History of Baltimore, Maryland, from its founding as a town to the current year, 1729-1898, including its early settlement and development; a description of its historic and interesting localities; political, military, civil, and religious statistcs; biographies of representative citizens, etc., etc, Part 56

Author: Shepherd, Henry Elliott, 1844-1929, ed. 4n
Publication date: 1898
Publisher: [Uniontown? Pa.] S.B. Nelson
Number of Pages: 1344

USA > Maryland > Baltimore County > Baltimore City > History of Baltimore, Maryland, from its founding as a town to the current year, 1729-1898, including its early settlement and development; a description of its historic and interesting localities; political, military, civil, and religious statistcs; biographies of representative citizens, etc., etc > Part 56

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We shall speak only of his Baltimore ap- pointments. In 1852 he was one of the preachers at Harford Avenue Church; in 1861 he was in charge of Exeter Street Sta- tion; after the expiration of his pastorate he was made presiding elder, serving on

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his district four years. After filling promi- nent pulpits in other jurisdictions, he re- turned to his home conference and was sta- tioned at Eutaw Street Church. On the ex- piration of his term he was sent to Wash- ington and in a few years returned to Bal- timore, serving Madison Square and at the end of his limit going on the Washington District six years as presiding elder. Upon relinquishing that office he was stationed at Harlem Square Church; after five years' service the Conference, in consequence of his advanced age and feeble health, with- out diminution of mental power, granted him a supernumerary station. This was given him in March and he died the 23d of the following June, 1897, after faithful and unremitting services lasting over a half century. He was a delegate to the Gen- eral Conference, and was a skillful debater, perfectly brave and courageous and capable at all times of taking care of himself in wars of controversy.

He was one of the attractions of the pul- pit; when he was away from his Conference he was preaching to the largest churches in his denomination. He swayed a mighty scepter in oratory, and possessed an im- pressive presence, suitable to his dramatic delivery. He had nearly all the intonations of a skilled dramatist, so that his reading of a hymn or passages of Scripture were doubly impressive from the stress he placed upon the words. It was often said of him, had he been an actor, he would have been famous over the civilized world as one of the matchless heroes of the stage. It must not be inferred that Mr. Reiley made a stage of his pulpits-not at all; there was only seen what he could not conceal and

no more. He never sought stage effect by acting.

In the earlier part of his ministerial life in Baltimore he was at his best. There the churches could not hold the crowds that surged towards them. He was a master word painter; his figures glowed and his imagery was supernatural. He had two sermons out of an abundance of such of which congregations never tired and time and time again he was requested to repeat them. One, the burial of Moses, and the other, on the text, "Who is this that cometh from Edom with dyed gar- ments from Barah," etc. It is impossible to describe the effect produced by those sermons on audiences. It was not so much that they created a sensational and emo- tional effect as it was the greatness and profoundness of thought embodied in their conception, clothed in unsurpassed richness of language, with flights of fancy almost incredible. At this time of which we write he was a star whose light was seen all over Baltimore . He preached morning and evenings in his church on the Sabbath, and in the afternoons on the streets or corners, with crowds around him, in size and ap- pearance resembling large mass meetings.

He could not endure the imposed labors he compelled himself to undergo, and about 1862 he was stricken down with the typhoid fever. When the war was at hand he be- came a Union patriot. His clarion voice rang out on the air from the rostrum, and wherever called upon to speak, he went, until sickness closed the door of his bed- room and for months kept him in it a pris- oner. Finally he was released from its tediousness and permitted to reappear in the pulpit. But his doctor required him to

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write his sermons and avoid the excite- ment attending his extemporaneous efforts. Then a change came over his method of speaking. He abandoned the written ser- mon after awhile, but relied on notes. His sermons were more thoughtful and less flowery and imaginative, but he never sur- rendered the richness of his language or the charm of his voice.

He was chaplain of one of the Maryland regiments. Bishop Ames preferred that he should remain in Baltimore, so he visited the regiment as often as it was possible for him to do so. He made a speech to Governor Hicks and presented him with a flag on the part of certain donors in the Maryland Institute, on the conclusion of the Governor's term of office. When the war ceased he ceased all discussions out- side the sphere of his pulpit.

