Page:American Medical Biographies - Kelly, Burrage.djvu/202

NAME BUTLER 180 BUTLER Beginning in 1829 he was engaged for ten years in general practice in Worcester, Massa- chusetts, where he was a frequent visitor at the Lunatic Asylum, and gained from Dr. Samuel B. Woodward (q.v.) a great interest in the care of the insane. In 1839, when the Boston Lunatic Hospi- tal was opened, as the result of the active efforts of Mayor Samuel A. Eliot, to relieve the deplorable condition of the insane con- fined in the House of Industry, Butler was ap- pointed the first superintendent upon the rec- commendation of Dr. Woodward, and re- mained in charge of the hospital for three years, when he resigned. A letter written at that time by Mr. Eliot, then ex-mayor, bears explicit testimony to Dr. Butler's success in removing the insane from "shocking cells,"' and treating them with "mingled kindness, care and skill." Similar testimony was given by Amos Lawrence and Drs. Hayward, Rey- nolds, Storer and others as to his special aptitude for the care of the insane. In 1843 he was chosen superintendent of the Connecticut Retreat for the Insane, at Hartford, and there he found a proper field for his marked abilities. For thirty years of continued service he kept the institution in the front rank of contemporary progress. His influence was large and useful, and was felt in the establishment of the State Hospital for the Insane in Middletown. After the Retreat had been relieved of the pauper patients which had crowded its wards, he was able to realize his cherished ideas of the "Individualized treatment of the insane," which were embodied in his book upon that subject entitled "The Curability of Insanity," published in 1886. The picturesque grounds of the Retreat, with its beautiful lawn, and the improvement initiated by him in the buildings, bear testimony to the earnestness and correctness of his belief that patients should be surrounded by attrac- tive and homelike conditions. He was one of the original thirteen who or- ganized the Association of Medical Superin- tendents in 1844, and was its vice-president for eight years, 1862-1869, and president for three years, 1870-1872. He was an honorary mem- ber of the Medico-Psychological Society of Great Britain. In 1872 he resigned his su- perintendency and retired at the age of 70, continuing, however, practice as an expert and as consultant. In 1878 he was made the first president of the Connecticut State Board of Health, which published his first annual ad- dress on "State Preventive Medicine." He resigned that office after ten years, but re- tained his membership in the board until his death. He died at Hartford, Conn., on May 21, 1890, of chronic Bright's disease, in the 87th year of his age. The Institutional Care of the Insane iu the U. S. and Canada, H. M. Hurd, 1917. Butler, Lucius Castle (1820-1888) Lucius Castle Butler was born in Essex, Vermont, March 17, 1820, and his preliminary education was obtained in public schools and at Bradford Academy. Afterwards he studied medicine with Dr. George Howe of Jericho and Dr. Leonard Marsh of Burlington, at- tending lectures at Dartmouth and at the Clin- ical School in Woodstock, graduating thence in 1843 and thirty years later receiving his honorary M. D. from Dartmouth. After practising at Clintonville, New York, for seven years, Dr. Butler settled in Essex, where he practised nine years. In 1859 he moved to Bradford where he lived for a year, thence to Philadelphia to accept a po- sition on the editorial staff of the Medical and Surgical Reporter, but after two years in this position he returned to Essex and prac- tised the remainder of his life. Dr. Butler was for man}' years a member and three years president of the Vermont State Medical Society and a member of the American Medical Association. He was a rather prolific writer, not only upon medical but also historical subjects, publishing at vari- ous times medical papers read before the Ver- mont State and other medical societies, and an "Early History of the Town of Esse.x." Dr. Bufcler was active in town and state affairs ; he prepared and tabulated for the secretary of state the vital statistics of Vermont for several years. In this connection it should be stated that he was instrumental in securing the es- tablishment of the State Board of Health. He is represented as a most sympathetic as well as skilful physician and a man who endeared himself to his clientele. He mar- ried in 1845 Hannah D. Page of Essex and had a son and daughter. Charles S. Caverly. Trans. Vermont Med. Soc, 1888, Montpelier, 1889. Butler, Samuel Worcester (1823-1874) This alienist was born at Brainard, Geor- gia, May 1, 1823. His father, Dr. Elizur But- ler, was a medical missionary among the Cher- okee Indians. Samuel W. Butler graduated from the department of medicine at the Uni- versity of Pennsylvania in 1850, and first prac- tised in Burlington, New Jersey, associating himself with Dr. Joseph Parrish (q.v.), the lat-