MEDICAL NEWS.
Delegates to the State Medical Society.—At a meeting of
the Philadelphia County Medical Society, held April 20th, 1853, the
following were elected delegates to the Pennsylvania State Medical So-
ciety : Win. Ashmead, John B. Biddle, Henry Bond, Thomas F. Bet-
ton, J. R. Bryan, Chas. F. Bihighaus, B. II. Coates, Jos. Carson, D.
Francis Condie, Wm. Darrach, G. Emerson, Jas. V. Emlin, Geo. Fox,
P. B. Goddard, David Gilbert, Ed. Hallowell, S. L. Hollingsworth,
Isaac Hays, N. L. Hatfield, Samuel Jackson, W. Jewell, E. Janvier,
A. L. Kennedy, W. II. Klapp, W. L. Knight, John P. Lamb, R. J.
Levis, Wm. May burry, John K. Mitchell, Geo. W. Norris, A. Naudain,
Hen. S. Patterson, L. Rodman, N. C. Reid, M. B. Smith, A. E. Stocker,
L. Turnbull, F. West, J. Warrington, Thomas S. Yardley.
The Philadelphia Delegation to the National Medical
Association.—The various bodies entitled to representation in the
American Medical Association, have, so far as we have learned, selected
the following delegates:
College, of Physicians.—I. Hays, G. Fox, H. Bond, W. S. W.
Ruschenberger, G. Emerson, J. R. Paul, C. Evans, W. Asbmead,
J. Bell, E. Hallowell, A. Stille, J. Carson, R. La Roche, E. Harts-
horne, R. Bridges.
Philadelphia County Medical Society.—W. Ashmead, T. F. Betton,
C. F. Bibighaus, D. F. Condie, B. H. Coates, J. Carson, G. Fox, S.
Jackson, W. Jewell, J. F. Lamb, E. F. Leake, C. D. Meigs, W. May-
burry, G. W. Norris, H. S. Patterson, W. B. Page, L. Rodman, J. M.
Thatcher, F. West, T. H. Yardley.
Northern Medical Association.—L. Curtis, B. S. Janney, N. L. Hat-
field, J. F. Lamb, R. J. Levis, I. Remington
University of Pennsylvania.—S. Jackson, R. E. Rogers.
Jefferson Medical College.—J. K. Mitchell, J. Pancoast.
Pennsylvania Medical College.—J. M. Allen, J. J. Reese.
Medical Institute of Philadelphia.—J. B. Biddle.
Philadelphia Medical Association.—Wm. V. Keating.
Pennsylvania Hospital.—
St. Joseph’s Hospital.—H. H. Smith.
Hospital of P. E. Church.—F. G. Smith.
Dr. Marshall Hall.—We have great pleasure in presenting to our
readers, in the present number, the Lecture delivered by Dr. Marshall
Hall before the Smithsonian Institute. Dr. Hall’s visit to the United
States will, we trust, afford frequent opportunities to the profession of
becoming personally acquainted with one whose name and works have
been so long and so favorably known to them.
University of Virginia.—Dr. Wm. B. Rogers has resigned the
chair of Natural Philosophy, and Dr. J. Lawrence Smith that of Materia
Medica and Chemistry in this Institution.
The Queen has conferred the honor of a baronetcy upon Dr. Henry
Holland, one of the physicians-extraordinary to her Majesty.
Tribute to Dr. Brown-Sequard.—At a meeting of the members
of the class attending Dr. Brown-Sequard’s second course of lectures in
Philadelphia, held at the Pennsylvania College, Ninth street, below
Locust, on Tuesday, April 26th, 1853, the following preamble and
resolutions were presented by Dr. Edward Hartshorne, and unani-
mously adopted :
Whereas, The second of the two courses of lectures delivered by Dr.
Brown-Sequard in this city, has just closed; and,
Whereas, The members of the second class, most of whom were also
members of the first, are unwilling to part with him, without expressing
in some way their appreciation of his most interesting and instructive
demonstrations, and of his many new views in biology, and the applica-
tion of these to the practice of medicine and surgery, therefore—
Resolved, That we are under the greatest obligation to the learned
and able lecturer, for his admirable series of experiments, so happily
explained and illustrated, not only on account of the valuable instruc-
tion he has thus conveyed to us, but on account of the powerful impulse
to the more efficient practical study of biological science, which his
precept and example have thus afforded us.
