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Howard University, will spend five months as a civilianscientist with the U. S. Naval Medical Research UnitNo. 3 in Egypt and the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, in astudy of the role of arthroped vectors in the transmissionof diseases in the Middle East. Dr. Briscoe is assignedto the divisions of parasitology and medical entomologyof the Naval Unit. During World War II, Dr. Briscoespent considerable time on military duty in Liberia,where he pursued a number of scientific studies whichserve as excellent background for his present assignment.

DR. JOHN B. JOHNSON, professor and head of the De-partment of Medicine in Howard University, was guestlecturer at the "Summer School" sponsored annually bythe Columbia Broadcasting Company for children of10-14 years of age, on July 23 in Philadelphia, Pa. Thetelevision broadcast was made directly from the outdoorschool which is held on the grounds of TV StationWCAU. Dr. Johnson's lecture illustrated with demon-strations was on "Man's Conquest of Disease." This wasone in the series of discussions on the general theme ofthe school for 1953. "Man's Conquests."

DR. T. WILKINs DAVIS (M.D., Howard, '45), assist-ant professor of radiology in Howard University hasannounced the opening of offices for practice limited toradiology at 1114 W Street, N.W., Washington 9, D. C.,suite 4.

DR. ROBERT E. LEE (M.D., Howard, '4) has an-nounced the opening of his office for the practice ofgeneral surgery at 3435 Bennig Road, N.E., Washington19, D. C.The India Association of Chicago, Illinois, entertained

at a Indian style dinner party in honor of DR. ULYSSESGRANT DAILEY on July 12 in the Assembly Hall at theInternation House. Dr. Dailey spoke informally on "Im-pressions on India with Special Reference to Progress inthe Medical Field."

HISTORYO Y

DR. DANIEL HALE WILLIAMS, whose portrait on thecover of this issue of the Journal was drawn by ourstaff artist, Mrs. Naida Willette Page, is one of themost outstanding medical figures the American Negrohas produced. He was long famed as the first physicianto operate on the human heart and received the significantrecognition of being the only Negro to be admitted tothe American College of Surgeons at the time of itsformation in 1913. His cardiac operation was actually asuturing of the pericardium performed in 1893 andreported in print in 1897. Miss Helen Buckley of NewYork, who undertook a biography of Dr. Williams be-cause of the potential public interest in the fact that aNegro doctor was the first to perform a surgical proce-dure on the heart or its sac, deprived him of this priority.Her careftul research discovered two cases which ante-dated Dr. Williams' by some months. Her publishers

thereupon regrettably lost interest and her book hasnever appeared.

Dr. Williams' distinction, however, loses no lustrebecause his priority in the cardiac matter has beenerased and racial bars in the American College of Sur-geons have been removed. This permits the focus ofattention solely upon his great contributions as a giftedsurgeon, a pioneer in the establishment of hospitals andnurse training schools, a skillful administrator and in-novator, and a clinical teacher. His unquestioned ability,his integrity and his social vision caused him to beacknowledged, even by those not particularly friendly, thegreatest Negro doctor of his day. In personality he wasill adapted for both the rough and tumble and thenuances of the several political elements which inevitablyobtruded upon his professional career. Consequently, hislife was marked by much outward strife and inner dis-content.Dan Williams is eminently worthy of serious bio-

graphical study. The sketches which have appeared havebeen either limited in data,' length2 or scope,' or elseobviously biased in attitude.4 It is certain that objectiveappraisal of either the man or his contributions wouldhave been difficult to obtain from his contemporaries.This is true today with respect to those who werefamiliar with his milieu. The late Dr. Numa P. G.Adams, when dean of Howard Medical School, afterconsiderable effort located Dr. Williams poorly markedgrave in a Chicago cemetery. He tried for a time toarouse interest in erecting a suitable memorial, but tothe writer's knowledge, nothing came of this. Some ofDr. Williams surgical instruments, a diploma and otherincunabula are on display in a case in the lobby ofChicago's Provident Hospital, which he founded. Onlythe Daniel Hale Williams Medical Reading Club ofWashington, D. C., a socio-scientific organization, pre-serves his name in professional circles. It is of collateralinterest that the current and long-time president of thisClub is Dr. John W. Lawlah, a former superintendentof Provident Hospital. A man so unusual as Dr. Williamsdeserves much better of posterity.The writer does not know the contents of Miss Buck-

ley's biography, but he is aware of the pains to whichshe went in gathering material for it. It is unlikely thatshe would have been given a contract by a first-ratepublisher in the absence of convincing evidence ofher ability to produce a work of the proper scholarship.Since this book has been written, therefore, it would beindeed tragic if some auspices, Negro professional orotherwise, could not be found to publish it.