BISHOP ALEXANDER WALTER WAYMAN. -On the far-famed Eastern Shore of Maryland, in Caroline county, and in Tuck- ahoe neck, stands a log hut one story in height with a clay chimney; in it the sub- ject of this sketch was born on September 21, 1821. Nothing unusual occurred when he entered the world. The beginning of his life was not phenomenal and bore no contrast to what took place November the 30th, 1865, when a bishop lay sleeping on the pillow of death.

The father of Bishop Wayman was a free black man; his mother was at the time of his birth a slave, but subsequently obtained the priceless boon of freedom. The father was a farm laborer, who had picked up a little book knowledge which was primary and limited. After his son Alexander was through with the day's work of tilling the soil and the lightened knots were kindled

on the hearth, the father imparted to him knowledge from his scanty storehouse of information derived from books.

The little learning which he received made him thirst for more, so that during the year 1840 he visited Baltimore. He did not remain there, but proceeded to Phila- delphia, where he was employed in a Quaker family, the very situation to ex- pedite his plans. His employer interested himself in his education and he was rudi- mentally well equipped in learning. It was not long before he exhorted and preached and in due season became a member of the Philadelphia Conference of the African M. E. Church.

In 1864, at the General Conference of his church, held in Washington City, he was elevated to the bishopric. Previously he had attained to eminence as an eloquent divine. He was thoughtful and impressive in delivery, fervent and rhetorical. He was a graceful speaker who did not mar his periods or spoil his matter by extraneous thought.

Honors came in quick succession or not at all, as the Bishop found out. He had hardly secured his elevation before he re- ceived a totally different call to serve the cause militant. The Government wished soldiers and resorted to the draft to secure them, when the name of Alexander Walter Wayman came out of the fatal box. He was not needed and excused from serving.

He was assigned to South Carolina as his first field of visitation, and what he saw among his race must have astounded him. The emotional extravagances of his congre- gations were indescribable.

He resided in Baltimore soon after be- ing made Bishop and until death retained

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HISTORY OF BALTIMORE, MARYLAND.

it there. Rev. Henry Calclazier invited him to preach at a point in Delaware; he ac- cepted the invitation, and notwithstanding he was of a meek and inoffensive dispo- sition, he was threatened with violence.

When the monument that shields the re- mains of the martyred President Lincoln, at Springfield, Ill., was completed and dedi- cated to its sacred use, Bishop Wayman was selected to deliver the opening prayer. He left his home without heralding the im- portance of his mission and only told where he was going to a few friends.

Howard University conferred upon him in 1877 the degree of Doctor of Divinity.

He wrote and published the following works: "My Recollections," "Wayman on Discipline" and "The Encyclopedia of African Methodism."

Shortly after the conclusion of the late war the Bishop frequently on Sabbath evenings visited Caroline Street M. E.

Church to listen to preaching and always walked up into the north gallery of the church and took a seat. Usually no one was there but himself. He was of imposing appearance, medium height, stout with a large, well-developed head, very dark of complexion. He always wore a silk hat and a suit of black broadcloth clothes, a white clergyman's tie wrapped round his neck and carried a cane.

In the early part of the year in which he died, on Conference Sunday, at the Mount Vernon M. E. Church, Dr. Luther Tracy Townsend, the pastor of that church, holding on to the arm of the Bishop, es- corted him into his pulpit and invited him to open the morning services with prayer. It was the only time in the Bishop's life in Baltimore that he had enjoyed that privi- lege before a white congregation. It was his last; in the autumn of the year he fell with the sere and yellow leaves that were strewn by the winds.

CHAPTER XIV.

