Page:American Medical Biographies - Kelly, Burrage.djvu/243

NAME CHRISTOPHER 221 CLAIBORNE Shield, of New York City. Walter attended the schools of Newport and then when his par- ents moved to Cincinnati, the Woodward High School of that city, fitted him for the Medical College of Ohio, where he took his M. D. in 1883, after serving a year as interne at the Cincinnati Hospital. He became demonstrator of chemistry in his alma mater and consulting chemist to the Rookwood Pottery, perfecting there some of the glazes that have enhanced the fame of Rookwood ware. At the same time he was on the staflf of the children's clinic of the Medical College of Ohio. In these duties Dr. Christopher continued until 1890 when he was called to the chair of theory and practice of medicine in the University of Michigan. On Christmas day, 1884. he married Henri- etta Wenderoth and they were subsequently blessed with two children, a girl and a boy, the latter, Frederick, becoming a Chicago physi- cian. When Christopher had been in Ann Arbor a year he was appointed professor of diseases of children at the Chicago Polyclinic and moved to Chicago. The following year a simi- lar position was offered him in the College of Physicians and Surgeons, Chicago, and from this time he devoted himself to pediatrics. Al- ready a member of the American Pediatric Society in 1889 he became president in 1902. In 1898-1900, he was a member of the Chicago Board of Education, and was instrumental in establishing a system of medical inspection of public schools and a child-study depart- ment. Of the latter he wrote largely for the medical journals and the pediatric society. Of his work on the board of education, one of his fellow members said : "We may think of him as a searcher after truth; as possessing the genius of industry; as a painstaking in- vestigator; as having a mental equipment which leads straight to the gist of things; as having the qualities of the explorer and in some degree the pioneer; as believing that few situations in life are so serious that a hopeful view of them is not more sane than a hopeless view." Dr. Christopher was especially interested in the intricate and obscure chemical problems associated with nutrition in infants and he contributed many articles on this subject to the literature. His personality was that of forcefulness and charm and he had many friends. Chicago Med. Recorder, 1905, vol. xxvii, 392-395. Portrait and Bibliography. Trans. Araer. Pediat. Soc, 1905, vol. xvii, p. ix. Portrait. Eesolu. Bd. of Educa., Chicago. E. C. Dudley, M.D. Church, Benjamin (1734-1776) Benjamin Church, the first surgeon-general of the American Army, was born at Newport, Rhode Island, August 24, 1734. He was a great grandson of Col. Benjamin Church (1639-1718) who was distinguished in the early Indian wars of New England. After graduating at Har- vard College in 1754 Benjamin studied medi- cine in London, established himself in Boston, where he rose to eminence as a physician and as a skilful operator. James Thacher said "He possessed a brilliant genius, a lively fancy, and was an excellent writer." In 1773 Church was the orator at the "Commemoration of the Boston Massacre." When the war began he was appointed physician general to the army with the title, "Director-General and Chief Physician," with a stipend of four dollars a day. He was a member of the Provincial Congress in 1774. His duties in the army were to "furnish medicines, bedding and all other necessaries, to pay for the same, and receive orders from the commander-in-chief." Church tried to raise the low standard of the medical corps but was hampered by fric- tion between the hospital and the regimental surgeons; an investigation was ordered. Sud- denly it was discovered that he was in com- munication with the enemy, as revealed by a cryptic letter intercepted through the agency of a woman whom he kept. He was arrested and held in prison for some four months when he was convicted unanimously by a council of war presided over by General Washington. He was expelled from Congress and confined ■ in jail at Norwich, Connecticut, by order of that body. Finally in May, 1776, he was re- leased on account of failing health and al- lowed to sail with his family to the West Indies. He was never heard of again and it was supposed that his ship was lost at sea. His family was pensioned by the crown. Drake says, "He was an elegant orator and poet, and the best of the contributors to the Pietas et Gratulatio. He wrote "The Choice," a poem; "The Times," 1760, a satire on the Stamp Act and its abettors ; an elegy on Dr. Mayhew, 1766; an elegy on Dr. Whitefield, 1770; "Address of a Provincial Bashaw, by a Son of Liberty," 1769, and the oration, above referred to, March 5, 1773. Amer. Med. Biog., James Thacher, 1828. Hist. Har. Med. Sch., T. J. Harrington, 1905, vol. i. 66-68. Dictny. Amer. Biog., F. S. Drake, Boston, 1872. Claiborne, John Herbert (1828-1905) The son of John G. and Mary E. Weldon Claiborne, John Herbert was born March 16, 1828, in Brunswick County, Virginia, and edu- cated in local academies and at Randolph-