Page:A cyclopedia of American medical biography vol. 2.djvu/378

 ROW

Row, Elhanon W. (1833-1900).

Elhaiion W. Row, surgeon, was born in Orange County, Virginia, on November 8, 1S33, and after a common school ed- ucation, taught in a school in Alexandria, Virginia. He read medicine under Dr. David Pannill, of Orange County, then entered the University of Pennsylvania and graduated in 1S5S, settling in his native county.

At the beginning of the Civil War he joined the Orange Rangers as a private, but was soon commissioned surgeon of the Fourteenth Virginia Cavalry, which position he filled tintil the surrender at Appomattox. In 1883-84 he was a member of the State Legislature and did noble work in accomplishing the passage of the act creating the Medical Examin- ing Board. In 1888, as the well earned reward for his work in the Legislature, he was elected president of the Medical Society of Virginia, and the following year was made an honorary member of the society.

Returning home after the war, he settled at his county-seat, where he con- tinued to practise until his health failed. The writer was intimately acquainted with Dr. Row and can give testimony as to his real worth as a friend, a citizen and a physician.

He married about 1880, a Miss New- man of Orange County, and an only daughter survived him, his wife and two infant children dying some years before his own decease.

For the last two years of his life he was in failing health and unable to do much work. In May, 1900, his strength gave way entirely and on the twenty-third of that month, he rested from his labors.

He was not a writer; his only contri- butions to medical literature that we are aware of is his address as president of the State Society, entitled "Medical Reform," "Transactions of the Medical Society of Virginia," 1889, and a paper, "Case of Bowel Obstruction, Profound Shock, Death," ibid., 1899.

R. M. S.

Trans. Med. Soc. of Va.. 1900.

338 RUSH

Ruschenberger, William Samuel Waith- man (1807-1895).

Ruschenberger was born on a farm near Bridgeton, New Jersey, September 4, 1807, educated in New York and Phila- delphia and at the age of nineteen he entered the United States Navy as sur- geon's mate and was ordered to the Pacific Coast. But after a short stay he returned east and entered the medical department of the University of Penn- sylvania, whence he graduated in 1830. In the following year he was commis- sioned surgeon in the navy. As surgeon he made a number of cruises to various parts of the world. Ruschenberger was an able writer. In 1834 he published " Three Years in the Pacific " and in 1838, 'A Voyage Aroimd the World." These, books were widely read and were repub- lished in England. In 1854 appeared "Notes and Commentaries During Voy- ages to Brazil and China." One of his best known works is " An Account of the Institution and Progress of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia During 100 Years," which appeared in 1887. His "First Books on Natural History," a series of eight small volumes, were very popular in their time and contributed more than any other work to popularize the natural sciences in this country.

Ruschenberger was a member of the American Philosophical Society, of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia, of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, and of a number of other societies. He died in Philadelphia, March 24, 1895. His portrait is preserved in the hall of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia. A. A.

Tr. Coll. Physicans, Phila., 1896, xviii. Proc. Am. Philos. Soc, Phila., 1895, xxxiv.

Rush, Benjamin (1745-1813).

The "American Sydenham," as he was termed by Lettsom, was born in Byberry Township, Philadelphia Coimty, on December 24, 1745. His family were English Quakers, but, curiously enough, both his father and grandfather were gunsmiths. After going as a boy to the