USA > Illinois > Peoria County > Peoria > Peoria city and county, Illinois; a record of settlement, organization, progress and achievement, Vol. I > Part 57
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After twenty-five years of active practice there he removed to Peoria where the exigencies of the recruiting service preparatory to the Civil war called for his presence as recently appointed examining surgeon. From that day he con- tinued to reside and practice in Peoria, until his retirement from active work. when he returned to Lacon to spend his remaining days with his daughter, Mrs. Col. Fort. Although a non-resident at that time, Dr. Boal had been a member of the Peoria Medical Society almost from its birth, and an especially active, con- stant, and influential attendant. In keeping, therefore with the general plan in this connection of allowing those who can to speak for themselves, the fol- lowing estimate of his colleagues, tendered by Dr. Boal at the celebration of the Peoria Society's semi-centennial anniversary, when he was in his ninety-
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second year, is worthy of reproduction both as an illustration of his mental virility, and as an historic resume: "The pioneer doctors who were in this part of the state in the forties were Dr. Perkins of Tremont, Drs. Wilson and Wood, Sr., of Washington, Dr. Ilarris of Groveland, all of Tazewell county, Drs. Whitmire and Zeller of Woodford county, Drs. Thompson, Thomas, John and Charles Baker of Marshall county. Of these only four are now ( 1898) living, Dr. Charles Baker of Henry, Drs. Thompson and Thomas of Lacon, and myself ; and strange to say, all are residents of Marshall county. In this city of Peoria, Drs. Rouse, Dickinson, Frye, Andrew, Arnold, McNeil, Cooper and Murphy, with one exception have all gone, Dr. Murphy being the sole survivor. In the little dingy office of Dr. Frye, with its hard pine floors, its three or four stuffed wooden chairs, the men I have named met and organized the Society whose semi-centennial we commemorate tonight. Dr. Dickinson, who presided, was a man of great nobility of character, of commanding presence, a high sense of honor and purity of life, a popular and successful physician. Dr. Rouse was (if I am correctly informed) the second doctor to come to Peoria. In some things he was peculiar and in others eccentric. He was at times curt and abrupt, generally genial and cordial, and with a keen sense of humor. During his last illness, which was chronic and lasted for many months, he designed a monument for himself and family. He watched with interest its construction and erection and rode out to Springdale cemetery every few days when the weather permitted to note its progress. Ile often expressed his fears that he would not live to see its completion, as he wished to see how it looked before he died.
Dr. Frye had an extensive and lucrative practice, he was an omniverous reader of literary and medical books, possessed a remarkably and retentive mem- ory, and was an entertaining conversationalist. Like others he had a hobby. It was the most implicit confidence in the curative power of medicine. Dr. Andrew was of imposing presence, muscular as a prize fighter, careless in busi- ness, seldom or never sending a bill to his patrons. If he needed money he would ask for it from the first patron met, and he always got it. With Dr. McNeil I was only slightly acquainted. He was a minister of the Gospel as well as a doctor. My relations with Dr. Arnold were more of a political than professional character. He was a candidate for the state senate and I for the house. We traversed together the three counties comprising the district, so that I knew him better as a man than physician. Ile was appointed consul to St. Petersburg, but served only a short time as the climate was too rigorous. A few years after his return he died of tuberculosis. I would be recreant to a friendship of forty years with Dr. John D. Zeller, of Spring Bay, did I not stop to pay a tribute to his memory. He lived in a hamlet that had scarcely risen to the dignity of a village. His ability and acquirements would have secured for him more congenial surroundings had he desired, but he did not. He was not only doctor in the community in which he lived, but their counselor and friend. They loved him while living and mourned for him when dead.
"For the third of a century I have known Dr. Murphy. Through all these years I have had intimate social and professional relations with him. Our friendship has run throughout all these years, like the current of peaceful rivers, unvexed by a wave of anger, undisturbed by a ripple of ill will. For his sorrow and bereavement I have sincere sympathy. * Do you wonder that for this old-time friend, polished gentleman, fine scholar, accomplished physi- cian and sole survivor of the founders of this Society, borne down with weight of years and sorrow, that I feel the most profound sympathy? For those pioneers who have 'crossed the river' and have solved the mysterious and per- plexing problem of human destiny I have tender memories."
In Peoria county, outside the town, the only physician located prior to 1850, of which the writer can find any evidence were, first, Asahel Wilmot, a grad- ate of the medical branch of the State University, Herkimer county, N. Y.,
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in 1832 who emigrated to Peoria in 1843, locating first at Hallock where he spent four years, and finally at Chillicothe where he remained the rest of his life. He seems to have been a man of considerable ability, and enjoyed an extensive practice throughout the northern part of the county. The second was J. H. Wilkinson an Englishman who was an alumnus of Louisville Medical College, and came from Ohio to Kickapoo Town in 1848 in association with the English colony about Jubilee College, remaining in practice there for up- wards of thirty years, finally retiring to the city where he died sometime in the late eighties. The third was R. F. Henry, of Princeville, one of the earliest members and most constant attendants of the State Society.
