USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Professional and industrial history of Suffolk County, Massachusetts, Volume III > Part 20
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We have entertained Lambert Wilson, Chirurgeon, to remain with you in the service of the Plantation ; with whom we are agreed that he shall serve this Company and the other planters that live in the Plantation for three years, and in that time
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apply himself to cure not only of such as come from hence for the general and par- ticular accounts, but also for the Indians, as from time to time he shall be directed by yourself or your successor and the rest of the Council. And moreover he is to educate and instruct in his art one or more youths, such as you and the said Council shall appoint, that may be helpful to him, and, if occasion serve, succeed him in the Plantation : which youth or youths, fit to learn that Profession, let be placed with him; of which Mr. Hugesson's son, if his father approve thereof, may be one, the rather because he hath been trained up in literature; but if not he, then such other as you shall judge most fittest.
Young adds in a foot note :
We have here the embryo of a medical school, undoubtedly the first contemplated on the continent of America. Whether it ever went into operation, or how it suc- ceeded, we are not informed.
The beginning of the present Medical Department of Harvard Uni- versity cannot be better told than by quoting from the account given by Dr. Ephraim Eliot, one of the physicians of Boston, during and after the Revolutionary war.
About 1281 or 1782, when Dr. Eliot was studying with Dr. Rand, the physicians formed a club, which met at the Green Dragon Tavern ; one of their objects was to arrange the fee table, and make regulations for the benefit of the profession. Dr. Eliot writes:
The profession was much benefited by these regulations. The physicians became acquainted with each other; party politics were dropped at the meetings; but oil and vinegar will not unite. They did not love each other, and all were determined to put down Warren; but they could not: he rose triumphant over them all.
One night Dr. Rand returned home from one of these professional meetings; and, addressing himself to me, he said, " Eliot, that Warren is an artful man, and will get to windward of us all. He has made a proposition to the club, that, as there are nearly a dozen pupils studying in town, there should be an incipient medical school instituted here for their benefit; and has nominated Danforth to read on materia medica and chemistry, proposed that I should read on the theory and practice of physic, and some suitable person on anatomy and surgery. He was immediately put up for the latter branch; and after a little maiden coyness, agreed to commence a course, as he had many operations and surgical cases in the Continental Hospital, of which he is sole director in every respect; and he can always have command of subjects for dissection, without exciting alarm, or being reduced to the necessity of taking bodies from the burying-ground, as most of the inmates were foreigners, and no one could scrutinize into the matter. I would have you attend the lectures, which will save me the trouble of dissecting with you in order to qualify you for a Surgeon. Danforth declined, as it was not possible to command a chemical apparatus; as to myself, who would want to hear an interesting course of lectures on fevers and con- sumption? so I followed his steps. Now, Warren will be able to be obtain fees from the pupils who will attend his lectures on anatomy and surgery, and turn it to pe-
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cuniary advantage. But he will not stop there; he well knows that moneys have been left to the college for such an establishment as he is appointed to, and he is looking at the professorship. Mark what I say, Eliot : you will probably live to see it verified." Thus Rand, evidently chagrined. At the proper season, Dr. Warren read a very excellent course of anatomical lectures with demonstrations, and exhibited the various operations of surgery. It was renewed the next year. The fullness of time having come, the corporation [of] Harvard University began seriously to think of setting up a medical institution. At first the improvement of Dr. Hersey's legacy was deemed a sufficient foundation; but on the suggestions of the friends of that seminary, a more enlarged plan was determined to be adopted: a professor of chemistry and materia medica, a professor of anatomy 1 and surgery, and one of the theory and practice of physic, were to be established. But professors were to be sought: a professor of anatomy and surgery, eminently qualified, could be obtained at once. For the other branches it required reflection. It was suggested that Dr. Aaron Dexter, who had attended the practice of Dr. Danforth, the most scientific chemist then on the stage, could easily qualify himself for a chemical pro- fessor. Dr. Waterhouse had recently arrived in Boston, or was expected in a short time. He had spent some years in London, and had completed his education at Leyden ; was a relative and pupil of the excellent Dr. Fothergill, who, it was said, had contemplated such an establishment at this university; and, although he had died, it was also reported that Dr. Lettsom had succeeded to much of his business, and meant to fulfill his benevolent intentions. This was only a gossiping story, but was believed, or rather hoped for, by many persons. Dr. Waterhouse was therefore determined upon for the other professorship. According to the bequest of Dr. Hersey, his professor was to be a resident in Cambridge; and there was no provision for a division of the legacy. It was to be for the benefit of a professor of physic and surgery ; but, by an arrangement with the heirs of Dr. Hersey, it was consented to that Waterhouse should reside in Cambridge, the income to be divided in proportions to be determined upon between Warren and Waterhouse. Major William Erving, a Bostonian, and relative of Governor Bowdoin, who had been in the British service from his youth, but had retired therefrom, and having been much acquainted with Dr. Dexter, died in good time, and left an income to the chemical professorship. It was presumed that the attending students in the medical establishment would make up a sufficient gratuity to render it an object to the several gentlemen who had the appointments.