Daniel Hale Williams was born in Hollidaysburg,Pennsylvania, January 18, 1858, the sixth of seven chil-dren of Daniel and Sarah Price Williams.2 Concerninghis earliest years, there is frank and irreconcilable dis-crepancy between the accounts of Dailey2 and Bous-field,4 both of whom were Chicago physicians who knewDr. Williams and were intimately familiar with thehistorical development of Provident Hospital there. Daileystates that young Dan attended school at his birthplaceand later at Annapolis and Baltimore, Maryland, follow-

380 JOURNAL OF THE NATIONAL MEDICAL ASSOCIATION SEPTENfBER, 1953

ing which the "family" moved to Janesville, Wisconsin.Bousfield says that somehow his mother brought himto Janesville, Wisconsin, as a ragged urchin of fiveand abandoned him in the home of the Charles Ander-sons, where she had been taken in for shelter, afterwhich nothing was ever heard from Sarah Williamsagain.* Obviously one of these accounts is wrong.There is no doubt that the Williamses were at one

time located in the Annapolis-Baltimore area. One ofDr. Williams sisters, Miss Alice Williams, was thewriter's kindergarten teacher in Washington and as shepassed his home on the way to school, at his parents re-quest she allowed him to walk to school with her everymorning. Hence he knew and remembers her very wellindeed. Another sister, Miss Bessie Williams, was aseamstress in Freedmen's Hospital from the writer's earlychildhood until shortly before her death in the thir-ties(?). The writer's father, now eighty-four, knew Dr.Williams and both sisters, and the community impressionwas that there were more children than these three andthat these Williamses came from somewhere near Wash-ington. This is compatible with the association Daileymakes with Annapolis and Baltimore.

Miss Alice Williams, the writer's teacher, was a personof marked ability, culture and refinement and of thehighest moral character. She reflected excellent back-ground and training. Her sister of humbler station, whilenot as well educated was well mannered and highlyrespected. This remained true when the writer was aninterne at Freedmen's in 1929-30.

These facts indicate that Dan was by no means whatwe would consider an abandoned waif. In the uncer-tainties and tensions of that Civil War period, the familymight easily have been disrupted and Dan brought toWisconsin alone by his mother, at an age which needsconfirmation. Certainly, significant facts are missingabout a period of early childhood which was of greatimportance in the formation of Dr. Williams' char-acter.

However, Dan was carried as a child to Janesville,Wisconsin, a small town about thirteen miles from theIllinois state line, where he lived with the only coloredfamily in town, the Andersons, until 1880. It seemsthat they were a remarkable family.4 They reared threechildren of their own, one of whom became a leadingdentist in St. Louis, another a successful physician inChicago, while the third was a hospital administrator,newspaper editor and poet. In addition to Dr. Williams,they also had as a protege, Dr. Charles E. Bentley, whobecame an outstanding dentist and civic leader in Chi-cago.4

In Janesville young Dan attended first the JanesvilleHigh School (1873) and later Hare's Academy (1877).1He studied law for a year2 and played the bass violin a well known band of his foster father4 until hecame under the influence of local physician, Dr. HenryPalmer, a Civil War veteran who had been a Major and

* Dailey gives 1856 as the hirthdlate and Farmer and(1 Bous-field 1858. The A.MNI.A. Directory says 18.58. Dailey spellsthe mother's tiame "Sarah" and(l Bousfield "Sara."

Surgeon of Volunteers. Encouraged by Mr. Andersonhe then decided to study medicine and served two yearsas an apprentice in Dr. Palmer's office (1878-80). In thelatter year he entered Chicago Medical College, now themedical school of Northwestern University, on theadvice of his preceptor' and financed by the Andersons.4He received the M.D. from Northwestern in 1883 and

served a year's interneship in Mercy Hospital in Chicago,a Catholic institution which John B. Murphy was mak-ing famous. Following this he entered practice in Chicagoand was straightway appointed surgeon to the South SideDispensary and Demonstrator of Anatomy at North-western Medical School. He numbered among his pupilsthere many who later became leaders in the profession.In 1887 Dr. Williams was appointed a member ofthe Illinois State Board of Health and reappointed in1891. In that same year, only eight years after his gradua-tion from medical school, he founded the ProvidentHospital at 29th and Dearborn Streets. This is said tohave been the first real hospital in the U-nited States tobe operated by Negroes.*As significant a step as the establishment of the hospi-

tal was that of the school of nursing set-up in connectionwith it. There were few colored nurses in those days andthe existing schools in Chicago would not admit Negroapplicants. Dr. Williams interested many wealthy andinfluential white personages5 of the city in the venturewhich was Provident Hospital. Among them were GeorgeM. Pullman, Phillip D. Armour, George Webster, Mar-shall Field, J. Ogden Armour, Cyrus H. McCormick, andPotter Palmer. The staff was composed of both white andNegro physicians and the patients were largely white.As colored interns were seldom available most of thesewere white for a period of fifteen years and a whitesuperintendent of nurses was in charge until after 1909,when the hospital was still being used as a teachingunit of Northwestern Medical School.

Dr. Williams entered medical school as a new erain surgery was beginning. Billings, Franklin H. Martin,Charles S. Bacon and E. Wyllis Andrews were amongthe men in school with him.2 His preceptor, Dr. HenryPalmer, was appointed professor of operative surgery,clinical surgery and surgical pathology on the first facultyof the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Chicagowhen this was established in 1881. In 1900 this insti-tution became the College of Medicine of the Uni-versity of Illinois.'

