USA > Washington DC > Washington DC > Centennial history of the city of Washington, D. C. With full outline of the natural advantages, accounts of the Indian tribes, selection of the site, founding of the city to the present time > Part 62
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On August 17, 1832, physicians were appointed to the several hospitals in the city, as follows: Western Hospital - Attending phy- sicians, Drs. Waters and Briscoe; consulting physicians, Drs. Sim, Thomas, and Johnson. Central Hospital - Attending physicians, Drs. A. MeD. Davis, Thomas R. Miller, James Waring, and B. Miller; con- sulting physicians, Drs. Huntt, Causin, and Sewall. Eastern Hospital - Attending physicians, Drs. Young and Boyd; consulting physicians, Drs. May and Mc Williams.
Thus were preparations perfected for warfare with the dread disease. But it was scarcely to be expected that such sweeping regu- lations as those adopted by the Board of Health should fail to give much dissatisfaction to those who had the articles for sale that were prohibited entrance into the city. A certain writer, in a lengthy article published in the papers at the time, which was written with considerable force and intelligence but with little confidence in the wisdom of the physicians, objected to the regulations, because, as he said, neither the Board of Health nor the corporate authorities of the city possessed the legal authority to prohibit the sale of watermelons in the city. "It would be right for you to exclude this article of trade if it were certain, or even if good reasons existed to induce the belief, created by facts, that watermelons produce cholera. None such do, or can, or have been shown to exist, except in the speculating honesty and contradictory theories of physicians. Before physicians can, with safety, say what is or what is not proper to be eaten during
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the prevalence of cholera, they must first know the disease and its canse. This they are perfectly ignorant of, and every opinion expressed by them is speculation and conjecture."
Many others had the same opinion as to the wisdom of the course then pursued by the Board of Health, and also as to its authority to impose such restrictions. A public meeting was therefore called, of the citizens, at the City Hall for the evening of August 21, "at half past seven o'clock, to take into consideration the restrictions attempted to be imposed upon the productions of the earth and of honest industry by the despotie proceedings of the Board of Health of the 16th in- stant. A full meeting on this occasion is obviously important to every citizen, as well as to the cultivators of the soil, and to the caterers of our markets; and a free discussion of the merits of the subject, so deeply involving the reserved and inalienable rights of freemen, is particularly invited. Among other matters of moment which will doubtless be developed, it will be easy to show that the Board of Health have either turned their eyes aside from the real nuisances that abound in the city, or have overlooked them, or connived at them; if not in open and agreed expressions of purpose, at least in effect, as the real nuisances have not been subdued; and have substi- tuted for their denunciations the wholesome and seasonable productions of the earth, with the obvious tendency to paralyze industry and superinduce famine, which is as bad as the plague. It will be equally easy to show that the moderate use of the productions of the season is eminently conducive to health, and that total abstinence from them is highly injurious to digestion, and invites disease. It will be easy to convince every intelligent man that tomatoes, beets, potatoes, and onions, the only articles that find favor in the eyes of the sage Board of Health, are not produced in sufficient quantity to substitute for twenty or thirty other vegetables which they have proscribed, nor, indeed, are they more wholesome than most of those which their sapient heads have forbid," etc.
The editors of the National Intelligencer were careful to have it dis- tinetly understood that they took no part in the controversy, because it was not in their line.
At the meeting thus called, at the City Hall, Dr. Mayo was called to the chair, and John H. Beale made secretary. Dr. Mayo, having prepared some resolutions to present to the meeting, asked leave to call some one to the chair while he read his resolutions. Being per- mitted to do so, he called upon Mr. Moulder to preside while the resolutions were being read and discussed. After reciting the sanative
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regulations as adopted by the Board of Health, the resolutions were presented, as follows:
"Resolved, That we, the citizens of Washington, in general town meeting assembled, do hereby enter our solemn protest against the authority above assumed, and positively forbid any attempt to execute the edict above quoted.
"Resolved, That we will contribute our individual and united aid to abate nuisances in masses of putrid matter and stagnant water.
"Resolved, That we request the Mayor and corporate authorities of the city to interpose in behalf of the citizens in vindicating the free- dom of the markets."
A publie meeting of other citizens was also held at the City HIall to approve the regulations of the Board of Health.