MEDICAL. THE FIRST MEDICAL MEN IN BALTIMORE. THE FIRST FACULTY. HEALTH ORDINANCES. QUARANTINE REGULATIONS. BOARDS OF HEALTH. MEDICAL COLLEGES. DENTAL COLLEGES. HOSPITALS-SPECIAL HOS- PITALS, INFIRMARIES, DISPENSARIES. ASYLUMS FOR THE INSANE. LU- NACY COMMISSION. MEDICAL SOCIETIES. MEDICAL JOURNALS. THE HISTORY OF HOMOEOPATHY IN BALTIMORE. THE EARLY HISTORY OF OPTHALMOLOGY AND OTOLOGY. MEDICAL LIBRARIES. VITAL STATIS- TICS OF BALTIMORE IN THE PAST-1815 TO 1883-1896. CONCLUSION. WHAT BALTIMORE PHYSICIANS HAVE DONE IN THE PAST.

BY JOHN MORRIS, M. D.

THE FIRST MEDICAL MEN IN BALTIMORE. THE FIRST FACULTY.

The first physician mentioned in the State of Maryland was William Russell, "Doctor of Physique," and the first sur- geon was Anthony Bagnell, "Chiurgeon." These gentlemen came with Captain John Smith in the year 1608 to explore the shores of the Chesapeake and the Patapsco river, at the head of which now stands the beauti- ful city of monuments.

Prior to the year 1799 the medical men who did not go abroad depended chiefly upon private teaching and clinical advan- tages at the bedside under the instruction of their masters. After the foundation of the University of Pennsylvania a few gen- tlemen graduated at that school, notably · John Archer, Robert Harris Archer, Alex- ander Ashton, Solomon Birckhead, Wil- liam Haslitt Clendinen, Colin Mackenzie, Nathaniel Potter, James Smith and Henry Wilkins.

The first programme of a medical faculty in Baltimore was announced in 1790 by

Doctors Charles F. Wiesenthal, George Brown, Lyde Goodwin, S. S. Coale and George Buchanan, the last named being the gentleman who, conjointly with Walker, purchased sixty acres from Charles Car- roll and laid out the town of Baltimore in 1730.

Dr. John Archer received in 1768 the first diploma ever granted by a medical col- lege in America.

The first medical society was organized in 1785-Doctor Wiesenthal, president; Frederick Dalcho, secretary. In this year Dr. Elisha Hall addressed the medical so- ciety and submitted the plan for a State society, which plan was afterwards embod- ied in the charter of the Medical and Chir- urgical Faculty of Maryland in 1799. Dur- ing this year the Legislature of Maryland incorporated the Medical and Chirurgical Faculty of Maryland, its first president be- ing Dr. Upton Scott, granting to that body the power to confer the degree of L. M. Licentiate of Medicine, which degree granted all the powers of a college diploma.

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HISTORY OF BALTIMORE, MARYLAND.

Many medical men availed themselves of this new privilege and practiced for years without securing a college degree. The Medical and Chirurgical Faculty still ex- ists in unimpaired strength and usefulness, although its chartered privileges have been greatly abridged by legislation.

EMINENT MEDICAL MEN OF THE LAST CENTURY.

It is a very difficult task, indeed it is im- possible to do justice in so small a space to the memory of the eminent medical men of the eighteenth century who devoted their lives to the practice of medicine in the city of Baltimore. They were all educated men, classical scholars, many of them writing Latin with ease. Their medical education was received chiefly at Edinburgh. A number of them came from the north of Ireland, and their lives were characterized by that great vigor, earnestness and power of labor which so strongly mark the people of that portion of the Emerald Island.

Irish .- George Brown, John Coulter, John Crawford (who performed the first vaccination in this country), Elisha De Butts, James McHenry, Michael Pree, John Stevenson, Henry Stevenson, William Stewart.

Scotch .- George Home Steuart, Colin Mackenzie, Charles Buchanan, George Walker, A. M.

German .- Frederick Dalcho, Henry Keerl, Charles Hintze, Charles Frederick Wiesenthal.

English .- Joseph Brevitt and Isaac Hulse, Josiah Middlemore.

At the close of the eighteenth century, during the French Revolution and the re- volt in San Domingo, three refugees, men

of learning, sought an asylum in the city of Baltimore, viz : Giraud, Ricord (the father of the great Surgeon Ricord) and Pierre Chatard.

