Page:A cyclopedia of American medical biography vol. 2.djvu/214

 MORGAN

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MORGAN

he jiavo rviilenco ot" a mechanical turn ot mind, j)rcfcrring; to pass his time in building miniature derricks, railway cars, boats, houses, etc., rather than in sports and out-door play; fond also of chemistry, physics and general experimentation, spending most of his leisure in a very creditable pharmaceutical and chemical laboratory which he had fitted up at his home. He studied medicine in George- town University in 1874, 1875 and 1S7. In 1S76 he entered the medical depart- ment of the University of Pennsylvania taking his M. D. there in the spring of 1877. In the same year he visited Europe for the purpose of attending lectures and clinics. He finally became a pupil of the French laryngologist Charles Fauvel and with him took courses in diseases of the upper air passages. In 1878 he left Paris for Vienna pursuing a similar line of studies and for six months he was assistant to Prof. Schnitzler in the Vienna PolycHnic. In 1878 he returned to his native city and for the first two years practised general medicine, but devoted most of his attention to affec- tions of the air passages and ear to which class of diseases he finally limited his practice in 1881. In the same year he was elected surgeon in charge of diseases of the nose, throat and chest in Provi- dence Hospital and professor of laryn- gology in the medical department of Georgetown University, positions which he held until death. His were the first lectures on laryngology ever delivered in the regular session of any medical school in Washington. In 1881, he was elected a member of the American Laryngological Association ; his inaugural thesis " Diph- thonia," which paper, together with his classical monograph on " Uvular Hemor- rhage" gained for him a most enviable reputation among his fellow members, and in 1888 he was elected president. He held a number of positions in the Medical Association and the Medical Society of the District of Columbia. In 1888 Georgetown University conferred upon him the degree Ph. D.

A versatile and clear writer, his scien-

t ific work was thorough anil of permanent value and he contributed to " Buck's Reference Hand Books" and "Keating's Encyclopedia of Diseases of Children," liaving prepared the article on " Ozena, Carcinoma, and Sarcoma of the Larynx" for the former and articles on "Epistaxis" in the latter. He was the inventor of a very efhcient uvula hemostatic clamj), an atomizer and universal powder blower. But thirty-five when he died, few men of his age attained greater distinction or a larger mea.sure of success.

His success was due to individual merit, scientific attainments, a thorough training, earnest and honest work coupled with unusual professional and business tact and unswerving loyalty to his patients. The writer, although six years his .senior, profited by his philosophical mind on more than one occasion, especi- ally when he informed him " If you want good advice go to friends, if you want to borrow money go to strangers, if you want nothing go to your relatives."

He was unmarried and accumulated quite a fortune, a large part of which he left, with characteristic generosity, for the endowment of scholarships and re- search work in the literary and medical department of Georgetown University.

He died at his home on the evening of May 5, 1891, from consumption, con- tracted some years before, after an attack of typhoid fever, during his profes-sional duties.

G. M. K.

Morgan, John (1735-1789).

The founder of the first medical school in America was of Welsh ancestry, his father, Evan Morgan, having emi- grated from Wales to Pennsylvania, settling in Philadelphia where he became a very successful merchant. John Mor- gan went to the Academy at Nottingham, in Maryland, kept by the Rev. Samuel Finley. Morgan received the degree of A. B. from the College of Philadelphia in 1757, with the first class that graduated. He then served as apprentice to Dr. John Redman for six years, thirteen months of