Beginning when young to familiarize himself with the rudiments of medicine and surgery, Charles S. Briggs, A. M., M. D., has, through close study and earnest application, constantly added to his knowledge, and has gained an enviable reputation for superior professional skill and ability by sterling merit, his opinions being recognized as authority throughout not only Nashville, his home city, but the entire country. A son of William Thompson Briggs, M. D., he was born, March 29, 1851, in Bowling Green, Kentucky, of distinguished ancestry.

His grandfather, Dr. John M. Briggs, was born April 9, 1798, in Nelson county, Kentucky, the birthplace of his parents, who subsequently removed with their family to Bowling Green. His tastes and inclinations leading him to choose a professional career, he first studied medicine with Dr. Beauchamp, later being graduated from the medical department of Transylvania University, in Lexington, Kentucky. Beginning the practice of his profession at Bowling Green, he continued there an active practitioner for sixty years, being-known far and wide as a successful physician. He lived to a ripe old age, passing away in April, 1882. He married, at the age of twenty-four years, Harriet Morehead, a sister of Gov. Charles S. Morehead. She died in 1881.

Dr. William Thompson Briggs was born in Bowling Green, Kentucky, December 4, 1828, and in the public schools of that city laid a substantial foundation for his future education. Entering the medical department of the Transylvania University when young, he was there graduated in his twenty-first year, and immediately began his professional practice with his father, in Bowling Green. In 1851 he was appointed demonstrator of anatomy in the medical department of the University of Nashville, and removed with his family to this city, where very soon after he formed a partnership with Dr. John M. Watson, with whom he was associated until .Dr. Watson’s death, in 1866. In 1856 Dr. W. T. Briggs was made adjunct professor of anatomy with Dr. Thomas R. Jennings, in the University of Nashville. In 1865 he assumed the chair of surgical anatomy and physiology in the same institution, succeeding the late Dr. Buchanan. In 1866 he succeeded his partner, the late Dr. Watson, in the chair of obstetrics and diseases of women and children. In 1868 Dr. Briggs, on the resignation of Dr. Paul T. Eve, succeeded to the chair of professor of surgery in the same university.

A member, and the vice-president and president of the American Medical Association, Dr. William Thompson Briggs, in 1881, was its delegate to the International Medical Congress held in London, England. He was one of the founders of the American Surgical Association, of which he was president in 1885. In September, 1885, he had the distinction of being chosen, president of the section of general surgery in the International Medical Congress held in Washington, D. C., in 1887, in the month of September. In his capacity of surgeon, the Doctor performed some most remarkable operations, among the more noteworthy of his eases having been the following named: In 1863 the removal of the lower jaw for a gun shot wound; in the same year removal of the upper jaw for the same kind of a wound; ligation of the internal carotid artery for traumatic aneurism; and, in 1875, a hip joint amputation for elephantiasis, the leg removed having weighed eighty pounds. He performed the operation of lithotomy by the medio-bilateral method more than two hundred and fifty times, with but fifteen deaths therefrom; and of trephining more than four score times, with but five deaths. He removed more than one hundred ovarian tumors, and ligated all the principal arteries of the body.

Among the more important of Dr. William T. Briggs’ publications we may mention the following: History of Surgery in Tennessee; Tetanus Treated by Chloroform, published in the Nashville Journal of Medicine and Surgery in 1851; Enchondromatous Tumors of the Hand, Forearm and Arm, and Successful Amputation of the Shoulder Joint, in 1871; in the same year an article on Traumatic Aneurism of the Internal Carotid as the Result of a Stab Wound; Ligation of the Common Carotid, and then of the Internal at the Seat of Injury, in 1871; Death from Chloroform, in that year; Escape of the Catheter into the Bladder During its Use for the Relief of Retention of the Urine; in October, 1871, a paper on the Recovery from an Operation for Unilocular Ovarian Tumor; one on the Backward Dislocation of the Radius and Ulna in a Patient but Two and One-half Years Old; Multilocular Ovarian Tumor Tapped More than Fifty Times; in May, 1872, Extensive Parietal and Vesical Adhesions on the Eemoval of a Tumor Weighing Eighty-five pounds, the Incision Being Eight Inches Long; Trephining in Epilepsyr published in 1869; in 1875 the one on Dugas’ Pathognomonic Symptoms in Dislocation at the Shoulder Joint; The Trephine and its Uses in Injuries of the Head, in 1876: The Antiseptic Treatment of Wounds after Operations and Injuries, a paper read before the Surgical Association in 1881; The Surgical Treatment of Epilepsy, read before the American Surgical Association June 1, 1884, and, like the previous paper, published in pamphlet form. One of the Doctor’s published addresses, delivered before the McDowell Medical Society of Kentucky, November 4. 1874, is a masterpiece of occasional oratory, rich with gems from almost every field of science and literature, and showing a breadth of knowledge and culture belonging to the finished scholar only.

At Bowling Green, Kentucky, May 25, 1850, Dr. William T. Briggs married Annie E. Stubbins, daughter of Samuel and Esther (Garrison) Stubbins, and to them four children were born, as follows: Charles Stubbins, Waldo, Virginia Lee, and Samuel S. Inheriting in a marked degree the scholarly tastes and ambitions of his father and grandfather, Charles Stubbins Briggs entered the literary department of the University of Nashville after leaving the public schools, and was there graduated with the class of 1873, taking the degree of A. M. in course. He subsequently began the study of medicine with his father, and in 1875 was graduated from the medical department of the University of Nashville and Vanderbilt. Immediately after receiving his diploma, Dr. Briggs went to Philadelphia, where for six months he was attached to the clinical staff of Prof. S. D. Gross, of that city, devoting himself to surgery, pathology, microscopy, and hospital work. While in Philadelphia, he was elected demonstrator o^ anatomy at his alma mater, and in the fall of 1875 returned to Nashville to assume the duties of that position, in which he continued three years. From 1878 until 1879 he served as adjunct professor of anatomy in that institution, resigning in the latter year on account of impaired health. The Doctor was subsequently tendered the adjunct professorship of surgery in the university, where for three years he was lecturer on genito-urinary surgery. In 1883 he was elected professor of surgical anatomy and operative surgery in the University of Nashville and Vanderbilt, and in that capacity rendered most valuable service. On the death of his father in 1894, Dr. Briggs succeeded to the chair of surgery, which he filled for three years.

In 1876 Dr. Briggs was associated with Dr. W. L. Nichol as editor of the Nashvitte Journal, of Medicine and Surgery, a paper considered as an authority on those subjects. This journal is still controlled and edited by Dr. Briggs. He is an active member of the state, county and city medical societies, and of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Dr. Briggs married, April 26, 1876, in Louisville, Kentucky, Miss Carrie Carter, who was born in that city, a daughter of John A. and. Binnie (Carson) Carter. Three children have blessed the union of Dr. and Mrs. Briggs, namely: Elsie; Binnie; and William T., who was graduated from the medical department of Vanderbilt University, and is now engaged in the practice of his profession in Nashville, being associated with his father and his uncle, Dr. Samuel S. Briggs. 

A History of Tennessee and Tennesseans : The Leaders and Representative Men in commerce, industry and Modern Activities by Will T. Hale Chicago: Lewis Pub. Co., 1913

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