Sacramento County

Biographies

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

THOMAS WATERMAN HUNTINGTON, M.D.

(1849-1929)

 

 

   Dr. Huntington's heredity has interest.  He was direct descendant of Dr. Samuel Huntington, a clergyman of Massachusetts, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence.  A great grandfather and two of the great grandfather's brothers were ministers.  The grandfather, Jonathan Huntington, was born in Massachusetts in the 18th Century, and removed to Vergennes, Vermont, upon reaching maturity.  There he followed agricultural pursuits.  Near Vergennes the father, Charles A. Huntington, was born, April 25, 1812, and graduated from the University of Vermont in August, 1842.  The father moved to Rockford, Illinois in 1844.  Rockford, a promising small city was located on the Rock river, about eighty-five miles northwest of Chicago.  In September Charles A. Huntington opened a classical school.  A few years later he was elected County School Superintendent, serving about eight years.  Out of the classical school grew the Rockford Female Seminary and Beloit (Wisconsin) College of today.¹

   Charles A. Huntington about 1850 established a book business which was destroyed by fire in 1857.  In 1864 Thomas' father left Rockford and went to the Pacific Coast where he was tendered the position of Chief Clerk by his brother-in-law, Wm. H. Waterman, Superintendent of Indian Affairs of Washington Territory.  'Mr. Huntington came via the Isthmus to the Pacific Coast, leaving New York in December, 1864, and arriving at Olympia, January 25, 1865, and was connected with the Indian service until 1878.  Mr. Huntington studied theology privately, and was licensed to preach in Portland, June 22, 1872.  He preached in the Congregational Church, Olympia, in 1871-'74, and in 1881 was called to the pastorate of the Congregational Church at Eureka, California, which he served much of the time with signal success for about twenty years, when advancing years compelled him to close his ministerial career.'²  He died in Portland, Oregon, aged 92 years and 5 months.  Mr. Huntington left six children:  Dr. Thomas W. Huntington, San Francisco; J. B. Huntington and Mrs. D. D. Clarke, Portland, Oregon; A. H. Huntington, Whitney, Oregon; B. S. Huntington, The Dalles, Oregon; and Mrs. A. J. Monroe, Eureka, California.

   Thomas Waterman Huntington was born to Charles A. and Lucretia A. (Waterman) Huntington at Rockford, Illinois, January 16, 1849.  His first school was conducted by his father at Rockford, and he prepared for college at the Johnson Academy at Johnson, Vermont.  It is probable young Huntington left for the Johnson Academy when the father established himself on the Pacific Coast.  From the Academy, Thomas entered the University of Vermont and graduated from that institution in 1871 with a Bachelors degree.  While at the University he milked cows to help earn his way. 'Deciding upon a medical career, he taught school during the summers and in the winter sessions attended Harvard Medical School, where he took the degree of Doctor of Medicine in 1876.  In the meantime he had already served two years as interne at the Massachusetts General Hospital.³  At Harvard and the Massachusetts General Hospital 'he came under the influence of such teachers as Oliver Wendell Holmes, Warren, Homans, Bigelow, and Cheever in surgery, Fitz in pathology, and others prominent in the profession.'4

   'The old family doctor in my home town inspired me to enter the medical profession,' Dr. Huntington told Helen S. Piper, when she was writing “WHO'S WHO” in San Francisco.  'There was quite a family of us, so he came often.  I used to watch him with a great deal of interest.'

   'When I graduated from high school I wanted to begin my medical studies immediately.  Becoming a doctor was a bit easier in those days.  The idea of preparatory education being necessary was as foreign as sending a scavenger to college to educate him for his career.'

   'Other boys were taking a bit of training under some doctor and attending a prescribed course of lectures and receiving their permits to practice.  My father had a keener vision of things, I guess.  He offered to help me into my profession, if I would go through college first.  It seemed like a terrible waste of time to me, but he insisted.  So I was graduated from the University of Vermont and then went to Harvard.'

   'A relative out in Nevada invited me to take over his practice during his vacation.  That brought me to the west.  Since then I have been Professor of Surgery at the University of California and have been connected with surgery for the Southern Pacific, and later the Western Pacific railroads.  I established the first antiseptic operating room on the west coast.'

   Elko, Nevada, was county seat and a railway center.  Dr. Huntington identified himself with the Central Pacific Railroad and began to specialize in surgery.  He remained in Elko six years.

   Caution, with courage, plus innate surgical sense, carried him quickly into the confidence of the railway company, as well as his private clientele.  As a consequence Dr. Huntington was called to Sacramento in 1882 to become a member of the surgical staff of the Southern Pacific Railroad Hospital.  Dr. A. B. Nixon, then Chief Surgeon for the Company, was sixty-four years of age, and ere long, in 1885, to be succeeded by Dr. Huntington.  Dr. Huntington 'continued his own practice which developed rapidly to prosperous proportions.'5

   The Doctor's first meeting, by invitation, with the Sacramento Society for Medical Improvement was October 24, 1882.  He became a member the following month, and therefrom began a close professional association that extended over a period of fifteen years---an association filled with credit and benefit alike to the Doctor and to his confreres.  The Society was the axis in and around which Dr. Huntington progressed to his real stature; the center that stimulated latent abilities and capabilities into accomplishment, and brought attention from the medical societies throughout the State, and elsewhere.  From an humble, unostentatious(sic) beginning there slowly arose, by studious cadence, a surgeon whose constant efforts were to gain national and international recognition.

   On February 20, 1883, four months after arriving in Sacramento, Dr. Huntington presented his first paper to the Society---”Antiseptic Surgery.”  Not until 1880 did the work of Pasteur and Lister really become known, and few were the disciples.  Bacteria, and antiseptic cleanliness, belonged to the unknown, and those doctors who were students of literature of the day considered the idea chimerical.  Infections, with sepsis following, held contemptuous hands over every wound and left trails of malodorous pus, resulting in weakened, misery-stricken patients.  Usually, the condition progressively became worse until, finally, death came to relieve.  The first mention, before the Sacramento Society for Medical Improvement, of Listerism was March, 1880, when Dr. Nelson, President, told of the previous year's improvements in medicine.

   Dr. Huntington was a student of Listerian principles, and no doubt began his inquiry while practicing at Elko, Nevada.  When he arrived in Sacramento, with a good railroad hospital clinic at his command, he set in motion experiments verifying Lister's truths.  In the essay he gave a 'brief epitome of the literature bearing upon antiseptics as applied to the surgical art.'  'I say “epitome,” 'said he, 'for continued personal experience or experiment with no ocular proof or demonstration, I have become a convert to the theory which has lent new inspiration to surgery, and has ushered in a brighter era for sufferer and attendant alike.'  He contended 'the antiseptic method of dealing with open wounds would no longer be regarded experimental, and the achievements of its discoverer had been verified by his legion of disciples.'  Dr. Huntington was a disciple.  Non-agreement by many confreres disturbed his faith not at all; already actual results had been obtained.

