Page:A cyclopedia of American medical biography vol. 2.djvu/484

 SWETT

428

SWINBURNE

deliberate operator and obtained excel- lent results. In many ways he was years ahead of his time. As a man he at once inspired confidence and as a friend was as true as steel.

Sweetnam was on the staff of the Toronto General Hospital; surgeon to St. Michael's Hospital, and the House of Providence and was a professor in the Ontario Medical College for women.

His articles included:

"Concurrent Morbilli or Rotheln and Vaccination." ("Canadian Journal Med- ical Society," vol. vii, 1882.)

" Pseudo-hypertrophic Muscular Paral- ysis," idem.

"Subiodide of Bismuth in the Treat- ment of Wounds." ("Canadian Prac- titioner," 1887, vol. xii.)

"The Treatment of Varicose Veins of the Lower Extremities." (Idem., vol. xviii, 1893.)

" Urethral Carbuncle. " (Idem., vol. xx, 1895.)

"Relief of Tympanites by Posture." ("Annals of Surgery," vol. xxiii, 1896.)

H. A. K.

Canad. Pract. and Rev. Toronto, vol. xxvi,

1901.

Canad. Jour. Med. and Surg., vol. xi, 1902.

Methodist Mag. and Rev., Toronto, vol. Iv.

1902 (port.).

Swett, John Barnard (1752-1796).

John Barnard Swett was born in Mar- blehead, Massachusetts, June 1, 1752, the son of a merchant and the grandson of Joseph Swett, who introduced foreign commerce into Marblehead, probably a descendant of John Swett, Newbury, freeman. May 18, 1642, first settlers by that name (Savage). John Swett went to Harvard College, where he gradu- ated in 1771. It had been intended that he should follow the ministry, but being present accidently at the autopsies "on the bodies of some persons who had come to a violent death" he determined to study medicine and did so in spite of opposition on the part of his preceptor. On graduating he studied medicine in Edinburgh, Scotland, for three years under Dr. William Cullen. He shipped

as fleet surgeon in an expedition of merchant vessels to the Falkland Islands on comi)leting his studies in Edinburgh and with the funds acquired in this way finished his medical education in the hospitals of Franco and England, return- ing to America in 1778 in season to enlist as surgeon in the Continental Army, and take part in the expedition to Rhode Island under Gen. Sullivan. During the war he lost his valuable library and surgical instruments which he had col- lected abroad at great expense.

In 1780 he settled in Newburyport, Massachusetts, as an active practitioner and during the succeeding sixteen years did a large part of the surgery of this town and the surrounding country. Being naturally of a social disposition and possessed of polished manners and good humor, he was a great favorite.

He died of yellow fever contracted in the summer of 1796 when there was an epidemic in Newburyport. He threw himself into the work of caring for the sick and died a martyr to the cause.

Dr. Swett married Charlotte Bourne of Marblehead soon after settling in Newburyport. They had four sons.

He was an original member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and of the Massachusetts Medical Societ}-, of which he was the first corresponding secretary, 1782-1789.

W. L. B.

A Genealog. Diet, of the First Settlers of N. E., James Savage, 1860.

Amer. Med. Biog., 1828, ,Iames Thacher, M. D.

Swinburne, John (1820-1889).

John Swinburne's early life presented the not unusual spectacle of a clever lad, one of a large family with small means, doing uncongenial work cheer- fully until he could conscientiouslj^ tread the path of inclination. The ninth child and sixth son of Peter and Arte- mesia Swinburne he was born in Den- mark, Lewis County, New York, on May 30, 1823. From boyhood he attended the countv district school and