Page:American Medical Biographies - Kelly, Burrage.djvu/869

NEILSON 847 NELSON "placed upon the parts, instead of being re- ferred to by numbers — rather a novelty then and a great relief to the student." With Francis Gurney Smith (q. v.), he com- piled an "Analytical Compendium of the Vari- ous Branches of Medical Science," 1848. "Dr. Neill, in after years, frequently was heard to regret that he had ever been connected with a publication, however successful, which contributed so largely to make the study of medicine superficial" (Shippen). He had planned a work on the principles of surgery, but died when only notes for the first chap- ter had been completed. In 1844 he married Anna Maria Wharton, daughter of Samuel HolUngsworth, merchant of Philadelphia, and sister of Samuel L. Hol- Ungsworth, editor of the Medical Examiner, 1854-56; their children were: Caroline Hol- lingsworth (M. D., University of Pennsyl- vania, 1874) ; Patty Duffield ; and John. Mr. Neill died at Philadelphia, February 11, 1880. Howard A. Kelly. Information from Dr. Ewing Jordan. Trans. Coll. Pliys., Phila., 3 s., 1881, vol. v., pp. cxH-clvi (E. Shippen). History of the Pennsylvania Hospital, 1751-1895. T. G. Morton, Phila., 1895. Neilson, William Johnston (1854-1903) He was born in Perth, Ontario, March 4, 1854; his father, Cornelius Neilson, emigrated from Ireland in 1818. His mother, Eleanor Moorehouse, was born in Ontario, of Irish parenits. He went as a boy to the Perth public and grammar schools, and his medical course was had in McGill University, Montreal, where he took the M. D., and C. M., in 1878, after a very brilliant career as a stu- dent. Neilson practised for a short time at Park- dale, ■ Ontario, and Hastings, Minnesota, then went to Winnipeg in 1881, where he lived until his death. He was chosen professor of anat- omy in Manitoba Medical College in 1888, and was also a member of the staff of the Winnipeg General Hospital from 1892 on- wards. He died on the evening of a large political gathering in the Constituency of North Winnipeg of which he was elector, at the Winnipeg General Hospital, July 17, 1903, of pulmonary abscess. A painting by V. A. Lang hangs in the library of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Manitoba, in Winnipeg. Jasper Halpenny. Nelson, David (1793-1844). David Nelson, surgeon in the War of 1812 and later a Presbyterian minister and author, was born near Jonesborough, East Tennessee, September 24, 1793. and died at Quincy, Il- linois, October 17, 1844, aged 51. His parents were from Virginia, his father an officer of the church and his mother of Scotch descent. In childhood he was of a contemplative dis- position and at the age of twelve thought him- self converted to religion. His education was at Washington College, Virginia, graduating in 1810 at sixteen and then studying medicine with Dr. Ephraim McDowell (q. v.) in Danville, Kentucky, and at the Philadelphia Medical School, where he received his M. D., and had but just entered on the practice of medicine when he became surgeon to a Kentucky regiment and went to Canada in the War of 1812. There he nearly lost his life from exposure in the wilderness, being rescued by his cousin. Col- onel Allen. On his return to Kentucky, he practised medicine at the age of 22, married a daughter of David Deaderick, made a new profession of his early religious belief, for- sook a lucrative practice, said to yield him $3,000 a year, and became a minister in the Presbyterian church, being licensed to preach in April, 1825. Then he preached in various parts of Tennessee for three years, helped to edit a periodical called The Calvinistic Maga- zine and finally succeeded his brother Samuel as pastor of the Presbj'terian church in Dan- ville, Kentucky. He was said to be singularly striking in manner and his eloquence was fervid, powerful and picturesque. Removing to Missouri in 1830, he was instrumental in founding Marion College in Marion County and was its first president, the students of the "ollege supporting themselves by engaging in manual labor. Dr. Nelson, a warm emancipationist, went to Quincy, Illinois, ir 1836, and established an institution for the education of young men as missionaries, but this failed because of the lack of business ability of the founder. In his first summer there he wrote "The Cause and Cure of Infidelity," N. Y., 1836, which passed through several editions and was trans- lated into French, German and Spanish. In the latter part of his life he was subject to attacks of epilepsy that impaired his facul- ties. Walter L. Burrage. New .Amer. Encvclop.. Appleton. 1866, vol. xii. Diet. Amer. Biog.. F. S. Drake. 1872. Sketch of author's life in "The Cause and Cure of Infidelitv." Amer. Tract Soc, N. Y., 2nd edit., sgs-.ipg. New Schaff-Herzog Encyc. Sclig. Knowl.