American Medical Biographies

How it begins

Some fifteen years ago while engaged in writing the biography of Walter Reed, of yellow fever fame, I became conscious of the great need of an authoritative American medical biographic work, for ready reference, on the table of every doctor in the United States and in Canada. The older works of large scope were long out of date and were burdened with the incubus of a lot of living men, besides having hundreds of omissions, especially among our pioneers. Sidney Lee has truly said in his "Principles of Biography": "Death is a part of life and no man is fit subject for biography till he is dead. Living men have been made themes of biography.