PRESIDENT-ELECT JOHN B. MURPHY jured in Continuity;" "Surgery of the Lungs;" of the Gall with of There are probably but few men in the ranks of "Operative Surgery Tracts, Report, Means American medicine who are better known at home Twenty Successful Cholecysto-Enterostomies by and abroad than the President-Elect of the American of the Anastomosis Button ;" "Fracture of the Olecranon Medical Association, Dr. John Benjamin Murphy of Treated by Subcutaneous Exarticular Wiring;" "Sur¬ of Chicago. His work in surgery easily places him in the gery the Spinal Cord and Peripheral Nervous Sys¬ "Tuberculosis of the in front rank of American surgeons\p=m-\whichmeans in the tem;" Patella;" "Proctoclysis the Treatment front rank of the surgeons of the world. of Peritonitis." As a and member of the medical Dr. Murphy was born in Appleton, Wis., Dec. 21, progressive aggressive no less than as a educator and a 1857. He was reared on a farm, attended the secondary profession leading of Dr. honors the office to schools and was graduated by Appleton High School surgeon high rank, Murphy in 1876 and by Rush Medical College in 1879. After which he has been elected. service as intern in Cook County Hospital, Dr. Murphy formed a partnership with Dr. Edward W. Lee. In 1882 THE ST. LOUIS SESSION he went to Europe, where he studied in the hospitals of The St. Louis Session of the American Medical As- Vienna, Berlin, Heidelberg and London, returning in sociation was an unqualified success. From the scien- 1884 to Chicago. tific point of view, and from Dr. Murphy has been suc- the effect in the promotion cessively lecturer in surgery of a closer and more har- at Rush Medical College; monious organization of the professor of surgery in the profession, as well as of College of Physicians and social interest, little more Surgeons, Chicago; profes- could have been desired. sor of surgery in the North¬ The registration was a little western University Medical over four thousand, a num- School; professor of sur¬ ber exceeded only twice\p=m-\at gery in Rush Medical Col¬ Boston and at Chicago. lege, and for the second In the scientific interest time, professor of surgery in and in the earnestness and the medical department of fulness of the discussions on Northwestern University, the topics presented the sec- which position he still tion meetings equaled or sur- holds. While Dr. Murphy passed those of any previous is known best to the med¬ session. Every section had ical profession in general profitable meetings and the attendance in each was as a surgeon, he is known good. notable were the to an increasingly large por¬ Especially in the Section tion of the profession as an symposiums instructor of the highest on Preventive Medicine and rank. He is a born teacher Public Health on hookworm, and and not only has a message pellagra typhoid fever, to give but possesses in a and in the Section on Path- John . , M.D. marvelous degree the power ology and Physiology on can- to give it. cer\p=m-\subjects which, aside As a surgeon Dr. Murphy is typical of the country ; from their interest to the profession, have particular not content blindly to follow precedent, he has blazed interest for the public, because of the wide-spread mor- in the new trails. And, what is of even more import, in attack¬ bidity and mortality which they cause, especially is ing a problem he is not content to leave it half-solved, instances of typhoid fever and cancer. Indeed, it in a formative stage as a mere interesting academic pos¬ interesting to note the many points at which the papers sibility; when it is perfected he has a fully developed, throughout the whole program of this session touched practical method, given as a complete procedure to his the public directly in the matter of hygiene, sanitation contemporaries. In this particular Dr. Murphy stands and prevention. It is a reflection of the wide-spread unique; he has not only invented, he has perfected. interest of the public in what is being done in medicine.. Some of the best-known of Dr. Murphy's writings are : In many respects the Section on Preventive Medicine "Cholecysto-intestinal, Gastro-intestinal, Entero-intes- was the most interesting of the Session. Cancer, with tional Anastomosis and Approximation Without Su¬ its frightful mortality and increasing prevalence, was tures;" "Ileus;" "Besection of Arteries and Veins In- probably the most prominent subject of the Session, Downloaded From: http://jama.jamanetwork.com/ by a Karolinska Institutet University Library User on 05/28/2015.