USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > The memorial history of Boston : including Suffolk County, Massachusetts. 1630-1880, Vol. IV > Part 69
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The disease was so malignant and the public so much alarmed, that the town of Boston, in its corporate capacity, took action in the matter; and the following circular in the Boston Weekly News-Letter, April 29, 1736, will explain itself : -
THE Select-Men of the Town of Boston, in order to inform the Trading Part of our neighbouring Colonies concerning the State of the present prevailing Distemper in this Place, did desire a Meeting of as many of the Practitioners in Physick as could
1 Douglass's Summary, ii. 412. 2 xiv. 1-13.
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MEDICINE IN BOSTON.
then be conveniently obtain'd. The Practitioners being accordingly met, did unani- mously agree to the following Articles : -
I. THAT upon the first appearance of this Illness in Boston, the Select-Men did advise with the Practitioners ; but they at that Time having not had Opportunities of observing the Progress of the Distemper, it was thought advisable (until further Experi- ence) to shut up that Person who was supposed to have received it in Exeter to the Eastward ; upon his Death the Watch was soon removed, but no Infection was ob- served to spread or catch in that Quarter of the Town ; therefore no Watches were appointed in other Parts of the Town where it afterwards appeared, the Practitioners judging it to proceed from some occult Quality in the Air, and not from any observ- able Infection communicated by Persons or Goods.
2. THE Practitioners and their Families have not been seized with this Distemper in a more remarkable manner (and as it has happened not so much) than other Families in Town, even than those Families who live in solitary Parts thereof.
3. As to the Mortality or Malignity of this Distemper, all whom it may concern are referred to the Boston Weekly-Journal of Burials. By the Burials it is notorious that scarce any Distemper - even the most favourable which has at any Time pre- vail'd so generally - has produc'd fewer Deaths.
4. As formerly, so now again, after many Months Observation, we conclude, That the present prevailing Distemper appears to us to proceed from some Affection of the Air, and not from any personal Infection receiv'd from the Sick, or Goods in their neighbourhood.
NATHANIEL WILLIAMS. HUGH KENNEDY.
WILLIAM DOUGLASS. WILLIAM DAVIS.
JOHN CUTLER. THOMAS BULFINCH.
Nathaniel Williams, whose name heads the signatures, was an active and useful man in his day and generation. In the affairs of life he performed the triple rôle of preacher, doctor, and school-master. The union of these three characters was no infrequent occurrence in former times. In each he appears to have played well his part; and his career entitles him to more than a passing notice. He was the son of Nathaniel and Mary (Oliver) Williams, and was born in Boston, Aug. 23, 1675. He graduated at Har- vard College in the class of 1693, and in the summer of 1698 was ordained - according to the sermon preached at his funeral by Thomas Prince - " an EVANGELIST in the College-Hall, for one of the West India Islands. But the climate not agreeing with his Constitution, He soon returned to this his native City." At one time he was engaged in giving private instruction to boys; and he had the reputation of being an excellent classical scholar. In the year 1703 he was appointed usher at the Free Grammar School, now known as the Boston Latin School; and subsequently, in 1708, he was chosen to the mastership, which position he held until 1734.1 He studied "Chymistry and Physick under his Uncle, the Learned Dr. James Oliver, of Cambridge, one of the most esteemed Physicians in his Day;" and even while teaching continued to practise his profession of medicine. He died Jan. 10, 1737-38; and the Boston Weekly News-Letter of January 12 calls
1 [See Vol. II. p. xxxiv .- ED.]
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THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.
him "the Reverend and Learned Mr. Nathaniel Williams," and speaks of him " as a very skilful and successful Physician ;" and says that "as his Life has been very extensively serviceable, so his Death is esteemed as a public Loss."
The career of Dr. William Douglass has been already noted.
John Cutler was the son of John Cutler, and born Aug. 6, 1676, at Hingham. The father was a " chirurgeon," and served in King Philip's War. He came originally from Holland, where his name was Demes- maker. On coming to this country he adopted the English translation of his Dutch patronymic, and called himself Cutler; and ever afterward the family was so designated. His marriage is thus given in the town records of Hingham : --
" Johannes Demesmaker, a Dutchman (who say his name in English is John Cutler) and Mary Cowell, the daughter of Edward Cowell of Boston, were marryed by Captaine Joshua Hobart on the fourth day of January, 1674."
