Page:A cyclopedia of American medical biography vol. 1.djvu/433

 FORBES i

where he served as interne until March, 1855. Dr. Forbes then served in the English Military Hospital at Scutari dur- ing the Crimean War.

Upon returning to America, he open- ed in Philadelphia, opposite the Phila- delphia School of Anatomy, a private school of anatomy and operative sur- gery, which school was suspended dur- ing the Civil War, but afterwards re- opened and continued until 1870.

In 1862 Dr. Forbes was appointed surgeon of the United States Volunteers, serving as medical director of the thir- teenth Army Corps until 1S63, and after- wards as contract surgeon in charge of the Summit Hospital at Philadelphia.

In 1866 he took his M. D. at Pennsyl- vania University. From 1879 to 1886 he was demonstrator of anatomy in the Jefferson Medical College, and from 1886 up to the time of his death was also professor of anatomy and clin- ical surgery.

One of the greatest services render- ed by him was the drawing up of the anatomical law passed by Pennsyl- vania in 1867. This law was slightly amended in 18S3, and is one of the best of its kind in the country, and has served as the basis of many similar acts. Curiously enough, Dr. Forbes, fifteen years after the passage of this act, was arrested for complicity in the crime of robbing graves in Lebanon Cemetery, but was later acquitted of taking part in a traffic he had done so much to suppress. Perhaps the most import- ant of Dr. Forbes' publications is his "History of the Anatomical Act of Pennsylvania."

Dr. Forbes was a popular teacher and after his appointment to the chair of anatomy at the Jefferson Medical College, his practice was subordinated to collegiate duties.

He died DecembeT 17, 1006, in Phila- delphia.

His chief writings included:

"Harvey and the Transit of I he I'looil from the Arteries to the Veins" 1878.

"The Liberating of the King linger, in

3 FORD

Musicians, by Dividing the Accessory Tendons of the Extensor Communis Digi- torum Muscle," 8°. Philadelphia, 1884. (Reprinted from "Proceedings of Phila- delphia County Medical Society," 1884.) "The Removal of Stone in the Blad- der." (Reprinted from "Medical News," Philadelphia, 1S94, Ixiv.)

C. R. B.

Henry, Frederick P., Memoir of Dr. William S. Forbes. Repr. from Tr. Coll. Phys., PhUa., 1897.

Ford, Corydon L. (1813-1894).

Corydon L. Ford's father was Lieut. Abner Ford, a lineal descendant of William Ford who emigrated from England on the ship Fortune, landing at Plymouth, Massachusetts, Novem- ber, 1621. Corydon L. Ford, physician and anatomist, was born August 29, 1813, near Lexington, Greene County, New York, and an attack of infantile paralysis in early life left him crippled for severe labor. He taught in the common schools for eight years, the intervals of teaching being spent in studying medicine with the doctors around. He completed his general edu- cation at Canandaigua Academy where he formed a deep friendship with Dr. Edson Carr, the physician of Canan- daigua who not only befriended him while at school but introduced him to Geneva Medical College where he supported himself by serving as librarian and curator of the museum. In 1S42 he re- ceived his M. D. from Geneva Medical College and on the same day was ap- pointed demonstrator of anatomy. In 1847 Dr. Ford was appointed demon- strator of anatomy in the University of Buffalo, New York; in 1S49 he was professor of anatomy in Castle- ton Medical College, Castleton, Vermont. In 1852, to become professor of anatomy in Syracuse Dental College, he resign- ed both chairs, and in 1854 I

I physiology in the University of Michigan. During

itions he gave courses of l at other school I •