Dr. D. C. Y. Moore, 78, dean of Manchester physicians, chairman of the Board of Health since 1913 and medical examiner here since 1938, died suddenly at his home Wednesday night at 63 Benton Street.

Dr. Moore had been one of the city's leaders in medical and civic affairs since he began his practice here 52 years ago.

A native of New Boston, Mass., where he was born July 24, 1869, Dr. Moore was graduated from the New York Medical College in 1895. When he came to Manchester, there were no lights on Main Street, except a gas light at the terminus. There were only 24 telephones in the city. Those had crank handles. And during his first days here Dr. Moore traveled from patient to patient on a bicycle, later by horse and wagon.

In an era when kitchen and dining rooms served as impromttu operating rooms, he was the first local physician to use rubber gloves in a confinement case.

In 1913 Dr. Moore became chairman of the Board of Health. He was one of the first presidents of the Connecticut Public Health Association.

It was through his efforts that Manchester became one of the first towns in the state to have regulations covering the sale of milk and meat and was the first Connecticut community to have milk from tubercular-free herds.

Earlier he had been one of the founders of the Manchester Medical Association, organized in 1911. He was a past president of the Manchester Chamber of Commerce and the Manchester Kiwanis Club. He was one of the founders of Manchester Memorial Hospital and had been on its staff for many years, after it was erected following World War I. Dr. Moore was also a former president of Manchester and Hartford County Medical societies. On April 25, 1938, he was appointed medical examiner for Manchester by Coroner Frank E. Healy.

It was through Dr. Moore's efforts that vaccination of all pre-school age children against small pox was enforced, that inoculation for diphtheria was carried on regularly and that the tubercular clinic was established.

Two years ago, Dr. Stanley H. Osborn, state health commissioner, paid tribute to the veteran physician with a statement that "I have never had any fears of health conditions in Manchester with Dr. Moore as president of the local Board of Health."

With a record of having delivered between 250 and 300 babies a year for the first 40 years of his practice, Dr. Moore on his fiftieth anniversary as a physician deplored the "lack of interest in their families" that, he believed was becoming more and more characteristic of modern mothers and fathers.

He leaves his wife, Mrs. Ida Quilter Moore. The couple celebrated their golden wedding anniversary in 1945. Funeral arrangements are in charge of the Watkins Funeral Home, 142 East Center Street.

The death of Dr. D. C. Y. Moore of Manchester removes one of the outstanding figures in the history of Connecticut medicine.

A man who was as well loved as he was well known to the people of Manchester and vicinity, Dr. Moore typified the old family doctor, who considered that his first duty was to cure the ills of his patients, rich and poor alike, regardless of financial compensation. In his earlier years he delivered [between] two and three hundred babies a year, with kitchenware for equipment and kerosene lamps for light. Yet throughout the professional career of a life that stretched over seventy-eight years he kept step with every new scientific advancement his profession could offer.

Few persons outside his large family of relatives knew his given name. Although descended from an old-time Yankee family whose forebears landed in this country from the Susan and Ellen in 1635, he was christened deMarcus deCassio y Rujo Moore - a name that had come down from his paternal grandfather, who was named for a Spanish tinsmith. Finding the name difficult to remember and pronounce, he continued to use the initials by which he was called by all who knew him.

His devotion to duty and his friendly treatment of all with whom he came in contact made him a figure deservedly known and admired in Manchester and all northern Connecticut.

Manchester, Dec. 15 � (Special) --

Although surgery had developed more than medicine for 48 years, the recent discovery and use of penicillin is the greatest single contribution to medical science in the past 50 years, in the opinion of Dr. D. C. Y. Moore, Manchester's town health officer and medical examiner, who has just rounded out a half century in the practice of medicine, all of which has been spent in this town.

"Three years ago," Dr Moore stated, "I would have said that the X-ray was the greatest single advancement made in my time by the medical profession, but penicillin and the sulpha drugs, especially penicillin, far outshine anything else discovered to date. Yet equally startling discoveries may be announced in the very near future, when additional research has been made into the use of another new drug, streptomycin."

