MEMORIAL OF DR. JOSEPH M. TONER. 



By Ainsworth R. Spoffoed. 



Among the mauy familiar faces which we have been wont to see 

 gathered in the scientific, literary, and professional assemblies of 

 Washington, there has been no more striking or familiar presence than 

 that of Dr. Joseph M. Toner. Cast physically in a frame of ample 

 mold, with broad, full features, and a massive bald head, his mobile 

 countenance ever ready to relax into a smile, he was a man of marked 

 and engaging and impressive personality. 



In attempting to summarize, however briefly aud imperfectly, some 

 estimate of our late associate, of his mental characteristics, and of the 

 work which he has done in the world, we may view him in various 

 aspects. We may consider him, first of all, as a student and investi- 

 gator. He had from very early years a notable zeal for knowledge, 

 and this, unlike the experience of many men who become absorbed in 

 professional routine, may be said to have grown with him through life. 

 Born in 1825 of good old Pennsylvania farmer's stock, the slender 

 intellectual advantages of his boyhood were supplemented by a course 

 of one year at the Western Pennsylvania University and two years at 

 St. Mary's College, in Maryland. Choosing the medical profession for 

 a career, he spent two years at two medical colleges, one in Vermont 

 and the other, Jefferson Medical College, at Philadelphia, taking his 

 degree of doctor of medicine from each. These studious years gave 

 him a considerable knowledge of medical and hygienic literature, and 

 after a brief residence at Harpers Ferry in the practice of his pro- 

 fession, he removed to Washington for a wider field in the year 1855. 

 Here he at once entered upon a practice which became extensive in a 

 very few years. But his habits of mind gave him so strong a bent 

 toward scientific, historical, and literary pursuits that he almost wholly 

 relinquished the active practice of his profession during the later years 

 of his life, prescribing only for the families of a few friends. 



Dr. Toner had some admirable qualities in matters of research. His 

 perceptive faculties were quick, his grasp of principles firm, and his 

 devotion to truth was paramount. He weighed evidence and authori- 

 ties with care, and was often known to change his judgment formed on 

 first impressions upon maturer investigation. At the same time, he 



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