COLUMBIA LIBRARIES OFFSITE HEALTH SCIENCES STANDARD _ HX64096610 R154.M23 B52 A biographic memoria RECAP b1 p Columbia SBnitieri^itp CoUege of ^fjpgicianjs anb ^urgeong iLiijrarp 1:-^ ,^ A Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2010 with funding from Open Knowledge Commons http://www.archive.org/details/biographicmemorOObroo FRONTISPIECE. ^ sLo^^^XW>^^v^r^ A Biographic Memorial OF GEORGE McNAUGHTON, M.D. ALBERT T. HUNTINGTON 1914 i^L 1"^^' ;' Published December 21, 1^14 Of this book two hundred copies have been pointed, of which this is No-k:../ CONTENTS. PAGE Pkeface, '? A Brief Sketch of His Life 9 His Birth, Boyhood, and Early Life, 10. As a Medical Student, 13. His First "Charge," 13. His Eemoval to' Brooklyn and Places of Eesi- dence There, 14. His First Appointments, 15. His Hospital Work, 16. His Early Work in In- tubation, 17. His Medical Society Affiliations, 18. His Aid to Young Men, 20. Some Prin- ciples of Practice, 21. His Views on the Retiring Age, 24. His Mechanical Talent, 26. His Out- ings, 29. His Death, 31. His Life Work, 32. By William Browning, M.D. The McNaughtozst Oenealogy 35 By James MacFarlane Win-field, M.D. His Work at the County Medical Society 39 By James MacFarlane Winfield, M.D. Reminiscences of Oeorge McNaughton 47 By Calvin Fremyre Barber, M.D. A Personal Appreciation 53 By Albert Martin Judd, M.D. His Use of Sea Water in Internal Therapy 57 By Frederick Loud Cranford, Esq. PAGE His Work in Intubation, and Abscess of the Throat 63 By William Coughlin Braislin, M.D. His Treatment of Sterility 67 By Donald Stewart MacNaughton, M.D. PiEMARKS ON THE DeATH OF GeORGE MC- Naughton 71 By Robert Latou Dickinson, M.D. Dr. George McN'aughton 73 By William Scliroeder, Sr., M.D. Bibliography of George McNaughton 75 ILLUSTEATIONS. PAGE Plate 1. George McjSTaughton, M.D Frontispiece Last portrait, with autograph. Plate 2. Birthplace of Dr. George McNaughton Facing page 9 Mumford, Monroe Coimty, N. Y. Plate 3. Dr. George McNaughton. .Facing page 16 About the tiuie of his graduation in medicine. Plate 4. Instruments, Etc., Devised by Dr. Mc- Naughton Facing page 28 Fig. 1. The Invalid Coach. Fig. 2. Operating frame (Trendelenburg Position). Fig 3. Mc- N'aughton Tissue Forceps. Plate 5. Dr. Mc]SrATjGHTON''s Last Residence. Facing page 32 479 Clinton Avenue, Brooklyn, N. Y. Plate 6. Ruins of McNaughton Castle. Facing page 36 Praoch Elan, Argyleshire, Scotland. Plate 7. Old Building of the Medical Society OF THE County of Kings Facing page 40 356 Bridge Street, Brooklyn, N. Y. Plate 8. New Building of the Medical Society of the County of Kings Facing page 44 1313 Bedford Avenue, Brooklyn, N. Y. PREFACE. |HIS brief composite biography is intended to fulfill a triple pur- pose — to serve as a slight recogni- tion of the man and his public service; to uphold the objects and interests for which he strove ; and to act as a memento for his friends, a convenient reference and something tangible to preserve. Both on account of the somewhat distinctive personality of the man and because of the lack of interest in or worth of average biographic sketches, it seemed quite in order to adopt a different and perhaps more modern and use- ful plan of presentation. It may even help towards the development of a more personal and serviceable type of memoir than is cus- tomary. The continental memoir, like those dealing with our men of letters, embodies the collect- ing and editing of the author's writings together with a more or less casual personal sketch. In the case of literati this biographic method may be suitable, but there is not the same warrant for its use in the case of medical and scientific men, even though the commemorated 's output bears exclusively on research — scientific knowledge may have progressed, the originals are accessible and more authoritative, and literary style is of minor importance. Occasionally, of course, novelty, completeness, rarity of the original print, or some such cogent reason makes the reproduction of a single article advisable. As a practical people we should be able to create, in our biographic memoirs, something both more concise and of greater utility. In this memoir of Dr. McNaughton it is natural that medical matters should take a leading place, even to some of a quasi-tech- nical character. The modern tendency for a diffusion of medical knowledge in lay circles makes this the more permissible. And as his work was primarily for his home region, local detail must predominate. An occasional duplication of thought by the various con- tributors may serve to make the story the more connected. W. B. Plate 2. BIRTHPLACE OF DR. GEORGE McNAUGHTON Mumford, Monroe County, N. Y. A BRIEF SKETCH OF HIS LIFE.