Working on adding bios: William Nassau Weech Alexander Ashley Weech
William Nassau Weech: History of the World [1] is a compendium written by a collection of noted historians. It was edited by William Nassau Weech, M.A., a former Headmaster of Sedbergh School (and a very early aficionado of downhill skiing who also wrote "By Ski in Norway," one of the first British accounts of the sport). First published by Odhams in 1944, "History of the World" ran to three editions, the second edition in 1959, and the third in 1965. The editor, W.N. Weech, wrote in the Preface:
"This book is designed for the ordinary man or woman, who should have no difficulty in getting through it in a month, though many may prefer to compress their first reading of it into a fortnight."
W.N. Weech's "History of the World" is notable for bearing comparison with Ernst Gombrich's best-selling Little History of the World, a book that is shorter and is addressed to younger readers. (Gombrich, a Jewish émigré from Vienna, was an art historian better known for his classic work, The Story of Art.) Weech's book is noteworthy, not only for being both thorough and accessible, but also (not unlike Gombrich's) for maintaining a tolerant and measured style, despite being written during the dark days of Nazism.
A contributor at the 2011 Hay Festival cited Weech's book as a remarkable discovery. --- ALSO wrote URBAN VIII: Being the Lothian Prize Essay 1903 (https://archive.org/details/urbanviiibeingth00weecuoft)
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Dr. Alexander Ashley Weech, 1895-1977
Alexander Ashley Weech, MD, physician, investigator, and teacher of Gainesville, Florida died of congestive heart failure on Aug 17, 1977 at the age of 81 ending a long service to the field of pediatrics, whom he helped pioneer into a modern specialty serving the medical needs of developing children. Dr. Weech had been chief editor of the American Medical Association's American Journal of Diseases of Children. He served on the editorial board from 1943 to 1959 and in 1963 was appointed chief editor until he retired in 1972. He was the first chief editor to take the editorial helm who was previously a pediatrician-in-chief of a major hospital. Born on Nov 10, 1895, in Baltimore, Dr. Weech received his medical degree from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in 1921. He remained at Johns Hopkins until 1928 when he went to the Peking Union Medical College Hospital as pediatrician-in-chief under the Rockefeller Foundation. He returned to the United States in 1930 and held several faculty appointments at Columbia University. In 1942, he accepted the position of 3rd B. K. Rachford Chair of Pediatrics of professorship at the University of Cincinnati Medical College. At the same time, he was appointed chief of staff and medical director of the Children’s Hospital of Cincinnati, director of Children’s Hospital Research Foundation, and director of pediatrics and contagious diseases in the Cincinnati General Hospital (now University Hospital). He retired in 1964 as professor emeritus (and served as Chief Editor of the Journal until 1972). Dr. Weech remained in Cincinnati and held staff appointments at the Children's Hospital, Cincinnati General Hospital, and the Ohio Soldiers and Sailors Orphans Home. In 1973 he moved to Gainesville, Fla, where he became professor of pediatrics at the University of Florida College of Medicine; he remained in that position until his death. Dr. Weech was active in numerous organizations and served as president of the Society for Pediatric Research (1940 to 1941), chairman of the Council of the American Pediatric Society (1948 to 1949) and then president (1957 to 1958) of that organization, and president of the American Board of Pediatrics (1953 to 1954 and 1960 to 1961). In addition, he was a special consultant to the Committee on Medical Research of the Office of Scientific Research and Development and to the Public Health Service on pediatric facilities for student nurses. He was also a member of the medical fellowship board of the National Research Council. A recipient of many awards, Dr Weech received the 1956 Borden Award of the American Academy of Pediatrics, the 1963 Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center Distinguished Service Medal, the Abraham Jacobi Award of the American Medical Association in 1967, and the 26th John Howland Award from the American Pediatrics Society in April 1977. Although Dr. Weech was regarded as an excellent scientist, researcher, and clinician, his first love was always teaching. He served generations of medical students teaching from 1921-1977 that spanned the globe. His editorial hand was brilliant and