Page:American Medical Biographies - Kelly, Burrage.djvu/1130

NAME STILLfi 1108 STIMSON attorney, Francis Wharton, he composed "A Treatise on Medical Jurisprudence" — a mas- terpiece both of science and of literary style. This work — the first, without doubt, on the subject, produced in America by a lawyer and a physician working conjointly — passed through several editions, and was highly es- teemed by both the legal and the medical pro- fession. The parts of this work written by Dr. Stille were the second, third, fourth, and fifth books, those on the "Fetus and New- born Child," on "The Sexual Relations," on "Identity," and on the "Cause of Death." Dr. Stille was a very ambitious, as well as an able, man. On going to Europe, he wrote to his brother: "Indifferent to the pres- ent. I live only for the future; upon it my most earnest gaze is fixed, and I strive to enter its ever receding portals, to grasp its cloudy phantoms, its beckoning illusions. If I know myself, I shall not be content with a place in the crowded middle ranks of the profession." He was one of those who "toil terribly," and the result of this trait is plainly apparent in his remarkable book. He was a man of such distinguished and charming pres- ence that he became at once the recipient, while abroad, of marked attention from such physicians as Stokes, Graves, Churchill, Ham- ilton, Law, and McDonnell. Dr. Stokes, in particular, was very fond of him. and the two were much together on the former's rounds and at his house. He married, in 1850, Heloise, daughter of S. Destouet, of Philadelphia, by whom he had several children. Early in July, 185S, he was attacked by the disease from which he was to die. For the sake of his health he went to Cape May, and was at first greatly benefited. One night, however, after bathing, he thoughtlessly slept in a draught, and this exposure produced an attack of pleurisy from which he was not able to recover, owing to his enfeebled con- dition. August 20, 1855 — the year in which Theodric Romeyn- Beck (q. v.) died — he passed away, only thirty-three years of age. He never even saw a copy of his remarkable volume — for the work was not in type till some months after his death — yet he left a name which will never be erased from the annals of medical jurisprudence in America. Thomas Hall Shastid. "A Treatise on Medical Jurisprudence," by Francis Wharton and Moreton Stille, Phila., 1855, (^Francis Wharton). Amer. Med. Biog., S. D. Gross. Phila., 1861. Memoir of Moreton Stille, M. D., by Samuel L. Hollingsworth, M. D., Phila., 1856. Portrait. Private sources. Slimson, Lewis Atterbury (1844-1917) Born at Paterson, New Jersey, August, 1844, son of Henry C. and Julia M. Atterbury Stim- son, Lewis Atterbury Stimson became an emi- nent surgeon, a prolific writer, and a great authority on fractures. He graduated from Yale University in 1863, and entered the Union Army serving as cap- tain and aide-de-camp on the staff of General Terry until the end of the Civil War. He was in business several years before begin- ning the study of medicine in Paris; after three years there he returned for a final year at the Bellevue Hospital Medical College, where he took his degree in 1874. He occupied the chair of physiology in the New York University Medical College. 1883- 1885; that of anatomy from 1885-1889; of sur- gery, 1889-1898. For several years he was attending phy- sician to the Presbyterian Hospital, resigning in 1888 to become surgeon to the New York Hospital and House of Relief. At this latter institution he gained the rich experience in traumatic surgery which formed the basis for his book on fractures and dislocations. Both of these hospitals were served without inter- ruption for nearly twenty-two years until 1909, when he became a member of the consulting staff; he was, also, visiting surgeon to Belle- vue Hospital. Stimson served on the New York State Board of Regents. 1893-1904. In 1900 he re- ceived the degree of LL. D. from Yale. When Cornell University Medical -School was organized, in 1898. he became its profes- sor of surgery. It was through Stimson and his friend, Henry F. Dimock, that his class- mate at Yale, Colonel Oliver Hazard Payne, became interested in establishing the Medical College at Cornell. His wisdom in keeping the needs of the School before Colonel Payne insured the latter's continued generosity. Stimson's interest in the college was un- bounded. As a member of the college council he was always present at its meetings during his twenty years of service. Stimson Hall stands at Ithaca, a memorial to his services to Cornell and to medical education. His own personal efforts brought about the affiliation of the Cornell school with the New York Hospital in 1912. He died suddenly at his home in Shinne- cock Hills, Long Island, September 17, 1917. Stimson was an authority on fractures, an active agent in the early introduction of anti- septic surgery, and his works, written in classical English, showed unusual literary