The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1914-11-22
The Autobiography Of q soldier . nd
Surgeon.

II the assemolage OF personal reml-
n!scences, professional talk and fugitive
verse compositions which Dr. JoYN
ALLAN WYETH presents in wan sabre
and Scdlpcl nIarpers) seems somewhat
unliterary. ii IS at least as personal as
"a mans own face The doctor Is not
hampered by the conventional code Of
book makers The verses and the papers
on surgery may Well be left to the doc
tors OF rhyme and OF healing, The
"reminiscences are lively, more appeal
ing TO the commons with their pictures
of the older South. reCollections Of Con
federate campaigns and recital Of the
ventures. vicisstudes and successes
OF a variegatod career Or. Wyeth
founded IN 1881, the New York Poly
clinic. tho first post graduate school Of
medicine in the United States. and is
now ITS professor of surgery and prcs!-
dent of its faculty.
The reminiscent was born, Nav 20
iS45 IN the north Of Alabama, Mt Gum
tersville in what is now Marshall
county, a town founded by his father.
Judge Louis Wyeth, HIS account OF
tho life of hoy !n that region and time
Is picturesque. Horse, gun and dog
We're part OF the necessary furniture Of
every boys l!fe. Education was print
tive in its apparatus but thorough IN
it's intention and crudely efficient IN It's
execution thereof Greene Academy.
founded 1912. was a preparatory school
OF parts. whenoe the sons Of the aristoo-
racy were sent 20 La Grange College,
or Henry and Emory. or William and
Mary, tho University of Virginia or
Princeton, then as in its earlier history
In prime favor at the South. The fine
chivalric institutions OF tho South were
then in their perfect flower and they
and their rougher social concoml ia nj .
are set forth with graphic first hand
familiarity The reminiscent INDUCES
IN some views of slavery and specula =
tons upon social and political posslbilI-
ties rudely blotted out by the civil war
that one might expect TO hear aired by
silver haired gentlemen of the old
regime about a generously stocked Ken
! lucky home buffet but seldom sees in
I print at th!s late day. He presents the
/ battle OF Chickamauga MS the turnins
/ point In the tide OF the ConfeJeracy's
! fortunes.
His personal experiences in the wal
.are related with gusto, especially a If
'teen months captivity In Camp Morton
Confined at first in an old stable hc
complained OF the stench. A Yankee
officer. refusing the prisoners request
for permission to sleep in an adioininl
open lot, remarked in the free speech
Of military camps: Young man, Jesus
Christ was born In a stable, and you
might afford 10 spend the night in one,
The rlgors Of confinement in n I'nor
} war prison were alleviated by the kline
thoughtfulness OF a spinstor friend hacl
homo. who sent volume entitled
Salad for tho Solitary" Prisoners o
war did not have the comfort Of
cellular system of confinement. Life II
Camp Morton rrsemhled rather n 80
journ IN crowded cattle pen than
term In a civilized penitent!ary.
Graduated in medicine in 1869, til
doctor hung out his shingle In Gunters
.ville. His equipment consisted Of n pa,
Of doctors saddle bags with medlcln
bottles, apothecary's scales for weiphln
dosage" two dentists forCeps and
poor set Of surgical operating inrtr,,
J menH. Tho first oase was obstetrlo.
was normal ana easily handled, an