asking questions, and gained information by silent and modest ob- servation. Peeping into the shop windows of silversmiths he saw the shape and the method of manipulating the graver in the lettering of spoons; and rolled-out copper cents gave aim bis plates for first efforts. The wonders of general science early engaged his attention, especially that branch which pertains to the econ- omy of man's physical life. Some of his earlier efforts in the engraver's art were in making ropier uf anatomical figures