ST. JOHN 1014 SALISBURY The zoological specimens which formed tlie basis of his report laid the foundation for the present zoological collection of Michigan Uni- versity Museum. The Sager Herbarium in the University Museum contains 1,200 species and 12,000 specimens. He also prepared and placed in the museum of the medical department a valuable collection illustrating the comparative craniology, neurology and embryology of the vertebrata. From 1842 to 1855 he was pro- fessor of botany and zoology in Michigan University; in 1848 he was made professor of theory and practice of medicine; in 1850 pro- fessor of obstetrics and diseases of women and children— a place occupied till he was made emeritus professor in 1874. He resigned his chair because he disapproved of the actions of the regents in connecting homeopathy with the medical department. For several years before his resignation Dr. Sager was dean of the medical department. In 1852 the Uni- versity gave him the honorary A. M. In 1874 Dr. Sager was elected president of the Michi- gan State Medical Society, and was a mem- ber of the Obstetrical Society of Philadelphia, and the New York State Medical Society. Dr. Sager's success as a teacher was gained in spite of natural defects in the way of an in- ferior physical appearance, an unpleasant voice and a temperament shrinking from pub- licity; the intrinsic merit of his subject matter and the weight of his personal character fixed the attention of his audience. In 1838 he married Sarah E. Dwight, of Detroit, Michigan, and had eight children, five of whom survived him. He died in Ann Arbor, Michigan, August 6, 1877, from phthisis pulmonalis. Many of his papers are to be found in the files of the Peninsular Medical Journal. Leartus Connor. History of the Univ. of Mich., Ann Arbor, The Univ. Press. 1906. Trans. Amer. Med. Asso., Phila., Pa., 187S, vol. xxiv. Trans. Mich. State Med. Soc, Lansing, 1878. Life, Huber, Michigan Alumnus, Feb., 1903. St. John, Samuel (1813-1876) Samuel St. John, an eminent chemist of New York City, was born in New Canaan, Con- necticut. Of his early education there is no information; that it was thorough we know from the fact that he was the valedictorian of his class in Yale College, where he graduated in 1834. The two years succeeding were de- voted to the study of law, and a third to the duties of a tutor in Latin, when a sudden attack of hemoptysis warned him of the neces- sity of rest and a change of climate. Ac- cordingly he traveled for a year in Europe, and immediately upon his return in 1838 was elect- ed to the professorship of chemistry, geology, and mineralogy in the Western Reserve Col- lege, at Hudson, Ohio. In 1851 he was called to the chair of chemistry and medical juris- prudence in the Cleveland Medical College, a position which he filled with eminent success until called in 1857 to the chair of chemistry in the College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York City. This latter position he oc- cupied continuously until his death at New Canaan, in the house in which he was born, September 6, 1876. St. John received no special medical educa- tion, and was never a practising physician, but received the degree of M. D. from three dis- tinct institutions, viz. : the Vermont Medical College, in 1839; the Cleveland Medical Col- lege, in 1851, and the College of Physicians and Surgeons of New York, in 1857. He was like- wise honored with the degree of LL. D. by the Georgetown College of Kentucky. While a man of thorough scientific educa- tion and attainments, Dr. St. John was ex- tremely modest and reserved. Dr. John C. Dalton, (q. v.), his colleague and friend, has described him as "a man whom no breath of suspicion ever touched, and whose integrity was a natural and essential part of his or- ganization." His son. Dr. Samuel B. St. John, became an ophthalmologist in Hartford, Connecticut. Henry E. Handerson. The College of Physicians and Surgeons. New York. A History, edited by John Shrady, 1903. 2 vols. An excellent portrait of Dr. St. John is preserved in the faculty room of the Medical Depart- ment of the Western Reserve University. Salisbury, James Henry (1823-1905) James Henry Salisbury was a zealous micro- scopist, pioneer in the germ theory of disease and early writer in the field of phyto-pathol- ogy, and one who, while making no other note- worthy find, yet often stood on the threshold of many of our most important discoveries; he accomplished everything short of success. He was born at "Evergreen Terrace," Scott, Cortland County, New York, October 13, 1823. Coming of sturdy ancestors, who came over from England about 1644, he was the second son of Nathan Salisbury and Lucretia A. Bab- cock. He had his early education under Sam- uel Woolworth at Homer Academy, in Cort- land County; in 1S46 he received the degree of Bachelor of Natural Sciences at the Rens- selaer Polytechnic Institute; in 1852 that of Master of Arts from Union College; in 1850
