History of Chicago. From the earliest period to the present time, Part 131

Author: Andreas, Alfred Theodore
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Chicago, A. T. Andreas
Number of Pages: 1340

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In the interregnum of the collegiate terms of 1854 and 1855, the College was rebuilt and its interior remodeled and additional rooms were furnished for the museum * and for post mortem examinations, the cost of such alterations being about $15,000. This expense

* Prof. Daniel Brainard made an extensive collection in Europe, which he deposited in the new museum.

. 466

HISTORY OF CHICAGO.

and all others relevant to the institution, maintenance and alteration of the college were sustained by the vari- ous faculties of the institution; the faculty being, as Dr. J. Adams Allen remarked, "privileged to pay all ex- penses, after the manner of Mr. Pickwick and Messieurs Snodgrass, Tupman and Winkle ; and, like them, have been subject to acrimony and animadversion as a re- ward for their expenditure." The only donation that had been made to Rush Medical College toward its estab- lishment or support, was the lot originally given where- upon the first college was erected. This fact is but an additional evidence of the worthiness of the College to be honored by Chicago citizens, for the faculty have, from pure, disinterested love of their profession, devoted their money, time, energy and intellect to enhancing the profiency, and ability of the students of the college, with the most flattering results to themselves as profes- sors, and to the college as a medical alma mater.

The following table * exhibits the number of matric- ulates and graduates during the several collegiate years :

Years.

No. of Students.

Graduates.

1843-44

18.44-45

I845-46

1846-47

IS47-48

140

1848-49

100

IS49-50

10.4

1850-51

125

1851-52

105

1852-53

IOS

1853-54

I22

1854-55

I16

1855-56

150

1856-57

116

+1857-58

100

William Butterfield was the son of the Hon. Justin Butterfield, who is distinguished in the forensic annals of early Chicago. After Mr. Butterfield graduated he practiced his profession until February, 1847 ; on the 3d of March of that year, being commissioned Second Lieu- tenant of the United States Marine Corps, in which capacity he performed service during the Mexican War. During his stay in Mexico he became a confirmed in- valid, from the climatic rigors. He resigned his com- mission on May 1, 1858. On August 5, 1861, he was commissioned Captain and Commissary of subsistence, and was stationed at Hannibal, Mo., from the autumn of 1861 until December, 1863 ; and at Rock Island, IIl., during the year 1864, resigning his commission on December 3, 1864. Subsequent to this period Dr. Butterfield led the simple life of a private citizen, dying on the 13th of January, 1878, aged fifty-seven years.

THE CHICAGO MEDICAL SOCIETY has become com- iningled, in the recollection of many of the early physi- cians of this city, with that of Cook County Medical Society. Medical societies arose, endured for a brief season, and passed away, in the early years of Chicago's existence, with such frequency that their nomenclature even is lost to recollection ; but the first society that attained any prominence appears to have been the Cook County Medical Society-of which Dr. Levi D. Boone was secretary-whose first meeting was held at the office of the Chicago Insurance Company October 3, 1836. Subsequent to this Society, and anterior to 1857, the only one that achieved any protracted vitality was the Chi-

* From the Sixteenth Annual Catalogue of Rush Medical College, for 1858- 59. Chicago Historical society.

t The Twenty-fourth Annual Catalogue had graduates differing in number from thune specified alowe, as follows : 1847 .47. 1 ; 1747-48. 30 ; 1818-49. 18 ; 1849-50, 43 : 1830-51, 30 ; 1851-52, 37 : 1855-56, 41 : 1857-58, 37.

cago Medical Society,* that was inaugurated some time during the first quarter of 1850 ; the first meeting having been held in a room on Randolph Street, near the corner of Clark, and was attended by a large num ber the prominent practitioners of the city, among whom were Drs. Daniel Brainard, Levi D. Boone, Brockholst Mc Vickar, W. B. Herrick, John Evans, Edwin G. Meek. J. Herman Bird,* J. V. Z. Blaney, Samuel W. Ritchey.+ Philip Maxwell and Nathan S. Davis. At this meeting a committee was designated to prepare a constitution and by-laws, which was adopted at a subsequent meeting of the Society, held April 5, IS50 ; whereat officers were elected and the name of Chicago Medical Society adopted. Dr. Levi D. Boone was the first president of the Society, and Dr. John Evans was elected delegate to the American Medical Association ; Dr. Evans attending the annual meeting of this Associa- tion in Cincinnati, in May, IS50, as representa- tive of the Chicago Society. Dr. Davis states that "Previous to the formation of this Society, the profes- sion of the city had been so divided into rival factions that many thought it would be impossible to secure suffi- cient harmony of action to maintain a social organiza- tion among the members. To show that there was some reason for this opinion, I may mention that Dr. Brainard and several others who participated in the pre- liminary meetings, never attended a meeting after the first election of officers. And before the first six months had elapsed charges were preferred against a number for unprofessional conduct : who, instead of submitting to a trial in conformity to the by-laws, simply treated both the charges and the Society with contempt, which caused some others to abandon the meetings of the Society ; and so lessened the number of the members who con- tinued to attend, that after the second election of offi- cers in April, 1851, no constitutional quorum could be obtained."