Resolved, That we regard his visit to this country, and the delivery
of the various brilliant and successful courses on his favorite subject, in
the cities of Boston, New York and Philadelphia, as likely to mark a
new era in the progress of biological research in the United States.
Resolved, That we take leave of Dr. Brown-Sequard, as our teacher,
with great regret, not only on account of the many original views which
he has presented to us, as the result of his own investigations, and the
many useful applications of these views to the improvement of the
practice of medicine and surgery, but on account of his attractive qua-
lities as an amiable and honorable man. And finally,
Resolved, That in view of his contemplated return to his old home,
and the field of his early triumphs, we cannot do better than to wish
him the same distinguished success that attended him there, increased
opportunity of further discovery, and a more lasting prosperity in all
the relations of life.
On motion, the Chairman and Secretary were appointed a committee
to convey a copy of the above Resolutions to Dr. Brown-Sequard, on
behalf of the class, and to procure their publication in the Medical News
and the Medical Examiner.
(Signed) Francis G. Smith, M.D., Chairman.
J. Cheston Morris, Secretary.
Glasgow Medical Journal.—The first number of a new and very-
able Quarterly Journal appeared on the 1st of April last, at Glasgow,
in Scotland.
Cholera.—A recent letter states that there were 201 cases of cho-
lera in St. Petersburgh, and that at the date of the letter there were
thirty-two new cases, ten cures, and twelve deaths. This disease is
disappearing at Breslau through (as the medical officers state) the low
temperature of the atmosphere.—Lond. Lancet, April 2th.
Appointment.—M. Dubois has been appointed accoucheur to the
Empress of the French.
Typiius Fever in Paris.—This frightful disease, according to the
latest intelligence, is raging in Paris and its vicinity, and more especially
in the military hospitals. Messrs. Begin and Levy have been ordered,
as the medical inspectors, to make an official report of its origin and
progress.
Academie de Medecine.—The Academie de Medecine yesterday
elected as foreign members MM. Buffalini, of Florence, Mott, of New
York, Warren, of Boston, Riberi, of Turin, Vieminckz, of Brussels,
Retzius, of Stockholm, and Simpson, of Edinburgh.— Galignani’s
Messenger, 12 th March, 1853.
Diseases Among the Bedouin Arabs.—Diseases are rare among
them; and the epidemics, which rage in the cities, seldom reach their
tents. The cholera, which has of late visited Mosul and Bagdad with
fearful severity, has not yet struck the Bedouins; and they have fre-
quently escaped the plague, when the settlements on the borders of the
Desert have been nearly destroyed by it. The small-pox, however, oc-
casionally makes great ravages among them, vaccination being still un-
known to the Shammar; and intermittent fever prevails in the autumn,
particularly when the tribes encamp near the marshes in Southern Meso-
potamia. Rheumatism is not uncommon, and is treated, like most- local
complaints, with the actual cautery, a red-hot iron being applied to the
part affected. Another cure for rheumatism consists in killing a sheep,
and placing the patient in the hot reeking skin. Ophthalmia is common
in the Desert, as well as in other parts of the East, and may be attri-
buted as much to dirt and neglect as to any other cause.
The Bedouins are acquainted with but few medicines. The Desert
yields some valuable simples, which are, however, rarely used. Dr.
Sandwith, hearing from Suttum that the Arabs had no opiates, asked
what they did with one who could not sleep. “ Do!” answered the
Sheikh, “ why, we make use of him, and set him to watch the camels.’’
If a Bedouin be ill, or have received a wound, he sometimes comes to the
nearest town, to consult the barbers, who are not unskilful surgeons.
Hadjir, one of the great chiefs of the Shammar, having been struck with
a musket ball, which lodged beneath the shoulder blade, visited the
Pasha of Mosul to obtain the aid of the European surgeons attached to
the Turkish troops. They declared an operation to be impossible, and
refused to undertake it. The Sheikh applied to a barber who, in his
shop in the open bazaar, cut quietly down to the ball, and taking it out,
brought it to the Pasha in a plate, to claim a reward for his skill. It is
true that the European surgeons in the service of the Porte are not very
eminent in their profession. The Bedouins set broken limbs by means
of rude splints.
