part of his life. He always retained his fondness for the rugged hills of Southwest New Hampshire and often affectionately referred to the bold and picturesque outlines of Mt. Escutney under whose uplifting influence his boyhood days were spent. When he was only ten years of age his father died, and doubtless this experience did much to widen and enlarge his sympathy and develop his self reliance and manliness.

One of Dr. Colby's ancestors, Anthony C. Colby, came to this country in 1642 with Governor Winthrop and later settled in Salem, where he "builded himself a house" which, now in the possession of the Daughters of the American Revolution and in a state of good preservation, is exhibited as an excellent specimen of early colonial architecture. It was a special well dug by this ancestor for the accommodation of the passer-by and known as the "Captain's Well" that was sung of by the poet Whittier.

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By tradition and heredity Dr. Colby seemed destined for medicine. When eighteen or nineteen years of age he became a student of the widely and honorably known senior Morrill (homœopathist) of Concord, New Hampshire, whose sons "Zeke" and "Shad," also homoeopathists, are even in these days remembered throughout the countryside as eminently efficient and successful medical practitioners. With such an hereditary bias and such environmental influences during his youthful plastic years, it is matter of no surprise that Dr. Colby became and remained earnest, intelligent, enthusiastic homœopathist, and that his confidence in the principle of similars was strong enough to withstand the trials of his medical student life. He studied medicine for one year at Harvard, taking his Anatomy under the famous Oliver Wendell Holmes, and later, in 1861, graduated from the Long Island Hospital College. Immediately after graduation he married Miss Annie S. Judson of Malden, Mass., who with one son, survives him. It is well known among their friends that Mrs. Colby possesses artistic skill in oil painting which, if developed, would have won wide recognition.

It fires the imagination and stirs one's patriotic impulses to recall the fact that in the hour of the Nation's great peril every member of Dr. Colby's class at the Long Island Hospital College offered his services to, and entered, the medical staff of the Army or Navy. Dr. Colby was assigned to a ship in the Gulf Squadron under Admiral Farragut, participating with this fearless and undaunted seaman in the taking of Mobile, and in other operations. It was the Doctor's misfortune to be poisoned by some brackish drinking water which in an hour of need had been obtained from the shore, and he was prostrated

by an intestinal disorder which enfeebled him for the greater part of his life. As an invalid he secured a furlough, but rejoined his ship before recovery was secured, and later found it imperative after about three years of service, to tender his resignation. As soon as his health permitted he settled in Wakefield, Mass., where for a period of about a quarter of a

CAT.

century he practised his profession with an intelligence, a conscientiousness and a success that made his name a household word in the entire community. His experience and his preferences led him to devote his energy to the study of nervous diseases, and in 1887 he opened an office in Boston for the practice of this specialty and after a few years, in 1895, relinquished his practice in Wakefield and moved with his family to Boston, where he spent the remainder of his life.

Dr. Colby's zeal led him at no slight sacrifice of time and energy to participate with a band of earnest, heroic souls in the formation of plans for the establishment of Boston University School of Medicine. With the destiny of this School for a period of forty-two years his name is inseparably connected. He was a member of its first Faculty, occupying for five years the chair of Medical Chemistry and for three subsequent years he lectured on Mental and Nervous Diseases. As the performance of the school work grew to be a heavy tax on his otherwise busy life and interfered with the pursuance of his special studies, he resigned from his position and for six years. took no active part in the work of the School. In 1887, however, he was back on the Faculty as Lecturer, and in 1890 as Professor of Nervous Diseases, and as he would have wished he "died in the harness." As an instructor he was lucid, forceful, impressive and up-to-date. His popularity among the students who with succeeding years formed his classes was great and abiding, and the influence of his personality and teaching was immeasurable.

Dr. Colby was a member of the Medical staff of the Massachusetts Homœopathic Hospital from 1893, and for twenty-two years was Consulting Physician in his specialty. He was a member and chairman of the Consulting Board of the State Hospital for the Insane at Westborough, and it was due largely to his advocacy and interest that the very efficient and successful pathological laboratory of that institution was brought into existence. He was a member of the American Institute of Homœopathy from the year 1890; of the Massachusetts Homœopathic Medical Society, of the Boston Homœopathic Medical Society, of the Massachusetts Surgical and Gynecological Society, and of the Hughes Medical Club (limited membership) of which he was the active secretary for many years. He was a member of the Loyal Legion; was a 32nd degree (Scottish Rite) Mason; and was an Episcopalian from childhood. He quite regularly read the service on board ship while in the Navy.

