Page:A cyclopedia of American medical biography vol. 1.djvu/536

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HILL A

studied before hand, were always to the point, and instructive; lie told what he had seen personally at the bedside and never echoed the books. One of his best papers was on "Perineal Ure- throtomy," read before the society in 1885.

As surgeon he was an excellent operator and performed most of the capital operations of the day. In 1872 Dr. Hill married Miss Charlotte C. Thompson by whom he had two children.

In 1S95 he made an interesting visit to Europe. Some delay and exposure at the custom house in returning brought about a relapse of his old arthritis, contracted ten years before from exposure while out driving to see a patient. He suffered terribly until death at last released him on Sunday, July 17, 1904. J. A. S.

Trans. Maine Med. Assoc., 1904.

Hill, Hampton Eugene (1850-1894).

Of an investigating nature in child- hood, and valuable as a surgeon in his medical life, Hampton Eugene Hill was born in Mount Vernon, Maine, April, 1850, the eldest son of John and Dorcas Hill, both of whom possessed originality of character.

He early developed a curious fond- ness for studying animals, alive or dead. When he was ten years old his parents moved to Biddeford, Maine, where he studied in the High School, then worked in a drug store and finally ob- tained a similar position in Portland. While here he began to study medi- cine at the Portland School for Medical Instruction, then at the Medical School of Maine, finally graduating at Ann Arbor in 1871.

At the urgent request of his uncle, Dr. Hiram Hovey Hill, of Augusta, Maine, he settled there as his assistant, but possibly the death of his wife, Lizzie Homan, three months after their marriage, saddened his life and he was glad to return to Biddeford where his parents lived. While at


S HILL

Augusta, it may be added, he served as demonstrator of anatomy at the Med- ical School of Maine. He was soon in active practice at Biddeford, and had all that he could attend to. He mar- ried a second wife, Mrs. Myra Manseur, of Corrinna, Maine, whose death, after a surgical operation performed by his skillful hands, occurred a few years later on.

This severe trial, and the unusual sadness of this unique case, combined to hasten Dr. Hill's death. His actual working life lasted hardly twenty years, for at one time he had to pass more than a year in Dakota on account of his health, but in that period he did great things.

He was a member of the Maine Med- ical Association, and read before it two remarkable papers, one in 1871 on "Popliteal Aneurysm" and the other in 1S84 on "Six Unusual Ovariotomies." Among his surgical feats were thirty- four laparotomies with but four deaths, and twenty-four consecutive ovariot- omies without the loss of a patient.

He once removed a uterine fibroid weighing forty-seven pounds. He was not a dashing operator, but very ex- act, and carried everything through successfully. He took infinite pains in every operation, prepared every bandage, disinfected every instrument, threaded every needle, and in his urgent cases remained with the patient until the danger was passed.

As physician and surgeon he was one of the elect. His last days were darkened with sorrow from which we hesitate to lift the veil. His work was done; he gradually passed away, leaving among the medical men of Maine a memory of his remarkable work. On Tuesday, January 9, 1894, he ceased to live. J. A. S.

Buffalo, M. & S. J. 1S94, xxxiii. Trans. Maine Med. Assoc. 1S92-4, xi.

Hill, Hiram Hovey (1S10-18S9),

This genius in medicine was born in Turner, Maine, April 30, 1810, and