USA > Georgia > Memoirs of Georgia; containing historical accounts of the state's civil, military, industrial and professional interests, and personal sketches of many of its people. Vol. II > Part 21
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Section 9. Be it further enacted, that any person shall be regarded as practicing medicine or surgery, within the meaning of this act, who shall prescribe for the sick or those in need of medical or surgical aid, and shall charge or receive money or other compensation or consideration, directly or indirectly ; provided, however, that midwives and nurses shall not be regarded as practicing medicine or surgery.
Section 10. Be it further enacted, that any person who shall practice medicine or surgery in this state in violation of the provisions of this act, shall, upon conveiction, be punished as prescribed in section 4310 of the Code of the State of Georgia, for each offense; and it shall not be lawful for him to recover, by action, suit, motion, or warrant, any compensation for services which may be claimed to have been rendered by him as such physician or surgeon.
Section II. Be it further enacted, that all laws and parts of laws in conflict with this act be, and the same are, hereby repealed.
The bill was promptly approved by Gov. Atkinson, and thus became a law.
BOARDS OF MEDICAL EXAMINERS.
The governor appointed the boards of medical examiners, as follows: Board of examiners for regular school of medicine: F. M. Ridlev, La Grange, three years; J. B. Baird, Atlanta, one year; A. A. Smith, Hawkinsville, two years; E. R. Anthony, Griffin, two years; W. A. O'Daniel, Milledgeville, one year. Homeopathic board: C. C. Schley, Savannah, three years; R. A. Hicks, Rome, one year; M. A. Cleckley, Augusta, two years; Charles A. Geiger, Roswell, two years; E. B. Schley, Columbus, one year. Eclectic board: M. T. Salter, Atlanta, one year; M. K. Phillips, Bremen, two years; John F. Harris, Dalton, two years; J. Frank Harris, Thomas county, three years; W. V. Robertson, Rehobath, Morgan Co., one year.
While there was no necessity whatever for these boards, the law must be grati- fying to all friends of higher medical education in Georgia. While the act is imperfect, it is beneficial in that it is a death-blow to short college courses and low standards of medical education. These boards of medical examiners have it in their power to enforce a high standard of medical education among graduates of medicine who shall hereafter enter upon the practice in this state. If the standard of medical education be not raised in our commonwealth, the fault will rest with the examining boards, for they have plenary power in the matter. The appointees to membership
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in these examining boards are reputable and intelligent members of their respective schools of medicine, and to these boards the people of Georgia look for protection against the medical ignoramus, no matter what school of medicine graduates him. Another great benefit of the law, indeed its greatest benefit, is that the horde of unprincipled traveling medical mountebanks can no longer infest the state of Georgia.
MEDICAL SCHOOLS IN GEORGIA.
The medical college of Georgia at Augusta, now the medical department of the university of Georgia, is the oldest medical college in Georgia. Dr. Milton Antony, of Augusta, was its founder. Dr. Antony's connection with the college is set forth in the biographical sketch of this distinguished man. The college began as the medical academy of Georgia, incorporated by the general assembly in 1828. The trustees were: Drs. W. R. Waring, John Carter, Lewis D. Ford, 1. P. Garvin, B. A. White, J. G. McWhorter, W. P. McConnel, W. H. Weems, W. P. Graham, T. P. Gorman, A. Jones, Milton Antony, J. I. Boswell, Thomas Hoxey, J. P. Screven, W. C. Daniel, Richard Banks, Henry Hull, John Dent, Thomas Hamilton, Nathan Crawford, O. C. Foot and John Walker. On March 2, 1829, the trustees of the medical academy of Georgia met in the council chamber; Dr. Thomas Hoxey was called to the chair, and Dr. I. P. Garvin appointed secretary. There were present Drs. Antony, Ford, Crawford, Banks and Jones. The follow- ing were elected professors of the academy: Lewis D. Ford, M. D., professor of materia medica, chemistry and pharmacy; Milton Antony, M. D., professor of institutes and practice of medicine, and midwifery and diseases of women and children; William R. Waring, M. D., professor of anatomy and surgery.