The Massachusetts Medical Society had authority to examine such candidates for the practice of physic as should offer themselves for the purpose, and grant diplomas signifying such persons as they found to be qualified for the profession; but they had no power to give degrees. The medical professors had similar powers, and were quite independent of the Medical Society. The university could give degrees and confer titles upon such as passed examination before their professors. Here, it was supposed, there would be some clashing of interests. The number who had been examined by the censor [s] of the society was not great. It was not long before
1 In the manuscript, a pen has been drawn through the word " anatomy " and what appears like " phisic " written over it.
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the two institutions were at issue. None had been examined by the university ; and no degrees but such as were honorary, had been granted. About the year 1788, George Holmes Hall and John Fleet offered themselves for examination to the cen- sors. Dr. Oliver Prescott of Groton, Drs. Lloyd, Gardner, Danforth, and Rand were then in the office-a formidable host. The candidates were students in Dr. Warren's surgery, had dissected much, and were probably far better qualified than any who had presented themselves: in fact, the doctor had bestowed great pains in regard to their qualifications. Dr. Prescott, being hard of hearing, said nothing ; and I think Dr. Danforth's business prevented his attendance, but he heartily joined in putting them down. It was judged that now was the time to mortify their instructor. Various times were appointed for attending to the business, and it was as often post- poned; till the young gentlemen actually became confident that the censors, sensible of their own deficiencies, were afraid to encounter them. At length, the time came ; and they found it a fiery trial.' They then became convinced that all knowledge was not shut up in the brains of the professors: they were set aside and could not obtain certificates. Here they thought the matter would drop; but they were mistaken. Dr. Warren was neither mortified nor foiled. He had wished for an opportunity of commencing the examinations at Cambridge: this was a good opportunity. Lectures were immediately commenced, and got through before Commencement. This was an unexpected matter, and measures were taken to prevent its having effect. Presi- dent Willard was applied to, to put a stop to the progress of the professors, lest it should generate serious misunderstandings between the two societies. Dr. Rand called on me, and desired me to prevail upon Dr. Fleet to suspend the matter ; assur- ing me that the censors would make such representations as would effectually pre- vent him from getting into business, and that both he and Hall would be ruined. I was applied to, as I was like to, and did become his brother-in-law; but I had no influence over him, and declined any interferences. A public examination was held in the philosophy chamber of the university, at which many persons not of the pro- fession attended. They were thoroughly sifted ; and they afforded much gratification to all who were present. On the Saturday previous to Commencement, notice was sent that the censors would meet for their re-examination. They attended ; when a few questions were asked, and they were passed. On Commencement day, not having been informed of this matter, a public attempt was made by some of the overseers, that the degree of Doctor of Physic should be withheld. Having been informed of the re-examination, opposition was withdrawn; and George Holmes Hall, who received the degree of Master of Arts in 1781, and John Fleet ad eundem in 1788, were admitted the first in course to the degree of Doctor of Physic.