* HILE a narration of the bare facts of an active life may have interest, this is greatly enhanced by some recognition of their bearing on the events and activities of the period. To the present and passing generation of physicians of Brooklyn the name of George McNaughton has stood for much, in sturdy and large personality, in consulting and pri- vate practice, in hospital work and organiza- tion, in liberal and co-operative spirit, and especially in the advancement of the interests of the medical profession. It is perhaps too early for a final estimate of his accomplishments, but it is not too much to say that he did more for the profession of Brooklyn and Long Island than has been accomplished by any other individual. One concrete example of what can be done, such as has been furnished in the noblest way by the subject of this sketch, has, besides its immediate results, more of instructive value * Revised from an editorial in the Long Island Medical Journal, Brooklyn, N. Y., 1914, viii, pp. 186-188. in the modern way of things than has any amount of preaching and criticism. His Birth, Boyhood, and Early Life. Dr. George McNaughton came of Scotch ancestry. He was born at Mumford, Monroe County, N. Y., on July 4, 1856, and always felt the incumbency of such an important natal day. His youth was thus passed in the rich Genesee Valley, with Lake Ontario almost in sight, and the nearby city of Eochester as a head-center. His preliminary education was obtained in the preparatory schools of his native vil- lage and the adjacent town of Caledonia, and by private tutor. It was in a region so largely dominated by Scotians that it might have been termed New Scotland. Most opportune for him at this time was the epoch-making experimental work of Seth Green in fish- culture. No school laboratory ever supplied such intellectual pabulum to oncoming youth. The beautiful creek arising from nearby springs was but a short step away, and his youthful interest in the work, the attendants, and the development of the now universally applied methods of pisciculture, persisted 10 through life — ^matters often referred to later in his career in elucidating biologic problems. There was also an occasional chance to prac- tice the art of Izaac Walton, or stealthily to try the virtues of a fly-cast "in the cool grey dawn," of course more fully to study the matutinal life of the trout. This heredity and this environment give a clue to the early sources of his strong person- ality. Definiteness and persistence of pur- pose in life beyond mere gain are generally accredited to the finer human attributes. "It is not time that teaches wisdom, but nature and early training," saith the classic; and this is quite as true in the modern as in the ancient sense. As one of a large family he perforce learned early to have regard for the needs, comfort and feelings of others — one of his strongest and most endearing characteristics — and also a large degree of self-reliance which came from having, Avithin limits, "to shift for him- self." He is well remembered as a "curly headed" youth, "a dashing young man," "a popular young fellow around town," by a col- league who saw him in those days. 11 As a Medical Student. It was as early as 1873 that he committed his future to the medical life. According to the good old custom that still prevailed in the days of his novitiate, he began medical studies with a preceptor, Dr. R. J. Menzie, of Cale- donia, N. Y., a man still active. This quasi- apprenticeship involved the simpler com- pounding of remedies, riding about the region with the doctor, assisting at operations, and by degrees the taking of personal charge until the doctor's arrival or even attending entirely in some of the more onerous and distant cases. His description of the formalities and amenities of remote consultations (which he, as a kind of professional annex, was permit- ted to associate in) had the touch of life in another sphere. All this gave him a kindly understanding of what is sometimes termed ''a physician of the old school." He then changed to the more modern sys- tem of training, came to New York, became a student of the late Dr. James R. Wood, and in 1875 entered on his medical course at Bel- levue Hospital Medical College. During the latter part of his college years he passed through a severe attack of typhoid fever, but 12 recovered sufficiently to finish with his class. From our knowledge of recent years regard- ing the arterial changes set up by the general toxemia of that fever, it is likely that the con- dition from which he suffered for several years and to which he finally succumbed dated back to that infection. Such practical study of disease by personal experience has not even yet received recognition in the curriculum I He was graduated from Bellevue in the spring of 1878. His interneship was taken at the Jersey City Hospital (then known as Charity Hos- pital), 1878-1879. It thus appears that he devoted six years to special training for his calling, representing