USA > Indiana > St Joseph County > History of St. Joseph County, Indiana > Part 36
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This Constitution was signed by the following named physi- cians: Levi J. Ham, South Bend (expelled); Lonis Humphreys, South Bend; John Cassidy, South Bend; James B. Green, Misha-
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HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH COUNTY.
waka (withdrawn); G. V. Voorhees, South Bend; Joshua A. Kettring, South Bend; J. R. Brown, Sumption Prairie; S. Lan- ning, North Liberty; B. R. O'Conner, Mishawaka; C. A. Fletcher, South Bend (removed); W. W. Butterworth, Mishawaka; E. W. McAllister, South Bend; J. C. Sack, South Bend; O. P. Barbour, South Bend; D. Dayton, South Bend.
ST. JOSEPH VALLEY MEDICAL SOCIETY.
This society was organized July 10, 1874, at South Bend, and is composed of physicians of St. Joseph, Elkhart and La Porte counties, Indiana, and Cass and Berrien counties, Michigan. Louis Humphreys, of South Bend, was elected President, and E. W. McAllister, Secretary. Thirty-eight physicians from the counties named signed the constitution adopted at the meeting. Semi-annual meetings of the society were decided upon.
The second meeting was held at South Bend, Jan. 12, 1875.
The third meeting was held at La Porte, June 8, 1875, at which time R. J. Hagerty, of Elkhart county, was elected President, and C. S. Pixley, of the same county, Secretary.
The fourth meeting was held at Elkhart, Jan. 11, 1876.
Niles, Michigan, was the next place of meeting, which was held June 13, 1876. Landon C. Rose, of La Porte county, was elected President, and C. S. Pixley of Elkhart, Secretary.
On the 9th of January, 1877, at South Bend, the third semi-an- nual meeting was held.
The third annual meeting was held at the same place, June 12, 1877. At thus meeting L. C. Rose, of La Porte, was elected Pres- ident and G. V. Voorhees, of Sontli Bend, Secretary.
The semi-annual meeting was held Jan. 18, 1878, at South Bend. The fourth annual meeting was held at South Bend, June 11, 1878; the officers were re-elected.
At the semi-annual meeting L. H. Dunning was elected Secre- tary to fill the vacancy occasioned by the resignation of G. V. Voorhees. This meeting was held on the 17th of January, 1879.
On the 10th of June, 1879, the fifth annual meeting was held at South Bend. Dr. W. W. Butterworth, of Mishawaka, was elected President, and L. H. Dunning, of South Bend, Secretary.
The semi-annual meeting was held at South Bend, Jan. 13, 1880.
The sixth annual meeting of the St. Joseph Valley District Med- ical Society was held at the Grand Central Hotel, South Bend, June 10, 1880, and was the most animated and enthusiastic in the his- tory of the society. Among those present were Drs. Butterworth, of Mishawaka; Dodge, of Bristol; Reeves, of Niles; Frink, of Elk- hart; Greener, of Middlebury; Put, of Millersburg; Montgomery, of Wakarusa; Harrington and Neal, of Elkhart; Morse, of Dowa- giac; Thompkins, of Cassopolis; Hani, of Middlebury; O'Conner, of Mishawaka; Work, of Elkhart; Dunning, Kilmer and Stockwell,
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of South Bend, and a number of visitors. Dr. Butterworth, the President, occupied the chair.
The names of Drs. Milton White, of Cass county, and J. C. Wallace, of South Bend, were proposed for membership and ad- mitted.
Members in arrears were ordered to be admitted by paying their dues.
Mrs. Dr. Stockwell read a paper on the differential diagnoses of cholera infantum. The paper was freely discussed.
Dr. Ham was extended the courtesies of the Society and asked to participate in the discussions.
Dr. Dunning read a paper on the treatment of cholera infantum. The paper was discussed at considerable length, Dr. Ham taking part.
The Chair, on motion of Dr. Neal, appointed the following Com- mittee on Necrology-Drs. Neal, Dodge and Wallace.
The society then procceded to the election of officers for the en- sning year with the following result: Dr. Thompkins, President; Drs. Hani, Morse, O'Conner, Rose and Belknap, Vice-Presidents; Dr. Dunning, Secretary; Dr. Frink, Treasurer.
