USA > Maine > Maine; a history, Volume IV > Part 30
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67
144
HISTORY OF MAINE
in his work upon inflammation he had seen how various substances had diminished or destroyed the vitality of the tissues.
It may seem strange that cleanliness, which for thou- sands of years had been proclaimed as next to godli- ness. should not have been practiced by surgeons; but the facts are that doctors did not pay so much atten- tion to cleanliness as other mnen because they allowed themselves to become familiar with unclean things. The conditions of the offices of physicians of repute would not be tolerated today, bowls and towels were used so long that it was difficult to tell what was their natural color. In operating, hut little preparation was made: sometimes the hands were not washed; and the silk that was used for sutures was hung over the surgeon's coat button, while the needles were stuck into his dirty coat. The instruments were washed with soap and water after the operation, but seldom before it was begun. This, in brief, is an outline of the conditions that existed forty-two years ago.
Notwithstanding, Lister introduced into the wards of the Glasgow Infirmary the most sernpulous cleanli- ness with every one connected with the service, with clean towels and dressings and a lavish use of deodo- rants, still there was no marked reduction in the occur- rence of blood poisoning and deaths. The mystery increased, and still he felt the cause of it was some- thing conveyed to the wound. When he read Pasteur's work he learned that the oxygen of the air was not a coniponent part of putrefaction; that certain microbes cansing putrefaction could actually live, like fish, with- out free oxygen, and died when exposed to it, while others lived upon the surface and took their oxygen directly from the air. This accounted for the existence of superficial and deep putrefaction, the only require- ments being that the microbes should have access to the matter capable of producing it. This knowledge supplied the missing link of the chain of evidence he bad at his command and gave him the working basis for eliminating the microbes from all wounds, whether accidental or operative. His long studies with the microscope, together with his clinical experience with diseases had prepared him to see this missing link of evidence through an understanding of the vital forces which play such an important part in health and disease. It revealed the uniqueness of his profound philosophy among all the medical men of his time, and was the turning point in his career which revolution- ized the practice of surgery.
Lister found the question of ligatures in antiseptic surgery was one of the greatest importance, as the method introduced by Ambrose Paré was a source of annoyance and of infection. After making hundreds of experiments and careful observations, he finally de- vised the catgut which is in universal use today.
In 1881 it was my privilege to attend Lister's Clinic at King's College Hospital, watch his methods, and examine his cases. His method of preparing himself for an operation was simple. After removing his coat, he rolled up his sleeves, washed his hands with soap and water, and rinsed them off with boiled water. He put on an operating coat and an apron to protect his clothes. He then dipped his hands in a five per cent. solution of carbolic acid, bathing his wrists and arms with it. Lister's hands were clean and his finger nails were cut close and kept clean. He did not even scrub his hands nor nse a nail brush in preparing for an operation, neither did he use gloves, cap, or muzzle. He regarded all these as superfluons. He said, "This same five per cent. solution of carbolic acid is what we use for purifying our instruments, our hands, and the skin of the patient. For instruments it is very much more convenient to be able to purify them by a soln- tion like this than to boil them as is sometimes the fashion at present. For private practice it would be a most troublesome thing to boil your instruments."
The hope of the future depends upon the training of the child of today, and as the physician enters so largely into this service he should realize his responsi- bility and so act that his contribution may be for its highest development.
In the dawn of history the physician was the treas- urer of philosophy and morals. As his knowledge of diseases increased he confined himself more and more to the practice of medicine, until within the years alluded to in this address, he has made it one of the greatest of the sciences, teaching people how to live and so care for themselves that they may dwell with immunity in any part of the world. With this all-pre- vailing capacity of the physician for advancement and doing good among men in all the activities of life, it will be seen that in the furious struggle that is now going on among the civilized nations of the earth, he alone, among all men, has not forsaken his ideals, but has gone forth on the field of battle in the midst of the hail of bullets and fragments of shells to bind up the wounds of the injured, relieve their suffering, and carry them to safety no matter where they may be found or to whom they may belong. The philanthropy of the physician knows no bounds. It should, therefore, be the rallying spirit of our future hope for the interna- tional relationship which must exist among all people ere we shall have peace on earth and good will toward all men.
