August 19, 1904.] 



SCIENCE. 



239 



medical articles won prizes. He was soon 

 known throughout the state and became an 

 active and prominent member of the state 

 medical society. 



In 1845 Dr. Davis was a prime mover 

 and chairman of a committee to call a 

 national convention of delegates from med- 

 ical societies and medical schools of the 

 different states to meet in New York. From 

 this developed the American Medical As- 

 sociation, the National Medical Society 

 of our country, in which he justly took 

 great pride, and which in turn revered 

 him as its founder and chief org-anizer and 

 most hearty supporter. 



Through his early work in this broad 

 organization he became yet more widely 

 known. 



In 1847 he engaged in practice in New 

 York city and, in his medical alma mater, 

 began his long career as a teacher. Two 

 years later he accepted the chair of physi- 

 ology and general pathology in Rush Medi- 

 cal College of Chicago. In 1859 the med- 

 ical department of Lind University— later 

 the Chicago Medical College, and at pres- 

 ent the medical department of North- 

 western University — was organized with 

 the express object of establishing a graded 

 course of medical instruction. At that 

 time no medical college in the country had 

 a graded curriculum and the enterprise in 

 hand was epoch-making. Dr. Davis was 

 invited to take the chair corresponding to 

 the one he held at Rush, which, after en- 

 deavoring in vain to persuade his col- 

 leagues to commit themselves to the graded 

 system, he accepted, and took his seat in the 

 faculty of the new college, where he re- 

 mained until the time of his death. During 

 many years he was the chief of the med- 

 ical department and the dean of the fac- 

 ulty. During the last years of his life he 

 retired from active service, but retained 

 his connection with the school as emeritus 

 dean and professor of the principles and 



practice of medicine and clinical medicine. 



In supporting this new departure in 

 medical teaching he followed his precon- 

 ceived ideas. As early as 1843 he had 

 earnestly advocated higher standards of 

 professional qualifications for the practice 

 of medicine in an address befcre the New 

 York State Medical Society, and this op- 

 portunity to put his convictions into prac- 

 tice was eagerly seized, and the steady up- 

 building of the new school Avas a vital part 

 of his life work and that of his colleagues. 



Dr. Davis's interests and activities were 

 by no means confined to the field of medi- 

 cine. He was one of the initiative factors 

 of the Chicago Academy of Sciences, of the 

 Chicago Historical Society, of the Illinois 

 State Microscopical Society, of Northwest- 

 ern University, and of the Union College 

 of Law, of which faculty he was a member, 

 filling the chair of medical jurisprudence. 

 He was also one of the founders of the 

 Illinois State Medical Society. 



During all his life he was a warm friend 

 and a strong supporter of the cause of tem- 

 perance, and one of the founders of the 

 Washington Home. 



In addition to his many duties he was 

 a prolific writer and contributed much with 

 his pen to guide professional thought and 

 mold public opinion. He was for many 

 years editor of the Northwestern Medical 

 Journal. He afterwards edited the Jour- 

 nal of the American Medical Association 

 from 1883 to 1889, a task arduous in itself, 

 but for which he found time amid the many 

 other calls upon his strength and energies. 



In 1887 he took an active part in prepar- 

 ing for the International Medical Congress 

 to be held in Washington, D. C, and 

 was at first secretary general and later 

 president of the executive committee. 



None except those with him at that time 

 can realize the enormous amount of work 

 entailed upon him by the many simultane- 

 ous duties in his various capacities of medi- 