a fuller period of prepa- ration than given by most of the candidates of that time. Eis First ''Charge/' He began private practice at LeRoy, Gene- see, County, N. Y., not far from his early home, and remained there upwards of a year. This also might be credited to his receptive and training period; at least it furnished a stock of experience medical — anight work in the country, endemic chyluria, advantages 13 and disadvantages of small towns, etc. — ^to contrast witli later things. The local press bade him this regretful adieu: *'We are sorry to learn that Dr. Mc- Naughton has decided to leave LeRoy and locate elsewhere — we believe not far from New York. This will be a loss to our place, for the doctor is a skillful physician, and has greatly endeared himself to the people since coming among us." nis Removal to Brooklyn and Places of Residence There. In 1880 he came to Brooklyn and took up the practice of Dr. James Stewart (who died at Arlington, Vt., 1891), his first location being at 20 Greene Avenue. It was at this first place that a thoughtful early passer-by called up his speaking tube just to inquire how he liked the practice of medicine any- how, according to the doctor's own story. From this time on his interests and work were centered entirely in Brooklyn, and his successive places of residence were : 20 Greene Avenue (1880-1883); 194 Greene Avenue (1883-1885) ; 216 Greene Avenue (1885-1890) ; 227 Greene Avenue (1890-1894) ; 1 Cambridge 14 Place (1894-1901) ; 479 Clinton Avenue (May, 1901-1914). His First Appointments. The first step in his wider career was as Assistant and then Attending Physician (1881-1885) at the old Brooklyn Central Dis- pensary, around which o'er-modest institu- tion for years gathered much of the medical interest and tradition of the town. Here he became connected with a group of men with whom he ever after kept the closest relations. He was an Inspector of the Department of Health (and the first civil service appointee) of the old City of Brooklyn for four years at the time when Dr. Rajrmond was developing the Bureau on a modern basis. His quick adaptation of means was well demonstrated by his prompt preparation for this examina- tion. At that time the various schools and tutors for preparing for civil service bouts had not come into vogue, nor was there time for posting up. The morning of the examina- tion Dr. McNaughton went to a good plumber and was briefly instructed in the main prin- ciples of the work. It was just this little touch that gave him the needed rating to win. 15 His Hospital Work. He was in charge of the gynecological clinic at the Long Island College Dispensary (now the Polhemns Memorial Clinic) from 1884 to 1891. Through this he became associated with the late Dr. Ernest Palmer and Professor Alexander J. C. Skene, as assistant at the Hospital (1891), and retained this affiliation until the latter 's death. In these ways, con- sidering also that Palmer had been trained by the late Dr. John Byrne, he was afforded the best opportunity for a thorough grounding in gynecological work and abdominal surgery. He became full Visiting Surgeon to that de- partment of the Hosi3ital in 1896, and since 1906 he was Clinical Professor of that subject in the teaching department of the Long Island College Hospital. He was active in the same line of work at the Eastern District Hospital for some twenty years; the first fifteen as Attending and the last five as Consulting Gynecologist. At the creation, early in 1893, of the mod- ern staff at the Kings Coimty Hospital, he organized the Grynecological Division, and has since been one of the visiting staff, and of 16 Plate 3. DR. GEORGE McNAUGHTON About the time of his graduation in medicine. late years Vice-President of the Medical Board. He was a member of the original board of five (with Drs. J. Fuhs, H. B. Delatour, O. P. Humpstone and C. Eastmond) that arranged the first medical staff at the Jewish Hospital ; and from its opening, in December, 1906, he was a member of its Conference Committee, and Attending Grynecologist. In 1912 he was advanced to Consultant in that department. Together with Dr. Fuhs he was an honor guest at a ''complimentary dinner" given to them at the Unity Club by the hospital trus- tees on May 20, 1913. He was Consultant at the Long Island State Hospital, Flatbush, from the year 1899 on, and was also Consulting Gynecologist to the Swedish Hospital. His Early Work in Intubation. A great and leading work was his introduc- tion of intubation of the larynx to Brooklyn. In fact, he was one of O'Dwyer's main sup- porters in the establishment of this method as a widely accepted procedure in medical practice. Most of that work here was done by him, and often at great personal sacrifice 17 as well as danger. It was in this connection also that he did much to spread the method of treating