SMITH 1073 SMITH active duties of public hospitals; for more tlian thirty years a consulting physician whose practical advice was widely sought by his con- freres" is a good introduction to the child who was born to Dr. Matson Smith and his wife in New Rochelle, New York, March 14, 1789. His mother was a descendant of the Mather family of Massachusetts. Joseph was educated in the academy of his native town, graduated at the New York College of Phy- sicians and Surgeons in 1815 and served as surgeon's mate during the War of 1812. In 1824 he published his treatise on the "Elements of the Etiology and Philosophy of Epidemics," which Sir James Johnston, reviewing in the Medico-Chirurgical Review, described as char- acterized not only by great ability and force of argument, but also by candour and talent, doing honor to American medicine. Four years as visiting physician to the State Prison ; fighting the typhus which broke out there and in the Bellevue Almshouse in 1825, and three outbreaks of yellow fever, gave him a good and valued experience in epidemics. When, in 1831. an outbreak of cholera was announced in Europe, Dr. Smith set to work preparing to prevent or combat it, should it reach America. He traced its progress in all parts of the world, so that, when it came in 1849 he and his confreres, Beck and Moore, were ready. Record work was done in fighting the pestilence and every day the doctor met the municipal committee to confer. The fol- lowing year Dr. Smith gave to the American Medical Association a lengthy and valuable report on "Hygiene and Preventive Measures ' in Case of Possible Epidemics," and 1860 saw his exhaustive treatise on the "Medical Topography and Epidemics of the State of New York," in which geology, geography, botany, hydrology, and meteorology are made to throw all possible light on the subject. Even when seventy years had passed, with faculties untouched by time, he worked away at all hygienic reforms and everyone knows what cheerful work that is and the dull-headed opposition it provokes. Specially he encour- aged and honored the sanitary inspectors and never failed to be present at their meetings. On the morning of April 22, 1866, seventy- eight years old, he completed an earthly career of useful deeds. The Bible had for many years been his daily counsellor and sanctified the fireside. In 1831 he married Henrietta M., daughter of Henry Martin Beare of New York, and had two daughters and three sons, the eldest of whom, Gouverneur M., became a physician in New York. His writings included: "Elements of the Etiology and Philosophy of Epidemics," 1824; "Epidemic Cholera Morbus of Europe and Asia," 1831 ; "Influence of Diseases on the Intellectual and Moral Powers," 1848; "Illus- trations of Mental Phenomena in Military Life," 1850; "Medical Topography and Epi- demics of the State of New York," 1860; "Therapeutics of Albuminuria," 1862; "On the Identity of Typhus and Typhoid," 1846; "On Yellow Fever," 1859. He numbered among his appointments pro- fessor of theory and practice of medicine, New York College of Physicians and Sur- geons; visiting physician. New York Hospital; president New York Academy of Medicine; president of the Council of Hygiene. His son, Gouverneur Mather Smith, born in New York, received an A. B. and A. M. from the New York University (1852), and graduated M. D. at the College of Physicians and Surgeons of New York in 1855. He was physician to Demilt Dispensary, 1856-66 and served as surgeon in the Civil War under the United States Sanitary Commission. In 1866 he succeeded his father as attending phy- sician to the New York Hospital, in 1879 be- coming consulting physician. He was a man- ager of the New York Association for Im- proving the Condition of the Poor, and was instrumental in establishing the People's Baths in New York. He wrote "Etiology of Bright's Disease"; "Epidemics of the Century and the Lessons Derived from Them"; "Washed Sun- beams - Unused Housetops." He wrote also verse, some of it humorous. He died in New York, December 8, 1898. Eulogium on Joseph Mather Smith, W. C. Roberts, N. Y., 1867. Trans. New York State Med. Soc, 1867. Med. Rec. N. Y., 1866, vol. i. Appleton's Cyclop. Amer. Biog., N. Y., 1887. Smith, Nathan (1762-1829) Nathan Smith was one of the great pioneers of American medicine, and during his active life was the omnipresent genius in New England medicine. He was born in Rehoboth, Massachusetts, September 30, 1762, the son of John Smith and Elizabeth, born Elizabeth Ide Hills. His father was a farmer, descended from Henry Smith of Hargham Hall, Norfolk County, England, who came over in the ship Diligent, and arrived here in 1638. From Henry Smith was descended Henry Smith, Jr., whose son John was the father of Nathan. Shortly after Nathan's birth the family removed to Chester, Ver-
