Memorial of Dr. Joseph M. Toner / by Ainsworth R. Spofford.

  • Ainsworth Rand Spofford
Date:
1898
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Memorial of Dr. Joseph M. Toner / by Ainsworth R. Spofford. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library at Columbia University and Columbia University Libraries/Information Services, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the the Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library at Columbia University and Columbia University.

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    By AiNSWORTH R. Spofford. Among tbe many familiar faces wMcli we have been wont to see gathered in the scientific, literary, and professional assemblies of Washington, there has been no more striking or familiar presence than that of Dr. Joseph M. Toner. Cast physically in a frame of ample mold, with broad, full features, and a massive bald head, his mobile countenance ever ready to relax into a smile, he was a man of marked and engaging and impressive personality. In attempting to summarize, however briefly aud imperfectly, some estimate of our late associate, of his mental characteristics, and of the work which he has done in the world, we may view him in various aspects. We may consider him, first of all, as a student and investi- gator. He had from very early years a notable zeal for knowledge, and this, unhke the experience of many men who become absorbed in professional routine, may be said to have grown with him through life. Born in 1825 of good old Pennsylvania farmer's stock, the slender intellectual advantages of his boyhood were supplemented by a course of one year at the Western Pennsylvania University and two years at St. Mary's College, in Maryland. Choosing the medical profession for a career, he spent two years at two medical colleges, one in Vermont and the other, Jefferson Medical College, at Philadelphia, taking his degree of doctor of medicine from each. These studious years gave him a considerable knowledge of medical and hygienic literature, and after a brief residence at Harpers Ferry in the practice of his pro- fession, he removed to Washington for a wider field in the year 1855. Here he at once entered upon a practice which became extensive in a ~> very few years. But his habits of mind gave him so strong a bent ^toward scientific, historical, and literary pursuits that he almost wholly j^relinquished the active practice of his profession during the later years c of his life, prescribing only for the families of a few friends. 5 Dr. Toner had some admirable qualities in matters of research. His J perceptive faculties were quick, his grasp of principles firm, and his ^ devotion to truth was paramount. He weighed evidence and authori- ties with care, and was often known to change his judgment formed on first impressions upon maturer investigation. At the same time, he
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