It will be remembered that on the 6th of May, 1853, in consequence of a number of passenger cars upon the New York and New Haven Railroad being precipitated into the river at Norwalk, Ct., between forty and fifty persons lost their lives. "Among this number were seven physicians, members of the American Medical Association, who were on their way homeward after having attended its annual meeting in New York. At the next meeting of the Association suitable notice was taken of the sad catastrophe,

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... and Drs. Joseph M. Smith and Edward L. Beadle were appointed a committee to prepare an account of the matter, with a biographical sketch of the deceased members. They have accomplished the duty assigned them, and by request we re-publish from their printed account a sketch of the life of Dr. the children might receive the benefits of a classical school. Having completed his academic education, which embraced a liberal course of study and a thorough mastery of it, he began that of medicine with his uncle, Dr. John French, of Bath, N. H., and continued it under the direction and instruction of his father. He obtained his medical diploma at Dartmouth College in 1824, and soon afterwards entered into a partnership with his uncle, the late Hon. Josiah Bartlett, of Stratham, N. H., whose extensive practice he for a long time shared, and the whole of which he eventually received. He was assiduously devoted to his profession ; and the demands upon his time, occasioned by the necessary attentions required in an extensive general practice, were so great as to leave him but few leisure moments for the study of other branches of science than medicine. Yet the extreme favor with which he regarded his own profession in preference to all others, was a sufficient evidence that if time and opportunities for general study had been abundant, he would still have devoted most of his attention to medical research. He was thoroughly informed on all the fundamental principles of his art, and his reading in general medical literature was known to be extensive. He acquired the habit of perusing treatises of medicine while riding ; and thus the many hours of the day spent upon the road, were not lost, as they otherwise would have been. He creditably filled many offices in the New Hampshire Medical Society, and for a long period was its president. On the occasion of his assuming the responsibility of the chief office, he delivered an address on the history of medicine. He subsequently prepared a memoir of his uncle, Josiah Bartlett, which was read before the Society, anrJ published by its order. He was elected a delegate to the last convention for revising the Pharmacopoeia U. S. A., and repeatedly sent in the same capacity to the American Medical Association. He was also an honorary member of the Rhode Island Medical Society.