   His researches continued.  On November 18, 1884, Dr. Huntington again reported to the Society what he had learned through asepsis and antiseptics.  'The underlying principles,' said he, 'being as rigidly adhered to now as when the famous Scotchman first announced that in the maintenance of a permanently aseptic wound resides the true genius of the healers art.'  Huntington, during the two years since a first report, had meticulously followed a Lister aphorism, that 'a strict adherence to antisepsis effects a conversion of serious risk into absolute safety.'  He had proven the aphorism in work at the Railway Hospital.  'The obscure dissenting voice is now and then heard.' he reflected, but 'it is but a parting shot from the enemy.'  Carbolic acid was superseded by mercuric chloride, and used to the exclusion of all other substances, in a strength varying from one in one thousand to one in five thousand. 'During an operation, as at subsequent dressings, the irrigator has of late supplanted the spray of Lister.  The uninterrupted flow of the solution over a freshly-cut surface obviates the necessity of constant sponging, and reveals clearly to the eye of the operator the anatomical structure of the part.'

   Dr. Huntington recommended the use of catgut over silk for sutures.  It was the first mention in the Society of the use of catgut, though Dr. Morse, while in Germany in 1880, had written extolling carbolized catgut. 'The proper drainage of a closed wound or suppurating cavity cannot with safety be forgotten or neglected.  In the first instance, if the coagulum resulting from capillary hemorrhage be allowed to remain between the flaps or beneath the covering of a wound, perfect union of what should be contiguous surfaces is rendered an impossibility.'  He was then using perforated tubing and horse hair for drainage.

   These surgical truths were founded upon a studious approach to clinical material at his command, and from this research resulted factual surgical principles.  Dr. Huntington felt he stood upon such firm ground that while he 'would refrain from any assumption of censorship' he 'must without hesitation express my profound conviction that in the conduct of open wounds there no longer remains for the surgeon any middle ground.  No desultory, indifferent or imperfect effort at asepsis will be accepted as an evidence of good faith.  The line must be sharply drawn, the policy defined and positive, and adherence to the minutiae details must be unswerving.'  His convictions remained, revealed in a personal letter, at a later date, from Dr. Adolph Barkan.  In part Dr. Barkan said:  “Needless to say your address---though extempore---was timely and has its own fine and refined note in the Lister symphony of the day.”

   Dr. Huntington's expressions uttered a security in clinical results already effected, and declared with positiveness---a confidence in use of antiseptics and in asepticity through cleanliness.   He had no troth with 'those instancing individual cases with remarkable recoveries reported under one or another of the old plans, for the purpose of verifying their own and throwing discredit upon the views of others.'  He opined sufferers and society had the right to demand a method 'that will insure certain and rapid repair, not in exceptional and sporadic cases, but with an unvarying accuracy, that strikes from the range of possibilities those disasters once frequent, but rarely recorded.' 'If there be those who will not cordially endorse these statements,' said Dr. Huntington, 'persisting in methods long since obsolete if not disreputable, they will but prolong the era of sloughing, malodorous, infected wounds, until such time as a long-suffering public shall irrevocably demand that measure of relief from pain and immunity from danger which modern scientific research has happily awarded it.'

   Under pre-Listerian methods, in most skillful hands, 30 to 40 per cent of major amputations were fatal; there was a fatality of 40 to 60 per cent in major compound fractures; and in knee joint excisions the fatality ranged from 25 to 60 per cent, not considering a large percentage of subsequent amputations.  Under antiseptic management mortality from major amputations and compound fractures was shrunk to 5 to 7 per cent!  The Doctor’s results at the Southern Pacific Hospital paralleled these latter figures.

   Dr. Huntington, at thirty-four years of age, had reached the first important era on travels toward surgical fame.  Excellent surgical results took root through the practice of Listerism, and he was the West's first ardent disciple of that principle.  His was an exceptional constancy to purpose.  His lack of primary and secondary infections permitted surgery in every field, thereby salvaging life and preventing human suffering.  Converts to asepsis and antiseptics were made, but very slowly added to the fold, even among confreres to whom he directly disseminated the doctrine.

   Never having seen the son operate, Dr. Huntington's father on a visit to Sacramento, expressed a desire to watch an operation.  It was arranged and during the procedure, as told by an attendant, some difficulty arose during the course of the operation at which the Doctor uttered an oath.  The father, a most devout clergyman, broke in with a “Tut-tut-tut-tut!” “Quiet was immediately restored.”

   Dr. Huntington's capacity as surgeon was early recognized by practitioners throughout the State.  In 1887, five years after arrival in Sacramento, he was Chairman of the Committee on Surgery of the State Medical Society.  His address on “The Disasters of Surgery” was filled with merit, and contained diction, impersonality and objectivity so characteristic of the man's mind. “Failure to guard against such an exigency (wound infection), must subject the operator to humiliation and an arraignment before the bar of conscience,' is but an example.

   After ten years, in 1897, Dr. Huntington once again was Chairman of the State Committee on Surgery. 'Today, ' he said, 'I follow a custom which, on public occasions I have rarely deviated and again pay humble tribute to Sir Joseph Lister.' And then, quoting from 'the last number of the British Medical Journal:  “Long after the present generation of surgeons are gone, men will see for themselves what he was like who made a new thing of surgery.  There is Listerism, but no Hunterism or Cooperism.  What Lister has done is what we all do.  All can raise the flower, now all have got the seed.” '

   To Lister and to Listerism the Doctor owed much.  He was most happy when verbally genu-flexing to that one who 'had disclosed the principle that was for all time to govern wound treatment.' As time progressed Dr. Huntington felt, if possible, more indebted. 'One of the most inspiring and eloquent addresses ever delivered at the San Francisco County Medical Society was from the lips of Dr. Huntington upon the centennial of Joseph Lister's birth,' said J. Marion Read, M.D.6  'The venerable surgeon, then seventy-eight years of age, recounted vividly and feelingly the days of pre-Listrian surgery, and pictured conditions impossible of appreciation of those who know only the surgical procedure made possible by the work of Pasteur and Lister.' Dr. Huntington donated to, and collected funds for, the Lord Lister Memorial, and received personal letters from his friends W. Arbuthnot Lane and W. Watson Cheney of London and D. M. Stevenson of Glasgow, Scotland, for able efforts.

