DR. ARTHUR STEPHEN HAMILTON
1872-1940
Dr.
Arthur Stephen Hamilton died at his home in Minneapolis on June 2, 1940. He had severely incapacitated for nearly five
years from the residuals of a series of cerebral vascular accidents.
Dr. Hamilton was born at Wyoming, Iowa, Novmber 28, 1872. He
graduated from the University of Iowa and then transferred to the University of Pennsylvania
for his medical training, receiving the M.D. degree from that institution in
1897. His course through the Medical School represented a period of
considerable hardship due to financial stringency which imposed a limited diet
upon him and necessitated extra-curricular work to supplement, his meager
funds. The stimulation which he received
as a student of Mills and Spiller was undoubtedly a potent factor in the choice
of neurology and psychiatry as his specialty.
After receiving his medical degree, Hamilton
became an assistant physician at the Independence
State Hospital
in Iowa and
held that position until 1904. At Independence he became
greatly interested in neuropathology and published numerous papers on the
pathology of conditions which at that time had received very little attention
from microscopists.
At Independence
he was associated with two other physicians who were also destined to advance
our knowledge of neurology and psychiatry -- Dr. Albert M. Barrett and Dr.
Adolf Meyer. While at Independence, he married
Dr. Susanna P. Boyle, who was also a member of the State Hospital
staff; there are no children of their union.
In 1904 Dr. Hamilton moved to Minneapolis,
Minnesota, entering the practice of neurology
and psychiatry and receiving an appointment as instructor in neuropathology at
the University of
Minnesota. He advanced through the academic ranks to a
full professorship which he received in 1916.
In 1912 he was made Director of the Division of Nervous and Mental
Diseases and was Professor and Director until the onset of his terminal illness
in 1935. Two extended study trips abroad
gave him familiarity with clinical methods of Germany
and England,
especially the latter; these he applied in his practice and emphasized in his
teaching.
In 1909 he aided in the organization of the Minnesota Society of Neurology and
Psychiatry; he was thus a charter member.
He maintained active membership until 1935 when he was elected an
honorary member. He was secretary of the Society from 1909 to 1914, vice
president in 1916, president in 1917 and again president in 1923.
Dr. Hamilton served in 1918 and 1919 as Captain and Major in the United States
Army during the World War.
Hamilton was
considered by his students to be an unusually systematic and lucid teacher both
in the lecture room and at the bedside.
His breadth of knowledge, clear analytical thinking, careful technique,
gentleness with patients and consideration for the younger colleagues’ opinions
constituted in him the nearly ideal combination for an advisor and preceptor of
the more advanced students.
Though
rather reserved and dignified, he was never austere or supercilious, but was
approachable, friendly, and rarely ruffled.
His appreciation of the social implications of neurology and psychiatry
drew him into active participation in civic affairs so that he was frequently
consulted on matters involving the welfare of the community and the state. Preferring the pursuits of practice, teaching
and investigation he nevertheless was an active participant in numerous
national and local societies; he was a past of the Central Neuropsychiatric
Association and former chairman of the Section on Nervous and Mental Diseases
of the American Medical Association.
Minnesota and
its environs have benefited from the presence of Arthur Hamilton. His many
friends grieve over his passing.
J.C.
McKinley, M.D.