The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1901-05-04
THE DEATH OF DR.. ROSSb
A Well-KnOwn Washington Physi-
elan Expires Suddenly.
The End of Life of Adventure-A
Prominent Writer, Scientist. and
SpOrtsman-Hnd Been a Surgeon in
the Army-His Extensive Travels.

prominent Writer, Scientist. and
Sportsmnn-Hnd Been a Surgeon in
the Army-His Extensive Travels.
DR.. Irving Collins Rosse. q well-known
Washington citizen, and a figure espe-
cially prominent among physicians and
scientists, died yesterday morning at
Providence Hospital. DR.. Rosse was
taken iii quite suddenly and his death
resulted from hepatic obstruction He
is survived by a widow and one child
Mrs. Rosse was in New York when her
husband became i'll. but was telegraphed
for and came to Washington Immediately.
Dr. Rosse was a man of intense char
acter and remarkably wide interests.
There was hardly a field of science into
which he had not dipped deeply. He was
a litterateur and newspaper man. His
writings cover a most diverse list of sub
jects from sporting articles for maga-
zines to most learned treatises the
psychology of emotions and the physio-
logical aspects of insanity. He was
good athlete and took a special interest
in all kinds of games. having written
several treatises upon the beneficial eff
fects of exercise. He was an extremely
popular man s9cially, and took quite
prominent part in the doings of Washing
tons society, particularly during the first
few years after his marriage, which took
place about twelve years ago. His wife
was a Miss James. of New York, a grand
daughter of General Worth.
Among Washingtonians he is specially
remembered because of his ability as a.
specialist on nervous diseases and dis
eases of the brain. He was considered
one of the best expert witnesses in the
country and was called in on all impor
tant criminal cases where insanity was
set up as a plea. He was on the stand
during the trial of Guiteau, who as
sassinated President Garfield. His opinion
was also asked in the Bean murder trial
about six years ago, and more recently
in the Horton case.
The latter years of his life were spent
in Washington, but while a young man
he Travelled a great deal, and filed
great many positions. AS a traveller he
was known chiefly because of his two ex-
cursions in the Corwin to the North Pole
in search of the survivors of the ILL
fated jeanette expedition He had gone
ali over the United States as a surgeon
in the army. and had circumnayigated
the entire coast line as contract surgeon
in the revenue cutter Chase.
His fun name was Irving Collins Rosse,
and he was born in East New Market,
Dorchester County, on the Eastern Shore
of Maryland. October 2. 1912. His family
was Anglo-Scotch, connected with sew
eral of the best families in Scotland and
England. His education was all directed
toward a life in the medical profession.
After taking the common school educa-
tion in his county schools he attended st.
Johns College, Annapolis, for three years.
Leaving there he went to West Point,
where he was a cadet in 1868 to 1864. He
took up his first serious study of medi-
cine under DR.. Alexander II Bayley, OF
Cambridge, and graduated at the Univer-
sity of Maryland in 1866. He was an A.
NJ. of Georgetown University, and had
honorary degrees from a number of in
stitutions in Europe. The deceased studied
abroad. in London, Berlin, and Paris for
many years, but he began his work as
clinical assistant in the Baltimore In
frmary. In 1866 he was made medical Of
hcer In the United States Amy. and un-
til 1874 served with the army in various
posts throughout the West and the South.
He was quarantine officer Of Georgia, and
was present on Tybee Island during the
outbreak of cholera. He was also quar-
antine officer at Brazos Santiago, Tex.
During the Ku-Klux troubles he was on
the staff of Gen. Henry Hunt in North
Carolina. Dr. Rosses literary work be-
gan with his assisting in the preparation
of the "Medico-Surgical History of the
Rebellion. and he was in charge of the
force that made an index to the library
of the Surgeon General In the latter
months of 1874. he left the army and be-
came an examiner in the Pension Office.
but he left that position in 1871. to take
the place of surgeon in the Revenue Cut
ter Service He travelled extensively while
in the service, and was in Africa during
the Zulu war.
As member of the crew of the Corwin
he went to seek and rescue the survivors
of the Jeanette, and during the excursions
into the frozen north made himself fam
Gus by being the first to climb the SOCIAL
ed inaccessible Herald Island, and the
first man to set foot on Wrangle Island
For these exploits he was made a fellow
of the Royal Geographical Society. He
was an executive officer OF the Red Cross
Hospital Association in Washington in
1884, and juror 10 the Paris Exposition in
1889. His newspaper work was done as a
and the San Francisco Examiner and his
scientific contributions en- nervous dis
eases. athletics, and the like, were publish
ed in all the important medical journals.
No arrangements have yet been made
for the funeral The flag on the Metropol-
itan Club was lowered in recognition of
his death.