Page:American Medical Biographies - Kelly, Burrage.djvu/559

NAME HODGES 537 HOLBROOK In the museum at the Medical School are many handsome specimens of his handiwork, all finely injected and colored by processes then quite new. About this time Hodges was for- tunate in winning the friendship of H. J. Bige- low (q. v.)i then well established in his career. Bigelow's extensive practice and the great de- mands made upon his time by other labors, gave Hodges many opportunities to find prac- tice through the recommendations of his friend. This solid endorsement had its effect, and he rose rapidly in the profession. With a natural, pleasing manner, and a winning per- sonality, which we know Hodges possessed, it does not seem like an exaggeration to read that "as a fashionable and popular physician he has rarely had an equal in Boston ; and his decided, sensible advice and warm sympathy made him a great favorite." Bigelow found in Hodges an apt pupil, with an earnestness, decision and self-confidence which appealed strongly to his own nature. Upon the resignation of S. D. Townsend (q. v.) in 1863, Hodges was appointed visiting surgeon to the Massachusetts General Hos- pital. There he was associated with Cabot, Bigelow, Clark, Gay and J. Mason Warren. He was always the friend as well as the teacher of house-officers at the Hospital, and many surgeons who in after years became dis- tinguished, owe much to the patient and careful oversight of their old chief, Hodges. As an operator he was one of the best as well as one of the neatest. His writings upon excision of joints, upon spiroidal fractures and upon other surgical conditions became authoritative. He was the first to point out the frequency of a sinus in the sacro-coccygeal region, to which he gave the name "Pilo-nidal sinus," from its hairy contents and nest-like shape. Hodges was elected adjunct professor of sur- gery on January 27, 1866, and proved himself of great assistance to Bigelow, who was then perfecting his well-known demonstration of the Y ligament and its bearing on hip disloca- tions. Teaching did not appeal especially to Hodges, whose nervous temperament made each course of lectures more laborious, so he resigned on July 10, 1872. He continued his services, however, at the Hospital, until 1885, when he resigned. Hodges's association with Henry J. Bigelow makes his account of the ether controversy al- most official. It is entitled "The Introduction of Surgical Anesthesia," Boston, 1891, 159 pp. For the Massachusetts Medical Society he was Anniversary Chairman in 1872, and de- livered the annual discourse in 1886, on "Un- dercurrents of Modern Medicine." He also read "Modern Surgery" before this Society, and he wrote a life of Bigelow. The man had sterling qualities; he was active, steady, and ambitious, with an opinion decisive, almost dogmatic ; he was blunt to brusqueness at times, yet always sincere and honest. By habit he was punctilious, and in- sisted upon the same quality in others who came into professional or social relations with him. Although modest to a degree, he had a decided and self-reliant manner which never failed him when needed. He was a member of the Board of Overseers of Harvard College from 1878 until 1890, and was a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and of the Boston Society for Medical Im- provement, from 1854. He retired from active practice in 1891, and died in Boston, on Feb- ruary 9, 1896. Hist. Har. Med. School, T. F. Harrington, M. D., 1905, vol. ii, 910-913. Hoffman, David Bancroft (1827-1891). David Bancroft Hoffman was born in Bain- bridge, New York, July 25, 1827. He studied medicine in his father's office, and attended lectures at Rush and Jefferson Medical Col- leges. He crossed the plains in 1849 and spent two years in California. In 1851-3 he was surgeon on mail steamers from New York to Aspin- wall, and from Panama to San Francisco. He then settled in San Diego, California, was cor- oner and afterwards postmaster there, and represented the County in the legislature in 1861-62. He received the degree of M. D. from Toland Medical College, in San Fran- cisco, in 1864. During the Civil War he served as a field surgeon in the United States Army, and after- ward as a contract surgeon, until 1880. In 1868 he was presidential elector ; in 1869-73, collector of customs at San Diego; and in 1S70- 5, United States commissioner in bankruptcy. He engaged in railroad enterprises, and was chosen president of the San Diego and San Bernardino Railroad Company. He published a "Medical History of San Diego County" (San Francisco, 1864). Dr. Hoffman died in Helix, California, November 19, 1891. Appleton's Cyclop. Amer. Biog., New York, 1887. Information from .Ithea Warren. Holbrook, John Edwards (1794-1871). Both anatomist and naturalist, he was born at Beaufort, South Carolina, December 30, 1794, the son of Silas Holbrook, a native of Massachusetts, through whom he was descended