Bonine, Evan J. (1821–1892)
Evan J. Bonine, surgeon, of Quaker parents, was born at Richmond, Indiana September 10, 1821; the third son of a family of twelve children. Until seventeen he worked on his father's large farm during the summer and attended school during the winter, then, owing to his father's financial losses, he depended on himself. He began medical study with Dr. J. Pritchett of Centerville, Indiana, and received his M. D. from Ohio Medical College in 1843. Settling in Niles, Michigan, he soon became a leader in things surgical and medical; in politics and social life. Several times he served in the House of Representatives and in 1870 in the Senate. During the war of the rebellion he was appointed surgeon to the Second Michigan Infantry, rapidly being promoted until he was surgeon-in-chief of the third division, ninth army corps, during service taking part in twenty-nine different engagements. On June 17, 1864, Dr. Bonine had charge of two thousand wounded and dying soldiers brought in from all directions, and forty surgeons working under him. In the fall of 1864, because of illness (chronic diarrhea), he resigned and was appointed examining surgeon on the Provost Marshal's staff for the Western District of Michigan with headquarters at Kalamazoo, and filled the place until the close of the war. He was a member of the Michigan State Medical Society. Dr. S. Belknap of Niles, his partner for eleven years and a personal friend, said: "As a surgeon he had marked ability and superior judgment; he rendered unusual public service to his city and the state; his business ability guided the affairs of many households; his sympathy for his fellows impelled him to put forth his life to help others, either as individuals or institutions." In 1844 he married Eveline Beall, and his three children survived him; one son was Dr. F. N. Bonine. Dr. Evan J. Bonine died at Niles, Michigan, December 28, 1892, from chronic diarrhea acquired during army service.
Paper: "Report of a Case of Ear Embolism," "Physician and Surgeon, Ann Arbor, vol. vii.
Bontecou, Reed Brockway (1824–1907)
Reed Brockway Bontecou was known as one of the largest contributors of pathological specimens to the Army and Navy Museum, which was, of course, indirectly a conribution to the "Medical and Surgical History of the War of the Rebellion" (J. S. Billings). He was born in Troy, New York, on April 22, 1824, the son of Peter and Samantha Brockway Bontecou, of French Huguenot and Scotch ancestry.
His early career may be briefly summed up by stating that he graduated B. S. Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, 1842; was instructor in botany and zoology, 1843; studied medicine with Drs. John Wright and Thomas C. Brinsmade of Troy; attended lectures, medical department, University of the City of New York, 1844–45; made a trip up the Amazon river, 1846, to collect flora and fauna for the Troy Lyceum of Natural History; graduated M. D., Castleton, Vermont, Medical College, 1847, and began to practise in Troy with Dr. Thomas C. Brinsmade.
In 1848 he made a study of Asiatic cholera, epidemic at the time; treated diphtheria (newly recognized as a specific form of disease) by open-air method and tracheotomy when necessary; and treated general peritonitis with large doses of pulverized opium, reporting the following remarkable case August 2, 1854: Mrs. W. A., of South Troy, aged thirty-four, in good health and six months pregnant, while in a squatting position, feeding her chickens, ruptured an old umbilical hernia, spilling almost all her abdominal viscera on the ground. Patient when seen was in collapse, intestines covered with pebbles and dirt and swollen to size of a peck measure. The opening was enlarged, viscera cleansed and replaced, wall repaired by rolling up and fixation with skewers, and a large dose of opium administered "to let her die easy." Despite severe peritonitis, however, recovery ensued under repeated large doses of opium (15 to 20 grains).
Another case which attracted great attention as the first of its kind in this country was one of fracture of the cervical vertebræ with complete general paralysis, treated successfully, April 3, 1856, by extension; patient recovering to resume his occupation as house painter, and to afford the doctor twenty years later the satisfaction of confirming by autopsy his original diagnosis. He made the first resection of the shoulder-joint (1861) and of the knee-joint (1863) for gunshot wounds, and practised extensively excision of the fractured ends of long bones and a modified Pirogoff's operation on the foot.
April 13, 1861, he enlisted in the Civil War as surgeon, Second Regiment, New York State Volunteers, with rank of major and operated on the field at Big Bethel, the first battle of the war. From October, 1863, to June, 1866,