it has been stated he helped countless authors with thousands of articles for the American Journal of Diseases of Children. Pioneer pediatrician Ashley Weech investigated early medical biochemistry applying modern statistics as a medical student, researcher, and later clinician. His mathematical and statistician skills were applied to the embryotic discipline that served to lift the standards of research and practice in order to create a professional independent discipline. His research included nutrition studies, membrane transport and cell permeability, infant development, and childhood diseases. At that time, pediatrics was only a department within general medicine. In residency at Hopkins, he was part of the Harriet Lane Home for Children, an early children’s hospital, and its unique first pediatric research facility located in the basement of the Home. Dr. Weech was a part of unique successful model of close proximity that included hospital, research clinic, and teaching for medical students. Many of the graduates from Hopkins in this era would go on to lead hospitals across the nation and take this model with them, including Dr. Weech in Cincinnati. Dr. Weech strongly believed in the essential relationship between scientific research and medical progress. On July 10, 1935 Dr. Weech became the first physician to use an antibiotic in America; on that day, he initiated therapy with a sulfa compound called Prontosil to treat a child with H. injluenzae meningitis. His Harvey Lecture in 1939 were on the results of years of experimental investigations on the metabolism of the plasma proteins. Ayoub (1978) presented an introduction to Dr. Weech’s John Howland Award stating, “his publications in the field of deficiency diseases in children, protein metabolism, and liver function, even the use of statistics in medicine, are abundant and outstanding.” (p. 229). Forbes (1972) remarks on his first contact with Ashley during the Harvey Lecture stating, “It was a stimulating talk, delivered with syntactical precision – a trait which he later carried with him to the editorial chair. The experimental data were excellent; and I recall that at the conclusion several of us students rushed to the podium to ply him with questions (I am told, parenthetically, by a physician friend who studied at Columbia in the 1930s that Ashley’s lecture on rickets was a gem; he would alternatively work at the blackboard diagramming the skeletal and metabolic abnormalities and walk about in mimicry of the rachitic gait.)” (p. 810). Ashley Weech loved to learn and to teach. He is remembered by family stating the greatest human characteristic was curiosity and he exemplified it. Dr. Weech was instrumental in forming over 23 new pediatric departments at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital during the great hospital expansion of post WWII during the 1950s. He hired a famous set of directors that became known as Cincinnati Children's "Dream Team" and included Drs. Albert Sabin, Josef Warkany, Frederic Silverman, Robert Lyon, Clark West, Benjamin Landing, Eugene Lahey, Samuel Kaplan, Merlin Cooper, and George Guest. He retired from Cincinnati Children's in 1962 and became editor of the American Journal of Diseases of Children until 1972, raising its standard at a time when it needed its standard raised. Ayoub (1978) writes, “No other person I know derived a more vicarious pleasure in helping young individuals mature and development. To be kind to others and to help young people is a major aspect of his personality. In turn, this concern and love for his students were reciprocated.” (pp. 230-1). Dr. Weech was the son of a Methodist minister, Rev. Dr. Robert William Henry Weech, and veteran of 48 years of the M.E. Convention at Baltimore. He enjoyed fine wine and the hobby and sport of fishing. He passed in August, 1977 at his home in Florida, three months after being awarded the coveted John Howland Award, an award he helped name and whose purpose was to honor his favorite teacher. Dr. A. Ashley Weech was the last living recipient of the medal who was a student of Dr. John Howland. Ayoub, E. M. (1978). Introduction of Dr. A. Ashley Weech for the John Howland Award: From the American Pediatric Society, April 27, 1977, San Francisco, California. Pediat. Res., 12, 229-231. Forbes, G. B. (1972). A. Ashley Weech, MD. American Journal of Diseases of Children, 124(6), 818-819. doi:10.1001/archpedi.1972.02110180020002 Forbes, G. B. (1977). Alexander Ashley Weech, MD: Nov 10, 1895 - Aug 17, 1977. Am J Dis Child, 131. doi:10.1001/archpedi.1977.02120230021001 Journal of American Medical Association. (1977, October 31). Alexander A. Weech, dead at 81. JAMA, 238(18), p. 1908.