Page:American Medical Biographies - Kelly, Burrage.djvu/1157

NAME THOMAS 1135 THOMAS lectures and even notes, and to deliver his lec- tures extempore, his popularity in college cir- cles is readily understood. Dr. Thayer was a member of the Ohio State Medical Society and of the Cuyahoga County Medical Society. A good portrait (crayon) of Dr. Thayer will be found in the parlors of the Cleveland Medi- cal Library Association. Henry E. Handerson. Biog. Cyclop, of Ohio, Cuyahoga County. E. Cleave. Phila., 1875. Thomas, Amos Russell ( 1826-1892). Amos Russell Thomas, dean of the Hahne- mann Medical College of Philadelphia, was born in Watertown, New York, on October 3, 1826, the son of Colonel Azariah Thomas, whose Welsh ancestors were among the earliest settlers in Massachusetts. At first Thomas tried being a business man, but soon began to study medicine instead, at the Syracuse Medical College, graduating in 1854, and practising that same year in Phila- delphia, meanwhile taking his medical de- gree at the old Penn hylvunin Medical College. In this college he was first demonstrator and . afterw ards orofessor qlJIanatomv for ten years. Soon after going to Philadelphia he became a convert to homeopathy, and in 1867 was made professor of anatomy in the Hahnemann Medical College. Besides contributing scientific papers to the journals of his school, Thomas wrote a valu- able book on "Post-Mortem Examinations and Morbid Anatomy," also '"Diseases of the Pan- creas," "History of Anatomy," "Evolution of Earth and Man," and edited the American Journal of Homeopathy four years, besides be- ing co-editor of the Hahncmannian Monthly, Early in life he married Elizabeth Bacon of Watertown, and one son, Charles M., followed his father's profession. His only daughter, Florence, died in 1880, fifteen years before her father, who died at his house in Devon of carcinoma of the bladder in December 1895. From data snpp. by Dr. T. L. Bradford. Hahnemann. Month., Phila.. 1892, vol. xxvii. Portrait in the Surg. -Gen. 's Lib., Wash., D. C. Thomas, Charles Widgery (1816-1866). Judge W'illlnm 'id,-,Lry. (,f Portland, was a sagacious man, who had been in turn lawyer, judge of common pleas, officer of a privateer in the Revolution, member of the Massa- chusetts General Court, and of the United Stales Congress. He had a daughter, Eliza- beth, who married one Elias Thomas, of Port- land. Their son, Charles Widgery Thomas, was born February 14, 1816, graduated from Bowdoin in 1834, and delivered the salutatory address in Latin. He excelled so much in foreign languages that after his graduation he was offered a tutorship in German, but preferred to practise medicine, so studied with Dr. John Taylor Gil- man (q. v.), attended lectures at the Medical School of Maine, at the Berkshire Medical In- stitution in Massachusetts, and finally obtained his degree from the Medical School of Maine in 1837. He settled in Portland, and labored there the rest of his life, with the exception of a winter spent at a post-graduate course in Philadelphia. He was chosen city physician and practised in that post for several years, gaining a deep knowledge of the diseases attached to poverty, and attaining the best medical skill. In 1863, in conjunction with Dr. Theodore Herman Jewett (q. v.), of South Berwick, he examined all the recruits in the Portland District and was very shrewd in his detection of malingerers. When Dr. Jewett resigned Dr. Thomas took entire charge of this onerous work, which gradually broke down his health. Thus en- feebled, he had an attack of tonsilitis, with diphtheritic exudation, which passed away so soon that he was apparently on the road to health, when he was suddenly attacked with diphtheritic paralysis, and died March 28, 1866, to the sorrow of a large clientage and of his numerous friends, and leaving behind him a father aged ninety-seven. Thomas was known always as a wise, safe and discreet physician, as a courteous and honorable man. He was good to the younger physicians. Inheriting the fun and humor of his family, he was cheerful and mirthful to a high degree. He was a very versatile man, fond of music and had a fine voice. He was epigrammatic on occasion. His brother George had a deep and finely cultivated basso voice. When Dr. Thomas heard that George was going to sing in St. Stephen's Church he said as if by inspiration : "Ye Bulls of Bashan now retire: "For Brother George has joined the choir." J.^MEs A. Spalding. Trans. Maine Med. Assoc, 1866-8. Portland, 1869. Thomas, James Carey (1833-1897). James Carey Thomas was born July 13, 1883, of a medical family, his father, his father's brother, his half brother, his son and grandson all being physicians. His father, Richard Henry Thomas (1805-1860), M. D., University of Pennsylvania, professor of obstetrics and medical jurisprudence in the University of