MEMORIAL OF DR. JOSEPH M. TONER. 639 



material he went laboriously through the nine folio volumes of Force's 

 American Archives, all the histories of the Revolutionary period, mili- 

 tary journals, and personal memoirs, and medical and periodical publi- 

 cations without number. The result was seen in his volume entitled 

 "The Medical Men of the Revolution," containing- sketches of the lives 

 and services of nearly twelve hundred physicians and surgeons, an 

 invaluable compilation, which is highly regarded by the profession. 

 He also wrote a "Necrology of the Physicians of the Late War," and 

 " Statistics of the Public Health Associations of the United States." 



Dr. Toner at one time made a special study of epidemics, collecting 

 every book and pamphlet on which he could lay hands, and he pub- 

 lished the results of his studies in several pamphlets on cholera, small- 

 pox, inoculation, vaccination, and yellow fever. One of bis contribu- 

 tions to hygienic literature w,as "Free parks and camping grounds in 

 summer for the children of the poor in large cities," a pamphlet twice 

 printed, which urges in forcible style the merits of that charity which 

 has organized the "fresh-air funds" in so many cities, and which consti- 

 tutes one of the best and most useful forms of practical beneficence. 

 One of his incidental contributions to history was "Notes on the burn- 

 ing of theaters and public halls," (1876), occasioned doubtless by the 

 burning of the National Theater in this city. This publication em- 

 bodies a long and melancholy chronicle of the conflagration of buildings 

 devoted to public assemblies, so often fatal to human life, enforcing the 

 lesson which is never learned, that the sole safety of the community 

 lies in building public edifices fireproof in every part. 



In the later years of his life the zeal and energy of Dr. Toner's active 

 mind were largely concentrated upon one subject — the writings and the 

 military and civil career of George Washington. To this he devoted 

 money and time almost literally without stint. The fruits of his Wash- 

 iugtonian researches, which have been embodied in permanent form, 

 comprise more than a dozen books and pamphlets, besides numerous 

 articles in historical and literary magazines and in newspapers. Among 

 the latter were " Wills of the American ancestors of George Washing- 

 ton," in the New England Genealogical Register (1891); "George 

 Washington as an inventor and promoter of theuseful arts," published in 

 the memorial volume of the Centenary Celebration of the Patent System 

 in the United States in 1891; "Washington's neighbors;" "Thehomeof 

 Washington;" "Excerpts from the account books of George Washing- 

 ton; " Washington's youth and early career;" "Kith and kin of Wash- 

 ington," and "Some account of George Washington's library and manu- 

 script records, and their dispersion from Mount Vernon," issued by the 

 American Historical Association as a part of its annual papers for 1893. 

 The latter furnishes the only systematic account ever published of the 

 remarkable history of the Washington manuscripts, widely scattered 

 as they are, and it is of permanent value. Besides his own contributions 

 illustrative of the personal and public history of Washington, his char- 



