Page:A cyclopedia of American medical biography vol. 1.djvu/135

 ASPINWALL

ASPINWALL

cheeriness of manner. It has been said of him that he knocked at almost every portal of usefulness and was ade- quate to every opportunity of helping those with whom he came in contact. He was, all his life, a member of the Society of Friends. In his last days he united with the Methodist Episcopal Church.

His wife, Mary Hanson Robinson, was like himself of Quaker descent. Their only boy died early in life.

Dr. Askew died at the age of seventy- one of apoplexy. During his last few years both physical and mental powers gradually failed, and on March 5, 1S76, in Wilmington, he passed away.

In 1847 he delivered an address before the American Medical Association, as president of the Society. This address is a vigorous exposition of his views on medical ethics and other matters pertain- ing to the welfare of the medical pro- fession. A. R.

Scharp's History of Delaware (biography and portrait), 1888.

Aspinwall, William (1743-1823).

William Aspinwall was born in Brook- line, Massachusetts, May 23, 1743. His ancester, Peter, one of the immigrants from England, settled in Dorchester, Massachusetts, in 1630 and moved to Brookline about 1650. Peter's farm in Brookline has remained in the possession of his descendants to this day, the site be- ing the region about Aspinwall Avenue. William, the sole survivor of three genera- tions, was born in the old house on Aspin- wall Avenue near St. Paul's church which was built by Peter in 1660. It was torn down in 1891.

Dr. Aspinwall was fitted for college by the Rev. Amos Adams, a minister of Rox- bury, and graduated from Harvard in 1764. He studied medicine with Dr. Benjamin Gale, of Killingsworth, Connec- ticut, completing his medical education in the Pennsylvania Hospital, Philadel- phia, where he spent seven months in study under Dr. William Shippen, who granted him a certificate of proficiency dated May 27, 1769.

He settled to practice in his native town. On the breaking out of the Rev- olution he was induced by his friend and kinsman, Dr. Joseph Warren, to enter the medical department of the provincial army, although his inclinations led him in the direction of fighting in the ranks. In the beginning he followed his bent and as a volunteer at the battle of Lexington conducted himself with distinction, bear- ing from the field the body of the com- mander of the Brookline Company, Isaac Gardner, father of his future wife. Re- ceiving the appointment of surgeon to Gen. Heath's brigade and later deputy director to the Army Hospital in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts, he rendered valu- able service during the war.

After the death of Zabdiel Boylston, the first innoculator for small-pox in America, Dr. Aspinwall took up the busi- ness of innoculation and practised it ex- tensively in a licensed private hospital in Brookline. On the introduction of vac- cination he was present at one of Dr. Ben- jamin Waterhouse's demonstrations, and became convinced of the superiority of vaccination. Accordingly he gave up in- noculation, although at a great pecun- iary loss to himself. " This new innocula- tion will take from me a handsome annual income, yet, as a man of humanity, I re- joice in it," said he, in a letter to Dr. Waterhouse.

For forty-five years he conducted a very large practice, most of the time go- ing his rounds on horseback, and often covering forty miles in a day.

He lost one eye by an accident in his youth, and late in life was afflicted by a cataract in the remaining one. Dr. Na- than Smith attempted unsuccessfully to remove it and his last years wen | indarkne He died in the house which he built, on Aspinwall Hill, April 16, 1823. lie was elected a fellow of the Massa- chusetts Medical Society in 1812, and Harvard College conferred on him the honorary M. D. in 1808.

He married Susanna Gardner in 1776, and they had seven children.

Gilbert Stuart painted his portrait,