THEODORE GAILLARD THOMAS, M.D.

Theodore Gaillard Thomas of New York City, died in Thomasville, Ga., on the twenty-eighth of February last. He was born at Edisto Island, S. C., November twentyfirst, 1831. His early education was received in the College of Charleston, an institution which was founded in 1785. He left this College in his senior year and entered the Medical College of South Carolina, in the same city. He received his degree of M. D., in 1852.

Immediately after graduation he settled in New York City and became resident physician at Bellevue Hospital and at New York City Hospital, then Charity Hospital, Blackwell's Island. This gave him a fine field for work. His attention was early called to obstetrics and diseases of women. He subsequently became and for many years held the position of Professor of Obstetrics and Diseases of Women in the College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, Surgeon to the Woman's Hospital, New York, consulting surgeon to the Nursery and Child's, the French Lying-in, the Skin and Cancer, the Presbyterian and St. Mary's Hospitals. He was also at one time physician to St. Luke's, Roosevelt and the Strangers Hospitals. This certainly includes an immense amount of work and a wide field. Honors were also conferred upon him by various societies both at home and abroad. He was one of the pioneers in American gynecology. As a teacher and clinician he was unsurpassed in his day. His courtesy and kindness of heari endeared him to the thousands of students whom he instructed, and to his brothers in the profession. His sympathy and chivalrous tenderness endeared him to his patients. Contributing largely to his popularity and his professional success was his book "Diseases of Women," This was

the first extensive and systematic work of the kind which we had had. First published in 1868 it at once became popular and was adopted as a text-book in many of the colleges. It was translated into German, French, Italian and Spanish and gave its author a world-wide reputation. It was, as Dr. Thomas says, a practical work, recording views and methods which recommended themselves on account of their merit and not on account of their novelty. He gives upon the title page the various societies with which he was connected:-Professor of Diseases of Women in the College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York; President of the American Gynecological Society for 1879; Vice President of the New York Academy of Medicine; Surgeon to the New York State Woman's Hospital; President of the Medical Board of the Nursery and Child's Hospital, New York; Consulting Physician to St. Mary's Hospital for Women, Brooklyn; Honorary Fellow of the Obstetrical Society of London; Corresponding Fellow of the Obstetrical Society of Berlin; of the Medical Society of Lima; and of the Obstetrical Society of Philadelphia; Honorary Member of the South Carolina Medical Association and of the Louisville Obstetrical Society. He was elected an Honorary Member of the Connecticut Medical Society in 1896.

His funeral was held in New York City, March 3, and was largely attended. Members of Medical Societies of which he was a member, hospital staffs on which he had served, and the faculty of the College of Physicians and Surgeons were present in great numbers to pay the last honors to their deceased colleague.

-Jour. Am. Med. Asso., March 7, 1903.

RUFUS W. GRISWOLD, M.D., ROCKY HILL.

GURDON W. RUSSELL, M.D.,

HARTFORD.

Dr. Griswold left an autobiography which he had directed to be sent to me, after his death. Though there is considerable minuteness in this, it is still interesting, and, in a sense, valuable, for the information which it conveys about himself and others. It also indicates how much he was interested in historical investigation, and the pleasure which he took in genealogical studies. It may be thought by some that so full a consideration of these matters hardly belongs to a volume of our "Proceedings," which should consist strictly of medical or surgical subjects. But it may be said that the true sketch of the life of any medical man is not perfectly completed unless it tells us all about him; what he did in his profession, what he did in other pursuits, and how he fulfilled his obligations as a citizen. His education fits him especially as an investigator and lover of the nat ural sciences; it enlarges his field of observation in all directions; it does not necessarily lead him to ignore the only true God, as has sometimes been said, but on the contrary, it gives him strength and increased faith in the Divine Ruler. It is very apparent that he possessed considerable literary ability. He was a writer for newspapers, magazines and medical journals. In the quiet of his little town, it was doubtless a pleasure for him to use his pen. The events which had occurred here were not considered of a trifling nature. He was interested in the church, in the schools, in the good condition of the town; he was liberal and diligent in various ways, and did not fail to do his duty faithfully wherever he was placed. He showed, also, how much of interest and pleas