Page:American Medical Biographies - Kelly, Burrage.djvu/876

NAME NORTH 854 NORTH general's Catalogue, Washington, District of Columbia. Harry Friedenwald. Trans. .-m. Oph. Soc, vol. x. Portrait. William Fisher Norris, Phila., 1901, C. A. Oliver. Med. Rec, N. Y., 1901. vol. l-. N. Y. Med. Jour., 1901, vol. Ixxiv. Phila. Med. lour., 1901, vol. viii. Trans. Coll. Phys., Phila., 1902,.^ s, vol. xxiv. There is a portrait in the Surg. -Gen. 's library, Wash,, D. C. North, Elisha (1771-1843) An early vaccinator, author of the first book on epidemic cerebrospinal meningitis, founder of the first eye dispensary in the United States, Elisha North was born January 8, 1771, in Goshen, Connecticut, and was destined to be- come one of the pioneers in certain lines of medical research. He early showed a predilec- tion for. medicine and at the age of si.xteen is said to have cared for a broken leg with rare skill and success. Later he studied medicine with his father, Joseph North, who dabbled somewhat in this science, although his chief occupation was that of farming. Feeling the limitations in this preparation for his future career, the son came to Hartford to study under the then renowned Lemuel Hopkins (q. v.), and later spent, possibly, two years at the University of Pennsylvania. Returning to Goshen he practised there until his remove! to New London, in 1812. While living in Goshen, 1800, he carefully investigated the utility of vaccination. In the use of vaccine virus he met with considerable opposition at first, but seems eventually to have silenced the hostility of the public, although he claimed his practice of vaccination was no* profitable, on account of the many, experienced and inexperienced, who undertook to perform it. Besides being one of the pioneers in the study of vaccination, he early took up the investigation of epidemic cerebrospinal men- ingitis, when this dread disease appeared in this country in 1807, coming upon Goshen "like a flood of mighty waters, bringing along with it the horrors of a most dreadful plague." The malady completely mystified and baffled all the physicians who tried to cope with it ; they found difficulty in giving it an adequate name; they were unable to classify it; they were at variance as to the best methods of treatment. With commendable care North sought to acquaint the public with this new and dread affection, by giving in book form the views of the various authors in this coun- try upon it, as well as his own. His experi- ence with it was very extensive and his treat- ment most successful, and though he attended more than 200 patients, yet he lost only two. The book was the first volume to be written upon this subject, the disease having been first recognized in Geneva in 1805. In the book, North details the symptoms pretty much as we now know them, including the joint affections. Unfortunately he never pub- lished the second edition, although he planned extensive alterations for it some thirty years later. In 1812, when forty-two, he was invited to remove to the city of New London. The offer was too flattering to decline, so he accepted and spent the remaining years of his life in practice there. In 1817 he established, in New London, the first eye infirmary in the United States, which he thus refers to : "We had attended to eye patients before that time, but it occurred to us then that we might multiply our number of cases of that description, and thereby increase our knowledge by advertising the public in regard to an eye institution. This was done, and we succeeded; although not to our wishes in a pecuniary view of the case. Our success or exertions probably hastened in this country the establishment of larger and better eye infirmaries (i. e., for larger cities)." North was especially proud of his work, in this specialty, and in the title page of his "Out- lines of the Science of Life" we find the words, under his own name, "conductor of an eye infirmary;" elsewhere he writes: "I have had the pleasure to prevent total blindness and restore sight to twelve or thirteen persons, during the last three years. These would now probably be moping about in total darkness, and be a burden to society and to themselves, had it not been for my individual exertions." He was active in the work of the State Med- ical Society, which conferred upon him the degree of M. D. in 1813. In practice he ex- hibited a remarkable degree of caution, de- liberation and careful reflection. "As a physi- cian he enjoyed the confidence and friendship of his brethren, and was much valued for his philosophical habits of mind in cases of diffi- culty and uncertainty." His quaint humor is yet preserved in numerous, amusing anecdotes. After his death, the following was found in his ledger : "Mr. Blank, to doctoring you till you died, $17.50." His writings consist of twelve titles (Bolton's bibliograph}') ; nine of them represent papers in the different daily and medical or scientific journals. In one of them he describes his "Operation of Lithotomy, by the Posterior Method ;" another paper is of interest as it de- tails an epidemic of "Typhoid Fever in Goshen.