The prominent Americans of this cen- tury, also men of learning, were Joseph Al- lender, Alexander Ashton, Robert Harris Archer, Solomon Birckhead, William Has- litt Clendinen, John Beall Davidge, Colin Mackenzie, Nathaniel Potter, James Smith, James Smyth, George Pitt Stevenson, To- bias Watkins and Henry Wilkins. These men and their descendants contributed largely to the early development and the great prosperity of the city of Baltimore.

Eminent Medical Men of the Present Cen- tury (Deccased) .- Nathan Rhyno Smith ("Emperor") primus inter pares; William E. Aiken, Samuel Annan, Michael Baer, Samuel George and William Baker, Elisha Bartlett, Henry Willis Baxley, Lennox Brickhead, Thomas E. Bond Sr., Thomas E. Bond Jr., James Bordley, John Buckler; (medicus natus) Samuel Chew, the Clen- dinens (four), James Cocke, Joshua Cohen, Frank Donaldson, William Donaldson, Robert Edward Dorsey, Julius Timoleon Ducatel, John R. W. Dunbar, Robley Dunglison, William Fisher, John Foner- dan, Charles Frick, George Frick, Eli Geddings, Charles Bell Gibson, William Gibson, John D. Godman, Richard Wilmot Hall, Washington R. and W. W. Handy, Horace Hayden, Frederick E. B. Hintze, William and Edward Lloyd Howard, Horatio G. Jameson, Samuel R. Jennings, Christopher Johnston, William M. Kemp, Jerome Henry Kidder, John S. Lynch, Charles and William D. Macgill. the Mackenzies (four), James Haines Mc- Culloh, Richard McSherry, Samuel B. Mar-

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tin, J. Edward Michael, John C. S. Mon- kur, John F. Monmonier, Dominick A. O'Donnell, John H. and Charles O'Dona- vin, Granville Sharp Pattison, John Patter- son, William Power, John R. Quinan, Dan- iel Meredith Reese, John Revere, A. C. Robinson, Louis H. Steiner, Richard Sprigg Stuart, William H. Stokes, Samuel D. Theobold, Richard H. Thomas, William Chew Van Bibber, Edward Warren, (Bey) Caleb Winslow, John Whitridge, P. C. Wil- liams, I. Robert Ward, Thomas H. Wright, Peregrine Wroth, John L. Yates, William Zollicoffer, Ferdinand C. Chatard and James Carey Thomas.

MOUNT HOPE ASYLUM.

This asylum, under the care of the Sisters of Charity, is the second oldest institution in the State having charge of the insane. The number of patients in the Retreat (as it is termed) on October 30, 1897, was 596. Many of these cases come from different parts of the Union-South and West. A new laboratory has recently been erected, in which it is proposed to do the highest form of scientific work, embracing analysis of the blood, urine, etc.

A very great advance at Mount Hope is the establishment of a training school for the Sisters as nurses. These devoted wo- men, though intelligent and gentle, had very little technical knowledge until this new mode of education was introduced. The medical corps of the hospital give lec- tures each week, and, of course, this form of teaching must result in great good, par- ticularly in cases of accident or sudden emergency. A very important feature in this training is the fact that charts denoting the daily pulse rate and temperature are kept in all the wards, and are filled up by

the Sisters who are invested with their man- agement and control.

SHEPPARD ASYLUM.

This lovely and luxurious home for the insane, unequalled in the world, perhaps, as far as many of its appointments are con- cerned, owes its foundation to the bene- ficence of the late Moses Sheppard, of Bal- timore. Mr. Sheppard obtained an act of incorporation from the State of Maryland and named six gentlemen as trustees to whom he bequeathed his large estate in trust. The title "Sheppard Asylum" was not adopted upon his suggestion, nor in deference to any wish of his. His desire was that his bequest to the board of trus- tees should be used to found an asylum for the insane, and he made no stipulation as to the name of the institution. Finally his consent that the asylum should bear his name was reluctantly obtained. He shrank from the publicity involved in its use and only consented to it upon the urgent so- licitation of some of his friends. A letter in Mr: Sheppard's own handwriting is in existence in which he said, "I want no such monument to my fame." He moreover added, "I wish to establish an asylum upon a broad and liberal basis, where the experi- ment may be attempted of ascertaining how much may be done to bring about recovery in cases of insanity by a liberal, if not, in- deed, by a lavish, expenditure of money, not only in erecting buildings on suitable grounds, in increasing the pro rata of nurses to patients, as well as in the general ar- rangements of the interiors of the build- ings, in dietary, but also in everything which makes for the comfort and scientific treat- ment of the patients." The trustees have conscientiously endeavored to carry out

