Page:A cyclopedia of American medical biography vol. 2.djvu/568

 WILLARD

.lOS

W 1 1. LARD

which made it possible to establish the Children's Orthopedic Ward and Ortho- pedic Clinic, and special gymnasium and machine shop, rendering the department the most efficient of the sort connected with any teaching institution. He died shortly before eleven o'clock, Friday night, October 14, at his home in Lans- downe, Pa. He had been ill only a few weeks, and his condition was not con- sidered serious until he developed double- pneumonia.

His writings, of which there is a tolerably full list in the catalogue of the surgeon-general, Washington, District of Columbia, included:

" Club-foot. Is Excision of the Tarsus Necessary in Children?" 1884.

"Nephrectomies for Gunshot Wound and Tuberculous Kidney," 1889.

" Osteotomy for Anterior Curves of the Leg," 1889.

" Spinal Caries: Operative Treatment," 1889.

"Arthrectomy in Diseases of the Joints," 1890.

" Operative Treatment of the Deformi- ties Resulting from Infantile Spinal and Cerebral Spastic Paralysis," 1891.

" Experiments in Pneumonotomy and Pneumonectomy: Suturing of Lung," 1892.

" Nerve Suturing — N eurorrhaphy, Nerve-grafting," 1894.

OldPenn. Weekly Review, Oct., 1910 (port.).

Willard, Sylvester David (1825-1865).

Sylvester Willard's ancestors came over to Massachusetts from England in 1634, he himself being the son of one David Willard, physician, and Abby Gregory, daughter of Lieut. Matthew Gregory of Albany. Sylvester Willard's name is worthy of perpetuation because of his industry in writing biographies of his medical predecessors and his great efforts to ameliorate the condition of the insane.

He went first to school in his native town, and he graduated at the Albany Medical College in 1848. By 1852 he was making headway as a young doctor

in New York. Ten years later patriotism led him to work as a volunteer surgeon among the soldiers in the battle of West Point, nor did his efforts for their relief cease with the war, but the sum of $200,- 000 voted for the disabled was chiefly incoming by his urgency.

Perhaps Sylvester Willard is best known bj' his determined and w^ell- planned investigations as State Com- missioner into the condition of the insane. He chose upright men who would not hesitate to reveal impleasant truths and the result was a report which contained details of misery and wretchedness, and which led ultimately to the building of better asj'lums; greatly deserved, there- fore, was the surgeon-generalship of New York, bestowed on him as the successful candidate in 1865.

The historical medical literature would have been greatly enriched had time allowed Dr. Willard to carry out his plan of writing biographies and records. As it was, he did much, but the daily calls of his profession, his duties as surgeon- general and solicitude for his bill in the Legislature concerning the insane told too much on a man not over strong. As he was leaving home on Sunday evening, March 26, he felt a chill and went to bed. Typhoid fever supervened and death came a week later.

In 1861 he married Susan Ellen Spence, daughter of Mirmion Spence. Two children were born, Margaret and Syl- vester David.

Among his appointments were: presi- dency of the Albany County Medical Society; and the surgeon-generalship of New York.

In addition to some fifteen biographies and the "Annals of the Medical Society of the County of Albany," he wrote "Suicide and Homicide," 1861; and "Conservative Surgery," 1861.

D. W.

Trans. Med. Soc, of N. Y., Albany, 1S66 (Franklin B. Hough).

Med. and Surg. Reporter, Phila., 1865, vol. xiii. Trans. M. Soc, County Albany, 1851-70, Albany, 1872, vol. ii.