USA > Connecticut > Hartford County > The memorial history of Hartford County, Connecticut, 1633-1884, Vol. I > Part 20
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Edmund M. Pease
Aug. 16, 1862-Jan. 9, 1864.
Sabin Stocking 1
Aug. 29, 1862-July 19, 1865.
Jonathan S. Curtis
Sept. 15, 1862-Dec. 11, 1862.
Wharton H. Godard
Oct. 2, 1862-Aug. 26, 1863.
H. Clinton Bunce
Oct. 10, 1862-Oct. 22, 1863.
Levi S. Pease1 . Nov. 21, 1862-Aug. 28, 1863.
Charles J. Tennant
Feb. 21, 1863-June 16, 1865.
William B. North March 20, 1863-May 9, 1864.
Besides the Hartford County Medical Society, of which mention has already been made, there have been three others established in the county ; namely, the Hopkins Medical Society, the Hartford Medical Society, and the Medical Journal and Library Association (Hartford).
The Hopkins Medical Society was founded June 14, 1826, and took its name from Dr. Lemuel Hopkins, of Hartford. It was composed of the leading medical men of this region, its membership not being confined to Hartford County. Its meetings were held quarterly, usu- ally at Hartford, and continued until about 1844, at which time the organization went out of existence.
The Hartford Medical Society was established Aug. 27, 1846, in the city of Hartford, and is still in existence, holding its meetings on the first and third Mondays of each month.
The Medical Journal and Library Association of Hartford was organized in January, 1873. Its object was "to establish a library of
medical books and journals, and to present and discuss topics of profes- sional and scientific interest."
The honor of the discovery of anesthesia belongs to Hartford County, although it does not abso- lutely belong to the history of its medical men. As anæsthesia was, however, of such momentous impor- tanee to them, as well as being the most inestimable boon that has ever been vouchsafed to suffering human- ity, it seems fitting that the history of its discovery should be recorded upon these pages.
Horace Wells, the discoverer of anæsthesia, was a practising dentist residing in Hartford. He was born at Hartford, Windsor Co., Vermont, Jan. 21, 1815, and died in New York DR. HORACE WELLS. City, Jan. 24, 1848, in the thirty- fourth year of his age. In 1834- 1836 he studied and practised den- tistry in Boston, and in 1836 he removed to Hartford, where he practised until his deathi. The story of his great discovery is told in
1 Died since the war.
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the following letter from Dr. John M. Riggs, who was a student in the office of Dr. Wells, and a practising dentist in Hartford at the time of the discovery. He was an eye-witness of Dr. Wells's first experi- ment, assisted him in working out his great idea, and is thoroughly conversant with all the facts connected with Dr. Wells's practice and his life.
HARTFORD, March 16, 1885.
Dr. W. A. M. WAINWRIGHT :
DEAR DOCTOR, - You ask for a concise statement of facts concerning the dis- covery of anæsthesia ; it is as follows : On the evening of Dec. 10, 1844, there was an exhibition of "laughing gas " for amusement in Union Hall, twenty-five cents admission, by Mr. G. Q. Colton, at which exhibition Dr. Horace Wells was present. During the exciting stage of the administration of the gas one man rushed over the seats and, falling, abraded the skin on his leg, but was not conscious of it till some twelve or fifteen minutes after, when it began to pain him. Dr. Wells caught at the length of the period of insensibility, and remarked, " I can extract a tooth from one under its influence, without pain." At the close of the exhibition Dr. Wells came to my office and we there canvassed till near midnight the whole subject as to its safety and the degree of inhalation. As we had resolved to push the inhalation much farther than for a mere exhibition for fun, we naturally looked for a patient upon whom to make the trial ; but the chances of the death of said patient confronting us, Dr. Wells volunteered to be the patient and to make the trial on himself, charging me to stand by and care for him. The next morn- ing, Dec. 11, 1844, as per agreement, Dr. Wells came into my office and said, " I am ready." We repaired to his office ; he took a seat in his operating-chair, I examined the tooth, and he took the bag in his own hands and inhaled the gas ; as he lost control of the muscles of his arms his elbows slipped off from the arms of the chair, dragging the gas-tube from his mouth ; his head dropped back on the head-rest and I slipped the forceps on the tooth (a left superior molar) and extracted it. He soon came out of its effects, blew out the blood from his month, asked if it was out, and on seeing it, with a gesture of the hand, ex- claimed, " A new era in tooth-pulling !" No one administered the gas to Wells ; he assumed