A resolution was offered by Dr. Frink and adopted," that, in the opinion of this society any physician becoming a member obli- gates himself morally to comply with its requirements, and that failing to comply with them or giving a reasonable excuse for not doing so renders himself liable to a vote of censure."
The Committee on Necrology was directed to report at the next meeting. The society then adjourned to meet at the dinner table.
The annual banquet was served in the dining room of the Grand Central Hotel, and was a collation worthy of the house and the oc- casion, for doctors, like other mortals, enjoy the good things of life. The tables, two in number, were arranged to seat thirty, and were well filled. The bill of fare included a long list of substan- tials, supplemented by all the delicacies of the season served in the most approved style.
At the conclusion of the banquet Dr. L. H. Dunning, the toast- master, arose, and after a few introductory remarks in an excecd- ingly happy vein, proceeded to read the toasts and introduce the respondents, as follows:
"The St. Joseph Valley District Medical Society;" response by Dr. W. W. Butterworth, of Mishawaka.
"The Medical Profession;" response by Dr. J. S. Dodge, of Bristol.
"The Patriarchs of the Profession;" Dr. S. L. Kilmer, of South Bend.
"The Press;" response by Dr. L. J. Ham, of South Bend.
" Science, Art and Literature, the Hand Maidens of the Profes- sion;" response by Dr. C. S. Frink, of Elkhart.
The respondents withont exception did honor to the occasion by their happy, instructive and highly entertaining addresses. It is
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worthy of special mention, however, that Dr. Ham paid a glowing tribute to the memory of the lamented Dr. Louis Humphreys. It was a grand effort, and heartily indorsed by all who listened to it.
Subjects of papers for the next meeting were assigned and the society adjourned.
DISEASES OF ST. JOSEPH VALLEY .*
On the first settlement of the St. Joseph valley and its sur- roundings, no part of the West rivaled it in beauty and loveliness. Previous to 1835 it possessed an almost fabulous reputation throughout the Eastern and Middle States for its exemption from disease of every kind. The early inhabitants of the valley, when writing to "the friends they left behind them," grew enthusiastic. over the attractions of their new homes, possessed of a climate, mild and genial (except in winter), a soil of unrivaled fertility, equaling in productions the far-famed valley of the Nile, in Egypts palmiest days-landscapes of pleasing variety, in prairies, streams and lakes, while the openings excelled the parks of the nobles of the old world. To crown all, the inhabitants were in a land where they could say, " We know no sickness," and it seemed the long-songht-for ideal, earthly paradise of some of the early explorers of the Western world had been realized.
At the period of which we are speaking, the country was thinly populated; and but here and there the deep, rich mold of the prairies had been disturbed. About the year 1835 large accessions to the population were received, attracted by the fame of the country for fertility and beanty, and the speculative epidemic in wild lands that pervaded the West. The hosts of emigration moved into our lovely valley, like pilgrim devotees to some modern Mecca. Columns of smoke from the domiciles of the new settlers were soon to be counted by hundreds upon the plains and prairies. In every direction the eye was greeted by lines of zigzag fences, peculiar to new countries; and thousands of long, dark furrows met the vision of the beholder, attesting that the broad, green bosom of the earth had been torn by the plow of the hardy pioneer.
The effects of that mysterious agent, to which medical writers have given various names, but generally known by that of malaria, began to manifest its presence here and there, and victims to its barbaric disregard of the feelings of those who had left their "dear native lands" to brave the perils of frontier life were occasionally seen in the pale and sallow countenances of those upon whom the hand of this subtile enemy to humanity had been laid. The victims of chills and intermittents received at the hands of their well neighbors but little commiseration or anxions care, for their sickness was regarded as "only the ague" and of slight consequence, only from loss of time and inability to work. As a general thing, those
* Address of Dr. L. Humphreys before the St. Joseph County Medical Society delivered at South Bend, January, 1858.