This, it is believed, has been the only interruption that has taken place between the societies; and they have mutually contributed to the reputation of each other, and have done their part to raise the respect of both to their present high standing among the literary institutions of the country .- Proceedings Mass. Hist. Soc., 1863- 1864, vol. VII., pp. 183-4.
From the day when the medical degree was conferred on Hall and Fleet to the present, the history of the Harvard Medical School has been one of steady growth in importance and influence. The lectures of the newly-formed school were delivered in the old Holden Chapel
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and in the basement of University Hall in Cambridge, until the eree- tion of the building known as the Massachusetts Medical College in Mason street in Boston in 1815. It was no easy matter for a busy Bos- ton practitioner to deliver a course of lectures in the university town. " In the fullness of professional business he daily passed over Charles- town ferry to Cambridge, there not being a bridge at that time; and sometimes when impeded by ice, was compelled to take the route through Roxbury and Brookline to Cambridge, and to return the same evening, after himself performing the dissections and giving a lecture sometimes three hours long," as Dr. Thacher says in his medical biography.
Dr. Benjamin Waterhouse, the introducer of vaccination into America, was the first professor of the theory and practice of medicine, and Dr. Aaron Dexter instilled into the pupils of the new institution the still crude theories which were being organized into a system by stich men as Balch, Cavendish, Priestley, Lavoisier, and others, as the foundation of the modern chemistry.
With this triad of men the school began, men of mark of their day, but with means and methods of the simplest character, the profession itself and the knowledge of medicine apparently just emerging from the ignorance of the earlier periods, and with everything to be form- ulated in the matter of technical knowledge as we know it to-day.
In 1815 the school was moved to Boston in order to be nearer the homes of those who were engaged in instruction; in 1846, under the name of the Harvard Medical School, it occupied the building erected for its use in North Grove street in Boston; and in 1883 that at present in use in Boylston street.
In all these years a long line of professors and teachers have followed each other; it is possible only to mention some of them by name: John C. Warren, eminent as a surgeon and a teacher; James Jackson, in theory and practice; Jacob Bigelow and his not less distinguished son, Henry J Bigelow, John Ware, Walter Channing, D. Humphreys Storer, Jeffries and Morrill Wyman, Henry I. Bowditch, John B. S. Jackson.
These are some of the men who have by hard labor continued the work to our own time, and have brought the school to the position it holds.
During this middle period of its history the most important advances have been made in medicine and surgery. The first experiments of the anæsthetic properties of ether belong of right to the teachers in the
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Harvard Medical School and the surgeons of the Massachusetts General Hospital; the Bigelow method of reducing the femur and the practice of litholapaxy; various methods adopted in the subject of orthopraxy; frozen sections in the study of anatomy; all owe their origin to this school; and the studies of abdominal and brain surgery, histology, antisepsis and asepsis, obstetrical and gynecological surgery have been either initiated or closely followed up-from hints given by others- by the various professors and teachers.
At this time the Medical School of Harvard University has a teach- ing force of seventy-one professors and instructors, and four hundred and fifty-one students were enrolled during the year 1892-93, All candidates for admission pass an examination in English, Latin, physics, chemistry and one elective study, viz. : French, German, math- ematics or botany. Beginning with the year 1892-93 all students are required to complete the full term of four years' study before taking a degree in medicine; one year at least must have been spent in this school. The degree cum laude is given to candidates who obtain an average of seventy-five per cent. in all the required examinations. The degree of Master of Arts is open to graduates of the school who are Bachelors of Harvard University or of other recognized colleges, who shall pursne an approved course of study in medicine for at least one year after taking the degree of Doctor of Medicine. Candidates for admission to the school may be examined either in Boston, or at either of the twenty other designated places, including such distant points as Portland, Ore .. Bonne, Germany, and Tokio, Japan.