Having had the best training available at the time,reinforced by a thorough foundation in anatomy acquiredduring his teaching service at Northwestern, Dr. Wil-liams became an exemplary surgeon under the stimulusof the atmosphere at the time and the brilliant associateswith whom he had contact. Dailey says that, "his surgi-cal work was marked by profound anatomical knowledge,a thorough understanding of physiology, normal andpathological, and an uncanny surgical judgment. Althoughmuch of his work was done in the amphitheatre, he

This widely accepted claimi may have to undergo somerevision accord;ng to data in the editor's lian(ls wvhicli hehas not yet hiad time to investigate thoroughly.

VOL. 45, No. 5 Medical History 381

never lost sight of the supreme interest of the patient,in an appeal to the spectacular. As an operator, his at-tention to technical detail was meticulous. He was themethodical, rather than the virtuose type of surgeon."2He was already an operator of surpassing skill when in1893, ten years out of medical school, he performed theprocedure which immediately brought him internationalfame. This acclaim was achieved through the public pressas he did not report the operation until 1897 when itwas described in the New York Medical Record forthat year under the title "Stab Wound of the Heart andPericardium-Suture of the Pericardium. Suture of thePericardium, Recovery-Patient Alive Three YearsAfterward."

In 1949 the writer, through the courtesy of the lateDr. Carl G. Roberts, was able to reproduce in the Bulle-tin of the Medico-Chirurgical Society of the District ofColumbia") a facsimile of the newspaper article in theDaily Inter Ocean for Saturday morning, July 22, 1893.The caption of the article read as follows: SEWED UPHIS HEART-Remarkable Surgical Operation on aColored Man-At Provident Hospital-Dr. WilliamsPerforms an Astonishing Feat-A Puncture in the VitalOrgan Exposed and Dressed with Success." The accountfills two columns in the newspaper and contains a com-plete description. It also gives due praise to ProvidentHospital, its staff and work. A statement in the articleis worth quoting here.

Dr. \V!illiamiis, the clhief surgeon, sai(d yester(lday that he antihiis assistanits were sometimiies calle(d oni to l)erfornl difficultoperations whichi would tlot have beeni attempted itn anly lios-pital teni years ago, andl success crownied their efforts inaIlIost every case. For the beniefit of the uninformed, thesefacts in regartd to the a(lvancement of the colored race alongtlhe litnes of educationi anti( science ought to be l)ublislled faraln(I widle.

The article was an ideal example of clinical reporting.In January 1945, the writer, as secretary of the Daniel HaleWilliams Reading Club, which was organized in 1929,presented verbatim mimeographed copies of Williams'report to each member of the Club. This was love's laborlost. A year afterward hardly one could be located. Dr.Williams stated that he did not report the case soonerbecause of illness at about the time of the patient's re-covery and the change of duties to his position at Freed-men's Hospital. With the patient alive three and one-half years afterward, he stated that as the catalogueand index medicus of the Surgeon-General's library didnot give a single title descriptive of the pericardiumor the heart, he felt that it was desirable to record thecase. There was also an acknowledgement to Dr. DanielSmith Lamb, pathologist of the Army Medical Museumand professor of anatomy at Howard Medical School,through whose courtesy Dr. Williams had examined allthe specimens of pericardium and heart wounds inthe Museum. In none of these had there been any historyof operation.

Until Miss Buckley's negating finding, Dr. Williams'priority for the cardiac operation was not contested butgencrally ignored. In 1935 a particularly pointed rejec-

tion of Williams' claim was sharply and successfullychallenged by Dr. Charles H. Garvin of Cleveland, cur-rently a member of the Editorial Board of the Journal.Dr. Garvin received an affirmation of the dates of Wil-liams' operation and publication from Major Edgar Er-skine Hume, librarian of the Army Medical Library.This was amplified in a subsequent letter from Dr. Humeto Dr. John A. Kenney confirming the priority. Theentire matter was fully reported by Dr. Kenney in aneditorial in this Journal in November 1935.6 Dr. Kenneywas even at pains to check and re-confirm the facts by apersonal search in the Surgeon General's Library in 1943.7

Dr. Williams' patient in this case was not only livingthree years after the operation but survived for fiftyyears. We are told he died in 1943, having out-lived hissurgeon by twelve years. The late Dr. Frederick D.Stubbs of Philadelphia examined him forty-seven yearsafter the operation and published photographs clearlyshowing the scar, in this Journal.8

In 1893 Dr. Williams went to Washington as Surgeon-in-Chief of Freedmen's Hospital, by appointment ofPresident Grover Cleveland. He remained in this postuntil 1898, when it was made politically untenable forhim. At Freedmen's he made some of his most importantcontributions and he left the institution in large measurea monument to his efforts.He effected a complete reorganization of the surgical

services and established a nursing school. But let us nowtake our story in part from an eye-witness, Dr. WilliamA. Warfield, Sr., one of the men whom Dr. Williamstrained, who was later himself to serve as Surgeon-in-Chief of Freedmen's for thirty-five years. In a letter toDr. John A. Kenney in 19419 Dr. Warfield wrote:

Before Dr. 1). H. WN'illiams caine to the hospital, in 1894.there was nio real surgical departmetnt. I was at the hospitalthree years before Dr. NV'illiams and witnessed most of thesurgical work, suclh as amputations of the thigh, leg, footnlnd toes. Herniotomy, occasionally. Other surgical work onihydrocele, lhetmlorrhoi(ds, fisttula in ano. strictture of the urethraaind lacerated wounids; (lislocations anld a few fractures, aboutcovered the field.