   In a forceful address before the surgical division of the State Society, Dr. Huntington gave 'a review of the history of a period so eventful, so replete with achievements, so notable for general progress.'  It covered a ten year interval since his primary report and revealed 'that progress, at least in one department of medical science, has taken another and very notable leap.'  'Finally,' he concluded 'the consideration of a period so crowded with surgical activity has impressed every right minded operator, with the manifold exactions and responsibilities which perfected systems and high standards have imposed.  Furthermore, there comes the suggestion of tireless effort, of eternal vigilance, and of constant heeding of the admonition so well expressed by Emerson”: “Explore, and explore, and explore * * * Neither dogmatize yourself, nor accept another's dogmatism.” '

   'As Chairman of the section on Surgery of the American Medical Association in 1912, he devoted his address to “The Hospital Problem,” and made a plea for the inauguration of “a system of organized inspection and classification of all American civil hospitals”---a suggestion, however, which was not acted upon for many years.'7

   The management of a case of psoas abscess (an abscess arising from disease of the lumbar or lower dorsal vertebrae---the pus descending to the loin muscles) was reported to the Society.  Several operations were performed on the case from October, 1889, through December, 1890.  'Having in mind Dr. Potter's cases (Dr. Potter of San Francisco), I was encouraged to persist in operative and general measures of treatment, hoping to prove the fallacy of the old aphorism, “Psoas abscess once, psoas abscess always.” '

   In September, 1890, Dr. Huntington traveled East to visit hospitals.  In the same year he reported his fourth operation for pyloric (the distal end of the stomach) stenosis; 'two by dilatation according to the method described by Loreta, and one by pylorectomy (excision of the pyloris) and gastro-enterostomy (an artificial passage between the stomach and the intestines) with the Murphy button.'8 

    Before midyear, 1891, Dr. Huntington gave a paper on “The Radical Cure of Hernia, with report of five cases.”  On the last of the five cases the McBurney technique was used.  Only a short time previously Dr. Huntington had talked with Dr. McBurney and became imbued with that gentleman's 'unbounded confidence in the operation.'  The 'final determination of the point at issue (“radical cure”), stated Dr. Huntington, 'must evidently be deferred for many years, or until some impartial observer has followed a generation of operated patients to their graves.'  By 1897, the Doctor had performed over 200 hernia operations, with but two relapses.

   During this period (1885 to 1899) he did much of his best work, and some of us, as medical students, remember hearing of a surgeon in Sacramento, who removed an inflamed appendix on the diagnosis of appendicitis.  This was the first operation for appendicitis done in California.  It was about 1890, at a time when in our medical curriculum the word “appendicitis” was not once heard.'9    This 'first operation for appendicitis' was an interval appendectomy performed at the Southern Pacific Company's Hospital, Sacramento, August 20, 1891.  The patient, a brakeman, made a complete recovery.  By June, 1893, Dr. Huntington had reported seven cases of appendectomy, with five recoveries and two deaths.  'Six of the seven cases were of the recurrent variety.  Of these, three were operated during the period of quiescence.'  The term appendicitis was coined in 1889.

   Drs. Huntington, W. A. Briggs, G. L. Simmons and W. R. Cluness were elected, October 18, 1892, to membership in the California Northern District Medical Society, which had been organized may 26, 1891.  At this meeting Dr. Huntington was elected first Vice-President, and agreed to be on the program at the Society's third annual meeting, held in Sacramento, October 10, 1893.  Of most interest to the medical fraternity at that time was Dr. Huntington's operative removal of the inflamed appendix, so the Doctor chose as his subject “The Surgical Treatment of Appendicitis.”  The article explained details of the operation and cited several cases operated upon during preceding months.  'In a selection of a time for operation,' stated the Doctor, 'there can be no doubt that the period of quiescence affords the greatest immunity from danger.  The question when to operate for relief of this condition is difficult of solution, and it is evident that no general rule can be established as an invariable guide.  Each case must be a “law unto itself,” and the surgeon must proceed under the dictates of his own judgment.  In this, however, as in nearly every surgical emergency, we will do well to bear in mind the phorism(sic) of Jonathan Hutchinson:  “Early operations are successful operations.”  Considering the frequency of this condition in all classes, and at all ages, it seems a little strange that operative measures for its relief are not resorted to more often.  Is it possible that the profession, partly through failure to appreciate the pathological importance of the disease, has been delinquent in failing to grasp opportunities when presented?  Certainly the difficulties attendant upon the procedure ought not deter the average practitioner from assuming such a responsibility.'

   The paper revealed good surgical sense, and the advice then given is today pertinent.  Not alone was Dr. Huntington a student of clinical cases, but, too, he was a careful observer of all medical literature.  For a number of years he abstracted surgical literature for the Occidental Medical Times.  He carefully studied Reginald Fitz's famous paper, of August, 1885, on “Perforating Inflammation of the Vermiform Appendix.”  'In 1886, Fitz's findings clearly established (the) importance of this origin in its relation to pathological conditions'10 ; and in 1885, Frederick Treves' elaborate writings on the surgical anatomy of the appendix vermiformis were printed.  'In 1887, Dr. R. F. Wier, in a paper published in the Medical Record of June 11, treated the subject of laporatomy(sic) for perforation of the appendix veriformis (sic) exhaustively,'11; Dr. Charles McBurney's description of McBurney's point, in 1889, was in print; and 'Joseph Kurtz, professor of Surgery at Los Angeles,' gave 'the first of the California papers on appendicitis.'12  These articles and undoubtedly others, caused him to reflect on those cases dying from “intestinal inflammation,” and determined his surgical management of a surgical problem.

   Tuberculosis of joints was a rather common---too common---disease.  Its pathology ran a chronic course and little was known of effective management.  Dr. Huntington, in 1891, reported on a psoas abscess, and again ere the year was out wrote a paper on “Tuberculous Affections of the Knee and Ankle Joints.”  'For many years,' he commented, 'certain forms of joint disease, notably the so-called strumous and scrofulous, were vaguely thought to bear an intimate, though unexplained, relationship to tubercular infection.  In fact, the majority of the more important clinical and historical features of these affections seem to have been correctly interpreted then as now,' but 'at that time there was not, nor could there have been, any clearly conceived plan of pathological inquiry, nor any theory which would satisfactorily explain many phenomena that were of frequent occurrence.'  Up to the time of Koch's discovery, in 1882, of the tubercle bacillus 'opinions rested on little else than empiricism,' but 'today it is conceded that every tissue of the human frame is subject to invasion and destruction by this arch enemy.  There seems to be no law governing the distribution of the germ after its introduction into the system.'  A review of the pathology, clinical symptoms and rest therapy are fully explained in the article.  If the rest therapy did not reveal a favorable progress Dr. Huntington advised 'immediate resort to more rational and radical measures . . . action must be governed by individual judgment and experience . . . the simplest operation aiming at the eradication of tuberculous foci, or localized deposits of morbid material from joint structures, is termed partial arthrectomy . . . in the ankle joint extensive arthrectomies, involving removal of portions of the tibia and fibula, the entire astragalus, and segments of other tarsal bones, have been marked by uninterrupted recoveries and a useful foot . . . and the chief points in its (arthrectromy) favor are that it is more surely radical, and that limbs so operated are more generally useful than by the simpler method.'

