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BOWDITCH he would have modified these views towards favoring prohibition in later years, it is impossible to say, although his inclinations were always towards very moderate use of any alcoholic stimulant whatever. His position on this matter at the time brought forth a torrent of abuse from Prohibitionists, one popular preacher going so far as to announce a lecture entitled, "Dr. Bowditch and Free Rum!" an amusing episode to all who knew him upon whom the attack was launched!

In 1874 he published another article for the fifth annual report, entitled, "Preventive Medicine and the Physicians of the Future." After an extensive review of the grand scope of preventive medicine, he finally gives his reasons for placing before the public a brief history of events relative to the subject in Massachusetts.

In 1876, at a meeting of the International Medical Congress in Philadelphia, he gave an address called, "State Medicine and Public Hygiene in America," an exhaustive study of the conditions existing then in the United States, and a discouraging but at the same time stimulating account of the wretched lack of hygienic methods in the country, with suggestions as to what could be done to improve them. This address marked an epoch in the history of hygiene in the United States, and was received with enthusiasm by the Association. At the request of its members, copies of the address were sent broadcast to the various state legislatures and Governors throughout this country and Canada.

Although taking no active part in public affairs of this nature in his later years, Dr. Bowditch never lost his interest in all questions pertaining to the realm of Preventive Medicine. He continued the practice of his profession as a specialist in diseases of the chest until within two or three years of his death. The last paper he ever read was at the meeting of the American Climatological Association in Boston in 1889. In this brilliant and picturesque article entitled "Open-Air Travel as a Cure for Consumption," he gave the history of his own father, who, in 1808, at the age of 35, began to have severe hemorrhages and other symptoms of incipient pulmonary tuberculosis, and adopted as his first means of cure, after the first active symptoms had ceased, a drive lasting several weeks through towns of New England in an open buggy with a friend, the subsequent history being one of entire recovery after change in his methods of life. After his death, at the age of 67, from cancer of the stomach, the healed lesion of the lung was found at autopsy. This article can be regarded almost as a classic in its concrete exposition of the value of hygienic treatment of tuberculosis in a manner little known or understood in those earlier days of New England life.

No biography however short would be complete without allusion to Dr. Bowditch's deeply religious nature. Although devoted to scientific truth, he never swerved from his religious faith which seemed to pervade every action of his life. Although early in life he passed through years of doubt and perplexity in matters relating to forms of religious expression, he came in later years to a serenity of mind on such subjects that never failed. Although a Unitarian in his final beliefs, his breadth of wisdom and tolerance of other views were marked features of his character. Just so long as the expression of any belief was thought by him to be sincere, he gave it that respect which he felt was due to the opinions of others even if they differed wholly from his own. He saw beauty in every form of religious thought while adhering to that which appealed most strongly to him. This breadth of judgment extended to his professional work, and especially to his intercourse with his younger associates who freely turned to him for counsel and advice.

A free and general culture he always strongly advocated to his students as the best means of avoiding the danger of becoming "men of one idea" with consequent detriment to their professional work. He believed in travel and the consequent humanizing effect of the study of men and manners other than our own. His enthusiasm for life extended to his latest years in spite of increasing infirmities and weakness towards the end. The death of his wife, after fifty-two years of an ideally happy union, marked the beginning of the end. Thirteen months later, on January 14, 1892, he died, at the age of 83.



Bowditch, Henry Pickering (1840–1911)

Henry Pickering Bowditch, physiologist, was born in Boston, April 4, 1840, grandson of Nathaniel Bowditch, the distinguished mathematician and navigator, and son of Ingersoll Bowditch, a merchant honored for integrity and generosity. Through his mother, he was descended from Colonel Timothy Pickering, Secretary of State under Washington.

At the age of 21 he was graduated from Harvard College with the A. B. degree. In the fall of that year he volunteered his