Drs. Bird, Blaney, Boone, Davis, Evans, Herrick, Meek, and two or three other physicians, continued to hold meetings at stated dates each month ; although the meetings partook rather of the character of patho- logical sociables, than of autocrats of the medical pro- fession, because of there being an insufficient number in attendance to poll votes requiring the presence of a quorum. The Society, though moribund. continued to exist, consequent upon the fidelity and persistence of these few gentlemen until the period for the annual elec- tion of officers in April, 1852. Prior to this meeting the secretary made strenuous efforts to convoke an ade- quate number of physicians for a quorum for the elec- tion of officers; and to amend the by-laws so that a smaller number than was therein designated would constitute a quorum for the transaction of business. Despite the energies of the secretary and the convoca- tion of the quasi-members, but an insufficient number for the intent of the meeting were present ; and these simply adjourned the Chicago Medical Society, and immediately constituted themselves the Cook County Medical Society ; elected a physician-who was pres- ent, but who resided outside of Chicago-a member to give it a semblance of a Cook County organization ; elected Dr. Erial Mc.Arthur, president. and Dr. H. ... Johnson, secretary : adopted a few simple rules for the government of the Society, and appointed Dr. Alonzo B. P'almer, delegate to the National Medical Associa- tion to convene at Richmond, Va., in the ensuing May.t

* " History of Chicago Meilical Society," by Nathan S. Davis, M. I1 .. mn mimites of Society ; a serutiny of said minutes having been afforded by Dr. Li- ton H1. Montgomery. secretary.

+ Girardi!11rs ní Rush Medical College, cl.tss ,945: 46.

: The Daily Tomarrat at April 7. 1842, states that this meeting was held at the office of fire. Davis and Palmer, on April 5, 1852.

467

HOMEOPATHY.

The transfusion of the Chicago, into the Cook County Medical Society, at this meeting, occasioned the an- achronisms observable in the recitals of physicians as to the date of inception of the Society. The meta- morphosed Society held its stated monthly meetings, whereat a gradual accession of attendance and interest was observable ; and was annually represented by its accredited delegates, at the meetings of the American Medical Association and the Illinois State Medical So- ciety, until September or October, 1858, when its mem- bership included a large proportion of the active practi- tioners of the city-especially those in their medical youth. Being thus possessed of a civic clientele, that presaged well for the influence, growth, and stability of the Society, and the solitary member from the rural district having died : it was deemed advisable to re- change the name of the Society, to the Chicago Medi- cal Society, as more expressive of the membership con- stituting it, and also to identify it with the original or- ganization of which the Cook County Society had been a continuation. This was done by the unanimous voice of the members at the regular meeting of the Society held-presumably-in October, 1858.

Since that epoch the Chicago Medical Society has maintained its entity with a mutative membership and a corresponding degree of changeful success and prosper- ity. But the regular meetings have been held and at- tended to the manifest improvement of its members and the advancement of their professional knowledge and interests. The fire of IS71 made but a brief hiatus in the sessions, as Dr. Nathan S. Davis-the sole sur- viving, continuous member of the original body-invited the Society to meet at his residence on Wabash Avenue; after which the Society met in a court-room, that re- mained tenantable, in the partially incinerated court- house ; until more suitable and commodious quarters could be procured, during which period the growth of the Society, the professional skill and talent of its mem- bers and the beneficent influence exerted have made a notable mark in the medical annals of the city.

In September, IS57, the German Medical Society of Chicago was organized ; with William Wagner, M. D., president ; E. Schmidt, M. D., vice-president, and George D. Schloetzer, M. D., secretary.

The State Medical Society was first organized at Springfield, June 4. 1850, and Chicago received its meed of recognition by William B. Herrick. M. D., then pro- fessor of anatomy and physiology in Rush Medical Col- lege, being elected president, and Edwin G. Meek, M. D., being appointed one of the secretaries.

