Page:American Medical Biographies - Kelly, Burrage.djvu/205

NAME BYFORD 183 BYRD with others to found the Chicago Medical Col- lege, where he occupied a similar chair until the year 1879, when he was recalled to the Rush Medical College to fill the chair of gj-ne- colog>'. In 1870 he was foremost in cham- pioning the cause of medical education for women, participating eagerly in founding the Women's Medical College of Chicago, to which he ever afterwards contributed most liberally in every respect. As a worker in medical societies he was also active, being one of the founders of the Amer- ican Gynecological Society and honored mem- ber of the Illinois State Medical Society. Med- ical journalism, too, owes much to him, for he was editor of the Chicago Medical Journal and afterwards of the Chicago Medical Jour- nal and Examiner. His publications began in 1847 with a paper on "Cesarean Section," and include a great variety of medical topics, the fruit of a vast professional observation. His literary labors will be best remembered by his works on "Chronic Inflammation and Displacements of the Unimpregnated Uterus," "Practice of Med- icine and Surgery applied to the Diseases and Accidents of Women," 1865, and his "Treatise on the Theory and Practice of Obstetrics," 1870. Dr. Byford's name is familiar in connection with many important innovations in the treat- ment of gj-necological cases. Some of these were in the nature of marked improvements upon former methods in vogue; while they in turn subsequently gave way to still better methods of treatment, others came to remain permanently. It was not in his nature, how- ever, to call loudly for glory, and it not in- frequently happened that others received the credit of discoveries of this character which were justly due to him, but which he could scarcely claim without controversy — something that he always abhorred. He was one of the first to observe that the contents of pelvic ab- scesses often become encysted and undergo subsequent alterations without being dis- charged; to advocate laparotomy for the re- lief of rupture of the uterus in cases of extra- uterine pregnancy; to emplo}' ergot for the expulsion of uterine fibroids, and in the enu- cleation of cysts of the broad ligament to ad- vise the termination of the operation by the method of stitching the amputated cyst walls to the edges of the abdominal wound. Of vigorous physique and temperate habits, old age had apparently done but little to ex- haust his powers of mind or body; yet for several years he had been conscious of a car- diac lesion which, however, had not prevented him from actively continuing his usual labors. On the twenty-first of May, 1890, he experi- enced a severe attack of angina pectoris, which in two hours proved fatal. Three days be- fore his death he performed a laparotomy, and even on the last fatal day he went to work as usual. Dr. Byford was twice married, his second wife being Lina Flersheim, who with four children, a son and three daughters, the off- spring of his first marriage, survived him. The son, Henry T., followed in the footsteps of his father. Trans. Illinois State Med. Soc, J. C. H., Chicago, 1891, vol. xli. Amer. Jour. Obstet., New York, 1890, vol. xxiii. Trans. Amer, Gyn. Soc, 1890, vol. xv. Portrait. No. Amer. Pract., Chicago, 1890, vol. ii. Byrd, Harvey Leonidas (1820-1884) Harvey Leonidas Byrd, physician and army surgeon, was born in Salem, South Carolina, August 8, 1820, descendant of English and Scotch ancestors ; his paternal grandfather was in Marion's Brigade in the American Revolu- tion. He received the honorary degree of A. M. from Emory College, Ga., then studied medi- cine at Jefferson Medical College and at Penn- sylvania College, receiving his medical degree from the latter in 1840; an M.D. was received from the University of Pennsylvania in 1867. After practising in Salem, in Georgetown, S. C, and in Savannah, Ga., Byrd moved to Baltimore, soon after the Civil War, where he practised until his death. He served as professor of materia medica and dean of Savannah Medical College; pio- fessor of practice and dean of Oglethorpe Medical College, and was a surgeon in the Confederate army. In 1867 he assisted in re- organizing Washington University Medical School, Baltimore, and was dean and profes- sor of obstetrics there, 1867-72. He was one of the founders of the College of Physicians and Surgeons, Baltimore, in 1872, and served as professor of practice, 1872-73; professor of diseases of women and children, 1873-74. He was one of the founders of the Baltimore Medical College in 1881 and the first president of the Epidemiological Society of Maryland. For three years Byrd was editor of the Oglethorpe Medical and Surgical Journal, and he edited, also, the Independent Practitioner, Baltimore. In 1844 he married Adelaide, daughter of the Hon. John Dazier of Williamsburg, S. C. He died at Baltimore, Nov. 29, 1884. Med. Anns, of Maryland, E. F. Cordell, 1903. Phys. & Surgs. of the U. S., W. B. Atkinson, 1878.