Page:A cyclopedia of American medical biography vol. 1.djvu/257

 BYFORD 1

cases. Some of these were in the nature of marked improvements upon former methods in vogue; while they in turn subsequently gave way to still better methods of treatment, others came to remain permanently. It was not in his nature, however, to ca'l loudly for glory, and it not infrequently happened that others received the credit of discoveries of this character which were justly due to him, but which he could scarcely claim without controversy — something that he always abhored. He was one of the firs: to observe that the contents of pelvic abscesses often become encysted and undergo subsequent alterations with- out being discharged; to advocate lapa- rotomy for the relief of rupture of the uterus in cases of extrauterine pregnancy; to employ ergot for the expulsion of uterine fibroids, and in the enucleation of cysts of the broad ligament to advise the termination of the operation by the method of stitching the amputated cyst walls to the edges of the abdominal wound.

Of vigorous physique and temperate habits, old age had apparently done but little to exhaust his powers of mind or body; yet for several years he had been conscious of a cardiac lesion which, however, had not prevented him from actively continuing his usual labors. On the twenty-first of May, 1890, he experienced a severe attack of angina pectoris, which in two hours proved fatal. Three days before his death he performed a laparotomy, and even on the last fatal day he went to work as usual.

Dr. Byford was twice married, his second wife being Lina Flersheim. who with four children, a son and three daughters, the offspring of his first mar- riage, survived him. This son, Henry T., followed in the footsteps of his revered father.

Tr. Illinois State Med. Soo, I bi B [O, I 191,

vol. xli. (J. C. II.)

Am. Jour. Obstct., N. Y.. 1800. v< 1

Tr. Am. Gyn. Soc, Phila., 1.S90, vol. xv.

(port.)

N. Am. Pract., Chicago, 1890, vol. ii.

9 BYRD

Byrd, William Andrew (1843-1887).

William Andrew Byrd was born in Bath County, Virginia, October 3, 1843, and died in Quincy, Illinois, August 14, 1887. He was largely self-educated, his college training being limited to two years of study at the Missouri Medical College in St. Louis, Missouri, from which he graduated in 1867 and began practice in Lima, Illinois, a vil- lage near Quincy, Illinois. After three years he removed to Ursa, a little near- er Quincy, and in 1873 began his work in the larger city. His predominant in- terest was in surgery and he soon limited his work largely to this, becoming sur- geon to both the local hospitals and drawing patients from a radius of 100 miles to his clinic. He had unusual mechanical ability and initiative, and showed this in instituting and adopting new methods. In 1SS4 he recognized appendicitis as a surgical disease and made two successful appendectomies for its cure. These cases were reported to the surgical section of the American Medical Association. He became great- ly interested in abdominal surgery, made many successful intestinal resec- tions, devising an enterotome to aid in the closure of the artificial anus. He also devised an operation, known by his name, for the cure of imperforate anus in the new-born. While much of his work has been largely superseded by newer methods, he is still regarded as a pioneer in abdominal surgery. In recog- nition of this he was made a professor of abdominal surgery, a chair created especially for him in the Missouri Medical College where he taught this one month each year. He was also one of the found- ers of the American Surgical Association,

Dr. Byrd combined many charming personal traits in social intercourse, unusual originality and initiative, with an unusually wide and deep acquaint- ance with the literature 'if his profession, especially that part of it having to do with surgical pathology and surgical practice. He died suddenly at the height of his activity when only forty-