Page:A cyclopedia of American medical biography vol. 1.djvu/342

 DAVIS :

was born in Ross County, Ohio, Janu- ary 22, 1811, graduating from Ken- yon College in 1833, and in medicine from Cincinnati Medical College in 183S. Davis settled in Chillicothe and continued in practice there until 1849, when he removed to New York City, and lived there until his death. His youth was spent in the Scioto Valley, so renowned for its ancient earth- works, and the first school he ever attended was located on a mound near the Circleville group. Living in the same county, and cognizant of the labors of Mr. Atwater and other pioneer explorers, his attention was directed at a very early age to the subject of American antiquities. From 1829 to 1S33, while a student at Kenyon Col- lege, he conducted a series of explor- ations in the mounds of that vicinity, an account of which was given in a paper read before the Philomathian Society. Afterwards, by request of the professors, this paper was enlarged, and delivered as a literary performance at the college commencement of 1S33. During that year he had several in- terviews with Daniel Webster, then making a tour of the West. That great statesman was deeply interested in the subject of western antiquities, and was pained to witness their rapid disappearance by the plow of the pioneer. He suggested the formation of a society to purchase and preserve some of the most remarkable works of the mound builders. The opinion of such a man was well calculated to stimulate the youthful mind of Davis to continue these researches. For fif- teen years he was diligently engaged in making surveys, opening mounds, collecting and arranging the results of his labors.

In June, 1845, Mr. E. G. Squire went to Ohio under an engagement to edit the" Scioto Gazette,." a weekly paper, at a yearly salary of .$450. He remain- ed in Ohio less than two years. Los- ing his position as editor, he was in- vited to Davis's house where he spent

« DAVIS

several months assisting in arranging and copying out the voluminous notes and observations made previously by Davis, also making drawings and dia- grams with descriptions of the work jointly examined by them. Prof. Joseph Henry, secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, having become interested in the subject, an arrangement was made with Davis to have his notes and observations published at the expense of the institution; Davis and Mr. Squire to receive each $1,000.

A portion of Davis's collection was sent to New York in order to have engravings made, printing done, etc., and Mr. Squire engaged to superintend the drawings, maps, etc., and edit the observations made by Davis, the latter continuing his practice in Chillicothe. In 1848 the result of his extensive explorations appeared in a work en- titled "Ancient Monuments of the Miss- issippi Valley," which formed the first volume of the "Smithsonian Contribu- tions to Knowledge." " By E. G. Squire and E. H. Davis." While ed- iting this work Mr. Squire prepared and read before the Ethnological Society a paper embodying the prin- cipal facts of the new book, and it was published with their proceedings. This caused great dissatisfaction, and Prof. Henry came near throwing up the whole thing. He also, unbeknown to Henry or Davis, placed his own name before that of Dr. Davis on the title page. Dr. Davis paid Mr. Squire's board during the time of printing the work. Mr. Squire received fifty copies, the same number as Dr. Davis. Dr. Davis bore the entire expense of these investigations, viz., the traveling, surveying, and opening of over two hundred mounds, amount- ing without any allowance for time to nearly $20,000. All the remuneration he ever received for all his time, labor and expenditure was fifty copies of the book, given him by the Smithso- nian Institution, and the $10,000 re- ceived for his collection, purchased by Mr. Blaekmore, of England, who