diphtheria by calomel fumigations, a method originated by Dr. John Corbin, of Brooklyn. All this became past history upon the advent of the serum treatment of diph- theria. To the present-day specialist it may seem strange that any one with gynecological aspirations should have taken up laryngeal intubation, but up to that time pediatrics belonged in practice with diseases of women. In that way any common disease of childhood fell inevitably to the gynecological specialist when it became necessary to call additional aid. His Medical Society Affiliations. He was, of course, a member of the Medical Society of the County of Kings, which he joined in Jul}^, 1880, and also of the Medical Society of the State of New York, the American Medical Association, the New York Obstetrical Society, the Brooklyn Med- ical Association, the Brooklyn Pathological Society, the Brooklyn Medical Club, the Har- vey Society, the New York Academy of Medi- 18 cine, the Caledonian Hospital Society, the New York Physicians' Mutual Aid Associa- tion, and of various staff and alumni organ- izations. He was a charter member (April, 1890) of the Brooklyn Gynecological Society, its Vice-President (1893-1894) and President (1894-1895-1896) ; one of the organizers of the Associated Physicians of Long Island, con- tributing its name and likewise its plan of choosing officers by a method now conceded to be the best for this type of organization (vide Science, May 1914) ; and also one of the organ- izers of the Medical Library Association of Brooklyn. He was a delegate to the Medical Society of the State of New York from 1892; mem- ber (1898) and Chairman (1899, 1900 and 1901) of its Conmiittee on Ethics, and came to be regarded as an authority in that trouble- some phase of our medical existence. The work done by Dr. McNaughton for the Medical Society of the County of Kings was perhaps his monumental civic achievement. He began his formal career as a Censor, in 1891; and it is Avorthy of note that in those days of careless officials he attended eight out of a possible nine meetings of the Council. 19 When leadership became urgent in that organ- ization, many felt that his geniality and force- fulness would be invaluable. Defeated at first, his friends were successful the follow- ing year (1893) in electing him Vice-Presi- dent, and then for four years successively President of the Society. In this period and the ensuing five years of Trusteeship, as one of the Building Committee of Five, and as one of the Board of Trustees, his untiring ef- forts, devotion and good judgment guided the Society in providing the medical world of Brooklyn with one of the finest homes and headquarters of the profession anywhere. He was subsequently Chairman of the Board of Trustees (1902), and of the Society's Commit- tee on Directory for Nurses from 1904 to 1908, inclusive. His Aid to Young Men. His various relations to hospital, society and teaching work brought him much in touch with young men to whom for many years he was a great aid in their starting out in prac- tice, especially in securing desirable openings. It seemed to be a perfectly natural thing for the young graduate in his uncertainty to turn 20 to Mm for guidance. And so far as strength permitted he continued this interest to the end. His Writings. He was not fond of writing, although admirably clear when he did essay any sub- ject. A peculiar and intesting psychological observation in this connection may be worth recording: while he was left-handed for ordi- nary writing and for familiar things, yet when preparing a formal paper he found that his mental processes were far freer when he penned his thoughts with his right hand. Some Principles of Practice. Remedial agents or operative procedures occupy most of our attention when consider- ing treatment. To the banes and handicaps of this phase of practice may be reckoned such things as therepeutic nihilism, belief in vaga- ries, mere routine, fads, the continual shuf- fling of views and agents. In contrast with these are the guiding principles, or prejudices if you will (though not to be confounded with obstinacy or mere pigheadedness), which in- dividual practitioners have to work out or have found useful, especially in times when 21 some steadying post is needed. We uncon- sciously recognize something of the kind in many of our best men, but rarely learn its exact character. A basis of this sort contrib- utes greatly to the accomplishment of results for our patients. Three such favorite principles of Dr. Mc- Naughton in practice may be recalled as illus- trative of his methods. One of these was the employment of a single remedy or agent at a time. As ludicrous as pathetic is the occasional array of bottles ex- hibited in evidence of the comprehensiveness of previous effort, or the statement that everything in the pharmacopeia has been