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HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH COUNTY.
having attacks of agne resorted to but little medication, most of them "wearing ont their relation to the disease," many of whom were left with sadly impaired constitutions, and a few sank from organic diseases resulting from repeated attacks. There were but few physicians in the country at that time, and remedial agents were scarce and difficult to obtain. The county continued to pros- per, increasing in population and wealth, with perhaps no increase of sickness above the ratio of increase in inhabitants, up to the year 1838. This is a memorable year in the annals of the entire West. No portion of the Mississippi valley, north of the Ohio river, could, with justice, set up any claims of salubrity of climate, or healthfulness of locality over another, and the Western citizens of that year find but few pleasing associations connected with it.
Before any attempt is made at a delineation of the sickness of 1838, it will be proper to refer briefly to the combination of causes that existed to produce such deplorable results. The months of March, April, May, June and the first ten or twelve days of July, of that year, were remarkable for the quantities of rain that fell during that period. During the previous winter the water in the lakes, ponds and marshes had been unprecedentedly low. Add to continuity of rain of these months, as yet, the unaccounted-for periodic "rises" of all western Waters, and we find sufficient cause for an extensive and unusual submergence of the low lands of the country. The air was necessarily loaded with moisture; for humidity it could only be paralleled, perhaps, in the low countries of Holland. So marked was this state of the atmosphere that articles of furniture, books and wearing apparel were frequently found to be mildewed in the houses of the inhabitants. Many of the dwellings of the settlers were illy calculated to resist the effects of the existing dampness of the climate. A large majority of the residences were of wood, having foundations and cellars walled with the same material, subject to rapid decay underground, furnishing an abundant source for unhealthy emanations. Many of the inhabitants used, for drinking and culinary purposes, sur- face water, while nearly all the wells constructed at that day were curbed or lined with wood, which, from its rapid decomposition, impregnated the water with a deposit disagreeable to the taste, and presumed to be anything but healthy in its character.
Large numbers of the settlers, from necessity, were compelled to expose their persons to the exceedingly damp air of morning and evening. Their mental and physical capacities were often, also, taxed beyond a healthy point by over-work. Add to this a diet of the plainest kind, which was devoured with voracious appetites, by which derangement of the stomach and biliary organs were almost necessarily induced; nearly all were deprived of the articles of diet requisite to the preservation of good health, especially, the various kinds of fruits; in addition to all this, the turning over by the plow of thousands of acres of turf, and we find a combination of circumstances, with the peculiarities of the summer
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and fall seasons of that memorable year, which in the absence of a more scientific explanation of causes, seem to be well calcu- lated to produce the results that followed.
The spring season and early part of the summer of 1838 were noted for the rapid and luxurious growth of all kinds of vegetation and the development of organic germs of cryptogamous growth. About the 12th of July the rains ceased, and, with the exception of two or three light showers, remained suspended until about the 15th of the ensning October. The cessation of rain was followed by an unusually (for this latitude) high temperature. The thousands of acres of land covered by superficial ponds were rapidly uncovered by evaporation, leaving a deposit of decayed vegetable matter exposed to the action of the intense heat of the sun, generating as is generally believed, although not susceptible of scientific demon- stration, a malarial influence by the evolution of miasma. So rapidly was the superficial water exhaled from the surface of the ground that fissures of several inches in depth and an indefinite width and length, were not unfrequently seen. There is no record of observation upon the dew point at that time. During the months of August and September no moisture from dew was visible for weeks in succession. The sky each morning presented a lurid, brassy appearance, and the strata of atmosphere upon the earth's surface presented the tremulous, vibratory phenomenon, before the rising of the sun, caused by radiation of heat from the surface of the ground. The ground at the same time was covered by the debris of dead vegetation.
During the latter part of the month of July a few cases of bilious remittent and intermittent fever manifested themselves, and, soon after, a general and wide-spread epidemic of those types of disease prevailed from which but few escaped. Persons of robust constitution, and whose habits of life were nearly in accordance with the laws of health, constituted no exception. Unhappily, but few were situated so as to be able to observe the rules requisite to the preservation of health. A very large majority of the residents of the entire valley of St. Joseph were sick at one time from the prevailing epidemic. Not unfrequently whole families were pros- trated on sick beds, no one of their numbers possessing the ability to procure even cold water sufficient to allay the thirst of their suffering associates. An incalculable amount of suffering, and in some instances death, resulted from want of proper care and nurs- ing. Perhaps no one attendant circumstance of the great epidemic of that memorable year served to dishearten and paralyze the energies of the new settlers, while they lay languishing on their beds, haunted by fitful, feverish imaginings of the profusion of comforts they had left in their native lands, as the deprivation of the services of kind and sympathizing friends.
