USA > Indiana > Hendricks County > History of Hendricks County, Indiana > Part 40
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Blue and other Wild Grasses .- Acres in 1882, 52,332; in 1883, 46,184.
Unused Plow Land .- Acres in 1882, 4,489; in 1883, 3,117.
Timber Land .- Acres in 1882, 70,384; in 1883, 66,855.
THE HENDRICKS COUNTY AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY
was organized in 1852, and bought grounds three acres in extent, a mile west of Danville, for fair purposes. Many changes were made, and additions to the grounds were purchased from time to time. Fairs were held annually until 1881, when the society having previously become involved' in debt, it was totally unable to pay its premiums, and the property was sold. The grounds are now owned by the noted horseman, B. T. Buford.
THE PLAINFIELD HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY
was organized a number of years ago, and has held a number of exhibitions. After the death of the county society, new life was attempted to be given this Plainfield organization by naming it the
PLAINFIELD HORTICULTURAL AND HENDRICKS COUNTY AGRICULT- URAL SOCIETY.
A fair was held at Plainfield in the fall of 1884, which was financially not successful. Daniel Cox is President of the long- named organization.
THE HENDRICKS COUNTY MEDIOAL SOCIETY.
As the objects for which the Hendricks County Medical Society was organized have been fully set forth in its Preamble, Consti - tution, By-Laws and Code of Ethics, at its organization, further comment will be unnecessary. The medical gentlemen whose names are appended to this Constitution met in Danville, on the 29th day of April, 1854, and organized the Hendricks County Medical Society, by electing the following officers:
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"President, Henry G. Todd, M. D .; Vice-President, Wilson Lockhart, M. D .; Secretary, J. Joel Wright, M. D .; Correspond- ing Secretary, Leroy H. Kennedy, M. D .; Treasurer, Henry Cox, M. D .; Censors, Thomas B. Harvey, M. D., Bradley Barthol- omew, M. D., Henry H. Moore, M. D."
Following this was the adoption of their Constitution and By- Laws.
PREAMBLE.
" We, the undersigned practitioners of medicine and surgery in the county of Hendricks, and vicinity, for the purpose of promoting harmony and good fellowship, and of elevating the cause of medical and the collateral sciences, associate ourselves under the following
CONSTITUTION.
"ART. 1. This association shall be denominated the Hendricks County Medical Society.
"ART. 2. The officers of this society shall consist of a President, Vice-President, Recording Secretary, Corresponding Secretary, Treasurer and three Censors, all of whom shall be elected by ballot, annually, and each officer shall serve until his successor is duly installed into office.
"ART. 3. Any regular and reputable practitioner of medicine may become a member of this society, by signing this Constitu- tion, paying into the treasury wo dollars, and complying with such other regulations as may be hereafter provided by law.
"ART. 4. Any distinguished literary gentleman may become an honorary member of this society, by a vote of two-thirds of the members present at any regular meeting; provided that notice to that effect had been given at any previous meeting of the society.
"ART. 5. The society shall have power to form a library and a cabinet of specimens, in the various departments of natural science, and pathological specimens and illustrations, both from the donations of individuals and other societies, and by levying taxes and fines, agreeable to the regulations which may be here- after provided by law.
"ART. 6. This society may open a correspondence with similar associations in this State and such others as it may from time to time direct.
"ART. 7. This society shall meet at such times and places and engage in such deliberations as may from time to time be agreed
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upon, and may enact By-Laws for its government, not inconsistent with this Constitution.
"ART. 8. The society may admit honorary members upon com- pliance of the applicant with the same forms as are prescribed for the admission of bona fide members, except that no initiatory fee shall be required. He shall not be permitted to vote, nor shall he participate in any of the proceedings, except by express permission of the society.
"ART. 9. One-third of all the members shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business; but on all subjects in- volving the rights, interests or standing of any member, a majority of all the members shall be present.
"ART. 10. This Constitution may be amended at any stated meeting of the society, by a vote of two-thirds of the members present; provided, the amendment has been proposed, in writing, at a previous meeting.
