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As Surgeon and teacher.
Dr. McGuire's work as a surgeon can be accurately measured only by one of his profession.
He had performed operations which, to almost any other man, would have appeared impossible.
In addition, he had read a large number of papers before the
Virginia Medical Society, which have not only proven of value to the profession of this State, but have been widely printed, and are regarded as the final word, in so far as, they relate to the subjects of which they treat.
He also collaborated upon several standard textbooks of surgery.
Dr. McGuire was the first surgeon who ever performed the operation of suprapubic cystotomy.
His discovery of this operation gave him an international fame.
He performed it in a very great many cases, generally successfully.
Dr. McGuire also had the distinction of being the only surgeon who ever ligated the aorta.
This apparently impossible feat was performed under circumstances which seemed to make it absolutely necessary.
The patient was bleeding to death from a wound in the aorta, which almost severed it. But
Dr. McGuire was undismayed and determined that if the man died it should not be until a last desperate effort had been made to save him; such an effort as had never been made before, probably, certainly not successfully.
He cut into the artery, found it had been nearly severed, and in a few minutes bound the edges of the wound together, and the blood went coursing along the great channel once more.
Dr. McGuire was not fond of writing.
He loved to lecture to his classes, but his hand was far fonder of the operating-knife than the pen. Still, he leaves many valuable papers to attest his learning and skill.
He was the author of the chapter on Intestinal Obstruction, in
Pepper's System of Medicine, and of the chapter devoted to Gunshot Wounds, in
Holmes' System of Surgery.
Both works are the recognized authorities.
The following papers read before the
Virginia Medical Society have been very widely published: Gunshot Wounds of the Peritoneum, Choice of Anaesthecics, Nervous Disturbances Following Urethral Stricture, Formation of Artificial Urethra in Prostatic Obstruction, Gunshot Wounds of the
Belly, Relief of Prostatic Obstruction, Twenty-One Cases of Supra-Pubic Cystotomy and Results, Chronic
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Cystitis in the Female, Drainage in Obstinate Chronic Cystitis in the Female, Last Wound and Death of
Stonewall Jackson, &c.
Since 1889
Dr. McGuire had given every year a prize of $100 for the best essay by a member of the
Virginia Medical Society on an annually announced subject.
Dr. McGuire was a great teacher.
He loved teaching.
He began his career as a professor in the
Winchester Medical College, and then as a quiz-master in
Philadelphia.
He entered it as a Professor of Clinical Surgery in the University College of Medicine, after having been for years the occupant of a similar chair in the Medical College of
Virginia.
He delivered his last lecture on the 10th of March, when lectures were suspended for examination.
On that occasion he called the attention of his class to the fact that during the entire session he had not missed a lecture, nor had one of the many patients which he had brought before the class in that time failed of recovery.
Dr. McGuire was a superb teacher.
His direct manner, his simple, lucid style and his thorough group of every phase of his branch enabled him to impart knowledge with wonderful facility.
His students honored him as one of the greatest of his profession, and loved him as a man who knew so well the difficulties of the road along which he led them, and who was always ready to sacrifice precious time if thereby he might help them onward.