The women suffer little in labor, which often takes place during a
march, or when they are far from their encampment, watering the flocks
or collecting fuel. They allow the children to remain at the breast
until they are nearly two or even three years old, and, consequently, have
rarely many offspring.—Dublin Med. Press, from Discoveries in Nineveh
by A. II. Lay ar d, M. P., in Association Medical Journal.
Death of M. Orfila—M. Orfila was but a short lime ago snatched
by the hand of death from the midst of friends and admirers, at the age
of sixty-six years. This eminent man was so highly esteemed among
his countrymen, and enjoyed such a world-wide reputation, that we
gladly devote some of our space to sketch the brilliant career of so dis-
tinguished a member of our profession.
The deceased was born at Mahon, in the island of Minorca, on the
24th of April, 1787, and could, as well expressed by M. de Salvandy,
from the rocks of his country contemplate both empires, and one day
choose between the two lands. He possessed within himself the genius
peculiar to each soil—the fertile, bold and searching activity of the one,
the firmness, patience, and enduring perseverance of the other. Orfila’s
mind was first engaged upon the study of mathematics, as he was in-
tended for a maritime life, at a time when the French and Spanish fleets
were co-operating in the East. He actually served a short time, but
soon relinquished the sea, and from the pursuit of mathematics turned
to the cultivation of the natural sciences. For this purpose he repaired
to the University of Valencia in the year 1804.
Physics and chemistry were at that period at a very low ebb in Spain;
and Orfila, not satisfied with hearing his professors stating that air and
water were two elements, seized upon the works of Lavoisier, Berthollet,
Fourcroy and others, and rose to the level of the discoveries of the day.
But the University of Valencia was just then being threatened with
abolition, on the plea of insufficient teaching; the professors provoked
an inquiry, and put forward their pupils. Orfila greatly distinguished
himself in the examinations, and so complete was his success, that the
junta of Barcelona sent him to Paris at their own cost, to study chem-
istry, and the application of that science to the arts.
Ide arrived in Paris in 1807, and soon took a great liking to a coun-
try which, for the subsequent forty-six years, became his adopted land.
The war which soon broke out between France and Spain deprived him
of his allowance from Barcelona, but he was temporarily supported by a
member of his family. It should here be mentioned that many years
after this period, Orfila offered the junta his services, from gratitude at
the patronage they had formerly granted him; but that body was in too
disorganized a state to accept the honest man’s disinterested proposals.
Nor would his return to Spain have been a small sacrifice; for Vauque-
lin had welcomed him in his laboratory, and Fourcroy had entrusted to
him the task of giving a few lectures on Organic Chemistry.
Orfila now obtained the degree of Doctor of Medicine, and began to
lecture privately on Chemistry, Forensic Medicine, and even Anatomy,
(a kind of authorized grinding,) and in this first and small laboratory he
laid the foundation of the new science of toxicology. V e say new, and
advisedly ; for the books published before Orfila’s time mention none of
those delicate tests introduced by the great chemist; it is true that even
then certain poisons could be detected when dissolved in, or mixed with,
water; but when these poisons were added to wine, milk, bile, &c., they
were beyond the skill of the chemists of the day. Orfila’s researches
rendered investigations of this kind, and many others of equal import-
ance, perfectly easy.
Orfila was soon appointed corresponding member of the Institute,
(a generic name given to the four academies taken collectively,) and in
1819 he was appointed Professor of Forensic Medicine at the Faculty of
Medicine, especially by the influence of the celebrated Halle, who,
though very ill, had himself carried to the medical school to vote for
M. Orfila.
It was at first supposed that lectures on Forensic Medicine at the
Faculty would attract but tew hearers; but Orfila’s happy mode of
teaching, and of captivating the attention of the pupils, rendered the
subject peculiarly attractive. His language was lucid, without being
too much studied; and he treated the most difficult questions with so
much method and precision, that the mind readily followed him. He
was especially fond of conveying knowledge by actual experiment, and
gave his explanation with a clear and penetrating tone of voice, in well
chosen periods, and without too much fire or any hesitation. He loved
to teach and guide the pupils, and thus drew around himself numerous
and attentive hearers during the four years he lectured on forensic medi-
cine, and the twenty-nine which he devoted to medical chemistry. This
success is the more flattering, as pupils are not bound to attend the lcc-
tures of any professor, and that the latter have a fixed salary, independ-
ent of the number of students who may attend them.
