WALTER REED." 

 A Memoir. 



By Walter D. McCaw. 



It in given to but few scientific men to lav bare a secret of nature 

 materially affecting the prosperity of nations and the lives, fortunes, 

 and happiness of thousands. Fewer still succeed in so quickly con- 

 vincing brother scientists and men in authority of the truth of their 

 discoveries, that their own eyes behold the glorious result of their 

 labor. 



Of the fifty-one years of Walter Reed's industrious, blameless life, 

 twelve only were spent in the study of the special branch of science 

 in which he became famous, but his name now stands with those of 

 Jenner, Lister, and Morton as among the benefactors of humanity. 



Walter Reed was born in Gloucester County, Va., September 13, 

 1851, the son of the Rev. Lemuel Sutton Reed and Pharaba AVhite, 

 his wife. 



The circumstances of his family were modest, and some of the 

 years of his boyhood were spent in a nuich-troubled section of the 

 South during the great civil war. lie acquired, however, a good 

 jireliminarv education, and at an age when most boys are still 

 in the sclioolroom, he began the study of medicine at the University 

 of Virginia, graduating as M. D. in 18()8, when only 17 years old. 



A second medical degree Avas received later from Bellevue Medical 

 College, New York, and then came terms of service in the Brooklyn 

 City Hospital and the City Hospital, Blaclrwells Island. 



Before the age of 21, Reed was a district physician in Xew York 

 City, and at 22 one of the five inspectors of the board of health of 

 Brooklyn. 



He entered the Army of the TTnited States as assistant surgeon 

 with the rank of first lieutenant in 1875. and for the next eighteen 

 years, with the usual varving fortunes of a vouug medical officer of 



a Published by Waltei" Reed Memorial Association. I!t(i4. and rcinintod l)y per- 

 mission. 



549 