HENRY G. TODD, RISDON C. MOORE, J. JOEL WRIGHT,
D. J. DEPEW, HENRY H. MOORE, . LEROY H. KENNEDY,
J. A. COMINGOR, THOMAS P. SELLER, THOMAS B. HARVEY,
DAVID TODD, WILSON LOCKHART, HENRY Cox,
B. BARTHOLOMEW, W. F. HARVEY."
"BY-LAWS. "ACT I.
"Duties of Oficers. "ARTICLE I.
"The President shall preside at all meetings of the society, preserve order, and see that its deliberations are conducted accord- ing to the rules and regulations governing deliberative bodies, except so far as they may be otherwise provided for in the Con- stitution and By-Laws. He shall have power to call special meetings of the society at his discretion, or upon the written request of three members. He shall sign certificates of member- ship, and those of discharge; also, the warrants authorized to be drawn upon the Treasurer; all the official instruments and pro- ceedings of the society. He shall deliver an inaugural address on entering upon the duties of his office, and a valedictory at the ex- piration of the same, and shall perforin such other duties as are prescribed in the Constitution and By-Laws of the society.
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"ARTICLE II.
" The Vice-President shall, in the absence of the President, perform the ordinary duties assigned to that office, and shall deliver a written address the second meeting after his election.
"ARTICLE III.
" The Recording Secretary shall keep a fair and legible record of the proceedings of the society; a list of the members' names, with a specification of such as fail to pay their taxes and fines; preserve all papers belonging to the society, subject at all times to the in- spection of the members, and perform all other duties belonging to the office.
"ARTICLE IV.
" The Corresponding Secretary shall conduct the correspondence of the society under its direction, and make a report of such matters as he may deem proper.
"ARTICLE V.
"The Treasurer shall collect all dues of the society, and pay upon presentation the orders regularly drawn on him by the Presi- dent and Secretary. He shall keepa full account of all moneys received and disbursed, and make satisfactory reports thereof at least annually, and oftener if requested by the society. Upon the expiration of his term of office, he shall exhibit to the parties appointed to receive them, an account of the receipts and dis- bursements of his term, accompanied by vouchers when practi- cable, and hand over to his successor in office all moneys, books, papers, or other property held and received by virtue of his office. He shall provide a suitable place for the society to hold its sessions, and fuel, light, stationery and other necessary con- veniences therein.
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"ARTICLE VI.
"The Censors shall examine applicants for membership, and if, in their opinion, such applicants are worthy to be admitted, they shall report accordingly. No person shall be admitted to an ex- amination until he produces satisfactory evidence to the Censors that he sustains a good moral character, and has studied medicine and surgery with some regularly authorized practitioner at least three years previous to his application, unless he be a graduate of some college or university.
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"ARTICLE VII.
"It shall be the duty of the Secretary to give notice in the county paper of the time and place of holding each meeting at least two consecutive weeks next preceding the time of holding such meeting, together with the names of those persons from whom addresses or dissertations may be expected."
"ACT II. "Duties of Members.
"ARTICLE I.
"Every member of this society shall pay an annual tax of at least one dollar; and any member who shall neglect to pay the same, or any fine that may be levied agreeable to the provisions of this act, three months after having been notified by the Secre- tary or Treasurer of such delinquency, shall forfeit his member- ship nor shall he enjoy any immunities belonging to the society, until all arrearages be paid.
"ARTICLE II.
" The regular meetings of the society shall be held on the Third Tuesday of the months of January, April, July and October, unless otherwise ordered at a previous meeting of the society, the April meeting being the annual meeting.
"ARTICLE III.
"The President shall appoint at every meeting at least one person to write and deliver a dissertation at the next meeting, and no person shall be required to write such dissertation unless he be notified of his appointment by the Secretary two months previous to the time at which it is to be delivered, and shall accept such appointment.
"ARTICLE IV.
"At any regular meeting of this society every member shall have the privilege of reporting such cases (that have come under his own observation) as he may deem important.
"ARTICLE V.
" It shall be the duty of each member of this society to keep a faithful record of each important case of disease which he treats, noting the age, sex and condition of the patient; the cause, when
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obvions; the type, symptoms, treatment, duration and termina- tion of the disease; and, when practicable, the post-mortem appear- ances. The material facts of which record he shall embody in an intelligible form, and present it to the society at the first stated meeting in each year.
