Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 4).djvu/697

Rh rank in his profession. His remarkable success was based on great knowledge and skill, and his mode of treatment, which inspired the absolute faith of his patients. All the important operations that are only undertaken by great surgeons were performed by him with more than ordinary success. He made many important discoveries in practical surgery, including that of cystotomy and that for the cure of abscess of the appendix vermiformis. His operation for laceration of the perinœum during parturition is regarded as an important advance in the science of surgery. He was the first in this country to call attention to the phenomena of the concussion of the nerves as distinguished from that of the nerve-centres, and in 1854 was also the first to describe and report cases of malignant pustule. In the spring of 1840, appreciating the want of practical demonstration in teaching surgery, and the difficulty in securing cases for illustration in colleges that were unconnected with hospitals, he visited with his students two or three of the city dispensaries, selected interesting cases, and had them taken to the College of physicians and surgeons, where the anatomical theatre offered superior advantages for making diagnoses and performing operations before the class. This was the first college clinic in the United States. He was active in the organization of the New York pathological society in 1843, of that for the relief of widows and orphans of medical men in 1846, and of the New York academy of medicine in 1847, becoming its president in 1856, and holding office for many years. In 1846, with Dr. James R. Wood, he secured the necessary legislation to reorganize the city almshouse into what is now Bellevue hospital, and was appointed one of its visiting surgeons. In 1856 he was chosen to a similar post in the New York hospital. In 1864-'6 he was active in procuring legislation to create the New York city board of health, made many visits to Albany in its behalf, and was one of its members from its organization. On the death in 1865 of Dr. Valentine Mott, who was president of the New York state inebriate asylum at Binghamton, Dr. Parker was appointed his successor, and became interested in this field of work. His administration proved eminently successful, his treatment of his patients being based on the theory that alcohol is essentially a poison, that it cannot be considered as food, and should be used only in exceptional cases and under the advice of a physician. Dr. Parker continued to practise within two years of his death, and was consulting surgeon to Bellevue, Mount Sinai, St. Luke's, Roosevelt, and the New York hospitals. He was a member of many foreign and domestic professional bodies, active in benevolent and religious organizations, and the friend of education. As a teacher he enjoyed the highest success, his fine personal presence and affable manners winning the regard of his pupils, and his direct and lucid way of imparting information securing their attention. Princeton gave him the degree of LL. D. in 1870. The Willard Parker hospital for contagious diseases was erected and named in his honor. Few American surgeons have filled so acceptably so large a number of responsible offices. His extensive practice prevented his giving much time to writing, and even the reports of his cases have been made by other physicians, but he published several monographs in medical journals, among which are &ldquo;Cystotomy&rdquo; (1850); &ldquo;Spontaneous Fractures&rdquo; (1852); &ldquo;On the High Operation for Stone in the Female&rdquo; (1855); &ldquo;The Concussion of Nerves&rdquo; (1856); &ldquo;Ligature of the Subclavian Artery&rdquo; (1864); and a lecture on &ldquo;Cancer&rdquo; (1873).

PARKHURST, Charles Henry, clergyman, b. in Framingham, Mass., 17 April, 1842. He was graduated at Amherst in 1866, studied theology at Halle in 1869, and at Leipsic in 1872-'3, and was principal of the high-school in Amherst in 1867, and professor in Williston seminary, Easthampton, Mass., in 1870-'1. He was pastor of the Congregational church at Lenox, Mass., from 1874 till 1880, when he was called to the Madison Square Presbyterian church, New York city. He has written for various magazines, and is the author of &ldquo;The Forms of the Latin Verb, Illustrated by Sanscrit&rdquo; (Boston, 1870); &ldquo;The Blind Man's Creed, and other Sermons&rdquo; (New York, 1883); and &ldquo;Pattern in the Mount, and other Sermons&rdquo; (1885).

PARKINSON, Richard, English agriculturist, b. in Lincolnshire, England, in 1748; d. in Osgarby, England, 23 Feb., 1815. He became a farmer, was interested in improved methods, and was encouraged by Sir John Sinclair, president of the Board of agriculture, who recommended him to George Washington. He left England 3 Sept., 1798, and was for some time in the employ of Washington as an agriculturist at Mount Vernon, and resided at Orange Hill, near Baltimore. &ldquo;Parkinson,&rdquo; says Prof. John Donaldson, &ldquo;has always been reckoned one of the best practical writers on agriculture to the time in which he lived, and, our opinion thinks, very justly.&rdquo; He published &ldquo;The Experienced Farmer&rdquo; (2 vols., London, 1798; enlarged ed., with an autobiography, 1807); &ldquo;A Tour in America, 1798-1800,&rdquo; containing reminiscences of Gen. Washington (2 vols ., 1805); &ldquo;The English Practice of Farming&rdquo; (1806); &ldquo;Gypsum as a Manure&rdquo; (1808); &ldquo;Breeding and Management of Live-Stock,&rdquo; a standard work (2 vols., 1809); &ldquo;Survey of Rutlandshire&rdquo; (1809); and &ldquo;Survey of Huntingdonshire&rdquo; (1811).

PARKINSON, William, clergyman, b. in Frederick county, Md., 8 Nov., 1774; d. in New York city, 10 March, 1848. He was employed for several years as a clerk and a teacher, and on 1 April, 1798, was ordained as a Baptist minister. In 1801 he was chosen chaplain to congress, and he was re-elected for two successive years. In April, 1805, he became pastor of the 1st Baptist church. New York city, where he remained till his resignation in 1840, and in 1841 he was appointed pastor of the Bethesda Baptist church in New York, which relationship he retained till his death. Dur- ing his period of greatest activity as a preacher his usefulness was much impaired by reports that re- flected on his moral character, and, though a legal investigation resulted favorably to him, his future- ministry was to a great extent a failure. He pub- lished " Ecclesiastical History" (New York, 1813);. " Public Ministry of the World," a treatise (1818) ;. and "Sermons on Deut. XXXII." (2 vols., 1831).

PARKMAN, Ebenezer, clergyman, b. in Boston, Mass., 5 Sept., 1703; d. in Westborough, Mass., 9 Dec., 1789. He was the first minister of Westborough, serving from 28 Oct., 1724, till his death, and was the author of &ldquo;Reformers and Intercessors&rdquo; (Boston, 1752); &ldquo;Convention Sermon&rdquo; (1761); and a short account of Westborough, which is in the &ldquo;Massachusetts Historical Collections.&rdquo; &mdash; His grandson, Francis, clergyman, b. in Boston, Mass.,. 4 June, 1788; d. there, 12 Nov., 1852, was graduated at Harvard in 1807, and studied theology under Dr. William E. Channing and at Edinburgh university. He was ordained in December, 1813,. and from 1813 till 1849 he was pastor of the New north church (Unitarian) in Boston. In 1829 he founded the professorship of pulpit eloquence and pastoral care in the theological department of