The act authorized the trustees "to establish within the corporate limits of the city of Augusta a medical academy for the state of Georgia, on such principle, and under such rules and regulations, and with such professors, instructors and officers as may be best calculated to perpetuate the same, and promote the im- provement of its pupils in the several branches of the healing art." It was further provided that the trustees should annually assemble at the medical academy for an examination into its affairs, five to be a quorum, and that the said "trustees, together with the regular professors and teachers in the institution, shall constitute a board of examination to decide on the merits of such candidates as may have studied in the said institution at least once a year, and complied with all the conditions imposed by the board of trustees as preliminary to such examination, and confer the degree of bachelor of medicine on such as in their judgment may be worthy of the same." The trustees were to keep a record "in which shall be registered the name, age and place of nativity of each and every person who shall receive from this institution the degree of bachelor of medicine, and the time when the said degree was conferred, together with the names of the
board of examination present." The trustees were allowed to hold real and per- sonal property for the uses of the medical academy to the amount of $100,000, and the graduates of the institution were to be allowed to practice medicine and surgery as if licensed by the state board of physicians.
By an act of the legislature passed Dec. 19, 1829, the name "Medical Academy of Georgia" was changed to "the Medical Institute of the State of Georgia," and the trustees of the institution were empowered "to confer the degree of doctor of medicine upon such applicants, in such manner, at such times, and under such circumstances as may to the said board seem fit and proper, provided that the degree of doctor of medicine shall in no case be conferred on any person who shall not have attended two full courses of lectures in the institute, or one course in
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some other respectable medical college or university, and one in the institute in ad- dition to the usual term of private instruction required by other institutions of a like kind." The meeting of the board on April 9, 1832, added three more pro- fessorships, making a faculty of six: Milton Antony, professor of obstetrics and diseases of children; L. A. Dugas, professor of anatomy; J. A. Eve, professor of materia medica and therapeutics; L. D. Ford, professor of chemistry and phar- macy; Paul E. Eve, professor of surgery; John Dent, professor of practice of medicine. The first commencement exercises occurred on April 17, 1833, at the institute, on the lot now occupied by the Widows' home. The address was delivered by A. B. Longstreet, Esq., the president of the board, the first graduates being: Isaac Bowen, Edward A. Eve, Thomas W. Grimes and John McD. Bor- ders. The number of matriculates was thirty. The institution continued to succeed, and in 1833 the name was changed to the "Medical College of Georgia." By an act passed Dec. 20, 1833, the name "the Medical Institute of the State of Georgia" was changed to "the Medical College of Georgia," which it has since retained. The act appropriated $10,000 "for the purpose of enabling the board of trustees of said institution to procure a suitable piece or lot of land, erect thereon such buildings, and make such other improvements as may be necessary for the various purposes of a medical college, and to procure a suitable library, apparatus and museum for said institution, and such other things as may be necessary to the proper and successful operation of the same." It was also pro- vided that fifty lots on the town commons of Augusta, to be designated by the city council, should be sold and the proceeds paid over to the college. By an act passed in 1826 the bank of Augusta was empowered to increase its capital stock up to $600,000, one-sixth of an increase made to be reserved to the state at par up to the end of the legislative session ensuing such increase, and by act of Dec. 23, 1835, the medical college of Georgia was given the same rights of priority and all advantage derivable therefrom as to the increased stock of this bank as the state had under the act of 1826. The donation from the latter source was estimated to be $25,000. The city council of Augusta donated the sum of $5,000 to the college, and the members of the college faculty subscribed $10,000 to the enterprise. The trustees of the academy of Richmond county donated the lot on which the building stands. With these several sums of money the trustees erected an elegant Grecian Doric building, divided into a library room, three lecture rooms, a chemical laboratory, anatomical rooms, biological laboratory and museum. The building was erected in 1835. The library of the college numbers 5,000 volumes. The museum is one of the largest and most valuable among the colleges of America, consisting in part of anatomical and pathological specimens, many of which were purchased in Europe. The biological laboratory is thoroughly equipped for practical work in physiology and pathology.