On the 21st, the board reported on four cases of cholera that had been found during the preceding three days; one white man, con- valescent; one colored man, intemperate, dead; one colored woman, dead; one colored man, intemperate, dangerously ill.
On the 22d, the Board of Health published an address to the citi- zens of Washington, in which they said that they had been appointed by the constituted authorities of the city without solicitation; they were aware that ignorance and selfish cupidity and vicious propensities would find themselves thwarted and opposed, and from these sources opposition was to have been anticipated to any measure which might be prescribed. Measures were being taken calculated to cast odium upon the action of the board, which, if successful, would render the exertions of the board fruitless and unavailing, and, left without the support of public opinion, the consequences would be chargeable to others, not to them.
On August 23, there were 2 deaths from cholera; August 24, 1; August 26, 6; August 27, 1; August 28, 2; August 29, 1; August 30, 1; August 31, 3; September 1 and 2, 8. It was stated in the papers, that up to the 1st of September about half of the cases that had occurred had been reported. The greatest number of cases had occurred in the square southwest of the General Post Office. On Sep- tember 1, Drs. Nathaniel P. Causin and Alexander Mc Williams made a solemn appeal to the people to neglect no symptom which indicated an attack of the disease, stating that they had learned from experi- ence that the preliminary symptoms, when taken in time, uniformly yielded to treatment by calomel and opium, followed by a gentle dose of castor oil, or rhubarb, or magnesia; but if the preliminary symptoms were neglected, and a sudden and severe attack of the
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disease should supervene, more than nineteen-twentieths of those thus stricken must surely die.
On September 3, there were 13 deaths, besides several among the colored people of which there was no report. September 4, there were 10 deaths. The Intelligencer said it had the names of 12 persons who had died between noon of Sunday, the 1st of September, and noon of Monday, the 2d, none of whom had been reported. It was believed that the number between noon of Monday and noon of Tuesday was fully as great, 25. September 5, the number reported was 11; on the 6th, 10; the 7th, 8; the 9th, 15; 10th, 13; 11th, 6; 12th, 8; 13th, 6; 14th, 10; 15th, 4; 16th, 3; 17th, 6; 18th, 5; 19th, 9; 20th and 21st, 1; 22d and 23d, 2; 24th, 2; 25th, 1; 26th, 1.
By October 1, the cholera was believed to have disappeared. On January 1, 1833, the official report of the cholera epidemic of 1832 was made to the Board of Health by Dr. Henry Huntt, Thomas Sewall, and Nathaniel P. Causin. As to the number of deaths from cholera, the report gave: Males, 269; females, 190; total, 459. Whites, 251; blacks, free, 162; slaves, 46. As to age- Under ten, 45; from ten to twenty, 51; from twenty to thirty, 93; from thirty to forty, 108; from forty to fifty, 59; from fifty to sixty, 48; over sixty, 55.
Frederick May, M. D., was a native of Boston, Massachusetts, born November 16, 1773. He studied medicine with Dr. John Warren, and came to Washington in 1795. He was for many years the chief physician and surgeon of the place. He was professor of obstetrics in Columbia College from 1823 to 1839, at which time he resigned. At the time of his death, which occurred January 23, 1847, he was president of the Medical Society of the District of Columbia. Dr. May was always one of the most prominent citizens of Washington while he lived in the place.
Henry Huntt, M. D., one of the most prominent of the early physicians of Washington, was a native of Calvert County, Maryland. When about eighteen years of age, he went to live with an uncle, Dr. Clement Smith, a most respectable and learned physician, in Prince George's County. Here he became a student of the healing art. In 1805-06, he attended a course of lectures in the University of Penn- sylvania. Returning to Maryland in the spring of 1806, he became a partner with his uncle, and soon became distinguished by his atten- tion and kindness to his patients. In 1808 and 1809, he was led to make observations on the nature and treatment of diarrhea and dysentery, more especially upon the chronic forms of those diseases, and the result of his investigations was that he substituted in their treatment an acid for a mercurial and alkaline treatment.
