Page:A cyclopedia of American medical biography vol. 2.djvu/523

 VAN BUREN

465

VAN BUREN

V

Van Buren, Peter (1801-1873).

Peter VanBuren, the son of Barent and Catherine (Vosburg) VanBuren, was born at Ghent, Columbia County, New York. He had his preliminary educa- tion at the Academy, in Lenox, Massa- chusetts and at Hudson, New York. Under Dr. Thomas Broadhead he studied medicine, and his name appears in the catalogue of the College of Physicians and Surgeons as a graduate in the class of 1823. He married Mary, daughter of his instructor. Dr. Broadhead and for one year practised in Herkimer, Herkimer County, New York, then removed to Clermont, Columbia County, where he formed a partnership with Dr. Broad- head. After fourteen years at Clermont, he removed to Alban}^ and from 1854 until his death lived in New York City. He was the victim of man}^ ills during the latter years of his life, his constitution having been impaired by typhoid fever and in 1873 he died of consumption and was buried in Woodlawu Cemetery, leav- ing four children.

He filled the position of president in the Medical Societies of the Counties of Col- umbia and Albany, was also \ace-presi- dent of the Medical Society of the State of New York and filled in all these socie- ties most of the subordinate positions. After his removal to the latter city, he became a member of the medical societies there. He was at one time military surgeon on the staff of the governor, and in 1829 a member of the legislature. The Transactions of the Medical Society of New York contain several of his arti- cles.

Dr. Van Buren was for many years an active member of the Dutch Reformed Church.

Medical Regi.'^ter, N. Y., N. J., and Conn., 1874, xii.

Vol. 11-30

Van Buren, William Holme (1819-1883).

I came across a notice of Van Buren in the " Autobiography " of Samuel D. Gross and have freely transcribed :

"This (March 25, 1883) ought to be a sad day for me," says Gross, "one of our most distinguished men has dropped out of our ranks. Van Buren died this morning at his house after protracted illness in which he endured much suffering from softening of the brain attended by paralysis and albuminuria."

Born in New York in 1819 of rather poor parents of Dutch descent whose people had come over in 1700, Van Buren entered Yale, and attended medical lectures in the University of Pennsyl- vania, but, before taking his M. D. there in 1840, he went to Paris and studied under Velpeau. On his return he wrote his thesis on " The Use of the Immovable Dressing in the Treatment of Fractures." His was the first attempt to introduce this practice, and the thesis made a strong impression on the profession. The first five years of his post-graduate life were spent in the Army, chiefly with Gen. Winfield Scott, but in 1845 he began practice in New York, for a time acting as prosector to his father-in-law, Valentine Mott. Seven years later he became professor of anatomy in the University of New York and held the post for four- teen years, and for sixteen years that of professor of the principles of surgery in the Bellevue Hospital Medical College, lecturing also on cHnical surgery, par- ticularly in following out the compUcated affections of the genito-urinary organs, and becoming, in the abstract sense of the word, a specialist.

The active part he took in the organi- zation of the United States Sanitary Commission should be remembered, for he spared neither time nor money and