The course of instruction includes a carefully graded system of studies from the most elementary to the most advanced, with lectures, laboratory and hospital work, special attention being given in the later years to individual investigation and clinical study and conferences in the more advanced branches. For all this system of studies elaborate laboratories, with every requisite, are furnished ; students are employed as assistants in the many hospitals and dispensaries of the city and its neighborhood; abundant means are furnished for the practical study of obstetrics; and no means are spared for the complete knowledge of medical science in conformity with the latest knowledge of the day. Twenty-five appointments are made annually as internes in the various hospitals, and as many more for assistants in the out-patient depart- ments. More than one hundred thousand patients are treated annually in the various hospitals and dispensaries of Boston, and students have
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free admission to the practice at these institutions. They have also access to the college and medical school libraries, to the Boston Public Library, and to various other collections of books of a general or special character. The Warren Anatomical Museum furnishes abundant means of instruction in technical studies, and various other collections in the city on special topics. Twelve scholarships are offered for the assist- ance of deserving students. Courses of study for graduates and summer classes are arranged for those needing such advantages. In these instruction is conducted in small classes, under the immediate supervision of the professors or instructors. Various prizes are open for public competition or for students of the school.
The following extract from the "Conspectus of the Medical Colleges of America," compiled and issued by the State Board of Health of Illinois, in 1884, shows that temporarily our city has not been free from those who, for purely mercenary motives, issued degrees fraudulent in character and preceded by no medical training :
NEW ENGLAND UNIVERSITY OF ARTS AND SCIENCES, BOSTON, MASS.
Fraudulent. Extinct.
BELLEVUE MEDICAL COLLEGE OF MASSACHUSETTS, BOSTON, MASS.
Organized in 1880. A fraudulent institution, exposed by the ILLINOIS STATE BOARD OF HEALTH in 1882. Vide infra; see also pp. xiii-xv, Fourth Annual Report of the Board.
MEDICAL DEPARTMENT OF THE AMERICAN UNIVERSITY OF BOSTON.
FIRST MEDICAL COLLEGE OF THE AMERICAN HEALTH SOCIETY.
EXCELSIOR MEDICAL COLLEGE.
The exposure, in November, 1882, by the ILLINOIS BOARD OF HEALTH of the fraudulent Bellevue Medical College of Massachusetts, led to the correction of a flagrant abuse in connection with the issuing of medical diplomas in Massachusetts. The " Bellevue" was organized under the "Public Statutes relating to Manu- facturing and other Corporations," and its officers, on the trial which resulted from the exposure referred to, pleaded that they were legally incorporated, and were empowered by the laws of Massachusetts to issue diplomas and confer de- grees without any restriction as to course of study or professional attainments. The United States Commissioner, before whom the trial was had, held the plea to be valid, and dismissed the case, with the following remarks:
" The State has authorized this college to issue degrees, and it has been done according to legal right. The law makes the faculty of the college the sole judges of elegibility of applicants for diplomas. There is no legal restriction, no legal requirements. If the faculty chose to issue degrees to incompetent persons, the laws of Massachusetts authorize it."
As a result of this decision, the "American University of Boston," and the " First Medical College of the American Health Society " were incorporated under the same authority as the " Bellevue;" and the "Excelsior Medical College " and others were projected.
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An Act was passed by the Legislature, in 1883, forbidding any cor- poration, organized under the public statutes referred to in the above extract, from conferring medical degrees or issuing diplomas, or cer- tificates conferring or purporting to confer degrees, unless specially authorized by the Legislature so to do.
The result of this salutary legislation has been to rid our community of what threatened to become a growing evil.
An organization which has been the means of conveying general information on medical matters to the laity should be mentioned, and which has certainly done much good in the community, the
MASSACHUSETTS EMERGENCY AND HYGIENE ASSOCIATION,
Which was organized in the winter of 1883 by the Women's Educa- tion Association, to provide, for both men and women, instruction which should fit them to be of use in cases of sudden illness or accident. Organized under its present title in order to give instruction in hygiene and the laws of health, and to qualify men and women to keep their presence of mind and act intelligently in cases of sudden accident and emergency, pending the arrival of surgeon or physician.
Emergency courses of lectures are given in Boston, Worcester, Lynn, to classes, consisting of not more than twenty-five, by physicians appointed by the Executive Committee.
NEW ENGLAND FEMALE MEDICAL COLLEGE.
