Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 5).djvu/111

Dr. Post took rank as one of the ablest of operative surgeons, and his skill gained for him celebrity both at home and abroad. He was the first in the United States to perform an operation for a case of false aneurism of the femoral ar- tery. Subsequent- ly he operated in two eases for caro- tid aneurism, and in all three cases was successful. One of his great- est feats was the successful opera- tion of ^ ila S the subclavian artery above the clavicle on the scapular side of the scalene muscles for brach- ial aneurism situ- ated so high in the axilla as to make

it inexpedient to

tie this artery. The accomplishment of this oper- ation was especially noteworthy from the fact that Dr. John Abernethy, Sir Astley Cooper, and other English surgeons had been unsuccessful in its per- formance. In 1813, on the union of the medical faculty of Columbia and that of the College of physicians and surgeons. Dr. Post was appointed professor of anatomy and physiology in the new faculty, of which he was president in 1821-'6. In 1814 he received the honorary degree of M. D. from the regents of the University of the state of New York, and in 1816 he was chosen a trustee of Columbia college. Dr. Post was a member of various medical societies both at home and abroad. For more than thirty -five years he was one of the surgeons and consulting surgeons of the New York hospital. His publications include papers in medical journals and lectures. His nephew, Alfred Charies, surgeon, b. in New York city, 13 Jan., 1806 ; d. there, 7 Feb., 1886, was the son of Joel Post, a merchant of New Yprk, whose place of business was on Hanover square, and who owned as his country-seat the property known as Clare- mont. which is now included in Riverside park and embraces the site of Gen. Grant's tomb. Young Post was graduated at Columbia in 1822, and after studying medicine under his uncle, Wright Post, received his degree at the College of physicians and surgeons in 1827. After passing two years at the medical schools of Europe, he established himself in 1829 in New York city, and devoted his atten- tion chiefly to surgery. During 1831-'o he was demonstrator of anatomy at the College of phy- sicians anil surgeons, and in the latter year he moved to Brooklyn, but two years later he returned to New York, where he remained until his death. He was chosen professor of ophthalmic surgery at Castleton medical college, Vt., in 1843, and a year later was appointed to the chair of surgery. From 1851 till 1875 he was professor of surgery in the medical department of the University of the city of New York, serving also as president of the medi- cal faculty from 1873 until his death. Dr. Post held consulting relations to various institutions, notably to the New York hospital from 1836, to St. Luke's hospital from its beginning, and to the Presbyterian hospital. His great fame was achieved in surgery, and his operations were marked with precision and dexterity. He was the first in the United States to operate for stammering, and in devised a new method of performing bilateral lithotomy. He also showed mechanical ingenuity in devising instruments and appliances, and in the latter part of his life labored much in plastic sur- gery, making important reports of operations in that line. He was a member of medical societies both :it home and abroad, and was president of the New York academy of medicine in 1867-'8. In 1872 he received the degree of LL. D. from the University of the city of New York. Dr. Post was also active in various religious and charitable or- ganizations, and at the time of his death was presi- dent of the New York medical mission, and one of the directors of Union theological seminary. His literary contributions consisted entirely of techni- cal papers in professional journals, with the single exception of his "Strabismus and Stammering" (New York, 1840).

POSTELL, Benjamin, soldier, b. in 1760 ; d. in Charleston, S. C.. in January. 1801. He was a resident of St. Bartholomew's parish, S. C. In 1775 he became a lieutenant in the 1st regiment of his state, and on the capture of Charleston in 1780 he was sent as a prisoner to St. Augustine, where he remained eleven months, suffering many hardships. Subsequently he was a member of the legislature, and colonel of the Colleton county regiment. He did good service in the Revolution under Gen. Francis Marion. His brothers. Maj. JOHN and Col. JAMES, also won reputation in the partisan warfare under Marion. The former captured forty British regulars near Monk's Corner on 29 Jan., 1781.

POTANOU, Indian chief, b. in Florida about 1525; d. there about 1570. He was the king of the most potent of the three great Indian confederacies that existed in lower Florida at the time of the landing of Jean Ribaut (q. v.) in 1562, and his domains extended seventy miles westward and northwestward of St. John's river. The Florida Indians were more advanced in civilization than the more northern tribes, and were chiefly an agricultural people. Potanou was a legislator, and endeavored to promote civilization among his subjects. The villages under his rule had wooden buildings that were constructed according to his plans, and astonished both the early French and Spanish adventurers. But he failed in his attempts to unite the Indians of lower Florida in a single great confederacy, of which it was his ambition to be the chief, and at the time of Ribaut's landing in 1562 there was a war among the three kings, Satouriona, Outina (q. v.), and Potanou, in which the last seemed to have the advantage. He was also the first to open intercourse with Ribaut, and received from him a present of a robe of blue cloth, worked with the regal fleur-de-lis. The difficulties that the French under René de Laudonnière (q. v.) met in their attempts to colonize Florida were due chiefly to the rivalry among the three kings, who asked Laudonnière's aid against their neighbors, and, being refused, became his enemies. They afforded assistance to the Spaniards under Menendez de Aviles (q. v.), especially Potanou, who complained of a raid that had been made on his villages by Outina, aided by a party of French under Arlac, a lieutenant of Laudonnière. But the haughtiness and cruelties of the Spaniards soon occasioned hostilities with the Indians, and a war began against the intruders. Menendez de Aviles endeavored in vain to conciliate Potanou, but the prudent king could not be decoyed, and ordered that all missionaries and Spaniards trespassing on his domains should be put to death. This enmity, which lasted till Potanou's death, proved a severe check to the Spanish colonization of Florida.