George E. Goodfellow / [Thomas E. Gibson].

  • Gibson, Thomas E.
Date:
1932
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: George E. Goodfellow / [Thomas E. Gibson]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    THOMAS E. GIBSON, M.D., F.A.C.S., San Francisco, California CARLYLE defined history as the essence of innumerable biographies. Such a definition may not find favor with historiographers, but there is never¬ theless in all human hearts the element of hero-worship, The history of what man has accomplished in this world is at bottom the history of the great men who have worked there. The history of medicine finds its lure in the study of the lives of those men who contributed to its development. Dr. George E. Goodfellow has won alasting niche for himself in the illustrious pantheon of medical science alongside the master surgeons of America, chiefly through his contribution to the surgery of the prostate gland. He was born in Downieville, Sierra County, California, on December 23,1855, where his father, Milton J. Goodfellow, had settled after crossing the plains with a train of oxen teams and covered wagons in 1849. His early life was spent in California and Nevada. At the age of twelve he was sent east to school, returning home in 1869. He attended the California Military Academy in Oakland and the University of California. He had a strong leaning toward naval and military life, and was appointed to Annapolis at sixteen. While there it seems that one of the upper classmen was insulted by a “plebe” (freshman), and being of powerful build and impetuous courage George was elected to fight for the honor of his class. His opponent, fresh from the plow and hard as nails, gave him a hard battle but George emerged victorious and his opponent required hospitalization. As a result of this escapade, George was court-martialed and suspended, or dis¬ missed from the academy. He then became interested in the study of medicine with his cousin, Dr. T. B. Lashells, an eminent surgeon practicing in Pennsylvania. Graduating from Cleveland Medical College (University of Wooster) with honors in 1876, he first practiced in Oakland, California, for some months, then went to Prescott, Arizona, to take over the mining practice at a large mine of which his father, a mining engineer, was then in charge. This, together with outside work, gave him a large field for surgery. His love of military life was still strong within him for he became a contract surgeon at Whipple Barracks near Prescott and at Fort Lowell. He secured permission to join General Custer, but the documents from Washington were delayed, and thus, no doubt, he was spared to do other things.
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