Page:A cyclopedia of American medical biography vol. 1.djvu/149

 BARKER

In 1SS4 he married Eliazbeth Lee Dwight and had one son who became a doctor. On May 30 Dr. Barker died at the age of seventy-three with eye un- dimmed, mental strength unabated, re- membered for his earnest and zealous seeking to advance the cause of his pro- fession, his kindness to struggling young doctors and students, his generous hos- pitality and his high abilities.

Among his articles to journals may be noted :

"Remarks on Some Forms of Disease of the Cervix Uteri," 1848.

"Some Clinical Observations on Malig- nant Diseases of the Uterus," 1870.

" Vaginal Hernia, or Vaginal Entero- cele," 1876.

"The Influence of Maternal Impres- sions on the Fetus," 1887.

"Leucorrhea Considered in Relation to its Constitutional Causes and Treatment, " 1882.

"Puerperal Malarial Fever," 1880. D. W.

Amer. Jour. Obstet., N. Y.,1891. P. F. Munde\

Glasgow Med. Jour., 1891. N. York Jour.

Gynee. and Obstet., 1891-2. J. D. Emmet.

Tr. Am. Gynec. Soc., Phila., 1891.

Tr. N. York Acad., 1891.

Tr. Obstet. Soc., London, 1892.

Med. News, Phila., vol. lviii., 1891.

Barker, Jeremiah (1752-1835).

As pioneer medical writer in Maine, Jeremiah Barker stands almost unique in its medical history. He was the son of Samuel and Patience Howland Barker, and was born at Scituate, Massachusetts, Marcli 31, 1752. After a most excellent common school education, he studied medicine with Dr. Bela Lincoln, Harvard. 1751 ,and Aberdeen, 1788, member of the Massachusetts Medical Society and a sur- geon of the Revolution. Soon after be- ginning practice, Dr. Barker met with an accident confining him to the house for several weeks. During this enforced imprisonment he developed great skill in medical writing, composing a " Vade Mccum" based on several text^books of medical practice, and a hand-book of an- atomy with drawings of his own. He

BARKER

first practised in Gorham, Maine, but finding the field well occupied by Dr. Stephen Swett, he moved to Barnstable, Massachusetts, where he practised chiefly between 1772 and 1779. During the revolution he served actively once or twice, and was a surgeon on a privateer, in which he was captured but soon re- leased. He also took part in the ill-fated Bagaduce (Castins) expedition in 1779. Being now near Gorham, again, and his brother-in-law, William Gorham, then living there, Dr. Barker tried the place once more and soon gained an extensive practice all along the coast of Maine in- cluding all that district now known as Portland. Ten years later he built a house at Stroudwater, two miles from Portland, practised from that center with great success, and when a little over sixty retired to Gorham for the rest of his life.

Dr. Barker's chief service to medical history consists in a large number of interesting accounts of epidemics of scarlatina, malignant fever, measles and putrid sore throat occurring in Maine be- tween 1790 and 1810. He also published meteorological sketches of great value to the historian. In those days much stress was laid upon the weather in the causation of epidemics, and these papers besides describing such conditions year after year contained hygienic advice of great value. If it were not for this writer we should be without data of former epidemics, and from that point of view his writings are unique. He was exceedingly interested in the use of al- kalies in the treatment of disease, and experimented steadily with such sub- stances, chemically and practically, until he had assured himself that in lime-water he had found one of the most valuable remedies ever used in medicine. At one time he planned a history of epidemics in Maine, and strove to interest his fellow physicians in his scheme, but no printed materia] or even manuscript re- mains to prove that his work was ever given to the public. He intended also to write the lives of his medical friends, and