MEMOIR OF M.D. ISAAC REMINGTON, M. D. READ BY DR. LITTELL BEFORE THE COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS, THREE years have scarcely elapsed since I read by appointment of the College, a brief memoir of our late associate, Dr. Thomas H. Yardley. Dr. Remington very kindly interested himself in procuring for me some necessary information on that occasion. I now perform the same sad office for him. The frequency of such occurrences, Mr. President-for several others of our number have fallen since that time-is a mournful admonition to pause a moment in our busy and absorbing career, to bring home to our own bosoms the transitoriness of earthly things, and to reflect on the inevitable change which awaits us all; the suddenness of the visitation in several instances, abundantly verifying the declaration of Holy Scripture, that, "At such an hour as ye think not, the Son of MAN cometh." Isaac Remington, the second son of Clement and Sarah Remington, was born at Germantown, on the fifth day of January, 1804. While he was yet a child, his father, returning to the city, purchased, as a convenient situation for his business, a plot of ground on the northwest corner of Vine and Sixth Streets, at that time an open and unimproved Common. On a part of this lot, he erected, in the year 1813, two houses, "in accordance," as his son characteristically remarks, in a brief memoir which he has left of his parents, "with his own views and plans, consulting comfort and convenience, without any regard to useless ornament and display;" and in this immediate locality, residing at his marriage, first on one side, and afterwards on the other, of the paternal mansion, the whole of Dr. Remington's subsequent life was passed. He had some fondness in early boyhood for agricultural pursuits, and actually spent several months in the country with the intention of qualifying himself for the occupation of a farmer; but this idea being relinquished, he returned to his home, and entered the school of Thomas Dugdale, a celebrated classical teacher of that day; under whose tuition he made great progress, especially in the study of Latin; acquiring also a competent knowledge of the Greek and German languages. Having completed his education there, he left the school with a high reputation for sobriety, steadiness, and industry, and, after some time spent in the drug store of his future father-in-law, began the study of Medicine under the direction of the late Dr. Joseph Hartshorne; graduating with distinction at the University of Pennsylvania, in the year 1824. The subject of his Inaugural Thesis was Inflammation. He entered at once upon the practice of his Profession, and married on the first of January, 1828, Lydia, daughter of John Hart, a well known and highly respectable druggist of this city; who bore him twelve children; nine of whom, with their mother and six grand-children, remain to mourn his loss, and cherish the bright example which he has bequeathed. "With secret course which no loud storms annoy, and in the endearments of home, cheered by the society of the estimable partner of his life, and occupied in the training and education of his numerous family, years glided peacefully and imperceptibly away; though not uncheckered by the ills which are inseparable from existence, yet amid perhaps more of substantial comfort and happiness than ordinarily fall to our lot. Dr. Remington was a person of decided and independent character, firm, positive, and resolute in whatever he thought right to do, yet of singular modesty and sobriety; retiring, diffident, undemonstrative, and unpretending in his disposition; carefully avoiding ostentation and parade, and everything likely to draw upon himself the attention of others; and seeking in the quiet discharge of duty the approbation of his own conscience, rather than the praise of men. He mingled little in general society, but lived in an unusual degree within himself; and this he did from no feeling of austerity, or moroseness, or of inability to cope with others-for being "Of manners gentle, of affections mild, In wit a man, simplicity a child," he was well-fitted to bear his part with dignity and propriety in any position in which he might be placed but such a course was deliberately adopted, as well from choice, and as a means of moral discipline, as from a deep conviction of the vanity and unsatisfying nature of mere worldly pursuits and pleasures. The description which he gives of his father, for whom he had great filial regard and veneration, and in whose company, even after his marriage, he was accustomed to spend much of his time, is quite as applicable to himself" He sought to pass through life with reputation and honor, content to enjoy a moderate portion of this world's treasure in quiet simplicity, under a sense of dependence on a gracious Providence for all his blessings." He was remarkably observant of order, regularity, and system; and this trait, which was strikingly displayed in his modes of thought, and in all the affairs of life, he appears to have inherited in no small degree from his mother, whom he unhappily lost at an early age. The Abbe Metastasio is related to have pleasantly said of himself that he dreaded Hell, because it was a place, Ubi nullus ordo, sed sempiternus horror inhabitat; but even his regard for exactness and method, great as it is said to have been, could hardly have surpassed that of our friend. It was apparent alike in the great and the minute. The business of every day was carefully pre-arranged, every contingency anticipated, and everything done, as far as possible, in its appropriate time and