Page:A cyclopedia of American medical biography vol. 2.djvu/353

 REED

REED

and laboratory work which made thorn pecuharly attractive.

In the summer of 1902 Harvard Uni- versity showed her recognition of Reed's services to humanity by conferring upon him the honorary degree of M. A. and shortly after the University of Michigan made him an LL. D.

In November, 1902, he was taken ill with appendicitis, for which his old friend and brother officer Maj. Borden operated, finding trouble extending back over some j^ears. The removal of the appendix was followed by sloughing, and unfortunately Reed's general health was so much depreciated by years of over- exertion that he had no strength to make resistance. On the fifth day after the operation symptoms of peritonitis ap- peared, after which he sank rapidly and died on November 22, 1902. He was buried at Arlington, the monument erected to his memory by his wife bearing this inscription, taken from the address made by Pres. Eliot when conferring upon him the Harvard degree, " He gave to man control over that fearful scourge, Yellow Fever."

Walter Reed married, in 1876, Emilie Lawrence of Murfriesboro, North Caro- lina. He had two children; a son, Walter Lawrence, became an officer in the United States Army, and a daughter, Emilie Lawrence.

Reed's greatest service to humanity was, of course, his discovery of the means by which yellow fever can be controlled, a discovery which, as Gen. Leonard Wood said, " results in the saving of more lives annually than were lost in the Cul)an war and saves the commercial prosperity of the country greater financial losses in every year than the cost of the Cuban war." Aside from his work in yellow fever, however, he accomplished much in the service of his fellow men. His investigations in typhoid fever, in ery- sipelas, and in cholera did much to im- prove our knowledge of these diseases; his influence as a teacher was singularly deep and far-reaching; while the good done during the long years of quiet

unrecognized service as a post surgeon brought an amount of health and happi- ness into many lives which can never be estimated.

His writings included:

"The Contagiousness of Erysipelas." (" Boston Medical and Surgical Journal," vol. cxxvi, 1892.)

"Remarks on the Cholera Spirillum." (" Northwest Lancet," St. Paul, vol. xiii, 1893.)

"Association of Proteus Vulgaris with Diplococcus Lanceolatus in a Case of Croupous Pneumonia." ("Johns Hop- kins Hospital Bulletin," Baltimore, vol. V, 1894.)

"The Germicidal Value of Trikresol." ("St. Louis Medical and Surgical Jour- nal," vol. Ixvi, 189-1.)

Idem. ("Proceedings of the Associ- ation of Military Surgeons of the United States," Washington, St. Louis, vol. iv, 1894.)

"A Brief Contribution to the Identi- fication of Streptococcus Ery.sipelatos." (" Boston Medical and Surgical Journal," vol. cxxxi, 1894.)

"An Investigation into the So-called Lymphoid Nodules of the Liver in Typhoid Fever." ("Johns Hopkins Hospital Report," Baltimore, vol. v, 1895.)

" An Investigation into the So-called Lymphoid Nodules of the Liver in Ab- dominal Typhus." ("American Journal of Medical Sciences," Philadelphia, n. s., vol. ex, 1895.)

" What Credence should be given to the Statements of Those Who claim to furnish Vaccine Lymph free of Bac- teria." (Read before the District of Columbia Medical Society, June 5.) ("Journal of Practical Medicine," New York, vol. V, July, 1S95.)

"The Character, Prevalence, and prob- able Causation of the Malarial Fevers at Washington Barracks and Fort Mej'er." (" Report of the Surgeon-general of the Army," Washington, 1896.)

"The Parasite of Malaria." ("Jour- nal of Practical Medicine," New York, vol. vi, April, 1896.)