Memoirs of Georgia; containing historical accounts of the state's civil, military, industrial and professional interests, and personal sketches of many of its people. Vol. II, Part 28

Author:
Publication date: 1859
Publisher: Atlanta, Ga., The Southern historicl association
Number of Pages: 1166

USA > Georgia > Memoirs of Georgia; containing historical accounts of the state's civil, military, industrial and professional interests, and personal sketches of many of its people. Vol. II > Part 28

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that peritonitis was not the great cause of mortality from penetrating wounds of the abdomen. He said "the frightful mortality of penetrating wounds of the abdo- men, and the rapidity with which the fatal result is brought about, point directly and immediately to septicaemia or blood poisoning, as the only condition at all adequate to such effects; and that the blood poisoning is the almost necessary consequence of the plan of treatment recommended by standard authorities and carried out in daily practice; in all instances of penetrating wounds of the abdomen, in which there may be any suspicion of the existence of effusion of blood or feces into the peritoneal cavity, the surgeon should proceed as follows: (I) Induce anesthesia ; (2) lay open the abdomen along the linea alba freely enough to make a thorough inspection of the parts contained; (3) ligate all bleeding ves- sels as far as possible; (4) examine carefully the whole length of the alimentary canal, in order to detect any wounds, and to stitch them. If the intestinal wound be ragged, it should be trimmed down to a straight edge; (5) in gunshot wounds reduce the channels of entrance as well as of exit through the abdominal walls to the form of incised wounds, so that these may be closed and left to adhere by first intention. In some cases it may be found necessary for this purpose to remove the uneven tracks by a double elliptic incision; (6) cleanse the wound and peri- toneum of all extraneous materials, and close the abdominal walls with suitable sutures and adhesive plasters; (7) finally control the peristaltic action with opium, and administer such nourishment as will leave least fecal residuum, as milk, eggs, etc." In conclusion he adds: "If the practice now suggested be considered harsh and hazardous, I would ask what can be worse than the authorized plan, which makes death the rule and recovery the rarest exception? Is it not time that we should regard as groundless the fears heretofore entertained with regard to the danger of opening the abdominal cavity? No change of practice in the class of wounds under consideration can make the chances of recovery less than they are now; and I feel confident that by adopting the plan proposed we would so alter the results as to make recovery the rule and death the exception." Dr. Dugas possessed a mind richly endowed for distinction in any department of medicine, but it was as a surgeon-viewed in the loftiest sense of that term-that his accomplishments shone forth with resplendent eminence. He possessed all the attributes of the great surgeon. He was unusually conversant with the principles of medicine, and therefore fully appreciated the reciprocal connection of its various branches and the dependence of one upon the other. He fully appreciated the conservative and recuperative powers of nature, contended that the genius of sur- gery consisted in repairing an injury or curing a disease without the use of the knife save as a dernier ressort. He had unmeasured contempt for the surgical jobber-dextrous in using the knife, but ignorant of the higher and better parts of the science. He never attempted the so-called brilliant surgical operations which consisted in having an assistant present with watch in hand to proclaim the number of seconds in which he amputated a limb, extracted a calculus or excised a tumor. To the contrary, he was a cautious operator, selecting his sub- jects with great judgment, and having properly prepared the system of the patient, he with slow and careful strokes of the knife proceeded with the operation with the conscientious conviction that the good of the patient-not the reputation of the operator-should be the sole consideration. He was thoroughly learned in relative anatomy and the fundamental principles of surgery, and made minute and methodical arrangements for every detail of the operation and any emergency which might arise during its progress. His assistants were carefully selected, each one assigned his part, and expected to perform it. After making the neces- sary preparations, he took the knife and guided it with an unfaltering hand, and