The fame of Orfila was now daily spreading, and his works and teach-
ing on toxicology, forensic medicine, and chemistry testify to his im-
mense labors; but he seemed to direct his whole energy to the detec-
tion of poisons. He looked upon the science of toxicology as composed
of two principal divisions—one comprising the symptoms of poisoning,
the consequent lesion of texture, and the medical treatment; the other,
more exclusively chemical, embracing the detection of the poison either
with a view of the discovery of an antidote, or for guiding the verdict of
a jury. Both these branches were so highly cultivated by Orfila, that
he became the oracle in the courts of law, and the dread of those who
contemplated the treacherous administration of deadly substances.
In 1820, the Academy of Medicine, as now constituted, was founded
by Louis XVIII., and the original members were seventy in number.
Orfila was one of them, and, strange to say, the youngest of all. He
distinguished himself for the next thirty-three years as a fluent and able
speaker, always defended the Academy in the contests which that
learned body had to sustain, and, when chairman, acted with great tact
and ability. Shortly before Orfila’s death, only five of the original
seventy members were left, and it was remarked that Orfila was again
the youngest amongst them.
The revolution of 1830, which carried Louis Philippe to the throne,
became, for Orfila, the beginning of a series of prosperous days, in which
wealth, honors, and the most envied appointments were showered upon
him. But it may be said to his praise, that he rendered the greatest
services, both to the state and to learning, in the several responsible and
eminent posts which he successively occupied.
As Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, (in which dignity he succeeded
the celebrated Antoine Dubois, father of the present accoucheur, Paul
Dubois,) he used his best efforts, for a period of eighteen years, to intro-
duce improvements of great importance in the medical school. Without
neglecting toxicology or his professional duties, he began to root up
abuses, and to make regulations which to this day call for the gratitude
of the students. Lectures, by his endeavors, were now given with regu-
larity ; the pupils were subjected to a wholesome discipline; the misera-
ble building opposite the Faculty, was demolished, and a new one, called
“ Hopital des Cliniques,” erected in its place, where surgery and mid-
wifery are carefully taught; new dissecting-rooms were substituted for
the wretched places where anatomy was before cultivated ; the Dupuy-
tren museum was founded; a botanical garden opened; and the anato-
mical and pathological collections of the Faculty so enriched, that Orfila’s
name was attached to them as a lasting memorial of his wise and paternal
government.
But Orfila was now called upon to take an active share in the higher
branches of the administration connected with learning and medical
science; his influence became immense, but he contrived to make many
friends, and to render the greatest services by his great aptitude for
public business, his vast experience, quick glance, and mastery of details.
Oi’fila successively took his seat in the Council General of Hospitals,
and at the Board of Public Instruction. The profession gained much
by his elevation, for it was through his exertions that the preparatory
schools of medicine in various large provincial town were founded, and
it was he who placed the examinations for the degree of Doctor of Medi-
cine upon the present excellent footing.
The subject of this memoir obtained the usual marks of high favor at
the hands of Government, and was successively made knight, officer,
and commander of the Legion of Honor. He became accustomed to guide
and regulate, and when the exalted man was thrust into private life by
the destructive revolution of 1848, he felt the blow very acutely, and
never recovered the shock.
Among all the claims which M. Orfila has to the gratitude of his
countrymen there is one which will certainly be highly prized among
us, and will remind our readers of those worthy members of our profes-
sion who, in England, have founded societies for the relief of the decayed
medical man, his widow, or children. M. Orfila, at the period to which
our narrative has arrived, founded a provident association for the benefit
of medical men or their families 5 and for many years he was the Presi-
dent of the society. He constantly used his best efforts to promote its
welfare, and succeeded in establishing it upon a sure and lasting basis.
