Evening star., 1934-05-01
Of MEDICINE.
i'm j. S. DIES AT "a.
DR.. W. H. WeIch of Johns
Hopkins Leaves Long Rec
ord of Discoveries.

yesterday at the age OF "a, has lett
behind a long record of discoveries
and advancement In medical research,
particularly In pathology.
Last month marked the golden an
niversary of his association with the
Johns Hopkins University. Death was
attributed to cancer.
DR.. WEIGH introduced to this coun-
try many Of the developments in bac-
teriology from the laboratories of
Pasteur and Koch. He discovered the
bacillus which produces hydrogen gas
in wounds, usually with fatal results,
and he made noteworthy progress in
combating many diseases, ailments
and poisoning.
Studied in U. S. and Europe.
The descendant Of a long line of
New England physicians, he studied In
the United States and Europe before
coming here in 1884 to aid in found
ing the Hopkins Medical School with
Sir William Osler, DR.. William s. Hal
stead and DR.. Howard A. Kelly.
"Popsy" was the name by which
"this modest sage Of Baltimore"-as
DR.. Livingston Farrand of Cornell
once called him-was known to the
hundreds Of medical men to whom
he had been mentor.
On his 80th birthday anniversary,
DR.. WEIGH was honored at simultane-
GUS banquets held in many of the
principal cities of the world. Presi-
dent Herbert Hoover at the Washing
ton celebration said: More than any
other American he has contributed to
the relief Of human suffering and
pain"
Funeral services for Wednesday
afternoon at Old st. Paul's Protestant
Episcopal Church were arranged BY
nephew, United States Senator
Frederick c. Walcott of Connecticut
Surviving also are another nephew
William Stuart Walcott of Litchfield
Conn; a niece, Mrs. Frederick Shef.
feld Kellogg Of Utica, N. Y; five
grand-nephews ard four grand-nieces
Following the services, the body
wlH be taken to Norfolk, Conn, fol
burial In the family plot.
Revolutionized Education.
DR.. WEIGH is admired because of his
distinguished leadership in revolu-
tionizing American medical education
and because he has probably done
more than any other man, living or
dead, to inspire American public
health measures.
No one was less concerned than
DR.. WEIGH over the ironical fact that
eminent as he was, his fame never
reached the multitudes. With no
urge of showmanship. no striving for
popularity in his numerous writings,
and nothing sensational in the man
ner Of his life and work, DR.. Welch
never was frequently named in head
lines OF the Nations press, and he
remains virtually unknown to millions
who have benefited from his contribu-
tions.
DR.. WEIGH was professor of the his
tory Of medicine at Johns Hopkins,
having been appointed to this chair
in 1926 upon his resignation from the
dictatorship Of the Johns Hopkins
School Of Hygiene and Public Health,
one of the first schools Of public
health in the world. When he was
selected to organize this school, in
1916, he had been the professor Of
pathology for more than 80 years in
the medical faculty, Of which he was
the original member.
Native Of Connecticut.
DR.. welch was born In Norfolk,
Conn, April 8, 1850. His father was
a practicing physician, as were also
four uncles. A grandfather and a
great-grandfather had also been
physicians. He prepared for college
at a boarding school at Winchester
Center, and entered Yale at the age
Of Is. In 1870 he received the degree
of bachelor of arts.
The mind of the youthful graduate
was now on the classics and he spent
a year teaching Greek and Latin at a
school in Norwich, N. Y. He was born
for medicine. however, and in the
Autumn Of 1871 WEIGH matriculated
in the College of Physicians and Sur
geons, In New York City. Hardly had
his studies begun when he perceived
the need Of a better scientific founda-
tion and he returned to Yale to study
chemistry in the Sheffield Scientific
School and to take courses also at
the Yale Medical School. There he
formed an enduring friendship with
T. Mitchell Prudden, and the two men
in their later careers exerted a joint
influence in developing the new
science Of pathology In America.
After one year of graduate work at
Yale, WEIGH entered the College of
Physicians and Surgeons. In stu
dent competition he was awarded the
prize of microscope, a comparatively
rare instrument in those days, and
with that microscope he began his
notable career in the new pathology,
the scientific study of diseases.
Performed Post -Mortems.
In the Autumn of 1874 WEIGH be-
came an inferno at Bellevue Hospital,
where he remained q year and a half
Here he seized upon the opportunity
to perform post-mortem examinations.
Although WEIGH still thought his
life work was to be that Of a practic-
ing physician, he sought a more COM
plete medical education abroad. In
the Summer of 1876 he arrived in
Strassburg. During the semester at
Strassburg University he studied nor
NAL histology and physiological chem
istry, besides attending autopsies.
After this Summer work he went to
Leipzig, where he studied pathological
anatomy, as well as practical medi-
cine, under Wagner. He also worked
in Ludwig's laboratory, where he re-
vealed special aptitude for micro
scopic investigation.
At the end of the school year in
Leipzig, WEIGH went to Breslau for
the Summer session to study under
Cohnheim, who was then writing his
text book on general pathology. The
young American student was assigned
problem involving special study Of
the heart and was so successful that
his findings were embodied in the pro-
fessor's iiew book. Welch was now in
the midst Of important scientific
events that established the germ
theory Of disease. In Cohnheim's
laboratory, for example, he witnessed
the experiments of Robert Koch, who
had come there to demonstrate that