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step by step carefully proceeded to his work, the results showing the marvelous skill of the surgeon. In surgical diagnosis and prognosis his judgment was almost infallible; manipulations of surgical injuries were made with marked tenderness, and the patient made to feel that he sympathized deeply with his sufferings and soon saw that he was in the hands of a considerate friend and skillful surgeon. He regarded with distrust hazardous operations and untried novelties, and never resorted to either except after weighty deliberation. In his practice he used the simplest dressings-with unusual attention to cleanliness-and avoided showy apparatus and the unseemly display of instruments. In the practice of medicine he was noted for unmeasured scorn and contempt of the impostor and the poly- pharmacist. His hospital lectures abound in satire and medical quackery. In this department of medicine he was gifted with a strong and analytical mind in judging of the pathology and natural history of the diseases, and every prescription he made was with a definite purpose, guided by a charming simplicity. As a teacher of medicine, his lectures were remarkably clear, precise and practical; there was an absence of specious theorizing, careless generalizations and lax asser- tions which made them a blessing to the students. He was singularly devoted to truth. If the truth of any subject discussed lay beyond his comprehension, or if doubts existed in his mind, he was sufficiently great to frankly confess his igno- rance of or doubts upon the subject-matter under consideration. Possessed as he was of a mind of profound erudition and marvelous analytic power, guided by great assiduity of investigation, he carefully winnowed the precious wheat of demonstrated facts from the chaff of speculation and doubt. His style of lectur- ing was marked by unaffected ease of delivery, simplicity of manner, marked perspicuity, and great solicitude to impress his hearers with a knowledge of the themes presented for their instruction. As a consequence he was loved by every student of the college, and by many worshiped as the Gamaliel of medicine, at whose feet it were an honor to sit and learn.

Dr. Dugas was remarkably kind to, and considerate of the students and younger practitioners of medicine. He was dean of the faculty of the medical college of Georgia for twenty years, and therefore it is needless for me to portray to the two thousand physicians of the south who graduated under him, the courtesy and kindness with which he met them at the threshold of the profession, and the encouragement with which he sent them out into the world to their high and sacred ministry to suffering and diseased mankind. His love for and kind assistance to meritorious young physicians exceeded that of any man I ever knew. If he saw anything in conduct that was improper, he kindly and considerately admonished the young man of the necessity for a change. Advice or reproof was given with the fatherly tenderness which won the admiration and love of the man reproved, and awakened an ambition to be like unto the fatherly friend. If

he called a young physician to his assistance in a surgical operation, he invariably required the patient to pay a proper fee to the assistant as well as the operator. Dr. Dugas, while an eminent and dearly beloved physician, possessed a mind of rare and varied endowments outside of his profession. Philosophy, science, art, history, etc., had been studied so assiduously and systematically that he was as learned in all of these as in his chosen profession. Dr. Dugas had many positions of distinction and trust conferred upon him at various periods of his life, among which were the following: He was elected president of the Augusta Medical society; president of the Medical Association of Georgia; vice-president of the International Medical congress, 1876; president of the board of trustees of Rich- mond academy; president of the Augusta Gas Light company; president of the Augusta Insurance and Banking company; chairman of committee of city

