Page:American Medical Biographies - Kelly, Burrage.djvu/197

NAME BURRELL 175 BURRELL was treasurer of the Vermont State Medical Society. While in Vermont he performed many major surgical operations, but it was only after his removal to Massachusetts that he devoted himself to gynecological surgery. An early advocate of the operation of ova- riotomy, he removed his first ovarian tumor in August, 1851. From this time until 1882, a period of thirty-one years, he did about three hundred ovariotomies with a mortality of about 25 per cent., a good showing for those days. His first case of hysterectomy for fibroma of the uterus, the first successful case on rec- ord, was performed in June, 1853. In 1883 the woman was still alive. Later experience with this operation — only three successes in fifteen operations — led him to doubt the propriety of doing it except in carefully selected cases. Among his successful operations in the fie'd of general surgery may be mentioned two of ligation of the common carotid artery and one of ligation of both external carotids for malignant tumor of the jaw, done at two sittings. Dr. Burnham was surgeon of the sixth Massachusetts Regiment of Volunteers in the Civil War from 1862 through the war and af- ter until 1870. He became a member of the Massachusetts Medical Society in 1863. While a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives in 1855 he was instrumental in securing the passage of the "Anatomy Act" by which members of the medical profession were authorized to obtain the bodies of dead pau- pers for dissecting purposes, an immense as- sistance to the cause of anatomy in Massachu- setts. He often served as an expert witness in the courts. No less than twelve physicians were educated as pupils in his office. Dr. Burnham died at his home in Lowell, January 16, 1883, after an illness of five weeks, the immediate cause of his death being gastritis. Walter L. Burrage. Boston Medical and Surgical Journal, Jan. 2S, 1883, vol. cviii. Nccrol. of Phys. of Lowell and vicinity. D. N. Patterson, M.D., Lowell, 1899. Burrell, Dwight R. (1843-1910) Dwight R. Burrell, alienist, was born at Sheffield, Lorraine County, Ohio, March 1, 1843. He spent his boyhood on a farm, and af- ter preparation in the common schools entered Oberlin College, where he graduated in 1866. His college course was interrupted by a brief service in Company K, 150th Ohio Volunteers, during the Civil War. He received the degree of M. D. at Michi- gan University in 1868, and afterwards be- came an assistant physician in the New York City Asylum on Blackwell's Island. A year later he was appointed an assistant physician at Blooraingdale Asylum, where he remained several years. In 1876 he became resident physician at Brigham Hall, Canandaigua, New York, where he remained until incapa- citated by illness in 1S)08. His professional life of 40 years was devot- ed entirely to the treatment of the insane and 31 years of it were spent at Brigham Hall. He was a nephew of Dr. Amariah Brigham (q.v.), in whose honor the hospital had been named 21 years before Burrell's appointment, and from the first he took a peculiarly personal interest in this hospital. His wide previous experience, his attractive personality, his un- failing sense of humor and his careful atten- tion to all details of any duty qualified him for large success at Brigham Hall. He did not spare himself in medical and administra- tive work; he spent much time also in the clinical instruction ot nurses. Many changes in the care of the insane were made during the 40 years of his professional life, but he adapted himself to them. He gave much attention to the re-education and development of chronic cases as well as to the treatment of acute forms of mental disease, and in the former line of work often secured such good results as to enable patients to return to their homes, though not entirely recovered. He was a public-spirited citizen and held many positions of trust in the village of Can- andaigua. He was a member of the Ameri- can Medico-Psychological Association, of the American Medical Association, of the Medi- cal Society of the State of New York, of the County Society and of the Medical Societies of Rochester and Canandaigua. In January, 1908, he had a stroke of apo- plexy, which made him almost a helpless in- valid until his death on June 18, 1910. He was married, but left no children. Henry M. Hurd. Burrell, Herbert Leslie (1856-1910) Herbert Leslie Burrell, surgeon, was born in Boston, April 27, 1856, the son of Randall Gardner and Elizabeth Madeleine Burrell, and received his preliminary education at the Eng- lish High School in that city, graduating from Harvard Medical School in 1879. ATter a few years general practice, during which he gradually turned towards surgery, he be- gan his work as a teacher as demonstrator of surgical technic in his alma mater; for many years he gave a systematic course or