The foregoing brief characterizations of all those practitioners in Peoria county who made any pretense to a fundamental medical education prior to 1850, represent the medical dramatis personae, so to speak; the personal and pro- fessional forces which assembled during the first of three well-defined stages in the progress of medical affair in Peoria county, largely dominated the second as well, and triumphantly foreshadowed the operations of the third. This is not too much to say, when it is remembered that all there is of the county's history might have been spanned by many a single human life-time. The members of this group, then, stand alone in the over-shadowing importance of their individuality, in that the progress of the first period covering it, was dependent entirely npon individual, isolated effort, separate and apart from any suggestion of that com- munity of professional endeavor which has characterized all the intervening years down to the present moment.
The story of the experience of these professional forefathers and their legiti- mate successors therefore falls with differing lines of activity into the three curiously well-marked and approximately equal periods alluded to, of about thirty years each. The first nominally began in 1818 with the admission of Illinois to the Union, ending about 1848 with her retirement as the Nation's frontier commonwealth coincident with the introduction of chloroform as an anesthetic and the formation at Peoria of the first City Medical Society in the state. The second, commencing under such inspiring auspices terminated in 1878 with state supervision of medical education and licensure, and the epoch-making acceptance of the doctrine of bacterial influence in disease. And the third, opening under the demands of the new revelation, closed in the latter years of the new century's decade with complete establishment of those principles, methods and measures of asepsis and immunity which have revolutionized the practice of medicine, surgery and sanitation, and won for the devotees of those arts a prestige, position and power hitherto unaccorded in the annals of public recognition.
But it is with the relation of the Peoria profession to the first of these, as the opening stage in progressive development, we have particularly to deal at the present moment. With the arrival of the first few members of this nota- ble contingent began the series of activities associated with the adjustment and regulation of professional relation. At first characterized by independent individual endeavor, it gradually grew to the dimensions of detail preparatory to final disciplined, collective effort ; but not without much pain and travail. These men, conscious of their own individual ability, jealous of their profes- sional rights and dignity, firmly fixed in their opinions, some representing the brilliant but fiery sons of the South, others the calmer but none the less stub- born product of the North; and yet others tainted with the rebellious spirit of Europe's oppressed, mixed with irregular, unauthorized characters indigenous to the then middle west; independent, self-reliant and aggressive, it may not be wondered that there was more or less strife, contention and discord. Such a state of professional feeling, which today might seem unworthy and childish, was not at all uncommon for that period. At a much later one, in fact, the writer can well remember many personal encounters. Such forms of disagree- ment were the result of jealousy, hot-headed criticism and misunderstanding,
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mostly the latter, since fraternization was not a special characteristic of the days when medical men were both nominally and really competitors, and as such had their material problems to solve, as well as those of a technical nature. Competition was keen. At this distance from the scene of action we are often disposed to think that philanthropy was the dominating feature of our medical ancestors. But while those of self-sacrificing zeal were plentiful, and show well in song and story, they were fully alive to material needs, and the struggle for existence was just as lively then as now. In a modification of the language used elsewhere by the writer "the period was fraught with illogical, discon- nected assumption in the science of Medicine, and the Art had not yet shed its swaddling clothes of uncertainty and superstition to the extent that exists today. Blind science and empirical art went hand in hand. Also the same need existed then as exists now for some means of making one's self conspicuous in the public eye. And therein, as one of the original pioneer professional brethren used to tell the writer, the horde of irregulars, by whom the lack of legal supervision in the old days permitted the regularly educated physicians to be surrounded, had a great advantage. They always had something to talk about, and were continually expatiating on the merits of their particular 'school' and its special doctrine. While the orthodox physicians of that time continued to grope in the darkness of uncertainty for some really scientific key to the mystery of a successful therapeutics, these self-satisfied thinkers and expo- nents of Nature came forward with numerous theories as practicable substitutes for the real thing. Whether it was the so-called eclectic, physio-medic or botanic, it mattered not. The essential feature seemed to be that symptoms are the infallible language of distressed nature, and when accurately read and properly interpreted, as only they were able to do, were a sure guide to both pathology and treatment. While that was the central thought of what might properly be called the indigenous therapeutic philosophy of the time, there was considerable diversity of opinion among the followers of the main doctrine respecting the relative utility of reputed measures. In that fact lay the reason for the great variety of sects. Every clique of these sectarian advocates had its therapeutic specialty, which in their hands and with their ingenuity had as much publicity- value as any specialty of the present day. The members of the regular profes- sion, while at constant variance amongst themselves, were in the main loyal to their sense of personal dignity and the traditionary principles of ethics. Nevertheless, in a country and among a people in general having no respect for such refinements of sentiment, they were placed at a great disadvantage. Surrounded and pervaded by low professional influences they found themselves burdened with a great task. To protect both themselves and the public from the inroads, likewise, of a growing class of charlatans, the outgrowth of pre- vailing professional libertinism, was a proposition of no mean order, especially where no governmental interference was exerted to control the educational qualifications or even take any cognizance of the public welfare. It was with reference to this state of things that the proposition was broached to make some effort at control. Appeal to the state under existing conditions was prac- tically useless. Only some local educational influence or social restriction seemed to offer any prospect of relief. It could not suffice to say that superior edtica- tional qualifications were in and of themselves a sufficient protection, because as a matter of fact they were not, and never have been when pitted against design- ing fraud.