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council to erect a monument to signers of Declaration of Independence, etc. He was elected for a number of years a member of the city council, and held member- ship in several scientific and literary associations. In recognition of his literary and scientific attainments, the university of Georgia, in 1869, conferred on Dr. Dugas the degree of LL. D. As a citizen, his life was most exemplary. He exhibited great interest in questions affecting the welfare of his city, state. and nation, and contributed to the columns of the Augusta newspapers a number of able and thoughtful contributions upon municipal, state and national topics. In all things he was a man of marked independence and fearlessness-not that so called independence or fearlessness which manifest themselves in acts of turbulence or bravado and indifference to public censure, right or wrong, but his independence was of that character which ornaments chivalrous manhood and dares to brave public opinion and censure when the actor is panoplied with truth and right. He never made merchandise of principles in order that popular approval might signalize his efforts. His acts were determined only after mature deliberation, and from his convictions he was as immovable as the rocks of Gibraltar, unless shown to be in error. An illustration of his manliness and fearlessness is to be found in his opposition to the secession movement of 1861. He entertained no doubt whatever as to the right of the southern states to secede from the Union, but was uncompromisingly opposed to it, as he deemed such a step unwise and destructive of the best interest of the south, and was also rather an abandonment of our rights than a manly assertion and vindication of them. His writings evidence profound knowledge of the questions at issue, and his analysis and refutal of arguments in favor of the movement, viewed by the results thereof, show him to have written as though guided by prophetic inspiration. At the time of his writings in opposition to secession, party passion and prejudice were highly inflamed, and only the patriot, with a mind deeply imbued with a sense of right and justice, would have dared to publicly avow them. Opposed as he was to the movement, he, however, like a patriot, cast his fortunes with his state after she had decided to secede from the Union, and did all in his power to advance the interests of the south. His time, talent and money were freely given to his country. He rendered most valuable services to the Confederate government in the medical department. He promptly volunteered his services to the government, and was commissioned surgeon of Walker's command of Georgia troops. In a short time he was commissioned as consulting surgeon to the Confederate hospital in Augusta, where his rare acquirements, experience and conservatism as a surgeon bore rich fruits in the saving of limb and life. After devoting a long period of life to the relief of human suffering and the promotion of the best interests of his race, Dr. Dugas did what all wise men propose to themselves, and what but few execute, voluntarily retired from the bustle of life to the quietude of his own home, where he might in the bosom of his family enjoy the society of loved ones, and take to himself time for reflection upon the affairs of life and prepare for its close. His clients heard with regret of his determination to give up his practice, and often the appeals of friendship forced him to respond to calls against which he found it difficult to maintain his resolu- tion. He was one of the founders of the medical college of Georgia, and continued in its service as the last work of his life. He continued to lecture at the college until 1880, when he resigned his professorship and withdrew from public service. In the full possession of intellectual power, he devoted the remainder of his days to the further cultivation of his mind, and was blessed with contentment and cheerfulness to the day of his death. On Oct. 19, 1884, after a brief illness, death closed his life-work. To the end of his days he retained his wonted intellectual vigor, and at the close had attained to the highest pinnacle of earthly

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ambition -- highly respected, beloved and honored by all who knew him; respected for his marvelous industry and talents; beloved as a most eminent physician, whose skill and tender care had relieved and comforted his fellow-creatures; honored for the possession of those traits of character which constitute the true gentleman in all the walks of life. These forni the crown of honor which adorned his brow, and a grateful people lovingly cherish his memory as worthy of ever- lasting remembrance.