place. Plain and frugal in all his ways, he inculcated economy less from necessity-for happily he never felt in any very uncomfortable degree the res angustæ domi—than as a duty in itself, and also as a lesson to his children, whom he taught to avoid waste and extravagance, and to form early habits of thrift and industry. He was strict, yet rigidly just and conscientious in his dealings, complying scrupulously with his own obligations, and requiring others to do likewise. Sincere, reliable, and true, his word was to him a law from which he never swerved; and those among us who have had the pleasure of meeting him in consultation will remember the punctuality with which he always kept his appointments. Guided by principle rather than by policy, he was more solicitous to do what was right than what was expedient. He was honourable and blameless in all the relations of life; kind, humane, courteous, amiable, and obliging; ever prompt to do good to others, to lessen the amount of human suffering and sorrow, and to contribute all that was in his power to promote friendliness, harmony, and good-will among men. Gratitude has been cynically defined to be a lively sense of favours to come, and there is unhappily too much truth in the definition; but that it was in his instance, an abiding recollection of kindness past, the following anecdote, illustrating his innate goodness of heart, will abundantly prove. During the first visitation of the Asiatic cholera in 1832, intelligence was brought to him from the country, that the father and mother of the family in which he resided where he made his first essay in farming, had just died of that disease, and were then lying unburied in the house; that several of the children were dangerously ill; and that those who were still untouched by the Destroyer were in the greatest helplessness and distress;-the panicstricken neighbours being afraid to approach the house, or to render them any assistance. Without pausing a moment to reflect on the probable consequences to himself, he immediately flew to the rescue; procured a nurse for the sick, superintended the burial of the dead, and by his timely and heroic efforts was instrumental in saving the lives of several of the children. His opportune arrival was hailed with delight by the youthful sufferers, and especially by one of the daughters, who, conscious that she was dying, told him that it was too late to do anything for her, but besought him to hasten, while there was yet hope, to the relief of the others. In the early period of his professional career, Dr. Remington was one of the co-editors of the Philadelphia Medical Recorder, a very respectable quarterly Periodical of that day; and discharged the duties which devolved upon him with ability and general acceptation. He was engaged also during several years with the same gentlemen, in a series of winter examinations of Students of the University; and subsequently, during the prevalence of the Epidemic Cholera, was connected with one of the hospitals temporarily established for the reception of those affected with that disease. He was a member of the Philadelphia Medical Society, and of its successor, the Philadelphia County Medical Society, of which he was chosen President for the year 1860; delivering on his retirement from the Chair a very pertinent and excellent Address, of which more particular mention will presently be made. He was also an active member of the Northern Medical Association, and read several interesting papers before that body. He took a lively interest moreover in the Northern Dispensary, and was during many years one of its consulting physicians. He was repeatedly sent as a delegate to the State Medical Society, and represented the Profession also at the first meeting of the American Medical Association held in this city; to which he would, no doubt, have been often re-elected, but that its meetings were generally held far from his home, and more imperative duties detained him there. In the year 1850 he was elected a Fellow of the College of Physicians. In all these reunions with his professional brethren, he bore a very creditable, and even a prominent part. His natural diffidence, and his unwillingness to obtrude himself on their attention unless he had something really interesting and valuable to communicate, prevented him from occupying the floor very frequently; but when he did so, he spoke with pertinency and clearness, and was always heard with deference and respect. Infantile Convulsions, The History and Treatment of Puerperal Fever, Fractures of the Femur, and a Report on the Practice of Medicine for 1851, are titles of several papers read by him before the Northern Medical Association. Before the County Medical Society he read, in 1853, a monograph on the use and abuse of the Lancet; and as Chairman of the Committee to prepare a Report on the Meteorology and Epidemic Diseases of the City and County for 1854, submitted in April of the following year, a very elaborate document, which was adopted by the Society, sent as its contribution to the State Medical Society, and ordered for publication in the Transactions of that body. All these productions are marked by the practical good sense and discriminating judgment which he evinced in whatever he undertook; and are valuable as the recorded experience of a conscientious man and an observant practitioner. With the exception of the paper last mentioned, they were not intended for the press, and a single quotation from the Essay on Venesection is, therefore, all that will be made on the present occasion; merely premising that, unseduced by modern refinements, his practice