Page:American Medical Biographies - Kelly, Burrage.djvu/655

NAME JOHNSTONE 633 JOHNSTONE Prof. Johnston had a full knowledge of the whole literature of pathology and allied sub- jects, his success lying in his originality, in- ventiveness, and discovery of the simplest and most direct methods. When any new one was announced he often found a new and a better one. For example, he devised a rapid and convenient method for collecting samples of water at various depths in such a way as to exclude the possibility of contamination, and one of distinguishing and counting the various animalculae found in surface water. He used hard-boiled eggs for the diagnosis for diph- theria. His modification of the Widal reac- tion for the diagnosis of typhoid fever by means of dried serum is well known. For twenty years Dr. Johnston was con- nected with the medical faculty of McGill Uni- versity and with the Montreal General Hospi- tal. His status among scientific men as a trustworthy investigator in bacteriology, pre- ventive and legal medicine added greatly to the reputation of his university and hospital, but his written work amounted to some fifty short papers. He was a member of the Amer- ican Medico-Legal Association. Andrew Macphail. Johnstone, Arthur Weir (1853-1905) Arthur Weir Johnstone was born at Paint Lick, near Danville, Kentucky, July 15, 1853. His father was the son of the Rev. Alexander Johnstone, a Presbyterian, well known as a man of extreme Calvinistic views, and a strong upholder of antislavery principles. Arthur's early education was received at the public schools. He then entered Center Col- lege, Danville, where he graduated in 1872. After leaving college he joined a corps of United States engineers, which was employed on a triangulation of a portion of the Missis- sippi. He began to study medicine with Dr. John B. Jackson, of Danville, a man with a high reputation for learning, then attended one course of lectures at Tulane University, in 1873, and graduated from the University of New York in 1876, after graduation practising in Danville with Dr. A. R. McKee. This ar- rangement lasted but a short time, when John- stone returned to New York and studied for three months in Charles Heitzman's labora- tory, while taking a course in diseases of the eye with Knapp (q. v.) in his clinic. He now returned to a country practice, but again only for a short time. His strong in- clination had always led him towards surgery, and becoming interested in gynecolog', which was at that time rapidly advancing along bold surgical lines, he determined to pursue this as a specialty. To this end he wrote to Lawson Tait, at Birmingham, England, asking him whether he would receive him as a pupil, and on what terms. It happened that Tait was, at that time, prejudiced against Americans, and on receiving Johnstone's letter he remarked to Greig Smith, who was with him, that he would make his fee so large that it would be prohibitive. He wrote Johnstone, therefore, that his terms were $2,000 for a year. To his surprise Johnstone at once accepted. A per- sonal acquaintance with Johnstone soon suf- ficed to obliterate all prejudice and antipathy on Tait's part, and he often subsequently re- ferred to Johnstone as his most promising pu- pil. Johnstone remained with Tait six months, and during this time his paper on "Menstrua- tion," which attracted a great deal of atten- tion, was read before the British Gynecologi- cal Society, then sitting in Birmingham. On Johnstone's return he settled once more in Danville, where he started a private hospi- tal, with the intention of building up an ex- clusively gynecological practice, and he soon secured patients from all parts of the State. He was, I believe, the first person in Keti- tucky during this period to operate for extra- uterine pregnancy, after making a diagnosi.*;. It was at this time (1886) that he joined the American Gynecological Societj'. About three years later Johnstone f-.irmed a partnership with that eminent and much-loved old warrior in the surgical world. Dr. Thad- deus Reamy (q. v.), of Cincinnati. This asso- ciation, however, was not a happy one and lasted but a year; after its termination he opened another private hospital of his own in Cincinnati, near Mt. Auburn. In 1897 Dr. Johnstone married Ethel, a daughter of Major W. H. Chamberlin. In September, 1905, Johnstone was taken ill with what he himself at first supposed was an attack of simple colic; Dr. R. B. Rachford and Dr. Marion Whitacre, however, W'ho were immediately called in, made a diagnosis of ap- pendicitis of a severe character. Dr. E. C. Dudle.v, of Chicago, operated on September 16; on opening the abdominal cavity he re- marked that the case was the most desperate one he had seen. During the ensuing night complications arose, and Dr. Dudley had no sooner reached home than he had to hasten back. Upon reopening the abdomen an intes- tinal obstruction was found with an acute peri- tonitis, which made the condition hopeless.