Oliver D. Norton. 47 



the study of Latin. He also had access to an excellent private 

 library and received much instruction and encouragement from 

 its owner, the Rev. Vinson Gould, in his classical and scientific 

 studies. At nineteen he taught school a part of the year, con- 

 tinuing his own studies during the remainder. Two years 

 later he entered Williston's Seminary at Easthampton to pre- 

 pare for college, but soon determined on the study of medicine. 

 Instead of going to college, he entered the office of Drs. Barrett 

 &. Thompson, at Northampton, and remained with them nearly 

 four years. While attending medical lectures he supported him- 

 self by teaching a part of the time in the Boys' High School. 

 He was graduated from the Berkshire Medical College, at 

 Pittsfield, Mass., in 1845. He remained in the East but one 

 year and removed to Cincinnati in 1846. He found here, in 

 the profession, such men as Drake, Lacke, Blackman, Shot- 

 well and the elder Mussey, and to his credit be it said he 

 carried forward the high standard of medical ethics which 

 had been handed down to him by that illustrious group. It 

 was not long before he was a conspicuous figure in the medical 

 history of Cincinnati. The epidemic of cholera which broke 

 out in 1849 brought him into prominence. During the Civil 

 War, from April, 1862, until the last of May, 1865, he was 

 under contract with the Government as Medical Officer of 

 Cincinnati. His services entitled him to a commission, and 

 one would have been issued to him had he consented to accept 

 it. In the early part of his service he was placed in charge of 

 the steamer Tycoon, fitted out under the direction of the Cin- 

 cinnati Branch of the U. S. Sanitary Commission, and directed 

 to proceed to Pittsburg Landing and other points on the Ten- 

 nessee River, and receive such sick and wounded soldiers as 

 belonged north of the Ohio River and east of Indiana, and 

 bring them to Cincinnati. Hundreds of soldiers were thus 

 brought here by him and cared for in the local hospital. 



Early in his professional life he joined the American Medi- 

 cal Association, and for forty years did not miss one of its 



5. 



