The American Cyclopædia (1879)/Parker, Willard

PARKER, Willard, an American surgeon, born in Hillsboro, N. H., Sept. 2, 1800. He is the sixth in descent from one of five brothers who came from England in 1644 and settled at Chelmsford, Mass., to which place his father returned when Willard was five years old. He graduated at Harvard college in 1826, commenced the study of medicine under Dr. John C. Warren, the professor of surgery in Harvard university, and received the degree of M. D. there in 1830. He was at once appointed professor of anatomy in the Vermont medical college, and in the same year accepted the chair of anatomy in the Berkshire medical college, and in 1833 also that of surgery. In 1836 he was appointed professor of surgery in the Cincinnati medical college, and afterward spent some time in the hospitals of Paris and London. In 1839 he became professor of surgery in the college of physicians and surgeons of New York, which post he resigned after a service of 30 years, but accepted that of professor of clinical surgery, which he now holds (1875). In 1865 he was elected president of the New York state inebriate asylum at Binghamton, succeeding Dr. Valentine Mott. This was the first institution ever established for the treatment of inebriety as a disease. In 1870 he received the degree of LL. D. from the college of New Jersey at Princeton. Dr. Parker was the first to point out a condition which is known as concussion of the nerves, as distinguished from concussion of the nerve centres, and which had been previously mistaken for one of inflammation. The operation of cystotomy for the relief of chronic cystitis, and also that for the cure of abscess of the appendix vermiformis, are among his contributions to the art of surgery.