Page:American Medical Biographies - Kelly, Burrage.djvu/651

NAME JOHNSTON 629 JOHNSTON with the welcome condition of free tuition, Atlhough he had never received any instruc- tion in drawing, he undertook the task. After many attempts his work was accepted, and he became an enthusiastic student of the Acad- emy. He soon became proficient, and was offered a position as instructor in anatomical drawing, which, however, was not accepted. In his "Medical Botany" the colored plates are from water colors of his own, and they are models of superb execution. Early in his medical career he was ap- pointed attending physician to the Northwest- ern Dispensary ; in 1875 he became attending physician to Demilt Dispensary, in the depart- ment of diseases of the digestive organs, and was also connected for a time with the Hos- pital for the Ruptured and Crippled. He was a member of the medical staflf of the Ran- dall's Island Hospital for several years, a po- sition which he resigned in order to become one of the visiting physicians to Gouverneur Hospital, a position held at the time of his death. The trustees of the University of the City of New York elected him lecturer on medical botany in the Medical School, and af- terwards appointed him professor of clinical medicine. Dr. Johnson was not a prolific writer, but his literary work was of a character which re- quired accuracy and the most painstaking and | judicial scrutiny of every detail. His book on I "Medical Botany," to which allusion has been | made, was in a marked degree original work, and occupies a high rank as a text-book. The I American edition of Phillips' "Materia Medica and Therapeutics" was edited by him, and also a "Medical Formulary," one of William Wood & Company's Library of the series of 1881. His reputation as an expert in medical bot- any and materia medica led to his selection as one of the members of the Committee of Revision of the United States Pharmacopoeia of 1880, a position involving so much attention to the minutest details that it is difficult to understand how a man who had secured so large a practice could have found the time for such a task. He was president of the Medical Society of the State of New York in 1886 and re-elected in 1887. He married Ada Rowe of Wayne County in 1872 and a son and daughter survived him. Tr. Med. Soc. of N. Y., Daniel Lewis, 1894. Johnston, Christopher (1822-1891) Christopher Johnston, surgeon, was of Scotch descent. His grandfather emigrated to Baltimore in 1766 and Christopher was born in that city, September 27, 1822, his mother being Elizabeth Gates, daughter of Maj. Lem- uel Gates. On the death of his father in 1835 he was adopted by an aiint and was educated at St. Mary's College, Baltimore, afterwards studying medicine with Dr. John Buckler, re- ceiving his M. D. at Maryland University in 1844, and the same year visiting Europe. In 1847 he joined with Charles Frick (q.v.) and others in founding the Maryland Medical In- stitute, an excellent preparatory school, "organ- ized to elevate the standard of office instruc- tion in accordance with the design of the Na- tional Medical Convention." From 1853 to 1855 he was again in Europe studying in the hospi- tals of Paris and Vienna, and on his ret'urn he was appointed lecturer on experimental physi- ology and microscopy and curator of the Mu- seum at the University of Maryland. In 1857 he resigned this post to take the professorship of anatomy in the Baltimore College of Dental Surgery, where he remained until 1864. The battle of Gettysburg saw Johnson aiding on the field, rendering zealous service to the wounded. On January 1, 1864, he became pro- fessor of anatomy and physiology in the L!ni- versity of Maryland, and from 1869 to 1881 he held the chair of surgery as successor to Prof. Nathan R. Smith (q. v.). Dr. Johnston early manifested a strong taste for scientific study and research, acquiring great expertness as a microscopist and a skilled artist. One of his earliest papers was on the "Auditory Apparatus of the Mosquito" (London Quarterly Journal of Microscopical Science, 1855.) He was a frequent contribu- tor to scientific and medical literature, his lar- gest work being that on "Plastic Surgery" ("Ashhurst's International Encyclopedia of Surgery," 1881). He was slow and careful in his operations, and ingenious in devising expedients. He was the first surgeon in Maryland to remove the upper jaw complete, 1873 (in Jameson's clas- sical operation— 1820— .the roof of the antrum was left), and to operate for exstrophy of the bladder (1876). He assisted in founding the Maryland Academy of Sciences and was con- sulting surgeon to the Johns Hopkins and other hospitals. The Johns Hopkins Univer- sity, its museums and laboratories had much of his thought and he bequeathed to it his medical and surgical instruments, his micro- scopical cabinet, his cabinet of crystals, and his library. Dr. Johnston's personal appearance was striking with his commanding figure and