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enjoyment of life and happiness to either." Her life was prolonged, with tolerable health for a considerable period, until 1865.
Before Dr. Wood's embarkation upon his last journey abroad, in 1860, a farewell public dinner was given him by the members of the medical profession in Philadelphia, in testimony of their high respect, esteem and affection. The venerable and distinguished Dr. La Roche presided. The occasion was one of unusual interest. No physician in Philadelphia was ever more, if ever one so much, looked up to by those of all ranks and ages, as truly the head, the patriarch[1] of the medical profession in America.
At the time of his death, in 1879, Dr. Wood was a few days more than eighty-two years of age. On the subject of his funeral, I must cite the words of Dr. Littell, in his memoir, already mentioned: "His remains, followed by a long train of sorrowing friends, were silently interred at Laurel Hill, as the manner of Friends is to bury.[2] Not a word was uttered, not a note was heard, either at the house or at the grave. All instinctively felt that fulsome panegyric or trite remark would be alike out of place on such an occasion. They came 'to bury Cæsar, not to praise him.' But
- ↑ This expression was applied by Dr. Wood himself, in 1850, to his predecessor, Dr. Nathaniel Chapman. It may be said to be still preserved to Philadelphia, in the person of our distinguished surgeon, Professor S. D. Gross, who has received the very highest honors on both sides of the Atlantic.
- ↑ It need scarcely, perhaps, be here noted, that fitting discourse, by ministers or others, is frequent, although not universal, at the funerals of "Friends."
