American Medical Biographies/Arnold, Richard Dennis
Arnold, Richard Dennis (1808–1876)
Richard Dennis Arnold was born in Savannah, Georgia, August 19, 1808, the son of Captain Joseph Arnold, a native of Rhode Island, and of Eliza Dennis of New Brunswick, N. J. He was educated at first by private tutors, then went to Princeton where he graduated S. B. in 1826 and received an A. M. in 1829. He began the study of medicine with William R. Waring, of Savannah, then entered the University of Pennsylvania, graduating M. D. in 1830, his thesis being "Asthenia, or Debility."
He returned to Savannah to practise. In 1833 with W. H. Bullock he began publishing the Daily Georgian, but withdrew in 1834. In 1835 he became one of the physicians to the Savannah Poor-House and Hospital, to which he was then annually appointed for over thirty years.
Dr. Arnold was one of the original members of the American Medical Association and served on the committee which drafted the "Code of Ethics," adopted in 1847. He was active in organizing the Georgia State Medical Association in 1849 and was its president in 1851, delivering an address on "Reciprocal Duties of Physicians and the Public to Each Other." In 1850, the Savannah Medical College was founded and Arnold became professor of the theory and practice of medicine.
A strong advocate of medical organization and reform, and of "improved sanitary regulations to be enforced by city government," an ample supply of fresh water was secured for Savannah largely through his persistent efforts. For over thirty-five years he was president of the board of water commissioners. He served in the legislature of Georgia and was alderman in the city council; he was mayor in the years 1841–43, in 1851, 1852–1859, 1860, and again in 1863, serving until the close of the Civil War.
He wrote: "....Relation of Bilious and Yellow Fever" (1856); "Dengue, or Break-Bone Fever as it appeared in Savannah....1850" (1858); "The Identity of Dengue, or Break-Bone Fever and Yellow Fever (1858–59)."
He died of tuberculosis, July 10, 1876, in the same room where he had been born.