WEBSTER 1211 WEBSTER In accordance with the sentence of the court, Webster was hanged August 30, 1850. Walter L. Burr ace. Report of the Case of John W. Webster by George Bemis, Boston, 1S50. Report of the Trial of Prof. John W. Webster by Dr. James W. Stone, Boston, 1S50. Appendix to the Webster Trial with a Review of the Trial, with copy of will of Rcdford Web- ster, Boston, 1850. Webster, Noah (1758-1843) The writer whose published contributions in the eighteenth century are of the greatest per- manent value to medicine was not a physician, but a useful and versatile man, Noah Webster, who graduated from Yale in 1778, M. A., and Princeton, 1795, also Yale LL. D. in 1823. Thus he was a doctor of laws though not of medicine. He was the first epidemiologist this country produced. In 1796 he published "A Collection of Papers on the Subject of Billions Fevers Prevalent in the United States for a Few Years Past," and in 1799 a two-volume work known to all students of epidemiology entitled "A Brief History of Epidemic and Pestilential Diseases," which is of unusual in- terest and on account of its records and ob- servations of epidemic diseases in this country has an enduring value. There are scattered papers by him on various medical subjects, and one of these is buried in the Medical Reposi- tory, 2 s. vol. ii, and should be rescued from forgetfulness. In this critique of Erasmis Darwin's "Theory of Fever," Noah Webster gives a well reasoned, clear and definite presentation of that modern theory associated with Traube's name which explains febrile ele- vation of temperature by the retention of heat within the body. Webster was admitted to the bar in 1781, and in 1788 settled in New York as a journal- ist. He was a co-founder of Amherst College, Massachusetts, and lived in Amherst in 1812. His other writings included the well-known "Spelling Book" (1783-5) ; "Dissertation on the English Language" (1789) ; "A Com- pendious Dictionary of the English Language" (1806) ; "American Dictionary of the English Language" (1828); "Rights of Neutrals" (1802) ; "A Collection of Papers on Political, Literary and Moral Subjects," and "A Brief HistoiT of the United States" (1823). In 1789 he married Rebecca, daughter of William Grcenleaf, of Boston. Dr. Webster died in New Haven on May 28, 1843, when eighty-five years old. William H. Welch. Yale in Relation to Medicine, Wm. H. Welch, 190i. Amer. Jour. Med. Sciences, 1876, vol. Ixxii. A Hist, of the Pa. Hosp., Phila., T. G. Morton, 1895. The Cent. Cyclop, of Names. Noah Webster, H. E. Scudder, 1832. Webster, Warren (1835-1896) Warren Webster, Surgeon, U. S. Army, was born in Gilmanton, New Hampshire, on March 7, 1835, graduating from the Medical Depart- ment of Harvard University in 1860. In March, 1860, he continued his medical studies in Paris and upon his return to the United States took the examination for the Medical Corps, U. S. Army, and was commissioned lieutenant and assistant surgeon on June 30, 1860 (accepted June 29, 1860). After a period of frontier service, he was ordered to Wash- ington, in connection with the outbreak of the Civil War, to take charge of Douglas General Hospital and to assist in the construction and organization of other permanent military hos- pitals in the national capital. He took part in the second battle of Bull Run, was made one of the medical inspectors of the Army of the Potomac in 1862, was on duty at the battle of Fredericksburg and was breveted captain on May 13, 1863, for gallant and meritorious work at Chancellorsville, where he was very active in the care of the wounded and in the organi- zation of field hospitals. During 1863-4 he was in charge of MacDougal General Hospital at Fort Schuyler, New York. On March 13, 1865, he was promoted surgeon with a brevet of major for faithful and meritorious services during the war. He was appointed captain and assistant surgeon on June 23, 1865, and major and surgeon on July 28, 1866. During 1866 he was in charge of DeCamp General Hospital, New York Harbor, and on Septem- ber 28, 1866, he was breveted lieutenant-colonel for his distinguished services at Hart's Island and David's Island, New York Harbor, during the cholera epidemic which prevailed at that time. In 1868-70 he was made medical di- rector of the Fifth Military District and dur- ing this time he organized a system of quarantine for the Texan coast. He after- wards served at various military stations in California and the East and was retired from active service in the Army on February 28, 1889. After this time, he made his head- quarters in Baltimore, Maryland, where he died on January 13, 1896. He was the author of "The Army Medical Staff" (1865), "Regu- lations for the Government of DeCamp Gen- eral Hospital" (1865), "Quarantine Regula- tions, Fifth Military District (Austin, Texas, 1869), and he translated Ludwig Mauthner's book on the "Sympathetic Diseases of the Eye" in 1881. Doctor Webster was an accomplished and scholarly medical officer, reputed for his af- fable disposition, his kind nature, his warmth