DR. PAUL FITZSIMMONS EVE. Dr. Paul Fitzsimmons Eve, A. B., A M.,

LL. D., university of Georgia; M. D., university of Pennsylvania; bearer of the golden cross of honor of Poland; president of the American Medical association, 1857-8; president Tennessee State Medical society, 1871-2; centennial representa- tive of surgery to the medical congress of nations at Philadelphia, 1876; professor of surgery in the Medical college of Georgia from 1832 to 1849; professor of surgery university of Louisville in 1850, and in the medical department of Nash- ville, and later Vanderbilt university from 1853 to 1876, and professor of surgery in the Nashville Medical college, now the medical department of the university of Tennessee in 1877. Besides the duties of a most exacting profession and constant and laborious service as lecturer with professional journalism for many years, he was the author of very numerous monographs upon surgery. He was an associate editor of the "Nashville Medical and Surgical Journal," associate editor of the "Southern Medical and Surgical Journal" at Augusta, and author of a volume of Remarkable Cases in Surgery, and the contributor of more than six hundred articles to medical periodicals, being original papers, reports of cases and biographical sketches of eminent medical men of the southwest. Paul F. Eve was born on the family homestead near the Savannah river, near the city of Augus- ta, Ga., June 27, 1806. He was the youngest of ten children of Capt. Oswell and Aphra Ann Eve. His parentage on the father's side was English and on the mother's Irish. Drs. Rush, James and Shippen, of Philadelphia, were schoolmates of his father, who was a captain of the Pennsylvania forces before the American revolution, as recorded in the archives of that state. Prof. Eve completed his liter- ary studies of four years in the university of Georgia, and was graduated third on the list of his class. He immediately went to Philadelphia and commenced the study of medicine under the celebrated Charles D. Meigs. He attended two courses at the university of Pennsylvania, and received his degree of doctor of medicine in the spring of 1828. Immediately after the death of his father, progress in his profession being his sole incentive, he sailed for Europe and landed in Liver- pool late in the year 1829. After a brief sojourn in London, where he had letters to Sir Astley Cooper, Abernethy and others, and became acquainted at that time and subsequent visits with such men as Coulson, Billings, Sir James Paget, Sir James Thompson, Sir William Thompson and others, he went to Paris and followed courses of instruction given by Dupuytren, Laney, Roux, Lispane, Cruvielhier, Trousseau, Rostan, Recamier, Andrae, Ricord, Louis, Civiale and others. In May, 1831, when nearly all Europe was ablaze in political turmoil and excitement, and after having witnessed the dethronment of Charles X. in Paris, and having participated professionally in the revolution of three days (July 27, 28 and 29, 1830), with heart ever beating to the warm and noble impulses of gratitude, remembering well how the gallant Pulaski had fallen at the siege of Savannah during our revolutionary struggle of 1776, with an earnest desire to repay that debt to the best of his ability, he started for Poland to offer his services in resisting the oppression of Russia. After a short detention at Berlin, with the assistance of letters from La Fayette and the Polish committee at Paris, but especially through the intervention of Dr. Graffe (himself a Pole), and his own indomitable

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energy and untiring will, he at length reached Warsaw, and was assigned to hospital service in that city. For unremitting devotion to duty and ample evidences of his ability he was soon promoted to surgeon of the Fifteenth regiment of infantry and surgeon of ambulances attached to Gen. Turno's division. The golden cross of honor was conferred on him by recommendation of Count Placa, chief of the medical bureau. During the storming and capture of Warsaw on Sept. 7 and 8, 1831, he was fortunately out of the city on duty. After an imprisonment at War- saw of thirty days he finally reached Paris late that year, and immediately sailed from Havre for New York, where he arrived after a tedious voyage, having been absent from his native land more than two years, filling his capacious and retentive mind with much actual experience and many valuable ideas emanating from the renowned men with whom he came in contact. In June, 1832, he was elected pro- fessor of surgery in the medical college of Georgia, then just organized in Augusta, in which institution he was engaged in teaching during the seventeen consecutive courses of lectures that followed, adding greatly to its reputation and prestige. In 1850 he was called to succeed Prof. Samuel D. Grass in the university of Louis- ville, Ky. As to how he filled the chair vacated by this world-renowned and eminent compeer is amply evidenced by the fact of his receiving the unanimous vote of trustees, faculty and students soliciting him to remain when, at the expiration of a year, his wife's health failing, and thinking that the locality of Louisville did not agree with her, he determined to come to the capital city of Tennessee. Prof. Eve died in Nashville, Tenn., the home of his adoption, Nov. 3, 1877. His remains are buried in the cemetery in Augusta, Ga. Dr. Eve's fame is written in the annals of scientific medicine. In this great country, resplendent with the achievements of its medical men, Dr. Eve was the peer of the greatest of them. A man of marvelous energy, tender, sympathetic heart, brave, always loyal to duty, unselfish, generous and highly intellectual, he was an exemplar of the highest type of the chivalrous and hospitable southern gentleman. Dr. Eve occupies a warm place in the heart of the writer, he having skillfully and most tenderly attended the father and mother of the writer when they were sick with yellow fever in the epidemic of 1839. In the midst of pestilence he was unmoved by fear, and heroically ministered to the inhabitants of the plague-stricken city. A noble-hearted, courteous gentleman, a considerate, loyal friend, the highest type of physician and an exemplary Christian, full of the meekness of goodness. In life he was dearly beloved, highly esteemed and honored. In death his memory is cherished as one of the noblest of the followers of the healing art.