in the acute Phlegmasiæ was sufficiently vigorous to satisfy any requirement the lancet being promptly and fearlessly employed, as the sheet-anchor of hope, whenever circumstances justified its use. "The question has often been asked why physicians bleed less frequently than formerly, and, if the postulate be admitted, does the change operate favourably in the removal of disease and the preservation of life? This change in practice has been imputed to a variety of causes to a change in the type of disease from a sthenic to an asthenic character, induced by the enervating influence which sedentary pursuits, a life of indolence and fashionable dissipation, exercise over the health, stamina, and morale of many residing in crowded cities,-evils inseparable from a highly civilized state of society; to a more intimate knowledge of the laws of organized life, and their relations and dependencies in a state of health and disease, as developed by the discoveries of Organic Chemistry and Microscopic Anatomy. It has been suggested that the visionary doctrines of non-entities and homeopathic speculations have had their share also in producing this change in practice. We hazard nothing in stating our honest conviction. that many diseases are treated much more successfully now than they were half a century ago. Notwithstanding, Opprobria Medicorum abound at the present day; and Phthisis, Cancer, Cholera, Smallpox, and Yellow Fever, continue to carry off their victims in defiance of the enlarged and improved resources of the healing art. The vast accessions made to medical science by the accumulated experience and wisdom of centuries, have failed to produce the glorious results achieved by the cultivation of some of the other sciences. We have to regret the absence of fixed principles, established laws and rules, which might serve as unerring guides to penetrate the mysterious processes of an animal organism 'fearfully and wonderfully made;' and, after all, it is the practical application of sound medical attainments and principles at the bedside, tested by careful and repeated observation, that forms the school in which the physician is to receive his instruction, and to become properly trained and qualified to minister to the relief of suffering humanity." The Address just referred to as having been delivered on his retirement from the Presidency of the Philadelphia County Medical Society contains many useful precepts and reflections; and is well worthy of perusal as an eloquent exposition of the evils arising from the abuse of alcohol and tobacco, "twin demons of destruction," as he rightly terms them, and also as being, in the outline which he draws of professional character, duties, and qualifications, an unconscious and faithful transcript of the rules and principles which governed his own conduct. He had a just sense of the dignity and value of his Profession, quoting with approbation the apothegm of Cicero-Homines ad Deos nulla re proprius accident quam salutem hominibus dando; and that he did not lightly estimate its requirements and responsibilities, is evident from the importance which he justly attaches to high mental endowments expanded and disciplined by a liberal and classical education, as preliminary to its study; as well as from the elevated standard of moral and professional attainment which he advocates. "Indeed," he observes, "we are safe in declaring, that in order to master its intricacies and arrive at eminence, there is no occupation that demands more strength of mind, a higher degree of cultivation, or more varied talents for its successful prosecution. We have to treat with an organism of the most delicate structure and intricate mechanism, regulated by laws over which we can exercise but a limited control, and subject to changes and morbid alterations under the influence of causes operating from within and from without; but all requiring to be most carefully studied and investigated. "The accomplished physician renders all nature tributary to his science; he observes the weather and change of season as successively developed in the revolving year; he calculates the effect of temperature, and its variations in dryness and humidity; he studies atmospherical changes and their varied combinations with miasmatic and pestiferous exhalations, in causing epidemics. From all which sources he derives valuable aid in supplying materials for the improvement of his art." * * * * "It is the physician's peculiar privilege to enter the abodes of sorrow, penury and disease; to be an eye-witness of the calm and quiet resignation with which his patient, prostrate on the sick and weary couch, contemplates his approaching end. The good physician having experienced the love of GOD shed abroad in his heart, and his spirit clothed with the mantle of peace, is enabled to impart its joyful and benign influences to the aching heart, and to pour out comfort and consolation in visions of unmingled bliss. He is also summoned, in the exercise of his art, to attend at the bedside of the rich, the wise, and the great; who when the last hour of change and trial arrives, are prepared through the visitations of Divine Grace to admit the emptiness and vanity of all earthly grandeur, honour, and enjoyments, and to confess their utter insufficiency to afford true peace and consolation at the closing scene." Repelling as unfounded and unjust the imputation not unfrequently cast upon the Profession, of infidelity and skepticism, he goes on to remark: One of the most convincing proofs of the Divine origin of man, is derived from the study and functions of the living body. The nice adaptation |