One of the well known members of the medical profession in Montreal, Dr. Albert George Nicholls has made continual progress, and in the field of scientific attainment and research is recognized as one of the most eminent in the profession in the city. His investigations, carried far and wide, have brought forth many valuable truths, and his contributions to medical literature are largely accepted as standard.
Dr. Nicholls was born at Shotley Bridge, Durham, England, April 16, 1870, a son of the late Rev. John Nicholls and Mary Elizabeth (Harland) Nicholls. The father was the well known pastor of St. Mark’s Presbyterian church in Montreal for twenty-two years. In England he became identified with the Methodist clergy and was given charge of churches at Shotley Bridge, Durham; Chester-le-Street, Hetton and Blyth, Northumberland. He was born at Willenhall, Staffordshire, England, in 1840, and had reached the age of fifty-eight years when he passed away in Montreal on the 4th of May, 1898. He had been a resident of Canada for almost a quarter of a century, having arrived in this country in 1874. It was after he came to the new world that he connected himself with the Presbyterian church and for twenty-two years remained pastor of St. Mark’s. The names of few are so closely interwoven with the history of moral progress in this city. For some years he was a member of the Protestant Ministerial Association, was editor of the Bible Reporter, and was a frequent contributor to the press upon questions relative to the work of the church and the extension of Christian influence. At the time of the smallpox epidemic in Montreal he served on various committees formed to relieve the situation and opened his church for the distribution of relief. He was also one of the originators of the Fresh Air Fund and while thoroughly versed upon dogmas and the principles of theology, his religion was ever of that practical character which found expression in good deeds, in ready sympathy, and in immediate helpfulness. The survivors of his family are Mrs. Nicholls; Dr. Albert George Nicholls, whose name introduces this review; and a daughter, Miss Amy Nicholls, B. A.
Education received high rating in the Nicholls home and the son was afforded excellent opportunities for acquiring knowledge that would fit him for any field of labor to which he might choose to devote his efforts. He attended McGill Model School, the Montreal high school and afterward entered McGill University, where he won the Bachelor of Arts degree and became gold medallist in classics in 1890. Three years later his alma mater conferred upon him the Master of Arts degree and in preparation for the medical profession he pursued a course of study in McGill, which won him the M. D. and C. M. degrees in 1894. In 1909 the Doctor of Science degree was conferred upon him and in 1908 the honor of F. R. S. C. Holding to the highest professional standards and wishing to reach the highest possible point of proficiency, Dr. Nicholls has gone abroad for study, doing post-graduate work at Erlangen, Prague and Vienna. A successful practitioner in Montreal, he has devoted much time to original research, more especially in the scientific side of medicine. He is perhaps best known for his work in connection with typhoid fever, Brights disease, tuberculosis and some of the more obscure phases of chronic inflammation and his views have been referred to in several of the more recent authoritative text-books. He is the author of more than forty monographs and other publications on medical subjects, and his writings have largely been accepted as standard by the profession in this section of the country. He was joint author with Professor Adami of The Principles of Pathology, a work of recognized value. He is equally well known as a lecturer on clinical medicine and assistant professor of pathology and bacteriology in McGill University. He is out-patient physician to the Montreal General Hospital and assistant physician and pathologist to the Western General Hospital.