then the seat of a flourishing medical school, and afterwards a course at the Jefferson Medical college, taking from the latter his degree. He was led from the circumstances of his situation to enter upon the practice of medicine before graduation. Buffalo and its vicinity suffered severely from the cholera visitation of 1832, and Black Rock especially suffered from the lack of medical aid. The young and active student was asked to go there as a representative of his two preceptors, who were the leading medical men of Buffalo. He accepted the dangerous and important trust, and acquitted himself not only to the satisfaction of those who had sent him, but also to that of those he had gone to serve. This experience had probably not a small influence in preparing him for his subsequent rapid advance and great success as a practitioner. It did not, however, prevent him from continuing his studies for two years longer, and acquiring his diploma from an institution that ranked among the first in the country. He established himself as a practitioner in Buffalo in 1853, and in the year following was married to Mary Elizabeth, the only surviving daughter of the late Henry F. Penfield of the town of Penfield, New York. Their union was in all respects a happy one. Soon after his marriage he met with an accident that left its mark upon him through all his after life. In traveling in a stage coach over a rough road his head was jolted upward against the top of the coach with. such force as to fracture the atlas. some good fortune there was no dis By placement of the fractured portion of the bone. He was, however, obliged to keep his bed for a long time, and eventually an entire segment of the atlas was expectorated. He recovered with permanent loss of the power of rotation of the head upon the neck. It has been the general rule that speedy progress at the beginning of the pratice of medicine is premature and not likely to lead to permanent success. Dr. White's career as a practitioner was an exception to this rule. His success in acquiring practice became speedily great. In a very few years he had in this respect outstripped not only his competitors of equal age, but his seniors. For more than forty years his practice was only limited by his power of endurance and his willingness to work. His physical capability for work was remarkable, and this altogether with energy, promptness, self-confidence, added to real ability as a practitioner, secured and maintained a degree of success to which but few attain. resolved at the outset to succeed, and with him to resolve was to persevere and spare no efforts requisite to suc cess. He He soon began to leave his impress upon the life around him. The establishment of the medical school at Buffalo was very largely due to his exertions. It was necessary to overcome opposition from some of the older and the most influential members of the medical profession in Buffalo. At that time the school at Geneva, New York, had large classes and an able faculty. Most of the members of this faculty were led to accept appointments in the Buffalo school, in view of its geographical and clinical advantages. Public interest was aroused sufficiently to obtain the funds needed for a substantial building. The continued prosperity of the school has not only been a source of proper pride to the city in which it is located, but the institution has become a grand monument to the memory of the men who created it. Dr. White was the professor of obstetrics and gynecology, in which relation he continued until his death. As a teacher he was direct, forcible and practical. He did not aim at rhetorical or oratorical display, but he kept in mind a purpose of sound teaching, and sent forth that which could be put to practical use in the exigencies of the profession. An illustrative incident, showing his character as a teacher and his generosity as a man, may be quoted here: In 1870 the late Professor George T. Elliot was stricken with paralysis. The late Dr. Foster Swift was appointed by the faculty of the Bellevue Hospital Medical college to give his course of lectures on obstetrics. At the beginning of the lecture session, Dr. Swift was compelled to seek a more genial climate for the restoration of his health. The college was placed in an embarrassing situation. Dr. White was applied to in the emergency. He at once consented to give the course, declining even the request that his expenses be borne by the college, and relinquishing the income to his afflicted friend, the incumbent of the chair. The lectures were in the highest degree satisfactory, both to the students and the faculty. Dr. White held many positions of trust in his profession. In recognition of his eminent position as a practitioner and teacher, he was elected vice-president of the New York State Medical association in 1868, and in 1870 made its presi dent. At the meeting of the American Medical association in 1872 he was named by the delegate from New York as a candidate for the presidency, and in 1878 became one of the vice-presidents of the association. He was made a corresponding and afterwards an honorary fellow of the New York Academy of Medicine. He was also one of the vice-presidents of the medical congress that assembled in Philadelphia. in 1876. Dr. White, while very active in his profession, never gave up a course of deep and thorough study, and he contributed important improvements in practice. During the last twenty years of his life he devoted much attention to ovariotomy, performing this operation in more than one hundred cases; and his reputation in this direction was such that he was called to various parts of the country. He also found time in the midst of his many other cares and duties to write for the medical press, and the Buffalo Medical and Surgical Journal, the American Journal of the Medical Sciences, the transactions of the American Medical association, of the American Gynecological society, of the International Medical Congress of 1876 at Philadelphia, and of the Medical Society of the State of New York, contain valuable papers contributed by him. He was the author of the articles on "Pregnancy" in Beck's Medical Jurisprudence, edited by the late Professor Gilman; and of the life of Bard, in the Lives of 'Distinguished American Physicians and Surgeons,' edited by Professor Gross. As a speaker and debater he was ready, cogent and courteous. He participated largely in oral discussions at the meetings of the different associations with which he was connected. What he said was always to the point, and always commanded respectful consideration. His opinions on scientific questions and those of polity, well formed and well maintained, never failed to have much influence upon the minds of others. own name. He was generous and hospitable, and his qualities endeared him to the hearts of those who knew him, as his professional skill was sought by those in physical danger or pain. In relation to his personality, the writer from whom free quotations have been already made, has said: The salient points of his character show superior intellectual endowments and attainments, united with fixedness of purpose, perseverance, good judgment, tact, unusual executive ability and rectitude mental qualities which ensure success and usefulness in this world. These qualities of the mind, to which were added vigorous health and physical endurance, could not fail to secure success in medical practice, as regards not only obtaining and retaining patients, but in the management of cases of disease. In this lat ter sense of the term, I can speak of his success from ample personal knowledge. He investigated cases carefully, but reached conclusions with promptness and decision. He had no confidence in an intuitive ability to judge of diseases. In his therapeutics he was prompt and decided without being rash or unduly bold. In the management of cases he was not Dr. White coöperated actively in the establishment of the Buffalo Hospital of the Sisters of Charity, the Maternity and Foundling hospitals, and the Providence Asylum for the Insane. He was also largely instrumental in the creation of the State Lunatic asylum, and its location at Buffalo. He was one of its managers from the first, and was its president until his health, towards the close of his life, compelled him to relinguish that position. He was also ever ready to do all in his power for the unduly affected by unfavorable possibilities or probageneral good. He was a member of the Protestant Episcopal church, and was active in all the charities and reform movements connected therewith. He was one of the founders of the Young Men's association, of the Academy of Fine Arts, and of the Historical society. He worked in many ways, favoring all movements that would aid the city in a physical or moral sense, that would add to its healthfulness, or that would make it more beautiful. He coöperated actively in the efforts which secured for Buffalo its magnificent public park; and in the erection of the finest business block in the city, he at once attested his public spirit and business sagacity, and also left an enduring monument to his bilities. His attention was more directed to those which were favorable. He was always hopeful for the best, and as long as there was any ground for hope, he never relaxed his efforts. He acted under a deep sense of responsibility to his patients. No one ever accused him of indifference or neglect. These professional traits secured the fullest confiExtraneous dence on the part of the patients. methods to possess their confidence were to him not needed. These he held in contempt. In his bearing toward his patients he was independent. He was not a suppliant for confidence. He demanded it as a condition for assuming the responsibilities connected with the management of cases of disease. As an operator, he was conservative yet bold, and with a fertility of resource which enabled him to readily meet emergencies as they arose. In all his social and domestic relations, Dr. White was the true man and the Christian gentleman. He lived to a good old age, and when the summons came, it found him ready. His power |