Allen.] G08 [Dec. 3, 



number ten were on practical subjects. In the main they were in illus- 

 tration of improvements of instruments and of apparatus. An important 

 modification by himself of a uterine pessary is favorably known over the 

 entire medical world. He was the first to introduce into practice the in- 

 tra-uterine applications of hot water in arresting hemorrhage. At a time 

 when his practice was at the largest he undertook the study of the Ger-. 

 man language, and at a later period he enjoyed an easy command of the 

 medical literature of Germany. As a writer Dr. Smith was clear and for- 

 cible. In a sketch of Dr. Emeline H. Cleveland he attained a truly elo- 

 quent strain. This fact is worthy of mention since he was always self-de- 

 preciatory of his literary abilities and disclaimed every intention to author- 

 ship. He was often heard to regret that with him the act of composition 

 was difficult. 



These are the chief facts, as the world esteems facts, in the life of Albert 

 H. Smith. Much remains to be said, much that at my hands I keenly 

 feel must remain imperfectly said. The elements of character which 

 made Dr. Smith while he was among us an honored object, remain now 

 that he is dead an undying memory. 



Dr. Smith was a man of chivalrous type, and his life was consecrated in 

 the best sense of the term to the service of the Highest. It was more to 

 him to right a wrong and to defend the weak than to make scientific dis- 

 coveries. The impression made upon his mind from being brought in con- 

 tact with disease was the suffering that appealed to him for relief rather 

 than the nature or the results of morbid processes. As a consequence he 

 is found less active in the investigation of the anatomy and the pathology 

 of those diseases witli the study of which he was identified than with the 

 means of assuaging the pain and distress attending their presence in the 

 economy. He was not heard to express any exalted conception of the 

 duties of the physician ; he made no pretension to any special consecration 

 to good works ; he was, indeed, too busy a man to systematically attend 

 to the rites of a society so simple in organization as is that of the Friends. 

 The attitude assumed by him toward the suffering was not that of one 

 who from generous impulse was occasionally induced to offer relief, 

 but as one impelled by an incentive which was constantly present. It 

 actuated the performance of the smallest dut}' as well as the greatest, 

 and was the same in the dwellings of the rich as in those of the poor. 



Many instances are told in which Dr. Smith under'took the task of seek- 

 ing out the helpless and rescuing the fallen. Dr. Christopher Cleborne, 

 of the U. S. Navy, is my authority for the following incident : Dr. 

 Smith, while a resident at the Pennsylvania Hospital, bad in some way 

 learned that a poor country girl had been enticed from her home into a 

 brothel. Sh&was sick, in debt, and unable in consequence to escape from 

 her surroundings. Finding that she was penitent, he opened a corre- 

 spondence with her friends, paid her indebtedness, enabled her to <j;et away 

 from the den in which she was lodged, and to be restored to her parents. 

 On another occasion Dr. Smith was called upon by an agent for a be- 



