Page:A cyclopedia of American medical biography vol. 1.djvu/223

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■walks, bordered with box-wood, savrin, juniper and other rare evergreens. His collection had been gathered from all parts of the world and his home took its name from his rare and extensive collec- tion of roses. He provided means of irrigation for the summer, and a large hot-house for propagating plants and for the care of the more delicate during the winter. Dr. Hosack is said to have been a frequent visitor to Brown during the former's residence in Alexandria, Virginia, about 1791, and to have thus gained the idea for the public botanical garden which he afterwards founded in New York City.

Brown was a favorite preceptor with medical students from the adjoining parts of Maryland and Virginia. From the close of the Revolution to his death his office is said to have been filled with them.

In his practice he is said to have used but few remedies, but those of the most efficient character.

Both his sons became physicians. An interesting letter from Dr. Brown to Dr. Craik is published in "Lossing's. History, Rec. 11, 506, quoted in "Hay- den," in which the former acknowledges that they were wrong in bleeding Wash- ington so much.

Dr. Brown died at his house, "Rose Hill," September 30, 1804, aged fifty-six. He was in active practice up to his last short illness.

On May 15, 1769, Dr. Brown married Miss Margaret Graham, of Prince William County, Virginia, and had four children, two daughters and two sons.

E. F. C.

Brown, Harvey E. (1840-1S89).

Harvey E. Brown, surgeon of the United States Army, was the son of Col. Harvey Brown of the fifth United States Artillery. After graduating in medicine at the University of New York he was appointed assistant surgeon to the seven- tieth New York Volunteer Regiment and was transferred to the regular army April 13, 1803. He rendered notable service

7 BROWN

during the Civil War. In 1881 he was pro- moted to the rank of major. During the last years of his life he was employed in the surgeon-general's office at Washing- ton. Dr. Brown was the author of "The Medical Department of the United States Army from 1775 to 1873." He died at Jackson Barracks, near New Orleans August 20, 1SS9. A. A.

Med. News, Phila., 18S9, lv.

Brown, John Ball (1784-1862).

John Ball Brown, pioneer orthopedist of America, son of Dr. Jabez Brown of Wilmington, Massachusetts, was born in that town October 20, 1784.

Graduating from Brown University in 1S06, he studied medicine with Dr. Augustus Holyoke and Dr. Moses Little at Salem and began practice in Dorchester in 1809 but returned to Boston in 1S12, shortly after (1S14) marrying the third daughter of Dr. John Warren.

He was appointed surgeon and physi- cian to the Boston Almshouse in 1S17 and associate surgeon to the Massachusetts General Hospital when that institution was organized, while in later years he be- came consulting surgeon.

In 1838 Dr. Brown began to devote his attention especially to orthopedics, a new specialty, being the first to introduce it to this country. He was the first in America to do subcutaneous tenotomy and had a wide reputation in the treat- ment of wry-neck, club-foot and spinal curvature, patients seeking his aid from places so remote as the Sandwich Islands.

Dr. Brown was said to have great me- chanical ingenuity in the invention and application of special surgical apparatus. He was assiduous in following up his patients, who were treated for the most part in his orthopedic infirmary, the first of its sort in Boston, and was an occa- sional writer for the medical journals on subjects connected with his specialty. In 1839 he republished from the " Boston .Medical and Surgical Journal," "Re- marks on the Operation for the Cure of Club-feet, with Cases."