The births of seven children are also recorded in the same records. I give the entries of the two oldest and the two youngest of these children, as they show how the distinction between the names was made at the out- set, and that it was dropped in the course of time. The oldest child was John, who became the physician and signed the circular relating to the epidemic : -
" Johannes Demesmaker, whose name in English is John Cutler, the son of Jo- hannes Demesmaker, a Dutchman, and of Mary his wife, was born on the sixt day of August, 1676."
" Peter Demesmaker (the son of Johannes Demesmaker, a Dutchman, and of Mary his wife, an English woman) was born on the seventh day of July, 1679."
" David Cutler, ye son of Doctor John Cutler and of Mary his wife, was born the first of November, 1689."
" Ruth Cutler, the daughter of Dr. John Cutler, and of Mary his wife, was born yª 24th of February, 16912."
The father removed to Boston about the year 1694, and lived in Marl- borough Street, now a part of Washington Street, near the Old South Meeting-house. He had a large practice, and was the preceptor of Dr. Zabdiel Boylston, who afterward became famous during the time of the small-pox inoculation. He died, probably in the winter of 1717, and his son John, Jr., inherited his practice as well as the homestead. The son married the widow, Mrs. Joanna (Dodd) Richards; and he was actively connected with the King's Chapel, of which church he was a warden. He died Sept. 23, 1761, having lived a long life of usefulness.
It requires no great stretch of the imagination to suppose that Hugh Kennedy, the fourth signer of the circular, was a Scotchman.
William Davis, the next signer, died March 14, 1746. The Boston Ga- zette or Weekly Journal of March 18 says that he was " a Gentleman much
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MEDICINE IN BOSTON.
improv'd and greatly belov'd among us, as a skillful Physician and Surgeon, and was held in Esteem for his strict Piety." An inventory of his property contained among the items: "Druggs [{] 284: 4: 4;" " Chirurgical Instrumts of all Sorts, 120;" " 3 Glass Cases of Veins and Anat: 50." This appraisal was made according to the paper money of New England, which at that time was much depreciated; and it would be difficult to calculate the gold value.
Thomas Bulfinch, the last signer, was the son of Adino Bulfinch, a mer- chant of Boston, who came to this country from England about the year 1680. The son was born in 1694, and began the study of his profession with Dr. Zabdiel Boylston as his preceptor. He afterward went to London, and received instruction in anatomy and surgery under the famous Chesel- den, and subsequently to Paris, where he completed his professional educa- tion. On his return to Boston he married a daughter of John Colman, at that time a prominent merchant. He soon acquired the reputation of an ex- cellent physician, and enjoyed a very large practice. He died Dec. 2, 1757, leaving a son, Thomas, Jr., who followed in the footsteps of his father as a successful practitioner.1
The first inoculating hospitals in the neighborhood of Boston - one at Point Shirley and the other at Castle William - were opened in the winter of 1764, during an epidemic of small-pox. The Point Shirley hospital was established by the governor of the province, with the advice of the council, and placed under the charge of several physicians. A notice in the Boston Post-Boy and Advertiser, March 19, 1764, sets forth that --
" Those Physicians of the Town of Boston who are engaged in carrying on the inoculating Hospital at Point Shirley, being prevented giving their constant Attendance there during the continuance of the Small-Pox in Town, hereby notify the Public that they are join'd by Doctor Barnett of New Jersey, who will constantly attend at said Hospital with one or other of said Physicians whose Business will permit, and employ the utmost Diligence and Attention for the relief of those that put themselves under their care. They further notify that Point Shirley contains as many comfortable and decent Houses as will be sufficient to accommodate as many Persons as will probably ever offer for Inoculation at one Time, from this or the neighbouring Governments, and is well furnished with every requisite Convenience both for Sickness and Health."
Dr. William Barnett lived at Elizabethtown, New Jersey, and had ac- quired considerable reputation in Philadelphia as a promoter of variolous inoculation.
1 [See Vol. II. p. xlv, for the father's signa- often occur in the Massachusetts Archives, - ture ; the son's is herewith. His certificates " Royalists,"-that this or the other person's
Tho Bulfinch MD
health is such that he should not be confined in the guard-ship. - En.]
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THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.
