MILLER
172
MILLER
dor tho title "Principles and Practice
of Obstetrics," a work recofjnized for
j-ears as an authority, being regardetl
as one of the most sound and reliable
books in tlie language. He accepted
nothing as true without thorough in-
vestigation and most critical study,
though his opinions on some points
were not accepted at the time,
subsequent study and investigation
proved their validity. He was a
frequent contributor to the various
medical journals at the time and
his articles carried with them the
weight of authority. In ISGO he Avas
elected president of the American Med-
ical Association at its annual meeting
in Louisville. He was the first in Louis-
ville and one of the first in the United
States to employ the speculum uteri, or to
employ anesthesia in obstetric practice
in Louisville.
June 24, 1824, Dr. Miller married Clarrisa Robertson, and had seven children, one of whom, Edward, be- came an eminent surgeon.
A partial list of his writings is given in the "Surgeon-general's Catalogue," Washington, District of Columbia.
B. F. Z.
Richmond and Louisville Med. J., Louisville. 1872, vol. xiii.
Tr. Amer. M. Ass., Pbila.. 187.5, vol. xxvi. Tr. Kentucky Med. Soc, Louisville. 187.5 (L. P. Yandell).
Miller, John (1774-1862).
John ^Miller was born in the town of Armenia, County of Dutchess, New York, on November 10, 1774. His advantages for early education were very limited; he attended the district school about one year and a classical school in Connecticut about the same length of time, his boy- hood being spent in laboring on the farm. He commenced to study medicine with Dr. Miller, an uncle, in Dutchess County, in the year 1793. At the expiration of little more than a year he went to Wash- ington County, New York, and entered the office of Dr. Moshier, of Easton, in that county. While living with Dr. Mo.shier, young Miller received a severe
injury by being thrown from a horse and
was uiiul)le to pursue his studies more
than two years. During his ]>eriod
he returned to his home in Dutchess
County. After several months at
lioine h<> was induced by the advice of
Dr. Baird, of New York, to seek an
appointment in the then small Navy of
the United States. For this purpose,
though much against the wishes of his
family, he went to New York, where he
was presented by Dr. Baird and others,
with letters of recommendation to Dr.
Benjamin Rush, of Philadelphia. At
that time Miller was in poor health, and
being tall, more than six feet in height,
and thin in body. Dr. Rush was somewhat
amused that so ghostly looking a young
man should think of going into the navy,
and said to him: " Young man, you look
better fitted for a skeleton in my office
than for a post in the navy." Dr. Rush
went with him to visit the President of
the United States, and through the
influence of Dr. Rush he obtained the
place he sought, and was directed to
report himself to the surgeon of the
United States brig New York, then
soon to sail for Tripoli. Upon further
acquaintance Dr. Rush advised Miller to
resign his post in the navy and proffered
him a position in his family and office as
a private pupil. This offer he readily
embraced, and remained for nearly two
years, accompanying the doctor on his
rides into the country, and attending
the lectures of Dr. Rush and Dr. Shippen
at the University of Pennsylvania. From
Pennsylvania he returned to Washington
Count}^, New York, in 1798, and entered
into co-partnership with Dr. Moshier, his
former instructor, where he remained
until 1801. He was licensed to practise
medicine by the Vermont Medical Society
in 1800. The law regulating the practice
of medicine in New York was not enacted
until 1806. On leaving Washington
County in 1801, he came into the then
town of Fabius, Nonodaga County, now
Truxton, Cortland County, New York,
and practised there twenty-five years.
From his early physical training on the