   The abstracts do not give full comprehension of the paper; a paper full of practical observations with non-surgical and surgical approaches.  It surveyed what was then known on the subject.  In December, the Doctor performed an excision of the hip joint for tubercular infection, and reported results in January, 1892.  There was no abatement of interest in the subject.  He searched in all directions for information on possible improved methods of therapy.  In December, 1895, he wrote Dr. A. M. Henderson, then in Vienna, Austria:  “I shall be glad to know what you learn in way of hip joint work.  In my opinion mechanical appliances and treatment thereby are going out.  I am coming to prefer full plaster dressing in early cases, and early resection in the cases that seem to go wrong under immobilization.”  The inquiry never ceased.  In September, 1914, his friend Dr. John Fraser, then of the 11th Infantry Brigade, Edinburgh, Scotland, wrote Dr. Huntington:  “War has temporarily put a stop to my scientific pursuits but your letter has been forwarded to me.  I am interested in it.  Curiously enough I have rarely failed to demonstrate tubercle bacilli from osseous and joint tuberculosis.”  Dr. Fraser explained his technique of animal experimentation wherewith he proved the presence of tubercle bacilli, and continued:  “I have on several occasions performed your operation, and in one instance the case dying six months later of pneumonia I had an opportunity of observing the result post-mortem (sic).  The result was eminently satisfactory and no trace of disease was found.”

   As late as March 17, 1915, Dr. Huntington returned to Sacramento as guest speaker before the Sacramento Society for Medical Improvement to talk on “Tuberculosis of the upper end of the Femur.”  The subject of tuberculosis of bones and joints, owing to their very intricacies, held, always, his researchful study and played no small part in advancement of the knowledge, and treatment of the disease.

   Dr. Huntington exhibited, June 26, 1894, a sample of the Murphy button, first announced by Murphy in 1892, which he had used in cholecystenterostomy (the making of an artificial opening from the gall-bladder to the intestine). The Doctor reported, in 1894, removal of a large floating cartilage from a knee joint.   He gave a paper before the California Northern District Medical Society on “Tenorraphy” (the union of a divided tendon by suture), with a report of four cases.  In concluding this paper he stated 'it may be regarded as an aphorism that in primary cases tendon suture should be an essential routine measure, resort being had to it as often as the conditions are present.  Secondary operations, however, as no positive assurance of success can be given, should, in the main, be left to the discretion of the patient or his representative.'

   Dr. Huntington did not lose sight of major points when treating the surgically ill.  His surgical technique was given constant attention and careful study.  He felt post-operative treatment was quite as essential as good primary surgery.  So obedient and observing was he on these points he wrote essays, thus bringing surgical technique and surgical after-treatment to the forefront of importance, which he considered justly due.  Often has it been told with what minuteness his beliefs were practiced.  He held military discipline over hospital wards, and, when dressing wounds, the same satisfaction for minutiae was exacted of those assisting.  His surgical practice was considerable, and in his later San Francisco years became extensive.  'Bold, but not rash, a surgeon of excellent judgment,' stated Dr. Rixford, and 'who perhaps more than any other in this community, in his generation, kept up with the advancements in surgical science and art.  His experience in the treatment of fractures and of tumors was especially great.'

   Dr. Huntington was tall, slender, erect---a West Point posture, which he retained throughout the years.  During early Sacramento days he wore a full beard with a long moustache; the beard was semi-parted in the center and flared to each side, and his coarse head of hair was beginning to gray at the temples.  His clear blue eyes were invasive and inquiring, attentive and curious.  He was gracious and considerate, though heavy eyebrows, which he had a habit of arching, gave an appearance of being cold and austere.  His was an agreeable mind and personality which gave conclusiveness to his countenance, and portrayed certitude.  To some there was a feeling of aloofness, as if being kept standing in shadows.  His usually quiet demeanor, however, could be interrupted by a most hearty laugh, for he enjoyed humor without pretence (sic) to be facetious or humorous.  His close acquaintances were legion, and he enjoyed a latent ability to create respect and confidence.  'He was received in every medical gathering with the deference and respect which was his due, and which he further merited by his gracious mien.  “On meeting him, men liked him and respected him as few men are liked and respected on short acquaintance, and his character was such that on further acquaintance this friendship and respect were maintained”; so wrote Douglas Montgomery at the time of Dr. Huntington's death.'13

   He was a club man---a member of the Sutter Club while living in Sacramento, and the Pacific Union and Bohemian Clubs after removing to San Francisco---and enjoyed a game of billiards or cards.  Golf at the Presidio, in later years, was an outside interest.  One of his golfing friends, Jack White of Buffalo, ofttimes corresponded, in light verse, on the subject.  Replying to one such missive, June 3, 1925, Dr. Huntington answered in kind:

 

            “With your recent classic before me and having in mind your embargo upon all matters pertaining

                to our favorite avocation---I am writing simply to say:

 

                                               The greens are velvet texture---

                                          And the fairway flower-strewn

                                               My game is rotten, God knows why,

                                         I'm the jest of youthful golfers,

                                               As smiling they pass by.”

 

   Dr. Huntington delighted in giving dinners, was a most congenial host, and happy when entertaining local, out of State, and European acquaintances.  Whenever he accepted hospitalities of friends away from his own fireside he punctiliously dropped them most cordial notes after returning home.  He belonged to a small Sacramento group, ten to twelve members, called the Critic Club.  This Club met regularly once a month, usually of a Sunday evening, whereat every type of subject was discussed.  These evenings appealed to the Doctor for they proved entertaining, instructive and afforded good mental gymnastics.

   'Fraternally he was affiliated with the Free and Accepted Masons, being a member of all higher bodies of the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite, including the thirty-second degree of the Consistery.'14

The Doctor always drove a one-horse buggy.  Mostly he did his own driving, but for a time had a driver, Will Howe, who also, not unusual at the time, acted as bill collector.