HOMEOPATHY.

The discovery of homeopathy, as a distinctive spe- cialty of medical practice, is conceded to Samuel Hahne- mann, who became a systematic pathological heresiarch about 1810. But however ancient the phrase or system, its disciples have increased from the days of Ferdinand 1 .. Wilsey-the first convert to homeopathy in the United States, in 1826-until now they are numbered by thousands.

The history of homeopathy in Chicago may be sum- marized in two words-efort and success. In any de- parture from an accepted dictum, the schismatic en- counters intense opposition ; this, the homeopathists have encountered, and their status at the present day is a stronger, more unerring and satisfactory testimonial than any eulogium that could be penned : and this site- ress has been achieved notwithstanding the fact that in the ranks of the adherents of any novel tenet or dogma.

charlatans flock to the newly raised standard and cover the disciples with discredit because of their disreputable practices ; which are as possible in a new body of med- ical practitioners, as of troops-merely from defective organization.

David Sheppard Smith, to whom belongs the honor- able title of " Father of Western Homeopathy," arrived in Chicago in May, 1836 ; a graduate from the Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia, of the class of 1836; and thus enjoys the honor of being the oldest medical practitioner now living (1883) in this city. Dr. Smith became convinced of the verity of the homeopathic practice in 1837, and pursued a further course of med- ical investigation. After unsuccessfully treating his oldest child according to the regular school, and achiev- ing its cure by homeopathic treatment, early in 1843, he became a firm enunciator of the "similia similibus curantur " creed. In 1842, Dr. R. E. W. Adams came to Chicago, and became associated in the medical . practice with Dr. Smith ; and, after the latter gentleman embraced homeopathy, Dr. Adams also became a con- vert. In August, 1843, Dr, Aaron Pitney arrived in Chicago, and this triumvirate were the earliest homeop- athists of this city.

Dr. DAVID SHEPPARD SMITH was born in Camden, N. J., on the 28th of April, IS16, and is the son of Isaac Smith, of Salem County, in that State. The immediate ancestors of Dr. Smith's mother were Welsh, and manifested in a high degree, the tenacity of pur- pose, determination of character and healthful physique that are characteristic of that nation. To these inher- ited qualities Dr. Smith united laborious and painstak- ing industry, and early exhibited intense desire for the best moral and intellectual culture; the first he received from his mother ; the latter he obtained by persevering application. At the age of seventeen he entered the office of Dr. Isaac S. Mulford, as a medical student, and attended three courses of lectures at the Jefferson Medi- cal College in Philadelphia; graduating from that justly celebrated school in 1836. In 1837, he returned to Camden, N. J., to visit his parents; and, at that time, became a catechumen of the Hahnemann school, and the investigations he pursued resulted in his embracing the tenets of this branch of medical science in I843; Dr. Smith having returned to Illinois in 1838. The success that has attended his practice has been equaled by the advancement he has made in the scientific and social circles of Chicago. A man of great natural en- dowments, of sterling integrity. of comprehensive benev- olence and undiscriminating humanity; the poor of the city learned the name of David Sheppard Smith as one whose heart was open to their appeals, and whose medi- cal skill was always exercised to the healing of their diseases ;- and this, too, at a time when the influential and wealthy made constant demands upon his services as a physician. His unremittent professional labors have twice necessitated the temporary relinquishment of his practice; the first time in 1856, when he removed to Waukegan ; and the second in 1866. when he visited Europe. Dr. Smith married Miss Rebecca An Denni-, of Salem, New Jersey, in 1836. Four children resulted from this marriage, two of whom survive ; one, Mrs. Whitehead, wife of Major F. F. Whitehead, U. S. . V. ; and the other Mrs. J. L. Ely, of New York City. Dr. Smith was president of the board of trustees of the Hahnemann Medical College from its inception : and had conferred upon him, by the Homeopathic Medical College of Cleveland, an honorary degree in 1856. In 1857 he was elected general secretary of the Ameri .m Institute of Homeopathy; and, in 1858, was selected as

468

HISTORY OF CHICAGO.

president, and in 1865, as treasurer, of this national in- stitution of physicians; and the conferring of these hon- ors on this typical Chicago physician are but a fitting tribute to him.