sole responsibility of the act. Mr. G. Q. Colton, the maker of the gas, Mr. Samuel Cooley, and one whose name has escaped me, were present, near the door. From that time onward Dr. Wells and myself gave the gas and extracted teeth as patients presented themselves. All would not take it ; there was great fear lest it would cause death ; only two physicians of our city (young men) approved of the administration of the gas or took any interest in the discovery, and these gentlemen performed several painless surgical operations under the influence of the gas administered by Dr. Wells himself. One or two months subsequent to the discovery Wells went to Boston and told his discov- ery to Dr. W. T. Morton (a former student of Wells). Some three years prior to the discovery Drs. Wells and Morton formed a partnership to open a dental office in Tremont Street, Boston. Wells soon dissolved the partnership, sold out to Morton, and returned to Hartford until the events of Dec. 10 and 11, 1844. In 1846 Dr. Morton came to Hartford on his summer vacation and requested Dr. Wells to show him how to make the gas. Dr. Wells referred him to Dr. Jack- son, a chemist of Boston, as he would tell him all about it. Morton went to Jackson, and he told him to use sulphuric ether, as it was similar in its effects, and could be obtained with much less trouble. Morton testifies to this, and Dr. Jackson, also. Morton procured some ether, tried it on himself and on a patient, and then laid claim to the discovery of anaesthesia, which Dr. Wells had dis- covered twenty-two months before through the agency of nitrous oxide gas, as related above. Nor is this all ; the gas was in continuons use in Wells's and my own office from the date of discovery to and after the time when Morton made
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MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY.
his claim. Morton quietly obtained a patent for letlieon (a misnomer), which patent was pronounced unpatentable (because of former use), in a suit in the United States District Court of New York. There is much more concurrent and corroborative proof of my statement, which will appear in my unpublished "Minute History of the Discovery of Anaesthesia."
Very respectfully yours,
John M. Roigys
That this is the true history of the discovery of anæesthesia in the opinion of the medical profession throughout the State of Connecticut, is proved by the following minute, which was adopted without a dis- senting voice at the annual meeting of the State Medical Society, held at New Haven, May 25, 1876 : -
" In reference to so much of the president's address as relates to the discov- ery of anæsthesia, this convention deems it proper to place upon its record at this time the unanimous conviction of its members that to the late Dr. Horace Wells, of Hartford, belongs all the honor of this invaluable discovery.
"The proof of this is established by numerous irrefragable facts now before the world ; by the published opinions of many learned and distinguished mem- bers of the medical profession, and others both at home and abroad ; and by the unanimous verdict of the American Medical Association."
My A. M. Wain wright Mix
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MEDICAL HISTORY.
II. HOMEOPATHY.
BY EDWARD B. HOOKER, M.D.
THE first homoeopathic physician to settle in Hartford County was Dr. Gustavus M. Taft, who came to Hartford in 1842. He was not, however, the first practitioner in the State, for in 1837 Dr. George Tay- lor, of New Milford, who had been for many years an adherent of the old school, was converted to homoeopathy by Dr. Frederick Vanderburg, of New York, who, while on a visit at New Milford, restored Dr. Taylor's wife to health when hope of her recovery had been almost abandoned. HIomœopathy had been introduced into the United States in 1825 by Dr. Hans Birch Gram, of Copenhagen, who settled in New York. Connecticut was the fourth State into which the new system made its way. The first homeopathic medical society in the State was formed in 1851 at Hartford by eight physicians from different parts of the State, who organized the Connecticut Institute of Homoeopathy. The found- ers of the society were Jeremiah T. Denison of Fairfield, Charles H. Skiff of New Haven, William W. Rodman of Waterbury, George S. Green, C. A. Taft, and John Schue, of Hartford, William C. Bell of Mid- dletown, and Elial T. Foote of New Haven. Of the eight, but three are now living ; namely, Drs. Rodman, Bell, and Green. In 1852 the name of the society was changed to the Connecticut Homoeopathic Society, and in 1864 a charter was obtained from the legislature incorporating the society under its present name of the Connecticut Homoeopathic Med- ical Society, and giving it an equal position with the Connecticut Medical Society.
