Page:American Medical Biographies - Kelly, Burrage.djvu/551

NAME HILL 529 HILL bottom of everything, his anatomical studies, even at the age of twelve, being suggestive of the future. He had an ordinary school education, and at seventeen went to Augusta as a clerk to his grandfather, who was register of deeds. In that office he had access to books, and devoted his spare time to Latin, natural history and the construction of apparatus. He lived at one time with Dr. Dexter Baldwin, of Mount Vernon, and from seeing him ride about, he got the de- sire of being a doctor. At the age of twenty- one he studied with Dr. Gage, of Augusta, Dr. Amos Nourse (q. v.) of Bath, and Dr. John Hubbard (q. v.) of Hallowell, who was des- tined to be governor of Maine. After attend- ing two courses of lectures at the Medical School of Maine he graduated at that institu- tion in 1836 and, returning to Augusta, opened an office in which he practised for fifty-three years. A mechanical genius, he turned early to sur- gery, and did many successful operations at a time when such were regarded as nothing short of miraculous. He invented surgical instru- ments which proved of great utility and value. He was a member of all the old Maine medi- cal societies, and later on, one of tlie founders of the Maine Medical Association, one of its early presidents, and aided largely in b'uilding up the Medical School of Maine and the Maine General Hospital. Among his papers read be- fore the Maine Medical .Association was one on "Cystitis" in 1875. Perhaps his best paper was on "A Case of Popliteal Aneurysm cured by Pressure." Soon after beginning practice he married Sarah Ann Carpenter, of .Augusta, and she dy- ing in 1874, he married, in 1880, Clara Lothrop Dalton, of Norridgwock, but he had no chil- dren. Personally I recall Dr. Hil! as tall and slim, with a long face, clean shaved upper lip, long beard, a keen aspect, and a man full of talk. As Carlyle says, he was a loose talker, mean- ing that his words flowed long and even, yet always full of sense. Hill was honored with the A. M. from Colby in 1853. Although apparently as well as he had been for some time, in October, 1889, when making a call in consultation he fell on a dark stairway and injured his right hip. From this injury he was not to recover, but, confined first to his house and then to bed, he gradually failed and died December 2, 1889, conscious to the last. James A. Spalding. Trans. Maine Med. .Assoc., 1890, vol. x. Hill, William Nevin (1857-1908). William Nevin Hill was born December 30, 1856, and died December 25, 1908. He prac- tised medicine in BaUimore continuously for thirty-three years, but during the years of small-po.x epidemic became a specialist in the treatment of that disease, and devoted himself heroically to the suffering poor among whom it was raging, taking the disease himself as an incident to his work. Hill graduated at the Washington University in 1874 and afterwards at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, being then only eighteen years of age. He was an enthusiast in matters of civic duty, taking special interest in political reforms. He was a prolific letter writer on such questions, his ar- ticles being marked by originality and force. He was a member of the Medical and Chi- rurgical Faculty of Maryland. In the last two years of his life he was ap- pointed by the health commissioner of Bal- timore City to have charge of the work of exterminating mosquitoes. This he undertook with his usual conscientious and original ef- fort, devoting himself, literally, day and night, for he prepared a series of stereopticon lec- tures of which he gave over sixty in the even- ings during the first winter of his work, after toiling strenuously in the field with his force during the day, directing the draining of pools and the inspection of premises throughout the entire city. The relief from the pests the first summer was enjoyed by the people, who attrib- uted to Dr. Hill full credit for his labors. While engaged in his work he was stricken and shortly afterwards died (some brain trouble, a tumor I think), at the Enoch Pratt and Shep- pard Hospital. He was the son of the late William Hill and Jane Woodside of County An- trim, Ireland. In 1896 the doctor married Madeline Scott, who died before him, leaving one child, Dorothy M. Hill, who survived him. Hill was an omnivorous reader with an in- effaceable memory making him the living encyclopedia of a large circle of devoted friends. His influence was wonderful, and the force of his personality far-reaching in its effects. Through his suggestions and plan of organization the city of Baltimore secured the National Drainage Congress of 1907. Though often worried by opposition he seemed unable to understand any one thinking of personal risk or reputation when the civic good was at stake. William J. Ogden.