Page:American Medical Biographies - Kelly, Burrage.djvu/292

NAME GUSHING 270 GUSHING American Medical Association; of the State Medical Society of Pennsylvania; of the county societies of Dauphin and Warren; president of the State Society in 1869, and trustee of La Fayette College in 1865. Dr. Curwen was best known to the mem- bers of the American Medico-Psychological Association as the secretary and acting treas- urer ot that body — a double office — for a period of 34 years. To him a lasting debt of gratitude has been due for keeping a record of its proceedings and preserving its archives during this long period. In 1893 he was made president of the association. He was a fre- quent contribVitor to the literature of his profession in communications to Tlie American Journal of Insanity; to medical societies, through the medium of his annual reports, and on several occasions through memorials to the State Legislature to urge increased accommodations for the insane. Although not a member at the time, he was the last survivor of those who were present when the American Medico-Psychological Association was organ- ized under its earlier name and he had a per- sonal acquaintance with each of the 13 founders. The habits of fidelity to his trust, and of constant industry, formed in early life, con- tinued to the last day of his official life and as long as strength of mind and body re- mained. He stood for the principles of his profession in every effort to ameliorate the condition of the insane. He possessed the moral courage born of honest purpose and convictions, and the inestimable quality of Ghristian character and sympathy for distress" and human suffering without which even med- ical skill and science are unavailing in hos- pital administration. He was a man of re- ligious convictions and an elder of the Presby- terian Church. During his official life it was his daily rule to meet his patients, as they could be brought together, and to lead them in a service of Scripture reading, song and prayer, by which he hoped to impart hope, comfort and consolation to them, and to re- ceive a blessing upon himself and his work. "Institutional Care of the Insane in the U. S. and Canada, Henry M. Hurd, 1917." Gushing, Edward Fitch (1862-1911) The outline facts of Dr. Gushing's life ap- pear simple and are soon told : He came of a distinguished line of physicians. His great- grandfather was a physician in New England ; his grandfather, Erastus Gushing, was a pioneer and one of the early physicians of Cleveland ; his father, Henry Kirke Gushing (q. v.), a surgeon of the Civil War, practised medicine in Cleveland almost to the time of his death at the age of 83. Harvey Gushing, of Johns Hopkins and Harvard, was Edward Gushing's younger brother. Edward Fitch Gushing was born in Cleve- land June 24, 1862; was graduated A. B. from Cornell in 1883 and M. D. from Harvard in 1888. After completing his postgraduate studies in the Massachusetts General Hospital, where he served on both the surgical and medical services, he began practice in his native town in 1891, when his father was still active. In the course of years the son took over the father's work. The younger Gushing soon made himself felt in the community. Important assignments were given him, and he created new enterprises. He was visiting physician to the children's ward of the Lake- side Hospital and professor of pediatrics m the Western Reserve University; he fostered the Cleveland Medical Journal, which owes much of its success to his leading and his money; he promoted and established the Babies' Dispensary, a splendid work; he was foremost in organizing the Cleveland Medical Library; and in reorganizing the prosperous and distinguished Western Reserve Medical College. Ill all questions relating to public health his advice was sought and was liberally given. He was a vice-president of the Harvard Medical Alumni Association. Such were a few of his many activities. His life was one of service. He was an ideal clinician ; per- haps there was no greater in this country. And with all this, his was a life of self- abnegation. Rarely in this modern world do we see great talents so consecrated to plain duty. We have our professional leaders, our great martyrs to science, our widely heralded surgeons, our Walter Reeds, our heroes of the laboratory; — Edward Gushing might have ranked them all ; but he chose what seemed a humbler field; to give himself unreservedly, faithfully, brilliantly to the daily service of the sick. He set a standard which may well be an inspiration and an example to every practitioner, humble or famous, in the land ; and in the short space of twenty years he accomplished a work and gained a loyal devo- tion in a great community which for genera- tions may not hope to see his like again. He died in Cleveland March 23, 1911, after a brief illness, from a malignant obstruction of the colon. James Gregory Mumford. Gushing, Ernest Watson (1847-1916) This gynecological surgeon and editor was born in Boston, January 17, 1847, the son