ERASTUS EUGENE HOLT, JR .- In reply to a question as to what agent was absolutely in- dispensable in bringing about the revolution that took place in the practice of medicine in the nineteenth century, there probably would be more than one answer. A careful analysis shows there were many contributing agents, but one that was indispensable, namely-the com- pound microscope as perfected by Joseph Jack- son Lister, Lord Lister's father. Lord Lis- ter's father was a merchant, but being near- sighted, his attention was directed to optics at an early age, and he devoted much of his spare time to that subject as an amateur optician. He com- bined mathematical knowledge with mechanical ingenuity to such an extent that he was able to devise formulas for the combination of lenses of crown glass with others of flint glass so ad- justed that the refractive error of one was cor- rected or compensated by the other, thus pro- ducing lenses capable of showing an image high- ly magnified, yet relatively free from spherical and chromatic aberrations, the correction of which had baffled the profoundist physicists ever since the invention of the microscope in the six- teenth century, a period of more than two hun- dred fifty years. Louis Pasteur was a man al- ways with the microscope, examining the things of the invisible world. He was a chemist, but his researches in that field and with the micro- scope led him to investigate subjects whose eluci- dation contributed to the truth about the under- lying causes of diseases, so that he was thought of as a physician, though he was not a graduate
Erastus Eugene Offerfr.
145
BIOGRAPHICAL
in medicine. It was Pasteur's researches with the microscope that enabled Lord Lister to de- velop antiseptic surgery. It was the microscope that developed histology to the rank of a sci- ence and caused the cell to take its place at the pinnacle of the great central generalization in physiology of the nineteenth century. It dem- onstrated that the cell is in reality the essential structure of the living organism, and that every function of the organism is really an expression of a chemical change and in itself a minute chem- ical laboratory. It demonstrated to the medical profession that not only animal but vegetable organisms directly cause disease with which man- kind is afflicted. It demonstrated not only the status of the healthy cell, but the cause of its deterioration. In the hands of Pasteur, its mas- ter interpreter, the microscope brought to view the truth that specific germs are indeed the cause of specific diseases. Hence the microscope re- vealed the rationale of the earlier practitioners of their dependence on the vis medicatrix naturae, and showed that this was of much greater importance than the routine exhibition of drugs in the cure of diseases. These ideas were referred to in a comprehensive paper of Dr. Holt, Sr., in the "President's Address" at the annual meeting of the Maine Medical Association, in June, 1916. This address gives a glimpse of some of the views that were ever present in the atmosphere that surrounded Dr. Holt, Jr., in his youth, and no doubt contributed largely in shap- ing his course and causing him to entertain the lofty ideals he has so constantly exhibited throughout his medical career.
