Page:American Medical Biographies - Kelly, Burrage.djvu/956

NAME POWELL 934 POWER who, with twin daughters, Emily and Isabelle, survived him. Dr. Powell was elected a director of the Post-graduate School in 1890, and served in that capacity until his resignation as a pro- fessor, when he gave up his directorship. The school owed much of its success to his skill and popularity in the days of his active work. He was a child of the school, having begun work with it in its infancy and having been actively connected with it for twenty-three years. He died at his home in Greenwich, Con- necticut, on August 24, 1907. His article on "Carbolic Acid in Surgery" is in the "Transactions of the Southern Surgi- cal and Gynecological Association," 1900. vol. xiii. Post-Graduate. Oct.. 1907, vol. xxiii, 981. Portrait. Proc. Conn. Med. Soc, 1908, 295. Powell, Theophilus Orgain (1837-1907) Theophilus Orgain Powell, a descendant of an Englishman who had come to Virginia in 1609, was born on March 21, 1837. in Bruns- wick County, Virginia, graduating from the Medical College of Georgia in 1859. He de- voted his whole attention to the study of nerv- ous and mental diseases, especially when pro- moted to the superintendency of the Georgia State Sanatorium, for, being possessed of quick perception and fine tact, he was able to get at the root of many obscure forms of alienation. He also served as president of the Georgia Medical Association and of the Medico- psychological Association. His writings were chiefly for journals dealing with his own spe- cialty. On January 12, 1860, he married Frances Augusta Birdsong of Hancock County, and had two children, Julia and Hal- ler. At the time of his death he had been in ill health for some months and finally died from an attack of acute pneumonia at Tate Springs, Tennessee, on August 18, 1907. James G. B.mrd. Atlanta Med. and Surg. Jour., IS85-6, n. s., vol. ii. Powell, William Byrd (1799-1867) William Byrd Powell, "cerebral physiologist and medical philosopher" of the eclectij: school, was born in Bourbon County, Ken- tucky, January 8, 1799, when his mother was little more than twelve years old; he was the oldest of thirteen children. His father, from Orange County, Virginia, settled in Kentucky, and accumulated wealth. The son graduated at Transylvania University in 1820, and studied medicine under Charles Caldwell (q. v.), graduating in medicine from the Uni- versity in 1823. He was interested in cerebral physiology and when Spurzheim came to -■America, Powell investigated his phrenological theories, working along independent lines, studies which he kept up for thirty years. He declared that "the temperaments could be determined from the e.xaminatioii of the cranium alone, without any consideration of other parts of the body." He collected crania of different tribes, races, nations and tem- peraments, and his collection surpassed that of Morton's noted collection. From 1843 to 1846 he lived among the Indians, "adopting their dress and manners to ingratiate himself among them," and secured skulls of their chiefs and warriors. His friends looked upon him as insane. In 1835 he had been appointed professor of chemistry in the Medical College of Louisi- ana; in 1847 he founded the Memphis In- stitute ; in 1849 aided in organizing the Law, Medical and Commercial Departments of the institute, and was professor of physiology and medical geology. In 1851 he moved to Coving- ton, Kentucky, and in 1856 was made pro- fessor of cerebral physiology in the Eclectic Medical Institute of Cincinnati, holding this position two years ; in 1866 he was appointed emeritus professor of cerebral physiology ui the Eclectic Medical College of the City of New York. He wrote "X'atural History of the Human Temperaments" (1856) ; and collaborated with R. S. Newton (q. v.) in "The Eclectic Prac- tice of Medicine," later published as ".A.n Eclectic Treatise on Diseases of Children." He died at Cincinnati, Ohio, May 13, 1866 ; his body (without the head, which he bequeathed to Dr. A. T. Keckeler to be preserved in his crania collection) was buried in the Covington cemetery. History of the Eclectic Medical Institute. H. W. Feller, Cincinnati, 1902. Power, WiUiam (1813-1852) A native of Baltimore. William Power was born in 1813, his education being obtained at Yale College, which gave him his A. B. in 1832 and later an A. M. He studied medicine under Dr. John Buckler of Baltimore in 1833, and matriculated at the University of Maryland, graduating M. D. in 1835. Then he spent three years in Paris, studying under Loui-, Chomel, Andral, Rostan, GrisoUe, Barth and Roger. Paris was at that time the medical center of the world, and Power was one of that remarkable group of young Americans who gathered there. In 1841-42 he delivered at the University Hospital, Baltimore, two courses of lectures on physical exploration