"ARTICLE VI.
" Alladdresses, dissertations, or reports, delivered or read before the society, shall be written in a neat,' legible hand, on good paper, and shall be the property of the society, to dispose of as it may think proper.
"ARTICLE VII. 9
"The regular set addresses before the society shall be public, and when the subject admits, before a mixed audience, and shall be delivered in the forenoon session. -
"ARTICLE VIII.
"Any member may invite such persons to attend the sessions and deliberations of the society as he may think proper, except in cases of private business, when none but members shall be present, except to give evidence.
"ARTICLE IX.
"It shall be the duty of each member of this society, upon re- moving beyond its bounds, to make the fact known to the society, and such persons shall thereafter be considered honorary members.
"ARTICLE X.
" It shall be the duty of each committee to examine, thoroughly, the particular subject given it in charge, and no report shall be received until it has been read and approved by a majority of such committee.
"ARTICLE XI.
.
"These By-Laws may be altered or amended, 'at any regular meeting of the society, by a vote of two-thirds of the members present; such proposed alteration or amendment always to be presented in writing."
At one of the regular meetings of the same year, the National Code of Ethics was also adopted by this society, as the following will show:
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"NATIONAL CODE OF ETHICS.
"ADOPTED BY THE
" HENDRICKS COUNTY MEDICAL SOCIETY.
" CHAPTER I.
"OF THE DUTIES OF PHYSICIANS TO THEIR PATIENTS AND OF THE . OBLIGATIONS OF PATIENTS TO THEIR PHYSICIANS.
"ART. I .- Duties of Physicians to their Patients.
"SECTION 1 .- A physician should not only be ever ready to obey the calls of the sick, but his mind ought also to be imbued with the greatness of his mission, and the responsibility he habitually incurs in its discharge. Those obligations are the more deep and enduring, because there is no tribunal other than his own con- science to adjudge penalties for carelessness or neglect. Phy- sicians should, therefore, minister to the sick with due impressions of the importance of their office; reflecting that the ease, the health and the lives of those committed to their charge depend on their skill, attention and fidelity. They should study, also, in their deportment, so to unite tenderness with firmness, and con- descension with authority, as to inspire the minds of their patients with gratitude, respect and confidence.
"SEC. 2 .- Every case committed to the charge of a physician should be treated with attention, steadiness, and humanity. Reasonable indulgence should be granted to the mental imbecility and caprice of the sick. Secrecy and delicacy, when required by peculiar circumstances, should be strictly observed, and the familiar and confidential intercourse to which physicians are ad- mitted in their professional visits should be used with discretion and with the most scrupulous regard to tidelity and honor. The obligation of secrecy extends beyond the period of professional services; none of the privacies of personal and domestic life, no infirmity of disposition, or flaw of character observed during pro- fessional attendance should ever be divulged by him except when he is imperatively required to do so. The force and necessity of this obligation are indeed so great that professional men have, under certain circumstances, been protected in their observance of secrecy by Courts of Justice.
"SEO. 3 .- Frequent visits to the sick are, in general, requisite, since they enable the physician to arrive at a more perfect knowl- edge of the disease, to meet promptly every change which may
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occur, and also tend to preserve the confidence of the patient. But unnecessary visits are to be avoided, as they give useless anxiety to the patient, tend to diminish the authority of the phy- sician, and render him liable to be suspected of interested motives.
"SEC. 4 .- A physician should not be forward to make gloomy prognostications, because they savor of empiricism, by magnifying the importance of his services in the treatment or cure of the disease. But he should not fail, on proper occasions, to give to the friends of the patient timely notice of danger, when it really occurs; and even to the patient himself, if absolutely necessary. This office, however, is so peculiarly alarming when executed by him, that it ought to be declined whenever it can be assigned to any other person of sufficient judgment and delicacy. For, the physician should be the minister of hope and comfort to the sick; that, by such cordials to the drooping spirit, he may smooth the bed of death, revive expiring life, and counteract the depressing influence of those maladies which often disturb the tranquillity of the most resigned, in their last moments. The life of a sick person can be shortened not only by the acts, but also by the words or the manner of a physician. It is, therefore, a sacred duty to guard himself carefully in this respect, and to avoid all things which have a tendency to discourage the patient and to depress his spirits.
