Page:American Medical Biographies - Kelly, Burrage.djvu/513

HARGIS Dr. Hare married Harriet Clark in 1811. He died in Philadelphia, May 15, 1858.



Hargis, Robert Bell Smith (1818–1893).

Robert B. S. Hargis of Pensacola, Florida, was born in Hillsborough, North Carolina, June 7, 1818, of Scotch-Irish descent. His early education was received at the University of North Carolina; he studied medicine three years under Dr. J. T. Jordan at Fayetteville in the same state and was graduated from the Medical College of Louisiana (later Tulane University Medical Department) in 1844. For one year Dr. Hargis practised in Mobile, Alabama, but having malaria he moved into a higher country at Mt. Pleasant in the same state. There he remained until 1851 when he settled in Pensacola, Florida, becoming port physician. In 1853 he took yellow fever, at that time prevalent, and went to Milton, Florida, to convalesce, but returned the following year to Pensacola to accept the position of surgeon to the Marine Hospital, which had been established, holding the office until the beginning of the Civil War in 1861. Then he served in the medical corps of the Confederate Army under General Braxton Bragg and subsequently held a commission as surgeon until the end of the war. Settling in Pensacola again in 1865, he associated himself with Dr. J. C. Whiting and established the Pensacola Hospital in 1868. In 1882 he was president of the Florida Medical Association, having previously been president of the board of health of Escambia county. With Dr. William Martin of the United States Navy, Dr. Hargis conducted an investigation of the yellow fever epidemics of 1882 and 1883. Twenty years after the close of the war he was appointed acting assistant surgeon to the United States Marine Hospital, holding the office for the rest of his life. Another honorary office he held for many years was president of the board of medical examiners of the First Judicial District of Florida.

He wrote on yellow fever in the New Orleans Medical News and Hospital Gazette, January, 1859, again on its history and origin, in the proceedings of the American Public Health Association, 1880. He was the author of "Sketches of the History of Quarantine at Pensacola, Florida," National Board of Health Bulletin, 1881; "The Natural History of

Plagues," 1887; "The Topical Application of Oil of Turpentine to Recent Wounds," Philadelphia Medical News, 1888; and a large number of short articles on yellow fever quarantine and public hygiene in a variety of medical journals. He died at Pensacola, November 30, 1893.



Harlan, George Cuvier (1835–1909).

George C. Harlan, ophthalmologist, was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, January 28, 1835, and died September 25, 1909, following a fall from a horse.

He was a son of the physician and scientist, (q. v.), and received the degree of B. A. from Delaware College in 1855, obtaining the master's degree three years later. He graduated in medicine from the University of Pennsylvania in 1858, his inaugural thesis being upon the subject of "The Iris."

On April 6, 1857, apparently several months before he graduated in medicine, he was appointed resident physician at Wills Hospital, in which institution he held the position of surgeon from March 4, 1861 to 1864, returning to active work in the same capacity in 1868, and remaining uninterruptedly in office for twenty-three years, resigning on May 8, 1901. He was later made consulting surgeon and held this position until his death.

He also held residencies in the Pennsylvania and St. Joseph's Hospitals; the latter during 1858–1859. Later he became attending surgeon to St. Mary's and the Children's Hospitals, all in Philadelphia.

At the beginning of the Civil War in 1861 he was appointed acting assistant surgeon in the U. S. Navy, being assigned to the gunboat Union. He resigned August 15th of the same year and in the following September was made major and surgeon in the Eleventh Pennsylvania Cavalry.

During the war he was captured and sent to Libby prison in Richmond, Virginia, and honorably mustered out of the service, September 28, 1864.

In 1875 he became ophthalmologist to the Pennsylvania Institution for Instruction of the Blind, at which place he made many scientific investigations and did much clinical work. His interest in the welfare of the eyes of the children under his care never lessened. In 1879 he became connected with the Eye and