Erastus Eugene Holt, Jr., is the son of Eras- tus Eugene and Mary Brooks (Dyer) Holt, and is the fourth in a family of six children, four boys and two girls. He was born on the 5th of September, 1885, at 723 Congress street, in a house planned and built by his father two years previous to that time. This cvent, to- gether with the consummation of all the plans for the incorporation of the Maine Eye and Ear Infirmary, are the outstanding events in the career of Dr. Holt, Sr., for that year. The earlier studies of Dr. Holt, Jr., were carried on in the excellent public schools of Portland. He graduated from the Portland High School in 1903, and immediately passed the examinations necessary to enter Bowdoin College, took the regular academic course, and graduated there- from in the class of 1907. One year of this course, however, counted one year in the course in the Bowdoin Medical School, which he forth-
with entered and from which he graduated at the head of a large class, the majority of whom were graduates of college. He was clected House Surgeon to the Maine Eye and Ear In- firmary and served in that capacity one year. The advantages he had with his father in actively taking part in the dissections of the eye and ear, together with the practicing of operations on the mask and assisting him in operations, had given him an unusual preparation for the duties he had to perform in his internship at the In- firmary. His decision to study medicine came at the very beginning of his youth, at a time when the active mind seeks to grasp the meaning of all things which come within its range. He thus early became imbued with the course he had chosen for a life study and practice, and his mind was wide open to receive impressions, analyze them and make them his own. These impressions became as fixed and rigid in his mind as the pictures on a photographic plate, and thus became a standard for all his subse- quent mental activities. To such opportunities, coming at such an age, have been ascribed the unusual sucess of many men who have adorned the medical profession. Upon the completion of his internship, he was elected an attending sur- geon to the Maine Eye and Ear Infirmary in the out-patient department, and also became as- sociated with his father in the practice of Ophthalmology and Otology. He has kept up his anatomical dissections and operations upon pig's eyes in the mask, notwithstanding the num- ber and variety of the operations performed by him would entitle him to be ranked among the large operators of the country. The technique of all his operations is carefully planned. He nses his left hand quite as well as his right, and both in such manner as to ensure confidence in accomplishing the objects for which an opera- tion is made. The clinics of Dr. Holt, Jr., have afforded the students of Bowdoin Medical School an opportunity to observe a variety of diseases and operations which have been of assistance to them when they graduated and got into practice. Thus it will be seen that this institution not only provides a place for the better treatment of the poor, who are unable to pay, but in giving this treatment provides practitioners of medicine better qualified to treat people who may have accidents and diseases of these organs at their homes and will need special treatment in order to prevent disastrous results.
Dr. Holt, Jr., is a member of the Portland Med- ical Club; the Aegis Medical Club; the Cumber-
ME .-_- 10
146
HISTORY OF MAINE
land County Medical Society, of which he is now secretary; the Maine Medical Association; and the Maine Eye and Ear Association, of which he is also secretary. He is a member of the New England Ophthalmological Society; the American Medical Association and its Section on Ophthal- mology; the Clinical Surgeons' Congress of North America; and the American Academy of Ophthalmology and Oto-Laryngology.
Dr. Holt, Jr., has read papers before these different societies, of which the one on "Iritis, with Special Reference to its Diagnosis and Treatment," brought out the causes of this dis- ease and the essential points in its diagnosis with special reference to the early treatment in order to prevent disastrous results. Another paper read before the American Academy of Ophthalmology and Oto-Laryngology in 1914, at its Boston session,
entitled "Sclero-Corneal Trephining for Glaucoma" and published in its Transactions, attracted attention for the number of cases treated according to the Eliot method and the careful statistics made of them. These statistics showed there was less inflammation after this operation when a portion of the iris was excised-thus agreeing with the results of the best operators who have practiced the Eliot operation, and making one more contribution to establish what has been observed in the operation for the removal of cataract, namely, that when a portion of the iris is excised there is less in- flammation following this operation.
After many years of agitation by members of the several national organizations the American Board for Ophthalmic Examinations was estab- lished for the purpose of examining those who desire to have a certificate from a recognized au- thority asserting that they are competent to practise ophthalmology. Dr. Holt, Jr., embraced the opportunity of presenting himself at the first examination held by this board in New York and successfully passed this examination.
Outside of his professional associations, Dr. Holt, Jr., is a member of the Portland Club, and the Portland Country Club, and in a modest way takes part in the social life of the city.
On the 5th of September, 1913, the twenty- eighth anniversary of his birth, he was united in marriage at South Dresden with Miss Adelaide Frances Munscy, a daughter of Alexander and Margaret Lucretia (Costello) Munsey, who are highly honored residents of that town. Dr. and Mrs. Holt, Jr., have one child, Mary Sheppard, who was born on the 31st of July, 1914-a mem- orable time in the history of the world.
