Jefferson Medical College - Clinic Yearbook (Philadelphia, PA)

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John H. Brinton, M. D., L. L. D. R. BRINTON was born in Philadelphia, May 21, 1832, springing from one of the N R., fp oldest and most prominent families of Colonial days. .5 F. He entered the University of Pennsylvania in 1846 and graduated with the degree S of Bachelor of Arts in 1850. He matriculated at Jefferson, and in 1852 received his medical degree. The year following graduation was spent abroad, in further study at the great clinics in Paris and Vienna. Returning, Dr. Brinton entered upon general practice, and became associated with Professors Agnew and H. H Smith, in teaching operative surgery at the old anatomical buildings on College Avenue. On Prof. Smith's withdrawal, Dr. Brinton took up his work. At the outbreak of the Civil Wal', Dr Brinton entered the army medical service, and was made a Brigade Surgeon of Volunteers. ln this capacity he served with General Grant at the battle of Belmont, Missouri. Later he accompanied Grant in the campaign of 1862, on the Tennessee and Cumberland Rivers, which resulted in the capture of Forts Henry and Donelson, ofNashville, and during which the battle of Shiloh was fought. In 1862 Dr. Brinton was ordered to Washington to prepare the Surgical History of the Rebel- lion, and later to found the Army Medical Museum. After two years ofwork along these lines and other special duty, he was sent to Louisville and assigned to the office of Medical Director under General Rosecrans, and served with him through the Missouri campaign. Later he served as superin- tendent and director of general hospitals at Nashville, Tenn., and afterward as Acting Medical Director of the Army of the Cumberland. A ' At the close ofthe war Dr. Brinton returned to Philadelphia and resumed the practice of his pro- fession. Shortly afterward he was appointed lecturer on operative surgery in the summer course at Jefferson, and later, he was elected one of the surgeons to the Philadelphia Hospital, being associated with such men as Drs. Wm. Pancoast,-F. F. Maury, S. W. Gross and Harrison Allen. He remained in this position until 1882, when he resigned to take the chair of Practice of Surgery and Clinical Sur- 29

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john H. Brinton, M. D., L L. D. Late Emeritus Professor of Practice cf Surgery and Clinical Surgery 28

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gery at the Jefferson Hospital. He held this position until May 1906, when he resigned and was made Emeritus Professor. Dr Brinton was for many years chairman of the Mutter Museum Committee of the College of Physicians and Surgeons, of Philadelphia, and was also a founder of the Pathological Society and one of its earliest presidents. He was a member of the Metropolitan Club of Washington, a founder ofthe Philadelphia Skating Club, and for many years a member of the Philadelphia Club. Besides these different clubs he was also a member of the American Philosophical Society, the Sons of the Revolution, the Loyal Legion, the Society of Colonial Wars, the Historical Society of Pennsylvania and many other medical and scientific societies.. On March 5, 1907, Dr. Brinton suffered an stroke of paralysis, from which he never completely recovered, the end 'coming on Monday morning, March 18, 1907. To the younger men, Prof. Brinton was always an honored and respected member of the faculty, for he exemplified, perhaps more than any other one man at Jefferson College the union between the old and the new, the connecting link of the days when antisepsis and asepsis were not known, and the modern ideas of operative surgery. His best work was in the line of gunshot injuries and fractures, as befitted his extensive military experience. His lectures were always interesting and highly profitable, for he had a wealth of anecdotes and incidents of the Civil War, with which he impressed important points. In his passing, the students all feel a deep sense of personal loss and a loss to the institution, for in Dr. Brinton's death the students have lost a friend and a teacher, the institution has lost a man who helped greatly to maintain its repu- tation for highest standard of excellence, and the medical world, a man whose teachings have Cl0I1C much toward furthering the knowledge of military surgery, and whose writings on his subject have become classics. 30