STILES
413
STILES
University of Vermont, at Burlington.
He had made assiduous preparation for
such a position by a long course of phy-
siological study and investigation during
his residence in Paris, and entered upon
his course of instruction with a great
promise, which was abundantly fulfilled.
[n 185S he accepted the chair of physi-
ology in the Berkshire Medical Institu-
tion, Pittsfield, Massachusetts. In these
positions his life was eminently to his
taste. He was a student, and his time
was constantly devoted to study and
instruction. His microscope and his
laboratory had a large part of his heart.
In 1859 he settled in Pittsfield, and in
1860 established, in conjunction with
Dr. W. H. Thayer, the " Berkshire Med-
ical Journal," a monthly publication,
which was issued for one year. The
presence of war made it an unfavorable
time for a new literary enterprise, and it
was discontinued at the close of the first
volume. In 1862 he was impelled by
patriotism to enter the United States
service. His desire for service in the
field was gratified early in 1863 by his
being transferred to the Army of the
Potomac as surgeon-in-chief of Cald-
well's Division of Hancock's Corps. He
left the service in 1864 and, going to
Brooklyn, received the appointment of
resident physician at King's County
Hospital. Dr. Stiles resigned his office
after about a year's service, and went to
Brooklyn to practice medicine; he was,
however, made one of the Consulting
Board of the hospital, and retained that
position during life.
His lectures at Burlington were con- tinued with the interruption of his two years' service in the army, until 1865. In Brooklyn he took an active part in the operations of the County Medical Society and was twice elected president. It was on his suggestion that the Pathological Section was formed in 1870, and until his sickness he was a constant attendant upon its semi-monthly meetings. He had a succession of private classes in histology during his residence in Brook- lyn, which were attended by young
physicians who were drawn to him by his
high reputation in the Society. He was
a fluent writer, but the papers which he
left were produced in the latter period of
his life. They include several mono-
graphs on physiological and pathological
subjects, a memoir of Haller, which was
the oration for 1868 before the Medical
Society of the County of Kings, and very
valuable contributions to the Annual
Reports of the Metropolitan Board of
Health, especially those for 1868 and
1869. That for 1868 contains an elabo-
rate report on the "Texas Cattle Dis-
ease," then prevailing to an alarming
extent in New York, to which he contrbi-
uted the results of his careful microscop-
ic examinations. In the course of them
he discovered in the bile of the infected
animals a vegetable parasite which be-
came further developed there, and which
was in his opinion the cause of the disease.
His enthusiasm over what promised, in
its wide suggestions, to be a discovery of
great value to medical science will be
remembered by all his friends. He says,
"The fungus origin of zymotic disease is
now conceded by the highest authorities
in mycological research, and the Texas
fever is one which points with unusual
clearness to this mode of propagation."
His conclusions were confirmed by Prof.
Hallier, of Jena, to whom Dr. Harris sent
specimens of the infected bile. He pro-
nounced the parasite a new discovery,
and named it in honor of the discoverer,
Coniothecium Stilesianum.
He never was idle, and his labors con- tinued long past the hours that belong to sleep. This was his ruin. Early and late he labored at his engrossing science, until his mental powers began to give in- dications of disorder, and in the summer of 1870 a grave form of insanity was developed, from which he never re- covered. His general health, however, was good, and he attended more or less to practice at different times. In 1872 he travelled again in Europe. During the latter part of winter and early spring his mental disease grew more serious; and early in Ajiril, 1873, he went home