Although he admits that doctors entering practice today are far better trained than they were when he entered the profession, Dr. Moore says that the young physicians of today don't know what hard work and the application to it means.

"Today they have the X-ray, drugs, specialists available for consultation, and hospitals within easy reach," he said. "It thrills me beyond description to look back over the years when we groped in the dark and prayed to God that the patient would get well."

Standard rates for his professional services when he first started practice, Dr. Moore said, were 50 cents for office calls and 75 cents for home visits, regardless of the distance traveled.

Modern-day hospital facilities were compared with the conditions prevailing in his earlier days of practice, as Dr Moore reminisced on some of the surgical cases he had handled. The family kitchen table was commonly used for major operations, and on many occasions what were little less than miracles were performed in this manner. The one case which stands out in his mind, Dr. Moore said, was that of an adult patient who approached him one Sunday morning, after failing to heed the advice of another physician who had recommended hospitalization for an acute appendectomy. In the meantime the appendix had burst, but the patient insisted that if an operation was necessary, it be done at his home. So off went the doctor and patient by horse and buggy to the latter's home, a distance of 14 miles, where the appendix was removed, revealing a severe peritonitis condition, and little hope was held out by the doctor for the man's recovery. But he did, and several years later the same patient was the victim of a hunting accident which shot away part of his forehead and one eye, and again a successful operation was performed. The man died years later of pneumonia at the age of 81.

With a record of having delivered between 250 and 300 babies a year for the first 40 years of his practice, Dr Moore believes that the modern mother and father lack the interest in their family that characterized the parents of former years. This he attributes to modern household conveniences and the ease of present-day travel, both of which make it unnecessary to spend the greater part of time in the home. These are the factors, he believes, which are largely responsible for the prevalence of juvenile delinquency, as parental supervision is lacking.

The reason why the span of life has increased, Dr. Moore believes, is not due to healthier parents, but rather to the care which modern medical science has made it possible for the infant to receive during the first few months after birth.

Today there is no such thing as a "family physician," Dr. Moore believes, and the general appreciation for the doctor's efforts which was once displayed by the patient's family is no longer evident. Likewise, the fatherly interest in the patient which was once manifested by the old-time physician is also gone, due to the fact that doctor and patient no longer become well enough acquainted to merit more than professional interest in each other.

"I don't want to imply that the doctor today isn't doing a good job. He is. I believe that those who were left in this country during the recent war did outstanding service in caring for their communities," Dr. Moore remarked.

A native of New Boston, Mass., where he was born July 24, 1869, Dr. Moore was graduated from the New York Medical College in 1895. In June of this year he was awarded a gold diploma commemorating 50 years in the medical profession at the 86th annual commencement exercises held at the New York Academy of Medicine. Only 13 members of his class are now living. He is the oldest physician in Manchester and is one of the founders of the Manchester Medical Association, organized in 1911. His long period of service to the community had its start in the same year the noted Dr. Louis Pasteur died.

Active in civic and medical affairs, Dr. Moore has been chairman of the Manchester Board of Health since 1913, and is a past president of the Manchester Chamber of Commerce and the Manchester Kiwanis Club. He is one of the founders of Manchester Memorial Hospital and has been on its staff since it was erected soon after World War I as a memorial to veterans of that struggle. He is also a former president of the Manchester and Hartford County Medical societies, and a fellow of the American Public Health Association. On April 25, 1938, he was appointed medical examiner for Manchester by Coroner Frank E. Healy to succeed the late Dr. LaVerne Holmes.

Dr. Stanley H. Osborn, state health commissioner, recently said, "I have never had any fears of health conditions in Manchester with Dr. Moore as president of the local Board of Health."

On May 29 of this year Dr. and Mrs. Moore, who live at 63 Benton Street, observed their golden wedding anniversary. She was Miss Ida Quilter of New Hartford before their marriage in that town.