In those days the field of operation was slprayed with aweak solution of carbolic acid and the ligatures in the caseof an amlputation were left long enouglt to hanig out of thelower end of the wound to rot off. WN'e bleard much of"laudable pus," and there was much of it.

Slhortly after the arrival of Dr. WN illiamiis a sterilizer wasprovided in this way. A wash-boiler, a miietal strip full ofmany one incit lioles to rest on iron blocks about six incliesfrom its bottom to keel) the materials to be sterilized abovewater. Fractionial sterilizationi was in vogue. Two hours thefirst day, onle hour the second day anid onie half the tliird(lay. Later the steamii sterilizer came. It can be said thatsurgical dlevelol)ment began with the arrival of Dr. XVilliams.in all forms esp)ecially ad(lominal. That is where I got mystart and inspiration.

I recall that Dr. Robert Reyburn wlio was the firstSiurgeoni-in-Chief of the hospital came into the operating roomwhen Dr. WN'illiams was performing anl abdominal operation,anti remarked with much joy that the "time had at lastarrived wlhen it is p)ossible to penetrate the abdomen withoutfear." At first the amputated stuml) was lheld on the outsideof tlhe abdlominal wvall by imeanls of two skewers penetratingthe stuml) crosswvise.

The poor patient was kept flat oni lier back 21 days. The

382 JOURNAL OF THE NATIONAL MEDICAL ASSOCIATION SEPTEMBER, 1953

dressings were clhangedl daily, and the stump finally dried orrotted off. Ere long all this changed and many advances made.

1)r. Williams was lprogressive. He visited Jolhns Hopkinshospital frequently, anid it was my goo(d fortune to accompanyIiim, where he foun( l)rs. Kelly, Halstead, Young and othersvery helpful.

Dr. Williams established a training school for nurses, re-placing the old red bandanna nurse. He al)pointed the firstinterns and hrouglit into existence a horse ambulance. Hewas layinig the foun(lation for more and better surgical work.By the time lie left the hospital, in 1897 a great imlpetus hadbeen given to all branches of surgery, excelt brain. I wasparticularly fond of abdominal work and was greatly en-couragecl by )r. WN'illiams. I never missed an opportunity.As an example of opinion which did not approve of

Dr. Williams, a paragraph may be cited from a letterwritten by his predecessor, Dr. Charles Burleigh Purvis,in 1908 to Mr. Wilbur P. Thirkield, president of HowardUniversity, to orient the latter gentleman on the historyof Freedmen's Hospital.10

I held the position. for over thirteen years when I wasremiioved by the Secretary of the Interior, MIr. Hoke Smith,of Georgia, for political reasons. A d(emocrat was appointedto succeed me. This was the first time the institutioni wasmade a plolitical one. Argumiient, and the fact that it wastransferred from the WNar Department to the Department ofthe Inlterior by the influence of the relpresentatives of HowardUniversity, had no effect. The claims of the university wereignored. The niew Surgeon-in-Chief caused imiuch trouble aslie lpersistently souglht to force himself inito the faculty ofthe college to be a lprofessor of surgery and made it quiteclear that unless his ambitioni was gratified the college couldn-ot expect very maniy a(lvantages or favors from the hospital.He was not equilplpedl for the work of a teacher in anzy sense.He was arbitrary. anid wilfully lie (hestroyed a trainingschool for tnurses establishe(d by the college and starte(daniother. He served four years an(d was succee(led by a Dr.Curtis.We cannot enter here upon the obviously bitter ele-

ments contributing to this strong expression of sentiment.The record, however, belies Dr. Purvis' allegation thatDr. Williams was not equipped to be a teacher. Theevidence is all to the contrary, as we shall see. No oneanywhere at any time denied Dr. Williams' ability. If itbe true, as is probable, that he desired faculty status inHoward Medical School, this was certainly a reasonableexpectation as all the other superintendents of Freed-men's from Reyburn on, and including Purvis, had suchstatus. One senses tacit conspiracy against Williams.A noteworthy measure by Dr. Williams at Freedmen's

to establish public confidence in the Negro surgeon wasthe operations which he opened for the public to watch.31In those days people had not become accustomed to Negrodoctors and did not trust them thoroughly. This wasespecially true in the case of the Negro surgeon. ManyNegro patients dreaded to cross the threshold of anyhospital. Often the mere thought of an operation tendedto strike terror into the heart of a patient and the rela-tives, and the approachi of medical attendants wouldprovoke screams.

Dr. Williams took the boldest and most thorough-going step possible for one who would combat thisirrational fear. He threw open the doors of his operatingroom once a week to the public and said in effect, "Comewatch us work, observe conditions and see for yourselfthat there is nothing to be afraid of."

It required courage thus to thrust aside convention.Only confidence would invite critical public inspection ofthe equipment, arrangements, routine and decorum inthe operating room. Surgical performance before allcomers under definitely adverse circumstances bespeaksa cool competence which none ever dared deny.

