Page:History of Adelaide and vicinity.djvu/560

 534 ADELAIDE AND VICINITY Dr. w. r. Smith work and investigation, declined an invitation to take a highly-coveted post which was o|x;n to him in the hospital where he had spent so much time and had done so much work, preferring to gain experience in private practice as the best foundation for future specialism. He conducted a large general and consulting practice for nearly three years at Rhvl. the well-known seaside resort in North Wales. In |une, 1896, he left Rhyl for South Australia. The Adelaide Hospital secured his services, and he was appointed to the post of senior physician of that institution. In physical as well as mental undertakings Dr. Ramsay Smith has been distinguished. From his boyhood he has taken an active interest in military matters. He was one of the original officers of the Medical Staff Corps in connection with the Edinburgh University, the second corps of the sort formed in the United Kingdom, and composed entirely of men with special surgical and military training. On the reorganisation of the forces in .South Australia he was appointed surgeon-captain and attached to the Field Artillery. In addition to this, he undertook the organisation and training of the Field Hospital Corps, and brought it to a high pitch of efficiency. His military experience, however, always extended beyond the non-combatant branch of the service; and when the South African War of 1899 claimed the services of every commissioned officer, as well as most of the non-commissioned officers in the Field Artillery, he took over the command of this branch, at the request of the responsible authorities, and set about the task of reconstructing the battery. This he accomplished in a most satisfactory manner. Dr. Ramsay .Smith, as Medical Officer to the Adelaide Gaol, has done a large amount of important medico-legal work in connection with criminal investigations in this Province. Since his arrival in the Province he has been engaged on every great criminal trial ; and he may be .said to have reduced scientific investigation in this de])artment to a fine art. One famous trial, the first of the sort in which a conviction was secured, Dr. Ramsay .Smith was complimented by Chief Justice the Right Hon. .Sir S. J. Way, Bart., for the excellent manner in which he gave evidence in such cases, and for the faculty he possessed of making the most difficult and abstruse subjects perfectly plain. In connection with the Streaky Bay murder cases, Mr. Justice Bundey said that Dr. Rani.say .Smith's manner of giving evidence was "a pattern to all medical witnesses." As a writer, Dr. Ramsay .Smith has also gained distinction. His intimate knowledge in almost every department of medicine and science has made him a ready and accurate scribe, and the many .scientific works which he has published have gained the favor and commendation of professors and lecturers in most of the Universities and Colleges in the United Kingdom. It is worthy of record that some of his investigations have been referred to in the reports of various European (Jovernments as the most complete and trustworthy work done in those subjects, and have been adopted as models for similar investigations in other countries. In his literary efforts Dr. Ramsay Smith has not, however, confined himself exclusively to subjects belonging to his profe.ssion. A casual article sent to an Edinburgh new.spaper led the editor to write immediately that anything else from the same quarter would be welcome ; and Dr. Ramsay Smith joined the small band of ardent young .Scotch