Henry Hartshorne

“ Wood's retired position in his later life may have debarred him from a close acquaintance with that pressure of facts in regard to the effects of intemperance in our own and other countries, which, with the evidence that the limitation which he urged cannot be anywhere extensively carried out, has brought many cautious minds in our time to conclude, that, to control what seems, next to war, the chief destroyer of modern nations, no prohibition, no personal or general sacrifice can be too great. ”

“ Wood's embarkation upon his last journey abroad, in 1860, a farewell public dinner was given him by the members of the medical profession in Philadelphia, in testimony of their high respect, esteem and affection. The venerable and distinguished Dr. La Roche presided. The occasion was one of unusual interest. No physician in Philadelphia was ever more, if ever one so much, looked up to by those of all ranks and ages, as truly the head, the patriarch [2] of the medical profession in America. ”

“ George B. Wood may be named as one who, in the main features, and, indeed, in almost every particular of his career, has left an example worthy of admiration and emulation. It will be acknowledged by the least enthusiastic of his friends and associates, that he was one of the most useful men of his generation.
He was born at Greenwich, in New Jersey, in the year 1797. His own memoranda of his ancestry are not devoid of historical interest in connection with the early settlement of this city, as well as that of our neighboring State. ”

“ Others might easily obtain more admiration for their eloquence; no lecturer in the University was ever more effective, in conveying instruction and information to his classes. Especially in the abundance and excellence of the illustrations accompanying his lectures, he was in advance of almost all his contemporaries. [6]
In Dr. Wood's style as a writer, the same qualities of clearness and correctness were constantly manifested. If to any author, in science, philosophy, forensic or general literature, the term faultless may be applied, it may be to him. ”

“ George B. Wood was the eldest son of Richard and Elizabeth Bacon Wood. At twelve years of age, his earnest desire for a liberal education was gratified by his father sending him to school in New York. When sufficiently prepared, he was transferred to the University of Pennsylvania, where he was graduated, with honors, in 1815.
Of his early life I have obtained but little particular account, beyond what is preserved in his own manuscripts. These show a very active mind, more alive with imagination and sentiment than would have been supposed by those acquainted only with his later labors. ”

“ Both of these appointments may be regarded as not only altogether appropriate on account of the high individual merits of those who received them, but, also, as evincing a recognition of the relation of the medical profession to the general advancement of science, to which medical men here, as elsewhere, have rendered such large and numerous contributions; besides exemplifying, in their own vocation, the principle that science lives and works most fitly, not for its own intellectual aims alone, but also for the common benefit of humanity. ”

“ They look forward to the time, when, through the agency of causes brought to bear upon the people of India by their present political relations, they will have become enlightened, refined, elevated in sentiment and conduct; when the adoption of a pure religion will have cleansed away the moral foulness which now corrupts every spring of action ”

“ There is added, also, as a supplement, an Address on the British East India Empire, which was delivered by Professor Wood before the Athenian Institute of Philadelphia, January 23d, 1839. From the latter, we may take, as bearing upon a topic whose interest to the world at large is increasing every year, the following concluding reflections:
"But," it is there written, "the fortunes of India and Great Britain are not to be forever united. The English themselves, even those who have labored most assiduously in the consolidation of the Indian Empire, look forward to an ultimate separation. ”

“ So patriotic a man could not fail to be much moved by these events; and his Journal has many pages filled with reflections upon them, and the expression of his anxious solicitude for his country during its perils. There is interest in these expressions, as those of a sagacious man, looking forward as well as backward, at the career of this great Republic, then passing through its ordeal of fire. In 1861, he was, with others, much exercised about the possibility, at one time threatening, of Great Britain interfering to the advantage of the Secessionists. ”

“ Wood's vigor, which slowly, and almost insensibly, proceeded, until his decease in the Spring of 1879.
In 1847, before his transfer to the Professorship of Practice of Medicine in the University, he published his great treatise, in two volumes, on the Practice of Medicine. This was at once recognized, at home and abroad, as an authoritative work. It became a favorite text-book for students, not only in this country, but also in Great Britain. The time-honored University of Edinburgh was one of several foreign medical schools in which it was officially approved and adopted. ”

“ Wood kept in his possession a deed, signed by the agent of William Penn, who acted as executor of John Fenwick, conveying a lot of ground forming a part of his Greenwich farm.
In each generation, the heads of this family in New Jersey have been men of consideration and local distinction. Richard Wood, the father of the subject of this memoir, was a man of superior mind and strong character, much respected by all who knew him. He was described by an acquaintance, speaking of him to Dr. Wood, as "a prince of a man." He married twice. ”

“ Should a public servant dare to propose a dishonorable application of it to your own wants or necessities, frown him into that contempt which every pander merits. If injury has accrued from former neglect, do all that you can to remedy the past and to guard the future. ”

