Page:A cyclopedia of American medical biography vol. 1.djvu/408

 ESKRIDGE

ESKRIDGE

Immediately after graduation he prac- tised in Philadelphia, for a time acting as assistant demonstrator of anat- omy in Jefferson Medical College and physician to the Philadelphia Dispensary. In 1879 he was appointed lecturer on physical diagnosis at the Phila- delphia School of Anatomy, and attend- ing physician to St. Mary's Hospital. He was elected in 1880 attending phy- sician to Jefferson Medical College Hos- pital; in 1882, neurologist to the Howard Hospital, and in 1883, post-graduate instructor in mental and nervous diseases in Jefferson Medical College.

Dr. Eskridge's health broke down in 18S3, and in 1884 he went west on ac- count of tuberculosis of the lungs and settled in Colorado Springs, where he spent four years, and in 188S he removed to Denver where he again practised. In 1S89 he was appointed neurologist and alienist to the Arapahoe County and St. Luke's Hospitals, and the next year began giving a course of lectures on the diseases of the nervous system in the University of Colorado. In 1892 he was appointed dean of the medical faculty of the same institution and professor of mental and nervous diseases and medical jurisprudence, but in 1897 he resigned, severing all connections with the college. In 1895 he was ap- pointed commissioner of the State In- sane Asylum and from 1895 to 1898 was president of the board.

Eskridge's master mind was housed in a body all too frail to endure the work he had mapped out for himself. The systematic manner in which he studied cases, or applied his reasoning powers to abstruse problems of diagnosis, il- lustrated the whole life manner and method. The courts often desired his opinion and sought it privately in many cases when attorneys had failed to put him on the witness stand.

A close student of medical literature and a prolific contributor to its most difficult branch, he yet found time, in spite of a busy life, to range the broad- er fields of general literature.

In 1876 Eskridge married Jane Grey, who was born in Ireland but came to this country in childhood. They had no children.

Eskridge died in Denver, Colorado, January 15, 1902, his death being due to cerebral thrombosis, from chronic intestinal nephritis. His writings num- bered over sixty papers, the chief being:

"Tumor of the Brain, with Double Nasal Hemianopsia." ("International Clinics," Vol. i, sixth series.)

"The Specific and Non-specific Le- sions of the Brain Resulting from Syphi- lis and Their Influence Upon Diagno- sis, Prognosis and Treatment." ("The Journal of the American Medical Associ- ation," January 4, 1902.")

"Irrigation of the Posterior Cerebral Fossa for the Relief of Basilar Menin- gitis." ("The Journal of Nervous and Mental Diseases," November, 1895.)

" Report of a Case of Intradural Spi- nal Tumor Extending Through the Fora- men Magnum, Compressing the Ex- treme Upper Portion of the Cord, and Almost Completely Destroying It at the Third Cervical Segment." ("The Medical News," September 25, 1897.)

"Temporary Abulic Agraphia Prob- ably Due to Partial Obstruction of the Superior Longitudinal Sinus." ("Colorado Medical Journal," June, 1896.)

"Idiopathic Muscular Atrophy." "Journal of Nervous and Mental Dis- eases," April, 1893.)

"Tumor of the Cerebellum." ("Bos- ton Medical and Surgical Journal," January 10, 1895.)

"Poliomyelitis Occurring in an Epi- demic Form, Followed Twelve Years Later by Progressive Muscular Atrophy and Lateral Sclerosis." ("Colorado Medical Journal, January, 1896.)

"Expert Witnesses." ("Denver Med- ical Times," May, 1892.)

"Trephining in Three Cases of Epi- lepsy; Two of the Jacksonian Variety; One Due to Old Meningeal Hemorrhage; Improvement." (" Medical News," Oc- tober 13, 1894.)