   Dr. Parkinson scheduled to give a paper at the January 24, 1899, meeting of the Sacramento Society for Medical Improvement stated that 'he had provided no paper for the evening through a desire to make this meeting the occasion of suitable valedictory honors to Dr. Huntington upon his removal to San Francisco.  The meeting then adjourned to reassemble informally at the residence of Dr. Parkinson for this purpose.'15

   The surgical ability of Dr. Huntington was now not alone local. . . it was Statewide . . . it was National.   Owing to his capabilities he was called to San Francisco and became Professor of Clinical Surgery at the University of  California Medical School.  From a Railroad Hospital at Sacramento---the first hospital in the world especially so devoted---as a workshop, this western surgeon advanced to fame.  Progress was gained through toil and wisdom.  There resulted a proficiency in surgical craft; alloyed with struggle, research, prudence, and an impressive power of expression, verbal and written.  'A fluent and impressive speaker, he was often called upon for formal addresses,' stated Dr. Rixford.16  Dr. Huntington's ascendancy emanated from his faculties of body and mind---not luck-given.

   He removed to San Francisco at the beginning of 1899, to succeed Dr. Robert A. McLean. 'He occupied the Chair of Surgery until the reorganization of the medical faculty of the University of California in 1912,'17  a service that extended for thirteen years.  There was continuance of scientific accomplishments.  All have been recorded and reflect credit that falls to the lot of few men.  The respect and affection held by students and graduates alike, plus verbal and written expressions, will themselves commemorate the man.  On his 76th birthday, January 16, 1925, his former students and assistants---Drs. Baldwin, Brunn, Howe, Kilgore, Lewitt, Markel, Morrow, Naffziger, Pope, Russell and Terry---remembered him 'in token of sincere gratitude, and profound esteem.' In an earlier day the Doctor invited former internes of Sacramento days---Drs. McKee, Hanna, Woolsey, Schumaker, Twitchell, Henderson, Powell and Prentice---to San Francisco to dine at his Club.

   'Dr. Huntington was one of the organizers of the Medical Department of the University of California and in large measure was responsible for the establishment of the high standards which won wide recognition for this institution.'18

   On September 30, 1911, Dr. Huntington wrote Dr. Benjamin Ide Wheeler, President of the University of California, submitting his resignation as Professor of Clinical Surgery in the Medical Department; the same to take effect in May, 1912.  In concluding the Doctor stated:  “It is unnecessary to add that my interest in the Department and the University will remain unabated.”  On October 3, 1911, President Wheeler asked Dr. Huntington to withdraw his resignation as 'it is not, it seems to me, an opportune time.' However, on April 10, 1912, President Wheeler's secretary wrote the Doctor, in part:  “President Wheeler told the Board that you had offered your resignation many months ago, but that yielding to his urging you had continued in service until this time.  He announced that you had now again tendered your resignation.  He recommended to the Board that you should be appointed Professor of Clinical Surgery, Emeritus, and it was so voted by the Regents.”  And from President Wheeler, on July 5, 1912, Dr. Huntington received the following gracious letter:

 

Dear Dr. Huntington:

   As the time has now arrived when you enter on the highly honorable status of Professor Emeritus, I wish on behalf of the whole University, its governing board and its teaching body to express to you our high appreciation of the whole service you have rendered to your profession and to the cause of education by the work you have done through the long years in connection with your office as Professor of Surgery.  We appreciate how you have at all times stood ready to make personal sacrifice for the upbuilding of medical education, how you have always maintained the highest ideals of what education should be, and how through days of discouragement your hope has always been kept high.  You have been an encouragement and inspiration not only to your immediate colleagues but to all the members of the University.  I well know that it has long been your purpose to resign your position and that you had repeatedly called on me to relieve you of its burdens but that you held on at my personal request until a more fitting time should come for you to be relieved.  I wish with deepest appreciation to thank you for this service; and indeed it was a high service.  I trust that in our councils in the days to come you will always be willing to take the place which we hold to be indicated by the title Professor Emeritus, and though you are hereby relieved from the active work of teaching I trust you will not fail to pay attention the work of the school as it shall develop and give us at all times the aid of your suggestions and recommendations.

With highest personal regard, believe me to (be)

                                                                              as ever

                                                                              Faithfully yours,

                                                                                              Benj. Ide Wheeler

 

   On January 29, 1912, Dr. Huntington's resignation as a member of the San Francisco Board of Health was sent to Mayor Rolph, and the Mayor replied on February 1st , in part as follows:

 

            “Since my advent into public life, I have given no thought whatever to the affairs under your charge, as I was content in the comfort of knowing that everything was being cared for without any anxiety on my part.  I am now confronted with your now possible determination to be relieved of your duties and the naming of your successor; but, before doing either, I would like to have a chat with you as you suggested, and any morning or afternoon of next week, except Monday, will be agreeable to me.”

   The conference was held and the resignation accepted as of April 11, 1912, for on that date Mayor Rolph wrote the Doctor this letter:

 

My dear Dr. Huntington:

   It is with regret and reluctance that I am compelled, for the reasons that you have advanced to me personally---namely, ill health and the necessity of attention to your private practice, that I am compelled to accept your resignation of the 9th instant and relieve you of the arduous duties incumbent upon you as a member of the San Francisco Board of Health.

   I am sorry to see one of my stalwarts leaving the ship at this time, but I know it is imperative in your case, and, while I shall miss you, it is a comfort to me to realize that I have your good wishes and loyal support in every way possible.

   With warmest regards and every good wish to you, believe me to be,

                                                                                                                             Very sincerely yours,

                                                                                                                                             James Rolph, Jr.,

                                                                                                                      Mayor

   Dr. Huntington was appointed Chief Surgeon of the Western Pacific Railway Company August 17, 1910, and continued in that position to the time of his death.  Why should he accept such a responsibility?  His future had been programmed.  Retirement as Professor of Clinical Surgery at the University of California was in the offing---planned for the following year but delayed into 1912.  He anticipated laying aside cares of private practice, though not officially accomplished until 1920.  His work with the Western Pacific Railroad was executive and consultative, thereby permitting him to retain an active hand in work therein he had accomplished much.  Yet, for the remaining years of his life, time allowed him surcease to stray into other fields where he had many interests and desires.  Pain, sickness and death do leave emotions.  The hope, in the conduct of everyone's winter of life, is health and accomplishment of many events necessarily stored along the roadside of earlier travels.

   In his later life many honors came.  It was the extending of a worldwide correspondence, a contact Dr. Huntington thoroughly enjoyed.  Therein is pictured an acclaim and recognition so justly due him.  Letters preserve stages of a friendship progress, give the varied interests of individuals, and become something of mirrors to the souls of characters involved.