For a number of Sunday afternoons at two o'clock,it was the privilege of any layman interested to watch askilled Negro surgical team at work. The operationswere performed in the amphitheater which had beenbuilt on to the rear of the old medical building. Thisbuilding housed the Howard University medical, dental,and pharmaceutical schools, and the hospital adminis-trative offices and internes. The patients were broughtthrough a closed passageway from and to one of theadjacent frame hospital buildings. This surgical amphi-theater was later used as the anatomical theater untilthe new medical building was opened in 1927. Whenthe old building was remodeled, the site of Dr. Williams'historic experiment became part of the present dentalinfirmary.

It was not to be expected that so startling an innova-tion as public operations would fail to arouse powerfulopposition. This opposition, indeed, appears eventuallyto have forced an end to what can now be interpretedas a noble and far-sighted effort in public education.As to the objections to Dr. Williams' measure that

it involved an invasion of the right of the patient toprivacy, and that it constituted unethical self-advertise-ment, it may be answered first, that except for thesmall aperture in the sheets over the site of incision, thereis practically no exposure of a patient prepared formajor operation. The patient is not recognizable to spec-tators. On the other hand, a layman should be greatlyimpressed with the professional dignity and extreme carefor the patient which marks any properly conductedoperation. No brief need be made for public operationsas a general practice, but it must be admitted that Dr.Williams took the most direct and forceful means possi-ble to destroy the public fear he faced. The charge ofself-aggrandizement is petty, secondary and impossible ofverification, but if it could be proved true, it would notdetract from the fact of an excellence which invited thecritical attention of all comers.

Unfortunately, we do not have any statement of theobjectives of the open surgical amphitheater by Dr. Wil-liams himself, nor a comprehensive account of the re-actions produced. It is to be hoped that biographic re-search may bring to light something of value in thisconnection. The few local witnesses available of anyof these operations report the surgeon to have been acareful, undemonstrative worker of few words, who im-pressed with his competence.

Details of the opposition also are not at hand. It issaid that the performance of a curettage at one of theopen periods was severely critized as improper, and thatthe superintendent of nurses and operating room nursesfinally refused to cooperate, bringing the series to aclose. Available evidence is inadequate for appraisal of

VOL. 45, No. 5 Medical History 383

these aspects of the case. Basic issues are often becloudedby secondary considerations.We know that Dr. Williams faced a problem in secur-

ing routine observance of proper discipline and decorumamong the personnel of Freedmen's Hospital. One ofmeasures he used to inculcate in personnel the properself-respect and dignity was uniforms for the internes,which had to be worn at all times when on duty. Thesewere of dark blue color, with a white arm band bearinga red cross. They have been shown in photographs inthis Journal.1l, 9

We do not have the particulars of the circumstanceswhich caused Dr. Williams to relinquish his post atFreedmen's. He was succeeded by a surgeon he hadhelped train, Dr. Austin Maurice Curtis, late professor ofsurgery in Howard Medical School.

From Freedmen's Dr. Williams returned to Chicago,but there was no room for him in Provident Hospital,the institution which he had founded. A surgeon ofcontrasting personality, Dr. George Cleveland Hall, wasfirmly in the saddle. Dr. Hall was said to have been asuave politician, friend of Booker T. Washington, aleader in the Urban League, clever diplomat and one whomade friends easily and fought enemies ruthlessly. Hewas also a good surgeon with keen diagnostic ability.There seems unanimous agreement among commenta-

tors that Dr. Williams shunned a fight, not that hewas disturbed by the dangers of combat but that hissense of the right and that merit should carry its owncase made controversy abhorrent to him.

In 1899 he began a memorable teaching experience.He was visited by Dr. George W. Hubbard, presidentof Meharry Medical College, who invited him to holdsurgical clinics at Meharry. Shortly afterward he met Dr.Charles V. Roman of Meharry who tipped the balancesin favor of acceptance of the invitation.'2 Dr. Romancalled Dr. Williams "the bright and morning star in thefirmament of surgery," and stated that his acceptance ofthis first invitation to come to Meharry was a "momentousevent in the history of Meharry and a crucial turn in thecareer of the author (Roman) ." The annual WilliamsClinics at Meharry were continued for many years andeach was considered the great event of the school year.In addition to Dr. Roman, Dr. Williams worked withDr. Robert Fulton Boyd, first president of the NationalMedical Association, on these occasions. These operativeclinics were held in the Mercy Hospital in Nashville.

Dr. John A. Kenney met Dan Williams in 1903 atthe Convention of the National Medical Association inNashville. Here Kenney read a paper on "Shock" which,so impressed Dr. Williams that he invited Kenney to behis anesthetist for operations at that session. The ar-rangement was so satisfactory that Dr. Williams arrangedwith Meharry for Dr. Kenney to spend a week there eaclhyear to administer his anesthetics for the patients in hisoperative cliniCS. 3