JOSEPH A. EVE, M. D., LL. D. Joseph Adams Eve, son of Joseph Eve and Hannah Singleterry, was born near Charleston, S. C., Aug. 1, 1805. Died in Augusta, Ga., Jan. 6, 1886. Removed at the age of six years with his family to the neighborhood of Augusta, where, in the elementary schools of his time he received his education, and by his zeal and industry acquired a knowledge of Latin and Greek. He studied medicine in the office of Dr. Milton Antony. In 1827 he visited Europe and attended his first course of medical lectures in Liver- pool. In 1828 he graduated at the Medical college of South Carolina. In conjunction with his preceptor, Dr. Milton Antony, he established in Augusta the Academy of Medicine. This was a hospital for patients as well as an academy for the instruction of medical students. In 1832, when the medical college of Georgia was organized in Augusta, he became associated with his cousin, Dr. Paul F. Eve, Dr. Louis A. Dugas, Dr. L. D. Ford and Dr. Milton Antony, as one of the founders of that institution. He was assigned to the chair of materia medica. In 1839 he was elected professor of obstetrics and diseases of women and children, and continued a medical teacher in the college throughout an

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uninterrupted period of fifty-three years. He was, at the time of his death, probably the oldest active teacher of obstetrics in the world. As a medical teacher he was an eminent success. His lectures were always carefully prepared before entering the class room, and evidenced a profound insight into the themes presented to his classes. All his life a close student, he kept up with advances in medicine. New remedies and new instruments were known to him as soon as they were brought to the attention of the profession through medical periodicals. His lectures were revised from year to year as necessary to bring them into accord with current medical thought. He was untiring in his efforts to properly instruct his students. In the quiz room he considerately labored to teach the dullest nian in his class. He discharged the duties of his professorship with scrupulous fidelity-he ever remembered that he was there to train and fit men for the work of the doctor of medicine. He loved the students, remained with them after his lecture hour and considerately answered their numerous questions. He invited them to visit him at his home, and in his office kindly assisted them in their studies. Throughout his long, useful and honorable career as a teacher, he boldly and persistently advocated the adoption of every reform looking to higher medical education. At one time he was editor of the "Southern Medical and Surgical Journal," published at Augusta. He was a member of the American Medical association, and of the Augusta Medical society, an honorary member of the Boston Gynecological society, and also of the Abingdon (Va.) Academy of Medicine. He was one of the founders of the medical association of Georgia, and was unanimously elected its president in 1879. The American Gyneco- logical society elected him to its first honorary fellowship. In 1882, in recognition of his distinguished career, he was made LL. D. by Emory college of Georgia. He never held civil office but once in his life, when he became a member of the city council of Augusta. For sixty years he was a member of St. John's (Methodist) church, Augusta, and was a trustee and steward of his church to the day of his death. While not strictly confining his services to cases of obstetrics and diseases of women and children, the bulk of his work was in such cases. For a generation he was the obstetrician of Augusta. Just prior to his death he informed me that he had attended more than 5,000 cases of obstetrics. As an obstetrician he had no superior, and few equals. Whenever his brethren needed counsel or assistance in this branch of medicine it was upon Dr. Eve that they almost invariably called. He responded cheerfully to the call of his professional brethren, and never attempted to discredit their ability. He was genuinely in love with his work, and continued in active practice until stricken with disease several months previous to his death. When he reached three score years and ten his friends urged him to retire from active practice of medicine and spend his remaining years in the quietude and comforts of his elegant home. In vain they insisted that his arduous work was wearing him out-with a smile he always replied: "I prefer to wear out rather than rust out." Actuated by this spirit he continued in practice, responding to calls night and day, always faithful to duty. Only love of his professional duties and a desire to continue useful to mankind kept him at work, for he was a wealthy man. He was the best known, and most universally beloved man in the community. With him politeness knew no bounds. He smiled and bowed to everybody he met, whether he knew them or not. He seemed impressed with the idea that if he did not know them he ought to. His venerable friend, Dr. L. D. Ford, charged him with bowing to every lamp-post he passed for fear there was some one behind it that he had not seen. This politeness, however, was not the art of the sycophant, it was the outward manifestation of a great, loving heart, aglow with the realization of the grand doctrine of the universal brotherhood of man. Truly with him every man was his brother, every woman

