Alonzo Clark, M.D.
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Dr. Alonzo Clark, the ninth president of the College, was elected in 1875, while still occupying the chair of pathology and practical medicine. During the whole time of his service as professor the growth of his reputation had been uninterrupted ; and among the alumni of the College, the hospital interns and the profession at large, he was long regarded as the first consulting practitioner in the city. He seemed to attain this position without striving for it, by the sole influence of his unobtrusive but substantial merit. With an integrity and impartiality that were proverbial, he was equally well known for his assiduity and precision in the pursuit of knowledge. He was an active member of the Pathological Society, where he surpassed all others in the number and variety of his contributions ; and in the Academy of Medicine few speakers could command more respectful and earnest attention.
His largest field of activity was Bellevue Hospital, where he was attending physician for thirty years, and where he found his most abundant material for clinical study and instruction. In his methods he was industrious, critical and conservative ; resorting to every available source of information, and examining with the same caution the conclusions of other observers and his own. In him, the scientific and practical elements were closely combined ; and so long as he continued in the practice of his profession, he never gave up the use of his microscope, his test-tube and his library.
After a service of nine years Dr. Clark found his physical powers inadequate to the formal duties of his position, and in 1884 he resigned the presidency. It was filled by the election of Dr. Dalton, who had retired from his professorship in the previous year.CLARK, Alonzo, physician, born in Chester, Massachusetts, 1 March, 1807 ; died in New York City, 13 September, 1887. He was graduated at Williams in 1828, and at the College of physicians and surgeons, New York, in 1835. Afterward he settled in New York City, where he became an eminent practitioner. He held the chair of pathology and materia medica in Vermont medical College, of physiology and pathology in the College of physicians and surgeons m 1848-'55, and of pathology and practical medicine at the same institution in 1855-'85, where he was also dean and president of the faculty in 1875-'85. Dr. Clark was also visiting physician to Bellevue hospital, president of the medical board, and consuiting physician to St. Luke's hospital and to the Roosevelt hospital. He was a member of the New York academy of medicine, and of the American medical association, and was president of the State medical association in 1853. He was a frequent contributor to the medical press.
Edited Appletons Encyclopedia, Copyright © 2001 Virtualology
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1884 Clark,*Alonzo, 1887.
A. B., Williams, 1828; A. M., 1831, & Dartmouth, 1844; M. D., Coll. Phys. & Surg., N. Y., 1835, & Berkshire,1843;
LL. D., Univ. Vt., 1853; Prof. Physiol. & Path., Coll. Phys. & Surg., 1848-56; Prof. Path. & Pract. Med., 1855-87;
Pres. Fac., 1875-83. Died in N. Y. City, 1887, aet. 80.