"SEO. 5 .- A physician ought not to abandon a patient because the case is deemed incurable; for his attendance may continue to be highly useful to the patient, and comforting to the relatives around him, even in the last period of a fatal malady, by alleviat- ing pain and other symptoms, and by soothing mental anguish. To decline attendance under such circumstances would be sacrific- ing to fanciful delicacy and mistaken liberality that moral duty, which is independent of, and far superior to, all pecuniary con- sideration.
" SEC. 6 .- Consultation should be promoted in difficult or pro- tracted cases, as they give rise to confidence, energy, and more enlarged views in practice.
"SEC. 7 .- The opportunity which a physician not infrequently enjoys, of promoting and strengthening the good resolutions of his patients, suffering under the consequences of vicious conduct, ought never to be neglected. His counsels, or even remonstrances, will give satisfaction, not offense, if they be proffered with polite- ness, and evince a genuine love of virtue, accompanied by a sin-
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cere interest in the welfare of the person to whom they are addressed.
"ARTICLE II .-- Obligations of Patients to their Physicians.
"SECTION 1 .- The members of the medical profession, upon whom are enjoined the performance of so many important and arduous duties toward the community, and who are required to make so many sacrifices of comfort, ease and health, for the wel- fare of those who avail themselves of their services, certainly have a right to expect and require that their patients should enter- tain a just sense of the duties which they owe to their medical attendants.
"SEO. 2 .- The first duty of a patient is, to select as his medical adviser one who has received a regular professional education. In no trade or occupation do mankind rely on the skill of an un- taught artist; and in medicine, professedly the most difficult and and intricate of the sciences, the world ought not to suppose that knowledge is intuitive.
"SEC. 3 .- Patients should prefer a physician whose habits of life are regular, and who is not devoted to company, pleasure, or to any pursuit incompatible with his professional obligations. A patient should, also, confide the care of himself and family, as much as possible to one physician; for the medical man who has become acquainted with the peculiarities of constitution, habits and pre-dispositions of those he attends is more likely to be suc- cessful in his treatment than one who does not possess that knowledge. A patient who has thus selected his physician should always apply for advice in what may appear to him trivial cases, for the most fatal results often supervene on the slightest accidents. It is of still more importance that he should apply for assistance in the formning stage of violent diseases; it is to a neglect of this precept that medicine owes much of the uncertainty and imper- fection with which it has been reproached.
" SEC. 4 .- Patients should faithfully and unreservedly com- municate to their physician the supposed cause of their disease. This is the more important, as many diseases of a mental origin stimulate those depending on external causes, and yet are only to be cured by ministering to the mind diseased. A patient should never be afraid of thus making his physician his friend and ad- viser; he should always bear in mind that a medical man is under the strongest obligations of secrecy. Even the female sex should never allow feelings of shame or delicacy to prevent their disclos-
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ing the seat, symptoms, and causes of complaints peculiar to them. However commendable a modest reserve may be in the common occurrences of life, its strict observance in medicine is often at- tended with the most serious consequences, and a patient may sink under a painful and loathsome disease which might have been readily prevented had timely intimation been given to the physician.
"SEC. 5 .- A patient should never weary his physician with a tedious detail of events or matters not pertaining to his disease. Even as relates to his actual symptoms, he will convey much more information by giving clear answers to interrogatories, than by the most minute account of his own framing. Neither should he obtrude the details of his business nor the history of his family concerns.
"SEC. 6 .- The obedience of a patient to the prescriptions of his physician should be prompt and implicit. He should never permit his own crude opinions as to their fitness to influence his attention to them. A failure in one particular may render an otherwise judicious treatinent dangerous, and even fatal. This remark is equally applicable to diet, drink, and exercise. As patients become convalescent they are very apt to suppose that the rules prescribed for them may be disregarded, and the conse- quence, but too often, is a relapse. Patients should never allow themselves to be persuaded to take any medicine whatever, that may be recommended to them by the self-constituted doctors and doctresses, who are so frequently met with, and who pretend to possess infallible remedies for the cure of every disease. However simple some prescriptions may appear to be, it often happens that they are productive of much mischief, and in all cases they are injurious, by contravening the plan of treatment adopted by the physician.
