Page:A cyclopedia of American medical biography vol. 2.djvu/405

 SEWALL

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SEYMOUR

Dr. Senn as an Operator, Dr. Carroll Smith, The Med. Fortnightly, March, 1908. Distinguished Phys. and Surgeons of Chicago, 1904, in which there is a portrait.

Sewall, Lucy (1S37-1S90).

Lucy Sewall, a pioneer woman physi- cian, descended from a long line of Puritan ancestors, belonged to the Sewalls of Massachusetts. She was born in Boston, April 26, 1837, the daughter of Samuel E. Sewall, lawyer and reformer. While in her youth, coming under the influence of Dr. Marie Zack- rewska, she was drawn to study medi- cine. She seems to have been the first girl of fortune and family to study medicine in the United States. She entered the only college then open to women, the New England Female Medical College of Boston, graduating in March, 1862, then went to Europe where women were admitted to hospitals only by favor, but such was her ability and personahty that she not only gained favors, but proved herself eminently worthy of them in her work with Dr. A. Chereau, whose lectures she attended in Paris.

Upon her return in 1863 she became resident physician of the New England Hospital. Her romantic and enthusiastic friendship for Dr. Zackrewska, while yet her pupil, led the young Boston girl to devote her hfe, her fortune and the influence she could command from a wide circle of friends to the building up of the hospital. In 1869 she resigned the position of resident physician to become attending physician, serving until 1886, and considered an expert obstetrician. The Maternity Building at the New England Hospital is named after her, Sewall Maternity.

Through her influence the Massachu- setts Infant Asylum was founded, the first effort made in Massachusetts to save the Uves of infants who would otherwise have gone to the almshouses or the "baby-farms."

The latter years of her life were those of enforced semi-invalidism, because of organic heart disease, but she took up the study of mineralogy as a diversion.

She died of valvular disease of the heart, February 13, 1890, having well achieved the purpose of her life, that of creating confidence in women as physi- cians and surgeons.

A. B. W.

Personal communication, The Nat. Cyclo- pedia of American Biography, vol. x. A. Chereau, L'Union Medicale, Paris, vol. xix. Woman's Journal, Boston, vol. xxi. Jex Blake, Medical Women, 1872.

Sewall, Thomas (1787-1845).

Thomas Sewall was born April 16, 1787, at Augusta, Maine, the son of Thomas and Priscilla (Cony) Sewall, and married Mary Choate, sister of Rufus Choate, November 28, 1813. There was but one child, Thomas, born April 28, 1818. After receiving his M. D. at Harvard, Dr. Sewall studied under Rush and others at the University of Penn- sylvania. He was given to original research and pubHshed possibly the first monograph on the postmortem appear- ance of the gastric mucosa in alcohoUcs, shortly following the work of Beaumont on digestion. He was the first or one of the first opponents of phrenology and wrote a monograph, "The Errors of Phrenology Exposed." He also pub- lished papers in the current medical journals.

He was the author of " Lectures Deliv- ered at the Opening of the Medical Department of Columbia College," etc., Washington, 1825, 1826. "Eulogy on Dr. Goodman," Washington, 1830, 1832, 1840; "Examination of Phrenology," etc., Washington, 1837, 1839. "The En- quirer; Pathology of Drunkenness," 1841; this was later translated into German and established his reputation both at home and abroad as an original in-

vestigator.

D. S. L.

Minutes of Med. Soc, D. C, Apr., 1845. Appleton's Med. Biog., 1889. The Med. Exam., Phila., 1845

Seymour, William Pierce (1825-1893).

William Pierce Seymour did not leave much written work, but was one of those who, a generation ahead of the profession,