   On June 3, 1913, Guy Potter Benton, President of the University of Vermont, wrote Dr. Huntington:  “The University of Vermont wishes to honor itself by honoring you with the Degree of Doctor of Laws.”  Doctor Huntington accepted the honor at the annual commencement exercises on June 25th.

   Everything pertaining to his beloved University of Vermont and Harvard Medical School, or professors during his tenure, was preserved.  When Dean Samuel F. Emerson retired from the U.V.M. in 1923, Doctor Huntington wrote him his feelings:

 

               “The knowledge that your activities at the U.V.M. are at an end awakens in the mind of every sincere friend of        

            the University a feeling of sadness and regret---But not one of these will be so ungracious as to question the

                wisdom which has prompted this step---You have won that best of all prizes, an affectionate appreciation of a

                splendid career---Very frankly let me assure you that the memory of an exemplary life, of devotion to a lofty

                purpose, of ripe scholarship, and charming personality will be your choicest legacy to the institution which you

                have faithfully served, and to which you have given your best years.

                  “Beyond measure I regret that I could not have enjoyed more frequent personal contact with a man whom I

                long have loved---but the fates decreed otherwise and the loss is mine.”

 

   Beginning of war in Europe, 1914, was observed closely by Dr. Huntington.  The Doctor, a lieutenant, Medical Reserve Corps of the United States Army, having many friends in Europe, corresponded with them, before and after the United States became involved.  His surgical friends, Alfred Pearce Gould of London, wrote the following note July 27, 1915:

 

              “I am much obliged to you for your letter acknowledging the Official papers which I sent, and I am glad that you             are interested in them and glad to keep them.  It is a great comfort to know that men of influence, like yourself, sympathize with Great Britain in the fight which she is making for national honour and civilization.  I shall send            you further Official Papers as they appear. 

                   I congratulate you on your President's “Notes” to Germany; they are a fine vindication of the rights of

                Humanity.”

 

   Dr. Huntington, 1916, wrote the Rt. Hon. Sir Gilbert Parker proferring his services to the cause of Great Britain.  But Sir Reginald Brade, military secretary of the War Office, replied on September 6, 1916:

 

               My dear Parker:

                   In view of Dr. Huntington's age (67). I am afraid we could not offer him employment in our hospitals,

                and perhaps you will convey this to him, I return his letter.”

 

   There was determination of character and purpose; a contempt of birthdays.  Dr. Huntington resolved to serve.  'In 1917, at the age of sixty-eight, he was a member of the American Red Cross Commission to Italy, and spent some time near the battle-fields of Europe to report on hospital and other conditions.'19  His ship on the way across was pursued by submarines but evaded the attack, though the Doctor afterwards admitted he had passed some anxious moments.  He visited general and field hospitals, as well as front-line trenches, in both Italy and France.

   On November 8, 1917, Dr. William J. Mayo, then surgical consultant in the Surgeon General’s office, wrote him the following letter:

 

“Dear Huntington:

   I was delighted to receive your letter and learn that you had returned safety to this country.  I am sure you have had a most interesting experience and I am glad you enjoyed your stay abroad so much.

   The Surgeon General, I think, is expecting to form a second reserve containing some of the older men who have done and are still doing active work so that when the time comes that it is necessary the younger men can be replaced by men from this reserve.  This will give you and a good many others who are disqualified because of their age but who are most anxious to do their part an opportunity for service.”

 

Dr. Huntington organized a faculty under authority of the Surgeon General for instruction of Reserve Medical Officers.  He went 'on tour' of medical societies throughout the central part of the State seeking enlistment of physicians for war, in the several branches.  For the excellent war service performed he was appointed, by the Surgeon General, Lieutenant-Colonel in the United States Army.

   At Philadelphia, Dr. Huntington made a strong plea for female trained nurses in war surgery, and recited the part they played in recent years.  In England and France female nurses were welcome; in Italy there was reticence toward their use.  The first year of the war, orderlies and enlisted men were used.  The Doctor felt definitely there was a place and need for female nurses in war; for already they had revealed efficiency and self-sacrifice, and their services 'should be indelibly written into the history of the past four years.'

   Inability of the four Great Powers to amicably agree upon peace terms gave Dr. Huntington concern. “After nine months of dissension and ill-directed effort on the part of the world's peace architects we seem no nearer a solution of the world's problem,' he wrote a friend, Dr. Arpad G. Gerster of New York, on August 28, 1919.  'Industrial unrest coupled with unrestrained greed manifestly “plagues mankind.”  Perhaps neither you nor I will live to see genuine peace established.  The false philosophy seems to dominate mankind.'

   At the start of 1924, as was Dr. Huntington's custom, he wrote greetings to especial friends.  'At the dawn of delightful hours spent with you and Mrs. Gerster inspire me to break a silence of many moons.' he started his letter to Dr. Gerster,. . . 'let me assure you my dear Dr. that with each recurring day your name and service are in my mind, for be it known to you that Alva Dunning breakfasts and dines with me always and always evokes a silent benediction in behalf of my fine friend, the artist-surgeon.  This is the month of mile-stones for you and me.  Let me hope that these stones will not become our stumbling-blocks.'  However, nine months previously, Dr. Gerster placed his cares with the Master.  Mrs. Gerster's letter to Dr. Huntington in reply---beautifully written---left a void, a void that more and more was becoming commonplace, “stumbling-blocks,” in his life's travel.

   When the Doctor retired from private practice in 1920 more time was allotted for extraneous matters.  His letter contact was given impetus, and became almost world-wide.  His club life, travel, and man-to-man associations somewhat approached humanistic desires.  Life's seriousness remained, but those occasional moments for trivialities with colleagues gave him much pleasure.

   At the age of seventy-one years he spent five days, over the Fourth of July, 1920, at Flat Rock Club, located in Fremont County, Idaho, near a crossing of the Yellowstone Trail and the North Fork of the Snake River.  Twenty-three friends joined with him in the outing.

   Dr. Huntington's memorials on Drs. Camillus Bush, Harry M. Sherman and Morris Herzstein, and tributes to Pasteur and Lister give more personalized expressions of the great surgeon than anything written of or about him.  His writings about these men continue to live.  Therein Dr. Huntington wrote his own memorabilia.

   Camillus Bush, M.D., 'a brilliant and promising young surgeon, was snatched from his labors at the age of thirty-two.'20  On June 26, 1910, memorial exercises were held, and Dr. Huntington made tribute from the heart, filled with sympathy and regret comparable to that of a father for his son.

