Page:A cyclopedia of American medical biography vol. 2.djvu/201

 MITCHELL

177

MITCHELL

He was treasurer of the Massachusetts Medical Society from 1863 to 1875 and was one of the founders of the Massa- chusetts Medical Benevolent Society. For many years he was a member of the Obstetrical Society of Boston.

Dr. Minot contributed papers on " The Treatment of Acute Pneumonia," "Cases of Pulmonary Consumption Followed by Recovery or Arrest of the Disease," and other topics, to the medical press. He was an excellent teacher and a man of most courteous bearing both in the class- room and at the bedside.

His portrait is in the Boston Medical Library where he is also commemorated by a book fund. W. L. B.

Bos. Med. and Sur. Jour., vol. cxl.

Mitchell, Ammi Ruhammi (1762-1824).

Ammi Mitchell was the son of Judge David Mitchell, who was judge of the Court of Common Pleas for Cumberland County, Maine, and member of the Gen- eral Court of the Commonwealth of Massa- chusetts, and was born May 8, 1762, and named after the celebrated Dr. Cutter.

When young Mitchell was nineteen years old he went to Portsmouth and studied medicine with his namesake. While there, our government gave to France a new man of war called the "America" in place of a French ship which had been lost off our coasts. The French government had sent Dr. Meau- bec to Portsmouth, to be surgeon of the new ship on her return to France. This gentleman took a great fancy to young Mitchell, and persuaded him to go with him to France as svugeon's mate on the "America." This he did and visited all the places of interest under Dr. Meaubec's patronage, to .say nothing of obtaining the best possible opportunities of study- ing medicine in Paris for a long time.

When Dr. Mitchell returned to North Yarmouth, he could hardly decide to spend his life in so .small a place. It happened, however, that while consider- ing whether to settle, one patient came, and before her ease was finished, another wanted his services, so that ultimately Vol. 11-12

Dr. Mitchell passed his life in that town, gaining an extensive practice.

In his practice. Dr. Mitchell had remarkable success, most of which, in those religious days was regarded as due to the fact that he always asked God's blessing on his medicine chest and its contents as well as upon himself, looking heavenward for assistance to the efficacy of the drugs grown on God's earth and saci'ed soil. He was successful, also, owing to his intense humor. He had an enormous fund of anecdote, which made everybody laugh, and his wit went far to help his cures. He was most energetic in stamping out an epidemic of malignant fever brought in 1807 by a vessel from the West Indies.

At his funeral .service, the Rev. Asa Cumraings publicly regretted that at times Dr. Mitchell's mirth would run through an audience like contagion, when sobriety of mind would have been much more appropriate. Dr. Mitchell was dis- tinctly a literary man, and not a few papers were written by him, and read before the public, or printed in the news pajiers of the day.

Dr. Mitchell died, as it were, in harness, May 14, 1824. He and his horse and carriage were seen going down a hill and an hour later the horse and empty wagon appeared in Dr. Mitchell's yard. Search was made, and the good physician was found dead on the road side, having prob- ably been thrown l)y a I:)ad i)lace in the road.

People from miles around attended the funeral, and there was much lamentation for the sudden death of their genial, respected, and beloved medical man, who at si.xty-four seemed well prepared for many years more of active and gen- erous practice.

He married when twenty-four, and was the father of twelve children.

J. A. S. Thacher's Med. Biog.

Mitchell, Giles Sandy (1852-1904).

Giles Sandy Mitchell was born in Martinsville, Indiana, May 31, 1852, the