John Homer Dix

Background

John Homer Dix was born on September 30, 1811 in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. He was the son of John Dix, a surgeon in the United States Navy, and his wife, Sarah Jaffcry Eddy.

Education

Dix graduated from Harvard College in 1833 and after attending the Harvard Medical School for two years, transferred to the Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, where he obtained the degree of Doctor of Medicine in 1836.

In 1846 he went to Europe and studied for a time under Von Graefe.

Career

In 1836 Dix began practise in Boston as a specialist in diseases of the eye and ear.

In 1846 he went to Europe and studied for a time under Von Graefe. He was one of the early proponents of ophthalmoscopic investigation of the eye and imported various instruments from Europe, including the first ophthalmoscope developed by Helmholtz in 1851. The results of his work were published in four papers in the Virginia Medical Journal. Other papers are concerned with rare diseases of the eye, such as : “On the Sparkling Eye” and “Dacryocystitis”. He was one of the early members of the American Ophthalmological Society.

Dix practised ophthalmology in Boston for nearly fifty years, tie was a laborious student, keen to investigate new ideas, especially those from foreign sources, a pioneer and skilful operator on the eye before the days of modern anesthesia.

Besides his conti ibutions to his science, he has been credited with introducing the apartment house into the United States, when, in 1856—57, impressed by dwellings of that type which he had seen in Europe, he built the Hotel Pelham at the corner of Tremont and Boylston Sts. , Boston.

Although rector of the wealthiest and most fashionable parish in the country, he denounced the vices of fashionable society with startling frankness and directness. Pacifism was a doctrine repugnant to him. While the International Arbitration and Peace Conference was being held in New York in 1907, he preached a sermon before the Loyal Legion in which he spoke of the “ancient, ^ honorable, and necessary art of war, ” and affirmed the dignity of the military profession, and the necessity of an adequate army and navy. He was an able administrator, and during his rectorship the varied religious, educational, and charitable work of the parish had large and wise extension. For years he presided over the House of Deputies of the General Convention, and was influential in the councils of the church. From 1862 to 1908 he was an active trustee of Columbia College.

Believing that marriage is not merely a civil contract but a holy ordinance, and ought never to be dissolved, he took strong ground against the ‘‘divorce abomination. ” His old-fashioned attitude on the sphere of women, set forth in Lectures on the Calling of a Christian Woman (1883), evoked a spirited reply from Lillie Devereux Blake, entitled Woman’s Place Today.

Achievements

• Dix performed one of the first operations in America for congenital strabismus (Dieffen- bach operation). He was first and foremost a parish priest, concerned primarily with the moral and spiritual needs of his people.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Treatise on Strabismus, or Squinting, and the New Mode of Treatment: Illustrated by Engravings and Cases (Classic Reprint)

    (Excerpt from Treatise on Strabismus, or Squinting, and th...)

  • Treatise Upon the Nature and Treatment of Morbid Sensibility of the Retina, Or Weakness of Sight: Being the Dissertation to which the Boylston Medical ... of that Affection of the Eyes, Commonly...

    (This is a reproduction of a classic text optimised for ki...)

Religion

Dix was first and foremost a parish priest, concerned primarily with the moral and spiritual needs of his people. He was an active supporter of the Sisterhood of St. Mary, one of the earliest sisterhoods of the Episcopal Church, and long its pastor, preparing for it the Book of Hours (1866), and writing the life of its first Mother Superior, Harriet Starr Cannon (1896). His liturgical knowledge was extensive, and he did much for the development of church music, especially the choral service.

He preached the Easter sermon at Trinity Church.

Personality

John Dix was a man of great self-confidence, strict integrity and genial disposition. Austerity and soldier-like qualities were conspicuous in his character. He was strongly conservative, deploring the exercise of private judgment in matters of religion and worship, and proclaiming the divine institution of the church, priesthood, and sacraments, and the authority of the ancient creeds.

Quotes from others about the person

• “You can sec in his face, that he is determined to keep the devil down. ”

Connections

Dix's wife, whom he married on June 9, 1859, was Helen Perhan Curtis.

Father:

John Dix

surgeon

Mother:

Sarah Jaffcry Eddy

Wife:

Helen Perhan Curtis