IN MEMORIAM Dr. ISHA_~ G. HARRIS

Dr. Isham G. Harris, psychiatrist, executive and hospital planner, died at his home in Brooklyn, N. Y., April 21, 1927, at the age of 60. For more than a year previous to his death he suffered from Hodgkins disease but had been confined to his bed less than two weeks. News of his death cast gloom over the institution of which he had so long been the head and produced the deepest feeling of sadness and personal loss among his many friends throughout the whole State Hospital System. Dr. Harris was born in Lamar County, Texas, February 23, 1867, the son of John and Martha Reed Harris. He received his early education in the common schools of Texas and Tennessee. He studied for four years in the University of Virginia, two years of which were spent in the medical department. He, however, obtained his medical degree from the University of the City of New York in 1890. He then became resident physician at the New York Infant Asylum at Mt. Vernon, N. Y., and the following year entered the service of the New York Asylum for the Insane on Blackwell's (now Welfare) Island. He became first assistant physician of the Hudson River State Hospital in 1904, and superintendent of the Mohansic State Hospital in 1910. He was appointed medical examiner of the Bureau of Deportation of the State Hospital System, July 1, 1916, and resigned to become superintendent of the Brooklyn State Hospital, August 1, 1916. During the World War he served as medical member of one of the local boards of Brooklyn, rendering active service. In 1921, he became professor of psychiatry in the Long Island College Hospital and continued in the service of the institution to the time of his death. His extensive experience gave him an unusual breadth of knowledge of hospital conditions and keen insight into the needs of the patients; for the welfare of the latter he was a tireless worker and gave much attention to planning better hospital buildings and more expeditious methods of service. His first noteworthy work in hospital planning was done in con-

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nection with the development of Mohansic State Hospital. This institution was later abandoned because of its alleged menace to the water supply of New York City. Dr. Harris made a most careful study of the requirements of the institution and prepared a detailed plan of the buildings and grounds which was highly commended and would have been followed had the hospital been built. Becoming superintendent of the Brooklyn State Hospital shortly after leaving Mohansic, Dr. Harris applied himself vigorously to the task of transforming this old institution into a modern hospital. How well he succeeded is shown by the fact that during the 11 years of his administration a new building for continued treatment cases, a new reception building, and a new administration building and staff house on the Brooklyn site were completed and occupied. Even more extensive developments took place during the same period on the site of the Creedmoor Division. Here two complete hospital units to accommodate 800 patients each were built. Besides helping to plan and oversee this work, Dr. Harris, as chairman of the Committee on Contruction of the State Hospital System, assisted in planning the Harlem Valley and Rockland State Hospitals. He was also called into consultation by supervisory boards of other states. Dr. Harris was a member of the editorial board of the STATE HOSPITAL QUARTERLY from 1918 to 1927 and a contributor to other medical journals. He wrote several articles that attracted wide attention, one of the most significant being o n " Problems of Psychiatry in the Metropolitan Area," which appeared in the QVARTERLY for August, 1918. In this paper he advocated the establishment of psychopathic hospitals and the extension of preventive work. Dr. Harris was a member of many medical organizations, including the American Medical Association, the American PsYchiatric Association, the New York Academy of Medicine, the New York Society of Clinical Psychiatry, the Brooklyn Neurological Society, the Flatbush Medical Society and the State and County medical societies. He was also a member of the American Occupational Therapy Association, the National Committee for Mental Hygiene, the Association for Research in Mental and Nervous Diseases, the American Hospital Association, the New York Society of Medical Jurisprudence, and the Retirement Board of the State Hospital System, He was affiliated with several fraterlaal and social organi-

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zations, namely: The Masons, the Elks, the Montauk and Union League clubs of Brooklyn, the Amrita Club of Poughkeepsie and the Dutchess County Society. Dr. Harris had a strong but congenial personality. He was frank and outspoken and wished others to be equally frank with him. As he was exceptionally well informed concerning hospital matters, his advice and counsel were of the greatest value during the recent developmental period. He had a splendid vision of the future of the State hospitals and of the Department of Mental Hygiene and though torn from the work by death, the vision he saw will serve as an ideal to others for many years. His only surviving immediate relative, his daughter, Mrs. Josephine Harris Stark of Staten Island, was at his bedside when he died. Funeral services were held at his late residence on Sunday afternoon, April 24, and were attended by the Commissioner of Mental Hygiene, members of the Board of Visitors of the hospital, hospital superintendents, prominent State and city officials and a large number of the staff and employees of the hospital. Following religious services, Masonic rites were conducted by the Kings County Lodge for Cortlandt Lodge, F. & A. M., of which Dr. Harris was a member. Interment was at Hyde Park, N. Y.