Page:Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography volume 2.djvu/205

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VIRGINIA BIOGRAPHY

India squadron, 1821-26; and then of the new navy-yard at Pensacola, where a town took his name. He was a navy commis- sioner, 1827-30 and 1840-42, a president of the board in 1841, chief of the bureau of yards and docks in 1842-46, and of that of ordnance, 1847 until his death, at Washing- ton, D. C, October 12, 1851.

Smith, John Augustine, was born in Westmoreland county, August 29, 1782, son of Rev. Thomas Smith, of Cople parish in that county. He was graduated from Wil- liam and Mary College in 1800, studied med- icine and settled as a physician in New York City. In 1809 he became lecturer on anatomy at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, and editor of the **Medical and Physiological Journal." In 1814 he was elected president of William and Mary Col- lege. Dr. Smith was the first layman to hold the presidency, and in 1824 he deemed it necessary to remove the college to Rich- mond. But in this Dr. Smith incurred the ppposition of John Tyler, on the board of visitors, who voiced the local feeling, and Thomas Jefferson, who was then busy with the scheme of founding the university at Charlottesville, feared the effect of the re- moval upon the liberality of the legislature to which he was then appealing for pecuni- ary aid in favor of his pet enterprise. The united opposition defeated Smith's measure, and in 1825 he resigned. He resumed prac- tice in New York City, and from 183 1 to 1843 was president of the College of Phy- 3icians and Surgeons. He published nu- merous addresses, lectures and essays, in- cluding "Introductory Discourse" at New Medical College, Crosby street (N. Y., 1837, 8 vo.) ; "Select Discourse on the Functions

or the Nervous System" (1840, 12 mo.) ; "The Mutations of the Earth" (1846, 8 vo.) ; monograph upon the ''Moral and Physical Science" (1853, 12 mo.). Dr. Smith edited the New York "Medical and Physiological Journal" in 1809, and was a man of splen- did talents. A handsome portrait of Dr. Smith, the gift of his son and daughter, resident in New York City, hangs in the college library. He died February 9, 1865.

Dudley, Benjamin Winslow, was born in Spotsylvania county, Virginia, April 12, ^785, son of Rev. Ambrose Dudley. His father removed to Lexington, Kentucky, in 1786, and there the son obtained his early education. He studied medicine with Dr. Frederick Ridgeley, of Lexington, and after- ward attended lectures at the University of Pennsylvania, graduating in 1906. He opened an office in Lexington, but had little practice. Desiring to better qualify himself for his work, but lacking the means, he pur- chased a flatboat, which he loaded with produce and floated to New Orleans, where he invested the proceeds in flour. This was taken to Gibraltar and Lisbon, where he disposed of it at a large advance. From Spain he went to Paris, and there studied under Paul A. Dubois. After three years there he went to London and studied sur- gery under Abernethy and Sir Astley .Cooper. He returned home in 1814, and found Lexington in the midst of an epi- demic of typhoid pneumonia, which was fol- lowed by bilious fever. Abscesses formed among the muscles and in many cases am- putation was necessary. Dr. Dudley ap- plied bandages and his success in these cases led him to urge the general use of the bandage until this treatment was widely

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