Page:American Medical Biographies - Kelly, Burrage.djvu/509

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HAMMOND
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HAND

stitution of a military medical laboratory. In addition he urged the autonomy of the medical department in construction of buildings and transportation of supplies, a measure the full materialization of which is still believed to be essential to the service of the sick in war.

His court-martial left him in great pecuniary embarrassment, and it was only through the courtesy of a professional friend, who raised a purse for his benefit, that he was enabled, pending his ultimate vindication, to go to New York, where he became a noted alienist and lectured upon that subject in the College of Physicians and Surgeons, later in Bellevue Hospital Medical College, the University of the City of New York, and the New Post-Graduate Medical School; of the latter he was one of the founders. He made many original investigations and utilized extensitamesve clinical opportunities for the recognition and development of hitherto unrecorded conditions; but perhaps his description of the disease called by him, and now universally known as "athetosis," is best known.

He wielded a most facile pen, and even when carrying the enormous burden of directing the medical department in the war, found time to produce a comprehensive work on "Military Hygiene." His medical books consist chiefly of works devoted to nervous affections, and of these his treatises on "Diseases of the Nervous System" and "Insanity in its Medical Relations" are the best known. But he is not unknown as a play-writer, and his "Son of Perdition" is thought by some to be the best novel of the Christ ever produced.

From 1867 to 1872 he edited the Quarterly Journal of Physiological Medicine and Medical Jurisprudence; from 1867 to 1869 he was editor of the New York Medical Journal, and later editor and promoter of the Journal of Nervous and Mental Diseases, 1867 to 1883.

In 1878, having acquired an ample fortune and having secured his vindication from, and restoration to, the army, he returned to Washington, where he lived until his death from cardiac failure. During this period he took great interest in the subject of animal extracts, and was largely instrumental in their introduction into professional work.

In addition to the writings named should be mentioned his "Physiological Memoirs," Philadelphia, 1863; "Military Medical and Surgical Essays for the United States Sanitary Commission," Philadelphia, 1864; "A Treatise on Insanity in its Legal Relations," New York, 1883. A yet fuller list can be seen in the Surgeon-General's Catalogue, Washington, D. C.

Encyclop. of Contemporary Biog. of New York, vol. iii, 1883. Portrait.
Symposium by various authors, with complete bibliography and portrait, the Post-graduate, New York, vol. xv.
Pilcher, James Evelyn, Jour. of the Assoc. of Military Surgs. of the United States, 1904, vol. xv (portrait), and The Surg.-gens, of the United States Army, Carlisle, Pennsylvania, 1905. Portrait.
Jour. Amer. Med. Assoc., Chicago, 1900, vol. xxxiv.
Med. News, New York, 1900. vol. lxvi.
Med. Rec., New York, 1900, vol. xv.
Cordell's Hist. of the Univ. of Maryland, 1901. Portrait.

Hand, Daniel Whilldin (1834–1889).

Of English extraction, he was born August 8, 1834, at Cape May Court House, New Jersey, and educated at Lenmont Academy, Norristown, Pennsylvania; the University of Lewisburgh, and studied medicine under Dr. John Wiley, at Cape May Court House, graduating at Pennsylvania University in 1856, one year later settling in St. Paul.

In 1861 the fortunes of war had deprived the First Minnesota of its surgeons; Dr. Hand volunteered promptly as the assistant, and speedily won the confidence and esteem of his associates. He was promoted to be surgeon United States Volunteers the same year. After notable service with the Army of the Potomac in the Peninsular campaign, he filled several appointments as medical director in the department of Virginia in 1863, and in that of North Carolina in 1864–65.

It was while medical director of Newbern, North Carolina, that his ability for organization and administration was put to a crucial test. Yellow fever appeared early in September, 1864. As soon as it was recognized Surg. Hand urged and insisted upon the depopulation of the place, and at the same time instituted a thorough sanitary overhauling of what proved to be a hot-bed of pestilence. Among the white population there were, in less than two months, 705 cases and 288 deaths. Out of the medical staff numbering sixteen eight died of the fever. Just before the close of the epidemic Surg. Hand had a slight attack, but easily recovered. He exhibited a masterly efficiency in great emergency, and a manly courage in the presence of danger and difficulty which won for him as for his fellows there the highest praise. He received official reward by being brevetted lieutenant-colonel of the United States Volunteers.

He was wounded at Fair Oaks in 1862, and in 1863 was captured in a skirmish and sent to Libby Prison. After his release he was on active duty till a few months after the close