This society was not forgotten in the munificent legacies which M. Orfila
made shortly before his death, and to which we shall presently allude.
But human prosperity is fragile; M. Orfila’s career of usefulness and
benevolence was arrested by the fall of Louis Philippe; he lost all his
appointments, (except his professorship, which could not be taken from
him,) and it is said that these changes have, to the hour of his dissolu-
tion, preyed upon his mind, and even hastened bis death.
M. Orfila was not only displaced as Dean of the Faculty, but roughly
called to account respecting the improvements and embellishments which
had been made during his tenure of office; and the worthy and eminent
man was, by envious detractors, sadly worried and taken to task. He
endeavored to find comfort in scientific pursuits, and tried to regain his
shattered health by a journey to the Pyrenees, but his friends saw that
his powers were gradually failing.
Only a few weeks ago, M. Orfila resolved to make all his benevolent
legacies before his death, a sort of defiance (as justly mentioned by Prof.
Berard) which the leveller of all human greatness resented by speedily
snatching at his prey. More than .£4000 were thus given by M. Orfila;
firstly, to the Academy of Medicine, for prizes on medico-legal ques-
tions; secondly, to the Faculty of Medicine, for the preservation of the
museum ; thirdly, to the School of Pharmacy, for prizes; and to the
Medical Benevolent Society for its praiseworthy purposes.
A very short time after these munificent gifts were announced, and
whilst grateful addresses were being sent from all parts of France, M.
Orfila was attacked with pneumonia, soon after his last lecture, delivered
on the 4th of March. Drs. Chomel, Andral, and Rostan attended him
with the greatest solicitude, but it was soon too plain that the illustrious
patient must sink. lie expired at half past seven in the morning, on
the 12th of March, and had, thirty-sis hours previously, sought the
comforts of the Christian religion.
The funeral was as numerously attended as that of Dupuytren and
Broussais; all the distinguished men in the arts, sciences, medicine, and
the government, as well as crowds of students, accompanied the remains
of this great and good man to their last and peaceful abode. The corners
of the pall were held by M. Berard, Inspector of Public Instruction ;
M. P. Dubois, Dean of the Faculty of Medicine ; M. Dubois, (d’ Amiens,)
Perpetual Secretary of the Academy of Medicine, and M. Bussy,
Director of the School of Pharmacy. Orfila is buried close to the tombs
of Lisfranc and Barruel, the latter of whom was his first and much re-
vered teacher.
The works left by M. Orfila are the following :	1. On Forensic Me-
dicine, with an Appendix on Legal Exhumations, with twenty-six plates,
four vols., fourth edition in 1848; 2. Elements of Medical Chemistry,
two vols., eighth edition in 1851 ; 3. On Toxicology, two vols., fifth
edition in 1852; and a great number of papers and reports on Toxicology
and Forensic Medicine, which have so largely contributed in placing
both sciences on their present improved footing, and have gained for
their author an imperishable fame.—London Lancet.
Death of Robert James Graves, M. D.—This distinguished
Irish Physician, whose numerous and valuable contributions to Patho-
logy and Practical Medicine, in the Medical Journals, have made his
name familiar to the American as well as European profession, died in
Dublin, on the 20th of March last, at the early age of 56.