At about the time of his first visit to Meharry, whichappointed him visiting clinical professor of surgery, Dr.Williams was invited to the Knoxville Medical College

in Knoxville, Tennessee, which was established in 1895.It is implied that he may have been in residence therefor a time.' This institution conferred upon him thetitle of professor of theory and practice of medicine andclinical medicine and director of bacteriological labora-tory. He read his first published paper in Knoxvillebefore the East Tennessee Medical Society on the treat-ment of retroverted uterus.From 1900 to 1906 Dr. Williams was an attending

surgeon at the Cook County Hospital in Chicago. Herehe worked on the service of Dr. Christian Fenger, thegreat pathologist surgeon to whose inspiration and work,Dailey says, all of that generation of surgeons in themiddle west bore testimony. Dr. Williams was a greatadmirer of Fenger and from the anecdotes and quotationsin his clinical lectures, Fenger's influence was clear andapparent.2From 1912 until his death, Dr. Williams was associate

attending surgeon at St. Luke's Hospital, one of Chicago'slargest, wealthiest and most important hospitals.2 Astime went on the breach between him and the authoritiesin control of Provident Hospital widened. According tothe late Dr. Carl G. Roberts, as told to Dr. John W.Lawlah, he severed relations completely after a socialincident. One evening there was a ladies entertainmentat the home of Dr. George C. Hall, which Mrs. Williamsattended. Dr. Williams called for his wife and the doorwas opened by Dr. Hall. Instead of inviting his fellowsurgeon in, Dr. Hall told him to wait at the door, hiswife would be with him in a minute. This was toomuch for Dr. Williams who thereafter withdrew moreand more from social contacts and pursued his surgicalwork almost exclusively at St. Luke's.While in Washington, Dr. Williams met and married

Miss Alice Johnson, a school teacher. It was a verylhappy marriage from which there were no children. Mrs.Williams preceded him in death by several years.

Something of what Dan Williams personality was likemay be gleaned from the published statements of two con-temporaries who knew him well. Bousfield4 wrote:

After D)an W'illiams graduate(d in m1e(licine, lie never hladaniiotlher single initerest in life. He save(d Iiis money and lputit into Providenit Hospital alonig witlh otlhers. He had great(letermiiinatiotn anid great conifidenice in himiiself. He had theniatural dexterity to imiake a surgeoni, and( lie woul(d operateall (lay lonig oil all kinds of cases witlhout exception, pay ornlo pay. So single-tracked w as lhis mind that lie couldl nlotbiegin to cope with inietical politics. He hlad no stomnachl fora figlit-lie alwvays gave away before tlhat-twice at Providentanidh once at Free(dmiietn's. He ma(le few close frienids, if aiiyat all, excel)t Feinger. He was onice expelled frolmi a fraternialorganiization at the very lhey (lay of lhis success. He ha(d noa(hiiiirers in the Aniderson famiiily, wvlicli lie seems to lhaveforgotten promptly after lie got out of sclhool. His wife wvasthe onie fine thing inl his life. They imiainitainied a (quietlyeleganit lhomiie, with a Swedish niai(l. whlo serveth themii vellfor years. and(I it was a real treat to miieet and receive thegracious courtesy of 'Mrs. WN'illiamiis. Even D)an woul(d loseimiuchl of hiis preoccupation and boorishness before lher. Butlie (Irew nmore an(d iiiore within himliself and seemiied to hiaveiio interest in formiier associates onice lie miiove(d inito iiew

surroundings. No imiani ever miiade less effort to iiiake frienids.In 1909 I visite(d himin to ask ahout going to Freedniieni's as

aii intern. He told miie that lie would ratlher see a boy of hlisselling, newvsp)aiers oni the street. I wveit aiiysvav, aiid D)an

384 JOURNAL OF THE NATIONAL MEDICAL ASSOCIATION SEPTEMBER, 1953

was wrong. He ha(d had ani unfortuniate administrative ex-perience and tnotlhing about the place suited him.He drove ani electric cabriolet, one of those glisteninig

glassed-in show cases wlhich have entirely disappeared witlthe development of high-speed motors, but when it rained,I)an came down town on the street car. Quite early in life,perhaps because he had no children of his own, he began toask plarents to name a child for himii. He would then lpromptlyforget all about it. In one inistance, closely related to such afamily, he went on a two-montlh's vacationi. W\'hen lie cameback after this brief initerlude, Dan called his grown-ulpnamesake "Johni." John, now a miian of fifty or more, hasniever forgiven him and is generally not known to have beenichristened Daniel Hale. He uses the initials 1). H., but allhis friends know Iitin by quite another name of his ownchoice.

Making money nlever was a maini initerest with DanWN'illiams. He toured the country teachiing surgery whereverlie had a chance. He started as a denionstrator of anatomyat Northwestern, but finally gave much more time to avisiting clinical professorship} at MIeharry. He was constantlyattending a great number of medical meetings all over theSouth, and was much adiiiired as a teacher. He cared fornothing else. His wife died first, and as there were nochildren he left whatever estate lie possessed to the CatholicC(hurch for the repose of his restless and disgruntled soul.

Different impressions will be obtained from the com-ments of Dailey2 who was a better qualified observer:

Like all great men, Dr. WN'illiams was a iiian of strongitndividuality. He was ne-erthieless modest and retiring, almosttimnid at times. Occupying an entirely unique pilace in theNegro pirofession, lie was perhaps sensitive to his piosition.His highi rating in the surgical world broughit him unusualcontacts, social and otherwise, with his white confreres, someof whiclh were higlhly agreeable; others brought those meaniutmiliations which characterize the color situation in thiscountry. These facts had much to do with a certain over-setnsitiveness and bitterness of spsirit whiclh developed in thelater years of his life. But lie was remarkably self-containe(l.anld consistently strove to live above petty jealousies antibickerings; and he did not allow the acid incidents of lifeto doniinate his character. In spite of his reserve, lie hadstrong convictions. and( maintained themii courageously. Tohis friends he was loyalty itself. 'Many of his friendshipseIi(lure(l for forty years antI imiore. 'Mutual loyalty and de-votion miiarked his imiarital life.

