A necrology of the physicians of Lowell and vicinity, 1826-1898 : prepared for the Massachusetts North District Medical Society / By David N. Patterson.

  • Patterson, D. N. (David Nelson), 1854-1908.
Date:
1899
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A necrology of the physicians of Lowell and vicinity, 1826-1898 : prepared for the Massachusetts North District Medical Society / By David N. Patterson. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, Harvard Medical School.

    24/130 (page 20)
    growing city had considerable influence in drawing within its limits a large number of the latter. The relations which a physician sustains to the fami- lies by whom he is employed have been so beautifully expressed by an eminent writer, and apply so forcibly to the subject^of this sketch, that they are here appended without change: Warm and generous in his friendships, none could surpass him in his sympathy for the afflicted and suffering, and thus controlled, his attentions were unremitting. To skill, that was seldom baffled, there was added this essential qualification of a successful physi- cian—-a beneyolent heart; a heart that feels his patient's pain as if it were his own; that looks on the woe-stricken countenance of a wife, and resolves that, if possible, she shall be saved from the desolation of widow^hood; that looks on weeping children, and resolves that no energy shall be spared in saving them from the orphan's destitu- tion; that looks at a father's and mother's anguish, and resolves that, with God assisting, he will save their child.'^ This, which Avas said of another, expresses with special emphasis the characteristics of Dr. Huntington. He was faithful to those who were intrusted to his care^ s]3aring not himself in his endeavors to allay the suffer- ings of the sick or the anxiety of their friends. Especially to the poor was he very considerate; and read}^ to give his time and his skill, which were often supplemented by pecuniary aid. An eminent writer has remarked that great men and great events grow as we recede from them; and the rate thev orow in the estimation of men is in some sort a measure of their greatness. A generation has grown u^d in our city since Dr. Huntington finished a municipal career which has never been excelled in our local history. While LoAvell w^as yet a town, he served tw^o 3^ears as one of the Selectmen and four years as a member of the School Committee. After its incorporation as a city, he served three } ears as a member of the Common Ct>uncil, two terms of two years each as a member of the School Committee, which, with the period he served as a member of the board by virtue of another ofiflce, gave him a prominent position on that educational board for sixteen years. He was three times elected an Alderman, and in 1839,