The physicians and surgeons of the United States / edited by William B. Atkinson.

Date:
1878
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The physicians and surgeons of the United States / edited by William B. Atkinson. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, Harvard Medical School.

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    Rnjers retiriiifj from tlie profession al^out thnl time, enal)led iiim to retain a portion of his practice. He was a|ipointed one of the physi- cians to the Eastern disjiensary, and also district phys. to the New Yoric lying-in asy- lum, wliicli positions he held for four years. In the dispensary he had charge of the de- partnient of diseases of women. In 1845 ^^ established the JV. V. Aledical and Surgicul Reporter, and after conducting it through the first volume, on account of failing health he sold it to another party, who discontinued the journal before the expiration of the second volume. In 1847 '^^ established an infirmary in New York for the treatment of diseases of females. In 1849, after repeated attacks of hemorrhage from the lungs, and with sup- posed fatal pulmonary disease, he went to the island of Madeira. A few months before leav- ing the city, his younger and only brother. Dr. Chalkley Collins, died of cholera. After four months residence on the island of Madeira, accompanied by his wife, and a tour through Spain, France and England, he returned to New York with the intention of resuming his practice in the city. But he soon found his old trouble returning, and that he must seek some other change. As an experiment he determined to try the effect of a clear, cold, mountain atmosphere for the winter. The year he spent abroad had benefited him much, but he needed longer freedom from care. He went to Great Barrington, Berk- shire CO., Mass., late in the autumn of 1850, enveloped himself in the warmest clothing and kept in the open air as much as possible, at the same time keeping an issue m his arm to pro- tect the lungs. This course seemed to pro- duce just the right effect. He has continued to reside at the same place for tvi'enty-six years, and has apparently overcome all pul- monary tendency. He was an early advo- cate for the establishment of the Am. med. asso., and was sent as delegate from New York city to Boston at the meeting in 1849. He also advocated the formation of the N. Y. acad. of med., and was among its earliest members in 1847. He was made chairman of the committee on ether by the academy, when the profession were divided in senti- ment about its use. The committee consisted of thirteen members, among whom were Drs. !vTott, Post, Parker, and other eminent men. Among his published contributions to the literature of the profession are : Use of Electricity in Amenorrhoea, London Lancet, 1844; Opening Abscess in Lungs, N. Y. Journal of l\feduine, 1844; an address be- loi-e the Manhattan med. asso. as its presi- dent, N. Y. Annalist, 1847, and Boston Medical and Surgical youinal, 1847; o.\\ address before the Berkshire dis't med. soc, Mass., on Chronic Diseases of Women,'' Boston Aledical Journal, 1853; an address before the Berkshire dis't soc, as its presi- dent, in 1861, Berkshire Aledical Journal (now discontinued). He served two terms as president of this society; is now one of the censors and State councillors. In addi- tion to these professional writings, he pre- pared, in 1849, a biographical sketch of his l)rother, Chalkley Collins, M. D., which was published in Friends' Reviezu, Philadel- phia, same year; History of the Island of Madeira, published in Friends'' Fevieiu, 1850; and a pamphlet, widely circulated in 1863, claiming exemption from military duty for members of the Society of Friends. Early in the last-mentioned year the Friends were making great efforts to secure exemption from the draft for military service, preparing and presenting petitions to Congress, etc. Di. Collins happening in Washington, observed that the Friends' committees could not get a proper hearing from Congress or the govern- ment, and determined to put forth an effort on their behalf, and subsequently, being in Baltimore, wrote an article on the subject which a]3peared in the New York Limes, of March 3d, 1863. This article was repub- lished in pamphlet form by the society, and 300,000 copies were printed and circulated. Its effect was to change the national law and to secure to Friends the exemption which he contended that not only their conscientious scruples, but their great services to the coun- try in the promotion of grand social reforms, rendered a just due. An address delivered by him in 1861, after passing the previous winter in Cuba, was also published. In 1S53 he founded an institution at Great Barrington, Mass., for the treatment of chronic diseases of women, which he conducted successfully for sixteen years, but which he was obliged to abandon by reason of failing health. He has now retired from all active practice, and only goes in consultations. He is corres. member of the Mass. board of health ; corres. member of the Boston gynaecol. soc. ; member of the Am. med. asso. In 1844 he was married to Lydia C, daughter of Charles G. Coffin, of Nantucket. In 1864 his wife and only chil- dren, a son and daughter, died. He has not matried again, but continues to reside at his private residence, Indiola Place, Great Bar- rington, Mass. TRIST, H. BROWSE, Baltimore, Md., was born in Washington, D. C, Feb, 20th, 1832. His father was Hon. N. P. Trist, and his mother, Virginia (Randolph) Trist, a granddaughter of Thomas Jefferson.
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