Vol. 60, 1909 - University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

102
THE CHARLOTTE MEDICAL JOURNAL.
ings provide ample shade and protection erring judgment was to be trusted in all
from direct sunlight. Open fire-places emergencies. A friend whose love made
make them comfortable and attractive. The the recipient feel and know that no ulterior
institution has its own dairy, laundry and motive ever inspired his acts. A companice
plant. Ten acres of beautiful pasture ionable, lovable, genial gentleman, his
furnishes grass for the cows. Food of the presence brought nothing but sunshine and
essential kind can be obtained
abundance and cheaply.
in great good cheer. Charitable and broad minded
he was able to see the good in men and
things. no » H H r-«RR
Kindly disposed toward those
DR. W. M. n. COBB. . .1 c . 1 • 1 r 1
younger in the profession . his cheerful en-
Xo death that has occurred in the med'- couragement and ready helpfulness has led
cal profession of North Carolina has caused many a voung doctor to cling to his high
a greater and more generally felt sadiiess ideals and has inspired them to genuine
than that of Dr. W. H. II. Cobb which accomplishment in their professional lives,
occurred, July 21, at his home in Golds- Hjg- ^ide learning and experience led his
boro, N. C. For some time past Dr. Cobb fellows to recognize in him a counsellor of
had not been well and his family and his wise judgment and profound insight. In
friends and those close to him were not un- society matters Dr. Cobb had long been a
aware of the seriousness of his condition, prominent figure. Becoming a member of
And so when the summons came no great the State Medical Society in 1S7S, he was
surprise was felt. Angina pectoris with made vice-president in 1892 and President
acute dilitation of the heart brought to a in i894. From 1S9S to 1900 he served as
close the life of a man than whom no finer a member of the State Board of Medical
specimen ever lived in the old North State. Examiners. To Dr. Cobb's efforts, as
Dr. Cobb had been active in the practice of much as to those of any other man, is due
his profession for almost half a century, the organization and successful career of
Born at the old ancestral home, "Mount the Tri-State (Virginia and the Carolinas)
Auburn," near Spring Bank in Wayne Medical Association, of which he has also
county, April 3, 1841, he had just passed been president. For years he was State
his sixty-eighth milestone, had almost lived Medical Examiner for "the Royal Arcanum
out his allotted time. At the age of twenty and was grand dictator of the Knights of
he graduated from the University of Penii- Honor,
sylvania INledical School in 1S61, and immediately
thereafter volunteered in the Con-
rabiesfederate
Service. He was made assistant No act the Legislature of North Carolina
surgeon in the famous Second North Caro- has ever passed carries with it a greater
lina Regiment, in which arduous position beneficence than that which made possible
he served throughout the war. Many a the establishment of a laboratory for the
maimed old soldier of that regiment and application of the Pasteur method of treathundreds
who have passed away in the in- ing those bitten by supposedly rabid anitervening
years were saved from death on mals. The number of cases that have been
the field, or in the hospitals by his skill as treated demonstrate positively the great
a surgeon and his attention as a physician, value of the department. At this season of
Soon after the close of the war Dr. Cobb the year the popular mind, naturally it
located in Goldsboro for the practice of his
profession and there for 40 years he devoted
seems, becomes imbued with the dread of
mad-dogs. Perliaps it is because of the
himself with his characteristic heroism and prevalent superstition of the influence of the
philanthropy to his work among all classes dog star. Rabies and hydrophobia are two
in the community, the humblest as well as ditfereiit terms meaning the same disease,
the highest receiving the same conscientious
care and treatment, never pausing to
the former meaning to rage or become mad.
This term applies more especially to the
enquire as to the financial ability of a patient
to requite his services. And so through
di.sease as it exists in the maniacal form in
the lower animals, while hydrophobia comes
the rolling years he has builded himself a
monument of unfathomable love in the
hearlsof Goldsboro people who today mourn
from the Greek, meaning dread of water,
As this dread of water is occasionally found
in the human subject, the term is properly
his death as a personal sorrow in every used in such a case. The lower animals
ho*ne.
His professional brethren,
will repeatedly attempt to drink water, even
members of though the act brings on a spasmodic conthe
various Medical Societies to which he traction of the deglutitory muscles. The
belonged, feel the bereavement as a per- higher excitatory centres in these lower
sonal grief. So long have they recognized animals are stimulated to a greater degree,
in him one of the towering personalities of and at the same time their receptiveness to
this State and section, a leader whose un- external impressions is deadened, conse-