Page:American Medical Biographies - Kelly, Burrage.djvu/888

ORDRONAUX 866 O'REILLY himself and read a sermon — usually one of Jeremy Bentham's. He was a veteran of the Civil War, and, on Memorial Day, and at the funerals of de- ceased members of his Grand Army post, he would don his uniform and march with the rest. The doctor was a man of enormous intel- lectual activity. Not only did he attempt to keep up with all the advances of medicine and law, but he was a profound theologian. He was reported to have, and doubtless did pos- sesSj a greater knowledge of theological dogma and ecclesiastical history than the great majority of accredited ministers and pro- fessors of theology. He never practised medi- cine actively, but, in the legal profession, was recognized as a keen, close reasioner, and, though he had but little reputation as a lawyer before the public, was employed to write briefs in many of the celebrated cases which occu- pied public attention from 1900 back to the early seventies. His work as a lawyer was done in the same way that all of his labor was performed, quietly and without ostentation. He was a man of great melancholy at times, and on such occasions was well-nigh in- accessible even to his intimates. The depres- sion of spirits was partly temperamental and partly due to the fact that he had never had a real home, or, in fact, a real boyhood. It was also possibly due in part to the gradual decay of medical jurisprudence as a subject for instruction in the medical colleges and law schools. In a number of letters to the present writer the doctor plays upon this theme at (for him) considerable length and with great sad- ness. To Dr. Ordronaux the subject of medi- cal jurisprudence was not a merely intellectual aflfair, but something which touched the emo- tions deeply; he was greatly concerned for the future of legal medicine, and insisted that the colleges did not know what they were doing in rejecting so important a branch. He died at about 3 a.m., Monday, January 20, 1908. At three the preceding afternoon, he had been stricken with cerebral apoplexy. In- side of sixty seconds he lost consciousness, and then, little by little, he went into a still deeper sleep. He had always feared lest he might some day be a charge to others, and had often expressed the wish to die either suddenly or after a short illness, in order that he might not be the means of giving trouble. Thomas Hall Shastid. Long Island Med. Jour., vol. ii. No. 4, April, 1908, Portrait. Who's Who in America. 1908. Jour. Amer. Med. Assc, Feb. 8, 1908, vol. i, No. 6. Private sources. O'ReiUy, Robert Maitland (184S-1912) Robert Maitland O'Reilly, Major General United States Army, retired Surgeon-General of the Army from September 7, 1902 to Janu- ary 14, 1909, was born in Philadelphia January IS, 1845, and died in Washington November 3, 1912. His parents were John and Ellen Mait- land O'Reilly. His ancestors settled in Penn- sylvania before the Revolution and were a branch of the distinguished Irish family to which belonged that General O'Reilly who was Captain General of Cuba and at one time Spanish governor of Louisiana. Robert began the study of medicine when a youth and in the summer of 1862 was ap- pointed an acting medical cadet at the Cuyler General Hospital at Philadelphia. As a medi- cal cadet he continued in the service until his discharge, when he matriculated at the Uni- versity of Pennsylvania, from which he gradu- ated in 1866. In May, 1867, he entered the Medical Corps of the Army and served for some years on the frontier. He served twice in Washington, the first time from 1882-89 and the second from 1893-97, on each of these tours he was the physician and intimate friend of President Grover Cleveland. At the outbreak of the Spanish-American War, Major; O'Reilly was appointed chief surgeon of the 1st independent division. On May 20, 1898, having been commissioned a lieutenant colonel and chief surgeon of vol- unteers, he became chief surgeon of the 4th army corps, vnth which he served at Tampa, Florida, and Huntsville, Alabama. He served in Cuba from November 16, 1898, to November 11, 1899, most of the time as chief surgeon of the division. After his return to the United States he became chief surgeon of the Department of California and held this po- sition until appointed surgeon-general. General O'Reilly is closely associated with the advancement of the Medical Department. The outbreak of the Spanish War found the department in common with other staff depart- ments insufificiently equipped in personnel and materials, and as a result it was greatly criticised. The Dodge Commission appointed by President McKinley to investigate the Army, made its report on the Medical Depart- ment in the form of recommendations, all of which with one exception were carefully met by General O'Reilly, and that one, the estab- lishment of a volunteer hospital corps in time of war, was before Congress for some time as a part of a general law for the raising of volunteer troops. During General O'Reilly's term, the Medical