Page:A cyclopedia of American medical biography vol. 2.djvu/448

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.

SNOW


394 SNOW


and in 1S51 elected dean of the faculty. In 1S60 he declinrjd re-election to the deanship, but retained the chair of practice until 1S74.

In 1S59 Gov. Salmon P. Chase ap- pointed Dr. Smith surgeon-general of the state; he held this post also under Gov. Dennison and Gov. Tod. In 1872 he sustained a slight attack of cerebral hemorrhage, which caused incomplete hemiplegia from which, though not wholly disabled, he never recovered. In January, 1874, he sustained a second attack, which completely disabled him and caused his death November 30, of the same year. He was very familiar with the Bible, and was seldom at loss for a quotation therefrom. He knew Shakespeare equally well, and liked Scott and Longfellow and had great fondness for Isaac Walton. His lectures were concise and very clear. His clinical lectures were especially good, and no one was surprised at his popularity with students, who never "cut" his hour.

While he allotted more time to general practice, he was an enthusiastic and very successful obstetrician, and was the first in Columbus to administer choloroform in labor.

He had four children, Elizabeth, Frances, Manette and Charles, all of whom survived their father. About twenty years ago his family had a bronze statue with a drinking fountain, designed by the artist, William Walcutt, placed at the southeast corner of High and Broad streets in the city of Coliunbus, where it still stands. S. L.

Tr. Ohio Med. Soc, Cincin., 1876, vol. xxxi (T. A. Reamy).

Snow, Albion Parris (1826-1898).

This man, one who was always ready to advance the profession as a whole, was born in Bruns\v'ick, Maine, March 14, 1826, the son of poor parents, and like the children of many other such was all the more eager for knowledge and improvement.

It is said of the Snow family that the wife brought into the world four male


children inside of one year, one being born on the twenty-fifth of December, 1833, and triplets, December 2, 1834. By his perseverance and determination, young Albion studied medicine with Dr. Edmimd Randolph Peaslee, then at the Medical School of Maine, and at the Dartmouth Medical College, finally gradu- ating from the Medical School of I\Iaine in 1854. During this time he was well thought of as an anatomist, and was made demonstrator in both of his schools in succession. He married Matilda Sewall, of Winthrop, and settled in that town, directly after graduating. After six busy years practising in Winthrop, he went abroad, and upon his return offered his services to the State, but did not go to the War. He joined the Maine Med- ical Association in 1865, and soon be- came an active member, was elected president at one time, and in his in- augural address strongly advocated a State Board of Health. The association following his advice saw it ultimately established. He also formed the Ken- nebec County Medical Society, and join- ed the American Medical Association. He collected statistics of prevalent dis- eases during many years in Kennebec coimty.

He was tall, dignified, had a polite yet firm voice, and was listened to with pleasure, both at home and at the dis- cussions at the State Association. He was in favor of a medical Registration Law, he worked zealously for it before the Legislature, but it fell through and he failed to bring about its establish- ment, which later on occurred under other hands. He died October 25, 1898, failing gradually at the last.

Thinking back some years, I recall a little incident. Dr. Snow called me in consultation some twenty j^ears ago, and I advised the hypodermatic use of pilo- carpin, for a certain disease of the eyes. Not knowing how to use the syringe, I handed it to Dr. Snow, and asked him to perform the little act. But he, not know- ing any more about it than I did, handed it back, and said he never had seen it