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his sister, he therefore felt it to be a duty and pleasure to salute them with a brotherly salutation whenever and wherever he met them. The power of good- ness was richly illustrated in his daily life. With him to do good to his fellow- beings was a positive pleasure. To all classes and conditions of mankind he was at once friend and benefactor. It is difficult to estimate the value to the community of a man like Dr. Eve. The example of such a man necessarily reflected itself upon scores of other men, and was an inspiration to them to lead a higher, better and more useful life. Dr. Eve was as charitable as he was polite. I am satisficd he never once turned a deaf car to an appeal for financial assistance. Every beggar in Augusta knew the old doctor and loved him because of his goodness to them. If his friends admonished him that in certain instances his charity was bestowed upon unworthy persons, he continued to help them, replying: "I feel it a duty to help them, if they are unworthy it is their fault, not mine. Kindness does them no harm." Many a poor creature, burdened with poverty, found a friend and brother in the good doctor. He lovingly sympathized with them in their sufferings, gladly and gratuitously bestowed upon them his professional skill, fed them when hungry, and gave them raiment when needed. The goodness of the man was such that he had not one enemy. What an example was the life of Dr. Eve. In a city of 40,000 souls, he, as was truly said of him by a professional brother, "moved in a personal atmosphere of love and courtesy peculiarly his own." It was truly said of him: "He daily walked with God." Finally the old doctor fell sick, and no longer able to serve his patients, it became known that his end was near at hand. Then the fruits of his life work were seen. Hundreds of citizens went daily to inquire after him, sent him messages of love, and prayed for his restoration to health. During his illness a scene occurred like that in the room of "Dorcas-a woman full of good works and the almsdeeds which she did. All the poor widows of Joppa stood weeping over her remains, and showing the coats and garments which Dorcas had made for them." So the poor of the city gathered in the home of Dr. Eve and told of his goodness to them. When death claimed him as its own, they wept bitter tears because of the loss of a benefactor. No higher tribute to a man's worth can ever be had than the love of the poor. Love for Dr. Eve was by no means confined to the poor, all classes, conditions and races loved him, and delighted to claim him as friend and brother. In life Dr. Eve illustrated the highest type of man and physician, and in death left to his family, friends and profession, the legacy of a life singularly devoted to the service of God and mankind. A An editorial in the "Atlanta Medical and Surgical Journal" says of Dr. Eve: "The demise of this eminent physician and philanthropist demands a more extended notice than our space at this time permits. The medical association of Georgia will doubtless soon pay fitting tribute to the memory to one of the most distinguished and best beloved of its former presiding officers. In advance of a more extended biographical sketch, which it is hoped will speedily appcar, it is proper to remind the profession that for more than fifty years Dr. Eve has filled a most prominent place in their ranks. In 1828, when he began his career in Augusta, Ga., there was in the United States but one medical college south of Philadelphia. Thoroughly trained physicians and surgeons were comparatively scarce, and the obstacles and expense of obtaining a medical education so great that young men of suitable qualifications were deterred from engaging in that pursuit. Recognizing the public need of such an institution, the physicians of Augusta, with competent legal authority and liberal legislative pecuniary aid, founded the medical college of Georgia. Dr. Eve was chosen as one of the faculty upon its organization, and his name held a place upon the list for more than half a century. Of his early colleagues, several of whom are renowned in professional annals, all passed over

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Memoirs of Georgia; containing historical accounts of the state's civil, military, industrial and professional interests, and personal sketches of many of its people. Vol. II, Part 28

Author: Publication date: 1859 Publisher: Atlanta, Ga., The Southern historicl association Number of Pages: 1166

Author:
Publication date: 1859
Publisher: Atlanta, Ga., The Southern historicl association
Number of Pages: 1166