There were occasional instances of almost entire exemption from the prevailing disease. Those persons escaping were mostly women who, true to their natural promptings, were almost nightly and
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daily at the bedsides of the sick and suffering. The number of medical men at that time was very inadequate to the wants of the people, and many of them mere pretenders in the profession. There were some (notwithstanding uncharitable strictures upon them, that we sometimes hear from our self-sufficient brethren of the present day) who were then, as they would be now, if living, orna- ments, doing honor to the profession and the age in which they lived. Not a few of the physicians in the St. Joseph valley fell victims that year to the prevailing epidemic; but like true sentinels at their post, emphatically, they died with the professional harness on. A very large portion of the corps of medical men were sick and disabled from excessive fatigue and exposure, and the fatality of a large number of cases was, no doubt, attributable to a want of proper and timely medical aid. Perhaps a majority of the cases were simply agnes, of the "every-day or every-other-day " type, attended with regular rigors during the cold stage, succeeded by the hot and sweating stages. This form of the disease was attended by no immediate danger, but the sequel was often ruinous beyond reparation in producing obstructions and disorganization of the lungs and other vital organs. The type of disease in many others was that of bilious remittent or intermittent fever proper, attended with more danger to the lives of those thus attacked, but which seldom or never ran into proper typhoid form. This latter form of fever was but rarely seen in the valley prior to the year 1847. As was stated in the earlier history of the diseases of this valley so was it in 1838. The remedial agents most needed in the treatment of that year could not be obtained, owing to the scarcity of the supply, and the want of facilities to bring them here (there were no railroads in those days, and but few steamers upon the upper lakes). That most reliable of all the preparations of Pernvian bark as a tonic and anti-periodic agent, quinine, was not to be had. The various substitutes sought out and devised by physicians and people were sadly deficient in meeting the indications. It would be safe to state that a very large portion of the fatal cases (the percentage of which was exceedingly sinall in proportion to the number of sick) proved fatal for want of that agent; against which, it is to be regretted, even at the present day, there exists much popular prejudice, caused mainly by nnprincipled mountebanks, who crowd the profession, altogether unjustifiable in its nature. It is but just to say that the effects of Pernvian bark and its preparations were not then understood by the profession as at present, and the dis- coveries in its uses within the last ten or twelve years are invalnable and constitute one of the proudest monuments in the progress of onr profession. The principal treatment of the epidemic by intelligent physicians consisted in the use of cathartics, altera- tives, anodynes, and such febrifnge agents as could be procured at the time. The lancet then, as now, was seldom resorted to.
This great epidemic of the West gradually subsided with the approach of white frosts and rain storms of autumn. A few cases,
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occurring late in the fall, exhibited an approximation to typhoid features, but none were sufficiently marked to entitle thiem to the name of typhoid proper. As has been stated, there were compara- tively few cases to the number sick, which terminated in death, and many of the fatal cases occurred from the eanses already set forth. The inhabitants of the St. Joseph valley in the fall of 1838 were emphatically a pale-faced race, resembling more nearly a community of stalking ghosts than living, active specimens of humanity. Many bereft of all energy or inclination to mental or physical efforts became impersonations of despair, while not a few, as soon as they were sufficiently restored to health, set out for their native hills and valleys, thoroughly disgusted with the West.
Since that memorable year of suffering, time has worn on, but the country has never been visited, and there is no probability that it ever will be again, by so widely diffused and general an epidemic, for there never can exist again such a combination of causes, as did then, to produce disease. Although nearly twenty years have elapsed since that year of suffering, yet the " West " has scarcely recovered from the reputation it acquired at that time, in the Eastern and Middle States, for its supposed unhealthy climate; while the facts are, in relation to health and general prosperity, the citizens of the valley of St. Joseph may safely challenge a com- parison with any portion of the American continent, possessing a soil of equal fertility .* From the first settlement of the St. Joseph valley and the West, generally, to the present day, the intermittent and remittent types have constituted a distinguishing feature in nearly all prevalent diseases. Prior to the last ten years they were generally "pure and simple," or without complications, when the practice of the merest tyro in the profession would be attended with some degree of success. Subsequent to the period mentioned, complications with almost every form of acute disease became prevalent, almost always disguised or masked behind func- tional derangement of some vital organ or organs. Indeed, this feature of the disease of our country, at the present day, may be said to be protean in form.
