DR. A.C. ROGERS
We, a committee of the Minnesota Neurological Society, deeply affected by the
death of Dr. A.C. Rogers, one of our members, on January 2nd, 1917, desire to
make record of our personal loss, and in a larger sense of the loss which
medical science and humanity has sustained in his death.
As Superintendent of the School for Feeble-minded at Faribault for thirty-one
years, Dr. Rogers has given to the State of Minnesota and its people a service
equaled by few men. Entering on his
duties at the time when the institution had one building and fifty inmates it
he has seen it grow under his fostering care, to an institution having sixteen
hundred inmates, employing three hundred teachers, and recognized the country
over as a model of its kind. Not only
was Dr. Rogers the inspiring spirit in every measure that could make happier
the lives of the many dependents committed to his care, but he also maintained
an unceasing interest in the expansion of the clinical work of his
institution. Recognizing the importance
of preventive measures in the development of mental degeneracy, and that these
could be properly based only on an accurate knowledge of the family histories
of inmates, he has for several years past, through field agents, conducted an
unexampled inquiry in the family histories, and his researches in this line
have won him national recognition.
Though the very nature of the ailment with which he dealt prevented a
cure, his aim was always to develop in his charges the highest degree of
mentality and efficiency possible, and his chief interest seemed always in the
training school of his institution.
Under his direction an accurate study of the mental ages of patients has
for years been made, and at all times he carried on an organized research in
everything pertaining to the art and science of medicine as relating to
defective children.
His field of usefulness,
however, was not limited to his own institution, and through his long superintendency he was always a prominent figure in every
charitable and social movement in the state.
At different times he served as president and secretary-treasurer of the
Minnesota Academy of Social Sciences, as president of the Minnesota Conference
of Charities and Corrections, and as a member of the commission appointed to
revise the lawn of
As a man, he was honest and sincere, and to a very unusual degree, he merited
and maintained the highest confidence ad esteem of his patients and his many
employees and his associates in every field.
In his long sickness he was always hopeful and courageous, and in his
death he leaves behind him the memory of a true friend, a good citizen and an
honored member of his profession.
Arthur S. Hamilton, M.D.
C. Eugene Riggs, M.D.