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A country practice affording too limited a field for professional preferment for one of Dr. Huntt's ambition, he abandoned his practice in Prince George's County, and came to Washington City in the fall of 1810, with the intention of applying for the position of surgeon's mate in the United States Navy. He received the desired appointment June 2, 1811, and performed the duties of that station for more than two years. Considerations of a private nature caused him to resign this appointment May 31, 1813, with the determination to enter into private practice; but in 1814 a greater demand than usual existed for hospital surgeons in the army, and applying for one of these posi- tions, he was appointed by the Secretary of War to Burlington Hospital, Vermont. Here he soon attained rank in the highest grade of surgeons, performing many notable operations.
At the close of the War of 1815, he returned to Washington, and became permanently established here in private practice. With the view of attaining greater efficiency, he abandoned surgery and obstet- ries. The prevalence of pneumonia in this section of the country at that time led him to publish his views of the pathology and treatment of the disease.
In 1820 he was connected with the health office in Washington, and was for several years the acting officer. Afterward he succeeded in having organized a more efficient Board of Health, of which in 1824 he was elected the first president, serving in this position until 1833, when he retired. His death occurred when he was in the fifty- sixth year of his age.
Dr. Huntt was especially noted for his success in the treatment of diseases of children, fevers, scarlatina, and pneumonia, and his judg- ment and discernment were of a high order. His mind was a store- house of facts, and he never lost a useful hint in his profession from want of careful observation. He did not receive the degree of doctor of medicine in regular course, but it was conferred on him in conse- quence of his eminence as a physician, by the University of Maryland, in 1824. He was a member of the celebrated Ph. K. B. Society, was one of the founders of the Columbian Institute, of the Medical Society of the District of Columbia, and of the Medical Association in Wash- ington, and was a zealous supporter of scientific medicine.
Benjamin Schenkmyer Bohrer, M. D., was born in Georgetown, District of Columbia, April 6, 1788, and died of paralysis, at his home in Georgetown, December 19, 1862. Finishing his preliminary educa- tion at a private academy, he began the study of medicine in the office of Dr. Charles Worthington, then a prominent practitioner of
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the District of Columbia, and graduated from the University of Penn- sylvania in 1810. He practiced for some time in Georgetown, and in 1822 moved to Cincinnati, Ohio, where he had been appointed to fill the chair of materia medica in the Ohio Medical College. After serving in that position for several sessions, he returned to Georgetown, where he acquired a highly lucrative practice. He was one of the charter members of the Medical Society of the District of Columbia, and was a member of the Medical Association of the District of Columbia, and one of the early visitors appointed by the President of the United States to inspect the United States Hospital for the Insane. He was buried in Oak Hill Cemetery, Georgetown, District of Columbia.
Thomas Sewall, M. D., was born in Augusta, Maine, in 1786. He studied medicine and took his professional degree in Boston. IIe was engaged in the practice of medicine at Essex, Massachusetts, for several years, and removed to Washington in 1820. Ile was instru- mental in organizing the medical department of Columbia College, was a member of the first faculty, and was appointed professor of anatomy in 1825, from which time, up to the time of his death, he was punctual in the delivery of his course of lectures. He was a fine scholar, a life- long student, and published a number of papers on phrenology, medi- cine, and temperance, his essay on temperance being translated into German, and having a large circulation in Europe. He died in Wash- ington, April 10, 1845.
John B. Blake, M. D., was a son of James H. Blake, who was prominent in Washington for many years, and who was Mayor of the city during the administration of President Madison. He was born at Colchester, Maryland, August 12, 1800, and received his education at Charlotte Hall Academy, St. Mary's County, Maryland, and at Georgetown College, where he graduated. Having graduated in medicine at the University of Maryland, in Baltimore, he began the practice of medicine in Washington with Dr. William Jones, and was in partnership with him for several years. He was appointed by President Jackson to a clerkship in the office of the Register of the Treasury, filling this position until 1855, when he was appointed by President Pierce to the office of Commissioner of Public Buildings, in which position he remained until after the election of Mr. Lincoln to the Presidency. He served as president of the National Metropolitan Bank about ten years, and he was for a long time secretary of the Washington National Monument Society. Toward the close of his life he was president of the Metropolitan Fire Insurance Company.
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He was a communicant of Trinity Episcopal Church for more than fifty years, and at the time of his death was president of the Oldest Inhabitant Association. He died October 26, 1881, and was buried in Oak Ilill Cemetery.
