James Nevins Hyde
(1840-1910)

James Nevins Hyde was born in Norwich, Connecticut, on June
21, 1840. He graduated from Yale University in 1861 and, shortly
after beginning his medical studies at the College of Physicians
and Surgeons in New York City, entered the U. S. Navy as an as-
sistant surgeon. He performed so well in this capacity, especially
in his care of yellow-fever patients during the Civil War, that he
was cited by the secretary of the navy. After the war ended he
served on the Ticonderoga under Admiral Farrugut until his resig-
nation from the Navy, following which he obtained a medical de-
gree from the University of Pennsylvania in 1869.

Dr. Hyde moved to Chicago in 1873 and began his teaching ca-
reer in dermatology—the first such teacher in Chicago—at Rush
Medical College. After also serving on the medical faculty of
Chicago Medical College (later Northwestern University Medical
School), he was appointed Professor of Skin and Venereal Disease
at Rush Medical College. Dr. Hyde held this post for thirty-one
years, being appointed chairman in 1905. He also served in ad-
ministrative positions and on the board of trustees at Rush. In
addition, he was a dermatologist on or consultant to the staffs of
six Chicago hospitals and served for eight years as lecturer at the
University of Chicago.

Dr. Hyde was a founder, and twice president, of the American
Dermatological Association. In 1901 he became a founder of the
Chicago Dermatological Society, serving as its president in 1901
and 1908. He was an excellent clinician and teacher and was the
first physician to recognize the critical relationship between sun-
light exposure and the development of skin cancer. He authored
a widely read textbook entitled A Practical Treatise on Diseases of the
Skin, which went through eight editions from 1883 to 1909. With
Frank Montgomery he also published A Manual of Syphilis and
Venereal Diseases. He was the author of over one hundred scientific
papers, and his varied interests included the Episcopal Church (as
chorister and teacher) and the writing of poetry and literary es-
says.

Dr. Hyde was elected to membership in the Chicago Literary
Club in 1875, a year after the Club was founded, and served as
president in 1889-90. He delivered twenty papers during thirty-
five years of membership. He died suddenly on September 6,
1910, presumably of heart disease.

Read before the Club: April 5, 1999