This college was organized in 1848. Lectures were delivered and classes graduated until 1874, when it became merged with the Boston University School of Medicine. During its separate existence it was not a sectarian school.
BOSTON UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE.
This school was organized in 1873, and graduated its first class in 1874.
It has always taught homœopathy, and admits students of both sexes on equal terms. A four years' course of professional study is now obligatory before graduation. The teaching board, as shown by the last catalogue (1893), consists of fourteen full professors, four associate professors, fifteen lecturers, and fourteen instructors and assistants. The number of students was one hundred and fifty-three.
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COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS.
This college was organized in 1880, and graduated its first class in 1881. For many years it was located on Essex street, more recently on Boylston street, and is now located on Shawmnt avenue.
During the present year a reorganization of its board of government has taken place, and it begins the winter's course with a practically new board of instructors. It admits students of both sexes.
TUFTS COLLEGE MEDICAL SCHOOL.
The trustees of Tufts College have this year opened a medical school in Boston, for men and women.
Twelve professors, ten lecturers, and six other instructors are an- nounced as comprising the faculty,
DENTISTRY.
Dentistry, which has now become an important branch of medicine, and which includes among its practitioners a rapidly increasing number of highly educated and scientific professional men, was in early days but little understood and but rudely practiced.
Physicians, no doubt, until recent years, extracted teeth when they had become too painful for endurance; little attention had been given to saving or replacing them.
We gather from the following amusing advertisements in Boston newspapers (1:80 and 1:81) that a beginning had been made in den- tistry at that time, although one of the practitioners included among his attainments the manufacture of musical instruments and the re- covering of " Umbrilloes."
MR. TEMPLEMAN, SURGEON DENTIST,
Incouraged by the success of his practice in different parts of Europe and America, begs leave to acquaint the public, That he is furnished with materials with which, and a dexterity peculiar to the art,
He preserves the Teeth, C'ures the scurvy in the Gums, Extracts and transplants Teeth, Scales Teeth, Substitutes artificial Teeth, Gives the Teeth proper vacancies, Regulates childrens Teeth, And plumbs concave Teeth,
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which prevents their colluting or being offensive, besides many other operations too tedious to mention, as without the least pain (except that of extracting) since scaling the Teeth is carefully to take from them an infectious tartar which destroys the animal [enamel?], eats the gums, renders them spungy ULCERATED, and incapable of affording any support. Its being removed, which is not in the power of composition to effect, renders the gums firm, and leaves the teeth in their natural purity. Many people blame the climate, &e. for the loss of Teeth, -But it is too often the ease, as I've observ'd in the course of iny practice on the Continent, that but few people take care of their Teeth, till they become defective. The Europeans are remarkable (particularly the French) for their good and beautiful Teeth, owing to their own care, and knowledge of the art.
N. B. Mr. TEMPLEMAN will, with pleasure, attend those Ladies or Gentlemen who cannot conveniently wait on him at Mrs. Frasier's, near the Town-House, Bos- ton .- " The Boston Gazette and The Country Journal," October 8, 1781.
Gentlemen and Ladies that may want Artificial Teeth, may have them made and fixed in the neatest manner without the least pain by ISAAC GREENWOOD, Ivory-Turner, at his house in the Main Street, between the Old South and Seven-Star Lane, at the South-End of Bosrox; they help the Speech as becoming as the natural ones.
Ladies, wax rots your Teeth and Gums, throw it away. Come and have your Teeth cleansed, and if done in time, saves them from rotting and parting from the Gums.
N. B. Said GREENWOOD continues to make Artificial Leggs and Hands: Turns in Ivory, Bone, Silver and Wood: Makes Fifes, German-Flutes, Hautboys, &c. &c.
Ladies please to send your Umbrilloes to be mended and cover'd .- (The Continental Journal and Weekly Advertiser, April 20, 1780.)
Special schools and societies have naturally followed the advance in scientific dentistry. The importance to the public of proper treatment of the teeth demanded the attention first of physicians who made it a part of their practice, and afterwards of men who could give it their whole attention.
Professional reputation followed study under representative dentists, and then the foundation of regular schools and societies for professional study and development.
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