TOWLES
455
TOWNSEND
He retired from practice, bought a
little farm in the country of his birth and
became a gentleman farmer. There he
died September 21, 1901, away from the
friends and admirers in the far-away land,
who still remembered him and bitterly
mourned his loss.
L. G. L.
Towles, WUliam B. (1847-1893).
This anatomist was born in the County of Fluvanna, Virginia, March 2, 1847, the second son of Dr. W. B. and Harriet Johnson Towles, and was educated in the schools of Buckingham County, studying medicine at the University of Virginia, graduating 1867, within one year after matriculation, a feat admis- sible in that day, attempted by many but accomplished by very few, as it required great proficiency and stamina. When about seventeen he volunteered in the Confederate Army, and served in a Virginia regiment until the close of the war. He was a member of the Medical Society of Virginia from 1872 until his death.
After graduating he settled in Carroll County, Missouri, and practised success- fully for five years, when, at the urgent request of Dr. John S. Davis, professor of anatomy and materia medica at the University of Virginia, he accepted the position of demonstrator of anatomy in the university, and on the death of Dr. Davis in 1885, was elected to succeed him. During the latter years of his life he also filled the chair of anatomy in the University of Vermont, his lectures there being given in the spring after the com- pletion of the course at the University of Virginia. He was repeatedly invited to accept the chair of anatomy in other schools, but always declined.
He was a profound anatomist, and as a demonstrator has never been surpassed in facility and ability to instruct. As a professor he was second only to that great teacher of anatomy, John S. Davis, whose most efficient style of teaching he acquired in a marked degree. His knowledge was not confined to
anatomy, for he was well informed in
all branches of medicine, and general
subjects.
He married in 1880 Mary E. Thomp- son, of South Carolina, who, with two sons and a daughter, survived him.
He died on September 15, 1893, from hemorrhage of the stomach, after a few hours' illness, having been taken while dehvering his first lecture of the session.
He was the author of Towles' "Notes on Anatomy," which were based upon Dr. Davis' lectures, "Syllabus of Notes on Osteology" and "Syllabus of Notes on Materia Medica."
R. M. S. Trans. Med. Soc. of Va., 1893.
Townsend, David (1753-1829).
David Townsend, son of Shippie and Ann (Balch) Townsend, was born in Boston, June 7, 1753 and died in the same city April 13, 1829. He was de- scended in the fourth generation from Thomas Townsend of Norfolk, England, who came to Massachusetts in 1637.
He graduated from Harvard College in 1770 and received her honorary M. D., in 1813. He studied medicine under Gen. Joseph Warren and accompanied him as surgeon in Buner's regiment to the battle of Bunker Hill; he was com- missioned surgeon to the sixth regiment of foot commanded by Col. Asa Whit- comb, January 1, 1776; was senior sur- geon to the General Hospital, Northern department, in March, 1777, and was with the army under Washington during the winter at Valley Forge. On October 9, 1781, he was made surgeon-general of the hospital department. For many years and up to the time of death he was physician in charge of the U. S. Marine Hospital of Massachusetts, in Chelsea.
Dr. Townsend was an active member of the Massachusetts Medical Society from 1775 to 1824, when he retired.
He married Elizabeth Davis, May 24, 1785. Their son, Solomon Davis Town- send, became a noted surgeon of the Massachusetts General Hospital, and there were six other children.