lie was the youngest son of a dignitary of the Irish church, the
Rev. Richard Graves, D.D., Dean of Ardagh, and was educated at
Trinity College, Dublin. He graduated in Medicine at the Dublin
Medical School, and after passing three years in visiting the chief Con-
tinental Schools, in 1821, commenced the practice of medicine in
Dublin. He soon took part in the establishment of a private school
of medicine, and having been elected one of the Physicians of the
Meath Hospital, entered with great energy and zeal on the arduous
career of a medical teacher. The school of which be was one of the
founders, known as the Park street School, (now the site of St. Mark’s
Ophthalmic Hospital,) rapidly acquired a very high character. Here
he first taught medical jurisprudence, subsequently pathological ana-
tomy, but afterwards became associated with Doctor, now Sir Henry,
Marsh, in the Chair of Practice of Physic. The Meath Hospital,
however, was the great theatre of his most important labors. Here he
set himself vigorously to work to reform the existing system of medical
education. Hitherto, the student had to depend on himself for the
acquirement of a knowledge of disease. Books were written, and
lectures delivered, both of which avail but little without that actual
practical knowledge of the various phenomena of disease to be gained
at the bedside alone. Some years previously, it is true, Dr. William
Stokes had commenced the system of actually instructing the student
by the bedside; but it remained for Dr. Graves thoroughly to incor-
porate clinical instruction with the other elements of medical education,
and to cause its immense importance to be fully and generally under-
stood and recognised. He soon found apt and zealous pupils, and
many of the best and most accomplished practitioners now in Ireland,
England, the Colonies, and the public service, were then numbered
among Dr. Graves’s class at the Meath Hospital, and many have lived
to acknowledge with pleasure and pride the obligations they owed to his
teachings, and the stimulus which his example lent to their exertions.
Two among the number must be specially named—Dr. Richard Town-
send and Dr. William Stokes, now Regius Professor of Physic in the
University of Dublin. Of the latter it is not here the time or place to
speak. To the former we may be allowed to pay a brief but well
deserved tribute in passing. Hurried away by an untimely death, the
works which lie has left only serve to show how deeply the Irish school
has to deplore the loss of one whose early labors gave such sure presage
of a brilliant and successful career. Those acquainted with the litera-
ture of thoracic pathology will not need to be reminded of his essays in
the “ Cyclopaedia of Medicine.”
Thus energetically and ardently working and teaching, the example of
Dr. Graves at this period exercised the best influence on the medical
youth of Dublin. His labors, however, were not confined to those of
teaching. From an early period in his medical career lie evinced the
highest talents for original observation, and the results of his inquiries
began to appear in print, and to attract attention, from the masterly
style of his delineations of disease, his graphic manner, and the clear-
ness, judgment, and decision with which his views were enunciated.
Dr. William Stokes having graduated in Edinburgh, and having sub-
sequently been appointed Dr. Graves’s colleague at the Meath Hospital,
these two names are henceforth to be met with together as teachers and
fellow-laborers in the field of original research. Under their joint editor-
ship appeared the valuable series of Meath Hospital Reports, which
have connected the name of this institution with the progress of Irish
medicine during the last thirty years.
In the year 1827, Dr. Graves was elected Professor of the Institutes
of Medicine to the King and Queen’s College of Physicians in Ireland,—
a chair which he continued to fill for many years with great distinction.
One of his most distinguished pupils thus speaks of Dr. Graves’s success
as a teacher in this department:—I am glad to acknowledge my own
obligations to the similar chair (Institutes of Medicine) in the University
of Dublin, filled then by my distinguished friend, Professor Graves, well
known throughout Europe by his contributions to physiology and clinical
medicine. From him I first imbibed a taste for physiological inquiry •
and under his guidance and direction my first studies upon that subject
were pursued.”—Dr. Todd’s Farewell Address.
As a reformer in practice, Dr. Graves has done invaluable service;
and in no respect more so than as regards the treatment of the typhus
fever of Ireland. This disease, always endemic in the sister island, oc-
casionally breaks forth as an epidemic visitation of the most fatal kind,
and several years are -popularly memorable as “ the fever years.” Such
were 1817, 1822, and lastly 1846-47. Having enjoyed ample oppor-
tunities of studying this fatal pestilence, Dr. Graves became not less dis-
tinguished as a practitioner than as a teacher and propagator of bold and
enlightened views in the treatment of fever; and on no occasions were
his cliniques at the Meath Hospital better attended than when it was
known that fever was to be his theme. The views of treatment which
prevailed at the period when Dr. Graves entered on practice were
decidedly in favor of the lowering and depleting plan, whether by pur-
gation or otherwise. In this respect, practice differed then very much
from what it had been in the latter end of the preceding century. In
the days of Harvey, Purcell, Cleghorn, M’Bride, Plunkett, Egan, and
Quin, the tonic plan was followed, and with success; wine and other
stimulants were freely exhibited. The propagation of the Hunterian
pathology had, however, in subsequent years, filled the minds of men
with antiphlogistic theories, to the exclusion of all others, and in these
views the Dublin practitioners, with some honorable exceptions be it re-
marked, very freely shared up to the date of Dr. Graves’s teachings.