While homeopathy was making its way among the people at large, steadily gaining patronage and exerting wider influence, it met with a hostile reception from the medical profession. A great majority of the practitioners calling themselves regular physicians refused to recognize professionally the followers of the new system. A few, however, were liberal and courageous enough to consult with the practitioners of the new school, for which conduct some of them, together with several con- verts to homœopathy, were disciplined. In 1855 Dr. Charles W. Ensign, of Tariffville, a graduate of the College of Physicians and Surgeons, and a member of the Connecticut Medical Society, became convinced of the truth and efficacy of the homeopathic principle and was expelled from the society. In 1856 Dr. William H. Sage, of Unionville, was also ex- pelled for consulting with a homeopathic physician, and in 1859 Dr. J. S. Curtis of Hartford received similar treatment. Dr. Curtis's expulsion created much feeling and was widely discussed in the newspapers of the State and country. Happily the prejudice against the physicians of the new school has grown less, though slowly, till at the present time but little of it remains ; and it is probable that many of the regu- lar physicians - especially the younger ones - are willing to consult
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MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY.
with them and treat them with the courtesy due to fellow-practitioners, although the rule remains unchanged in their various societies. And it is but fair to acknowledge that the homeopathic physicians have also grown more liberal and are broader in their views ; that they recognize the great value of the accumulated experience of the whole medical pro- fession, and are glad to avail themselves of it, giving credit where credit is due, and honoring for their great achievements the patient investiga- tors who have labored to render medicine an exact science.
In 1851 there were seven homeopathic physicians in the county, in 1860 thirteen, in 1870 twenty-two, in 1880 twenty-three, and at the present time (October, 1885) there are thirty, seventeen of whom are in Hartford, no other town having more than two.
Dr. Gustavus M. Taft, who, as has been stated, introduced homœopa- thy into Hartford, was born in Dedham, Mass., Dec. 20, 1820, studied medicine with Dr. Josiah Flagg, of Boston, the second physician in Mas- sachusetts to embrace the new system, and also with Drs. John F. Gray and Amos G. Hull of New York, graduated at the University of New York in 1842, and at once came to Hartford. Although but twenty-one years of age, and remaining in the city only three years, yet such was his ability and force of character that he rapidly acquired a lucrative practice, gaining besides, by his qualities of mind and heart, a large circle of warm friends. After two years of practice Dr. Taft's health became impaired, and he induced his friend and fellow-student, Dr. John Schué, to come to Hartford and form a partnership with him. A year later he was compelled to seek a milder climate, and in November, 1845, removed to New Orleans. He had for some time believed that homo- opathy could successfully cope with yellow fever, and one reason for choosing New Orleans as a place of residence was that he might have the opportunity to test the efficacy of the system in which he so earn- estly believed, in the treatment of that disease. His appearance in New Orleans gave a sudden and remarkable impulse to homœopathy, and he rapidly acquired an immense business. Abundant opportunity occurred to test the power of the homoeopathic method over yellow fever, and Dr. Taft was very successful in the treatment of the disease, so much so that he was overrun with cases of it and taxed beyond his strength. While thus exhausted from overwork he was himself attacked with the fever, but with calm confidence began to treat himself, using the reme- dies which, in his hands, had proved so useful to others. Delirium, however, set in and as there was no other homeopathic physician to continue his line of treatment he succumbed to the disease and died on the 10th of August, 1847. Thus passed away at the age of twenty-seven years a man of great enthusiasm and rare ability in his profession, who had acquired honorable reputation and large practice in two cities, whose death caused profound sorrow and a sense of public loss seldom felt at the deccase of one of his age.
Dr. John Schue was the second homoeopathic physician in Hartford. He was born in Germany in 1815, studied medicine with Drs. Hull and Gray in New York, and graduated at the College of Physicians and Sur- geons in 1842. In 1844 he came to Hartford and formed a partnership with Dr. G. M. Taft, continuing in business alone, after Dr. Taft's de- parture, a year later, until his death, which occurred Sept. 25, 1856.
