Page:American Medical Biographies - Kelly, Burrage.djvu/9



Some fifteen years ago while engaged in writing the biography of Walter Reed, of yellow fever fame, I became conscious of the great need of an authoritative American medical biographic work, for ready reference, on the table of every doctor in the United States and in Canada. The older works of large scope were long out of date and were burdened with the incubus of a lot of living men, besides having hundreds of omissions, especially among our pioneers. Sidney Lee has truly said in his "Principles of Biography": "Death is a part of life and no man is fit subject for biography till he is dead. Living men have been made themes of biography. But the choice defies the cardinal condition of completeness." I therefore set to work to fill in the gaps and to bring the biographies of the dead down through the year 1910, in a two-volume work, with introductory chapters on the histories of several of the specialties, and including a number of portraits. This book, containing 1184 biographies, was published in 1912 under the title "Cyclopedia of American Medical Biography." It is my fond hope that that work, in spite of its obvious defects, always will retain a certain value on account of the outline histories of the specialties, as well as its original biographies contributed by many collaborators throughout the country.

Dr. Walter L. Burrage and I have worked for several years to produce the present volume, deleting from the former book 51 biographies not coming up to our standard, replacing with new biographies 62 others, revising and correcting from original sources nearly all, and adding 815 new ones, besides those that have replaced the old ones. Thus our book contains 1948 biographies and is carried through the year 1918. In addition there are about 80 references to individuals mentioned biographically in the main biographies. We offer, therefore, a new work which we venture to hope will become a worthy companion to Fielding H. Garrison's splendid "History of Medicine," furnishing succinct memoranda of every medical worthy of our own country and Canada over a period of more than three hundred years—a vade mecum for every physician who feels an interest in the past history of his profession. A cyclopedia of this sort becomes a North American "Who's Who" of our medical predecessors, and serves at once to identify, and to give at least the outline facts in the life of, any eminent departed worthy. Even a cursory glance at this long list of the illustrious dead ought to inspire us who are left to pass along the torch, to greater zeal in our daily tasks.

We have labored these several years, in almost daily communication. Our principle of selection has been to include every man who has in any way contributed to the advancement of medicine in the United States or in Canada, or who, being a physician, has become illustrious in some other field of general science or in literature. Ministering to suffering humanity through an extensive practice has seemed to us not to distinguish a physician from his fellows sufficiently for inclusion. In estimating worthiness among the pioneers we have been somewhat more liberal, and we have deemed worthiness to include eminence in writing and teaching, as well as in inventing, investigating, founding institutions, promoting social welfare, fostering state health interests, or holding important political offices. We have included eminent homeopathic as well as eclectic physicians who have done original work, and our eminent medical women are well represented.

My own special interest has been in collecting facts about those who cultivated the natural sciences—botany, chemistry, zoology or geology.

In our list of over nineteen hundred names are stars of the first, second and third magnitude. About the first and second there has been no doubt, but about the third the question often arose: "Is he worthy, or is he not?" We did our best with the data available, and cultivated a catholicity of judgment that broadened as the work progressed.

Our chief sources of information have been the older works on biography which we have had at our elbows day in and day out; assistance has come from an army of correspondents in many parts of the country, some furnishing complete biographies, others needed data. Of the biographical works that preceded my cyclopedia, James Thacher's "American Medical Biography" (1828) was invaluable, rescuing from oblivion, as it did, many worthies, and stimulating research for more adequate facts about those who were mentioned. Stephen W. Williams's "American Medical Biography," appearing in 1845, supplemented Thacher's book. Both were often inaccurate and handicapped by the custom of the time that required platitudinous remarks about the excellencies of the subjects. S. D. Gross's "Lives of Eminent American Physicians and Surgeons" (1861) and S. W. Francis's two books, "Biographical Sketches of