Page:A cyclopedia of American medical biography vol. 1.djvu/540

 HITCHCOCK

HOBBINS

a gastro-enteritis induced probably by ptomaine poisoning. A. M.

Hitchcock, Homer O. (1S27-1SSS).

Homer O. Hitchcock, surgeon and gynecologist, was born in Westmins- ter, Vermont, January 28, 1827, and had his general education in common schools and Dartmouth College (A. B., 1851) (A. M., 1854). After serving as principal of Axford Academy, New Hampshire (during 1S52-3), he took one course at Dartmouth Medical Col- llege and one at the College of Physi- cians and Surgeons, New York, receiving his M. D. from the latter in 1855. He then served as house surgeon in Bellevue Hospital for fifteen months, and began practice in Kalamazoo, Michigan. In 1873 he was president of the Kalamazoo Academy of Med- icine; in 1872 president of the Michigan State Medical Society; 1873-7S presi- dent of the Michigan State Board of Health.

Hitchcock had a distinguished ap- pearance, about six feet tall, large head, fine blue eyes, strong face, a pow- erful voice, made more emphatic by a partially controlled habit of stutter- ing. His early training made him able to think on his feet and speak with convincing power and also made him a writer of unusual ability. He will probably be longest remembered for his earnest efforts in the behalf of the establishment and maintenance of the Michigan State Board of Health. On September 16, 1856, he married Fidelia Wellman, of Cornish, New Hampshire, who died in 1874 and by whom he had three children, one be- came Dr. C. W. Hitchcock. In 1875 he married Kate B. Wilcox, by whom he had one son. Homer O. Hitch- cock died in Kalamazoo, Michigan, December 7, 1S88, from organic brain disease.

Papers :

"Death from Air in the Circulation." ("Transactions American Medical Asso- ciation," vol. xv.)

"Embolism of Cerebral Arteries." ("Detroit Review of Medicine and Phar- macy, vol. ii.)

" Ulcerating Epithelioma o f the Uterus." (Ibid., vol. vii.)

"Removal by Ecraseur of the Body of the Uterus for Three Years Inverted by Submucous Fibroid Tumor." ("Detroit Lancet," vol. i.)

"Case of Sarcoma of the Ovary; Re- moval; Death on the Fourth Day (From Tetanus)." ("American Lancet," vol.xi.)

" Hernia Complicated with Hydrocele and Hematocele; all Cured by Operation." ("Medical Independent," vol. hi.)

"The Fertility of the Native American of the Present Generation." ("Michigan University Medical Journal," vol. ii.)

"Criminal Abortion." ("Transac- tions Michigan State Board of Health," 1876.)

"Heredity." (Ibid., 1877.)

L. C.

Representative Men graphical Co., 1S7S.

Mich., West. Bio-

Hobbins, Joseph (1S16-1894).

Joseph Hobbins was born in Wednes- bury, Staffordshire, England. His father served in the English navy and was dis- patch bearer to Lord Nelson at the battle of Trafalgar.

Hobbins gained his early education at Colton Hall under the direction of one Daniel Sheridan, a relative of Richard Brinsley Sheridan, and graduated at Queen's College, Birmingham, where he distinguished himself by winning a gold medal in 1838. Later he entered Guy's Hospital in London and received there his college diploma permitting him as a licensed physician to study in the hospit- als of Edinburgh, Dublin, Brussels and Paris. It was to fit himself for his life- work that he came to America to travel and study. On the way over he met Sarah Badger Griffin Jackson of Newton, Massachusetts, and was married to her in England October 11, 1841. In 1S54 the doctor, with his wife, children and ser- vants, again sailed for America and came direct to Madison, Wisconsin.