Dr. Holt, Jr. took a keen interest in the events which led to the World War and the entrance of the United States into this war. As he was planning to enter the Medical Corps of the United States Army, his father was impressed into tlie service of the Medical Corps as Medical Aide to Governor Milliken, in forming and super- vising the Medical Advisory Boards, and later assigned to duty to the Bureau of War Risk Insurance "for the development and establish- ment of disability rating." This left Dr. Holt, Jr., as the only member of the staff of the Maine Eye and Ear Infirmary, to carry on the work of that institution, and he felt that it was his duty to remain and perform this service, inasmuch as it was the desire of his father, who, as superin- tendent, had received letters from the Surgeon- General of the United States Army, urging him to prevent if possible all the members of the staff from going into the Medical Corps, imply- ing that it might be possible for the government to want to use the institution on an emergency at any time. However, as his father anticipated the completion of his work at the Bureau of War Risk Insurance, Dr. Holt, Jr., had made definite arrangements to enter the Medical Corps just before the armistice was declared.
Although finally disappointed in not being able to take active service in the Medical Corps of the United States Army, Dr. Holt, Jr., did have the satisfaction of serving on the Medical Ad- visory Board in the examination of registrants for the United States Army, and also for chic Aviation Corps, both of which examinations took place at the Mainc Eye and Ear Infirmary, the headquarters of these organizations.
WILLIAM BATCHELDER SWAN-Granted a span of life much longer than usually falls to the lot of man, William Batchelder Swan derived from his length of years, ninety-one, larger op- portunities for the service of his fellows in many channels. His death removed from his city a merchant of the highest standing, a financier strong and able, and a citizen who fulfilled to the letter every duty of good citizenship. Bel- fast knew many sides of his character and he stood in public notice for many years without cause for reproach or blame, living in the ap- proval and regard of all who knew him.
William Batchelder Swan was a descendant of Richard Swan and his wife, Ann, who, with their son, Robert, joined the first church of Boston in 1639. From Richard Swan descent is through his son, Robert Swan, his son, Francis Swan,
yMB. Swan,
Elisha Emery Parkhurst.
147
BIOGRAPHICAL
his son, Nathan Swan, his son, Nathan (2) Swan, to William B. Swan. Francis Swan served in Captain John Davis' company of minute-men, Colonel Frye's regiment and was promoted through the several ranks from private to lieu- tenant. He married Lydia Frye. Their son, Nathan (1) Swan, was born in Methuen, Massa- chusetts, and was a farmer throughout his life. As a private in Captain John Davis' company of minute-men, Colonel Frye's regiment, he an- swered the Lexington alarm and was subse- quently, during the winter at Valley Forge, an artificer in Captain Pollard's company. He and his wife, Lydia (Tyler) Swan, were the parents of seven children.
Nathan (2) Swan, father of William Batchelder Swan, was born in Andover, Massachusetts, May 15, 1780, and died June 30, 1835. He was a baker and merchant, and held various town and county offices, among them that of deputy sheriff. He captained a company during the Aroostook War. He married, at Belfast, Maine, April 13, 1812, Annabella B. Poor, born in New Salem, New Hampshire, December 13, 1788, died November 14, 1858, daughter of Benjamin and Joanna (Batchelder) Poor, and they were the parents of: Lydia Tyler, born September 25, 1814; Benjamin Poor, born December 2, 1816; Dorothy Joan, born September 28, 1819: Annabella, born March 17, 1821; William Batchelder, of whom further; and Francis, born September 10, 1835.
William Batchelder Swan, son of Nathan (2) and Annabella B. (Poor) Swan, was born in Bcl- fast, Maine, May 2, 1825, and died there August 12, 1916, at the advanced age of ninety-one years. He attended the public schools of his birthplace, then studied for one term in the Belfast Acad- emy, then entered business life as a clerk, in which capacity he served several merchants, es- tablishing in business in 1856 as a partner in the firm of Marshall & Swan, wholesale grocers and grain dealers. This association continued until 1868, and from 1869 to 1877 he operated as Wil- liam B. Swan & Company. From the latter year until 1891 the firm name was Swan & Sibley Brothers, from 1891 to 1911 Swan-Sibley Com- pany, and from then until the death of Mr. Swan the style was Swan-Whitten-Bickford Company. Prosperity attended all of his mercantile ventures and he ranked among the leading merchants of the region. From 1879 he was a director of the Belfast National Bank, filling the office of presi- dent from 1904 and continuing in this position after its reorganization as the City National Bank. The strength and stability of the insti-
tution whose activity he directed is testimony to the wisdom and force of his executive powers. The utmost reliance was placed in his adminis- tration by the stockholders and directors of his bank, and the results obtained under his control were an ample justification of this trust. Mr. Swan served the Belfast Common Council as president in 1869, and from 1879 to 1881 was mayor of the city. He brought to the public business the zealous prosecution that had made his private interests prosperous enterprises and Belfast profited largely from his disinterested service. He was a member of the Unitarian church.
