The Republican journal., 1916-01-20
DR.. JAMES CLARKE WHITE.

occurred at his residence. 259 Marlborough
year. removes one of the most distinguished d
of those who can claim Belfast as their native
place. He was born here on July T. 1888, the
son of Hon. James Patterson White and Mary
Ann (Clarke) White, and grandson OF Robert
White, one of the early settlers who Game to
Belfast in 1887 from Londonderry, New Hamp-
shire.
Hon. James Patterson White is still we'll re-
membered by our older citizens. In addition
to other manufacturing interests, he was for
many years extensively engaged in ship build.
ing here. In 1910 he erected and occupied the
house at the juncti on of Church and High
streets long known as the White Homestead,
and now the summer residence of Hon. James
P. Taliaferro. MIR. White was Mayor of Bel.
fast from 1861 to 1868, and State Senator in
1862 and 1868. He was one of the original direc-
tors of the Belfast bank, and was it's President
until his death in 1879.
The early life of DR.. James Clarke White,
the subject of this notice, was passed in Bel
fast, and he fitted for college at the old Bel
fast Academy and with private tutors. Chap
ter l of his book entitled Sketches from my
Life" contains an interesting account of Bel
fast and the conditions here toward the mid
die of the last century, In 1849 he entered
Harvard College, from which he was gradual
ed with the class of 1858. Among other mem-
bers of this Glass; who later achieved distinc-
ton in various walks of life, were five future
Harvard professors, Fellow and Librarian
of the University. and its President Emeritus,
Charles William Eliot.
From the college young White entered the
Harvard Medical school, receiving the degree
of M. D. there in 1856. His "reminiscences give
no: only an interesting account of the medi-
cal education afforded in his student days, but
a valuable summary of the medical history of
Boston during the last half of the last century.
He had witnessed the entire development of
modern medicine, and in his special field of
skin diseases was pioneer. Of this subject
he had made study in Vienna Immediately
upon his graduation from the Harvard Medi-
cal school.
On returning to this country he began the
practice of his profession in Boston and be-
came high authority on dermatology, of which
subject he was for long period professor at
Harvard. He was actively identified with the
Harvard Medical school; first, as lecturer, in
the early sixties, and later as professor of
chemistry and instructor in medical chemis-
try. In the early seventies he became Profess
sor of Dermatology and continued such, in
addition to his private practice as physician,
until he was made professor emeritus in 1902.
His close intimacy, dating from their student
days, with men high in the councils of Harvard
University, enabled him to keep the needs Of
the Harvard Medical school constantly before
the governing body of the University. and his
part in making that school one of the fore
most institutions Of its kind in the world was
an important one. De- White retired from
active practice in 1911.
In addition to occupying a prominent posi-
tion in his chosen profession, DR.. White had
become widely known through his numerous
other interests. and took prominent part in
the social and club life of Boston, where he
was member of various clubs and societies.
including the Thursday Evening, the Natural
lists. the St. Botolph, The Harvard and the
Somerset Clubs, of which latter he wrote
history in 1913. He was a Fellow of the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a
member of the American Dermatological Asso-
citation ,of which he was the first president, and
at one time president of the International
Dermatological Association. He was foreign
honorary member of Genealogical societies
ir onJou Rarlir Wanna in Itol,, ND
corresponding member of several other similar
foreign organizations in France, Great Britain
and the Argentine Republic. He had belonged
to the New York Dermatoogical Society and
had served as president of the Massachusetts
Medical Society.
In politics he was a Republican and in his
ch urch affiliations was a Unitarian and mem
Der of the First Church in Boston, of which
church he was the oldest male member and of
whose leading committees he had from time to
time for period of forty-five years been
chairman. AS a writer, DR.. White was the au-
thor of "Dermatitis Venenata" and "Sketches
from My Life, and was for many years fre-
quent contributor to medical journals, reviews
and periodicals. The list of his published
meQlcdl papers, lectures, reviews, editorials,
and scientific addresses, numbers more than
$50 titles.
He had made six trips to Europe for pur-
poses of study recreation, and in 1900 and
again in 1910 he visited the Pacific coast. In
addition to other scientific interests he had
from boyhood strong love of Botany, and
had searched New England widely for wild
flowers, preparing from his collections an ex-
tensive herbarium.
Always a great reader, he was Unusually
well informed not only in things pertaining to
his profession, but also on our early New Eng
land History, and on all matters relative to
the development of Boston throughout the
half century during which he had known it.
His knowledge was always at the service of
others. and up to the very week of his death
his advice and counsel were sought by younger
men. By his patients co-workers in science,
students. and friends. he was alike held in af-
fectionate regard. His love of family was
strong, and the relationships which existed
between him and his children and prandchil.
dren were ideal.
| glance at his salient characteristics will
| perhaps explain to some extent DR.. Whites
success in all the various phases of his well
rounded and useful life. A man of unusual
/ ..-..a-- 1