A TRIBUTE TO THE MEMORY OF DR. JOHN RUSSELL QUINAN. By the kindness of Mr. Allen B. Quinan, of Baltimore, I have the melancholy pleasure of presenting a photograph likeness of his lamented father, Dr. John Russell Quinan, lately deceased, an honorary member, and a good and true friend, of our Society. I cannot allow the occasion to pass without giving a sketch of his useful and honorable life. Dr. John Russell Quinan was a great grandson of Dr. Thomas Quinan, of Dublin, whose third child, Michael, of County Waterford, was Dr. John Russell's grand-father. Thomas Henry Quinan, the doctor's father, was the eldest son of Michael and his wife Amynta, and was born in 1795 at Balbriggan, Ireland. He received a good education, and in 1817 married Eliza Hamilton in Dublin, Soon after their marriage they emigrated to the United States. settling in Philadelphia, where he opened a female seminary. He afterwards conducted a similar institution successively in Reading, Lancaster, Chambersburg, Alleghany City, Louisville and Cincinnati. He next studied divinity under the late Bishop McIlvane, and, after taking priest's orders, assumed charge of a church in the Western Reserve of Ohio. He was next called successively to Sandusky, Georgetown and Baltimore, first as assistant to Rev. Dr. Wyatt, and afterwards of Rev. Dr. Johns, of Christ church, and lastly to the Church of the Evangelists, in Philadelphia, where he officiated for many years and built up a large congregation. He next removed to Baltimore, where he was chosen Superintendent of the Maryland Bible House, which he faithfully served for nineteen years, when the burden of old age compelled him to resign. He died October 4, 1874. His fifth child, Dr. John Russell Quinan, was born in Lancaster, August 7, 1822. He was educated partly at home and afterwards at Woodward High School (now college), Cincinnati, and at Marietta College, Ohio. He studied medicine under the late Prof. John K. Mitchell, of Jefferson Medical College, graduating M.D. at that institution in March, 1844. Soon after receiving his medical degree he married Elizabeth Lydia Billingsley, and removed to Maryland, settling in Calvert county, where he was in active practice until 1860, when he was appointed to the only political office he ever filled, the superintendency of the public schools, which he held for five years. This office he accepted at the solicitation of the people generally, and at a great sacrifice of his interests; for, being resolved to give his undivided attention to the work, which called loudly for reform, it necessitated the temporary abandonment of his professional labors. He introduced many reforms into the educational method then in vogue, and gave great impetus to public instruction in the county. He virtually transformed his home into a teacher's institute, and, as a necessary result of it all, he was at the end of his term a much poorer man, for which, however, the consciousness of having materially improved the school system, must have been a moral compensation of no little value to a man of his generous impulses and public-spirited views. In 1865 he resumed the duties of his profession, and two years after removed to Baltimore, where he was in active practice until his death. In 1879 he became a member of the Medical and Chirurgical Faculty of Maryland, and during the next few years was on several important committees. In 1884 he was chosen VicePresident of the Faculty, and two years later its President. He was also a member of the Baltimore Medical Society, of the Clini. cal Society of Baltimore, of the Historical and Political Science Association of Johns Hopkins University, of the Microscopical Society of Baltimore, and, as you all know, an honorary member of the Harford Historical Society. During his professional career he found time to write many works. His literary record, as far as medicine is concerned, embraces : Non-Identity of Croup and Diphtheria (read before the Baltimore Medical Association and published by their request in the Maryland Medical Journal, Baltimore, August 8, pp. 211-289, 1878); The Uræmic Theory, ibid 7, pp. 193-198, 217-224, 1880); Historical Study of the Invention and Publication of the English Midwifery Forceps, ibid 8, pp. 292-296, 1881; Biographical Sketch of George Buchanan, M.D., Trans Medical, and Chirur. Faculty of Maryland for 1881; Remarks on Presenting to the Faculty the Diplomas of John Archer, M.A., donated by Dr. George W. Archer, ibid, 1881. (This medical diploma was the first ever issued in America); The Introduction of Inoculation and Vaccination into Maryland, Historically Considered (read before the Baltimore Medical Association), ibid, June 29-30, 1883; Illustrations of Medicine in "Ye Olden Time," Inquests and Autopsies ibid, May 26 and September 1, 1883; Juries of Matrons, ibid, July 21, 1883; Medical Fees, ibid, September 22, 1883; Drs. Alexander Hamilton and Upton Scott. and the Tuesday Club, ibid, August 4, 1883; Comments on Dr. Gees' Address on Literature of Children's Diseases ibid, December 1, 1883; The Medical Annals of Baltimore from 1608, Including Events, Men and Literature; to which are added a subject Index and Record of Public Services, Baltimore, 1884. (This work was prepared by request of the Medical and Chirurgical Faculty. The book, as a work of original and painstaking research, speaks for itself, but only men who, like yourself, have done much historical work, can appreciate the amount of labor such a work involves. Dr. Quinan accomplished it at great sacrifice of his interests, abandoning almost entirely his practice for its sake, and sparing no expense in reaching original authorities. After its publication he thought to enlarge it into a Medical Annals of Maryland, and he had copy interleaved with thin sheets of paper for additional notes. His lack of means prevented him from hastening the work, but he never abandoned the idea. Here before me is the copy I speak of, with enough additional material to cover, perhaps, a volume onethird the size of the original work); Physicians' Bills, Preference Claims, ibid, March 6, 1886; The Chartered Rights of the Medical and Chirurgical Faculty of Maryland, being the President's address, April, 1886; Some Books which all Physicians should Read, December 11, 1886; The Toner Collection, ibid, September 11, 1886; Bleeding for Pneumonia, Medical and Surgical Reporter, Philadelphia, August 2, 1890. His works were published in the form of books, essays and magazine articles relating, with few exceptions, directly or indirectly to his own profession or its members. Suffice it to say that they do credit to his indefatigable research and mental penetration. His "Medical Annals of Baltimore," an octavo volume of 575 pp., is a monument of his unwearied diligence. It was published by the Medical and Chirurgical Faculty. and the Committee of Publication say truly of the work: "This remarkable compilation, which has no parallel in medical literature, is the result of many years of labor. * Every physician and the * * |