872 REGINALD HEBER FITZ. 



department of medicine which needed the services of one trained in 

 modern methods of investigation. He also received the appointments 

 of microscopist and curator of the pathological cabinet of the Massa- 

 chusetts General Hospital in a new building equipped with all the 

 necessary appointments for post-mortem examinations. Dr. Fitz 

 found here an opportunity to study many unsolved problems in this 

 department of medicine. While devoting himself thus early in his 

 career to the scientific side of his profession, he never for a moment 

 lost touch with clinical medicine and so it came about that he was 

 able to compare the symptoms of disease with its pathological 

 changes. 



In 1886 he presented to the Association of American Physicians a 

 classic monograph entitled "Perforating inflammation of the Vermi- 

 form Appendix with special reference to diagnosis and treatment." 

 To this affection he gave the name of "Appendicitis," a new word in 

 the medical dictionary. This paper was followed in 1889 by one on 

 *' Acute Pancreatitis," thus calling attention to another important 

 source of abscess formation in the abdominal cavity. 



On resigning the Chair of Pathology in 1892, he was made Hersey 

 Professor of the Theory and Practice of Physic, a position which he 

 held until 1908, when, on his retirement, he was made Professor 

 Emeritus. 



Dr. Fitz was married in 1879 to Elizabeth Loring Clarke, daughter 

 of Dr. Edward H. Clarke, a distinguished Boston physician. 



In 1905 he received the honorary degree of LL.D. from Harvard 

 and in 1907 he was made President of the American Congress of 

 Physicians and Surgeons. At the annual meeting of the British 

 Medical Association following his death, the reader of the address in 

 surgery referred to Dr. Fitz as "the greatest of physicians." He was 

 a pioneer in modern medicine and at the time of his death he was 

 regarded as one of the leading internists of this country. 



J. Collins Warren. 



