- A dictionary of medical eponyms

James Bryan Herrick

Born  1861
Died  1954

Related eponyms

American physician, born August 11, 1861, Pak Park, Illinois; died March 7, 1954, Chicago.

Biography of James Bryan Herrick

James Bryan Herrick received his M.D. from Rush Medical College in 1888. He worked as an intern at Cook County Hospital and then taught at Rush, where he was professor of medicine from 1900 to 1927. From 1895 to 1945 he was also on the staff of Presbyterian Hospital in Chicago. His practice, originally in general medicine, soon developed into a specialization in internal medicine, with a particular emphasis on cardiovascular diseases.

Herrick was the first observer to identify and describe the clinical features of coronary thrombosis. Her served as president of several medical associations and. He was awarded the American Medical Association’s Distinguished Service Cross.

«The doctor may also learn more about the illness from the way the patient tells the story than from the story itself.»
Memory of Eighty Years. Chapter VIII.

«The paper [on the diagnosis of thrombosis during life rather than during an autopsy] when read in 1912 before the Association of American Physicians . . . fell like a dud.»
Memory of Eighty Years. Chapter XI.

«I never miss the death notes and weather report in the papers.»
[Comment on his visual acuity at the age of 87]
Memory of Eighty Years. Chapter XV.

«A study of past American History should cause the medical profession of today to fear the politicians even though they offer gifts.»
Memory of Eighty Years. Chapter 8.

«I recall . . . the thrill of excitement . . . as I was looking through the high-toned Virchow and Hirsch’s Jahresbericht and saw my name . . . and the title of a recent article of mine. The thrill changed to a jolt as I read this terse, clear yet comprehensive epitome: «Nichts neues» [nothing new). Memory of Eighty Years. Chapter XI.

Bibliography

  • A Short History of Cardiology.
    Spingfield, C. C. Thomas, 1942.
    Outstanding description of coronary thrombosis. Herrick showed that sudden coronary occlusion is not necessary fatal. Reprint in Willus & Keys, Cardiac Classics, 1941, pp. 817-829.
  • Clinical features of sudden obstruction of the coronary arteries./i>
    Journal of the American Medical Association, Chicago, 1912, 59: 2015-2020.

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