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man. He parted from his compeers with the benediction of Horace, "Farewell,
and be happy. If you know any precepts better than these be so candid
as to communicate them-- if not, partake of these with me."
-------------"If a better system's thine,
Impart it freely, or make use of mine." |
In truth, he seemed, above most others, to have been gifted
with the true genius of the medical art--an instinctive, unerring sagacity
in detecting the nature of the Protean forms of disease, and applying
the appropriate remedy. Frank and gentle and unassuming in his manners
and deportment, he displayed the "power of the art without the
show, and at all times and on every occasion manifested the calm energy
and moral courage, and self-devotion, so eminently characteristic of
his noble profession."
Dr. Page was very communicative to his pupils, to whom
he was ever kind and instructive. Some of them have become quite distinguished--and
there are those who have carried his treasured precepts to the South
and to the West, and to the West Indies ; and adopting his gentle manners,
his temperate habits and medical code of practice, have invariably found
friends and met with professional success.
Upon such a physician the Board of Bowdoin College conferred
the honorary degree of Doctor in Medicine.
The following comprises a list of his writings and publications,
as recollected from the writer of his memoir. 1. An Account of the Malignant
fevers at Hallowell, in the summer and autumn of 1798-99. 2. Observations
on Epidemic Dysentery as it appeared in 1800. 3. Typhus Fever in 1807.
4. Memoir upon the Spotted or Petechial Fever of New England, 1816.
5. Case of Poison by Arsenic, successfully treated, 1820. 6. Practical
Observations on the Treatment of Scarlatina, 1833.
Dr. Page was for many years a member and Counsellor of the Massachusetts
Medical Society. He regarded the institution as of great consequence to
the profession, and spoke of his connection to with it with infinite satisfaction,
and seemed to have its interests and welfare continually at heart. He
was a regular subscriber, and occasionally a contributor, to the New England
and Boston Medical Journal, from its first series, and regularly received
and perused its interesting members for upwards of 30 years. He had them
carefully preserved and bound, and they comprised a portion of his medical
library which he left to his eldest son in Louisiana, and are, perhaps,
the only complete and perfect copy in the State. He was early initiated
into the "ancient and honorable Fraternity of Masons," of which he
was a zealous and faithful member, and with the highest degrees of the
order were conferred upon him, and worn with characteristic modesty worthy
of himself and the charitable institution to which he belonged.
Throughout the whole period of his long, laborious and useful life, he
played the part of the "good Samaritan." He was unostentatious in
his habits and simple in his style of living and dress, and so averse
to no-
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