Page:American Medical Biographies - Kelly, Burrage.djvu/1261

NAME WILLIAMS 1239 WILLIAMS mological Society." "Before his return to America he had contributed a paper of excep- tional interest, in which he gave a practical demonstration in London, England, in July, 1854, on the use of the ophthalmoscope. Men- tion is made of this in the Medical Times Gazette, page 7, linking his name with a praise- worthy effort, for which he also received the appreciation of the English ophthalmologists." When Williams returned from abroad in 1855, he settled in Cincinnati. His specialty was an innovation at that time ; the oper- ative part of ophthalmology was within the province of the surgeons, and ordinary eye diseases were treated by all practitioners. It was discouraging work at first, but he stead- ily held on and his charming personality won him friends from the first. Above the aver- age height, with broad shoulders, slightly stooped, his genial face and his kind eyes in- spired confidence in his patients. In time, clients from Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois and from all the towns and cities of Ohio came to seek advice and to have him operate on im- portant eye cases; His fame spread abroad over Ohio and the contiguous states, and in time he had a practice which taxed his en- durance. As an operator he was careful, pru- dent and skilful, and spared no pains to gain the best results. In 1865 Williams was elected professor of ophthalmology in the Miami Medical College. While there were teachers of eye diseases in the East at this time, yet to him belongs the honor of first filling a chair devoted to this specialty. He was an entertaining and in- structive lecturer, presenting his subject in an attractive manner. He filled the chair of ophthalmology in a most acceptable manner until failing health compelled him to resign. He served for twelve years on the stafY of the Cincinnati Hospital. His clinical lectures were always very attrac- tive to students, and from the large material at his command he was able to make his lec- tures practical and instructive. He was one of the founders of the Academy of Medicine of Cincinnati which was organ- ized in March, 1857. He was also president of the state society in 1875, and president of the International Ophthalmological Congress in New York City, 1876. He was as well a mem- ber of the American Otological Society, be- coming an honorary member in 1888. He was not only honored at home, but abroad ; in 1880 being made an honoran,' mem- ber of the Athens Medical Society, and of the Ophthalmological Society of Great Britain in 1884. During his last trip to Europe the Interna- tional Ophthalmological Congress met in Lon- don. In the discussion on some important subject he made a speech in English. Then the Germans wanted to hear it in their lan- guage, and he delivered it in German. There were calls from the Frenchmen, and he re- peated it in French. Dr. Williams frequently said that if he had a talent for anything it was languages. His second wife was Sally B. McGrcw, whom he married April 7, 1857. She was a beautiful and attractive woman and a devoted wife. Dr. Williams had two daughters by his first wife, one of w^hom survived him. For many years Dr. Williams was associate editor of the Lancet and Observer, his articles reflecting his careful observations. His best article was that on "Injuries of the Eye," in Ashhurst's "System of Surgery." He died at Hazelwood, Pennsylvania, on October 6, 1888, of cerebral apoplexy. Alex. der G. Drurv. Trans. .m. Oph. Soc. vol. v. Portrait, Hubbell's Development of Opthalmology, 1908 N. V. Med. Jour., 1SS8, vol. xlviii. Trans. Ohio Med. Soc, 1889. Williams, Henry Willard (1821-1895) Henry Willard Williams was born in Bos- ton, December 11, 1821, and after a Latin School education, entered a counting-room, later becoming secretary and publishing agent of the Massachusetts Anti-slavery Society. At the same time he began to study medicine at Harvard in 1844, afterwards spending three years in Europe. Besides his general medical and surgical studies he became greatly inter- ested in ophthalmology, studying under Sichel and Desmarres in Paris, Friedrich and Rosas in Vienna, and Dalrymple, Lawrence and Dixon in London. He then returned to America and graduated M. D. at Harvard in 1849. From 1850 to 1855 he was instructor in the theory and practice of medicine in the Boylston Medical School, and in 1850 organized a class of Harvard students for the study of eye disease and after a few years of general practice, limited himself to ophthalmic work. He was ophthalmic surgeon to the Boston City Hospital from the founding of the hospital in 1864 to 1891. He was one of the first to intro- duce etherization in cataract operations (1853) and the suturing of the flap (1865). In 1856 he read a most important paper "On the Treat- ment of Iritis without Mcrcurj-." His first literary work was a translation of Sichel's "Spectacles: Their Uses and Abuses in Long and Shortsightedness" (1850). In 1862 his "Practical Guide to the Study of the Diseases