Page:A cyclopedia of American medical biography vol. 1.djvu/209

 BOZEMAN

BOZEMAN

Dr. Zabdiel Boylston, although the latter was the active agent, and Isaac Green- wood writes of him in his dedication to "A Friendly Debate; or Dialogue Be- ween Academicus and Sawny (Douglass) and Mundungus (Archbold), Two Emi- nent Physicians, About Some of their Late Performances, Boston, February 15, 1721-2," as follows: "To my very worthy physician Mr. Zabdiel Boylston. Sir, I know of no person so proper to present the following dialogue to as your- self. ... To you under the auspicious providence of God, we are indebted for the blessing of inoculation, and you can claim the undivided honor of introduc- ing it among us."

Boylston himself says in his " Account of the Small-pox :" "I began the practice indeed from a short consideration thereof, for my children, whose lives were very dear to me, were daily in danger of taking the infection by my visiting the sick in the natural way; and although there arose such a cloud of opposers at the beginning yet rinding my account in the success, and easy circumstances of my patients (with the encouragement of the good ministers), I resolved to carry it on for the saving of lives, not regarding any, or all the menances and opposition that were made against it."

W. L. B.

A Biographical Dictionary of the First Set- tlers of New England. J. Savage, 1S60. The History' of the Small-pox. Lond., James Moore, 1815.

Some Account of What is said of Inoculation, etc. Z. Boylston, 1721. An Historical Account of the Small-pox Inoc. in New England. Z. Boylston, Lond., 1726. Amer. Med. Biog. James Thacher, 182S. Hist, of Harvard Med. School. T. F. Har- rington.

A Narrative of Med. in America. J. G. Uumfoid.

Bozeman, Nathan (1S25-1905).

Nathan Bozeman, one of the most distinguished gynecologists of New York, was of Dutch descent and the son of a farmer, Nathan Bozeman, and his wife Harriet Knotts, and at first turned his attention to surveying, but afterwards

studied medicine in the University of Louisville, a pupil of Samuel Gross; he afterwards, upon taking his M. D., became his assistant professor and had the honor of chloroforming the patient in the first successful ovariotomy done under anesthetization, Prof. Henry Miller being the operator.

At first he settled down to practice in Montgomery, Alabama, devoting him- self mainly to the diseases of women. He had for some two years used the clamp suture of Marion Sims in vesico- vaginal fistula, but became convinced that this and the usual methods were at fault. He pondered deeply on the sub- ject for some seven weeks and discovered one day while buttoning his vest that something similar to a button might be combined with the old interrupted suture with its independent action, and the "button suture" was the outcome. After this Bozeman had 100 per cent, of cures instead of twenty-five.

In 1S5S, he visited Europe and intro- duced some of his operations for vesico- vaginal fistula, and the next year opened a hospital in New Orleans for diseases of women and also acted as visiting surgeon to the Charity Hospital of that city. The Civil War, of course, saw all permanency broken up and Bozeman became a confederate army surgeon, going to New York afterwards and open- ing a woman's hospital there. A con- troversy with Prof. Gustave Simon with regard to priority and value of "kolpokleisis" as a means of treating vesicovaginal fistula and its dangers having arisen, Bozeman went to Germany and made practical tests at Heidelberg University and was entertained by Duke Ernst of Saxe-Coburg. On return he read a paper before the American Medical Association on "Kolpokleisis as a Means of Treating Vesicovaginal Fistula: Is the Procedure Ever Necessary?"

When Dr. E. H. Pcaslee died he suc- ceeded him as surgeon to the New York State Woman's Hospital, and became at once engrossed in ovariotomy, perform- ing successful operations in May, 1878.