REPORT OF THE COUNCIL.

THE Council has nothing of special interest to note in the history of the Society for the past half-year, and has no suggestions to offer, other than such as may be found in the report of our diligent librarian. But we can congratulate the Society on the progressive excellent condition of the library and on its general prosperity. Since our last meeting, the Society has lost two valued members, of whom memorial notices have been prepared by our associate, Mr. Charles A. Chase.

Joseph Jones, M.D., elected a member of this Society on October 22, 1877, died at his home in New Orleans, on February 17, 1896. He was born in Liberty County, Ga., September 6, 1833, son of Rev. Charles Colcock Jones and Mary Jones. His mother's father, Capt. Joseph Jones, commanded the "Liberty Independent Troop" in the war of 1812, and his father's grandfather, Major John Jones, was aide-de-camp to Brig.-Gen. Lachlan McIntosh, who fell before the British lines around Savannah in October, 1779. His father was a Presbyterian divine of much learning, author of the "History of the Church of God," and of a catechism for the instruction of the Negroes of the United States. The son was graduated from Princeton College in 1853 with the degree of A.M., and from the University of Pennsylvania, with the degree of M.D., in 1855, and was made LL.D. by the University of Georgia in 1892. He began the practice of medicine at Savannah in 1855, and was Professor of Chemistry in the Savannah Medical Col

lege for the three years ensuing. He was Professor of Natural Theology and Natural Philosophy in the University of Georgia, at Athens, Ga., for one year (1858-9), and Professor of Chemistry in the Medical College of Georgia, at Augusta, from 1859 until the war of the Rebellion, when he entered the Southern cavalry service in which he served for six months, after which he served as full surgeon, with the rank of major, until the close of the war.

A sketch of the life of Dr. Jones, published before his death,' shows that his services were of the highest value, not only for the welfare of the army, but also from the contributions which his experience enabled him to make to medical knowledge and science. He prepared elaborate treatises upon the causes of tetanus and typhoid fever, and received the thanks of the Surgeon-General for the zeal, untiring energy, and patient and laborious industry therein displayed." He also investigated the nature of the diseases which proved so fatal to the Northern soldiers held as prisoners, suggesting measures for their relief. His investigations at Andersonville were published by the United States Government and the United States Sanitary Commission.

In 1868, Dr. Jones was elected Professor of Chemistry and Clinic Medicine in the University of Louisiana. He served from April, 1880, to April, 1884, as President of the Louisiana State Board of Health. His labors during this period were specially directed to matters of quarantine, and he established the fact that yellow fever is not indigenous to the Mississippi Valley, and that it could be excluded therefrom by the proper precautions. The rules adopted by the State Board of Health to secure such exclusion were resisted by railroad and steamship authorities, but were finally sustained by the Supreme Court of the State in 1884, and two years later by the Supreme Court of the

1 In "Physicians and Surgeons of America, edited by Irving A. Watson, M.D.," royal octavo, Concord, N. H., 1896.

United States, to which tribunal an appeal had been made by the opponents of the Board.

Dr. Jones gave to the world the results of his thought and observations, in a large number of papers, contributed to various literary and medical societies and publications. His great work was his "Medical and Surgical Memoirs," containing investigations on the geographical distribution, causes, nature, relations and treatment of various diseases, 1855-93. He was an ardent student of American Archæology, possessing a valuable cabinet; and among his writings is a work on "Explorations of the Aboriginal Remains in Tennessee." He also possessed a rich collection of firearms of all kinds and ages. He was the first secretary and treasurer of the Southern Historical Society, and was a member of several learned and medical societies, and had been Surgeon-General of the United Confederate Veterans since 1889.

Dr. Jones married, first, October 26, 1858, Miss Caroline S. Davis of Augusta, Ga., who died in 1868; second, Miss Susan Rayner, daughter of Rev. Leonidas Polk, bishop of Louisiana and lieutenant-general in the confederate army. His widow survives him, with six children, his eldest son having died in 1894.

The students of the Medical College at New Orleans, in paying tribute to Prof. Jones, said that "he sailed the trackless sea of medical science with reason for his compass and thought for his pilot," and that "the medical profession has lost a member who reached the height of its dignity and learning, and who has done much to lift the curtain of doubt from many of its unsolved problems."

William Whitney Rice. The death of Mr. Rice, which occurred in Worcester, on March 1, 1896, took away one who had been prominent in that community for nearly fifty years, and whose services for ten years in the nation's

councils had given him a widespread reputation. He was born in Deerfield, Mass., an historic town, on March 7, 1826, so that he had nearly completed his seventieth year. He was the son of Rev. Benjamin Rice, a Congregational clergyman, and Lucy Whitney Rice, a native of Winchendon, Mass. From Bowdoin College, where he was graduated at the age of twenty, he received the degree of LL.D. in 1886; he ever maintained a love for his alma mater, and found the greatest pleasure in attending the gatherings of its alumni, by whom he was held in high esteem. Immediately upon graduating he became a teacher at Leicester Academy, Mass., an institution which has well educated many able men and women. His address at the centennial anniversary of the Academy, in 1884, was an interesting and scholarly piece of work. After five years at Leicester, he began the study of law at Worcester with Hon. Emory Washburn, our former associate, who was afterwards Governor and during the last years of his life Professor of Law at Harvard University and author of valuable textbooks upon law matters, especially those relating to real estate. Our Vice-President, Senator Hoar, though some six months younger than Mr. Rice, had earlier assumed the practice of law, and was a partner of Judge Washburn while the former was a student in the office.

Mr. Rice's ability secured for him, at the start, a prominent position as a lawyer, and in due time he ranked among the leaders of the bar in Worcester County,-a proud position, for it is a bar which has always been famous for the exceptional ability and learning of its foremost members. Mr. Hoar has said of him that he was always courteous to his antagonists, faithful to his clients and respectful to the court. He was a sound lawyer and a skilled manager of cases before juries . . Any client was safe in his hands, no matter who might be retained on the other side. There was no danger that he would lose any case that he ought to win, either before the jury or the

full bench. He was the most sagacious adviser I have ever known, of business men who were in difficulties, or who had important controversies which required the advice of a counsellor who knew what was best to be done in the conduct of business and at the same time competent to be trusted as adviser as to their legal rights."

Mr. Rice's interests went outside of his chosen profession, and included the affairs of state and of his fellow-men. The Free Soil party was formed about the time of his coming of age, and the principles of that party and of its successor, the Republican party, had his full sympathy, and found in him a zealous and untiring champion. He served as Mayor of Worcester in 1860, and was the youngest person ever chosen for that office, being at the time of his election in his thirty-third year. He was Judge of Insolvency for a few months in 1858, prior to the union of the courts of probate and insolvency. He was District Attorney for five years from 1868, was Representative to the General Court in 1875, and in 1876 was elected Representative to Congress, taking the seat from which Mr. Hoar was promoted to be Senator. He continued in Congress for ten years, speaking but seldom, but proving a valuable working member, faithful to all the business interests of his State.

He was trustee of the Worcester Polytechnic Institute and of Clark University at Worcester, and for many years a director in the City National Bank, to all of which he rendered valuable service.

Mr. Rice was elected a member of this Society April 29, 1885. He was twice married: first, in 1855, to Miss Cornelia A. Moen of Stamford, Conn. The second son of this union, Charles Moen Rice [H. U. 1882,] survives. Mr. Rice married again, in 1875, Miss Alice M. Miller of Worcester, a sister of Mrs. George F. Hoar. Mr. Hoar, in his tribute, to which former reference has been made, says "He was as absolutely perfect as any man I ever knew