After Dr. Antony's death the faculty was constituted as follows: George M. Newton, M. D., dean of faculty and professor of anatomy; L. A. Dugas, M. D., professor of physiology and pathological anatomy; Alexander Means, M. D., professor of chemistry and pharmacy; Paul F. Eve, M. D., professor of principles and practice of surgery; Joseph A. Eve, M. D., professor of obstetrics and dis- cases of women and infants; Lewis D. Ford, M. D., professor of principles and practice of medicine; I. P. Garvin, M. D., professor of therapeutics and materia medica; Henry F. Campbell, M. D., demonstrator of anatomy. This college has an early and most creditable record on the subject of higher medical education. The late Prof. Joseph A. Eve, in an address before the class of the college in 1848, said on this subject:
When this college was organized, the faculty and trustees, especially the
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illustrious founder, Dr. Milton Antony, deplored the defectiveness of the system of medical education in the colleges of the United States, and earnestly endeavored to correct it. They recognized the shortness of the collegiate term as the principal and radical defect, and in fact the foundation of all or nearly all the rest.
So zealous were our trustees and faculty for reformation-so determined at all hazards to effect it-so confident were they of the approbation and support of the liberal and enlightened members of a liberal and learned profession, that they extended their regular collegiate course from the usual term of four, to six full months, no portion being taken up by preliminary lectures not included in the regular course. Trusting that the advantages of the long term. would be ap- preciated and acknowledged by physicians and students, they persevered, but with little encouragement or patronage, to lecture six months, for five successive years. Although all professed to approve their plan, very few were found willing to remain here six months when they could accomplish the same object, the acquisition of a degree in other schools, in four; for, unfortunately, with too many, a diploma appears to be the loftiest object of aspiration-the determining motive in attending lectures-when it should be regarded as a trivial circumstance, only a secondary and unimportant consequent thereon, as the mere shadow to the sub- stance. They had the mortification to lecture to seats almost vacant, and to be- hold medical students hastening in crowds to fill the halls of four months' colleges. Convinced by fair experiment that they could not effect a reformation without a concurrence of other medical institutions, in 1835 they addressed a circular to all the colleges in the United States, suggesting to them the propriety of a conven- tion to consider the subject of reform and to adopt some plan for the accomplish- ment of that great and desirable object. In this circular it was proposed, in compliment to the university of Pennsylvania, the oldest college in the United States, to leave the time of meeting, the number of delegates from each college, etc., to be determined by them. From some colleges replies were received favor- able to the proposed object. Some expressed themselves as disinclined to make any innovation, whilst others, unwilling to commit themselves, remained silent. Great hope was entertained that the university of Pennsylvania would be found ready to second the enterprise, but this expectation was not realized; the reply received from that university is as follows: Philadelphia, Nov. 15, 1845 .- Dear Sir: Shortly after the receipt of yours of May 19, I informed you of the fact, and of my intention to lay the communication on the subject of modifying the terms of admission into the profession of medicine before the medical faculty at their first business meeting. Having lately executed this promise, I have now to state that the medical faculty, after giving it full consideration, have thought it better for each school to adopt such regulations as might suit its particular views, than to enter into any general obligations on the subject when there exists no compe- tent power to prevent their violation. I am, very respectfully, your obedient serv- ant, W. E. Horner, dean, etc.
Last year, 1847, the university of Pennsylvania extended their regular course of lectures to five months, with an additional month of preliminary lectures uncon- nected with the former, since which they have claimed priority of movement in establishing a six months' course, and called on the profession to sustain them in this effort. Can they do this with justice? Disappointed in their endeavors to induce other schools to come up to a higher standard, the faculty of the college were at last compelled to come down themselves and adopt the four months' term, and content themselves with remodeling and improving their course of lectures- making their examinations more rigid, and requiring higher qualifications in their graduates. After the adoption of the four months' term their classes increased
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rapidly, far beyond the expectations of their most sanguine friends. But the Medical college of Georgia have never been satisfied with success based upon the abandonment of the principal and distinctive advantage in their own, and the adoption of what they condemn as a radical defect in the system of instruction in other colleges. They have been reluctantly constrained to submit, by the force of circumstances which they could not control; but they have ever anxiously awaited opportunity to return to their original plan. With joy they heard in 1846 a call made, by a physician in New York, to assemble a convention of professors and physicians, and with decp regret an illiberal endeavor to frustrate it, by a professor in the same city. They have been ever ready to co-operate in any enterprise for the improvement of medical education, and to adopt any practicable measures that might be proposed by the convention.
