Page:A cyclopedia of American medical biography vol. 1.djvu/261

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CABOT 1

being strongly evinced when he, as he said, "was the occasion of carrying the settlements at least fifty miles to the westward, when no other man would attempt it." A scientific man and a reader, he had a large library and con- stantly added to it the latest medical books. A good churchman and a warden, he was, nevertheless, a dear lover of fine horses and kept a good stable which he himself looked after, and was always ready to risk a small stake on one of his horses.

He was twice married, his second wife being Mrs. Margaret Meredith, whom he married in 1762. By his first wife he had a daughter and five sons, all of whom, except the fifth, who died young, were prominent citizens of the colony.

His health began to fail in 1772, and after a long illness, he died on the twelfth of April, 1774. R. M. S.

The Cabells and their kin. Alex. Brown.

Cabot, Samuel (1815-1885).

Samuel Cabot was born in Boston September 20, 1815, the son of Samuel and Elizabeth (Perkins) Cabot, and grand- son of Thomas Handasyd Perkins, a merchant of the seventeenth century.

He graduated from Harvard College in 1836 and from the Harvard Medical School in 1839, afterwards studying abroad from 1839-1841, being a fellow student of Neiaton in the wards of Velpeau and also studying under Louis. At the urgent request of his father, Dr. Cabot made investigation of the homeopathic system of therapeutics in the wards of Hahnemann, the founder of homeopathy. Animated by the exad scientific spirit that he had acquired under Louis, he found much to criticise in the lnose diagnostic methods in the Homeopathic Hospital, and was not converted to homeopathy as his father had hoped.

1 >r. ( labot was a widely known ornithol- ogist and collected birds throughout his boyhood and early professional life. In the autumn of 1841 he went as ornithologist with the Stevens Exploring Expedition


3 CABOT

to Yucatan. The year spent in investi- gating the ruins of the older civilization in Central America was full of interest. The people of Yucatan, learning that he was a surgeon, flocked to him for opera- tions and he had as patients many of the leading people of the country. He returned from this expedition in 1S42 with a valuable collection of birds and notes on the birds of Yucatan, many of which were first described by him. For some years he was curator of the Boston Natural History Society, although in those days his own collection of birds was considerably larger than that of the society.

June 19, 1S44, Dr. Cabot married Hannah Lowell Jackson, and had eight children.

He was one of the early opponents of negro slavery, and aiming to do practical work in limiting its spread, he joined the Emigrant Aid Society, of which he became secretary. He was for four years in close touch with the emigrants in Kansas and during the days of border warfare sup- plied the settlers with rifles bought by subscription.

During the Civil War he was sent twice on special missions to the army. At the request of Gov. Andrew he served as a volunteer surgeon at Camp Winfield Scott near Yorktown in April and May, 1862. He returned north with a ship load of those wounded at the battle of Williamsburg, and in 1SC3 he went as inspector of army hospitals along the Atlantic seaboard.

According to the fashion of those days he had a general practice, although his interests were surgical, and he was visiting surgeon at the Massachusetts General Hospital from 1S53-1884. Winn antiseptic methods were introduced he was nearly sixty, but still young enough to enthusiastically adopt them. As a result he had the first two successful ovariotomies in the record of the Massa- General Hospital, and thus ushered in the era of abdominal surgery .'it t 1 1 ; 1 1 institution.

Dr. Cabot died in Boston April 13,