CHAPTER XXXIV 

 EDWARD LIVINGSTON TRUDEAU, M.D. 



PRESIDENT, NATIONAL TUBERCULOSIS ASSOCIATION, FROM IQO4 TO IQO5 



EDWARD LIVINGSTON TRUDEAU was the first presi- 

 dent of the National Tuberculosis Association. He was 

 unanimously elected on June 6, 1904, and on retiring a 

 year later from the office he was made the first honorary member. 

 The outstanding qualities of this great man as a pioneer in sana- 

 torium treatment in the United States, his many contributions 

 to tuberculosis science, and his philanthropic work on behalf of 

 the tuberculous poor and those of moderate means, give him a 

 unique position in the history of the tuberculosis movement in 

 this country. Many biographies have been written of Trudeau, 

 the best perhaps being that of Stephen Chalmers, entitled, "The 

 Beloved Physician Edward Livingston Trudeau." Of greatest 

 interest and value, however, is his autobiography. We shall con- 

 tent ourselves here with a relatively short sketch of the life of 

 this pioneer in the American tuberculosis movement. 



Dr. Edward Livingston Trudeau, son of a prominent practi- 

 tioner in New York, was born in that city October 5, 1848. The 

 father, being of French descent, decided to give his son a thor- 

 ough knowledge of that language, and sent him to Paris to get his 

 preliminary education. There he attended the celebrated Lycee 

 Bonaparte. 



After the completion of his studies in the French capital young 

 Trudeau came back to the United States in 1867, undecided what 

 career to choose. He finally secured an appointment as mid- 

 shipman in the Naval Academy, but remained there a very short 

 time. His brother had become ill, and the disease proved to be 

 tuberculosis. Trudeau's career as a tuberculosis fighter began by 

 his nursing the hopelessly ill brother with that self-sacrifice and 

 devotion characteristic of all the things he did throughout his 



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