The position conceded him by the profession is evident from numerous important official and semi-official positions which he has held. He was elected a member of the board of notaries for the district of Montreal in 1897, 1900, 1903, 1906, 1909 and 1912. He was a member and afterwards president of the committee of discipline and also of the committee of surveillance of said board and a member and afterwards president of the commission for the admission to the study of the notarial profession, which position he now holds. In his political views he is independent, giving his support to measures and candidates as dictated by his judgment. His religious faith is that of the Catholic church. Mr. Lacasse was connected with military life during a few years as lieutenant in Company 4, Eighty-third Battalion of Infantry of Joliette.
A man of wide experience and with a wide outlook upon life, he is interested along lines of endeavor that touch upon the progress of the city and can always be found among those who loyally support any movement undertaken for public betterment. He is highly respected and esteemed in the city where he is widely known and enjoys the confidence and good-will of the foremost citizens of Montreal.
The tendency of the age is toward specialization and the professional man who achieves distinction usually concentrates his efforts not upon the broad field of his profession but upon some particular branch thereof, and thus develops a proficiency which he could not otherwise hope to attain. Such was the record of Dr. Arthur A. Browne, educator and practitioner, who gained eminence as an obstetrician. He practiced for more than forty years in Montreal, entering upon the active work of the profession in early manhood. He was born in Eastern township, in 1848, and was descended from Irish parentage, and of a family whose name figures prominently in military circles. His more specifically literary course was completed by graduation from McGill with the Bachelor of Arts degree in 1866. A year or two thereafter was devoted to business but feeling that a professional career would prove more congenial, he entered upon the study of medicine and was graduated M. D., C. M., in 1872. He then spent a year abroad, during which time he investigated the methods of eminent physicians and surgeons of the old world, after which he opened an office in Montreal. The usual experiences of the professional man were his. He had to work his way upward in face of competition with men who had long been in the profession and had well established reputations. The conscientious care which he gave to the cases entrusted to him at length won him recognition and his practice grew until it became one of the largest in the city. As time passed he concentrated his efforts more largely upon obstetrical diseases until he gained a wide and most enviable reputation in that field, his opinions coming to be regarded as authority upon many involved and intricate questions relating thereto. In 1883 he was appointed professor of obstetrics at McGill University, succeeding the late Professor Duncan MacCallum, at the same time taking charge of the University Maternity Hospital. Three years later, however, owing to his growing practice, already extensive, and his distaste for the drudgery of teaching, he resigned his professorship. Yet, he was always intensely interested in McGill and her welfare, and no function held by the medical department was thought to be complete if Dr. Browne was absent. He was not only thoroughly informed concerning his chosen calling but possessed a fine literary mind and his broad reading made him one of the best informed men on general literature among the practitioners of medicine and surgery in Montreal. He was a student of the classics, and all these things had influence to make him a noble-minded man, whose life exemplified the high principles which constituted the basis of his character. He possessed an artistic taste that found expression in his intense admiration of the beautiful in both art and nature. Moreover, keen sympathy was one of his strongly marked traits and featured as one of the elements of his success. He might well be called “the beloved physician,” for his cheery presence as well as his scientific skill brought comfort and assurance to many households. He inspired and encouraged his patients and thus assisted them far on the road to recovery.