Page:American Medical Biographies - Kelly, Burrage.djvu/453

NAME GEDDINGS 431 GEIKIE Geddings, Eli (1799-1878) Eli Geddings was born in Newberry Dis- trict, South Carolina, in 1799. He received his early education in Abbeville Academy, and was licensed to practise by the Examining Board of the Medical Society of South Caro- lina in 1820, in Charleston. In 1820-21 he took a course of lectures at the University of Pennsylvania and in 1825, at the inauguration of the Medical College of South Carolina, had the proud satisfaction of receiving the first degree at the first commencement. In the spring of 1825 he went to Europe to attend Paris and London hospitals, especially the former. In May, 1826, and for one year he discharged the duties of demonstrator of an- atomy in his alma mater. In 1831 he was invited to accept the chair of anatomy and physiology in the University of Maryland and stayed there until 1837. While in Baltimore he edited in 1833 the Baltimore Medical and Surgical Journal, a quarterly which was con- verted in 1834 into a monthly journal known as the North American Archives of Medical and Surgical Sciences, and his prolific pen was often engaged in contributing valuable papers to the present American Journal of the Med- ical Sciences. The chair of pathological anatomy and medical jurisprudence having been created for him, he returned to Charleston in 1837 and filled it until that of surgery was made vacant by the death of his colleague, Dr. John Wag- ner (q. v.). In 1847 Dr. Samuel Henry Dick- son (q. V.) removed to New York and Dr. Geddings was transferred to the chair of prac- tice of medicine. Here he remained discharging the duties with his accustomed ability until 1850 when Dr. Dickson returned and he re- sumed the chair of surgery. Dr. Geddings received many offers of for- eign service during his professional career: About 1830, when Prof. Eberle (q. v.) re- moved to Cincinnati, he was chosen to the va- cant chair of the practice of medicine in the Jefferson Medical College, and upon the or- ganization under Chancellor Mathews of the New York University, was solicited to take the professorship of anatomy. When Prof. Drake seceded from the Medical College of Ohio and formed a new school, Prof. Geddings was offered the chair of anatomy with a guarantee, and on the organization of the University of Louisville, was offered by Caldwell the choice of whichever chair he should desire. Familiar with Latin, French, German and Spanish, Dr. Geddings perfo.'"med an incredi- ble amount of literary work. Previous to the civil war he had so far completed a work on "The Practice of Medicine" that the title page had been set up in Philadelphia, but the stir- ring events of 1860-1865 put an end to all that, for he served as surgeon in the Confederate army during the war. His rare medical li- brary, which had been sent to Columbia, was destroyed in a conflagration. Dr. Geddings first married Mrs. Gray, nie Wyatt, by whom he had three sons and one daughter. His sons all became physicians. Dr. Geddings next married Laura Postel, but had no children. He died in Charleston, South Carolina, October 9, 1878, eighty years old. An excellent portrait is in the hall of the Medical Society of South CaroHna and a steel engraving with a biographical sketch was printed in the Charleston Medical Journal for 1857. W. Peyre Porcher. In Memoriam. Eli Geddings, Charleston, 1878. Trans. Amer. Med. Asso., J. M. Toner, Phila., 1879, vol. XXX. Appleton's Cyclop. Amer. Biog., N. Y., 1887. Geikie, Walter Bayne (1830-1917) Walter Bayne Geikie was born in Edin- burgh, May 8, 1830, the son of Rev. Archibald Geikie, a Congregationalist minister, who came with his family to Canada in 1843 and first resided in Mooretown, near Sarnia. He came of a family which has earned much dis- tinction. A brother. Rev. J. Cunningham Geikie, was author of the well-known "Life of Christ." Sir Archibald Geikie, for some years Director-General of the British Geo- logical Survey, and recently president of the Royal Society of Great Britain, was a first cousin, as was the dean of the faculty of Science of Edinburgh University, Professor James Geikie ; an uncle, Walter Geikie, pro- duced admirable etchings of Scottish life and character. Dr. Geikie was licensed as a medical prac- titioner by the Medical Board of Upper Can- ada in 1851 and held the degree of M. D. from Victoria University and Jefferson College, Philadelphia, in 1852. Other degrees were: C. M. from Victoria University, D. C L. from Trinity University, 1889, LL. D. from Queen's University, 1907, L. R. C. P. of London, F. R. C. S. and L. R. CC. S. of Edinburgh. A period of more than half a century, 1856 to 1907, was spent in the work of medical edu- cation in Ontario. During the period from 1878 to 1903, he was dean of Trinity Med- ical College, Toronto. In 1856 he became pro- fessor of materia medica in Victoria Uni- versity, Cobourg, where he was associated with the late Dr. John Rolph (q. v.), and later was appointed to the chairs of anatomy, surgery and midwifery. In 1870 he severed his connec-