REPORT OF THE PHILADELPHIA COUNTY MEDICAL SOCIETY.

NECROLOGICAL NOTICE OF THEOPHILUS E. BEESLEY, M. D. 1796-1867.

Dr. THEOPHILUS E. BEESLEY was born on the 5th of December, 1796, at Port Elizabeth, Cumberland County, New Jersey.

His father, Maurice Beesley, followed the business of farming and surveying, and was a man of considerable talent and respectability in that section of the country. His grandfather, Jonathan Beesley, was also a farmer, and lived in Cumberland County. He was much interested on the side of the Colonies at the time of the Revolutionary war, and was killed at the time the British were retreating from Philadelphia to New York, whilst he was reconnoitering them. His grandmother's name was Peterson, she being_of Swedish descent. His mother's name was Mary Boadly. His father died when he was four years old, leaving his mother a widow at the age of twenty years. They continued to live at Port Elizabeth until he was nine years old, when his mother married Captain Tuft, of Salem, New Jersey. He lived at Salem after this until he came to Philadelphia to reside, with the exception of the time spent at school in Haddonfield.

He commenced the study of medicine in 1815 with Dr. James Vanmeter, of Salem, and came to Philadelphia to attend lectures at the University of Pennsylvania in the winter of the same year.

Finding such superior advantages for the pursuit of his studies in Philadelphia, he concluded to remain in the city, and entered as a student the office of Dr. James Rush, then in Fourth Street below Walnut. He graduated in the degree of Doctor of Medicine in the spring of 1819, and concluded to settle in practice at Salem, New Jersey, at which place he continued to pursue his profession for ten years, when, his health failing, he moved to Philadelphia, in 1830, and settled in Vine near Third Street. He then moved to Arch Street near Eighth, and then to Arch and Tenth Streets, and then to Eleventh Street below Arch, where he resided until his death, which took place on the 17th of October, 1867. After his removal to Philadelphia he continued in active practice until about five months previous to his death.

He was married to Hannah, daughter of John Wistar, at Friends Meeting-House, in Salem, on the 22d of November, 1820.

He became thoughtful about religious subjects in his seventeenth year, and after reading on the subject and attending different denominations, he joined the Society of Friends about the year 1819, and continued to be an active and useful member, holding responsible positions in the Society during life.

In the earlier part of his professional life he prepared several papers on professional subjects. Among them we find one on this: "Preservation of health." Another showing "that cancrum oris was not produced by the use of calomel, but was a distinct disease." And in Smith's Surgery there is reference to a case reported by Dr. Beesley, "of scirrhous tumor of the cæcum mistaken for aneurism of the right external iliac artery."

Dr. Beesley was a man of genial nature, kind and charitable in all his relations in life. Cautious and conscientious as a physician, and dying leaves an unspotted name.

H. Y. EVANS.

OFFICERS AND MEMBERS.

President.-Dr. GEORGE HAMILTON.

Vice-Presidents.-Drs. D. HAYES AGNEW and J. HENRY SMALTZ. Recording Secretary.-Dr. WILLIAM B. ATKINSON.

Assistant Secretary.-Dr. L. S. BOLLES.

Corresponding Secretary.-Dr. HORACE Y. EVANS.

Treasurer.-Dr. ALFRED M. SLOCUM.

Censors. Drs. ALFRED STILLÉ, A. H. FISH, WINTHROP SARGENT, H. ST. CLAIR ASH, and CHARLES S. BOKER.

Drs. JOHN M. ADLER,

D. HAYES AGNEW,
SAMUEL K. ASHTON,
COLIN ARROTT,
HENRY ST. CLAIR ASH,
JAMES ASH,

MEMBERS.

WILLIAM ASHMEAD,
WILLIAM B. ATKINSON,
WASHINGTON L. ATLEE,
JOHN BELL,

JOHN F. BIRD,

HENRY D. BENNER,
CHARLES S. BOKER,

SAMUEL P. BROWN,
H. B. BUCK,
WILLIAM H. BUNN,
Ross R. BUNTING,

Drs. AUGUSTUS C. BOURNONVILLE,

JOSEPH BROOKFIELD,
SAMUEL W. BUTLER,
LUCIUS S. BOLLES,
J. BERNARD BRINTON,
JAMES H. CANTRELL,
JOSEPH CARSON,
DAVID D. CLARK,
BENJAMIN H. COATES,
J. SOLIS COHEN,

JAMES COLLINS,
D. FRANCIS CONDIE,
JAMES M. CORSE,
ELISHA CROWELL,
T. STANTON CROWLY,
JAMES CUMMISKEY,
WILLIAM CURRAN,

LEVI CURTIS,
JAMES DARRACH,

REPORT OF THE SCHUYLKILL COUNTY MEDICAL SOCIETY.

THE past year, within the bounds of my field of observation, has been one of unusual health; much the most so of any one for the past twenty-four years. In the absence of an epidemic of any kind, we have had only the diseases incident to the locality and the season to combat, and they have been far less numerous than usual. In the early part of the year rheumatism in its various forms, accompanied by neuralgia in a large majority of the cases, prevailed to some extent, but it yielded readily to the usual remedies, leaving behind it, in a few cases, organic disease either of the heart or kidneys, or both, depending upon the stage of the malady at which it was brought under treatment (the later the more liable to produce organic disease), the rigor with which the treatment is pushed, and the views of the pathology taken of the case by the individual practitioner. If he is one who regards the disease as one over which remedies have but little or no control (and there are many such at this enlightened day), and which may be safely intrusted to patience and flannel, then organic disease is sure to result. If such were not the case, why is it that so large a number of the chronic cases that crowd our offices, seeking relief, prove to be organic diseases either of the heart or kidneys? And why is the inquiry of every intelligent practitioner, on finding disease in either of these organs, "Have you had inflammatory rheumatism?"—and the response is, in a very large proportion of the cases, "Yes." Here is a very important field for investigation, to ascertain the relation of disease of the kidneys to that of the heart, whether as cause or effect, and the relation of both to dyspepsia in its multifarious forms; and it is one that will amply repay any one who will take the time and trouble to investigate it thoroughly, so as to deduce from it such a system of hygiene as will eradicate the tendency to these incurable maladies.

We have had, in the first and last quarters of the year, much less than the usual amount of diseases of the chest, both in children and adults; but as there was nothing unusual in either the symp