Page:American Medical Biographies - Kelly, Burrage.djvu/1119

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NAME
1097
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STERNBERG 1097 STEUART As a pioneer in America, not only in bac- teriological investigations, but in the publica- tion of text-books on bacteriology. Dr. Stern- berg deserves appreciation. In 1880 he trans- lated from the French the work of Dr. Antoine Magnin, and enlarged it and brought it up to date in 1884. In 1892 he pubHshed his "Manual of Bacteriology," -it being revised and reissued under the title of a "Text-Book of Bacteriology," four years later. He was skilful at making photomicrographs and often illustrated his publications with his own work, thus showing to the American medical profession in 1881 one of the earliest photographs of the tubercle bacillus, in 1885 Laveran's Plasmodium, and in 1886 the typhoid bacillus. He printed a book on the art of making photomicrographs in 1884. Other books from his pen are "Malaria and Malarial Diseases," "Immunity. Protective Inoculations in In- fectious Diseases and Serum Therapy," pub- lished in New York in 189S, and "Infection and Immunity, with Special Reference to the Prevention of Infectious Diseases," 1903. A monument to Dr. Sternberg is the Army Medical School which he established while surgeon-general. As characteristic of the in- dustry and perseverance of this self-made man it is to be noted that he learned the French language when forty years old and the Ger- man language in two years at the age of fifty- five, that he might be conversant with the latest scientific discoveries then being pub- lished in that tongue. Naturally he belonged to many societies. He had been president of the American Pub- lic Health Association : the American Med- ical Association ; the Association of Military Surgeons of the United States; the Philo- logical Society of Washington ; and the Cosmos Club of Washington. After 1893 he made his home in Washington. The LL. D. degree was conferred on him in 1894 by the University of Michigan, and in 1897 by Brown University. On his seventieth birthday, June 8, 1908, he was honored by a complimentary banquet in Washington attended by one hun- dred and eight guests, including prominent members of the profession of law and medi- cine of the capital. Dr. Sternberg was twice married, his first wife who died of cholera in 1867, after a year of married life, being Maria Louisa Russell, of Cooperstown. His second wife, married in 1869. was Martha L. Pattison of Indianapolis. They had no children. He died at his residence in Washington, November 3, 1915, at the age of seventy-seven. Biog. and Addresses at Compliment Banquet to Genl. G. M. Sternberg, Wash., 1908, Bibliog- raphy and Portrait. Memoir of G. M. Sternberg, M. D., by A. C. Abbott, M. D., in Trans. Coll. of Phys., Phila.. 1910, vol. x.xxviii, pp. Ix-l.Kviii. Steuart, Richard Sprigg (1797-1876) "Richard Sprigg Steuart was of Scotch de- scent, and both his father and grandfather were physicians. He was born in Baltimore November 1, 1797, and was educated at St. Mary's College. He served as aide-de-camp in the battle of North Point in 1814; com- menced the study of medicine with Dr. Wil- liam Donaldson, and was graduated from the University of Maryland Medical School in 1822. He was professor of the practice of medicine in the University, 1843; president of the Medical and Chirurgical Faculty of Mary- land, 1848-1851; vice-president of the Amer- ican Medical Association, 1849; superintend- ent of the Maryland Hospital for the Insane, 1828-1862 and 1869-1876, and founder of Spring Grove Hospital. He died July 13, 1876, aged 78. He was an enlightened phy- sician, a public-spirited citizen and a courteous gentleman. He early adopted advanced views in regard to the insane, to whose relief he devoted his life and means."* It is not known what led him to become interested in the better care of the insane in Maryland, but it is a matter of history that through his insistence in 1828 the state was prevailed upon to enforce its claim for the possession of the old City Hospital which had been erected on ground purchased by the state and later leased by the city to two phy- sicians, who conducted it as a combined city hospital, seaman's hospital and institution for the insane. Although the state was unable to regain its rights in the property until 1834 by reason of the lease. Dr. Steuart had organ- ized a board of visitors from the state at large six years before, and as president of this board he made regular visitations to the institution. He found much neglect and many abuses in its management. He reinained thereafter the responsible chief executive officer of the hospital, and for a period of more than forty years guided its work, al- though not a resident officer until late in his career. He obtained money from the Legis- lature to enlarge and rebuild the hospital and often became personally responsible for its expenses. He arranged for the removal of the institution from Baltimore to Catonsville, •Medical Annals of Baltimore, Past and Present, Quinan, Baltimore, 1885.