From what hias been sai(l, it is o0)b-ious that he was a medicalmissioniary, a veritable Aloses to the Negro profession. Heetijoyed to plhase of his busy life niiore than his annual tripsto the South spreading highi scientific and ethical ideals ofpsrofessional work, to say nothilng of the priceless henefitsof his skill to the sufferinig. It may be truly said that lie hada han(d in the making of imiost of the active negro surgeonsof the piresent day: Curtis. WVarfield, Hale, WN'ilberforce \Wil-liams, Stewart, Kenney, J)ailey, to name oinly a few. Al-though lie never boasted of it, it was a source of lride tohim, and as one who was fairly close to hiim for a period ofnearly twenity years, I believe lie considered this his mostvaluable contribution to hiis day and getneration.

In another place Dailey14 wrote:l)r. WN'illiams' practice knew no bounds of color, and for

matiy years he had, in a(ldition to that at Proviident, a largeprivate service at the St. Luke's Hospital. 'More imnportantthan Ihis vast surgical practice, his contributionis to imiedicalscience, and his honors. was lhis role as inspiration an(liiie(lical missionary to ani entire profession. \\'lien l)r. 'Nil-liams began piractice, an(d for many years after, lie stoodalonie as a surgeon. Maiiy a Negro boy in the nineties an(dthe early ninteteen hutndre(ds, owves to the iiaiiie Daniel H.

Williams, his insl)iration and encouragemenit to study medi-cine. For a quarter of a century Dr. Williams made pil-grimages as lecturer and operator to the annual meetings ofthe Negro medical societies of the South and to the MeharryMedical College at Nashville. Here he not only taughtscientific medicinie an(d surgery by precept and example, butencouraged the founding of hospitals and training schools.His greatest lpride was that, directly or indirectly, he had ahand in the making of most of the outstatnding Negrosurgeons of the current generation.

In 1909 Wilberforce University conferred the honorarydegree of LL.D. upon him and in 1925 Howard Uni-versity granted him an honorary M.S. It would seemthat this was a very meager recognition on the part ofthe University to which he contributed so much throughFreedmen's Hospital.

Dr. Williams died in August 1931 at his summer homein Idlewild, Michigan, at the age of seventy-three. Hehad been diabetic. The writer has unverified informationthat Dr. Williams did not, as one source4 stated, leaveall his money to the Catholic Church, but left significantbequests in securities to Meharry and Howard MedicalSchools. The securities were rendered worthless by theDepression, so that nothing was heard about the legacies.The writer is keenly aware of the inadequacy of this

account, but it does present more information on Dr.Williams than has hitherto been assembled in any singletribute. From what has been here set down there shouldbe no doubt in any reader's mind that Dr. Williamsdeserves the attention of the full biography which MissBuckley has written and much greater recognition thanhas yet been accorded his memory.

W. MONTAGUE COBB

PUBLICATIONS OF DR. W'ILLIAMIS

1. The Treatment of the Retroverted Uterus with SpecialReference to the Value of 'Massage and the Author'sApplication of the Uterine Respiratory 'Movement. Ann.Gynaec & Paediatry, 6, No. 12, 1893.

2. Stab Wvoun(l of the Heart and Pericardiunm: Suture ofthe Pericardium, Recovery-Patient Alive Three YearsAfterwards. Med. Rec., 51:437, 1897.

3. Ovarian Cysts in Colored Women with Notes on RelativeFre(luency of Fibromata in Both Cells. Phila. Med.Jour.. 6:1244, 1900. (See also Chicago Med. Rec. for1897).

4. Anl Unusual Case of Fibromata Molluscuni. Phila. AMed.Jour. 5:404, 1900.

.. T'he Need of Hospitals an(d Training Schools forColored People of the South. Nat. Hosl. Rec., April,1900, Detroit.

6. A Report of two Cases of Caesarean Sectioni UnpositiveInidications with Terminationi in Recovery. Am. J. Obst.(Gyn., 42:315, 1901.

7. Penetrating Wounds of Chest, Perforating the Diaphragman(l Inivolvinig the Abdominal Viscera. Anni. Surg. 40:675,1904.

8. Unusually Large Pyosalpinx. !Surg. Gyn. Obst., 22:741,1916.

9. The -Malingerer. N.Y.M.j., 103:673-720, 1916.

LITERATURE CITED

1. FARMER, H. Daniel Hale Williams, M.D., LL.D.,F.A.C.S. Ann. Med. Hist. 3s 1:252-259, 1939.

VOL. 45, No. ) Sep/emnber, 1953 385

2. DAILEY, U. G. Daniel Hale Williams, M.D., LL.D.,F.A.C.S. J. N. M. A., 23-173-175, 1931.

3. COBB, W. M. Daniel Hale Williams-Pioneer andInnovator. J. N. M. A., 34:158-159, 1944.

4. BOUSFIELD, M. 0. An Account of Physicians ofColor in the United States. Bull. Hist. Med., 17:61-84, 1945.

5. Facsimile of Contemporary Press Report of Peri-cardial Suture by Dr. D. H. Williams. Bull. Med.Soc. Dist. of Col., v. 6, No. 7, p. 11, Nov., 1949.