Joshua Riley, M. D., was born in Baltimore, Maryland, January 19, 1800, and died in Georgetown, February 11, 1875. He came to Georgetown at the age of eighteen, and was employed in the drug store of John Little for some time. He graduated from the University of Maryland in 1824, and immediately afterward began the practice of medicine in Georgetown. He soon acquired, and enjoyed during his professional life, a large and lucrative practice, and won the esteem and confidence of all with whom he came in contact. From 1844 to 1859, he was engaged as professor of materia medica in the National Medical College, and was active in founding the Washington Infirm- ary, the first clinical school in the District. He was president of the Medical Association of the District of Columbia for several years. He died of paralysis, in Georgetown, February 11, 1875, having been an active practitioner for more than fifty years. He was a man of marked ability, genial manners, and unspotted reputation.
Harvey Lindsly, M. D., was descended on both sides of his family from English parentage. He was born in Morris County, New Jersey, January 11, 1804. He prepared for college at the classical academy in Somerset County, New Jersey, conducted by Rev. Dr. Finley, afterward president of the University of Georgia; graduated at Princeton, and studied medicine at New York and Washington, taking his medical degree in 1828. Hle immediately began the practice of medicine in Washington, and resided here until his death, but for the last twelve or fifteen years of his life he was not in active practice. He was a member of the Medical Society of Washington, of the American Med- ical Association, and of numerous other medical societies in different parts of the country. For several years he was professor of obstetrics, and afterward professor of the principles and practice of medicine, in the National Medical College of the District of Columbia. He con- tributed a number of valuable papers to the North American Review, the American Journal of Medical Science, and the Southern Literary Mes- senger. His death occurred April 28, 1889.
Noble Young, M. D., was of Scotch-Irish descent, and was born in Baltimore, Maryland, June 26, 1808. He prepared for college at the Catholic seminary in Washington, and graduated from the .medical department of Columbia College, District of Columbia, in 1828, and immediately began the practice of medicine in Washington. At the
el Hace
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time of his death, he was the oldest practitioner in the city. IIe was a man of extensive acquirements, and a most entertaining conversa- tionalist. He was one of the chief promoters and founders of the medical department of the University of Georgetown, and held the chair of principles and practice of medicine until 1876, when he resigned and was elected emeritus professor. He was one of the charter members of the Medical Society of the District of Columbia, and was an original member of the Medical Association of the District. His death occurred April 11, 1883.
Thomas Miller, M. D., was born in Port Royal, Virginia, February 18, 1806, and died at his residence, in Washington, September 20, 1873. His father was Major Miller, who came to Washington and became attached to the Navy Department during the administration of Presi- dent Madison. He received his early education under the care of the Jesuits at the old Washington Seminary, now known as Gonzaga College, and began the study of medicine under Henry Huntt, M. D. In 1827 he went to Philadelphia, graduated in 1829, and began the practice of medicine in Washington the same year. From that time on, for forty years, he was connected with every movement looking to the advancement of the profession. In 1830, Dr. Miller, with a few others, formed the Washington Medical Institute for the purpose of giving instruction to students, and in 1832 he began a course of lec- tures in practical anatomy. In the same year he was one of the physicians to the Central Cholera Hospital, and in 1833 he was one of the originators of the Medical Association of the District of Columbia. In this year he was married to the daughter of General Walter Jones. In 1839 he became professor of anatomy in the Na- tional Medical College. On his retirement, he was made emeritus professor and president of the faculty. Dr. Miller was the first presi- dent of the Pathological Society organized in 1841; for many years he was a member of the Board of Health and of the Board of Aldermen. He was one of the consulting staff of Providence Hospital and of the Children's Hospital.