The Castle William hospital was opened, to quote from the Boston Post-Boy and Advertiser, Feb. 27, 1764, -
" In order to inlarge the Conveniences for Inoculation in addition to those already proposed at Point-Shirley, that every Person desirous of undergoing that Operation may have an Opportunity of doing it, without endangering the Spreading the Dis- temper, and that this Town may be, as soon as possible, freed from the apprehension of the Small-Pox, the Governor has consented that the Barracks of Castle- William shall be improved for the Purpose of Inoculation from this Time into the Middle of May next. And the said Barracks are now opened to ALL PHYSICIANS having Patients to Inoculate, under such Rules as shall be thought proper to be made for that purpose.
" There are in the Barracks 48 Rooms, each of which will contain ten Patients conveniently."
The following advertisement in the same newspaper of March 5, 1764, furnishes the principal details of its administration : -
DR. SAMUEL GELSTON
Gives this Publick Notice to his Patients in Boston and the adjacent Towns that he has prepared (by Permission of his Excellency the Governor) all comfortable Ac- commodations for them at the Barracks at Castle- William, in order to their being inoculated for the Small-Pox under his immediate Care.
N.B. - His Rooms are in that Part of the Barracks where the Patients of Dr. Nathaniel Perkins, Dr. Whitworth, and Dr. Lloyd's are received.
B .. Dr. Gelston and Dr. Warren reside at Castle - William Day and Night.
ALL Persons inclined to go to the Barracks at Castle- William to be inoculated where Dr. GELSTON resides, may apply to Dr. LLOYD, at his House near the King's Chapel, who will provide them a Passage to the Castle.
Dr. Gelston was a physician of Nantucket, and had previously managed a small-pox hospital at Martha's Vineyard, where he had successfully inocu- lated eighty-one persons. There were at this time several private estab- lishments in the town, at which inoculation was carried on.1
It is said that many came to Boston from all parts of the province and from other colonies to be treated in these hospitals. During a period of five weeks after they were first opened, it is estimated that more than three thousand people received the disease, and not a fatal case among them. The Boston Post-Boy and Advertiser, April 16, 1764, is my authority for the statement.
It was during this epidemic that the library of Harvard College was burned, on the night of Jan. 24, 1764. The fire occurred in vacation time, and while the building was used by the General Court, which was then
1 [The files of the city clerk show at this time a petition of William Tudor and others to the selectmen, to warn a town-meeting to see if they will prevent "four physicians and a for- eigner " building a house within the town to
inoculate in, May, 1764. The same files show an elaborate chirographical effort of John Vinal, the town's writing-master, asking compensation be- cause the small-pox has broken up his school. - ED.]
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MEDICINE IN BOSTON.
sitting temporarily in Cambridge, on account of the small-pox in Boston. Among the losses, a contemporaneous account mentions -
" A collection of the most approved medical Authors, chiefly presented by Mr. James of the island of Jamaica, to which Dr. Mead and other Gentlemen have made very considerable additions ; Also anatomical cutts and two compleat skeletons of different sexes. This Collection would have been very serviceable to a Professor of Physic and Anatomy, when the revenues of the College should have been sufficient to subsist a gentleman in this character." I
The allusion contained in the last paragraph seems to indicate that the , question of a medical professorship in the college had been broached be- fore this time. Even in the earliest days of the institution a certain amount of instruction had been given in medicine. Small though it was, it is not for us to despise its influence. Johnson, in his Wonder-Working Provi- dence (London, 1654), - written about the year 1650, - describes the col- lege at a period near that time, and says that " some help hath been had from hence in the study of Physick."? It is very likely that Cambridge was the place where Giles Firmin taught anatomy, as mentioned in a pre- vious page of this chapter.
The American Revolution had opened a new field for medical investiga- tions, and the establishment of military hospitals furnished increased facil- ities for the study of practical anatomy. The opportunities for dissection were frequent, and the young and enthusiastic students of medicine were not slow to avail themselves of these advantages. Dr. John Warren had been appointed superintending surgeon of the military hospital in Boston,3 and his zeal for anatomical and surgical studies soon prompted him to utilize some of the bodies of soldiers who had died without friends to claim for them the last rites of burial. To this end, in the winter of 1780, he began a course of demonstrations at the hospital, situated at the west end of the town, near the site of the Massachusetts General Hospital; and this course of lectures was the forerunner of those now given at the Har- vard Medical School. These demonstrations were carried on with great secrecy, and attended only by a few physicans and medical students. Dur- ing the next winter another course was given, which was more public; and these two courses laid the foundation of the present Harvard School. Dr. Warren was encouraged in the undertaking by the help he received from the Boston Medical Society, an association organized about that time to pursue anatomical studies. The school began operations in the year 1783 ; and Dr. Warren was chosen, most naturally, to fill the professorship of anatomy and surgery. At first the lectures were delivered at Cambridge, and were attended not only by the medical students but by the senior
