Page:American Medical Biographies - Kelly, Burrage.djvu/1021

NAME ROMAYNE 999 ROOSA capture was withdrawn. He settled down again and opened a medical school for which he obtained, in 1851, an act of incorporation; this became the medical department of Vic- toria University, with Rolph as dean. When the session of 1856-1SS7 opened, his colleagues, owing to differences which had arisen, resigned in a body and for two weeks Rolph was pro- fessor-of-all-work, supported by the college board. Later on the chairs were all filled, but the seceders obtained a right to retain the title of "Toronto School of Medicine" and as such continued their work. This college also, indirectly, owing its origin to Dr. Rolph and both joining with the Trinity Medical Col- lege, formed eventually the medical depart- ment of the University of Toronto. He re- ceived from the University of Victoria the degrees of M. D. and of L.L. D. Dignified, handsome, courtly in manner, a profound thinker, with a subtle intellect, equal- ly fitted to cope with the intricacies of legal, political, or medical problems, he was a re- markable man, and his fame as a brilliant lec- turer and teacher remains undimmed even to this generation. He died at Mitchell, On- tario, October 19, 1870, at the age of eighty- three. Vm. Canniff, M. iii, pp. 108- Med. Profes. of Upper Canada. D. 1894. Portrait. Canada Lancet, Toronto, 1870, 110. Romayne, Nicholas (1756-1817). The fact that Nicholas Romayne is de- scribed as "often unpopular with the profes- sion" makes one imagine what was really the case, that Romayne "was a man of very strong intellectuality and vigorous personality." The biographical materials are but scanty. The son of a silversmith he was born in the City of New York, September, 1756, and had his early education at Hackensack in New Jersey. At the beginning of the Revolutionary War he went abroad and finished his medical studies in Edinburgh, afterwards spending two years in Paris, London and Leyden. "His return from Europe to New York," says Dr. S. L. Mitchill (q- v.), "excited considerable conversation both here and in Philadelphia; he was reported to have improved his opportunities with singular diligence. In London and Edinburgh he went through the course of study required by the university statutes and published a dissertation in Latin 'De Genera- tione Ptiris' which he composed himself 'with- out^ the aid of a "grinder," or hired transla- tor.' " Then Thacher goes on to say that when Romayne was appointed trustee of the new medical board formed after the war he found an opening for his talents as teacher, and "his superior attainments in literature and medi- cine elevated him with high notions and filled him with contemptuous ones of some who had been less fortunate in education." The first post-bellum faculty of professors did not accomplish much. Romayne had re- signed and practised as a private teacher. An- atomy, practice of physic, chemistry and bot- any were all taught by this extraordinary man vith such success that he drew hearers even from Canada. Then he went to Europe again to get in touch with everything new and was admitted a licentiate of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, the first American to receive that honor. In 1797 he embarked in Blount's conspiracy and spent some time in jail as a result. In 1806 an act was passed for incorporating medical societies. "By a sudden and singular change of sentiment Dr. Romayne was called from his retirement and elected first president of the Medical Society of the City and County of New York, and next year delegate to the State Medical Society in Albany, afterwards being chosen president. He was in his element planning many reforms, and when the regents of the university were to act under the pro- visions of the Act for providing a College of Physicians and Surgeons, even though Ro- mayne was assisted by numerous and powerful supporters, he may be considered as the lead- ing agent and the person without whose urg- ency the work would not have been completed. He was rewarded by being selected, in 1807, as the first president, and he gave instruction in anatomy and the institutes of medicine. Romayne would have been, says one who knew him well, the most eminent medical man in New York, but he indulged in financial speculating and became involved in embarrass- ments detrimental to his profession. He died in New York, July 20, 1817. He published an address before the students of the New York College of Physicians and Surgeons on "The Ethnologj- of the Red Man in America" (1808). Amer. Med. Eiog. Thacher. Boston, 1828. Hist, of Med. in New Jersey. S. Wickes, Newark, 1879. Address on Med. J. Shrady. New York, 1S8S. Dictn'y Amer. Biog. F. S. Drake. Boston. 1872. Appleton's Cyclop. Amer. Biog., New York, 1888. Roosa, Daniel Bennett St. John (1838-1908). Daniel Bennett St. John Roosa, the son of Charles Bennett and Amelia Foster Roosa, was born in Bethel, New York, April 4, 1838, and entered Yale expecting to graduate in 1860, but poor health upset his plans. He turned at once to the study of medicine, obtained his