6. KENNEY, J. A. Dr. Daniel Williams Takes Priorityin Successful Operation for Stab Wound of HumanHeart. (Editorial). J. N. M. A., 27:162-163, 1935.

7. KENNEY, J. A. Priority for Suture of the Heart(Editorial). J. N. M. A., 35:171-172, 1943.

8. STUBBS, F. D. The Fundamental Physiologic Con-cepts Underlying Major Surgery of the Chest. J. N.M. A., 35:1, 1943.

9. COBB, W. M. William Alonza Warfield, 1866-1951.J. N. M. A., 44-206-219, 1952.

10. COBB, W. M. Charles Burleigh Purvis, 1842-1929.J. N. M. A., 45:79-82, 1953.

11. COBB, W. M. Internes of Freedmen's Hospital,1897-98. J. N. M. A., 43:68-69, 1951.

12. ROMAN, C. V. History of Meharry Medical College.Sunday School Publishing Board of the NationalBaptist Convention, Inc., pp. 52, 71, 73, 1934.

13. COBB, W. M. John Andrew Kenney, M.D., 1874-1950, J. N. M. A., 42-175-177, 1950.

14. DAILEY. U. G. The Negro in Medicine, J. N. M. A.,34:118-119, 1942.

-N M-A AUTHORS

LANDMAN, G. S. and F. D. HENDRICKS. S. R. TAGGART,and A. B. GREAVES: Treatment of Granuloma In-guinale with Intramuscular Chloramphenicol inAmbulatory Patients. Amer. J. of Syph. Gon. andVen. Dis., 36:515-518, 1952.

KELLY, V. C. and R. B. SCOTT: Incidence of Pinwormand Ascaris Infestation in Negro Children in theWashington Area. Medical Annals of the Districtof Columbia, 22:351-352, 1953.

ANNOUNCEMENTSThe 39thi annual CLINICAI. CONGRESS of tile AMERICAN COL-

LEGE OF SURGEON S Will )e lilel(l in Clhicago. Illinois, October 5through 9, 1953. D)R. 1AUL R. HAWILEY of Chiicago is D)irectorof the College.

-BOOK REVIEWS

STUDIES IN VISUAL OPTICS by Joseph I. Pascal, B.S.,M.A., O.D., M.D., Licentiate in Optometry and in Medi-cine by the University of the State of New York; Direc-tor of Eye Department, Stuyvesant Polyclinic; AttendingOphthalmologist, New York Polyclinic Medical Schooland Hospital, Outpatient Department; Lecturer inOphthalmology, New York Polyclinic Medical Schooland Hospital. Illustrated. C. V. Mosby Co., St. Louis,1952. 800 pp. $12.50.This technical treatise of 46 chapters and an appendix

is a book for the professional ophthalmologist and op-tometrist. It is a very thorough treatise. Beginning withthe optical characteristics of simple lenses and prisms ittakes up in regular course all of the complex problemsinvolved in understanding refraction phenomena in thehuman eye and the deviations and errors which requiretreatment. The mathematics essential to understandingthe subjects presented is regularly introduced, but nomore is used than is necessary. The volume is very ade-quately illustrated and would seem a comprehensivereference for those who are working in this field andfor the slow absorption of the general practitioner whohas always intended to improve his understanding ofbuman optics but never got around to it.

SURGERY OF THE OBLIQUE MUSCLES OF THE EYE byWalter H. Fink, M.D., Minneapolis, Minnesota. Illus-trated the C. V. Mosby Company, St. Louis, 1951. 350pp. $8.75.

This is a very lucid well illustrated and practical trea-tise on the limited subject of surgical correction of thetwo most important of the six extrinsic muscles of theeye. The book is in two parts of which the first, com-prising nearly half the book, deals with the anatomy ofthe oblique muscles, and the second, with the manage-ment of oblique muscle defects. Separate chapters dealrespectively with the embryology, comparative anatomy,microscopic anatomy and developmental analysis of theoblique muscles taken together. The gross anatomy andclinical anatomy of the superior and inferior obliques areeach considered in four separate chapters. There is agood historical account of surgery of the oblique muscles.Their physiology is described in detail and the frequency,etiology and diagnosis of oblique muscle defects isthoroughly set forth Surgical indications and techniquesare fully explained.

J. MELLER OPHTHALMIC SURGERY, Sixth Edition Re-vised and Enlarged by Professor Dr. J. Bock with a sup-plement by K. Kofler. Translated and Edited by RayK. Daily, M.D., F.A.C.S. and Louis Daily, Jr., B.S.,M.D., Ph.D. (Ophth.), F.A.C.S. The Blakiston Co.,New York, 1953. xii+529 pp. $12.00.The sixth edition of the German classic by Dr. Meller,

former professor of ophthalmology at the University ofVienna, is an extensive revision by Dr. J. Bock, head