Dr. C. A. Taft was the third homoeopathic physician in the city. He
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was born at Dedham, Mass., in 1822, and was the brother of Dr. G. M. Taft. He graduated at the College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York in 1846, came to Hartford the same year and remained there until his death, nearly forty years afterward. Attending strictly to business, giving himself to his profession with a devotion that left room for noth- ing else, seldom absent from the city even for a day, he was not long in obtaining the recognition which his ability merited. His business rap- idly increased, and as the years went on he undoubtedly gained the largest and most profitable practice any physician ever had in the city. He was justly regarded as its leading physician. Dignified in manner, with a rare beauty of countenance and elegance of figure, calm under the most trying circumstances, somewhat austere outwardly, yet sym- pathetic at heart, he possessed to the utmost the confidence of his pa- tients, which contributed not a little to the large measure of success that attended his efforts. His business became so large that in 1871 he formed a partnership with Dr. P. S. Starr, which existed for five years and was then dissolved. For several years before Dr. Taft's death there were signs that the unceasing labor of so many years was begin- ning to impair his health ; yet he held himself closely to his work, with but a brief respite in summer, until the spring of 1884, when absolute illness confined him to the house. After a sickness of several weeks he died June 26, 1884, literally worn out by unremitting labor. His death caused widespread sorrow, and it is probable that the death of no other person could have carried grief into so many homes in the city.
Dr. Gardner S. Browne was born at Alstead, New Hampshire, Sept. 12, 1810. After graduating at Dartmouth College in 1834 he established and conducted a classical school at Nashua, New Hampshire, for two years, when he began to study theology, in part privately and in part at the Yale Theological Seminary. He was ordained pastor of the Congregational Church in Hinsdale, New Hampshire, in 1838, and labored there successfully until 1844, when ill health compelled him to ask for his dismission, which was regretfully granted. For the next three years he conducted the New England Institute in New York, devoting himself at the same time to the study of medi- cine, to which he had long been inclined. He graduated at the Uni- versity of New York in 1847, and for a few years practised in several places before settling permanently in Hartford in 1850, where he continued in active practice for more than twenty-five years. In 1865 he was elected president of the Connecticut Homoeopathic Medical So- ciety, and held the office for a year. His death occurred Dec. 29, 1876. Dr. Browne was an earnest, warm-hearted, generous man, and his death was felt with keen regret by a large circle of patients and friends. During his residence in Hartford he trained fifteen students, many of whom would have been unable to enter the medical profession but for the aid he rendered them.
Dr. Harvey Cole was born at Lebanon, New York, in 1816. He obtained his medical education at the Berkshire Medical College, Pitts- field, Mass., from which he graduated in 1846. He practised for a few years at Stephentown and then removed to Pittsfield, where he resided for nearly twenty years. He was the first physician who practised homeopathy in Berkshire County. He removed to Hartford in 1868, where he remained until his death in 1872.
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MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY.
Dr. James D. Johnson was born at Hartford, Aug. 14, 1847. He was educated in the public schools of the city, graduating from the High School in 1866. He pursued his medical studies as a student of Dr. Gardner S. Browne and graduated at Bellevue Hospital Medical College in 1869. He returned at once to Hartford, where he remained in practice until his death, which occurred Feb. 25, 1884. He was presi- dent of the Connecticut Homoeopathic Medical Society during 1878, and enjoyed the respect and confidence of his brother practitioners in the city and State, as well as of many friends and patients, who sincerely regretted his death.
Dr. O. B. Taylor was the first and has been the only homeopathic physician in Manchester or vicinity. He settled there in 1849, and is still in practice.
Dr. Henry Isham was the first homeopathic physician to settle in New Britain. He obtained his medical education at the New York Homeopathic Medical College, from which he graduated in 1851. In that year he began practice in New Britain. He invented a bank-lock, which still bears his name, and became so occupied with its manufac- ture that he practised little after 1857, when he formed a partnership with Dr. George P. Cooley, which lasted a year. Dr. Cooley afterward continued in practice alone. Dr. Isham died in 1867. There are now two homeopathic physicians in New Britain.
Dr. J. E. Lucas introduced homœopathy into Thompsonville, prac- tising there from 1851 to 1861. Although not a graduate of any medi- cal college, Dr. Lucas became, by study and large experience, a capable physician, and built up an extensive practice in a field at first hostile to homeopathy. After leaving Thompsonville he settled in Springfield, where he died a few years afterward.
Dr. E. L. Boyle settled in Farmington in 1852, but remained there only about two years, moving elsewhere shortly before his death, which occurred in 1854 or 1855. He was the only homoeopathic physician who has ever resided in Farmington proper. Unionville, however, has not been without one since 1856.