Opposed to reformation, as our northern brethren appeared to be, when the call was made from the south, we rejoice to find they have awakened to its impor- tance and become convinced of its necessity. The meeting of the National associa- tion at Baltimore in May afforded an excellent opportunity to ascertain the views of the profession on this subject. Among physicians unconnected with colleges there was but one sentiment; among professors, too, there was great unanimity with respect to the necessity for reform, but some differences as to the means by which it should be accomplished. The American Medical association at this meeting confirmed the following resolutions, which had been adopted by the National Medical convention in Philadelphia, May, 1847: "Resolved, First, that it be recommended to all the colleges to extend the period employed in lecturing from four to six months."
The Medical college of Georgia have prolonged their lectures to five months, the longest period to which any college have extended their term, exclusive of pre- liminary lectures not essential to or connected with the regular course. They would have gladly complied with the recommendation of the convention fron the very first and to the very fullest extent; but it is not surprising that they should be cautious in resuming a position from which they have been compelled to retreat, after a self-sacrificing struggle of five years, until it could be ascertained whether there would be a concurrence of any other schools in the south and west: they, determined, however, after the mecting of the association they would adopt the five months' course. Six months would have been preferable, but prudence had been taught by experience-they were content to take one step at a time.
From the above it will be seen that to the Medical college of Georgia is due the distinction of being the first American medical college to insist upon six months' course of lectures, and an endeavor to make this the rule of practice in all American colleges, and only gave up the struggle after five years of fruitless endeavor to enlist the co-operation of other colleges. Several years after the war it reduced the length of session to four months, but soon after it resumed the five months' session.
In May, 1893, the faculty of the school was reorganized. The faculty imme- diately determined to elevate the standard of medical education, to enlarge its clinical facilities, and to make several important changes in its curriculum. The course of the present year differs from that of previous years in several particulars. First: Preliminary education. The following are the existing requirements for ma- triculation: A student applying for matriculation must possess the following quali- fications, viz .: He must hold a certificate as a pupil of some known reputable phy- sician showing his moral character and general fitness to enter the study of medicine, and he must possess a diploma of graduation from some literary or scientific institution; or a certificate from some legally constituted high school,
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the general superintendent of some county board of public schools, attesting the fact that he has at least the educational attainments required of a second grade teacher of public schools. Provided, however, that if a student is unable to furnish the foregoing documentary evidence of literary qualifications, he may by a prelim- inary examination satisfy the faculty that he is possessed of these attainments, and if he fails in this he may be permitted to matriculate and receive medical instruction as other students and qualify himself in the required literary depart- iments and stand the examination as above specified prior to offering himself for graduation. Second: Requiring three courses of six months each, instead of two courses of five months. Third: Graded course.
First course students are required to attend lectures and instruction in the following departments only, viz .: Anatomy, physiology, chemistry and materia medica and therapeutics, and are not required to attend clinics, but may do so if they so desire.
Second course students, in addition to the above, must attend all the lectures and all clinics. At the end of this course the student must apply for final exam- ination in anatomy, physiology, theoretical chemistry, and materia medica and therapeutics. If he fails to pass any or all of these examinations satisfactorily, he may come up again at the end of the third course.
Third course students, who have passed satisfactory final examinations on anatomy, physiology, theoretical chemistry and materia medica, are not obliged to attend lectures on these branches, but must attend all other lectures and all clinics, and take laboratory courses in histology, pathology, operative surgery and prac- tical chemistry. Each student is required to dissect every part of the body. The dissecting should be done during the first and second courses.
Requirements for Graduation .- A candidate for the degree of doctor of med- icine must be twenty-one years of age, of good moral character, and have attended three courses of lectures of not less than six months each in three different years, the last of which shall have been in this college. (This does not apply to those students who have attended a full course of lectures before the session of 1893-94, and apply at the end of the session of 1894-95.) A student who has attended two full courses of lectures on anatomy, physiology, theoretical chemistry, materia inedica and therapeutics, must come up for final examination on these branches at the end of the second course. A candidate for graduation must show satis- factory evidence of having dissected every part of the human body and taken the prescribed laboratory courses in histology, pathology, chemistry and operative surgery. Hygiene, medical jurisprudence, practical microscopy and practical pharmacy have been added to the curriculum. The didactic and clinical instruc- tion in this school is equal to that of any medical college in the south. The clinical advantages are greater here than in any southern school known to me. The City hospital, the Freedman's hospital, the jail, the Medical and Surgical polyclinic and two medical dispensaries are under the sole control of the faculty of the college.