DR. JOHN TAYLOR TEMPLE, to whom reference is made elsewhere in this chapter, became a convert to homeopathy about 1842, under the tutelage of Dr. D. S. Smith, and commenced practicing at Galena, that year. Dr. Temple was born in Virginia in 1804, and married the daughter of the Rev. Dr. Staughton (who delivered the address of welcome to General LaFayette at Castle Garden, in 1822), when he was about twenty- two years old. His eldest daughter, Leonora M. Tem- ple, is the widow of the Hon. Thomas Hoyne. Three

Ofhim T. temple

other daughters-Elizabeth, Marcella and Josephine- are living, as is one son, John Howard Temple. About 1845, Dr. Temple made the overland trip to California, a difficult journey in those days, and deemed almost as venturesome as a voyage to find the survivors of an Arctic exploration would be now. In the very early days of Chicago's history the Doctor, during his pere- grinations, discovered copper in the Lake Superior re- gion; excavated three sections of earthwork of the Illi- nois & Michigan Canal ; and, with John M. VanOs- del, applied new machinery for pumping water in the works of the canal. Dr. Temple was a proficient geol- ogist, botanist and chemist, and had one of those com- prehensive and discriminative minds that instinctively descry the salient points of any topic or project. He was a restless, earnest, indefatigable worker, and what- ever he did, he did with all his might; whether it was an anatomical demonstration, or duck-hunting; the lat- ter amusement being a favorite one with the Doctor, he being an ardent devotee of the rod and gun. His life was an example to the men of his time; his death a loss to the scientific professions, and the society wherein he lived.

JAMES STERLING BEACH, who was a printer during the early days of Chicago, determined on abandoning the stick for the scalpel; and, in 1843, commenced reading medicine with Dr. Aaron Pitney. In July, 1846, Dr. Beach commenced practicing, somewhat before his course of study had qualified him to do so-according to the Doctor's statement-but in any case of undecided diagnosis he submitted the point in question to his pre- ceptor, and acted according to his decision. It is per- tinent to remark here, that Dr. Beach's strong point in his medical career has been the unfailing accuracy in diagnosing the diseases of his patients. One other fact

James . Beach

remains to be stated, in connectinn with his carly entry into the ranks of practicing physicians, that he was compelled to fill a hiatus in the corps of physicians occasioned by so many of them being sick with typhoid fever, when that disease was epidemic in 1846. Dr. Beach was born in Detroit, Mich., February 24, 1826, and came to Chicago in July, 1838; was married to

Miss Helen M. Stone in September, 1847; practiced with Dr. William Pierce, at 53 Randolph Street, in 1849 ; and was elected Coroner in 1854; completed the term of James. Andrews, as Sheriff, in 1856 : and graduated from the Cleveland Homeopathic College the class of 1856-57- After Dr. Beach commenced the practice of medicine he abandoned all literary pursuits, either in the manufacture of "copy " or its transmutation to the " galley" ere it sailed before the public as printed mat- ter. The Doctor has an extensive practice ; and his cheery, jocund manner enlivens a sick-room fully as potentially as his skill alleviates the suffering of his patient.

The other homeopathic practitioners of early Chi- cago, who achieved reputation in their profession and remained in the city, are: George E. Shipman, Henry Kirke White Boardman, D. Alphonso Colton, Gay- lord D. Beebe, Nicholas Francis Cooke, Reuben Ludlamı and Alvan Edmund Small. There were, of course, many other practitioners, but they only cornscated for a brief period in the homeopathic orbit.

Henry Kirke White Boardman came to Chicago in the fall of 1846, and practiced medicine according to the old school until 1851 ; when he became a homeop- athist. He was a graduate of the Jefferson Medical College of Philadelphia, and was a student of the cele- brated Dr. Mütter. The distinguishing feature of Dr. Boardman's practice was his surgery ; in this branch he had few compeers. He was married ; and died about 1874.

GAYLORD D. BEEBE was born May 28, 1835, at Pal- myra, Wayne Co., N. Y. His father was a farmer in rather indigent circumstances ; and being unable to pro- vide the means to furnish his son with a liberal educa- tion, the latter determined upon leaving home and en- deavoring to gratify his thirst for knowledge. In this project he was opposed by his father, and sustained by

his mother-a noble Christian woman-and acting upon her advice and following his own intense desire, Dr. Beebe, at the age of seventeen, attended the Genesee Wesleyan Seminary ; studied hard and worked harder in laboring for farmers and teaching school during va- cations, and, by economy, not alone paid for his tuition but saved enough money to support himself while study- ing medicine. He pursued his medical studies for one year in Rochester, N. Y., and then entered Albany Medical College. During his occupancy of this institu- tion he read medicine with Dr. Pratt, a leading homeo- pathic physician. He pursued a full course of study at the Albany College and graduated with great credit. He then went through his complete curriculum at the Homeopathic School of Medicine at Philadelphia; grad- uating therefrom in 1857; subsequent to which he settled in Chicago, and very shortly afterward was as- sociated in homeopathic practice with Dr. A. E. Small ; a conclusive evidence of his medical proficiency. At the outbreak of the Civil War, President Lincoln com- missioned him as brigade surgeon, but when he pre- sented himself before the State Medical Board for ex- amination for this military position, they declined cate- chising him, simply because he was a homeopathist. Dr. Beebe then went to Washington, carrying with him

