The Biographical Dictionary and Portrait Gallery of Representative Men of Chicago, Milwaukee and the World's Columbian Exposition

              BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY AND PORTRAIT GALLERY.
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privileges of the diploma for nearly two years to come.
While yet a student, he had, by competitive examination, secured the position of interne at Mercy Hospital. He was, however, obliged by the illness of his brother to forego the benefits of a full term in this capacity, as well as the pleas¬ ure of attending the graduating exercises of his class and of delivering his valedictory address. Dr. William H. Byford, Jr., whose later career in Minneapolis was at once so brilliant and so pathetic, was, at this time, suffering from lung trouble, for which he sought relief in southern travel. There had always been a very affectionate relationship between the brothers, and now that a nurse and companion was needed for the elder, it was with unhesitating devotion that the younger relinquished his studies to accompany him. They traveled for some months in the South, spent a year in Denver, and our subject returned to Chicago  in   1874.
Seventeen years have passed, and to-day Dr. Byford stands in the front ranks of his profession. Recognized not only as a most skillful practi¬ tioner, but as a man of advanced, original thought and wide research, the number of his public engagements is limited only by the de¬ mands of an enormous practice. Dr. Byford was one of the founders of the Chicago Post-Graduate School, in which, from its inception, he has occu¬ pied the chair of Gynaecology. He is Clinical Professor of Gynaecology in the Woman's Medical College ; Gynaecologist to St. Luke's Hospital and Surgeon to the Woman's Hospital; formerly Curator of the Museum, and Lecturer on diseases of children in the Chicago Medical College, as well as Lecturer on obstetrics in Rush Medical College. He has been obliged to resign both of these trusts owing to the pressure of private work. As a clinical lecturer. Dr. Byford has won well-merited reputation—reports of his lectures being solicited by the leading medical periodicals of the country. His contributions to medical journals are numerous, and are characterized by their original matter and practical interest, some of them having been published in Europe. He was co-editor with his father, the late Dr. William H. Byford, Sr., of the last edition of "Byford's Diseases of Women." He is a charter member and   ex-nre.^*den.t o^  the  Chicago Gynaecological
Society, active member of the American Gynae¬ cological Society, of the Chicago Medical Society, the Chicago Medico-Legal Society, the Illinois State Medical Society and the American Medical Association.
Dr. Byford has twice visited Europe, first in 1865-68, and again in 1879-80. He has made an exhaustive study of nervous diseases, in connec¬ tion with gynaecological practice, in the hospi¬ tals of London, Edinburgh, Heidelberg and Paris.
Not satisfied with the fulfillment of the many duties which come to him in the regular practice of his profession. Dr. Byford has added to it another and a very valuable and important form of activity, which has gained him imperishable renown—that of invention. He has invented numerous new methods of operation, many of which are associated in medical literature with his name. Thus he was the first to advise and per¬ form operations for shortening the sacro-uterine ligaments for retroversion of the uterus; inguinal suspension of the bladder for cystocele; vaginal fixation of the stump in abdominal hysterot¬ omy; bilateral denudations for anterior colpocele and cystocele; subcutaneous perinaeotomy, etc. He has also brought to its present state of perfec¬ tion the operations called vaginal oophorectomy and vaginal ovariotomy, having reported, in 1890, eighteen operations without a death. We have further evidence of his originality and ingenuity as an inventor in a multitude of instruments de¬ vised by him, the most important of which are his broad ligament forceps for the removal of the uterus through the vagina, his hysterotomy clamp forceps, trocar for vaginal ovariotomy, probe-pointed fascia scissors, perinaeotomy teno¬ tome, uterine elevator, improved needle forceps, retroversion pessary, uterine hook, uterine cu¬ rettes, various forms of haemostatic forceps for use in vaginal section, etc., etc. " He possesses'* (quoting the words of one eminently qualified to speak with authority on the subject), " a degree of mechanical ability not often found among those who have chosen to follow the practice of medi¬ cine as a profession. He may justly be proud as the author of a large list of surgical instruments that have not only been an assistance to his fel¬ low-practitioners, but a great benefit to the public as well."    And further:   " We feel safe in saying