tried, or, again, the multi-charge prescription. While his opposition to such a mode of treat- ment might suggest an homeopathic tinge, it really meant that his surgeon's spirit did not incline him to indulge in internal excesses. A second strong principle with him was illustrated not simply by what is termed a gen- eral grasp of situations, but more by the abil- ity to evaluate the overlooked and underesti- mated phases. To "seek a sign," some single clear point all-suf&cient for guidance, has been a natural tendency of the hiunan since the 22 race began. And the same thing is seen in the medical quest for the so-called pathognomonic symptom. How elusive, in most morbid states, has this search proven ! For, as a rule, no such exclusive aid is to be found. The man who, like the subject of this sketch, so bal- ances up all the facts as to read out their true import, is often able to reach sound conclu- sions even when dealing with troubles outside of his special field. This ability, this applied wisdom, is really the essence of a liberal edu- cation, with as yet no sure way of attaining it. In medical work this is invaluable. Its posses- sion is regarded as an acquisition of maturity if at all. With him it was an early trait, gain- ing strength with years and experience. Another point was his application of sys- tem to the management of the individual case. This is of special importance in serious or prolonged disorders. In such cases the over- wrought friends often quite lose their heads, and the patient's chance is greatly jeopard- ized. Then, too, lack of order and the multi- plicity of activities in modern life often constitute a large etiologic factor, and the securing of regularity and poise becomes a prerequisite to progress. There is also a 23 grievous tendency (and not all outside the profession) to teach doubt of the efficacy of all remedies. Moreover it is a common experi- ence that we get better results in households where faith in the realities insures more care- ful following of trained advice. System also infers comprehensiveness, and with the Doc- tor it included a due regard for the general relation of conditions. All these things bring to the physician an increasing need of just such aid as system gives in carrying out treat- ment. It means that vacillation, doubt, work- ing at cross purposes, confusion, lack of head, and allied hindrances are eliminated. The good nurse is one important agent in e:ffect- ing this. System alone he often found brought about an early change for the better. This method gave him a material advantage in practice, for its successful carrying out depended largely on his personal control of the sit- uation. His Views on the Retiring Age. From his special opportunities for observ- ing medical and general relations, he was a strong advocate of the principle that physi- 24 cians should retire from active practice by the time they are sixty years old, or as soon as practicable thereafter. They should plan their lives, if possible, to be able to do so. Until recently there was a chance for our seniors in practice to partially retire on the basis of consultation work. This gave a very satisfactory outlook for those with an expec- tancy of long life. But there is no all-round consultant any more, at least in the larger centers of medical work. Age and dignity in the consultant are no longer prerequisites, though experience still has a lingering claim. Technical aid on particular points is now more largely sought. The laboratory man (bacteriologist, pathologist, biologist, chem- ist) and the specialist are chiefly called, and here the younger man is more in evidence. His views were also aimed to meet the changing and increasingly socialistic tenden- cies of present-day practice. While no longer as true as a generation ago, that *'many are called but few are chosen," the increasing de- mands for service without due recompense seems to be forcing a rearrangement of our status. He based his opinion, as to the retiring age. 25 on many facts, showing its advisability both for the sake of the patient and of the physi- cian. The wear of medical work and the known high morbidity of physicians was one reason for fixing the age limit a little under that established by the government for cer- tain of its employees. In cases where it would not otherwise be possible for the individual to do this, he argued that it would be in the communal inter- est to pension him. Some such possibility is foreshadowed by recent discussions, though as yet only for those in the public employ, among whom an occasional doctor is now in the favored class. His Mechanical Talent. Surgery is as yet quite as much an art as a science, and in surgical practice more than in other departments of medicine a well- groomed familiarity with mechanical prin- ciples finds ample scope. It is not simply manual dexterity that contributes to the sur- geon's success, nor yet technical dynamics, but good mechanical sense. Whatever one's na- tive ability, a fancy or taste therefor naturally develops. 