But superior intellect has, after all, a habit of gaining its end in one way or another. In this strife for supremacy attention of personal elements gradually was wearing away the rough edges of dispositions, and tolerance began to take the place of arrogant vanity. The policy of ignoring the sectarian professional parasites had proven a failure, while contempt and scorn had met like defeat, as they always will in such cases by serving to arouse the popular antipathy through claims of persecution. An unusual degree of approachment had been
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steadily, if slowly, manifesting itself amongst even the most violent tempers, and a similar degree of strategic condescension manifested itself. Informal meetings were held to consider the situation. At the suggestion, finally, of some wise heads it was concluded to adopt a pacific policy toward at least the chief and most influential exponents of these specific doctrines, and gradually, through that per- suasive influence which is always generated and cultivated by honest and frank association, lure them to surrender something of the aggressively sectarian in their habits, and join the regular brethren in an effort for professional protection and uplift. In other words, the old idea of exclusiveness in professional asso- ciation on the part of the regular bred doctors was to be minimized and an era of cooperation among all fair-minded and respectable members of the profession attempted. This proposition of conciliation between the warring professional representatives at that early day was naturally a long time in maturing, because of opposition to any fraternization with men of such varied professional hue as those with whom the regular faculty would thus be brought. However, by dint of perseverance on the part of the farsighted few who could see in the consumma- tion of such a movement a partial solution, at least, of the difficulties under which the profession were laboring, consent of a number was secured and the scheme was quietly launched. Thus did that group of resourceful professional pro- genitors of ours anticipate by some sixty years the action taken by the general profession within the last decade. Conferences were held in which matters per- taining to the welfare of both the profession and the public were discussed, and to which were invited those honest adherents of irregular medicine who really believed what they preached and practiced, and yet were open-minded enough to listen, and had self-respect enough to indulge in no blatent pretensions. The idea seemed to meet with favor. Conferences thus inaugurated spread through- out the county, and even up to as late a date as forty years ago were popular. Just after the close of the Civil war a County Medical Society distinct from that of the city was inaugurated on those lines under the leadership of the late Dr. George L. Corcoran of Brimfield, and technical subjects discussed, with the vim and ardor and honesty which usually characterize the proceedings of small as- semblages, together with the various sectarian doctrines and methods then in vogue. Any man of any particular faith within convenient distance was given not only a generous, but hearty welcome, and his expositions listened to with that interest and respectful consideration exhibited by those who are seeking the truth from whatever source it be derived, and who consider every honest human ex- perience a legitimate field for serious investigation, particularly at a time when, as then, every one was searching earnestly for some tangible clue to rational therapeutics.
In Peoria a surprising liberality of sentiment and practical harmony were gradually developed. Half a dozen or more of the most prominent practitioners of sectarian persuasion, especially homeopathists and eclectics, and others with similar leanings, were of the number who finally established a sort of circle of defense and offense, and thereby accomplished an immense amount of good for themselves and the general public, by curbing, through personal and collective influence, the arrogance and pretense of the baser sort. It was to that act, and the circumstances associated with it that Charles Ballance in his history of 1870 referred when he wrote: "The laws of Illinois do not prescribe who may and who shall not practice medicine. To remedy this evil, certain physicians of Peoria, on the fifteenth of April, 1848, formed themselves into a medical society, which has been kept up to this day. Those who went into that arrangement were Rudolphus Rouse, Joseph C. Frye. Edward Dickinson, Elwood Andrew, John Murphy, John D. Arnold, F. McNeil, William R. Hamilton, E. Cooper, J. T. Stewart, E. M. Colburn, John L. Hamilton, H. H. Waite, John N. Niglas, Willis Sperry, James McConnell, Clark D. Rankin. A. B. Chambers, Robert Roskoten. But there were, at that time, a number of men who relied upon the practice of medicine for a support, whose names are not contained in the above list. That
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was probably because they could not produce a diploma from some medical school of their qualifications, or it may have been because they had adopted doctrines, or fallen into practices, that were deemed unprofessional."