In August, 1872, by formal action of the board of trustees of the university of Georgia, the Medical college of Georgia, at Augusta, was constituted the medical department of the university of this state, and it still holds this position. The graduates from this college number 2,000, among whom are many of the most eminent medical men in the south. Many graduates of this school have held, and now hold, professorships in some of the most renowned medical colleges in this section of the United States.
This school has numbered among its teachers some of the ablest men known to American medicine. Such men as L. A. Dugas, Lewis D. Ford, Henry F.
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Campbell, Paul F. Eve, Joseph A. Eve, Milton Antony and George M. Newton. The present faculty is constituted as follows: Wm. E. Boggs, chancellor, D. D., I.L. D, Athens; Gco. W. Rains, M. D., LL. D., Augusta, emeritus professor of chemistry; DeSaussure Ford, A. M., M. D., Augusta, professor of the principles and practice of surgery; Thos. R. Wright, M. D., Augusta, professor of operative and clinical surgery, dean; Theodore Lamb, M. D., Augusta, professor of the principles of medicine and diseases of the chest; Wm. H. Doughty, Jr., A. B., M. D., Augusta, professor of anatomy and clinical surgery; Geo. A. Wilcox, M. D., Augusta, professor of materia medica and therapeutics and gynecology; Eugene Foster, M. D., Augusta, professor practice of medicine and state med- icine; James M. Hull, M. D., Augusta, professor of opthalmology, otology and laryngology; Thomas D. Coleman, A. B., M. D., Augusta, professor of physiology and pathology, secretary; Joseph E. Willett, A. M., M. D., Ph. D., LL. D., Augusta, professor of chemistry and pharmacy; Joseph Eve Allen, M. D., Augusta, professor of obstetrics and pediatrics.
The Atlanta Medical College .- This institution was organized in 1854 with the following corps of professors: Horace Nelson, M. D., of New York, professor of anatomy; John W. Jones, M. D., of Auburn, Ala., professor of theory and practice of medicine; Willis Westmoreland, formerly of this state, but for some time past resident at Paris, France, professor of surgery; James M. Gordon, M. D., of Savannah, Ga., professor of surgery; John S. Duval, M. D., of Texas, pro- fessor of chemistry; R. A. T. Ridley, M. D., La Grange, Ga., professor of physi- ology and pathological anatomy; John B. Calhoun, M. D., of Newnan, Ga., professor of surgical anatomy and medical jurisprudence; Jolin G. Westmoreland, M. D., of Atlanta, Ga., professor of materia medica. In 1855 the faculty was reorganized, and constituted as follows: A. H. Buchanan, M. D. (of the Nashville university), professor of anatomy; W. F. Westmoreland, M. D., professor of surgery; John W. Jones, M. D., professor of practice; Jesse Boring, M. D., professor of obstetrics; Joseph P. Logan, M. D., professor of physiology; Henry W. Brown, M. D., professor of chemistry; J. G. Westmoreland, M. D., professor of materia medica and therapeutics; S. W. Anthony, M. D., demonstrator of anatomy.
"The Southern Medical and Surgical Journal," October, 1855, has the follow- ing notice of the college: "The Atlanta Medical college has recently closed its first session, having a respectable class of seventy-eight students. The trial of a summer session has therefore proved to be quite a successful experiment. Its faculty deserves much credit for their laudable zeal, and have every reason to be gratified at the result of their efforts." This college continued a successful career until the civil war, when, in common with all southern colleges, it suspended until hostilities closed. The college was then re-organized, and for years has been, and is now, more prosperous than any of the Georgia medical colleges. Throughout the career of this institution it has numbered among its faculty some of the most distinguished practitioners and teachers in the United States. The college building is a handsome, commodious structure; divided into lecture rooms, pathological laboratory, chemical laboratory, practical anatomy rooms, museum, etc. The course embraces the entire domain of medicine, including practical training in chemistry and microscopy. Clinical medicine is duly appreciated, and abundant clinical instruction imparted to the student through the clinics at the college building and the Grady hospital, five of the members of the college faculty being on the visiting staff of the Grady hospital.
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