1 The Boston Post-Boy and Advertiser, Jan. 30, 1764. [See also Vol. II. p. 432. - ED.]
2 P. 165.
3 [See Vol. III. p. 112. Dr. George B. Lor- ing printed an account of the medical profes-
sion in the Revolution, in the Medical and Sur- gical Journal, June 17, 1875; and an account of the physicians of Boston of the same period, by Dr. Ephraim Eliot, is given in the Mass. Hist. Soc. Proc., November, 1863. - ED.]
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THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.
class of the college. Subsequently the whole course of instruction was given in Boston, where there were better opportunities for clinical practice and surgical operations. This change took place in the autumn of 1810, though it had in part been brought about during the preceding year. The removal was followed immediately by a large increase in the number of students.
Dr. Warren held the position from his election, Nov. 22, 1782, until his death, which took place April 4, 1815. He was succeeded by his son, Dr. John Collins Warren, who held the place until the year 1847, when he was followed by Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes. It is not a little remarkable that during a period of nearly a century this chair has had but three occupants.
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In the early days of its history the school was not known by its pres- ent name, but was called the Medical Institution of Harvard College ; though somewhat later it is spoken of as the Medical School of Harvard College, or of Harvard University. Occasionally it is mentioned in the newspapers as the Boston Medical School; and after its removal from Cambridge it is sometimes called the Massachusetts Medical College, - the name given to the building erected in Mason Street for the use of the school. An engraving of this structure may be found in the New England Journal of Medicine and Surgery, for April, 1816, and is here reproduced. It is only in recent times, - perhaps within twenty-five years, - that the institution has been called the Harvard Medical School. This name has grown up gradually, and now we seldom or never hear any other given to it.
The protective power of vaccination was discovered in England by Edward Jenner, near the end of the last century; and the news of its discovery was soon brought to this country. Among the first persons here,
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MEDICINE IN BOSTON.
and perhaps the first whose critical attention was called to its importance, was Dr. Benjamin Waterhouse, of Cambridge. Its introduction, like that of variolous inoculation, was destined to meet with many difficulties and obstacles; and Dr. Waterhouse was to be the champion. He wrote much as an advocate of the cause; and, against popular ridicule and prejudice, he succeeded in carrying the day. A communication, signed with his initials and dated at Cambridge, March 12, is found in the Columbian Cen- tinel of March 16, 1799. It is headed " Something curious in the MEDICAL
KILBURN
THE MEDICAL COLLEGE IN MASON STREET.1
LINE," and is the first account of vaccination that was given to the public in this country. He printed the article in a newspaper in order to excite " the attention of our dairy farmers to such a distemper among their cows," and to inform the profession generally of this security against small-pox.
In the year 1800 he published a tract entitled A Prospect of Exterminat- ing the Small-pox ; being the history of the Variola Vaccina, or Kine-pox, etc .; and in it he describes the method he used, July 8, 1800, in vaccinating his son, Daniel Oliver Waterhouse, a lad five years of age, who had this dis- . ease in a mild way. From the arm of this boy he vaccinated another son, three years old, who had the customary symptoms in a light form; and
1 It is now an engine-house, the old front facing to the north.
VOL. IV. - 69.
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THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.
subsequently he " inoculated a servant boy of about 12 years of age, with some of the infected thread from England." This expression furnishes the clew to the method adopted for obtaining the vaccine virus, which came " by a short passage from Bristol," Eng- land; though, in the autumn of 1802, Dr. ENTITLES Waterhouse speaks TO of receiving quill- KINE POCK INOCULATION points, or "tooth picks," charged with Mempwaterhouse virus. Before he had finished the practice in his own family, he had vaccinated four of his children and three of his servants, DR. WATERHOUSE'S TICKET.1 with no serious symptoms or consequences. The faith he had in the efficacy of the oper- ation, prompting him to try it on one of his own children, was of that living kind which always commands attention. In this matter we are re- minded of Dr. Boylston's bold act in inoculating his son for small-pox.
