Page:A cyclopedia of American medical biography vol. 1.djvu/89

 MEDICAL JURISPRUDENCE lxxix

ently inexhaustible resources, but he is a closely connected reasoner, as well as a ready writer.

For the next twelve long years no lego-medical book of the very slightest import appeared in America: the science of legal medicine in America appeared (to use the words of the immortal Micawber) to be progressing in a retrograde direction. Then (in 1850) came a volume by a lawyer, a production to be considered here merely as a matter of completeness, for this cyclopedia deals exclusively with doctors. I refer to the substantial work of Amos Dean, Esq., professor of medical juris- prudence in the Albany Medical College, entitled, "Principles of Medical Jurisprudence: Designed for The Professions of Law and Medicine."

This is a very scholarly work, not to be compared, however, with the masterpiece of Beck. The reader is just a little surprised and dis- appointed to find the legal side of the subject rather feebly developed. Take for instance the division on insanity. There is nowhere here a tracing out of the legal relations of the subject, such as given by Ray in his "Medical Jurisprudence of Insanity." The style of the book is clear, and, in general, good.

In 1855 appeared a larger and much more widely circulated volume than that of Dean — the " Medical Jurisprudence " of Wharton and Stille. Francis Wharton was a distinguished lawyer and Moreton Still6, a young doctor who died between the completion and the publication of the book. The work is thorough. It is also richly illustrated with well narrated cases, and even the old editions are much read at the present time.

In the same year (1855) appeared an essay on one of the specialties of legal medicine, a production which deserves to be mentioned in even the briefest possible summary of medico-jurisprudential progress. I refer to Hamilton's " Deformities after Fractures." The influence which this little book of fewer than 100 pages has had, directly and indirectly, on the results of suits for malpractice, brought against physicians, has been almost incalculable. It is not an obsolete volume yet, by any means, and still repays careful perusal.

Another work concerned to a large extent with malpractice appeared in 1861, entitled "Elwell's Malpractice, Medical Evidence, and Insanity." Elwell was both a doctor and a lawyer, and a profound student of both medicine and law; his work makes excellent reading. He became an authority abroad as well as in America and the book went through four editions.

In 18G7 appeared once more in the medico-jurisprudential heavens a star of the first magnitude — Wormley, whose chief work is " The Micro- Chemistry of Poisons." This is rather a large volume, distinguished around the world for its thoroughness and accuracy. It contains the results of a number of original researches and gave to its indefatigable