The intermittent and remittent complications of the most fre- quent occurrence are neuralgia, pneumonia (popularly termed lung fever), rhenmatism, dysentery, diarrhoea and erysipelas, besides numerous other phases, all requiring in a greater or less degree the anti-periodic and supporting plan of treatment, demanding the exereise of a sound judgment and careful discrimination on the part of the practitioner, to determine when to exhibit and when to withhold that class of remedies, without which the greatest errors will assuredly be committed. In addition to the everchanging forms of intermittent and remittent diseases we have had, for the last ten years, more or less typhoid fever. Since the appearance of this fever there has been less of the former types in simple forms.
* It is a well established fact that all countries having a fertile soil are more or less subject to malarial diseases.
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The annual period of sickness, since the appearance of typhoid, has in a great measure changed from the summer and early fall seasons to the late fall and winter seasons. Physicians in active practice for the last ten or twelve years often encounter difficulty with the typhoid patients and their friends (who resided in the West previous to that time), in making them understand the radical difference between that form of fever and the intermittent and remittent forms in point of duration. Especially has this been the case since the latter types of fever have become so amenable to an improved method of medication, by which most cases are cut short in a few days from inception. In typhoid fever the attending physician is often importuned by non-professional persons for reasons "why the fever is not broken up," they failing to see essential differences in types of disease. The marked disturbance of the brain and nervous system, and especially the characteristic local disease of the lining membrane and small glands of the intestinal canal, bearing a striking analogy to skin diseases, such as small-pox, scarlet fever, and other diseases of the skin and underlying tissues, the depraved condition of the blood and humors of the system generally can only be understood by the close observing professional man. It is therefore not strange that they escape the observation of persons outside of the profession, and hence the difficulties physicians encounter in explaining why they can no more hope to cure or shorten the duration of typhoid fever, as a general thing, than they can hope to arrest small-pox or other eruptive fevers. There are many cases, however, in which the duration is materially shortened by appropriate treatment, but they constitute the exception to the general rule. The physician's duty consists in sustaining the enfeebled powers of the system, and meeting, by timely remedial aid, if possible, the unfavorable symptoms as they arise in these cases. Typhoid, as are other types of fever, is often complicated in a variety of ways. The more serious the complication, of course, the greater will be the danger. This form of fever, though serious, is not often fatal. It is, however, one of those ailments which put on very different degrees of violence under different circumstances. On some occasions it is exceedingly fatal- more so in hospitals than in private practice. There are few diseases that exhibit more happily the good results of judicious medical treatment than this. It is true that the disease cannot be suddenly interrupted, as has been intimated, but often materially shortened, and still more frequently conducted to a favorable issue, when, if left to nature and without treatment, it would inevitably end in death. It is generally admitted not to occur twice in the same person; it very often prevails epidemically. Not unfrequently the most healthy localities in this country are visited by it in this form. This dis- ease is often supposed to be contagious. Typhoid patients some- times suffer for want of proper care and nursing through fear of contracting the disease on the part of those who, under other circumstances, would respond promptly to the calls of suffering
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humanity. Nothing can be more erroneous, and it is the duty of every physician to disabuse the public mind upon this subject. There is almost always an epidemic influence abroad when typhoid fever prevails. At such times persons predisposed to disease, if sick at all, will be very likely to have a typhoid type of sickness. Fatigue, exposure to vicissitudes of weather, and mental disturb- ances sometimes act as exciting causes of the disease in those already predisposed; hence it is not unfrequently the case that persons engaged in nursing typhoid patients days and nights and weeks, continuously deprived of their accustomed sleep, and suffer- ing from mental anxiety at the same time, take the disease. Far- ther than this I am constrained to believe there is no inherent principle of contagion about typhoid fever, although many eminent men and scientific observers have arrived at different conclusions.
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