Page:American Medical Biographies - Kelly, Burrage.djvu/706

NAME LAWS ON 684 LAZEAR Medical College of Ohio, a position he held until 1853, when he was appointed professor of the principles and practice of medicine. In 18S6 he returned to the Medical College of Ohio, but in 1860 filled the chair of clinical medicine in the University of Louisiana. In 1861 he published his treatise on "Phthisis Pulmonalis," a work to which he had given six years of earnest labor, destined to be a standard text-book long after its publication. Lawson married twice. His first wife was Miss Louisa Cailey, of Felici.ty, Ohio, who died in 1846 leaving three daughters. One of them — Louise — became a noted sculptor, re- ceiving high honors in this country and abroad. She died in 1899. His second wife was Eliza Robinson, daugh- ter of John Robinson of Wilmington, Dela- ware ; by her he had two sons and five daugh- ters. Dr. Lawson died January 21, 1864. A. G. Drury. Trans. Ohio State Med. Soc., 1865, 76-77. Cincin. Lancet and Obs., 1864, n. s. vii, 115-117. Portrait in Surg.-gen.'s Lib., Wash., D. C. Lawson, Thomas (17957-1861) This army surgeon was born in Virginia and after completion of his medical studies was appointed surgeon's mate in the navy, March 1, 1809. He became surgeon of the sixth Infantry May 21, 1813. Upon the re- duction of the army in 1815, he was retained in the service as surgeon of the seventh In- fantry. Upon reorganization of the medical department in 1821 he was army surgeon, sen- ior in grade, and so continued until his pro- motion as surgeon-general in 1836. His character was marked not only by ad- ministrative ability but by an intrepid bravery which led to his appointment as lieutenant- colonel of a regiment of Louisiana volunteers and to his assignment to the organization and command of a battalion of New York and Pennsylvania volunteers in the Seminole war. He served in every war in which his country was engaged up to his death, excepting the Black Hawk War. When appointed surgeon- general he was acting as medical director of the troops from the north designed for service in the Florida War, so that he did not arrive in Washington until six months after his ap- pointment. He secured for army medical officers actual military rank, but without command, and enunciated the principle that such officers should be allowed to engage in private prac- tice at their stations when it could be done without interfering with military duty. In 1850 he inaugurated the custom of sending dele- gates from the army to the American Medical Association, and in 1856 secured an increase of the commissioned medical force, the enlist- ment of hospital stewards as such, and the authorization of extra duty-pay for soldiers detailed for hospital service. He accompanied Gen. Winfield Scott on his Mexican campaign and received the brevet of brigadier-general for gallantry. He was the author of "Report on Sickness and Mortality U. S. A. 1819-39," 1840; "Me- teorological Register 1826-30, and Appendix for 1822-5," Phila, 1840. A man of commanding character, he exerted a most effective and beneficent influence in favor of his department. While on a trip for rest and recreation he died of apoplexy at Norfolk, Virginia, May 15, 1861. James Evelyn Pilcher. Jour, of the Asso. of Military Surgs. of the U. S.., J. E. Pilcher, 1904, vol. xiv. Portrait. The Surgeon-Generals of the U. S. A., Carlisle, Pa., 1905. Portrait. Lazear, Jesse William (1866-1900) Jesse William Lazear, of the United States Army Yellow Fever Commission and one who laid down his life in the investigation, was born in Baltimore on May 2, 1886. His early education was received at Trinity Hall, a pri- vate school in Pennsylvania. From there he went to the Johns Hopkins University, gradu- ating in 1889; he studied medicine at the Uni- versity of Columbia, and after graduation served for two years at Bellevue Hospital. He then studied for a year in Europe, part of his time being passed at the Pasteur Institute in Paris. On his return he was appointed bacteriologist to the medical staff of the Johns Hopkins Hospital and also assistant in clinical microscopy in the University. He displayed brilliant promise in research. It was he who first succeeded in isolating the diplococcus of Neisser in pure culture in the circulating blood in a case of ulcerative en- docarditis, and he was the first person in this countrj' to confirm and elaborate the studies of Romonovsky and others concerning the inti- mate structure of the hematozoa of malaria. In 190O, when the United States Army Yel- low Fever Commission was appointed, he was made a member and reached Cuba several months before his colleagues. This time he spent in investigating the pathological and bac- teriological side of the disease, so that when the commission met he was able to say vfith confidence that cultures and blood examina- tions promised nothing of special importance. He, as well as the other members of the commission, believed in the theory of the trans-