Page:A cyclopedia of American medical biography vol. 2.djvu/96

 LAIHO

SO

LAMSON

Laird, James M. (1S52-1904).

To the mountain ranges and rivers, to one of those valleys drained by the Great Kanawha in Southern West Vir- ginia, there came many years ago a man the stamp of whose character will not soon be effaced and whose name will not soon be forgotten.

James M. Laird was the sixth son of J C. Laird and was born near Kerrs Creek, Rockliridge County, Virginia, October 18, 1852 of a family conspicuous for intel- lectual traits. His parents intended at one time that he should study for the ministry but after several sessions spent at Washington and Lee University, Lex- ington, Virginia, he decided to study medi- cine and took his course at the L^niver- sity of Virginia where he graduated M. D., later spending a year in Bellevue Hospital, Xew York. This was in 1876. He practised in Fayette ville. West Vir- ginia, and later at Peytona, then went to Montgomery where in 1880 he formed a partnership with Dr. C. I. Lewis, later entering into one with Dr. John C. Wysor. The firm continued in practice together until August 1, 1892, when Dr. Wysor left Montgoinery. Dr. Laird married in June, 1889, Miss Margaret M. Hill of Charleston, and she had two sons, James M. and Morris W., and died in October, 1899.

Enjoying a wide range of popularity and practice he was a favorite consultant throughout several counties, coming into the profession not long after the more general adoption of Lister's theories, he was perhaps the first to practice aseptic surgery in the Kanawha Valley.

I have heard him tell of the introduction of aseptic gauze for dressing, how cheese- cloth was boiled in an iron pot and then kept in bichloride solution until needed for use.

As a surgeon he was thorough and con- servative and while he did no original

work and made no contributions to science, he achieved more than a local reputation.

For many years he was a sufferer from valvular disease of the heart and neph- ritis and died suddenly February 16, 1904 at the Sheltering Arms Hospital, Hans- ford, ^^'est Virginia, several hours after taking an anesthetic for the opening of a deep suppurating gland of the neck.

J. E. C.

Lamson, Daniel Lowell (1834-1894).

Although he might be called by some a "Jack of all trades," this man was also master of many. The son of Edward Preble and Lois Jane Farrington Lamson, he was born in Hopkinton, July 8, 1831. He fitted for college at two academies, studied medicine at the Dartmouth Medical School, and afterwards at the University Medical School of New York, where he took his M. D. March 4, 1857, and settled in Freyburg. Dr. Lamson early became a member of the Maine Med- ical Association, and was examining sur- geon for pensions nearly up to the time of his death. He married September 1, 1858, Henrietta Reede, who died July 17, 1865, and afterwards Mrs. Sarah Matilda Vose Chipman, who survived him.

Dr. Lamson had a lucrative practice, and attended to it faithfully. Despite his mechanical talent, he never neglected a patient for any pet invention. He was highly thought of everywhere within fifty miles of his town, as an excellent and faithful surgeon and physician. He wrote several papers of interest, the best one of them being " Aphasia from Brain Injury," Maine Medical Association, 1882. He was often chosen as visitor to the Medical School of Maine.

Lamson was a born inventor, and had he not adopted medicine as his profession, he would have made his fortune, for with