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HISTORY OF BALTIMORE, MARYLAND.

Mr. Sheppard's views in every particular, not only in the investment of the money left in his bequest, but in the character of the buildings, the number of attendants and even the smallest details.

Proposed Addition of Mr. Pratt's Name.

In September last Mr. Enoch Pratt, for many years one of the most prominent citi- zens of Baltimore, and the founder of the well-known "Pratt Library," died, and when his will was offered for probate it was found that the board of trustees of the Shep- pard Asylum had been made the residuary legatee upon the sole condition that the corporation now known as the "Trustees of the Sheppard Asylum" be changed to "the trustees of the Sheppard and Enoch Pratt Hospital." The trustees of the Shep- pard Asylum are obliged, under the terms of Mr. Pratt's will, to obtain from the Gen- eral Assembly of Maryland an amendment to their charter authorizing such change of name. Mr. Pratt imposed no other con- dition to his bequest except to stipulate that the income only of the funds devised shall be used in the same manner as provided in Mr. Sheppard's will. Mr. Pratt's bequest amounts to more than a million of dollars and will support about two hundred respect- able but indigent insane, some of whom may partially contribute to their own sup- port. The joint bequests of these two bene- ficent citizens of Baltimore constitute the largest legacy ever devised in this country for the care, maintenance and treatment of the insane.

Strange to say some few persons are op- posing the acceptance of Mr. Pratt's leg- acy under the stipulations that he has im- posed; but the General Assembly will no doubt unanimously agree to amend the

charter in accordance with Mr. Pratt's wishes and thus secure to the city of Balti- more the finest institution of its kind in the world.

HOME FOR FEEBLE MINDED AND EPILEP- TICS, OWING'S MILLS.

This valuable property belongs to the State. Since its purchase, two cottage buildings have been erected in addition to the family mansion already in use. One of these cottages is occupied solely by epilep- tics. This cottage, costing $5,500, is named for the former honored President of the Board, Dr. I. Pembroke Thom, at whose expense it was built.

At the present time there are 79 inmates in the Home, who show an encouraging de- gree of mental improvement. It is believed that a large appropriation will be made to this charity by the present Legislature (1898) so as to enlarge its sphere of use- fulness.

The farm comprises more than two hun- dred acres, the land is of excellent quality, and there are several beautiful views on the estate. The buildings are lighted by elec- tricity and the "Waring" sewerage system has been introduced.

BAY VIEW ASYLUM.

This is a city institution for the care of the indigent insane, white and colored. It is greatly over-crowded, particularly the wards for the colored people. There is a sufficient number of attendants, but owing to the crowded condition of the asylum it is impossible to employ methodical and scien- tific treatment. Many of the cases are chronic, and necessarily all the agencies that can be brought into use are humane treatment and care.

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HISTORY OF BALTIMORE, MARYLAND.

The number of inmates at Bay View is four hundred and one.

PRIVATE INSTITUTIONS FOR THE INSANE.

THE RICHARD GUNDRY HOME.

This Home is near Baltimore and is in charge of the widow and son of the late Dr. Richard Gundry. Mrs. Gundry acts as matron and Dr. Richard F. Gundry as phy- sician in charge. It needs scarcely be added that this is a well conducted retreat. On November 30, 1897, there were forty-eight patients under treatment.

THE FORT HILL SANITARIUM FOR FEEBLE MINDED AND EPILEPTIC CHILDREN.

