Page:A cyclopedia of American medical biography vol. 1.djvu/304

 COFFIN

COGSWELL

father he was well qualified, although still very young, to succeed to his exten- sive and difficult practice. As the pop- ulation increased, and physicians settled in the outlying towns, young Coffin had to ride on horseback over the bad roads, yet had ever more and more to do as consultant in his native town.

In 1770 he married a daughter of Isaac Foster, of Charlestown, Massachusetts, and had eleven children.

He early inhaled the spirit of indepen- dence, and was very active in the war of the Revolution. When Portland was threatened with bombardment by Mo- watt, Coffin was sent on board his ship as one of the town commissioners to remonstrate against the outrage, but all in vain, for the bombardment took place with frightful results. Dr. Coffin went into the country with the exiles, and did his best to alleviate their sufferings during that inclement season of the year. He also worked vigorously the entire winter among the numerous sick. During the entire war he took care of all the wounded and sick who were brought into Portland on men of war or privateers.

Coffin was soon at the head of his pro- fession; prompt, always ready, steady of hand, bold as an operator, and doing things that no other doctor in those days dared to attempt. He was an excellent surgeon. Some of his operations were done in his eightieth year. It may be remarked that he was ambidextrous with the knife, so that his operations were performed rapidly and skillfully. He was also a forceful and diligent prac- titioner. His advice was greatly sought for not only as a physician, but as a man of honor and well versed in business af- fairs. An honorary M. D. was given him from Bowdoin College, and he was a member of the Massachusetts Medical Society, president of the Maine Medical Society, and, for a long series of years, hospital surgeon for all the marine pati- ents in the Portland district.

In the papers of Dr. Jeremiah Barker we find him mentioned as the most skillful surgeon east of the Massachusetts

Bay Colony. He had large success in tapping for dropsies, and in fractures. He did many trephining operations, and in one instance performed this operation twice on the same individual with a finally perfect recovery. He also per- formed what we now call Chopart's amputation of the foot in a case of tet- anus with fortunate results .... He suffered considerably with gout in the latter part of his life, and it is stated in one old letter that he often used to walk in the grass when the dew was on it with good results. This would antedate Father Kneipp's treatment by some eighty years I A fine looking man, with polished manners, urbane, healthy, captivating in his behavior to every- body, his services, owing to his ex- ceeding good health and his long ex- perience, were valuable to the last. In 1823 and 1S24 he had attacks of asthma, which terminated in a general break- ing up of his constitution. He remained in the same condition for another year, then failed rapidly and died October 18, 1826, at eighty-two, and dying on the fifty-first anniversary of the destruc- tion of Portland, which he survived so long yet remembered so clearly to the last. He had practised sixty years, and continued his good work nearly to the end. J A. S.

Thacher's Med. Biog.

Cogswell, Charles (1813-1S92).

Charles Cogswell was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, May 12, 1813, a descend- ant of ancestors who had come from Massachusetts and settled in Cornwallis, Nova Scotia about 1761.

Educated at King's College, Windsor, he graduated in arts in 1831, and took his professional course at the University of Edinburgh where he graduated M. D. in 1836, subsequently studying in London and Paris.

He then settled in his native city, where he was a valued member of the profession for many years, but he went to London, England, where he became