“ In 1835, Professor Wood was appointed one of the attending physicians to the Pennsylvania Hospital. The duties of this responsible post he performed, with unremitting faithfulness, until the year 1859. His clinical lectures in that institution, to numerous classes of medical students, were admirable. Great improvements in the methods of ascertaining conditions of internal disease, and especially in the physical diagnosis of affections of the lungs and heart, were brought hither from Europe after Dr. Wood had begun his career as a medical teacher. ”

“ There was a tradition amongst medical students and others, that Dr. Wood was not, at the beginning of his work as a teacher, an easy, fluent or graceful speaker. It is entirely accordant with what we know of his whole life, to suppose that this may have been true; and that his having become, in maturity, one of the most admirable and successful lecturers of his time was due far less to any natural gift of eloquence than to assiduous and long continued exercise and cultivation of his powers.
Shortly after the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy was founded, in 1821, Dr. ”

“ They came 'to bury Cæsar, not to praise him.' But though no religious rite was observed, no comforting service performed, those who were present felt none the less deeply that the object of their love and veneration—the Christian gentleman, the representative physician, the knight of stainless record—had been gathered to his fathers after a well-spent life, ripe with years and honors, 'in the confidence of a certain faith, in the comfort of a reasonable, religious and holy hope, in favor with God, and in perfect charity with the world.'"
In person, Dr. Wood was rather tall ”

“ Open-handed benevolence was a marked trait of Dr. Wood's character. Privately, and to public institutions, he gave largely, although always with careful discrimination and judgment. The University of Pennsylvania, the Pennsylvania Hospital, the Philadelphia College of Physicians, the American Philosophical Society and the Academy of Natural Sciences were the main recipients of his liberal donations during his lifetime ”

“ Wood's other papers, published in the Proceedings of this Society, were upon the subject of his observations and experiments, carried on through several years, upon his farm at Greenwich, in regard to the fertilizing and renewing action of the alkali potassa on the growth of fruit-trees, potatoes, wheat and other plants. The addition of wood ashes empirically to certain soils under cultivation, has long been a common practice in many places. ”

“ Wood, and especially had accident brought us into close intimacy or association, it is not improbable that he might have preferred persons of his own blood as the heirs of his fortune, to one whose only claim upon him was the name of Wood, and a few flattering attentions."
Two sons of James Wood of Philadelphia, above mentioned, early in the 18th century left this city to settle in Southern New Jersey; probably under the auspices of Thomas Chalkley, a prominent member and preacher of the Society of Friends ”

“ Wood, better than to most men, might be applied the poet's line: Justum et tenacem propositi virum.
If he had genius, it was a genius for work; a rare capacity for continued, indomitable, all-conquering labor. With this, he became an eminently successful man. As he wrote of Dr. Chapman, [8] "His career throughout, from youth to manhood, from manhood to old age, has been in the highest degree prosperous and flattering ”

“ The "mens divinior," the Olympic gift, which comes not with any toil and is created by no strongest force of will, is wanting. Many scientists, like Sir Humphry Davy, have begun life with poetic aspirations; but no born poet, except Goethe, ever contributed important and permanent original gifts to science. ”

“ Wood. But this is not difficult to account for. Not only was he a man of much natural reserve, especially in regard to the most sacred emotions of his heart, but this disposition was promoted by circumstances. Born into membership with the Society of Friends, and educated mainly under its influences, his formal connection with it was severed by his marriage, his wife belonging to the Lutheran communion. He joined no other body. Often attending the meetings of Friends and also not unfrequently accompanying his wife to her chosen place of worship, his religion was altogether unsectarian ”

“ Farther back, in Gloucester, England, traces have been found of the family annals, through the Woods of Brockrup in the 16th, and of Gobril in the 15th century, to a still earlier period, when their predecessors inhabited for many successive years the ancient Court-House of Gloucester; now, long since, converted into a farm. Late in Dr. Wood's life, he was informed of the decease of a very wealthy banker, named James Wood, in Gloucester, England, without direct heirs. Legal gentlemen called upon Dr. Wood, proposing to dispute this banker's will, in his favor, as a collateral heir ”

“ They are very systematically written, and contain more valuable information, clearly and tersely conveyed, than most popular books by famous voyagers. A scientific note book was also kept by him, upon some particular subjects of interest and importance. Full, often elaborately detailed accounts of his observations are given, of the most varied things and places; as, for example, the Museum of Northern Antiquities at Copenhagen, to the description of whose contents he gives fifteen letter-size pages of his Journal ”

“ Truly he was a philosopher, in the old, first meaning of the word: a lover, acquirer and promoter of wisdom; and, with this, of goodness also. May his memory, and the influence of his example, never pass away from amongst us!
↑ Read before the College of Physicians of Philadelphia, October 1, 1879. ↑ This expression was applied by Dr. Wood himself, in 1850, to his predecessor, Dr. Nathaniel Chapman. It may be said to be still preserved to Philadelphia, in the person of our distinguished surgeon, Professor S. D. Gross, who has received the very highest honors on both sides of the Atlantic. ”