RIDDELL
322
RIDDELL
Pres. Thiers niaile him iin officer of the
Legion of Honor for his services in the
Franc o-German War. Fournier, his
pupil and successor, edited many of his
works. During his last years he disap-
peared almost into oblivion. His bril-
liant mind gave way and he died at Paris,
October 21, 1SS9.
Of his writings may be mentioned the following: "De L'Emploi du Specu- lum," 1S33 (of the bivalve speculum invented by him) ; " De la Blennorrhagie de la femme," 1S34; "Emploide I'On- guent Mercuriel dans le Traitement de I'Erysipele," 1839; "Monographic du Chancre," 1837 (the clearest exposition of his doctrine) ; "Th^orie sur la Nature et le Traitement de I'Epididymite," 1838; "Traits des Maladies V^neriennes," 1838, nouv. ed. 1863, av. 66 pi.; "De I'Oph- thalmie Blennorrhagique," 1842; "Clin- ique Iconographique de I'Hopital des Vto^riens," 1842-63, av. 66 pi.; "De la Syphilisation et de la Contagion des Accidents Secondaires," 1853; "Lettres sur la Syphilis," 1851; 3 ed., 1863; "Logons sur le Chancre . . . Publ. par Alfred Fournier," 1857, 2 6d., 1860; together with a large number of observa- tions in Richelot's translations of John Hunter's "Traits de la Maladie V^n^ri- enne," 3 6d., 1859, and a great quantity of memoirs, observations, communica- tions, for the most part in the "M^moires and Bulletins of the Academy of Med- icine," 1834-50, verses, etc. All of his productions are distinguished by sim- plicity of style. E. F. C.
Biographisches Lexikon der Hervorragen-
den Aerzte aller Zeiten und Volker, von Dr.
Aug. Hirsch, Wien, 1887, Bd. v.
Ann. de dermat. et syph., Paris, 1889, 2 s.,
vol. X (H. Feulard).
Boston M. and S. J., 1889, vol. cxxi.
Edinb. M. J., 1889, vol. xxxv.
Lancet, Lond., 1889, vol. ii.
Progres Med., Paris, 1889, 2. s., vol. x.
Gazz. med. Ital. Lomb. Milano, 1863, 5. s.,
vol. ii.
RiddeU, John Leonard (1807-1865).
John Leonard Riddell, physician, author and inventor, was born in Ley den, Massachusetts, in 1807, of fine
Scotch-Irish ancestry which could be
traced back to the eighth century.
He held his degrees of A. B. and A. M. from the Rensselaer School of Troy, New York, and began his career as a lecturer on scientific subjects. In 1S35 he was made adjunct professor of chemistry and botany in the Cincinnati Medical College, from which he received his M. D. He published a catalogue of plants in 1835 entitled "A Synopsis of the Flora of the Western States," the pioneer botany of that section of the country, and in 1836 he became professor of chemistry in the Medical College of Louisiana, a distinc- tion which he enjoyed until his death in 1865.
His catalogue of Louisiana plants assures to him the discovery of several new, or unobserved, species, one genus being called for him, Riddellia (Riddellia tagetina, Nuttall).
In 1838 the president of the United States appointed Dr. Riddell melter and refiner for New Orleans, as a recognition of the creditable work just performed in a scientific exploration conducted in Texas; his incumbency in this office lasted until 1849. In 1844 he was one of a commission recommended by the governor and legislature to devise a means for protecting New Orleans from overflow. About this period he became devoted to microscopy and invented the binocular microscope, as noted on page 273, vol. xvi, edition nine, of the "Encyclopedia Britannica." According to Herringshaw's Encyclopedia of Ameri- can Biography, he was the discoverer of the microscopical characteristics of the blood and black vomit in yellow fever.
Dr. Riddell was a frequent contributor to the "New Orleans Medical and Surg- ical Journal," among his publications being noted "Probable Constitution of Matter and Laws of Motion, as Deducible from, and Explanatory of, the Physical Phenomena of Nature," 1845, vol. ii, and "Nature of Miasma and Contagion," vol. xvi, 1859.
J. G. R.
N. Ori. M. and S. Jour., vol. xix, 1866-7.
