Page:A cyclopedia of American medical biography vol. 1.djvu/526

 HENROTIN

HEXROTIN

in Brussels, Belgium, and died in Cliicago, Sunday, December 9, 1906. At the age of ten he came to Chicago with his par- ents, and received a high school educa- tion here, graduating from Rush Medical College with the class of 1869.

As his father was a physician of note, he imbibed a taste for the medical pro- fession from early childhood, which only increased with his entrance into active practice. Even as a tender youth, he assisted his father, which was undoubtedly the means of creating in him a predilec- tion for the art of surgery. Endowed with a splendid physique, a fertile, well-balanced brain — the greatest of all inheritances — and in possession of a reading and speaking knowledge of the three most important modern languages — English, French, and German — he at once began his post-graduate education by the study of home and foreign med- ical literature, and thus kept pace with the wonderful advancements which have characterized the last three decenniums of the history of medicine. His desire for additional knowledge increased with the new discoveries and progress of the science and art of medicine and surgery.

Dr. Henrotin began his professional career under the most favorable auspices. Chicago, in population, did not then ex- ceed three hundred and fifty thousand inhabitants. His father enjoyed a lucra- tive practice, and after his death, young Henrotin became his natural successor.

During the last few weeks of his life he repeatedly came to St. Joseph's Hos- pital at midnight, spent the remainder of the night sitting in a chair, as he could neither lie down nor sleep, operated early in the morning, and then resumed his daily arduous routine work. About two weeks before his death, he came to the hospital late in the night, never closed his eyes, was panting for breath, and, early in the morning, performed three laparoto- mies. This was his last operative work, as next day he called, visited his patients, and bade the Sisters goodbye and return- ed to his home with the conviction that his mission on earth was ended.

Among other appointments: From 1S6S to 1870 he was prosector at Rush Medical College, surgeon of the Police De- partment fifteen years, and during this time edited and published a booklet on "First Aid," and for twenty-one years was the physician of the Fire Depart- ment. He was one of the founders of the Association of the Military Surgeons of Illinois, and never lost sight of the inter- ests of military medical affairs in this state. He served for many years on the medical staff of Cook County Hospital, and at the time of his death was president of the Medical Board. He was senior surgeon of the Alexian Brothers Hospital and consulting gynecologist of St. Joseph's and German Hospitals, also one of the founders of the Chicago Policlinic, and served from its beginning to the time of his death as its professor of gynecology. He was a member of the State Medical Society, Chicago Gynecological Society, American Gynecological Society, and president of the Chicago Medical Society.

His special leaning was to operative gynecology, and all of his scientific liter- ary productions pertain to this branch of surgery.

He was the first in America to perform vaginal hysterectomy for suppurative pelvic disease. If he had any hobbies, they were vaginal drainage and vaginal hysterectomy for malignant and myom- atous disease of the uterus. In this de- partment of pelvic surgery he was a mas- ter. His literary work was hampered by a very large and exacting practice. He contributed to medical literature many valuable and practical monographs on pelvic drainage and vaginal operations. Many of these articles were written in the dead of night, when less enthusiastic colleagues were asleep. His chapter on ectopic gestion in "Practice of Obstetrics" by American authors, and his article on gynecology in the "International Text- book of Surgery," deserve special at- tention, while on his deathbed he prac- tically completed the chapter on vaginal hysterectomy for Kelly and Xoble's " Gynecology and Abdominal Surgery."