Page:American Medical Biographies - Kelly, Burrage.djvu/991

NAME REEVE 969 REID 1855, and he had the honorary A. M. from Ripon College, Ripon, Wisconsin, in 1882. He was a member of the New York Medico-legal Society, and president of the Wisconsin State Medical Society. Dr. Reeve began to practise at the age of twenty-one in De Pere, Wisconsin, and prac- tised continuously in the Fo.x River Valley for fifty-one years, seeing and actively participating in its growth from a primeval wilderness to an important commercial and educational center. When the Civil War broke out he drove with his wife from Green Bay to Madison, Wis- consin, through 150 miles of unsettled country, and enlisted in the army, being appointed second assistant surgeon of the Tenth Regi- ment. He was soon transferred to the Twenty- first Regiment, and served throughout the war, his regiment participating in many severe en- gagements, notably the battles of Stone River, Perryville, Resaca and Kenesaw Mountain, and Chickamauga. After the latter engagement he remained with the field hospital and was captured and taken to Libby Prison for three months. On being exchanged he returned to the service, marched with Sherman from At- lanta to the sea, and was present at the siege of Savannah, Averysboro and Benton- ville. He was promoted to the position of brigade-surgeon, and at the close of the war was acting division-surgeon, with the rank of major, and after the war settled at Appleton, Wisconsin. Besides being, like all good doctors, a sort of father confessor to patients, he was very often sought for aid and comfort wholly aside from professional matters, and the words "the best friend I ever had" were on the lips of many who never called on him in sickness. To others he was fond of sending gifts of money outright in quaint ways, as gold pieces in pill-boxes, marked "take one when neces- sary." In such ways he gave away consider- able sums, while spending on himself prac- tically nothing beyond what was necessary for food and clothing. He was married in 1857 to Laura Spofford, and had six children,- the eldest being asso- ciated with him in practice. He died at Apple- ton, November 4, 1906, at the age of seventy- two, of chronic bowel trouble, complicated with nephritis, the foundation for which was doubtless laid during army service, and aggra- vated by unremitting toil. He contributed little to the medical press, but during eghteen years of work as secretary of the State Board of Health he wrote thou- sands of letters to physicians and members of local boards of health urging and directing organization for intelligent sanitation, and aid- ing in mitigating and preventing the spread of epidemics. These, and the editing and writing for the annual reports of the board, constituted no small contribution to the progress of the highest branch of medical science. J.MES Spofford Reeve. Jour. Amer. Med. .Assoc, Chicago, 1906, vol. xlvii. Reid, David Boswell (1805-1863). David Boswell Reid, inventor, chemist and expert in sanitation (ventilation), was the sec- ond son of Peter Reid (1777-1838), physician, editor of Cullen's "First Lines of the Practice of Physic," writer on medical and educational subjects, and noted for his advanced educa- tional ideas. His mother was Christian, daugh- ter of H!ugo Arnot, historian of Edinburgh. A brother was Hugo Reid (1809-1872), chem- ist, mechanician and writer of educational books. David received his diploma in medicine at the LTniversity of Edinburgh in 1830. His chief interest was in chemistry; he had a laboratory and held classes, giving instruction in practical and theoretical chemistry. His success led to his appontment as assistant to Thomas Charles Hope (1766-1844), professor of chemistry at the University of Edinburgh. He had given much attention to the ventila- tion of public buildings, and in 1844 published "Illustrations of the Theory and Practice of Ventilation" ; it attracted wide notice, and Sir Charles Barry (1795-1860) adopted Reid's system in the new Houses of Parliament, re- built after their destruction by fire in 1834. Reid gave five years at Westminster to this work. The system of ventilation was adopted more fully at St. George's Hall, Liverpool, the only building, Reid said, in which his system was entirely carried out. In 1856 he came to the United States ; he became professor of chemistry in the Univ- versity of Wisconsin, and in 1863 was ap- pointed medical inspector to the United States Sanitary Commission. New military hospitals had been erected throughout the country when the Civil War broke out, and Reid was about to leave Washington on a tour of inspection of these when taken ill, and he died at Washing- ton, April 5, 1863. Henry Barnard (1811-1900), in a letter quoted by Allibone, says : "Dr. Reid has done more for public sanitary science reform and the ventilation of houses, etc., than any man who has lived." With Elisha Harris,