Page:American Medical Biographies - Kelly, Burrage.djvu/640

JARVIS 618 JAY prior to Di*. Jarvis' entrance into this field of work. The Jarvis snare, however, is not lim- ited in its possibilities to laryngology, for there are many surgical conditions wherein it may be employed to advantage. The introduction of piano wire for cutting purposes revolution- ized intra-nasal surgery, placing in the hands of the specialist and general practitioner a safe and easy method for the removal of neo- plasms and deformities, otherwise attacked bi' heroic and bloody methods or left to them- selves. The principle of the Jarvis snare, with its milled nut, has been copied in numerous modifications, the inventors of which rarely give credit to the modest genius who did so much for medicine. Few of these instruments show any marked advantage over the original device of Dr. Jarvis, who modified his own instruments slightly to meet varying condi- tions, the most important being the applica- tion of a graduated scale upon the shank of the instrument, and the milled nut. It is thus possible by a simple measurement of the growth to determine how many turns of the nut are necessary to cut it through. Of course the cardinal value of piano wire is the ameli- oration of pain, hemorrhage, the possibility of permitting the patient to remove his own growth, and the doing away with brutal and bloody operations formerly practiced by opera- tors in this field. Other instruments suggested by Dr. Jarvis were the applicator for the re- moval of glottic and subglottic growths. The instrument devised in 1884 (A'. Y. Medical Journal, August, 1884) was intended for the use of chromic acid as an escharotic, a crystal being placed upon the tip of a concealed sty- let and fused. By means of a trigger device upon the handle of the instrument the stylet was suddenly plunged upon the growth, cau- terizing a localized area and permitting safe and rapid removal. He suggested also a meth- od of removing deviations of the nasal septum by means of tubular nasal drills driven by an electric motor. (A^. Y. Medical Record, 1887, vol. xxxi.) He described a case of ozena of years standing cured by the removal of the carious intra-nasal bones using these drills for their rapid excision. (Medical Register. Feb- ruary 2, 1889, paper read before the American Laryngological Association 1888). At the an- nual meeting of the New York State Medical Society, 188S, Dr. Jarvis presented a plan for illumination of the upper air passages by the application of electric light bulbs at the focus of the head mirror and at the shank of a laryngoscope handle. This was the introduc- tion to what is now a common and convenient means of illumination of all the body cavities. He was a pioneer in the use of cocaine in intra-nasal and laryngeal sur'gery, which he predicted would prove of great value in the future. At that time he found it difficult to secure the pure drug and indicated the neces- sity of obtaining pure crystals only to attain satisfactory results, "Cocaine in Intra-nasal Surgery" {New York Medical Record, vol. xxvi, 654-56). He claimed that chronic na- sal catarrh was in the majority of instances due to a congenital deviation of the septum, the displaced portion pressing upon the turbi- nates on the corresponding nostril and creat- ing a focus of irritation, which directly and indirectly brings about the entire train of symptoms. The existance of nasal disease, as- sociated with a high palatine arch in members of the same family seem to bear out his views. (New York Medical Record, vol. xxvii, p. 85 ; Boston Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. cii, p. 85.) A rare member of society, he was withal ex- tremely modest, genial and amiable, punc- tilious in all the responsibilities that rest upon an active practitioner and in all the duties of life. Generous and thoughtful of the poor and suffering, he responded gladly in skill and ma- terial help to all worthy appeals. He died as he had lived, calmly resigned to the will of his Maker. He had suffered for several years from an obscure abdominal disease, dying July 3, 1895, at Fort Totten, New York, while on a visit to his brother. Captain N. S. Jarvis, U. S. Army. So, by a curious coincidence, his first and last glimpse of daylight came to him in a military post. N. S. Jarvis. Jay, John Clarkson (1808-1891) John Clarkson Jay, son of Peter Augustus Jay and grandson of John Jay, was born in New York City, September 11, 1808, and died at his home, "Rye," Westchester County, New York, November 15, 1891, in his eighty-fourth year, the immediate cause being senile gan- grene. He graduated from Columbia College in 1827, and the College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, in 1830, and served as interne in the New York Hospital the usual term. Upon his marriage with Laura Prime, daughter of Nathaniel Prime, a well-known banker, he left his practice and for a short time engaged in the banking business, but soon retired from both business and professional pursuits to live at his country seat, "Rye," where 400 acres gave him ample occupation.