COMEGYS 242 CONANT Philadelphia College of Physicians and the Delaware State Medical Society; chief of the medical staflf of Christ's Hospital, Cincin- nati, from its beginning until his death. He labored earnestly and persistently for the creation of a department of public health up to that time. His published literary works were two trans- lations from the French : "The History of Medicine," by Renouard (1856), and "Lec- tures on »the Pathological Anatomy of the Nervous System — Diseases of the Spinal Cord," by J. M. Charcot (1881). In addi- tion, he was the author of numerous papers published in the medical press — two of them especially attracted much attention : one, "On the Pathology and Treatment of Phthisis" (1854), referred to in the American edition of "Watson's Practice," and in "Copeland's Dictionary" (American edition) ; and the other, "On Cool Bathing in the Treatment of (Infantile) Enterocolitis," Philadelphia Medical Times (July, 1875) — or which Prof. H. Woods said, in 1877, after having prac- tised it extensively during the hot summer of 1876, "It must be granted to Dr. Comegys the credit of having introduced one of the most life-saving improvements in modern therapeutics." Other papers were : "Conser- vative Value of Fever and Inflammation" (published in the "Transactions of the Cin- cinnati Medico-Chirurgical Society," 1854) ; "The Treatment of Asiatic Cholera," Ameri- can Journal of Medicine, 1866; "Reports of Cases of Brain Tumors," Philadelphia Medical and Surgical Reporter, 1870, and others. In 1875 he made an address before the Alumni Association of the University of Pennsylvania upon the subject, "A Healthy Brain Necessary to see a Free Will," which at- tracted much attention. On October 3, 1839, he married Rebecca Turner Tiffin, of Chillicothe, Ohio, daughter of Edward Tiffin, M. D., the first governor of Ohio, and had six children: Ellen Tiffin, Mary Porter, Cornelius Marim, Edward Tiffin, William Henry, and Charles George Comegys. Two of the sons, Edward Tiffin and William Henry Comegys, followed their father's pro- fession. Dr. Cornelius George Comegys died of uremia, on February 10. 1896. A. G. Drury. Physicians and Surgeons of America, Irvine A Watson, 1896. Cornelius G. Comegys. M. D. His life and Career in the Development of Cincinnati for nearly half a Century, Charles G. Comegys, B.A., B L . 1896. Conant, David Sloan (1825-1865) This teacher and array surgeon, the son of a carpenter in the little country village of Lyme, New Hampshire, not far from Dartmouth, was born January 21, 1825. Sub- mitting himself to his father's will he learned the trade of a carpenter, Hke many of his ancestors before him, although he detested the business, for his heart was set on obtain- ing an education. He worked diligently until the very last day of his twentieth year, became very skilful in his handicraft, and developed into a man of tremendous mus- cular power. During his leisure hours he read widely and gave much attention to the study of medicine and anatomy, so that with the beginning of his years of freedom, he possessed a fund of book knowledge of medi- cine and general literature. On the day after he obtained his majority he left his father's shop and studied two years, as of old with energy and ambition, at Stratford Academy in Vermont, and advanced so far that he could have passed a college examination for the sophomore class. He was, however, at this time dissuaded from obtaining a college education, an occurrence which he regretted during the rest of his life. He began the actual study of medicine with a country prac- titioner in the town adjoining his birthplace, and in the autumn attended his first course of lectures at the Dartmouth Medical School. Here he attracted at once the attention and enduring interest of a man then celebrated in medicine, Dr. Edmund Randolph Peaslee (q. v.), professor of anatomy and physiology in Dartmouth and various other schools; a man who having unequaled prestige and in- fluence could advance a student of promise. He perceived that Conant was a youth of unusual qualities, he favored him. and Conant kept up to his appearances and his promises by doing well at the work allotted to him. It happened that Peaslee went during Conant's third year in medical lectures to the school at Bowdoin, and from that institution, Conant, who accompanied Dr. Peaslee from Dart- mouth, as demonstrator, was graduated in 1851. Lacking money to establish himself in New York, as Dr. Peaslee urged, Conant first settled in his native town for three years as country doctor, studied in spare hours, worked in other spare hours as a carpenter and job- workman, and at the end had saved enough to give himself a living chance in New York for two or three years, if all went well. Indeed, then, all did go well with him. He demonstrated at the 13th Street School, gave private lectures in anatomy, was capable in