An intimate study of the disease, and a careful observation of the alarm-
ing symptoms of early prostration so common in Irish typhus, convinced
Dr. Graves of the error of the practice in vogue, which consisted chiefly
in withholding nourishment and administering purgatives. Against
this system be took up arms, and waged a successful war, not, it may
be imagined, without violent opposition. His views, however, soon
gained converts, and, aided by his colleague and other enlightened prac-
titioners, the old plan gradually gave ground to the new. There was
nothing in which Dr. Graves took more real pleasure and pride than in
the changes in practice thus brought about. li Let them write it as my
epitaph, that I fed fevers,” said he, on one occasion, to his colleague.
The careful support of the system by nourishment from an early
period of the disease, and the courageous use of stimulants when indi-
cated by symptoms of depression, now form the leading therapeutic
principles in the management of fever cases with all the well-educated
practitioners of the Irish school; but unquestionably to Dr. Graves is
due the merit of promulgating these views, or at least of reviving the
practice, which had fallen into disrepute since the days of the Quins and
the Plunketts. Did our limits permit, we could dwell at considerable
length on other important principles of treatment advocated by Dr.
Graves. We can only refer to his papers ‘‘On the Use of Tartar
Emetic and Opium in the Delirium of Fever,” “The Employment of
Acetate of Lead,” etc. etc., all which will be found in his collected trea-
tises on clinical medicine.
Independently of the publication of his various detached papers and
monographs, Dr. Graves lent valuable assistance to the establishment of
a periodical medical literature in Ireland. In the year 1830, the fifth
and last volume of the “ Dublin Hospital Reports ” was committed to
his editorship by Dr. Cheyne. Two years subsequently, the Dublin
Journal of Medical and Chemical Science, the predecessor of the Dublin
Quarterly Journal of Medicine, was projected and established by Sir
Robert Kane, then a student of medicine, and a pupil at the Meath
Hospital. After the appearance of a few Numbers, Drs. Graves and
Stokes became associated in the editorship of the periodical, and Dr.
Kane having been soon forced to resign his connexion with it by his in-
creasing devotion to chemical inquiry, it continued in the same hands
till 1842.
In the original and review department of this journal, Dr. Graves was
a large and constant contributor. In the year 1843, appeared the first
edition of his “ Clinical Lectures on the Practice of Medicine.” Of
this work, which passed through a second edition with much care-
ful revision, and the addition of much valuable matter under the hands
of Dr. Neligan in the year 1848, it is quite unnecessary for us to
speak. It is well known to every clinical school in Europe.
As a lecturer, Dr. Graves was distinguished by a force and clearness
of language, and an earnestness of manner, which irresistibly commanded
attention, while his fine person and noble features won the admiration
of his hearers. Ilis style as a writer was at once simple yet nervous,
and full of graphic power ; and his delineations of disease are among the
most successful of modern medical compositions. He was a strenuous
advocate of the doctrine of contagion, and vigorously opposed the views
advanced with regard to the non-contagious nature of cholera during its
last outbreak. He was a firm supporter of the dignity and honor of his
profession, and on the only occasion on which he descended into the
arena of medical politics, he fought boldly and fearlessly, though unsuc-
cessfully, for the rights of his brother practitioners. During many
years Dr. Graves enjoyed a large and lucrative practice, and was much
recherche as a consultant. For some time past his health had been only
indifferent, and of late he suffered from attacks of atonic gout. His
last illness was attended with considerable suffering, the lungs being
much congested. He had also violent paroxysmal attacks of cough,
which the slightest exertion was sufficient to induce. Symptoms of a
purpuric condition of the blood, accompanied by anasarca, were subse-
quently manifested. These sufferings were borne with Christian fortitude
and complete resignation. Dr. Graves expired in the forenoon of the
20th of March, at the age of 56.—Lon. Med. Times & Gaz.