 

            “The task before me is undertaken in the belief that it is worthy of any man to speak the truth, never so

           briefly, of a friend who, being summoned, leaves a wholesome memory as a legacy.  Mingled sentiments

           of sorrow and appreciation have impelled me to speak of a fellow-worker whom I valued more and loved better than   

         I knew, whose brief career is, to me and to us all, a pleasant memory. . .”Of a man of ideals and achievement,

          who has fallen under the burden of years, we are want to say:  Your work well done, your task complete; sleep under

          a laurel wreath, rest; resignation is ours, and the world moves on.” “But”, continued the Doctor, “on this occasion,

         we recall our friend 'whose eyes saw only the beauty and promise of Spring; to whom was denied the splendor of

         Summer, the glory of Autumn, the uncrowned majesty of Winter.'  Though his years were brief, there can be no

         doubt he saw visions of what was in store for him, undisputed leadership, the highest prize accorded to human

         endeavors.”

 

   Harry M. Sherman, M.D., was a close associate of Dr. Huntington.  Both became part of the Medical Department, University of California, the same year, 1899, and continued and ended service the same year, 1912.  In complete accord, with full understanding one for the other, and, with mutual self-respect, socially and professionally, these men traveled the road of public service.  It was meet, therefore, that Dr. Huntington should memorialize his associate and friend.  The memorial was written in the Doctor's inimitable style.  In the record of Dr. Herzstein was written the philosophy of Dr. Huntington, to wit:

 

. . . “His philosophy inspired him to face discouragement with patience, to overcome obstacles by courageous effort, and to lend a deaf ear to idle gossip.  The currents and counter-currents that beset one's pathway in medical life he met with the deftness of a skilled mariner; purposeful, and with clear vision he set his course and reached his goal.  Withal, in the language of one of his intimates, he was modest, kindly, generous and tolerant above all things of everyone and everything.

. . . “In this aspect of his career, you will not fail to interpret the thought expressed in the lines

 

                                               “Ships sail east,

                                                Ships sail west---

                                        With, the self-same winds that blow---

                                               It is not the gales

                                               It's the set of the sails

                                         That determines the way ships go.”

 

. . .”For those who, at high noon, linger behind to drowse he had small tolerance.

 

. . .”As a final message, our benediction, as we bid farewell to our departed friend I cannot do better than repeat the classic

lines of Kipling:

 

                                                   “When earth's last picture is painted---

                                               And the tubes are twisted and dried,

                                                      When the oldest color is faded---

                                               And the youngest died,

                                                       Then he shall rest---and faith he will need it---

                                               Lie down for an eon or two,

                                                       Till the master of all good workmen,

                                               Shall set him to work anew.”

 

   The following day, October 29, 1929, Dr. Wm. W. Morrow wrote Dr. Huntington:

 

              “Your tribute to the memory of our late friend, Dr. Herzstein, delivered yesterday at the Chapel at Cypress Lawn Cemetery, was an exceedingly appropriate, well phrased, and eloquent testimonial.  I congratulate you upon having acquitted yourself with so much credit to yourself, and to the ceremony of the occasion.”

 

   Dr. Huntington's tribute to Lister, to Louis Pasteur (“By Their Fruits Ye Shall Know Them”), and his article “Be Ye Human” stand as pinnacles of his pen contributions.  No contemporary expressed so vididly(sic) and with so much sincerity, nor with comparable depth of feeling, the discoveries and humanism of Lord Lister and Louis Pasteur.  'Fame,' to Dr. Huntington, 'was an exclusive thing, never to be mistaken for nobility.' 'Thus we find the highways of civilization are thickly strewn with the wind-tossed ashes of laurel wreaths,' said he, 'and every abyss that borders the beaten paths of progress has become the graveyard of reputations.'

   Had the minds of a Lister and a Pasteur never have crossed the threshold of science, Dr. Huntington, like predecessors, would have continued in halls of Wonderment, in shaded rooms of Empiricism, instead of standing securely on the greensward of progressive medicine and surgery, via Listerism and Pasteurism.  Broken links in the chain were forged by them; 'the line of demarcation between fiction and fact was drawn.' Advance in science had the greatest rise during Dr. Huntington's era.  He serves proportionate acclaim for progress made in the western hemisphere---even, in part, was it cosmic.

   His axis of life centered around love for wisdom; not alone, medicine, but politics and economics.  Mankind, too, commanded deep interest.  Approaching surgical problems with freshness of analysis and dexterity he brought acclaim from confreres and friends.  He made like efforts to 'think through' political problems.  The first expression of political philosophy to be found was a letter to Dr. A. M. Henderson, then in London, July 24, 1896. 'We are now waiting for news from the Populist and Silver Conventions,' said Dr. Huntington, 'both being in session in St. Louis.  Doubtless both will endorse Bryan.  In that case unless there be a positive and radical revulsion in public sentiment Bryan will be elected by an overwhelming majority.  You can hardly imagine what a craze there is upon the people at large.  Old party lines are wiped out and many of our most substantial people are free in expressions of confidence that unlimited coinage of silver will prove a panacea for all the ills that afflict this debt-ridden country.  I confess I cannot solve the problem on those lines, and am more than anxious concerning the prospect.  Nor can I escape the conviction that the situation is almost as ominous as in 1860-61.  If we do not see a financial panic that will test the soundness of every monetary institution in the country within the next ninety days, I shall be no less surprised than gratified.  Distrust on the part of capital is no more apparent than is unrest among the ranks of labor..  So while I am not willing to take rank with the pessimists I feel that thinking men might do worse than to weigh every factor carefully in this controversy.  Sometimes I wonder if Sir Edward Arnold was right when he said that the greatest danger in the path of our nation is its greatness and that it should be the duty of right minded men to see that we do not go to pieces through lack of cohesive power.  Let me hope that our reliance upon American patriotism and statesmanship will in future as in the past prove well founded.'

   He was a 'man's man,' and loved his club life for associations therein encountered.  Poets, writers, lawyers, doctors, business men---fellow-partners and Knights of chivalry---all, were his associates, who returned mutual trust and affection.  Dr. Huntington's birthdays were causes for a 'get-together' at the club---annual affairs continued to the end.  Many verses and letters he received added to each gala occasion.  In January, 1923, Tirey L. Ford read his verses, “To a Forty-Niner” (Sometimes Known As, and Called, Dr. Huntington.) Again in 1924 Ford told of---               

                              

                               “Three score and ten have blithely run their course,

                               And half a decade more, in joyous flight,

                               Have added to the mirth and sweet content

                               Of one whose very presence lends delight.”

