His last contribution was an article on angina pectoris, finished while he was lying in bed during the closing period of his life. It was a characteristic thing for him to do—to use his own illness as a text for a discussion that might be of benefit to humanity. The paper was read at a meeting of the Institute of Medicine, March 28, 1918, and he died in a paroxysm of angina April 30, only a month later.
In 1876 he married Lucy S., daughter of Dr. Ephraim Ingals, his uncle, and had seven children, four of whom, with their mother, survived him.
Ingalls, William (1769–1851)
According to S. D. Gross, William Ingalls of Boston was the first in this country to amputate at the shoulder joint for gunshot injury. This was in 1813 while he was professor of anatomy and surgery in Brown University (1811–1823). Dr. Ingalls was born in Newburyport, Massachusetts, May 3, 1769. His ancestor, Edmund of Lynn, came from Lincolnshire, England, in 1629. William graduated A. B. at Harvard in 1790, M. B. in 1794 and M. D. in 1801. Brown gave him her honorary M. D. in 1813.
Dr. Ingalls suggested operation for strabismus as early as 1813, according to Hubbell's development of ophthalmology.
He was the author of "Observationes ad abscessum bursalem pertinentes" 1803; "Essay on the Ganglionary System of Nerves in the Cranium," 1832; "On Scarlatina," 1837; "Lecture on Phrenology," 1839; "Treatise on Malignant Fever," 1847, his chief work.
He married Lucy Myrick Ridgeway and their son was William Ingalls (1813–1903), a visiting surgeon at the Boston City Hospital and an obstetrician of some note who published in 1876, "Synopsis of Private Obstetrical Practice," covering a period of forty-two years of professional experience.
William Ingalls, senior, died at Wrentham, Mass., September 8, 1851.
Irvine, William (1741–1804)
William Irvine was born in Enniskillen, Ireland, Nov. 3, 1741. He graduated in both the collegiate course and the medical school of Dublin University and soon after received a commission as surgeon in the Royal Navy. A vivid picture of the life of a ship surgeon at that time is given by Smollett, who served as ship surgeon's mate, in "Roderick Random;" candidates for medical positions in the navy were given an examination which was a "mere farce."
Irvine soon resigned and emigrated to America in 1763, settling at Carlisle, Pennsylvania, where he practised medicine in 1774. He was a delegate to the Provincial Congress of Pennsylvania in 1774; in 1776 he was made colonel of the Sixth Pennsylvania Battalion, and led his command on the expedition to invade Canada. As the battalion had been enlisted and equipped through his efforts, "he was greatly chagrined when they participated in the defeat of the Americans at Three Rivers, he himself being captured July 16, 1776." He was treated with great courtesy by General Burgoyne and General Carleton during his captivity. In May, 1778, he was exchanged and the same year was on the court-martial that tried General Charles Lee.
In May, 1779, he was made brigadier-general and commanded the Second Pennsylvania Brigade, seeing much active service. In 1782 he commanded the forces at Fort Pitt; active in studying the land problem in that part of the country, he was appointed by the state to "distribute the bounty lands to the troops who had served during the war." Through his efforts Pennsylvania purchased the district on the shores of Lake Erie known as "The Triangle," thus giving a lake front to the state.
In 1786 he was elected to Congress, and again in 1793, serving until 1795; in 1794 he "commanded the Pennsylvania troops who put down the 'Whiskey Insurrection'."
Irvine became superintendent of the military stares, situated at Philadelphia. He died in that city July 29, 1804.
Isaacs, Charles Edward (1811–1860)
Charles Edward Isaacs, anatomist, was born in Bedford, Westchester County, New York, June 24, 1811, the youngest of five children. His father was a merchant and a farmer, and the boy spent much time in the country in nature study. He went to the parish school kept by Samuel Holmes, and later took up medicine with Dr. Belcher, of New York, and had his first course of lectures at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York. From here he went to Baltimore, entered the University of Maryland and graduated M. D. in 1832, at