469

HOMEOPATHY.

a numerously-signed petition, asking for the appoint- ment of a homeopathic surgeon, and the action of the officials there rendered his application a species of test case. Dr. Beebe procured an order from President Lincoln, decreeing that he should be examined, and presented himself before a board imbued with preju- dice, not alone against homeopathy, but against Dr. Beebe individually. His examination was consequently unusually rigorous, but his scientific knowledge was equal to the occasion. He triumphantly underwent the ordeal, and received his appointment as brigade surgeon. He was assigned to the command of General Hunter in Kansas, and while on duty there was once arrested by some Federal troops who mistook him for the celebrated Quantrell. He occupied several important positions upon the medical staff, until-when medical director of the Fourteenth Army Corps-he was compelled to resign on account of ill-health, in April, 1863, superinduced by unremittent labor and over exertion. Dr. Beebe then returned to Chicago and resumed his civic practice, continuing therein until 1868, when his chronic cardiac affection recurred, and compelled the relinquishment of his practice, until 1874, when he resumed his office practice only, which he continued until the hypertrophy and dilatation of the heart, with which he had been so long afflicted, prostrated him in his last sickness in April, 1877; from which disease he died on the 11th day of that month. Dr. Beebe was married in 1863, to Miss Mary Brewster, of Erie, Penn. Dr. Beebe was a close, earnest and aggressive student in applying medical ex- pedients that commended themselves to his reasoning faculties. He was the first to use sulpho-carbolate of sodium as a preventive in scarlet fever; and although he made no claim to the discovery of this agent as a prophylactic, yet the world is indebted to him for its primary appliances, and the initial step to demonstrate the efficacy of this substance. Dr. Beebe was also the first to introduce the method of torsion in ovarian dis- eases, in place of the old clamps and ligatures. As a surgeon he was probably unexcelled in the profession, and the success that attended his intestinal operations is a matter of surgical emulation to the present day; one distinctive feature of such surgery being his fortuitous use of disinfectants to preclude gangrene. He made a special study of this class of drugs, and contended to the day of his death that carbolic acid was a sovereign remedy for cancer, but that the danger attendant upon its use was such as to prevent its general adoption. The successful utilization of phenic acid, however, has demonstrated that the jeopardy was principally attribu- table to the chemical impurity of carbolic acid, and has revived and strengthened the claim Dr. Beebe originally made. His most successful operation was one per- formed upon a MIrs. Childs, of Lee Centre, Ill., and was one wherein strangulated hernia had produced mortifi- cation of the abdominal viscera. In the operation a large quantity of the viscera was excised ; and in com- menting upon this phenomenal case, that medical au- thority of the world, the London Lancet, said, " that since this operation life was never to be despaired of under any circumstances." An affectionate and just tribute is paid to him by Dr. N. F. Cooke, in the dedi- cation of his work, " Antiseptic Medication : " " To the memory of Gaylord D. Beebe, the great surgeon whose genius foretold all that is herein demonstrated ; this book is dedicated, by his life-long friend and co-labor- er, the author."

The names of the gentlemen that have been cited are not to be considered as embracing all of llahne- mann's followers who have flourished in Chicago, but

only as those who have become fused into the history of homeopathy in this city. They formed the medical Macedonian phalanx that penetrated opposition, that received the brunt of the affray ; and the survivors of which little coterie now enjoy the merited fruits of their perseverance and earnestness of purpose. They are a hardy, working assemblage of pugnacious patholog- ical pioneers, and, like the pilgrim fathers of Mrs. He- mans, "have left unstained what there they " formed : freedom to practice medicine according to the convic- tions of the individual.

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History of Chicago. From the earliest period to the present time, Part 131

Author: Andreas, Alfred Theodore Publication date: 1884 Publisher: Chicago, A. T. Andreas Number of Pages: 1340

Author: Andreas, Alfred Theodore
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Chicago, A. T. Andreas
Number of Pages: 1340