"SEC. 7 .- A patient should, if possible, avoid even the friendly visits of a physician who is not attending him; and when he does receive them, he should never converse on the subject of his disease, as an observation may be made, without any intention of interference, which may destroy his confidence in the course he is pursuing, and induce him to neglect the directions pre- scribed to him. A patient should never send for a consulting physician without the express consent of his own medical attend- ant. It is of great importance that physicians should act in concert; for, although their modes of treatment may be attended
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with equal success when employed singly, yet conjointly they are very likely to be productive of disastrous results.
"SEO. 8 .- When a patient wishes to dismiss his physician, justice and common courtesy require that he should declare his reasons for so doing.
" SEO. 9 .- Patients should always, when practicable, send for their physician in the morning, before his usual hour of going out ; for by being early aware of the visits he has to pay during the day, the physician is able to apportion his time in such a manner as to prevent an interference of engagements. They should always be in readiness to receive the visits of their phy- sician, as the detention of a few minutes is often of serious incon- venience to him.
"SEC. 10 .- A patient should, after his recovery, entertain a just and enduring sense of the value of the services rendered him by his physician; for these are of such a character that no mere pecuniary acknowledgments can repay or cancel them."
There are many other things of minor importance, to the public at least, in the Code, which we have not space for in this connection.
This society continued from year to year until the breaking out of the late war, when, most of its members having enlisted, so few were left to hold meetings that they were discontinued until the year 1866, when the times for its regular meetings, specified in its By-Laws, were observed, and have been ever since.
At the annual meeting of the Indiana State Medical Society in 1872, as a basis on which to organize this society under the statute relating to voluntary associations, passed resolutions providing for the incorporation of county medical societies. It was not, how- ever, till the annual meeting of 1875 that the requisite number- twelve counties-reported to the Secretary of the State society, at which time, "On motion, the preamble and resolutions and the new Constitution were then adopted by more than a two-thirds vote, on a division-affimative fifty-eight; negative seventeen." The State society, having now adopted the delegate system of representation from incorporated auxiliary county societies, the Hendricks County Medical Society at one of its regular meetings, in the year 1875, changed its Constitution, as was thought, to comply with the State society, and the laws of the State relative to such associations. The delegates from the Hendricks County
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Society were admitted at the State society at its annual meeting in 1876. As will be seen by the report of a committee on creden- tials further along, the 'Constitution of the Hendricks County Medical Society was defective in the description of its seal. When this fact became known, most of the physicians of the county who were not members of this society organized a new society, and as a result, at the annual meeting of the Indiana State Medical Society, in May, 1877, there were two sets of delegates, each claiming to represent the Hendricks County Medical Society. The following is the report of the Committee on Credentials: ' Your committee, to whom was referred the claims of the rival delegations from Hendricks County, submit the following report: The evidence, oral and documentary, shows that the Hendricks County Medical Society was organized in 1854, and has continued in existence ever since; that when the State society adopted the delegate system of representation from incorporated auxiliary county societies, the Hendricks County Society changed its Con- stitution to conform to the requirements of the State society and laws of the State providing for the formation of voluntary asso- ciations. The Constitution, as changed, was left with the recorder of the county, and his certificate taken for it, which certificate was presented to the Secretary of the State society, authorizing him to enter the county society on the roll of auxiliary societies, and their delegates were admitted to the State society. It has been subsequently ascertained that the Constitution was not re- corded, and was defective in not giving a particular description of its seal and the postoffice address of its members; that these tech- nical defects were unknown to its members, who were acting in good faith, under a conviction that all the demands of the State society and the laws of the State had been complied with; that after it was ascertained that the requirements of the law had not been fully complied with, a new society was organized, in which all the statutory requirements were observed; that the said latter society applies for admission to the State society; that such ad- mission would require the State society to set aside its action ad- mitting the delegates from the Hendricks County Society last year, which action was taken on their presenting a certificate from the county recorder stating that the society had complied with the law. Your committee, therefore, recommend that the 'old' Hendricks County Society be permitted to correct the errors in their Constitution, and that the delegates from said society
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