2e Even the doctor's medical friends, unless associated closely with him in practice, were rarely cognizant of this side of his activities. His contributions in this field consisted largely, as is the case with surgical inventions generally, in the application of known instru- mental devices or mechanical principles to the problems and difficulties in his line of surgery. Dr. McNaughton had early opportimity for training in applied mechanics, and possessed a very practical mechanical turn. This con- tributed an added degree of skillfulness to his work in intubation. It was shown in opera- tive methods and improvements. Certain of his devices in this line may be mentioned in illustration. It was well evidenced by his designing of the ambulance coach. This was entirely orig- inal with him, but he did not consider it ethical either to obtain a patent or accept proffered compensation therefor. He suc- ceeded in supplying the ordinary invalid with suitable and comfortable transport, cor- responding relatively with that which had for some time been afforded the poor and the casual. It has since been followed in prin- ciple by the whole system of private am- 27 bulances, and has become a necessity in every civilized commnnity. His simple portable steel-frame or table attachment for operating in the Trendelen- burg position, known as the McNaughton frame (see page 76, "BibliogTaphy," No. 11), was designed especially to facilitate private or emergency work. ''It could be placed upon any table and executed the position with much ease. In the days when house operations were more popular than at present, this apparatus was much in use, and naturally was of great value to the surgeon. " It still has some vogue, though in part supplanted by the extension of hospital at the expense of private care. Another of ''the many evidences of his me- chanical genius" was his very practical adap- tation (sometimes laconically dubbed a beer pump) for the purpose of emptying cysts and removing fluid from the abdominal cavity (a brief description of this is given on page 49 by Dr. Barber). He was also the originator of the special long tissue-forceps (see PI. 4, Fig. 3) for work in deep cavities, which is known among instru- ment makers as the McNaughton tissue forceps. 28 Plate 4. Fig. 1. — The Invalid Coach. 3^1 ^ Fig. 2. — Operating Frame (Trendelenburg Position). INSTRUMENTS, ETC., DEVISED BY DR. McNAUGHTON. Much of his originality in his special field is known only to his associates and aids. His published work may be found by consulting the appended "Bibliography" (see pp. 75-78). A few other items are collected in this memoir. Some attention has been attracted by his cases of ovariitis in mumps, by his early recogni- tion of floating kidney, by his large experience in cases of ectopic pregnancy (at one time he had a record of eighty consecutive cases op- erated without a fatality), and especially by his entirely original observations on the asso- ciation of uterine fibroids with valvular leaks and anteflexions, assigning a large etiologie role here to local circulatory stasis of what- ever origin. His Outings. In his vacations he pursued an interesting and somewhat novel policy. He planned these on the basis that to the physician the cost of an absence is not so much the outlay directly involved as it is what in so many ways is suf- fered from the interference with practice. Consequently, when the physician does go away it is economy for him to get all possible out of the journey. A little added expense, if 29 thereby the trip can be made more restful or advantageous is in the end an economy. This is at times a very comforting principle. In his business relations Dr. McNaughton succeeded better than is expected of most city physicians, and by degrees this permitted him to take greater periods of relaxation. To his later life, as sequels rather than as primary sources, belong his longer travel trips: the Great Lakes (1898); Canada; the Yellow- stone (1902) ; the Middle South (1898, 1912, 1914); Europe (1901, 1906, 1912); Egypt (1910), Maine and many nearer points as well as camping tours in various parts of the northern wilderness. Change, and a degree of rest and refreshment were gained, but, accord- ing to the outcome, not all the needed re-crea- tion. He was never married, but had strong fam- ily ties to which he was as thoroughly devoted. He was a member of various clubs, mostly of the outdoor type; the old Williamsburgh Athletic, the Crescent Athletic, the Marine and Field, the Triton Fish and Game, etc. He was also a member of Altair Lodge, F. & A. M., and of the Masonic Club, and for a time of the Brooklyn Club. 30 His