Page:A cyclopedia of American medical biography vol. 2.djvu/64

 JOHNSON

48

JOHNSTON

he looeiviHl the iloj^reo of Doctor of Medicine in 1808, and at once began practice in that city. The artistic tendencies of his mind led him to apply to the American Academy of Design for instruction. He was told that if he would make an acceptable drawing of the human foot he would be admitted as a student for a year, with the welcome condition of free tuition. Although he had never received any instruction in drawing, he luidertook the task. After many attempts his work was accepted, and he became an enthusias- tic student of the Academy. He soon became proficient, and was offered a position as instructor in anatomical drawing, which, however, was not ac- cepted. In his "Medical Botany" the colored plates are from water colors of his own, and they are models of superb execution.

Early in his medical career he was appointed attending physician to the Northwestern Dispensary; in 1875 he became attending physician to Demilt Dispensary, in the department of dis- eases of the digestive organs, and was also connected for a time with the Hospital for the Ruptured and Crippled. He was a member of the medical staff of the Randall's Island Hospital for several years, a position which he re- signed in order to become one of the visiting physicians to Gouverneur Hos- pital, a position held at the time of his death. The trustees of the University of the City of New York elected him lecturer on medical botany in the Medical School, and afterwards appointed him professor of clinical medicine.

Dr. Johnson was not a prolific writer, but his literary work was of a character which required accuracy and the most painstaking and judicial scrutiny of every detail. His book on " Medical Botany," to which allusion has been made, was in a marked degree original work, and occupies a high rank as a text-book. The American edition of PhiUips' "Materia Medica and Thera- peutics" was edited by him, and also

a " Medical Formulary," one of William Wood & Compan}'s l^ibrary of the series of 1881.

His reputation as an expert in med- ical botany and materia medica led to his selection as one of the members of the Committee of Revision of the United States Pharmacojxria of 1880, a position involving so much attention to the minutest details that it is difficult to understand how a man who had secured so large a practice could have found the time for such a task.

He was president of the Medical Society of the State of New York in 1886 and re-elected in 1887.

He married Ada Rowe of Wayne County in 1872 and a son and daughter survived him.

Tr. Med. Soc. of N. Y., 1S94 (Daniel Lewis).

Johnston, Christopher (1822-1891).

Christopher Johnston, surgeon, was of Scotch descent. His grandfather emi- grated to Baltimore in 1766 and Chris- topher was born in that city September 27, 1822, his mother, Miss Elizabeth Gates, daughter of Maj. Lemuel Gates. On the death of his father in 1835 he was adopted by an aunt and was edu- cated at St. Mary's College, Baltimore, afterwards studying medicine with Dr. John Buckler, receiving his M. D. at Maryland University in 1844, and the same year visiting Europe. In 1847 he joined with Charles Frick and others in founding the Maryland Med- ical Institute, an excellent preparatory school, " organized to elevate the stand- ard of office instruction in accordance with the design of the National Medical Convention." From 1853 to 1855 he was again in Europe studying in the hospitals of Paris and Vienna, and on his return he was appointed lecturer on experimental physiology and micros- copy and curator of the Museum at the University of Maryland. In 1857 he resigned this post' to take the pro- fessorship of anatomy in the Baltimore College of Dental Surgery, where he