It was in relation to the same conditions and circumstances preceding the or- ganization of the City Society that our own Dr. Rouse had the following to say in one of his addresses: "To the members of this Society it is sufficient to say that its objects are stated in the constitution. For others I may add, that by such association or fellowship the legitimate and honorable members of a great and noble profession, which, more than any other, links together art and science, philosophy and philanthropy, are better known and aided by each other ; while by those not of the profession they are more easily distinguished from the multi- tude of false pretenders, of every grade and description, who, in the absence of all legal distinction or restraint, depending on the credulity and weakness of human nature, become as numerous as the frogs and other pests of Egypt, and invest and infest every place and corner of our country and community. Socie- ties like ours have long existed in all the older states of the Union, and have been of great advantage to both the profession and the general community ; but in our good state of Illinois, where there is no legal protection of either, and where the medical profession is perfectly outlawed, the necessity and utility of such asso- ciation and organization is exceedingly obvious."
It may be said here, in a supplementary way, that the ensuing period was really the pioneer one for most of the settlements in the interior aside from the three or four already mentioned. Dr. George 1. Corcoran, in so far as the writer knows, was the first physician to locate in Brimfield; Dr. W. M. Swisher in Elm- wood, having the distinction of erecting the first house there; Dr. Joseph F. Thomas in Northampton, from whence he enlisted for service in the Civil war as Captain of Company C, Eighty-sixth Illinois Infantry, as Major in 1864, wounded and returned home when he reentered upon the practice of his profes- sion at Chillicothe, subsequently president of the Marshall County Medical So- ciety, and a member of the Peoria and state organizations; and W. H. Wilmot of Lawn Ridge in 1858, who continued in practice there for over twenty years, finally removing to California where he subsequently died.
With the nominal acceptance of the community-of-interest idea the process of adjustment under constitutional regulation was yet slow. Men accustomed to freedom in professional thought and action were averse to accommodating themselves to the full requirements of the changed situation. The records of the Society exhibit many resolutions of censure, reprimand, expulsion and re- admission. It was one thing to inaugurate such a movement, but quite another to maintain it. The increasing number of sectarian new-comers, mountebanks and charlatans increased the gravity of the situation, and the second stage in Peoria county's medical development seemed doomed to disaster. Contention against the sophistries of irrational dogma continued, however. The inspiration of the forefathers had not been in vain. Notwithstanding the intervening period of the Civil war, and depletion of the local ranks to furnish much of its best blood for relief of suffering at the front, the enemy of rational medicine was held at bay until 1878, when the close of the second stage witnessed the establishment of restrictive legislation as to practitioners of medicine, and the dawn of the an- tiseptic and antitoxic era dissipated sectarianism like dew before the morning sun, nothing of value remaining but the name. Before that was comsummated, however, the call to arms for the Civil war had taken something like a dozen of the ablest and truest friends of medical organization and its progressive influence. Amongst those who obeyed the summons were Drs. Rankin, Cooper, Roskoten, Stewart, Lucas, Niglas, Herrell, Guth, and Thomas of Chillicothe. For more than ten years after the return of these veterans the fight against the enemies of liberal science continued until indubitable proof came to the relief of its defenders and settled the question of a multiple standard of medical education once and for all, whatever names or means sinister motives might adopt for personal aggrandizement.
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During this second period the roster of the city society and other records show the addition of some fifty practitioners, whose names it would be agree- able to announce, and whose services in the profession it would be a pleasure to consider, did space permit. Suffice it to say, however, that from the first year of organized dispensation individualism lost much of its prestige, and progress was steady along the lines of technical improvement followed by progressive men the country over, each adding his mite to the sum total of accumulating knowl- edge, and to the institution of means and measures of public as well as profes- sional advantage. Locally, sanitary conditions were improved. A Marine, and later a city hospital, was established. A charter for a medical school was ob- tained, but several attempts to use it were frustrated by the wise counsel of those far-sighted enough to see that the prospective facilities were not such as to argue the success of the venture.
In 1876 the Sisters of St. Frances were induced to establish a hospital of their order, which was located on South Adams street just below Chestnut, and sub- sequently removed to its present commanding position on the East Bluff. The inception of the antiseptic regime and its relation to surgery, however, which began the third stage in the county's medical development, found the authorities of that institution unprepared to accept what then appeared to be simply a fad. The result was the founding of the Cottage (now Proctor ) hospital, under the leadership of the late Dr. J. L. Hamilton, associated with Drs. Thomas M. Mc- Ilvaine and O. B. Will, first as a private institution, subsequently passing into the hands of a stock company composed of physicians and interested citizens, and made a public home for the sick. In 1898 The Deaconess' Sisterhood of the Methodist church also opened a hospital under the auspices of that denomination. which met with immediate success, and now all three of the enterprises described are well equipped for the requirements of modern medicine and surgery in every respect.
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