Page:American Medical Biographies - Kelly, Burrage.djvu/371

NAME EARLE 349 EARLE the Missouri River. On returning home he attended an academy at Burlington, Wisconsin, until the spring of 1862, when he enlisted in the 96th Regiment, Illinois Volunteers, and continued in the service until the end of the war. He occupied successively the positions of private, orderly-sergeant, lieutenant, aide-de- camp and assistant inspector-general on brigade staff. After the battle of Chickamauga, he was taken prisoner on Missionary Ridge, and was confined in Libby prison for four and one-half months, when he escaped through a tunnel. After a brief furlough home he returned to the front and took part in the Atlanta campaign. In the fall of 1865 he entered Beloit College, receiving the degree of A. M. in 1868. He at once entered the office of Dr. William H. By- ford (q. v.), of Chicago as a medical student and matriculated at Chicago Medical College, and in 1870 received the degree of M. D. from that institution. The same year, at the organi- zation of the Women's Medical College, Dr. Earle became professor of physiology, and after twenty-one consecutive years of service, on the death of Prof. William H. Byford he became president of the institution. For many years he was professor of diseases of children in this school. During the years when women were striving for a place in the profession of medicine he was one of their strongest advocates and he wrote and pub- lished several articles setting forth their pecu- liar claims. In 1882 he was one of the found- ers of the College of Physicians and Sur- geons of Chicago and became its professor of obstetrics, a position he held at the time of his death. He spent the summer of 1886 in study in European hospitals. In 1892 he was elected professor of obstetrics and dis- eases of children in Rush Medical College, but resigned soon after beginning his duties. Aside from his teaching he conducted a large private and consultation practice espe- cially in obstetrics and diseases of children. Numerous papers upon subjects related to these fields were prepared by him for medical societies and published in current journals. They all bear the imprint of acute observa- tion and wide clinical experience. He also wrote for "Keatings' Cyclopedia of Diseases of Children" and for the "American Text- Book of Diseases of Children.'' Throughout his professional life he was a firm believer in the value of medical societies, and at the time of his death he was a rae.nber of several national societies, the Illinois State Medical Society, and most of the local societies. His interest impelled his attendance upon the meetings, and he frequently contributed to the programs and filled many offices in these or- ganizations, including the presidency of several. As in many men of his generation, early life on the farm and the trying experiences of the army developed in him a great power of en- durance and capacity for prolonged physical and mental exertion. He was thus able to per- form the arduous duties of private practice during a long day and to devote much of the night to study and literary efforts. Work was his only recreation, and trips from home were taken only to attend medical meetings. He took a personal interest in each of his students, both men and women, and took particular de- light in watching and aiding the progress of ambitious young men. Dr. Earle was very fond of music and him- self sang well. His large frame, full of physi- cal vigor, with an inherent gentleness, sym- pathy and cheerfulness, won him the confid- ence of his patients and the love of children, making him an ideal doctor. Ready to fight for what he believed to be right at all times, and ever ready to defend the weak, he never long held a grudge, and among his warmest friends were men who had fought on the other side in the Civil War. Dr. Earle married in 1871 Miss Fanny L. Bundy of Beloit, Wisconsin, who died April 13, 1915. Their children were William Byford Earle, who died July 22, 1914, and Carrie, wife of Dr. George H. Weaver of Chicago. George H. Weaver. Earle, Pliny (1809-1892;. An alienist, born in Leicester, Massachusetts, December 31, 1809, Pliny Earle was a descend- ant of Ralph Earle, one of the petitioners to Charles II. of England to form Rhode Island into a corporate colony, whose name appears among the signers of a political compact made at Portsmouth, Rhode Island, April 30, 1639. His father was Pliny Earle of Leicester, Massa- chusetts, an inventor of cotton machinery. The son was educated at Leicester Academy and the Friends' School, Providence, Rhode Island, and graduated in medicine at the University of Pennsylvania in 1837, afterwards travelling extensively and studying in Europe. For two years he was resident physician to the Friends' Aslyum, Frankford, Pennsylvania, and became medical superintendent of the Bloomingdale Hospital, New York, in 1844, resigning after five years' service and going a second time to Europe for special study. In 1853 he was ap- pointed visiting physician to the New York Asylum and lecturer on mental diseases at the