COGSWELL 237 COHEN was Abigail Parker, who died in 1845, his sec- ond, Elizabeth Doane. Of the nine children born of Elizabeth, the eldest, George Badger, became a surgeon in North Easton, Mass. Caroline Doane Cogswell. The Cogswells in America. Successful New Hampshire Men. There is an oil painting in the Bradford Academy, New Hampshire. Cogswell, Mason Fitch (1761-1830) Mason Fitch Cogswell was born at Canter- bury, Connecticut, September 17, 1761. His father was the clergyman of his native parish, and his eldest brotjier. Dr. James Cogswell, lived some years at Stamford and then re- moved to New York. His mother was the daughter of Jabez Fitch of Canterbury. Ma- son graduated at Yale College in 1760 and immediately after leaving college began the study of medicine with his brother. At that time a portion of the army of the revolution was stationed at Stamford. Among these soldiers Dr. Cogswell began his professional observations ; to them his earliest efforts as a surgeon were directed, and he frequently re- ferred to the experience which he there gained as particularly serviceable to him in his sub- sequent practice. In the capacity of pupil and assistant, Mason continued with his brother till the year 1789, when he removed to Hartford, having been nine years engaged in the study and practice of his profession. He received the degree of M. D. from Yale in 1818, previously having taken an A. M., in 1788. From the time of his removal to Hartford to the day of his death, he was constantly engaged in an ardu- ' ous practice. Some years after his removal to Hartford, Dr. Cogswell married Mary Ledyard, daugh- ter of Col. Austin Ledyard who was killed at the fort at Groton when it was captured by the British. His children, five in number, were the delight- of his eye, and the family circle, of which he thus became the head, was one of the most attractive in the community. His daughter Alice was, during her infancy, deprived of the faculties of speech and hear- ing. The interest which was excited in the mind of her father by the privations of this mute child caused him to look around for the best mode of giving her instruction. It led him also to make inquiries respecting the number of deaf and dumb persons in the State, and the result of those inquiries created surprise throughout our country. To his inter- rogatories respecting the best mode of educat- ing this class of our population, no satisfactory answer was forthcoming, for the subject had not been thought of. At length he accidentally met with the work of a distinguished French abbe on this subject, and being convinced that the plan there suggested was the best that could be adopted, he appealed to his friends to aid him in the introduction of that system of instruction into this country. The appeal was successful. A gentleman peculiarly well qualified for the undertaking visited France, acquired the needful information, and re- turned to found "The American Asylum." Dr. Cogswell was one of the original mem- bers of the Connecticut Medical Society, and continued its faithful and ardent friend till the close of his life. In 1796 he was appointed its treasurer, the duties of which office he discharged four years. In the year 1807 he was elected vice-president, and on the resig- nation of Dr. Watrous, in the year 1812, he was chosen its president. The latter office was conferred upon him ten times in suc- cession, an appointment which indicates with what respect he was regarded by his brethren. The proposition to establish an asylum for the Insane originated in the Connecticut Medi- cal Society; and though Dr. Cogswell was not the original mover, he was one of the early advocates, and a warm friend of the "Hart- ford Retreat for the Insane." He was known throughout Connecticut as an able surgeon and accoucheur, devoting a large share of his time to these branches of medical practice. It was said of him that he amputated a thigh in forty seconds, such was his dexterity in the use of instruments. According to Dr. S. D. Gross, Mason Cogs- well was the first on this continent to secure the primitive carotid with a double ligature in 1803, the operation having been rendered necessary by the extirpation of a "scirrhous tumour" of the neck, in which that vessel was deeply embedded. The ligature came away at the end of two weeks, and the man lived until the twentieth day, when he died ex- hausted by general debility, hastened by slight bleeding from a small vessel near the angle of the jaw. He continued to be active and assiduous in the performance of his professional en- gagements till the 12th of December, 1830, when he developed pneumonia and died the next night. Sketches of Physicians in Hartford in 1820. George Sumner, M.D., Hartford. 1S90. Amer. Med. Biog. S. W. Williams, 1845. A Century of Amer. Med. (S. D. Gross), Phila. 1876, 133 pp. Cohen, Joshua I. (1801-1870) Joshua Cohen, born in Richmond, Virginia, in 1800, graduated at the University of Mary- land in 1823, after having been a student in Dr.
