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MILLER

dor tho title "Principles and Practice of Obstetrics," a work recofjnized for j-ears as an authority, being regardetl as one of the most sound and reliable books in tlie language. He accepted nothing as true without thorough in- vestigation and most critical study, though his opinions on some points were not accepted at the time, subsequent study and investigation proved their validity. He was a frequent contributor to the various medical journals at the time and his articles carried with them the weight of authority. In ISGO he Avas elected president of the American Med- ical Association at its annual meeting in Louisville. He was the first in Louis- ville and one of the first in the United States to employ the speculum uteri, or to employ anesthesia in obstetric practice in Louisville.

June 24, 1824, Dr. Miller married Clarrisa Robertson, and had seven children, one of whom, Edward, be- came an eminent surgeon.

A partial list of his writings is given in the "Surgeon-general's Catalogue," Washington, District of Columbia.

B. F. Z.

Richmond and Louisville Med. J., Louisville. 1872, vol. xiii.

Tr. Amer. M. Ass., Pbila.. 187.5, vol. xxvi. Tr. Kentucky Med. Soc, Louisville. 187.5 (L. P. Yandell).

Miller, John (1774-1862).

John ^Miller was born in the town of Armenia, County of Dutchess, New York, on November 10, 1774. His advantages for early education were very limited; he attended the district school about one year and a classical school in Connecticut about the same length of time, his boy- hood being spent in laboring on the farm. He commenced to study medicine with Dr. Miller, an uncle, in Dutchess County, in the year 1793. At the expiration of little more than a year he went to Wash- ington County, New York, and entered the office of Dr. Moshier, of Easton, in that county. While living with Dr. Mo.shier, young Miller received a severe

injury by being thrown from a horse and was uiiul)le to pursue his studies more than two years. During his ]>eriod he returned to his home in Dutchess County. After several months at lioine h<> was induced by the advice of Dr. Baird, of New York, to seek an appointment in the then small Navy of the United States. For this purpose, though much against the wishes of his family, he went to New York, where he was presented by Dr. Baird and others, with letters of recommendation to Dr. Benjamin Rush, of Philadelphia. At that time Miller was in poor health, and being tall, more than six feet in height, and thin in body. Dr. Rush was somewhat amused that so ghostly looking a young man should think of going into the navy, and said to him: " Young man, you look better fitted for a skeleton in my office than for a post in the navy." Dr. Rush went with him to visit the President of the United States, and through the influence of Dr. Rush he obtained the place he sought, and was directed to report himself to the surgeon of the United States brig New York, then soon to sail for Tripoli. Upon further acquaintance Dr. Rush advised Miller to resign his post in the navy and proffered him a position in his family and office as a private pupil. This offer he readily embraced, and remained for nearly two years, accompanying the doctor on his rides into the country, and attending the lectures of Dr. Rush and Dr. Shippen at the University of Pennsylvania. From Pennsylvania he returned to Washington Count}^, New York, in 1798, and entered into co-partnership with Dr. Moshier, his former instructor, where he remained until 1801. He was licensed to practise medicine by the Vermont Medical Society in 1800. The law regulating the practice of medicine in New York was not enacted until 1806. On leaving Washington County in 1801, he came into the then town of Fabius, Nonodaga County, now Truxton, Cortland County, New York, and practised there twenty-five years. From his early physical training on the