In the year 1802 Dr. Waterhouse published a work of one hundred and thirty-four pages, which formed Part II. of the previously mentioned tract ; and in it he gives a full account of the new inoculation in America. In all his efforts to introduce vaccination, Dr. Waterhouse was warmly seconded by Dr. William Aspinwall, of Brookline, who deserves no small meed of praise in this matter. Dr. Aspinwall had paid much attention to variolous inoculation; and after the death of Dr. Boylston, the first American inoculator in point of time, he erected small-pox hospitals in Brookline, where he treated a large number of patients for the disease, which had been artificially induced. No man in America, probably, ever inoculated so many persons, or enjoyed so wide a reputation for his skill in so doing, as Dr. Aspinwall.
During the summer and autumn of 1802 some interesting experiments were conducted under the direction of the Boston Board of Health, whose unremitting exertions at that time to prevent contagious disease entitle them to the highest praise. The Board fitted up a hospital on Noddle's Island, now known as East Boston, and invited a number of physicians to co-operate with them in an undertaking to diffuse knowledge and dispel prejudice in regard to vaccination. It was here that the trials were made, which fortunately were highly successful. On Aug. 16, 1802, nineteen boys were vaccinated, and all passed through the regular stages of the
1 This fac-simile, and that of Dr. John Warren's receipt are from originals kindly furnished by John S. H. Fogg, M.D., of South Boston.
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MEDICINE IN BOSTON.
cow-pox; and on November 9 twelve of these children, together with a son of Dr. Bartlett, who had previously had the cow-pox, were inoculated for the small-pox with matter taken from a patient in the most infectious state of the disease, and no trouble whatever followed. In order to show the true variolous character of the virus used in this experiment, two lads were inoculated at the same time with the same matter, and in due time a severe eruptive fever followed, with a plenteous crop of variolous pustules. When these two cases were in the right stage, matter was taken from them and
DR. JAMES LLOYD.1
inserted, for a second time, in the arms of the twelve children who had been previously inoculated, -and, besides, in the arms of the other seven boys who were absent at the first inoculation. They had, moreover, been exposed to infection, most of them for twenty days, by being in the same room with the two lads who had the small-pox, and all nineteen escaped. These and other facts are given in a report which was made and signed by eleven physicians, - James Lloyd and Benjamin Waterhouse appearing at
1 [This portrait was painted by Stuart, and
now belongs to Miss Alida L. Borland, of Boston.
Dr. Lloyd was born at Oyster Bay, Long Island, March 14, 1728, and died March 14, 1810. - ED.]
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THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.
the head of the list. A full and official account of the whole affair is found in the Columbian Centinel, Dec. 18, 1802.
At the beginning of the present century Boston had no hospital for the treatment of general disease, though there were such institutions in New York and Philadelphia. During many years before this time there were various indications in the community that the want of such an establish- ment was beginning to be felt; and in the summer of 1810 strenuous efforts were made to supply the want, which proved successful. A circular- letter, dated Aug. 20, 1810, was prepared by Dr. James Jackson and Dr. John Collins Warren, and addressed to some of the most influential citizens of Boston and its neighborhood, for the purpose of awakening in their minds an interest in the subject. It was the opinion of Mr. Bowditch, as recorded in his History of the Massachusetts General Hospital, that this circular-letter might be regarded as the corner-stone of the institution.
Dr. James Jackson, the first signer, is perhaps the most conspicuous character in the medical annals of Massachusetts. No physician in the State ever exerted so large and lasting an influence over his professional brethren or his patients. Born in Newburyport, Oct. 3, 1777, graduated at Harvard College in the class of 1796, he studied his profession under the venerable Dr. Holyoke, of Salem. In the year 1812 he was appointed to the Hersey Professorship of the Theory and Practice of Medicine, which he continued to hold until 1836. At this time he gave up the active duties of the office, and was chosen Professor Emeritus. His writings are numer- ous, and all his publications show great wisdom as well as literary culture. During a period of more than half a century he was a frequent contributor to the pages of the New England Journal of Medicine and Surgery, and of the Boston Medical and Surgical Journal. His death took place on Aug. 27, 1867.1
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