Death. Dr. McNaughton died at his home, on March 17, 1914, of a chronic cardio-vascular condi- tion. In part from his official relations, he acquired the habit of attending, whenever possible, the funerals of deceased colleagues; and in turn there were present at his own services a very large delegation of his fellow members and associates. He was buried in the family plot at the cemetery in Mum- f 6rd, N. Y. Of generous temperament; intensely Amer- ican in his democracy; modern in his fond- ness for sports, camping, a fine horse, or foreign travel; affiliating with many of the best minds in the community; so clear a thinker that he could take positive ground; widely trusted as an adviser in multitudes of matters; an invaluable friend and a telling opponent; of quick wit in meeting the unex- pected ; with a peculiar maturity of judgment and ability to detect the unseen sides of a question; — he is deeply missed by many, and lamented by all who could appreciate his high qualities. 31 His Life Work. It will be seen from the accounts of his activities that George McNaughton, in addi- tion to being a physician and surgeon of the first order, was a fellow practitioner who con- stantly abnegated self and honestly thought of how to benefit and promote his chosen pro- fession and his brother practitioners. His devotion to these and their advancement was general and evinced in many and varied ways. The construction of our medical temple was but the acme of this public side of his career. The struggle for the library building, often against great odds, stamps him as one who was ever striving for civic betterment. ''Thir- teen-thirteen Bedford Avenue" will remain a monument to his high purposes and cor- respondingly modest simplicity. In medicine we have those distinguished as writers, editors, investigators, educators, na- tional organizers, administrators, historians, specialists, etc. Here we find a man who discovered a new-old field and devoted him- self with great wisdom and success to the needs of the field- worker in medicine. Taking things as they happened to be where he found himself, he did what the older leaders of the 32 riate 5. DR. McNAUGHTON'S LAST RESIDENCE 479 Clinton Avenue, Brooklyn, N. Y. time, after proddingj merely suggested might possibly be thought of a generation or more later. And this was not accidental on his part but duly planned and pursued with a devotion and degree of personal sacrifice that consti- tuted a factor in the shortening of his life. Surely such a man should have recognition, at least from those whom he served. William Browning, M.D. 33 THE McNAUGHTON GENEALOGY. T IS curious that the truths that we we cannot demonstrate are often the most actual and convincing of facts. Of certain laws and occur- rences (perhaps coincidences) of Natiu'e that seem to be too fanciful to be accepted as facts, one is the peculiar interchange of charac- teristics between man and his inanimate sur- roundings. Each imparts their character- istics to the other; a home expresses the per- sonality of its inmates ; races express the char- acteristics of the climate and scenery in which they live. This is particularly true of Scotland; the delicate, severe, spiritual character of its veg- etation, its mystical mists, its faithful, rugged mountains, its sudden gleams of sunshine, its hard, unyielding harvests — all are faithfully reproduced in the characteristics of its sons and daughters; they are as faithful and as firm as Scotch granite, if at times as dour and unyielding as a lowering Highland sky. The gallant courage that has put fear to rout on many a battle-field and knows well how to fight and suffer, but has never learned how 35 to own defeat or to surrender, was bred among rough mountain passes where there was little to wring from the soil but starvation, and little to expect from a foe but death. A Scotchman shared his plaid and his salt with a friend, and in more luxurious lands and times Scotchmen are still spending all they have, even health and life, if a friend needs it or a cause requires it. If the world has laughed at the Scotch XDenuriousness, it has also laughed with glee over the Scotch humor — the most delicate, keen and witty in the world. The penurious- ness was forced upon them by a land poor and hard to till at best, and frequently laid waste by feud and battle; the humor was learned from the sudden gleams of silvery sunshine that sweep over their dark landscapes and make their world all glorious with purple and gold. The clan from which Dr. George Mc- Naughton inherited his name was one of the most ancient in Scotland; its stronghold was on one of the islands of Loch Awe, in Argyle- shire, the fanciful name of which is Fraoch Elan, or '' The Isle of Heather. " This ancient clan of Abair Neachtain rushed to many a 36 w Ti •J sn m 03 < O o o M Z OJ" o i-i H 2 M cc O OJ P <^ Sh Z