Table number XXII. exhibits the location, by wards and public institutions, of the mortality from infectious diseases, as also the percentage in each on the total mortality. It will be observed that the highest percentage (40.91) occurred in the Fifteenth Ward. Of the 66 deaths occurring in this ward during the year, 27 were from preventable diseases, principally scarlet fever. The Sixteenth Ward exhibits the next highest percentage (39.16).. Of the 143 deaths reported from this ward, 56 were from preventable diseases, 35 being from scarlet fever. Deaths from General Diseases (A.), during the 12 months ending December 31, 1875. 1 Ceased registering soon after the beginning of the year. REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON NECROLOGY, 1875. To the Allegheny County Medical Society. The Committee on Necrology have the honor to submit the following as their report for the year 1875. During this year the following members of this Society have passed away: A. G. MCCANDLESS, M.D. The chairman of this committee has labored under great embarrassment in preparing obituary notices of these deceased members. Having little personal knowledge of their lives or characters, he has been obliged to depend upon notices which appeared in the daily papers at the time of their deaths, and to a great extent even the language of these papers has been copied. Respectfully submitted. J. B. MURDOCH. Chairman. A. G. MCCANDLESS, 1816-1875. (From The Pittsburg Gazette, Feb. 25, 1875, and Presbyterian Banner, March 17, 1875) DR. MCCANDLESS was a native of Allegheny County, having been born in the year 1816 near the Washington County line in a rural district, where he resided until he had arrived at an age when he could attend school. He early showed a predilection for the medical profession, and after spending several years, graduated at the "Cleveland Medical College" with an honorable record. He then entered the office of Dr. Pollock (father of Dr. Pollock of this city) who was located at Clinton, and after spending some time with him, hung out his own shingle at Perrysville in this county. He passed the first ten years of regular medical practice in that rural retreat. Having thus obtained a good practical experience in his profession, he sought out a wider field of labor, and pitched his tent in Pittsburg about the year 1848, from whence he never thereafter removed. He soon became well known hereabouts, and built up a large and lucrative practice. He was recognized as one of the most successful and best physicians in the city, and was highly esteemed among his professional brethren as he was among those to whom he ministered. The doctor, however, though zealous in the pursuit of his calling, was not indifferent to other claims upon him, whereby he could extend his usefulness, and hence he took considerable interest in municipal affairs. About four years after his removal to this city, he was chosen as a representative in City Councils, taking his seat in that body in the year 1852. He discharged the trust thus reposed in him so well that his constituents kept him in office, and until the present year, he was a member of that body. As a councilman, he was one of the most active and influential, and held the position of President of one of the branches for five years. His council record was one that reflected the highest credit upon him, and his worth was attested by flattering resolutions passed upon him, on the occasion of his retirement last year. In addition to his position as a councilman, Dr. McCandless also held other public positions, such as Physician to the Jail, to the Board of Health, and to the Marine Hospital, in all of which he proved himself worthy of the confidence in which he was held. In social life, the deceased was characterized for courteous manners and an affable, grace that made him friends wherever he was known. He was a member and elder in the Sixth Presbyterian Church, Rev. Dr. Wilson's, having started with that organization when it was founded twenty years ago. The fact of holding the honorable position of eldership is the best proof of the esteem with which he was regarded by his fellow members. He had been in apparently good health for several months past, and his death, therefore, came with all the suddenness of a shock upon his family and friends. On the morning of February 24, 1875, the day of his death, he went over to Allegheny and returned with his pastor, Rev. Dr. Wilson, who took dinner with him at his home. It being the birthday of his only daughter, he gathered to his dinner table all his children together with his pastor, and with great cheerfulness dispensed that generous hospitality which characterized him. At seven o'clock in the evening he was seized with a severe attack of