Description: This engraving is an oval portrait of James Henry Salisbury, M.D. (1823-1905), a physician who specialized in the study and treatment of infectious diseases. Salisbury has wavy hair and a substantial beard. The subject's signature is located at the bottom center of the white border. The engraver's name and location are printed underneath the image ("Samuel Sartain, Phila."). Salisbury was born in Scott, New York, on January 12, 1823. He graduated from Albany Medical College in 1850 and practiced his medical specialty in New York and later in Cleveland, Ohio. A pioneer in the germ theory of disease, he became very interested in the relationship between diet and illness. He experimented with diets, using himself and other healthy individuals as subjects. He served as a physician during the American Civil War and treated soldiers suffering from intestinal ailments with a diet of coffee and minced beef patties thereafter known as "Salisbury steak." In 1864 Salisbury moved to Cleveland, where he helped establish the Charity Hospital Medical College. He was the author of many books and articles; among his best-known works is "The Relation of Alimentation and Disease" (1888). Between 1858 and 1861, Salisbury and his older brother, Charles Babock Salisbury, researched the earthworks and mounds of the Ohio Valley. In 1862-63 the brothers presented the American Antiquarian Society with their findings (charts, maps, sketches). James Salisbury died in Dobbs Ferry, New York, on September 23, 1905 and was buried in Cleveland, Ohio. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL05886
Subjects: Salisbury, James Henry, 1823-1905; Ohio History--State and Local Government--Health Care; Physicians--19th century--Ohio; Nutrition