Page:American Medical Biographies - Kelly, Burrage.djvu/402

NAME FENGER 380 FENWICK Fjelstrup Fenger- From his birth, November 3, 1840, in Copenhagen, until his graduation from the medical department of the Uni- versity of Copenhagen in 1867, little is known of him. After graduation he served Prof. Meyer as assistant for two years, and then gave another two years as interne of the Royal Frederick Hospital. His service in the City Hospital from 1871 to 1874 was first as pro- sector, then as privat-docent. From the be- ginning of his career Dr. Fenger wished to be a teacher, but failed in being appointed to the chair of pathology for which he had passed the required examination. Perhaps it was owing to this failure that he went to Egypt where he became a member of the Sani- tary Council and surgeon to the Khalifa in the District of Cairo. Here he made the most of his opportunities in studying tropical disease and mastering the Arabic language. The Danish-Schleswig-Holstein and Franco-Prus- sian wars further added to his knowledge by giving him training in military surgery. With all this experience he quickly made his repu- tation as a teacher and surgeon when he came to the United States in 1877 and settled in Chicago. His medical confreres first recog- nized his worth by the work he did in the morgue of the Cook County Hospital. His profound knowledge of pathology was ap- preciated by all who attended his autopsies. Dr. Fenger was also well versed in bacteri- ology, keeping pace with all its new develop- ments. The School of Modern Pathology of Chicago counts him as one of its founders. The County Hospital gave him the position of attending and consulting surgeon, a post he held for twenty years ; and the internes profited by his ability as a teacher and his kindness as a host, for he cordially welcomed them at his house every week, the evening being spent in discussion and study. Dr. Fenger taught surgery for eighteen years in the College of Physicians and Sur- geons, Northwestern University Medical School, and Rush Medical College- An acknowledgment of his work as a teacher came to him in the appointment of professor of clinical surgery in the Rush Medi- cal College. His teaching was enhanced by his skill in illustrating by colored drawings on the blackboard. He always adopted this way when he undertook an important opera- tion, to show the pathologic condition, sur- gical anatomy, and technic of the operation about to be performed. Every operation was with him a dissection. He would stand with his knife in the air, talking and demonstrat- ing, forgetting the patient was under anes- thesia or take out a specimen and talk about it, forgetting the patient was waiting to be sewed up. His endurance was unusual, as he was able to conduct clinics from two o'clock in the afternoon until nine in the evening. He made no display of his vast cUnical material and had the honesty to report unfavorable cases. He was the first in Chicago to per- form vaginal hysterectomy and one of the first there to explore the brain with an aspirating needle. During his thirty years of work he contrib- uted more than eighty articles to surgical literature, a full list of which is given in Sperry's "Group of Distinguished Physicians and Surgeons of Chicago," 1904. The place he made for himself in the new world as scientist, surgeon, author and humanitarian did not allow him to be forgotten in the old. King Christian of Denmark conferred on him the Order of Ridder of Danneberg; America honored him in her own democratic way by a large gathering of physicians representing one hundred and thirty-nine medical societies from every part of the continent ; all coming together to express admiration for the pioneer work in science done by Dr. Fenger in the country of his adoption. During the last summer of his life his work- ing power was taxed to its utmost, but a good holiday set him up again. On the second of March, 1902, however, he was attacked by a most virulent type of pneumonia and died five days later. During his illness the three who had been his pupils, Billings (q. v.), Fa- vill (q. V.) and Herrick, gave devotion and 'care to their beloved professor. He was sur- vived by his wife, Caroline Abildgaard, and two children, Frederick and Augusta. Jour. Amer. Med. Assoc, July 5, 1902. Dr. N. Senn. A Group of Disting. Phys. and Surgs. of Chicago. F. M. Sperry, 1904. Portrait. Fenwick, George Edgeworth (1825-1894). George Edgeworth Fenwick, bold, original, pioneer surgeon in Canada, whose name is especially associated with the operation for ex- cision of the knee-joint, was born in Quebec October 8, 1825. He had an experience prob- ably unequaled in thyroidectomy, lithotomy, and excisions of joints; he early took up and ardently practised the Listerian antiseptic principles ; his operation for excision of the knee-joint, devised before the days of anti- septic surgery, is an excellent conservative procedure widely used. Also he had large experience in excision of the rectum for malignancy. His father, Joseph Fenwick, was from Mor- peth, England, and his mother, Margaret Eliza-