Page:American Medical Biographies - Kelly, Burrage.djvu/516

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HARMON
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HARRINGTON

count at Chicago. When his family arrived the next year they brought his medical library, long unequaled in Chicago. When the cholera was brought to Chicago by General Scott's army in 1832, Hannon took care of the garrison through the epidemic. In the same year Harmon did the first capital surgical operation in Chicago, an amputation of the frozen feet of a half-breed Canadian. In the spring of 1833 he preempted 130 acres of land next to the lake south of what is now 16th street. In order to make good his title he built a log-house on the property and resided there until 1834 or 1835, when, in common with many others, he was seized with the Texas land fever and went to that state, settling at a town called Bastrop, where he acquired five or six leagues of land. After five years in that sparsely settled region he returned to Chicago in 1840 for the more profitable practice of his profession. His home was at the southwest corner of Michigan avenue and Harmon Court, named in his honor.

When age called for relaxation from active practice he gradually withdrew and passed his last years in the cultivation of his lovely flower garden. He was called by the profession the father of medicine at Chicago. His death occurred January 3, 1869, at the advanced age of 87 years.

History of Chicago, Andreas.
Chicago and Cook County Biog. of Phys. and Surgs, Chicago.
Early Medical Chicago.

Harmon, John B. (1780–1858).

John B. Harmon, of Warm, Ohio, founder of the Harmon family in Ohio, was born in Rupert, Vermont, October 19, 1780. He was one of the pioneer physicians of Trumbull County, coming to Ohio with his parents in 1800. He first studied medicine with Dr. Josiah Blackman of Vermont and subsequently with Dr. Enoch Leavilt of Leaviltsburg and in the War of 1812 served as army surgeon A leading surgeon of that section of the state, he performed several major operations before the days of general anesthesia, in 1822 removing a cancerous mass from beneath the liver. About four years before his death, which occurred February 7, 1858, he retired from active practice. On February 6, 1822, he married Miss Sarah Dana of Pembroke, New York, and had six children, John, Julian, Charles, Edward, Sarah and Willie. Of these, Julian became a physician and practised in Warren, Ohio.

Histor. and Biog. Cyclop. of the State of Ohio, vol. iv.

Harrington, Charles (1856–1908).

Charles Harrington, hygienist of Boston, was born at Salem, Massachusetts, July 29, 1856, and died at Lynton, England, September 11, 1908. He was graduated from Harvard College in 1878 and from Harvard Medical School in 1881; during the latter part of his course in the medical school assisting Professor Edward S. Wood (q. v.) in medicolegal and toxicological investigations. For the further study of these subjects Harrington went to Germany, immediately after receiving his medical degree, and began work at Leipzig. While there he was attracted by the related subjects of hygiene and sanitary chemistry and went to Strassburg where his study under Schmeideberg determined his future career as a hygienist. After leaving Strassburg he passed a semester at Munich with von Pettenkofer.

In June, 1883, Dr. Harrington was appointed assistant in chemistry in Harvard Medical School, entered upon a practice as consulting chemist, and was employed by the Massachusetts State Board of Health, Lunacy and Charity as milk analyst for eastern Massachusetts.

On February 25, 1884, he married Martha Josephine Jones, daughter of John Coffin Jones, a Boston merchant, for some time consul at the Hawaiian Islands, and of his wife, Manuela Antonio Carillo, daughter of one of the Spanish governors of California. The union was blessed with three children, two sons and a daughter.

Dr. Harrington's appointment as assistant in chemistry at Harvard Medical School was renewed yearly until June, 1888, when he became instructor in materia medica and hygiene and a member of the medical faculty. From 1885 to 1888 he was also assistant in hygiene. In 1898 he was appointed professor of hygiene, and in 1906 was advanced to a full professorship, a position he held at the time of his death.

Mayor Hart, of Boston, appointed Dr. Harrington inspector of milk and vinegar for the city in 1889. Finding many frauds being practised by the dealers in these commodities, he devoted himself to their prosecution, and being an accurate analyst and a fearless and model witness, established for himself during the fifteen years he held the office a wide reputation as a sanitarian and an expert in hygiene. In December, 1904, he gave up his Boston office to accept the position of secretary of the Massachusetts State Board of Health, filling the vacancy caused by the