As evidence of the impression his life made upon his colleagues, the following brief quotations are taken from many

tributes which have been paid to his memory. "He was wise and kindly, courageous under trial, witty but without malice, humorous, and loyal to family and friends, loyal to country and religion, loyal to homoeopathy."

He was "simple, unassuming, gentle, kind, brave-hearted and liberal, bearing trial with fortitude and patience, leaving men better and happier for having known him." He was a genial, courtly, kindly gentleman."

He was noted for his "loyalty, dependableness and steadfastness," and he will be remembered for his "profound knowledge, broad humanity, eternal youth which never failed, his broad sympathy and his smile which was always a bendiction."

In medicine, in religion, in politics, in life he was a kindhearted gentleman who won the affectionate regard of all who were privileged to know him.

J. P. S.

REVIEWS

PATHOLOGY

Tubercle Bacilli in the Fæces. Keller, H., and Moravek, A. J., Medical Record, Nov. 20, 1915. Vol. 88, p. 864.

Preliminary animal experimentation showed that tuberculous guinea pigs discharge acid-fast bacilli in the fæces, whereas healthy pigs do not, and that these acid-fast bacilli are not smegma or other harmless forms, but tubercle bacilli. This is the case in the absence of any recognizable tuberculous involvement of the intestinal tract.

In applying these results clinically, the authors used (a) cases suffering from positive joint tuberculosis; (b) cured cases; (c) control cases. The results were as follows: (a) Active joint tuberculosis 42 cases; tubercle bacilli in fæces 30, in urine 2; (b) cured cases 6, no bacilli found; (c) controls 18, no bacilli found.

In concluding their article, the authors say in part: Patients suffering from joint tuberculosis keep on discharging tubercle bacilli for years, so long as the disease is active. Those bacilli are alive and capable of producing tuberculosis in others, as proven by animal inoculation. In obscure joint conditions the finding of tubercle bacilli in the fæces may be of great diagnostic importance and should never be neglected. A patient suffering from joint tuberculosis should not be discharged as cured without a thorough search for acid-fast bacilli in the fæces, and if they are found, the patient should be kept for further observation, for it shows that there is still some activity of the disease

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present. The smegma bacillus is conspicuous by its absence in the fæces. We fully agree with the remarks of Dr. M. SolisCohen that " The faces of tuberculous patients must be regarded as a source of contagion and must always be thoroughly disinfected. The same precautions in regard to disinfection of hands, clothing, bed covers, etc., soiled by fæcal evacuations, that are taken in cases of typhoid fever should be observed in the management of patients with tuberculosis."

Nephritis Due to Typhoid Infection. Deutsch, F., Wiener klin. Wochenschrift, Vol. 28, pp. 965–992.

Three children in the same house developed acute nephritis with high temperature. There were no evidences of typhoid in the intestines or elsewhere. The urine and blood contained numerous typhoid bacilli which, however, were serum-proof, not clumping at 1:50.

Pyorrhoea Due to Organisms Other than the Amebas. Hoxie, G. H., Journal of American Medical Association, Nov. 27, Vol. 65, p. 1908.

After stating that there is a tendency to administer emetin in all cases of dental infections without establishing the presence of the endameba, Hoxie reports a case to prove that this organism is not the cause of all cases of pyorrhoea. His patient has had recurrent fever for about seventeen years. The local foci were the alveolar processes and the oral mucosa. Aside from the mouth, the left knee (bursitis) and the anal fold (abscesses) have shown evidences of infection. The organisms most constantly found were a diplostreptococcus and a mold. Repeated examinations failed to reveal any amebas. Arsenic in various forms, salicylates, and other systemic and local germicides, as well as vaccines, both autogenous and stock, single as well as mixed, proved useless. The causative organism was not identified, but is believed by Hoxie to be "one which is ordinarily nonpathogenic, but which has acquired parasitic power in the tissues of this patient."

Frequency of Simultaneous Presence of Myoma and Cancer of the Uterus. Olow, J., Archives Mensuelles d'Obstet. et de Gynecol., Paris, Oct. 1915, Vol. 4, p. 369.

Sixteen cases or 5.2% in 359 operative cases of myoma of the uterus were complicated with cancer. In only one of these cases had cancer been suspected before the operation. If radium treatment does not cause prompt improvement, or if there is a