Herbert Harlan

Herbert Harlan was born at Churchville, Harford County, Maryland, May 7, 1856, at the residence of his parents, Dr. David Harlan, Medical Director, United States Navy, and Margaret Rebecca Harlan (nee Herbert). At the age of five years he attended a public school in Harford County. During the war between the States his father, then a surgeon in the United States Navy, was stationed at the Naval Home, Philadelphia; and his son Herbert attended school in that city.

Upon the return of the family to Harford County Herbert attended the public school and was subsequently instructed by a governess. While his father was surgeon in charge at the United States Naval Academy, Annapolis, Maryland, the son attended the Preparatory Department of St. John's College, and afterward a parish school connected with Holy Trinity Church near Churchville, under the care of Reverend Edward A. Colburn, D.D. He then went to St. Clement's Hall, Ellicott City, Md.

In 1873 he entered St. John's College, Annapolis, and graduated in 1877 with the degree of A.B. He entered the Medical School of the University of Maryland in the fall of 1877, and graduated in 1879. He then spent a year in Europe pursuing his medical studies, and began the practice of his profession in Baltimore in the fall of 1880.

He was Assistant Demonstrator, 1880-1885, and Demonstrator of Anatomy, University of Maryland, 1886-1890; Professor of Diseases of the Eye and Ear, Baltimore University, 1890-1893, and Women's Medical College, Baltimore, 1896-1902. He was Assistant Surgeon, 1880-1890, and Surgeon, Presbyterian Eye, Ear and Throat Charity Hospital, from 1890 until his death. For ten or more years he was Surgeon in Chief of this hospital.

Dr. Harlan was a member of the State Board of Medical Examiners from 1904, and president of that Board from 1906 until his death. He was president of the Medical and Chirurgical Faculty of Maryland from January 1, 1923, until his death on August 16, 1923. Dr. Harlan's first experience in practice was as Clinical Assistant in Neurology to the late Dr. Francis T. Miles. At the same time he began his work in ophthalmology at the Presbyterian Eye, Ear and Throat Charity' Hospital, under the late Dr. Julian J. Chisolm. He became a careful diagnostician and a skilled operator.

In 1894, he worked for the enactment of the law requiring the reporting of cases of ophthalmia neonatorum, and later, 1897, in organizing and conducting the examination of the eyes of public school children in Baltimore. But it was as president of the State Board of Medical Examiners that his public activity was most marked. He was indefatigable in preventing in competent men entering practice, and in cutting short the careers of illegal practitioners.

Dr. Harlan was elected to the American Ophthalmological Society in 1901. His frequent discussion of papers was always timely and helpful.

For two years or so before his death he was in poor health, with frequent attacks of heart trouble, causing constant anxiety to his family and friends. But he kept on with his work. The end came suddenly. He had played a partial round of golf when he was seized with vertigo. He returned to the club house with his daughter, Miss Sarah Harlan. He had been there only a short while when he passed away. Dr. Herbert Harland died August 16, 1923, due to angina pectoris.

Transactions of the American Ophthalmological Society - 1924