mittee continued, p. 37). The following year (1864), in New York, Dr. Cox announced that his report was nearly completed, and asked for the privilege of referring it when finished to the Committee on Printing. He also offered a resolution that the Committee on Necrology be enlarged, so as to have a member on it from each State, which was agreed to (vol. xv. p. 30).

In 1865, upon the motion of Dr. Couper, of Delaware, it was made the duty of the Committee on Necrology to revise the list of members, and mark properly those from the several States who are deceased (see vol. xvi. p. 56).

Since that time the Committee on Necrology has reported nearly every year, and the only change of note in its constitution or duties is the limiting the admission of biographies to its own members (see vol. xxix. p. 53).

Introduction to Report of 1880.

In presenting the report of the Committee on Necrology, I cannot refrain from acknowledging the very valuable assistance I have received from my associates representing the several States; and it affords me special pleasure to state that the work assigned to this Committee is now much better defined and more systematic than it has been in the past. Although a resolution making it the duty of the Committee on Necrology to revise the list of members, and properly mark those who are deceased, was passed in 1865, yet this task has been almost entirely neglected. From a correspondence with my associates I learn that but few of them have access to complete files of the Transactions, and they, in fact, do not know with certainty the physicians of their respective States who are or were members, and entitled, if deceased, to notices in the Necrological Report, a circumstance of evident difficulty and calling for correction. The resolution defining who has a right to be noticed includes all who have at any time been enrolled as members of the Association, if they maintained through life a good standing with the profession, though their fellowship with us had ceased. It has been found that for the purposes of the Committee the triennial list of members, which omits the names of all who fail to pay their dues, in accordance with the regulations, was of but little use. To be able to furnish the necessary information as to the entire membership from each State, I made a complete study of the registry of members

from the first meeting in New York, in 1846, directly from the
minutes as published in each annual volume (and not from the
compiled list, with post-office address, which is intended to
serve as a directory). This study reveals the fact that the early
Secretaries omitted to enter quite a number of names in the lists
of members of the different States, although they appeared reg-
ularly enough in the minutes, and occasionally a name appears
in the list of members not found in the minutes. The list I
have prepared, is on cards and by States, and shows at a glance
every, and the particular year that a member from any State
attended. It includes, but with marks to identify them, the
names of those elected permanent members, as well as those
elected members by invitation. (See Appendix at end of
volume.) At an early period in the history of the Society it
was not unusual for professors in colleges to represent at the
same meeting, one or more Medical Colleges or Institutions,
situated in different States, and which in some instances were
not located in the State where they themselves actually resided.
In such instances I give the representation to the State in
which the institution represented was situated, because the
Association itself gave a place to such delegates on committees
composed of members from each State without objection.
cases where a member moves from one State to another, and
again attends the Association, either as a permanent member or
as a delegate, he is credited to the State where he actually
resides, or registers from. In this way it is possible for the
name of the same person to be registered as a member from two,
three, or more States, but is not credited in the same year from
more than one.

In

This is proper and just to the several States in the premises. In some of the States there are a few individuals who having obtained membership in the American Medical Association, afterwards have in their practice fallen into irregularities and quackery; these have, of course, been dropped from membership in their local societies, and in this body.

These, when known, are marked. I have made copies of the lists, of members for each State and Territory, the army and navy, and submitted them for the information of my associates and for correction in the spelling of names, and to ascertain who are still living, when deceased, and in what year, and at the same time soliciting sketches of those not noticed in our

1

Transactions. I marked all which the records show to be deceased from each State, and also those whose demise has been noticed in any of the Necrological Reports. The desired facts and corrections have very generally been obtained.

As this revised list by States will be of permanent and special use to the members of the several States, as well as to the Society, I recommend that the registration of the present meeting be incorporated, and the whole be published in the Transactions for the present year. The want of a correct list of members by States has often been felt by the Society, and particularly in the nominating committees, where it has occasionally happened that medical gentlemen are named for positions who have ceased to be members, and in a few instances never have been connected with the Association. In 1864 and 1865, and again in 1871, a Vice-President, who had never attended a meeting, nor had he been elected a permanent member, was on these occasions chosen. Should there still be errors in the roll of membership as presented, the opportunity will thus be given to the States to correct them by the year 1881, when the consolidated triennial list or directory of members will be published. All of which is respectfully submitted.

J. M. TONER, M.D.,
Chairman of Committee.

ARMSTEAD, WILLIAM HENRY, M.D., was born in Randolph County, North Carolina, August 5, 1820; died of paralysis at his residence at Vaiden, Miss., Nov. 30, 1878. He was the son of John and Julia E. (Gaines) Armstead, of North Carolina.