Dr. William H. Sage introduced homeopathy into Unionville. He graduated at the Yale Medical School in 1849, and settled at once in that place. In 1856, becoming convinced of the efficacy of the home- opathic method, he adopted it and has continued to employ it ever since. In that year he was expelled from the Connecticut Medical Society for consulting with a homeopathic physician. Dr. Sage re- moved to New Haven in 1874, where he is now engaged in practice.
Dr. O. B. Freeman introduced homeopathy into Collinsville, practis- ing according to that system from 1853 to 1877, when he retired. He was born in Canton in 1796. While pursuing his medical studies he was a student of Dr. Solomon Everest, of Canton. After practising as an old-school physician for a number of years in his native town, he removed to Wolcottville in 1838, where he remained but two years, when he removed to Ohio. He returned to Collinsville in 1847, where he con- tinued to practise until three years before his death, which occurred in 1880, at the age of eighty-four years. He represented Canton in the State legislature in 1862. Although never exclusively homeopathic in his practice, he deserves to be noticed among the followers of the system.
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MEDICAL HISTORY.
Dr. George P. Cooley introduced homeopathy into Bristol in 1854. He studied medicine with Dr. C. A. Taft, of Hartford, and was the only student Dr. Taft ever had. He graduated at the Homoeopathic Medical College of Pennsylvania in 1854, and at once settled in Bristol. He removed to New Britain in 1857, and is now in practice in that city.
Dr. James H. Austin settled in Bristol in 1848, having graduated at the Berkshire Medical College in Pittsfield the previous year, and prac- tised as an old-school physician until 1858, when, becoming converted by the success which he saw attend the use of homoeopathic remedies in Dr. Cooley's hands, he openly abandoned the old practice and took up the new, carrying with him in the change many families hitherto patrons of the regular system. He represented Bristol in the legisla- ture in 1859, and during the session made a forcible and eloquent plea in behalf of homeopathy and the rights of homeopathic physicians. In 1861 he removed to New Haven, but after a year returned to Bristol and remained there until his death in 1872. He was president of the Connecticut Homoeopathic Medical Society during the year 1868.
Dr. Charles W. Ensign was born in West Hartland. He graduated at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, in 1844, and began practice in Tariffville, Simsbury, the same year as an old-school physician. He became a fellow of the Connecticut Medical Society and enjoyed the esteem of his brother practitioners, and was respected in the community in which he lived. Becoming convinced of the truth and value of the homoeopathic system in 1855, he openly practised accord- ing to its principles, and in consequence was expelled from his society. He joined the Connecticut Homoeopathic Society in 1857, and remained a member until his death. Dr. N. W. Holcombe settled in Simsbury in 1860, and is still in practice there. He is the only homeopathic physi- cian who has ever resided in the town.
Dr. Ralph T. Chaffee was the first homeopathic physician in Windsor Locks. He was born in Wilbraham, Mass., in 1824. After practising a short time in Granby he removed to Windsor Locks in 1850, but did not make use of the homeopathic method until 1857. In 1865 he removed to Hartford, but stayed there only two years, returning to Windsor Locks, where he remained until 1871, when he again removed to Hartford. In 1875 he sold his practice to Dr. P. D. Peltier and took up his residence at Putnam, living there quietly and not attempting to practise. Later he removed to Brooklyn, New York, where he practised until his death, in 1878.
Although there was properly no homeopathic physician in South- ington until 1866, yet homœopathy had made its way there in a manner that deserves special mention. In 1850 the Rev. Henry J. Hudson became the pastor of the Unitarian Church, and so continued for more than three years. During this time his three sisters lived with him, one of whom was an intelligent and enthusiastic believer in homœopa- thy. Such was her zeal for the system and her desire to be of use to others, that she began to visit and prescribe for the sick, gladly giving her services to the afflicted without charge, accepting, however, occa- sional gifts from grateful patients. "Miss Doctor Lucy" became widely known, loved, and respected in the community, and was looked upon as a practitioner of ability, although without diploma or regular medical
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education. Her name will long be held in tender remembrance by many Southington families.
Dr. T. D. Wadsworth was the first educated homoeopathic physician to settle in Southington. He went there in 1866 and remained about two years, when he removed to St. Louis.
It does not fall within the scope of this article to notice any other homeopathic physicians than those who were pioneers in that practice, or who have died.
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