File:Dr. John Green (1835-1913).jpg

English: Half-length portrait of a seated man holding a cigarette in his right hand. "1835 Dr. John Green 1913. In Medical Service of Western Sanitary Com. and U. S. Sanitary Com. 1862. Came to Saint Louis in 1866. Married Harriet Louisa Jones 1868. First St Louis Physician to Specialize in Ophthalmology Invented Series of Charts to Test the Eye for Astigmatism." (written below image). "Dr. John Green - 1835-1913" (written on reverse side).

Dr. John Green, descendant of the second governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, was born at Worcester, Massachusetts on April 2, 1835. He entered Harvard College in 1851 but refused to accept his degree until 1866 because he was "not in sympathy with the requirements for graduation" (Soule 1989: 72). He did pass the examination to be licensed, and after further study in London, Paris, Berlin, and Vienna, he began private practice in Boston. At the outbreak of the Civil War, Dr. Green became assistant surgeon for the U.S. Army of the Tennessee. Through his contacts with the Western Sanitary Commission and the steamboat Ella (probably used as a hospital boat during the war: wounded soldiers were sent to St. Louis via steamboat; see Adeline Couzins), he came to St. Louis following the Battle of Shiloh.

After the war, Dr. Green visited Europe once more before setting up a private practice in St. Louis in 1866. Dr. Green was also a lecturer at the St. Louis Medical College, medical professor at Washington University, and attending surgeon at the St. Louis Eye and Ear Infirmary. His greatest medical achievement was to have ophthalmology recognized here as a science and was the first physician in that field west of the Mississippi River. Dr. Green died of pneumonia on December 7, 1913 (Caron 1949: 359 and Soule 1989: 72).
Title: Dr. John Green (1835-1913).