At the age of fifteen his parents removed to Alabama, and, receiving a good preparatory education, he studied medicine, and graduated M.D. at the University of Louisville, Ky., in the spring of 1848. Shortly after this he began practice in Choctaw County, Miss., where he gradually acquired a good business.

He was united in marriage to Miss Mary E. Wilson. After a few years' residence in his first location, he removed to Vaiden, where he resided for the remainder of his days, engaged in a large, laborious, and responsible practice. His popularity led to his being sent frequently to the legislature as Representative from Choctow and Carroll Counties. He was a member of the Carroll County Medical Society, the Mississippi State Medical Society, and the American Medical Association, having been

sent as Delegate from the State Medical Society to the meeting in Louisville, Ky., in 1875. In the latter years of his life he suffered much from rheumatism, which greatly impaired his health. Throughout life he was highly respected, both as a citizen and as a physician. His wife and several children survive him.

A sketch of his life appeared in the Necrological Report of the Mississippi State Medical Society for 1879, from which this is taken.

JOHN BROWNRIGG, M.D.

AWL, WILLIAM MACLAY, M.D., was born May 24, 1799, at Harrisburg, Pa.; died at his residence, Columbus, Ohio, Nov. 19, 1876. His parents were both of English descent, and natives of Pennsylvania. He received his preliminary education in the college at Northumberland, Pa., under Rev. Isaac Grier. He commenced the study of medicine in 1817 at Harrisburg, under Dr. Samuel Agnew.

He attended lectures in the medical department of the University of Pennsylvania, under Professors Chapman, Physick, Cox, Hare, Gibson, and James, in 1819-20. He never graduated in medicine in regular course, but in 1834 he received the honorary degree of doctor of medicine from Jefferson Medical College.

Dr. Awl came to Ohio on foot in 1826, and settled in Lancaster, Fairfield County. He soon removed to a town in the same county, to which, from the nature of its site, he gave the name Lithopolis. In this location he quickly had opportunity to display his knowledge and skill as a surgeon. He was requested by Dr. Lucky to operate for the removal of a tumor, hard, irregular in form, and cartilaginous in structure, from the jaw and neck of a little girl, the child of a settler in the neighborhood.

As a preliminary step for safety, he tied the common carotid artery of the affected side-" the first time the carotid artery had been taken up west of the mountains, and the fourth time in the United States." The patient made a good recovery. This case was reported in the Western Medical and Physical Journal for October, 1827.

In 1828 or 1829 Dr. Awl moved again, this time to Somerset, and thence in 1833 to Columbus, where, in the same year, in connection with Dr. M. B. Wright, he combated the first epidemic of Asiatic cholera. His courage and skill are yet spoken

of with admiration by those who watched his conduct during that trying period.

In 1835 he, together with Dr. Daniel Drake and other prominent physicians, called a convention of all "the regular and scientific physicians of the State" to meet in convention in Columbus. They met on the 5th of January in the First Presbyterian Church, and, among other subjects, took into consideration the propriety of establishing proper institutions for the care of the insane and the education of the blind.

The convention memorialized the legislature, with the result of securing an appropriation for the erection of an asylum for the insane at Columbus, and Dr. Awl was appointed one of the trustees to build and manage the same. The building was completed in 1838, and Dr. Awl, resigning his position as trustee, was appointed superintendent of the asylum, which he conducted to the satisfaction of all concerned until 1850.

In 1837 he proposed the Ohio Asylum for the Education of the Blind, which was opened the same year in the basement of the First Presbyterian Church, with a very few pupils, but the State soon erected a proper building, and the institution is now second to none in the country.

Dr. Awl was one of the founders of the Association of Superintendents of Asylums for the Insane of the United States and Canada. He was the second president, serving the years from 1848 to 1851.

During one of the earliest meetings of this Association in Philadelphia he proposed the establishment of schools for idiots. and feeble-minded persons, the first suggestion in regard to this subject in this country.

Ile was one of the original members of the American Medical Association, and at the first regular annual meeting at Baltimore, in 1848, was chosen one of its vice-presidents.

In 1837 he received the honorary degree of Doctor of Medicine from the Medical College of Ohio. He was an honorary member of the Ohio State Medical Society, an honor which has been, since the foundation of that society, but sparingly conferred. In 1861 he was appointed by Governor Dennison one of the Board of Medical Examiners for Surgeons of the Ohio regiments, and was made president of that board. In 1862 Governor David Tod appointed him superintendent of the State Capitol, which office he held six years. In 1873 Governor Allen