University of Maryland School of Pharmacy - Terra Mariae Yearbook (Baltimore, MD)

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Francis Turquand Miles M, D. Tr HERE is no noliler character in (iod ' s nniverse than the pliysician wlio lias Hved the life withont fear and witauut reproach. His experience is nnique and snch as to sound liuman nature to its ' ery depths. Tlie habitual [)ractice of self-denial, the fa- miliarity with all phases and degrees of suffering, the responsibility which rests upon him as the guardian of the secrets and the health and lives of his fellow-beings, develop in him the highest qualities of manhood. In the distinguished personage whose name heads this page we see an example of the model physician, the faithful teacher, the rehned and courteous gentleman, and one who bears with uKxlesty the honor of a long and ell-spent life. I et us seek to profit liy the lessons which the study of such a life affords. Francis Tnr(|uand Miles was born on a plantation near Charleston, S. C, about the year 1828. He receix ' cd his academic training and tlie degree of Bachelor of Arts at the Charles- ton College. His professional training and medical degree were ()btained,at the Medical Col- lege of the State of South Carolina. Shortly after graduation, in 1849, he went abroad and studied in Pans, under Charcot and Hirschfeld. Returning to Charlest(jn, he became con- nected with the teaching faculty of his Alma Mater, filling successively the role of prosec- tor, assistant demonstrator, demonstrator, assistant professor, and, in i860, full ])r;)fessor of physiological anatomv, as successor of Professor Holbrook. On the outbreak of the Civil War, he entered the Confederate service as a private in the infantry. He soon rose to be lieu- tenant and later, captain. For a short time he had charge of Fort Sumpter during the at- tack upon it bv the Federal fleet. At the Battle of Secessionville, S. C, in 1862, he was shot throULvh the thigh, and he -was also wounded at Fort Sumpter the following year. This led to his retirement from active service and d;iing the last year of the war he held rank as full surgeon in the medical department. The war having closed, he resumed his chair in the Medical School. .Vbout this time he paid a second visit to Europe, attending the lectures of Claude Bernard and Ih-own-Sequard, in Paris, and studying diseases of the nervous sys- tem, under (lowers and Hughlings Jackson, in London. In 1868 he removed to Baltimore, and was immediatelv appointed ])rofessor of anatomy in the Washington University Medi- cal School. In 1869 he was called to fill the chair of anatomy and clinical diseases of the nervous system at the University of Maryland. In 1880 he was transferred to the department of physiology, which he continues to fill at the jiresent time. Dr. Miles is a member of the ] Iedical rmd Chirurgical Faculty of Maryland and has twice filled in it the office of vice-president. He was president of the American Neurological Association from 1880 to 1882. He is also an honorary member of the American Associa- tion of Physicians. He has been a consulting physician of the Johns Hopkins Hospital since its foundation, in 1889. 17