20 TRANSACTIONS OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 



Dr. David Meredith Reese entered a section of the profession 

 where a good partisan was welcome, and he was soon established 

 in a large and lucrative practice. 



In the spring of 1861, at his house in Union Square, Dr. Reese 

 sat, alternately in his easy chair and his bed, laboring, in the 

 intervals of acute suffering, to prepare for the press his last num- 

 ber of the American Medical Gazette. The obscure disease, 

 which had been long growing upon him, he believed was mas- 

 tered, as often as he obtained relief, for it left his appetite unim- 

 paired, and his vital powers quite strong. 



His medical friends were divided in their views of his prospect 

 for recovery. 



Some, who had been present at his first appearance in the city, 

 were charmed with the fervid eloquence of his conversation on 

 topics of passing interest in the social and medical world ; and in 

 a moment they would be disheartened at seeing him thrown into 

 fearful anguish. But, as often as he got relief, he showed the 

 same indications of strength, and cherished the unwavering con- 

 fidence of his recovery. And up to the last hour he cherished 

 the same hope. The last tiling he wrote was an apology to the 

 readers of his Magazine, promising to set all right the next 

 month. 



Thus closed the long and too active life of a man, whose genius 

 qualified and impelled him to a great variety of labors, in any 

 one of which he might have gained a high reputation and a com- 

 petent fortune. His life deserves a memorial : not only as a 

 record of what was well done, but also as suggestive of what 

 more might have been done by attempting less. 



Dr. Reese, (his medical brethren being judges,) was a good 

 physician. At the bed-side, where suffering drew out the gentle- 

 ness of his nature, his penetration and sagacity had full play in 

 finding out the causes of disease, and his full knowledge of reme- 

 dial treatment rendered him ingenious to find a cure. 



He justly regarded disease as an enemy, which had stolen into 

 the world, and might gradually be expelled. Wherever he heard 

 of disease he was ready to go ; and therefore he was eminently 

 the physician of the poor. In the chambers of poverty, where 

 all the surroundings were discouragements, he gained those 

 untold and unrewarded triumphs over disease, which push back 

 the pressure of evil from our race, give joy to despairing fami- 

 lies, lengthen human life, and advance the civilization of a people. 



