Page:A cyclopedia of American medical biography vol. 2.djvu/507

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TILTON


449


TOLAND


place now known as Cooke's Corners, but in 1825 removed to Norwalk, Huron County, and in 1839 to Sandusky, where he continued in practice until a short time before his death.

Dr. Tilden was a fine specimen of the doctor of the old school as developed on the western reserve, ready, staunch, faith- ful to duty. He was president of the Ohio State Medical Society in 1856, president of the Erie County Medical Society for many years, and an honorary member of the New York State Medical Society. He also served in the State Senate from 1828 to 1835. He died full of years and honors May 7, 1870.

H. E. H.

Transactions of Ohio State Medical Society, 1870. Obituary by Dr. E. B. Stevens. No portrait of Dr. Tilden is known to the writer, nor have any literary productions from his pen been preserved.

Tilton, James (1745-1822).

James Tilton, surgeon-general of the army, was one of the first recipients of M. D. from the Philadelphia School of Medicine. Practitioner in Dover, Dela- ware, he entered the army in 1776 as surgeon of the Delaware Regiment, with which he saw much service until his promotion in 1778 to the grade of hospital surgeon, in which capacity he proved of much value, strenuously opposing the combination of purveyor and director- general in one person and the overcrowd- ing of hospitals; from the latter cause he himself acquired typhoid. While com- manding hospitals at Trenton and New Windsor he introduced the hut system, and upon the reorganization of the medical department in 1780 was appointed senior hospital physician and surgeon. Perhaps he is best known by his untiring efforts to secure army medical organization reform. While serving with the forces in Virginia he was present at the capitula- tion of Yorktown and mustered out in 1782. This was followed by one term in Congress and many re-elections to the Legislature, during which period he was engaged in civilian practice with horti- culture as a recreation. 1812 saw his Vol. 11—29


brochure upon " Economical Ob.serva- tions on Military Hospitals, and the Prevention and Cure of Diseases Incident to an Army," which made so deep an impression as to cause his appointment as physician and surgeon-general of the army in 1813. By personal inspection and supervision he enormously improved the sanitary conditions of the army and materially reduced the sick rate. He served several times as president of his State Medical Society.

During the latter part of his service as physician and surgeon-general he de- veloped malignant growths which pre- vented further active service until mustered out at the close of the war. One of these growths affected his lower extremity, necessitating its amputation, during the course of which the patient supervised and directed the operation with unexampled fortitude. He died at his home near Wilmington, at the ripe age of seventy-seven. J. E. P.

Pilcher, James Evelyn, Journal of the Asso- ciation of Militarj' Surgeons of the United States, vol. xiv, 1904, portrait, and The Surgeon-Generals of the United States Army, Carlisle, Pa., 1905, portrait.

Toland, Hugh H. (1806-1890).

Hugh H. Toland has been styled by some "the great surgeon of the Pacific slope." He was born on his father's plantation. Guilder's Creek, South Caro- lina, April 6, 1806, the fourth of ten children. His father, John Toland, emi- grated from the north of Ireland, and came to South Carolina after the War of Independence. Hugh read medicine under Dr. George Ross, and helped in the doctor's drug store, afterwards going to Transylvania University of Lexington, Kentucky, taking his degree while barely of age. In 1829 he settled in Pageville, South Carohna, and during this time performed several important operations which gave him considerable reputation in the neighborhood. This circumstance gave the young doctor a desire to perfect himself in surgery, and, determining to go to Paris, he utilized his time. During the two years at Pageville Dr. Toland