Page:A cyclopedia of American medical biography vol. 1.djvu/247

 BUSEY 1

of Pennsylvania where he enjoyed the teaching of such men as the elder Pepper, Wood, Gerhard, Chapman, Gibson, Horn- er, Hodge, and graduated April 8, 1848. In May, 1S48 he began his lifework in Washington in consulting rooms on Capitol Hill, and in the following year married Miss Catherine Posey. In the struggle for existence which confronts every beginner in a profession, he earn- ed less than a dollar a day the first year, while the receipts from his second year's practice were only $800. Theieafter his practice, his income and his influence steadily increased.

In 1853 he was elected professor of materia medica in the medical depart- ment of Georgetown University, but in 1S5S symptoms of pulmonary disease appeared and drove him to take up the life of a farmer. He moved out to " Belvoir," near the site of what is now Cleveland Park, a change undoubtedly beneficial and one which added many years to a useful life. He attended pro- fessionally most of the neighboring families and kept up with the rapid advances then being made in the med- ical sciences, then after ten years re- turned to Washington September, 1869, physically and professionally well equip- ped for a busy life. In that year he helped to organize a dispensary in con- nection with the Columbia Hospital and was placed in charge of the depart- ment of diseases of infancy and child- hood. One of the blessings resulting from this connection was the establish- ment, November 25, 1S70, of the Chil- dren's Hospital, and when in 1872 the fit - 1 post-graduate school of clinical med- icine in this country was established there he was one of its most successful teachers. In -Inly, 1875, he was appointed pro- fessor of Diseases of Infancy and Child- hood in the Medical School of George- town University. In 1880 he was one of Dr. Jacobi's coadjutors in establishing the section of diseases of children in the American Medical Association. lie presided over the first meeting, read i paper, entitled "Chronic Bright'

BUSEY

Disease in Children caused by Malaria," and was elected chairman of the section in 1881. He was also one of the found- ers of the American Pediatric Society. His interest in behalf of sick children remained unabated; in 1896-1897 he pointed out the absence in Washington of suitable provisions for the treatment of contagious diseases, and thanks to his persistent efforts, these pavilions were established in connection with two hospitals. He was also a founder of the American Derma tological Association.

In 1875 he was elected president of the Medical Association and in 1876 professor of theory and practice of med- icine in the Medical School of George- town University, which position he filled until compelled by declining strength to give up active teaching. He received there in 1899 the LL. D., the highest honor the University had to bestow.

In 1877 he was elected president of the medical society and re-elected from 1S94 to 1899, and largely helped in the founding of the Garfield Memorial Hospital, the Washington Obstetrical Society, Columbia Historical Society, and the Washington Academy of Sciences.

On the fiftieth anniversary of his graduation, April S, 1S98, Dr. Busey was tendered a banquet by the local profession.

How well he deserved this evidence of respect is shown by a list of more than forty distinct distributions to medical literature, besides his miscellaneous pub- lications. The world is indebted to him for his work on "Congenital Occlusion and Dilatation of Lymph Channels," and his masterly exposition of "The Wrongs of Craniotomy upon the Living Fetus," writings which have long since become cla ie.

For several years he had been in delicate health, yet his interest in the Medical Society and Academy was so great that he rarely missed a meeting and also made the Academy the beneficiary of a bequest, without conditions, amount- ing to about $5,000.

Peacefully and quietly in the early