 

   On January 17, 1927, letters arrived; in one the writer stated:

 

            . . . “We are advised on high authority that three score years and ten is the allotted span to the ordinary man.

                That one is eight laps ahead of that time limitation would indicate that he is no ordinary man.  I am distinctly

                of that opinion. . . May I be permitted to recognize in you an example of a man who retired before worn out,

                and who has led a normal, temperate and contented life.  A good example!”

 

   Those afar, unable to attend such occasions wrote congratulatory missives.  The Doctor's birthdays became joys.  Neither his body nor mind were languishing; each kept abreast the aggressive and virile spirit.  He placed Kipling's “If” nearby, that it might be read and re-read, and therefrom garnish flavors of resignation and humbleness.   His favorite quotation, “Ships sail east,” vividly carried him through the vales of memory.  He chose “The Ballads of Prose and Rhyme” to occasionally read,

           

            “When the brain gets dry as an empty nut,

                   When the reason stands on its squarest toes,

                When the mind (like a beard) has a 'formal cut,'

                   There is place and enough for the pains of prose.”

 

   He extracted Chapter 89, from Barnaby Rudge, to now and then curtsey to the advise---

 

   “Let no man turn aside, ever so slightly, from the broad path of honour, on the plausible pretence that he is justified by the goodness of his end...”

   and from Casanova, V. XII, page 286, he liked to read:

   “I cannot help laughing when people ask me for advice, as I feel so certain that my advice will not be taken.  Man is an animal that has to learn his lesson by hard experience in battling with the storms of life.  Thus the world is always in disorder and always ignorant, for those who know are always in an infinitisimal proportion to the whole.”

 

   Humanist he was---is revealed in the saved clipping:  “There be three things which are too wonderful for me---”

 

                        Yes, four which I know not:

                                               The way of an Eagle in the air;

                                               The way of a Serpent upon a rock'

                                               The way of a Ship in the midst of the sea;

                               And the way of a Man with a Maid.”

 

   Dr. Huntington's life was well and faithfully fulfilled.  To him were accorded many deserved honors.  During life's tenure he was:

 

   Chief Surgeon of the Southern Pacific Railroad (1885-1899),

   Chief Surgeon of the Western Pacific Railroad (1910-1929),

   President Sacramento Society for Medical Improvement (1891),

   Member Sacramento Board of Education,

   Member and President Sacramento Board of Health,

   Professor Clinical Surgery, University of California Medical School (1899-1912),

   President California Academy of Medicine, 1904,

   Emeritus Professor of Clinical Surgery, University of California Medical School, 1912,

   Fellow American Surgical Association, 1906,

   Member San Francisco Board of Health,

   President California State Medical Association, 1912,

   On Staff St. Luke's and St. Joseph's Hospitals,

   Doctor of Law degree conferred by University of Vermont, 1913,

   Member American Red Cross Commission to Italy, 1917,

   President American Surgical Association, 1918,

   Member American Society for the Control of Cancer,

   Director, Board of Veterans' Home at Yountville.

   Member American Medical Association,

   Member California State Medical Association, and

   Member Pacific Association of Railway Surgeons.

 

   On November 30, 1881, Thomas Waterman Huntington married Harriet Olive Pearson, daughter of Charles and Sarah (Chaffee) Pearson, of Dixon, California.  The nuptials were celebrated at the residence of George H. Meigs.  Mrs. Meigs and the bride were sisters, and Mr. Meigs a cousin of Dr. Huntington.  “Mrs. Huntington was born at Dixon, California, and was educated at Mills Seminary, now Mills College of Oakland.  Dr. and Mrs. Huntington became the parents of two children: 

1.  Thomas Waterman, Jr., a writer, who married Nancy Cutville, daughter of Sir James Cutville, of London.  2.  Emily Harriet, professor of economics at the University of California,”21 who lives at Berkeley.

   'His death, following a serious surgical operation, came as a shock to his many personal and professional friends.'22  He departed these friends April 19, 1929, at the age of eighty years, three months and three days, and was laid to rest at East Lawn Mausoleum, in Sacramento, on the 22d.  In his beloved Sacramento where he spent the Morning of his great rise to fame, he expressed the wish there to return and spend the Night; there. . .in mortal solace. . .with Dreams, the sons of Night.

 

            “I's sitting here just dreaming, and a'looking in the fire,

                 Seeing faces in the flames,  that change with my desire.

                 Friend and pleasures, days and things---

                   you know how they will---.”

 

 

_______

 

 

   1  Newspaper clipping in Dr. Huntington's Book of Letters.

    2  Newspaper clipping in Dr. Huntington's Book of Letters.

    3  Encyclopedia of American Biography, v. LI, p. 57-58.

    4  Thomas Waterman Huntington, A.B., M.D., by Wallace I. Terry, M.D., California and Western Medicine, v.48, No. 3,

         p. 186-7.

    5  Encyclopedia of American Biography, v. LI, p. 57-58.

    6  History of California Academy of Medicine, 1930, p. 98-101.

    7  Wallace I. Terry, M..D., California and Western Medicine, v. 48, No. 3, p. 186-7.

    8  Report of Committee on Surgery, by Dr. T. W. Huntington, California Medical Society, April, 1897.

    9  California and Western Medicine, v. XXX, No. 5, Dr. Emmet Rixford, p. 368-9.

   10  Dr. Huntington in his report as Chairman of the Committee on Surgery.

   11  Dr. Huntington in his report as Chairman of the Committee on Surgery.

   12  California's Medical Story, by Henry Harris.

   13  History of the California Academy of Medicine, by J. Marion Read, 1930.

   14  Encyclopedia of American Biography, v. LI, p. 57-58.

   15  Minutes of the Sacramento Society for Medical Improvement.

   16  Dr. Emmet Rixford, California and Western Medicine, v. XXX, No. 5, May, 1929.

   17  Ibid.

   18  Encyclopedia of American Biography, v. LI, p. 57-8.

   19  Wallace I. Terry, M.D., California and Western Medicine, v. 48, No. 3, p. 186-7.

   20  A History of the California Academy of Medicine, 1930, by J. Marion Read, M.D.

   21  A History of the California Academy of Medicine, 1930, by J. Marion Read, M.D.

   22  Emmet Rixford, M.D., California and Western Medicine, v. XXX, No. 5, May, 1929, p. 368-9

 

 

 

 

 

 

Transcribed April 2017 Marilyn R. Pankey.

­­­­Source: “Memories, Men and Medicine A History of Medicine In Sacramento, California by J. Roy Jones, M.D., Pages 406-430. Publ. Sacramento Society for Medical Improvement, 1950.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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