Page:American Medical Biographies - Kelly, Burrage.djvu/317

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DAVISON 295 DAWBARN of a railway accident, on February 24, 1902, and a monument was erected to him in Bir- •mingharh by the Southern Surgical and Gyne- cological Society, in whose transactions (vol. xvi, 1904) is a biography by Dr. Richard Douglas, and a portrait. Davison, John L. (1853-1917) John L. Davison of Toronto died at the resi- -dence of his brother in Napanee, Ontario, April 20, 1917, from pneumonia. Born in 1853, he was the youngest son of John and Jane Swanzy Davison, who came to Canada about 1815 from Ireland and settled at Odessa, Fron- tenac County. As a boy he attended the public school at Yarker ; afterwards he studied at the Newburgh Grammar School and the Toronto Normal School, where he was awarded the McCabe gold medal. He was a teacher in the Provincial Model School, Toronto, for ten years, during which time he graduated in Arts in 1880 in the University of Toronto. He then studied medicine in Trinity Medical College, where he graduated in 1884, afterwards pur- ■suing post-graduate studies in Edinburgh and London, where he took the M. R. C. S. quali- fication. Returning to Canada, he began practice in Toronto in 1885, and the same year was ap- ■pointed professor of pathology in the Women's Medical College, and the following year pro- fessor of materia medica and therapeutics in Trinity Medical College. Appointed visiting physician to the Toronto General Hospital in 1887, he relinquished this post in 1907 in order to facilitate what was considered would be a satisfactory reorganization of the staff of the liospital, and was appointed to the consulting staff. On the federation of Trinity with the University of Toronto in 1902, he became pro- fessor of clinical medicine in the latter insti- tution. For many years he was editor of the Canada Lancet. In politics he was a conservative; in religion a Presbyterian. He never married. The reasons for his professional success are not difficult to appreciate. His handsome ap- pearance, distinguished and dignified bearing, his direct, straightforward and honorable atti- tude toward all with whom he came in contact, his kindly and philosophic outlook on life, were all features of a unique personality which at- tracted and retained warm friendships. He was an excellent clinical teacher and lecturer, and was the ideal type of the cultured and skilful family physician. For ten years he lived under the shadow of angina pectoris, which confined his activities within a steadily narrowing sphere, yet, with- out complaint, he adjusted himself to enforced limitations, which never abated the joy of liv- ing. In fact his last years, he repeatedly said, were the happiest of his life, his physical dis- ability giving him more leisure for reading, reflection and for music, especially violin music. He was an expert with rod and gun, and reveled in the beauties of nature. The Canadian Med. Assoc. Jour., June, 1917, vol. vii, 549-551. Dawbarn, Robert Hugh Mackay (1860-1915). Robert Hugh Mackay Dawbarn, professor of surgery in the New York Polyclinic Medical School and Hospital, was by nature an investi- gator. He carried always the restless manner of a man imbued with scientific curiosity, and he was impatient over any delay at getting to an understanding of the reason for things. At medical society meetings he was active in hold- ing to account anyone who did not substantiate theories as presented, and he good naturedly accepted attacks made upon his own presenta- tion of new work and new ideas. During the first eighteen years of his professional life Dr. Dawbarn conducted a "quiz" class with the particular feature of preparing men for the United States army and navy examinations. It is said that during that period he was re- sponsible for the fitting of nearly half of the number of men who became members of the junior grades in the military services. In the Medical Record in 1899 he published a notable article entitled "Doctors and Politicians" re- lating to his failure of appointment as police surgeon, after receiving a rating of 1(X) per cent, in examinations in each of the seven branches of medicine. In 1885 Dr. Dawbarn was appointed and served for two years as an instructor in minor surgery at the College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York. Sub- sequently he became attached to the teaching staff of the New York Polyclinic Medical School, in which he was professor of surgery and anatomy. For many years he was visiting surgeon to the New York City and the New York Polyclinic Hospitals. Dr. Dawbarn, the son of Charles and Mary E. Mackay Dawbarn, was born January 11, 1860, in North Castle, Westchester County, New York. The family was originally French Huguenot, but for many generations English. His maternal ancestors, the Mackays, were na- tives of Inverness, Scotland, before emigrating to New England. The maternal grandfather of Dr. Dawbarn was Dr. Hugh Mackay, who practiced medicine for about forty years near Greenwich, Connecticut. Dr. Dawbarn gradu-