Idiotic Youth, or, as we now call them, feeble minded, and we find appeals to him from other States for aid in passing laws for the education and control of the "idiotic." George Bancroft applied to him for information as to the insanity of George III, when writing his history of the United States, and his services were generally in demand as an expert witness in the courts and for information on all subjects connected with the insane and their care.
A strong advocate of temperance, he lectured on the subject throughout New England; and, with Mark Hopkins and Samuel Hoar, he issued a printed appeal to the people; and at that early day strongly urged the establishment of an asylum for inebriates, of which he would have willingly been the superintendent.
He published essays on diseases of the mind and nerves and contributed much to medical journals. Among his writings were "Essays on Asylums for Inebriates," 38 pp, 1838; "Hints for the Young in Relation to the Health of Body and Mind," 65 pp, 1856; "Fruits of New England."
A man of commanding presence (he was six feet two and one-half inches in height and weighed 260 pouuds), he seemed to many to resemble George Washington, in his later years, "so much so," says Henry B. Stanton, in his book of 'Random Recollections' "that when he dined at the United States Hotel in Boston, as he walked erect and majestic through the long room to his seat, every knife and every fork rested, and all eyes centered on him."
He married Maria Porter of Hadley in 1815, and by her had eleven children.
A popular subscription by the citizens of Worcester provided a portrait by Frothingham, and a marble bust by King, which at the time of his resignation of the office of superintendent, were presented to the trustees of the Worcester Hospital and they may be seen at the hospital today.
Woodward, Theodore (1788–1840)
Theodore Woodward was born in Hanover, New Hampshire, July 17, 1788, and died in Brattleboro, Vermont, October 10, 1840. He studied medicine under Nathan Smith, his maternal uncle, and completed his study with Dr. Adin Kendrich of Poultney, Vt. At the age of twenty-one he began to practice and remained all his life in Castleton, Vermont. By the aid of his colleague, Dr. Selah Gridley, and some friends of the enterprise, he succeeded in founding and establishing the Vermont Academy of Medicine at Castleton, Vermont, which became associated with Middlebury College. He was a member of the Corporation of the Vermont Academy of Medicine from 1818 to 1840, and professor of surgery and obstetrics there from 1818 to 1824, and the same in 1822, with diseases of women and children added. In 1824 he was registrar of the Academy and made professor of the principles and practice of surgery, obstetrics and the diseases of women and children, continuing this work until 1838, when he became incapacitated by the disease that terminated his life.
He was a laborious student of everything which related to the nature and cure of disease, and blended with unusual symmetry the characters and avocations of the student and the physician.
Woodward was distinguished for quickness of apprehension and acute discrimination when investigating disease, and great shrewdness in the expediency and adaptation of remedies.
During the course of his practice he performed most of the operations of surgery which are regarded as critical and was distinguished for his fortunate selection of the proper time and for his medical treatment.
He married Mary Armington, and had three sons and three daughters. One son, Adrian Theodore Woodward, studied medicine and became a general surgeon.
Woodworth, John Maynard (1837–1879)
John Maynard Woodworth was born at Big Flats, N. Y., Aug. 15, 1837. Educated at the University of Chicago, he received his M. D. at Chicago Medical College in 1862, studied in hospitals of Berlin and Vienna in 1865, and settled at Chicago in 1866.
He was a founder of the American Public Health Association in 1872; assistant surgeon United States Army, 1862–3; surgeon in 1863; demonstrator of anatomy, Chicago Medical College, 1866, sanitary inspector Chicago Board of Health, 1868; supervising surgeon-general, Marine Hospital Service, 1871–9.
Editor of the Bulletin of Public Health, he was author of "Hospitals and Hospital Construction," Washington, 1874; "Cholera Epi-
