the
Christian physician is given a great opportunity for service to his
fellowmen; administering through his skill to the needs of the body, and
through his personality and example to the spiritual needs of his
patients. Such a man is Dr. James Law, who not alone through his skill as
a practitioner, but even more through his love and sympathy for little
children, has won a high place among the authorities on children ‘s
diseases.
Dr. James Law was born March 18,
1854, in Drumminor, Auchindoir, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, the son of James
Law and Ann Souter. He received his early education in the parish school
of Rhynie, Aberdeenshire, under the Rev. George Stuart and Robert Rattery,
and later in life was graduated from the University Medical College, New
York City. Following in the steps of his father and grandfather, he began
life as a carpenter, but after a few years was led to preach the Gospel in
Shetland, the Orkneys, Scotland, Canada and the United States.
Since 1891, Dr. Law has been in the
active practice of medicine in New York. For more than twenty years he
gave practically all of his afternoons free to the poor of the city,
conducting for them a private dispensary. Every year he saw and treated
thousands of patients, a large proportion of whom were children, charging
only a small fee for the medicine, to cover the actual cost. Within this
period these fees totalled many thousands of dollars, which were
administered by Dr. Law with ability and with true Christian service and
sacrifice. But the value of such a work to the community cannot be
reckoned in dollars and cents, nor the value to the giver. Such a man is
truly enshrined in the hearts of all who know him. For many years,
assisted by a number of efficient teachers, Dr. Law conducted in his
dispensary rooms a mission Sunday School, which has a wide influence for
good.
Dr. Law is a genial and attractive
personality, and has the faculty of making and holding friends. He is well
known and very popular among the Scottish people of New York. He is a fine
public speaker and often presides over and addresses popular meetings.
Dr. Law is a member of the New York
Academy of Medicine, the County Medical Society of New York, the Anierican
Medical Association, the Harlem Medical Association and the Physicians’
Mutual Aid Association. He is Alternate Supreme Representative of the New
York Grand Council, Royal Arcanum, is a member and has been presiding
officer of the Royal Arcanum, National Union, the Loyal Association and
the Foresters of America; he is a member of the St. Andrew’s Society of
the State of New York, the Order of Scottish Clans, President of the New
York Scottish Home Rule Association, an honorary President of the
International Scots Home Rule League, and a member of the Harlem Board of
Commerce. He is the official physician of many of these organizations.
Dr. Law is the eldest of eight of a
family now living, a brother and sister having died: five residing in
America, one in New Zealand and two in Scotland. He has been twice
married. His first wife was Miss Annie N. Cameron, who died after a
lingering illness in 1911; afterward he married his late wife’s sister,
Miss Mary E. Cameron. Mrs. Law began to teach at the age of eighteen and
taught in the highest grades of the New York public schools with great
efficiency. Dr. Law’s residence is 15 East 127th Street, New York.