angina pectoris, and in an hour and twenty minutes was dead. He was fifty-nine years of age when he "feel asleep," and his spirit passed from earth. Thus passed away a veteran whose life had been one of activity and usefulness, and whose memory is worthy of tender remembrance. JAMES P. ALCORN, 1822-1875. PREPARED BY HIS BROTHER A. W. ALCORN. JAMES P. ALCORN was born in Clarion County, Pa., August 15, 1822. Was the second child of a family of eight children, and the oldest of six sons. He launched out upon a rough world to make his own voyage when seventeen years old. His parents were not able to give him any pecuniary aid, but followed him with their prayers. He struggled on and up, till he became a school teacher of considerable note in Clarion and Armstrong Counties. In 1846-7 he took a Latin course with a private instructor, Rev. James D. Mason, of Rural Village, Pa. In January, 1848, began reading medicine with Dr. Sanderson of Strattonville, Clarion County, Pa. Attended his first course of medical lectures in Cleveland-Medical Department of Western Reserve College-He graduated at Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, in the spring of 1850. Located in Prospect, Butler Co., Pa., where he practised his profession for five years, when he spent a third term in attending lectures in Philadelphia and New York. After this he located in Ravenna, Portage Co., Ohio, where he secured a large practice, plenty of hard work, and poor pay. In 1865 he located in Allegheny City, Pa., where he secured a very respectable practice and many warm friends. act. He loved his profession. He loved worth. He abhorred a mean He loved his God. He was a hard worker, and in the discharge of duty never thought of self. He died in the harness, January 19, 1875. THOMAS H. ELLIOTT, M.D., 1818-1875. THOMAS H. ELLIOTT, the subject of this brief memoir, was born near Mercersburg, Franklin Co., Pa., on the eighth day of May, 1818. At the age of eleven he removed to Washington, Pa., where his father was called as pastor of the Presbyterian Church of that place. He subsequently entered Washington College as a student, and graduated with the class of 1836. He commenced the study of medicine with Dr. F. J. Le Moyne in Washington, Pa., in June, 1838, and continued with Dr. Andrew N. McDowell, in Pittsburg, in April, 1839. After receiving his degree from the University of Pennsylvania in April, 1841, he commenced practice in Pittsburg. For four years from 1842 to 1846, he was laid aside by ill-health, but was so far restored as to enter again upon the duties of his profession, opening his office in Allegheny City. In January, 1863, he entered the United States service as surgeon, and was stationed at Harewood Hospital, Washington City. Was transferred after some months to Fortress Monroe as quarantine physician, and thence to the "flag of truce" steamer, "New York," as surgeon in charge. He remained in this position until July, 1865, three months after the war was closed, when he was obliged to resign on account of illness contracted on the James River After a few months rest, he resumed his professional labors in Allegheny City, and continued in active practice until he was stricken down with paralysis in February, 1867. From this time he was a constant sufferer until death relieved him, which event occurred November 25, 1875. Such is a brief outline of this changing scene in the life of Thomas H. Elliott. Such barren dates can give no idea of his life or character. This will be better done by quoting the words of those who knew him best. The following extract from The Washington Reporter Dec. 1, 1875, a paper published where the subject of these remarks was reared, and where he was best known, will give some idea of the estimation in which he was held by the friends of his youth. "He was remarkable for the kindly sympathies and tender offices which he carried into the chambers of his patients." He was far, however, from confining his studies to the range of his profession. Gifted with a brilliant mind and extraordinary taste, his literary reading was at once choice and extensive, and few men excelled him as a vigorous and polished writer. Many yet remember, as a specimen, his fine tribute to the deceased Alumni of his Alma Mater on the occasion of the semi-centennial celebration in 1856. Other productions of his pen do not fall behind this in refined thought and faultless style. In his knowledge of educational institutions and of the literary history of eminent men, he excelled any one we have ever known. The general catalogue of Washington and Jefferson College, so rich in materials of this sort, is for the most part a production of his research. He would have been next to peerless as an editor of a literary journal or magazine. |