William Fisher Norris

Background

William Fisher Norris was born on January 6, 1839 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. He was the son of George Washington Norris, a prominent surgeon, and Mary Pleasants Fisher.

Education

Norris received his preparatory education at Ferris' private school in Philadelphia and then entered the University of Pennsylvania, receiving the degree of Bachelor of Arts in 1857. In 1861 he received the degree of Doctor of Medicine from the same institution.

Career

Norris was appointed resident physician to the Pennsylvania Hospital, which institution he served for a period of eighteen months. He then (1863) entered the United States army as assistant surgeon and served until October 1865 when he resigned with the brevet rank of captain.

The greater part of his army experience was in connection with the Douglas Hospital in Washington, D. C. , where in conjunction with Dr. William Thomson he experimented considerably with photography and microphotography and demonstrated the feasibility of the photographic record for important medical and surgical cases which was subsequently utilized in the preparation of the elaborate Medical and Surgical History of the War of the Rebellion. This work probably led to his subsequent intensive study of ophthalmology.

In 1865, when he was twenty-six years of age, he went to Europe for this purpose and visited the clinics of Arlt, Jaeger, and Mauthner. It was this early contact with Vienna that shaped his subsequent career, and while he was there he carried on extensive studies in the histology and pathology of the cornea in collaboration with Stricker at the Pathologic Institute which were quite creditable.

Upon his return to Philadelphia in 1870 he began the practice of ophthalmology. He was appointed lecturer in ophthalmology at the University of Pennsylvania and soon after this appointment, with Doctors Strawbridge and Ezra Dyer, was elected an attending surgeon to Wills Eye Hospital, Philadelphia. In 1871 in association with Dr. Horatio C. Wood and Dr. William Pepper he conceived the idea of the hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and in three years these men brought this idea to a successful issue by the construction of the hospital and the opening of its doors for the reception of patients. He was appointed clinical professor of ophthalmology at the University in 1873 and full professor of the same subject in 1876. In the interval between these appointments he was given the chair of honorary professor of ophthalmology, an unusual distinction. The yeoman work and accomplishment necessary for the creation of this hospital in the face of almost insuperable obstacles doubtless accounted for the great influence Norris wielded in connection with it since not only was he the ophthalmologist to the hospital during his lifetime but also president of the board of trustees over a long period.

He was made a fellow of the College of Physicians in 1866, a member of the Academy of Natural Sciences in 1868, and a member of the American Ophthalmological Society in 1870.

Norris' accomplishments in the literature of American ophthalmology began with his paper read before the American Ophthalmological Society in 1871 entitled "Paralysis of the Trigeminus followed by Sloughing of the Cornea. " It was followed by more than thirty papers, including the investigation of double staining in microscopic work, in collaboration with Dr. Edward O. Shakespeare, and that of the microscopic anatomy of the human retina with special consideration of the terminal loops of the rods and cones, in collaboration with Dr. James Wallace. The studies made early in his career covering hereditary optic atrophy, orbital growths, brain tumors, and tabes stamp him as a scientific investigator of merit.

In collaboration with Charles A. Oliver he wrote A Text-Book of Ophthalmology (1893) and with the same associate he published System of Diseases of the Eye (4 vols. , 1897 - 1900), a monumental work utilizing contributions from nearly all of the contemporary authorities in the world. Norris was married twice.

In 1901 Norris became the subject of recurring attacks of double pneumonia, complicated by a diabetes of long standing, and he died in November of that year.

Achievements

• Norris' major works include his contribution to James Tyson's Treatise on Bright's Disease and Diabetes and to John Ashhurst's Principles and Practice of Surgery, and the section on medical ophthalmology in William Pepper's System of Practical Medicine.

Works

More photos

• book

  • A Text-Book of Ophthalmology (Classic Reprint)

    (Excerpt from A Text-Book of Ophthalmology The work is no...)

  • System of Diseases of the Eye, Volume 1

    (This book was originally published prior to 1923, and rep...)

  • System of Diseases of the Eye, Volume 2

    (This is an EXACT reproduction of a book published before ...)

  • System of Diseases of the Eye, Vol. 3: By American, British, Dutch, French, German, and Spanish Authors; Local Diseases, Glaucoma, Wounds and Injuries, Operations (Classic Reprint)

    (Excerpt from System of Diseases of the Eye, Vol. 3: By Am...)

  • System of Diseases of the Eye, Vol. 4: By American, British, Dutch, French, German, and Spanish Authors; Motor Apparatus, Cornea, Lens, Refraction, Medical Ophthalmology (Classic Reprint)

    (Excerpt from System of Diseases of the Eye, Vol. 4: By Am...)

Connections

Norris' first wife was Rosa Clara Buchmann of Vienna, daughter of Hieronymous Buchmann, whom he met while a student in Vienna and married on July 4, 1873. She died in 1897. Three sons were born of this union. His second wife was Annetta Culph Earnshaw of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, whom he married June 12, 1899, and who with two sons by his first marriage survived him.

Father:

George Washington Norris

surgeon

Mother:

Mary Pleasants Fisher

Spouse:

Rosa Clara Buchmann

Spouse:

Annetta Culph Earnshaw

References

• Dr. William Fisher Norris: A Memoir (Classic Reprint)