American Medical Biographies/Simpson, William Kelly
Simpson, William Kelly (1855–1914)
William Kelly Simpson was born in Hudson, New York, on April 10, 1855, being the youngest of the nine children of George N. and Caroline McCann Simpson. His paternal ancestors came to New York State from Virginia. His education was acquired in the school at Hudson, the Episcopal Academy of Connecticut, at Cheshire, and Cornell University, where he obtained the degree of A. B. in 1876. After a year he decided to study medicine and entered the College of Physicians and Surgeons, receiving the degree of M. D. in 1880. Upon graduation he joined the staff of the Presbyterian Hospital, where he served as interne on both the medical and surgical divisions until October, 1882. At first he undertook a general practice, but soon became interested in diseases of the nose and throat, this largely through the influence of that great specialist and teacher, Dr. Clinton Wagner (q. v.), of New York.
From the first Dr. Simpson identified himself with various dispensaries and was attending surgeon to the throat department of the Northern Dispensary and the Metropolitan Throat Hospital, and assistant surgeon in the throat department of the Presbyterian Hospital Dispensary, also serving as attending physician to the out-door department of the New York Foundling Hospital. It was here that he became associated with Dr. Joseph O'Dwyer (q. v.) in his work on intubation, and he performed the first intubation in America on an adult for the treatment of laryngeal diphtheria. What is far more important, he also was the first to advocate intubation in chronic stenosis of the larynx. He was appointed instructor in laryngology in the New York Post-Graduate Medical School and Hospital and attending surgeon to the nose and throat department of the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary, and continued as such until these departments were dropped from the latter institution.
In 1887 he became one of the assistant surgeons in the nose and throat department of the Vanderbilt Clinic, and in 1898 was appointed chief of clinic and instructor in laryngology in the College of Physicians and Surgeons. On the retirement of Professor George M. Lefferts in 1904 he succeeded to the professorship of laryngology, a position he held at the time of his death. He was consulting laryngologist to the Presbyterian Hospital, the Seton Hospital, the St. John's Hospital at Yonkers and the Somerset Hospital in Somerville, New Jersey. In 1892 he became a fellow of the American Laryngological Association. He was also a fellow of the New York Academy of Medicine and formerly chairman of the section in laryngology of the Academy, and a member of the Hospital Graduates Club. For a number of years he was secretary of the delegates to the Congress of Physicians and Surgeons, representing the American Laryngological Association.
In speaking of what he accomplished in laryngology, he was perhaps best known by his work as a teacher, by what he did to develop the art of intubation in the adult, and as the inventor of the intra-nasal tampons' for epistaxis, which are in general use, the invention being the application of the Bernay's sponge to the principle of intra-nasal pressure. He was the author of "The Use of Bernay's Aseptic Sponge in the Nose and Naso-Pharynx with Special Reference to Its Use as a Pressure Haemostatic," and was also a contributor of the articles on stenosis and tumors of the larynx in Keating's "Cyclopedia of Children," and the articles on diphtheria, intubation, etc., in Posey and Wright's "Diseases of the Eye, Ear, Nose and Throat," 1903.
Dr. Simpson married, October 25, 1882, Anna Farrand, of Hudson, New York, and three children were born to them.
Among his many attainments he was devotedly fond of music, and for a long time was a member of the Musurgia Society. His ability in this direction as well as his lovable, whole-souled personality made him much sought after on all social occasions, and numerous organizations welcomed him as a valuable addition to their list of members. He carried into his professional work the same sunny, hopeful, helpful characteristics which were so much a part of him, making him a beloved physician, an enthusiastic, effective lecturer and teacher, and a lucid and sane writer and thinker in the work of the specialty to which he devoted himself.
He died, February 6, 1914, following a cerebral hemorrhage. His wife, a daughter and a son survived him.