several important committees. He was interested in every moral reform, and was an active member of the Congregational Church in his native town. He was identified with the Grand Army of the Republic, having served during the Civil War as surgeon of the Eighteenth Connecticut Volunteer Infantry, enlisting in 1863, and remaining with his regiment until peace was declared; during which period his regiment participated in many important engagements, among them Summit Point, Va., Piedmont, Snickers Ford, and Winchester. He was taken prisoner at the battle of Winchester, June 15, 1863, and confined for months in Libby Prison. He was more than an ordinary surgeon in his day, and was a member of the United States Pension Board during the latter years of his life, resigning only a short time before his death. He was a former president of the Connecticut State Medical Society, a position he held with honor. As a man Dr. Holbrook embodied the fundamental traits of good citizenship, and established himself in the hearts and confidence of those among whom he lived and labored. . It was my good fortune to be intimately acquainted with him for thirty years, and during that time we had been brought together professionally a great many times; and it gives me great pleasure to bear testimony as to his professional skill, and to his unfailing devotion to his patients. He was always ready to respond to the summons of the sick and suffering and give his best services, whether that summons came at high noon or at midnight. I have always found Dr. Holbrook a valuable consultant. He was a good diagnostician; and was always ready to express an opinion in regard to any case, and give his reason therefor. He was a man of good judgment and well versed in the therapeutics of his day, possessing a thorough knowledge of remedies and what they were likely to accomplish. There was no attempt at display in his treatment, or pretense of attempting to know more than he was conscious of knowing. He was modest in all that he attempted to do, and was greatly attached to his profession, considering it honorable and deserving his highest devotion. His manner was grave, dignified, and courteous; in speech, calm, deliberate, and cautious; in action, energetic and untiring. He was strong in his convictions, and when he believed he was in the right, no influence could change his opinion. He was a man of quick conception, with a well-trained mind, possessing a remarkable memory, and a ready debater. He retained all of these faculties until the end of life. He was a diligent student, and read the journals and periodicals of progressive medicine until failing eyesight prevented him from longer doing so; after which his sisters spent hours daily, reading to him. Much more might be said, but this is enough. In paying this tribute to Dr. Holbrook, I am led to look back upon my own life, and call to mind the many instances in the earlier years of my practice, in which he has, through his skill, and more mature experience, helped me over some of those rough places which are sure to arise in the experience of every young practitioner; thus he shared with me many burdens and responsibilities. Dr. Holbrook lived to a ripe old age, always enjoying good health up to about four years of his death, when his sight began to fail from gradually developing cataract in both eyes. This finally compelled him to give up practice, though he persisted in moving about, and was a constant attendant at the regular meetings of the Pension Board up to a few months of his death. He died October 16, 1905, from pulmonary oedema, at the age of eightyseven years. Thus ended a long, useful, and devoted life, possessing many traits of character which others might do well to imitate. Roger Charles Downey, M.D., Middletown. ARTHUR J. CAMPBELL, M.D., Middletown. Roger Charles Downey, M.D., son of Jeremiah Downey, was born in Deerpark, Ireland, in 1866, and died in 1904 at the age of thirty-eight years. At an early age he came to America, and for a number of years was engaged in the insurance business in Waterbury, Conn., until he decided to take up the study of medicine. He entered the Jefferson Medical College of Philadelphia in the class of 1888, finishing his first year in that college. The following year he continued his medical studies in the University of Vermont, from which he was graduated in 1891. After his graduation he took a post-graduate course in Bellevue. He then began the practice of medicine in Portland, Conn., and after four years during which he established a large and successful practice, he returned to his native country and entered the Rotunda Hospital in Dublin, taking a post-graduate course. of six months in obstetrics and gynecology. He then returned to Middletown where he remained except for a brief time until his death in 1904. In 1897 he married Miss Mary Bernadine Curran, daughter of John and Mary Curran of Portland, Conn. He was a man of robust physique, jovial in disposition, kind hearted, and beloved by his patients. About a year before his death he began to fail in health but continued to care for his patients until the fall of 1903, when he left Middletown and returned to Hartford, intending to do special work, as the hardships of general practice gave him no chance to recover his lost health, but still continuing to fail he gave up his practice and put himself under the care of a specialist in New York. Having regained to some extent his impaired health he returned to Middletown and resumed his practice in this city. His friends and patients were pleased to welcome him and to note his improved condition. He was an enthusiastic member of the Knights of Columbus, holding the office of medical examiner of Freestone Council, while in Portland. Always interested in the advancement of his profession, he contributed many valuable papers at the meetings of his medical societies. Only a week before his unexpected death he read a paper on the treatment of nephritis, a disease of which he was only too familiar from his personal experience, and which was the remote cause of his death, following an attack of facial erysipelas. His funeral was largely attended from the home of his fatherin-law, John Curran, many being present from the medical profession as well as the numerous societies of which he was a member, all joining in the feeling that they had come to witness the last sad rites not only of a physician but of a friend. MEMBERS OF THE SOCIETY. HONORARY MEMBERS. ADRIAN THEODORE WOODWARD, Brandon, Vt. WILLIAM MCCOLLOM, T. MITCHELL PRUDDEN, JAMES W. McLANE, Brooklyn, N. Y. Brooklyn, N. Y. New York City, N. Y. New York City, N. Y. WILLIAM W. KEEN, New York City, N. Y. |