PLFFARD
273
PINKNEY
ordinary intercourse, but to those who
knew him well, communicative and
genial. D. W.
The Botanists of Philadelphiu. J. W. Harsh-
berger, 1899.
Proc. Acad. Nat. Sc, Phila., 1878. (W. S W.
Ruschenberger.)
Picton, John Moore White (1804-1858). John Moore White Picton, physician, was born in Woodbury, New Jersey, 1804, and died in New Orleans, 1858. Gradu- ating in 1824 from the United States Mili- tary Academy, and in 1832 from the med- ical department of the University of Penn- sylvania, he settled in New Orleans, where he practised for thirty-two years, acquir- ing great reputation as an operator. He served for many years as house-surgeon of the Charity Hospital and as president of the medical department of the Univer- sity of Louisiana. Founder of the New Orleans School of Medicine in 1856, he was professor of obstetrics there until 1858. J. G. R.
Appleton's Cyc. of Americaii Biography. The Medical Dept. of Tulaiie University of La. Med. News, N. Y., 1902.
Piffard, Henry G. (1842-1910).
Henry G. Piffard, author of the first systematic treatise on dermatology in America, was born in Piffard, Livingston County, on September 24, 1842, his paternal ancestors coming from Dau- phine, France, and his mother's being of Dutch extraction.
His studying was done at the Univer- sity of the City of New York where he took his A. B. and A. M., and his M. D. at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, in which city he specialized in skin diseases. He married, in 1868, Helen H., daughter of Gen. William K. Strong, of New York.
One of his best contributions to medical literature was the translation, from the French of A. Hardy, of the "Dartrous Diathesis" (1868). Following this came "A Guide to Urinary Analysis" (1873); " An Elementary Treatise on Diseases of the Skin" (1876). Vol. 11-18
His appointments included : surgeon to
the New York Dispensary for Diseases of
the Skin and professor of dermatology in
the University of the City of New York.
In 1862 he served for a short time with
the Sanitary Commission on the James
River, Virginia.
His membership included the Medical Society of the County of New York; the New York Academy of Medicine; New York Dermatological Society, of which he was president in 1876.
Dr. George Henry Fox of New York, in the "Journal of Cutaneous Diseases," for February, 1911, gives some reminis- cences of Henry Grainger Piffard. Dr. Piffard began to collect foreign works on skin diseases. He was a fair German and a better French scholar, but knew very little of Italian. To supply this defi- ciency he at once subscribed for one or two Italian medical journals, selected a teacher, and attacked the language with his customary vigor. Happening to run across an advertisement of some book, entitled something like " Trattato della Pelle et cetera," he gave his book- dealer an order for it. The bookdealer, in a polite note, informed him that this was an expensive work, published by the Italian Government, and that it would take several weeks to import it. Piffard replied in language more vigorous than polite — "Expense be damned"; when he wanted a book he expected his dealer not to talk about it but to get it. In about two months, during which time his knowledge of Italian had rapidly in- creased, the book arrived and -with it a bill for about ;{^12. To his surprise and dismay he discovered at first glance that it was not a strictly dermatological work, but an elegantly bound and elaborate treatise on the tanning of hides.
Jour, of Cutaneous Diseases, Feb., 1911.
(George H. Fox.)
Atkinson's Phys. and Surgs. of the United
States.
Pinkney, Ninian (1811-1877).
Ninian Pinkney, surgeon. United States Navy, graduated from St. John's College