This Sanitarium is in charge of Dr. and Mrs. Samuel I. Fort, both of whom were trained to this special work at Elwyn, Pa. This is a very beautiful property and affords every advantage that location can bestow. The number of children in this institution on November 30, 1897, was twenty.

MATLEY'S HILL SANITARIUM.

This is a private institution near the city, in charge of Dr. Robert H. Dodge. There are twenty-one inmates at the present time. RIGG'S COTTAGE, FOR THE TREATMENT OF NERVOUS AND MENTAL DISEASES.

This is a family home in which a few patients are taken. It is beautifully situ- ated and a cottage has been added to the main building during the year. There are now four patients at this home.

N. B .- It will be observed that all these institutions for mental diseases are more or less remote from the city and that the healthiest and best situations have been se- lected. This is eminently wise, for the rea-

son that the insane cannot be properly treated in a city.

HEALTH ORDINANCES.

QUARANTINE REGULATIONS.

The town of Baltimore was incorporated by an act of the Legislature in 1723. The first health ordinance, it appears, from the manuscript records of the town, was passed in 1750; it is as follows: "Whereas, sev- eral persons permit stinking fish and dead creatures or carrion to lie on their lots, or in the street near their doors, which are a very offensive nuisance and contrary to acts of Assembly, the commissioners therefore or- der the clerk to put up advertisements to inform such persons that they are to remove the same; Resolved, That Dr. William Lyon be a committee of one to enforce the same."

It is evident from this transcript that the town of Baltimore had not at that time health ordinances, but had to rely upon acts passed by the Assembly.

Frequent epidemics of small-pox having occurred, not only in the city but in the counties of the State, in 1765 Dr. Henry Stevenson was appointed inoculator to in- oculate the people. In 1765 Doctor Steven- son devoted a part of his mansion on the lit- tle York Road to the use of an inoculating hospital, and opened it to all who might apply. In this year the first quarantine law was passed by the Legislature. In 1773 the Legislature passed an act for the erec- tion of a poor and work-house in Baltimore for the sick and indigent and appropriated $20,000 for the purpose. A general State quarantine law was passed in this year. In 1775, physicians to the poor were appointed, and twenty acres of land purchased at a cost of $2,000 for the site of the poor-house.

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HISTORY OF BALTIMORE, MARYLAND.

This land was located at what is now the head of Howard street. In 1776, Congress assembled in Baltimore. Dr. John Boyd was authorized by that body to sign bills of credit. Dr. C. F. Wiesenthal was appointed by the State to manufacture saltpetre. Inoculation was discontinued at this time in accordance with the order of the Com- mittee of Observation, the consent of the leading medical men of the town first being obtained. In 1777 another State quaran- tine law was passed. The persistent preva- lence of small-pox necessitated the frequent enactment of these quarantine laws. In 1779, the high price of provisions induced the physicians of the town to attend the poor gratis. The citizens raised $9,000 for the relief of the poor. In 1784 an epidemic of malignant scarlet fever broke out through the whole State. Again a State Quarantine Law was passed, and still another in 1785.

From this time on almost annually quar- antine laws were passed and quarantine was proclaimed against all the cities of the sea- coast at different times up to the year 1830. Retaliation, of course, followed, New York, Philadelphia and even smaller towns on the Eastern Shore quarantined against Balti- more. These proclamations were issued by the Governor of the State, the city not yet having been incorporated. In 1795, the inhabitants petitioned the Legislature for another quarantine act and an appropria- tion to carry it out. In this year the Legis- lature passed a law appointing a Health Officer of the Port and a hospital at Haw- kins' Point for the reception of patients from infected ports. The Board of Health also established an encampment.

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Author: Shepherd, Henry Elliott, 1844-1929, ed. 4n Publication date: 1898 Publisher: [Uniontown? Pa.] S.B. Nelson Number of Pages: 1344

Author: Shepherd, Henry Elliott, 1844-1929, ed. 4n
Publication date: 1898
Publisher: [Uniontown? Pa.] S.B. Nelson
Number of Pages: 1344