Page:A cyclopedia of American medical biography vol. 2.djvu/114

 LEWIS

Lewis, Francis West (lS2r>-1902).

MoiUc-al annals and medical libraries would be searched in vain for the pro- fessional and literary achievements of Francis W. Ijcwis, son of Mordecai D. and Sarah West Lewis, but the Childrens' Hospital on Twenty-second Street in Philadelphia is a fine monument to a man who gave his best years to lightening the burden of suffering childhood.

He himself when only seven went to Bronson Alcott's School in Germantown, afterwards to Bishop Hopkins' Institute at Burlington, Vermont, graduating from the Universit}^ of Pennsylvania at eigh- teen and taking his M. D. there in 1846 and becoming a fellow of the College of Physicians in 1855.

Two years were then spent partly in studying ojihthalmics under Sir William Wilde in Dublin and afterw-ards in work at the Salpetriere, Paris, a varied experience to end in an appointment of resident physician at the Pennsylvania Hospital.

The cares, two years later, of a large private practice among the Philadelphia poor drew on his strength and he made frequent voyages abroad, but during these and while he w'as tending sick soldiers in the Satterlee Hospital, Philadelphia, or in the temporary military hospital in Harris- burg he had one cherished hope — that of giving sick children a hospital all to themselves.

Finally, in 1855, aided by Dr. Penrose and Dr. Bache, a small house furnished with twelve beds was opened in Blight Street, Philadelphia, and Dr. Lewis' love for his new work as physician there grew ever greater, though from 1866- 68 he had decided to and had given up practising. "Another infant cherub- ized" he would sigh as a disease-worn child set out to heaven from the hospital and he prized nothing more than his wel- come from the children when he went into the wards.

A broad minded philanthropist, a lover of natural science and art, a great reader and a good friend. Dr. West with his two sisters helped onwards the well-being of

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their native town, l)ut one cold night in February, 1902, a day of severe blizzard, he received his death blow from pneu- monia because he would attend the Char- ity Organization meeting, his death tak- ing place that same month.

Trans. Coll. of Phys., Pa., 1903, vol. xxv. Universities and their Sons (Penn.) 1902.

Lewis, Samuel (1813-1890).

It takes all sorts of doctors to build up the medical profession and the name of a man who spends his time and money accumulating books curious and useful, ancient and modern, for others which he himself can never hope for time to enjoy is worth recording. Such a one was Samuel Lewis "who possessed a steady and intelligent generosity out of all pro- portion to the size of an income never more than moderate" — this o{)inion of him by S. Weir Mitchell.

He was born in Barbadoes, November 16, 1813, and came to Philadelphia with his uncle and guardian the Rev. Prescod Hinds when not quite twenty-one and in the fall of the same year matriculated at the University of Pennsylvania, but after one year went to Edinburgh and matric- ulated there, first experiencing a severe attack of small-pox owing to non- vaccina- tion while in the Indies, and being given a patient, who had died of the disease, to dissect. After recovery he became dresser to the celebrated Syme, professor of clinical surgery in Edinburgh. After a while he stayed in London then on to Dublin, returning to Edinburgh in 1840 and taking his M. D. there. The same year he went back again to Philadelphia and entered active practice besides help- ing Dr. Hollingsworth edit "The Medical Examiner." He was closely attached to all medical interests but was most of all anxious to improve the college library and in 1864 presented to it his private library of 2,500 carefully selected volumes, so making the college collection the best in the state. He valued books for their historical association and their utility rather than their rarity, though he loved also a beautiful book. His greatest