Page:A cyclopedia of American medical biography vol. 1.djvu/310

 CONKLIN 1_

On January 4, 1S30, while again a member of Congress, he was elected president of the First Decennial Pharma- copoeial Convention held in Washing- ton, District of Columbia, and the presi- dent of the Pharmacopceial Convention which convened ten years later, in 1840.

In 1853 he was elected second vice- president of the American Medical Association and was an original member of the New Jersey Historical Society, contributing many papers of great value.

The responsibilities of political station did not diminish his interest in his pro- fession, for he was always enthusiastic in laboring for its advancement His life was not only moral but consistently religious. H. L. C.

A Sketch of the Life of Lewis Condict, M. D., Dr. Henry L. Coit.

Conklin, Henry Smith (1813-18S9).

A native of Champaign County, Ohio.

Henry Smith Conklin was born of Scotch-Irish parentage on July 8, 1813, and in 1833 began the study of medi- cine under Dr. Needham, of Springfield, Ohio, and Dr. Robert Rodgers, of the same place.

His first course of lectures was at- tended at the Medical College of Ohio in the winter of 1835-1836. He began to practise in Sidney, Ohio, in 1836, where he continued until his death in 1889. In 1860 he was elected President of the Ohio State Medical Society, of which he was one of the founders.

On invitation by Gov. Dennison, he as- sisted in organizing the medical depart- ments of the first Ohio regiments which went to the front on the outbreak of the War of the Rebellion.

He was commissioned surgeon to Gen. Fremont's infantry body-guard (Benton Cadets), and served during a portion of the Missouri campaign, but resigned when Fremont was relieved from command of the department.

Two of his sons studied medicine. W. J. C.

! CONNER

Conner, Phineas Sanborn (1839-1909).

Soon after Dr. Conner's sudden death in April, 1909, five of his medical con- freres came together to tell a meeting how they had known him: one spoke of his surgical ability; one of his teaching powers; another extolled him as a firm friend; a fourth for his somewhat austere but absolutely honorable disposition, and the fifth spoke of him as an example in work to the student. Many others said kind and true things of the lad who was a son of Dr. Phineas Conner and his wife Eliza Sanborn and born in August, 1839, at West Chester, Pennsylvania. When he was two he was brought to Cincinnati, and at twenty he graduated from Dart- mouth College, then on to the Medical College of Ohio and Jefferson Medical Col- lege, graduating from the latter in 1861. After holding several military appoint- ments he settled down in Cincinnati to practise.

As a surgeon he was possessed of rare diagnostic acumen, unusual skill. His contributions to medical literature are exceedingly numerous and valuable, and cover a period of thirty-five years, from 1870 to 1905, touching upon almost every branch of surgery.

As an operator Dr. Conner was ex- ceedingly bold. He was particularly fond of operations for the removal of cancer of the upper jaw. In the wide field of gunshot wounds, upon the broad subject of the diseases of the blood-ves- sels, on the management of head injuries, there was no man in the country, while Dr. Conner was at his best, whose judg- ement, was more reliable.

He had great fondness for books, engravings and etchings. With complete freedom from all ostentation, he at one time collected precious stones, which, he preserved unmounted, for the delecta- tion of his friends.

Dr. Conner married December 17, 1873, Julia E. Johnston, of Cincinnati, who died in 1899. The children were Edith Johnston, Phineas Sanborn, a physician, who died in 1906, and Helen Elizabeth.

He was made professor of surgery in the