prédire l'issue. Il s'en croit le droit ; et il parait l'avoir, car on n'hésitera pas davantage à ecouter son avis et souvent à le suivre."-La Médecine et Les Médecins, Paris, 1857, Vol. i. chap. i.

PAGE 378, LINE 27.

See "Rational Medicine," by Jacob Bigelow, M.D., p. 29.

PAGE 378, LINE 31.

"Even a moderate amount of knowledge of the general nature of diseases, and of the mode of operation and powers of the medical art, will make a man a better patient; make him more content with the treatment prescribed, be it energetic or inert; and make him repose greater confidence in his physician."-Sir J. FORBES, Nature and Art, p. 14.

OBITUARIES.

GEORGE BARTLETT.

DR. GEORGE BARTLETT was born at Plymouth; graduated at Harvard College in 1827; and at once entered on the study of Medicine. Possessed by nature of a vigorous frame, rendered still more firm by active habits of life, he had scarcely known a day's illness, until a few months previous to his decease. He died of Bright's disease, Sept. 24, 1864, in the 58th year of his age.

Dr. Bartlett had been Assistant as well as Student during the years of his medical pupilage, and was greeted in his neighborhood as physician, long before the reception of his degree. Consequently, escaping the long years of "waiting for business," that are so trying to most of us, he entered at once into a comparatively large practice, and steadily increased it until the last year of his life. His devotion to his patients was so great, that he scarcely ever left the city for a week at a time, probably not twice, for the last thirty years.

He had a thorough knowledge of materia medica; was a careful observer of all new remedies, and tested them as fully as could any one, who was a cautious practitioner. Not the least desirable qualification, self-possession, Dr. Bartlett had in an eminent degree; so much so, that in the absence of any remedy, medical or surgical, ordinarily in use, he could at once suggest some useful substitute.

He was the soul of courtesy towards his professional brethren, and no one ever knew him to magnify his office in professional intercourse. It was with him an invariable rule, never afterwards to attend a patient he had once seen in consultation, lest it should rob the attending physician of a patient. So far did his sense of propriety carry him, that he invariably preferred some new adviser should take charge of the case, rather than that he should be in any way the means of dislodging the first practitioner.

Thus, with large experience, assiduous attention, and entire self-possession, he obtained the esteem and affection of his patients, in a degree not always reached by practitioners of the healing art.

F. H. G.

JOEL HENRY BROWN.

DR. JOEL HENRY BROWN died at West Newton, March 19, 1865, in the fifty-third year of his age, terminating an active and laborious life by a short and distressing illness. His disease was oedema of the glottis.

He was born in Bradford, N. H., Oct. 22, 1812. He passed his entire minority on his father's farm; and it was not until he had attained the age of twenty-one that he entered upon a systematic course of study which prepared him for Dartmouth College, from which institution he graduated in 1841. For several years after leaving college he divided his time between the duties of school-teaching and the study of his profession. He commenced the study of medicine in Hanover, N. H.; continued it in Boston, where he held a position in one of the public schools, and finally, in 1846, received the degree of M.D. from his Alma Mater, upon whose catalogue his name appears as Joel Brown; the middle name of Henry having been assumed at a later period in Boston, from motives of convenience.

He established himself at Weymouth Landing in 1847, and remained there until he removed to West Newton, in January, 1848.

Dr. Brown, though of large stature and robust appearance, was unfortunate in the matter of his health, the temporary failure of which repeatedly interrupted his professional labors, and once at least seriously threatened his life. He possessed an unusually well-balanced character, combining marked decision and energy with great discretion and caution. A complete self-control preserved for him a perfect equanimity, prevented all impulse and excitement of expression, and rendered his manner uniformly dignified, gentle and courteous.

As a practitioner his success was unquestionable. During a great portion of his professional life, he was the only physician in a large community which not only received him unanimously, but eagerly sought his services. He thoroughly loved his profession; he firmly believed in its worth and utility, was jealous of its good name, and prompt to defend it against all abuse and derogation.

A. H.

S. FAYETTE CLAPP.

DR. S. FAYETTE CLAPP was born in Chesterfield, Mass. He was a graduate of Brown University, R. I. He completed his studies with Dr. Sylvanus Clapp, of Pawtucket, R. I., and Dr. David Rice, of Leverett, Mass. He became a member of the Massachusetts Medical Society in 1854, and removed to St. Louis. He was very eminent as a surgeon, performing the most difficult and heroic operations with great

skill. When our civil war broke out, he had many very tempting offers to join the rebel service in the capacity of a surgeon, but he stoutly refused all such inducements, and joined the Union cause, was made a Brigade Surgeon, and served finally in the Mississippi Gunboat Squadron, before Vicksburg. While in the Union service, his family were robbed of all their property, and endured many hardships and privations. While on the gunboat he contracted disease of the lungs, which ended in pulmonary phthisis, of which he finally died in Lee Centre, Illinois, in the autumn of 1864.

D. H.

LUTHER METCALF HARRIS.

DR. LUTHER METCALF HARRIS died at Jamaica Plain, January 28, 1865. He was 75 years old, having been born May 7, 1789, at Brookline.

Dr. Harris graduated at Brown University in 1811. He "heard Dr. William Ingalls's two courses on Anatomy," and read medicine three years with the distinguished Le Baron, of Roxbury, and in 1814 he was appointed a surgeon in the army, and stationed at Fort Independence.

He settled in practice at Orford, N. H., in 1815; but after five years returned to the homestead. In 1823, he joined the Massachusetts Medical Society, and removed to the village of Jamaica Plain. Here he passed his life, having the field alone for twenty years. He was held in affectionate regard by a wide circle of patients and excellent friends, a good share of whom never sought other aid, till he could no longer give counsel and sympathy. As a practitioner, he was wise, studious, genial and full of kindness; yet very cautious, and not inclined to estimate his own abilities highly enough, especially in difficult

cases.

Dr. Harris was a man of the strictest morals; a pure and highminded citizen, giving his approbation and aid to every good cause. In the parish and in the town, he was justly esteemed. His hours at home were given to books and music. English literature, and history, he read constantly. "An edition of Shakspeare," he says, "was published and came into my hands when a boy of fifteen;" and that author was hardly out of his hands till they were done with books.

Proofs of his extensive reading and his wit occasionally appeared, but it was seldom; for he had no boldness of character; and, in truth, an extreme sensitiveness—almost timidity-held sway over him.

He delighted in music. He understood and felt all its fascinations. But here, too, he never uttered what he knew, except to a very few kindred spirits.

In 1847, failing health compelled him to relinquish his business to