Page:American Medical Biographies - Kelly, Burrage.djvu/377

NAME EDWARDS 355 EIGHTS In 1893 he was made professor of practice of medicine in the University College of Medi- cine, Richmond, and from 1900 to 1907 was professor of clinical medicine and dean of the medical faculty of the institution and later emeritus professor. His hospital experience began in 1867 when he served for five months as house physician at Charity Hospital, Black- well's Island, and later as assistant physician to Dr. M. Gonzales Echeverria, at his hospital for nervous diseases, Lake Mahopac, New York. Jour. Amer. Med. Assoc, 1910, vol. Ix. Appleton's Cyclop, of Amer. Biog., N. Y., 1887. Edwards, William Milan (1855-1905). William M. Edwards, alienist, was born on his father's farm near Peru, Indiana, Septem- ber 17, 1855; his father, a native of Cincinnati, Ohio, his mother of Louisville, Kentucky. After an early education in the common schools at Peru, Indiana, one year at Smith- son College, Logansport, Indiana, two years at the University of Indiana, and a two years' teaching engagement at his home district school he began to study medicine with Drs. Ward and Brenton of Peru, in 1884, grad- uating M. D. from the University of Michi- gan, in the same year. At once he was appointed assistant physician in the Michigan Asylum for the Insane at Kalamazoo, and in 1891 medical superintendent to fill the place vacated by the resignation of Dr. George C. Palmer. He was a member of the American Medico-Psychological Association ; vice-presi- dent, Michigan State Medical Society, 1904; associate editor Physician and Surgeon, Ann Arbor, Michigan; non-resident lecturer on in- sanity, Michigan University, 1898; and au- thor of many papers read before the joint Board of Trustees of the Michigan Asylums, the State Board of Charities, and other organi- zations interested in the care of the insane. Dur- ing his administration of Kalamazoo Asylum the antiquated buildings were practically re- constructed, the colony system developed and extended, detached hospitals and infirmaries for patients of both sexes erected. He or- ganized a highly efTtective training school. Dr. Edwards was about six feet in height, well proportioned, very dark hair and com- plexion, gentle of speech, with winning ex- pression and considerate manner; he was able to attract all to his plans and interest them in his purposes, blending the most inhar- monious elements into an efficient working force. On August 10, 1897, he married Emma Adele Merritt, of Union City, Michigan, who sur- vived him. He died on April 26, 1905, in the hospital at. n Arbor, from chronic heart disease. Two of his papers were : "The Public Care of Epileptics by Colonization." (Transac- tions Michigan State Medical Society, 1884.) "The Early Recognition and Treatment of In- sanity at Home." (Transactions Michigan State Medical Society, 1899.) Leartus Connor. Eights, James (1798-1882). James Eights, naturalist, was the son of Dr. Jonathan Eights, in his day a well-known physician of Albany, New York, and was born at Albany in 1798. In those days the home of the Eights, which stood on the corner of what is now North Pearl and Columbia streets, was in the center of the fashionable residential district of the old Dutch citizens, and nearby dwelt the Douws, the Terwilligers, the Huns, the Van Schaicks, the Ten Broecks, the Ten Eycks, the Zer- brugges, the widow Visscher and many others whose names still persist among the families of Alban}', or are recalled by the names of streets or localities. In this attnosphere of picturesque high-peaked houses, young Eights, who was an artist of ability, must have re- ceived strong impressions. It is this same Eights who drew a series of sketches of the streets of old Albany in 1805 ; pictures that have been so often copied that some of them are apt to be found almost anywhere, and whose authorship is almost forgotten. Of his early education we know little. One may easily surmise that he was licensed to practise medicine by the state or county medi- cal society, according to the custom of the time, because throughout life he was known as "Doctor Eights." He seems to have de- veloped in early years an unusual keenness of observation and deep interest in natural sciences, and in 1829 accompanied the Capt. Fanning Voyage of Discovery to the South Sea Islands. He brought back with him con- siderable material of a scientific interest, and some of the interesting forms of animal and vegetable life which he discovered are de- scribed in the Transactions of the Albany Institute in 1833 ("Remarks on the New South Shetland Islands"). Fragments of this ma- terial are still in e.xistence. The plants which he collected, in an e.xcellent condition of pres- ervation, found their way into the herbarium of his friend and colleague. Dr. Lewis Caleb Beck (q. v.), who sent a duplicate set to Hook- er for determination. The original set is now