James Crowdhill Hall, M. D., was the son of William Hall, a native of England, a prominent citizen, and a successful merchant of Alexandria, Virginia. He was born October 10, 1805, and his father died in 1810. His mother afterward married Rev. James Laurie, a popular and eloquent Presbyterian minister of Washington. James C. Hall was sent to the classical academy of Rev. James Carnahan, of Georgetown, District of Columbia, who was afterward the distinguished president of Princeton College for thirty years. When sufficiently
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advanced, young Hall was sent to Jefferson College, Pennsylvania. Returning home, he selected medicine as his profession, beginning its study with Dr. Thomas Henderson, at that time professor in the medical department of Columbia College. In 1825, he went to Phila- delphia to attend lectures, and became a student of the University of Pennsylvania, graduating in 1827, taking a special course in both anatomy and chemistry. He then spent a year in Blockley Hospital, and after an extensive clinical experience returned to Wash- ington, " undoubtedly the most accomplished and highly educated physician in the place." In the sick room, Dr. Hall was the model physician; quick of perception, sympathetic in manner, kind and assur- ing in disposition, he speedily won the confidence of his patients, and was thus the more easily successful in the treatment of disease. He acquired a considerable estate. He never married, but gave liberally to a half-sister and her children, and made a handsome bequest to the Washington City Orphan Asylum in memory of his mother, known as the "Laurie Fund." He was interested in the Children's Hospital; was one of the trustees of the Corcoran Art Gallery, and was connected in an official capacity with many other associations and societies in Washington. He attended professionally all the Presidents of the United States from John Quincy Adams down to Abraham Lincoln. He died, highly respected by all who knew him, June 7, 1880.
William B. Magruder, M. D., was the son of James A. and Milicent Magruder. He was born February 11, 1810, and studied medicine with Dr. Benjamin S. Bohrer, of Georgetown, District of Columbia, graduating from the University of Maryland in 1831. He began the practice of his profession the same year, remaining in Georgetown until 1832, when the cholera epidemic having driven away the resident physicians of that part of the city known as the West End, First Ward, he took charge of the cholera hospital, and was for a time the only physician in that section of the city. He was connected with the city government for nearly thirty years, and was Mayor from 1856 to 1858. On March 2, 1843, he was made a Mason by Iliram Lodge, and was afterward elected worshipful master. In 1854, he was elevated to the position of most worshipful grand master. He died May 30, 1869, and was buried in Oak Hill Cemetery.
Louis Mackall, M. D., was the son of Benjamin and Christiana (Beall) Mackall, and was born m Georgetown, District of Columbia, January 1, 1801. He was educated at Dr. Carnahan's classical institute in Georgetown, and graduated in medicine from the University of Mary- land in 1824. Ile first actively engaged in the practice of his profession
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in Prince George's County, Maryland, and returned to Georgetown in 1840. He wrote an essay on "Physical Force," and also one on "The Law of Muscular Action." He was married twice, the first time to Sarah Somerwell, and the second time to Mary Bruce.
William P. Johnston, M. D., was born in Savannah, Georgia, June 11, 1811, and died in Washington October 24, 1876. He was the son of Colonel James and Ann Marion Johnston, and grandson of Dr. Andrew Johnston, a native of Scotland, and a graduate of the Univer- sity of Edinburgh. Dr. Johnston's early education was completed at Round Hill School, in Northampton, Massachusetts, at the head of which was the distinguished George Bancroft. He then entered the sophomore class at Yale College, graduating in 1833. After spending the winter of 1833-34 in Georgia, he repaired to Philadelphia and began the study of medicine under the direction of Professor William Horner, attending lectures at the University of Pennsylvania and at the summer school of medicine at the Philadelphia Medical Institute. IIe graduated in 1836, and was appointed one of the resident physi- cians at the Blockley Hospital, serving there one year.
In the spring of 1837, he became physician to the Philadelphia Dispensary, taking charge of the southwestern district. In the autumn of 1837, he went to Europe, where he remained three years, spending most of the time in Paris in attendance upon hospitals and in acquir- ing knowledge of special diseases, one year being spent in travel on the Continent and in England.
Dr. Johnston's intention, on returning, was to commenee the prac- tice of his profession in Philadelphia, but a visit to Alexandria and his marriage to Miss Hooe induced him to settle in Washington, in December, 1840. In coming to this determination he was aided by Dr. James C. Hall. In 1842 Dr. Johnston was elected professor of surgery in the National Medical College, but in 1845 he was at his own request transferred to the chair of obstetrics and diseases of women and children, lecturing almost uninterruptedly from this time until 1871. He was concerned with other members of the faculty in establishing the Washington Infirmary, where clinical lectures were given in connection with the didactic course. This hospital remained in successful operation up to the beginning of the War, when it was taken by the Government for use as a hospital, and was afterward burned.
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