Mr. Swan married (first) Maria P. Gammans, who died in Belfast, August 29, 1876. He mar- ried (second) Abbie Haraden Faunce, daughter of Asa Faunce (q. v.). There was one child of his first marriage, Annabel, born July 27, 1873, married Walter B. Kelley.
ELISHA EMERY PARKHURST, son of Eli- sha Parkhurst, was born at Dresden, Maine, January 26, 1834. He was twelve years old when his father removed to Unity, and he completed his education in the Unity town and high schools. From 1850 to 1854 he assisted his father on the farm. He then became an itinerant merchant, traveling with his wares through Penobscot and Aroostook counties until 1858 when he bought a farm at Maysville, now a part of Presque Isle, Maine, where he was one- of the pioneers. He cleared over two hundred acres of the three hun- dred and twenty acres on the farm. His son, Daniel Vincent Parkhurst, now has a half-inter- est in the homestead, and now cultivates about two hundred and sixty acres of the farm's three hundred and twenty acres. The father has now retired from active labor. From 1868 to 1912 he sold farm machinery at Maysville, now called Presque Isle. In 1883 he built a starch factory on the line of the Canadian Pacific Railroad, at the place now called Parkhurst Siding, which he conducted for ten years. For twenty-five years he has been one of the largest shippers of potatoes in the country. For fifteen years he and his son have made a specialty of growing seed varieties and have shipped seed stock into nearly every State in the Union. Their shipments in some years have exceeded one hundred cars.
In politics Mr. Parkhurst is a Republican. He cast his first presidential vote for John C. Fre- mont in 1856, and has always been a Republican. For three years he was a member of the Board of Agriculture, and for four years served as chap-
148
HISTORY OF MAINE
lain of the Maine State Grange. During 1877 and 1878 he represented his district in the State Legislature. In 1880 he represented Aroostook county in the State Senate. At that time the population of Aroostook county was large enough to entitle it to more than one Senator, and he again represented the county in 1882, with A. L. Lambert, of Houlton, as a colleague, and he re- ceived appointment on important committees. He has been a deacon of the Congregational church for the past twenty years, and was one of the five original organizers of the church in 1865. He is a member of Maysville Center Grange, Patrons of Husbandry, and was the first master of the North Aroostook County Pomona Grange He is also a member of Trinity Lodge, No. 130, Free and Accepted Masons, of Presque Isle.
He married, November 6, 1853, at Unity, Maine, Sarah Chase Small, born at Unity, Maine, March 26, 1835, and died at Presque Isle, January 12, 1913. Mrs. Parkhurst was also a member of the Congregational church and of Maysville Center Grange. She was a daughter of Alonzo and Polly (Chase) Small, of Unity, Maine. The children of Mr. and Mrs. Parkhurst were: I. Idella M., born at Unity, October 12, 1855, graduated at the Presque Isle High School, and at the Castine Normal School. 2. Daniel Vincent, born October 14, 1868, in Presque Isle; graduate of Presque Isle High School, and Augusta Commercial Col- lege. His children are: Albert E., graduate of Bowdoin College, 1913, graduate of Harvard Medical College, 1917, spent one year in Massa- chusetts General Hospital and is now practis- ing medicine in Boston, Massachusetts; Edwin E., graduate of Presque Isle High School, now with his father on the Elisha E. Parkhurst's Old Homestead Farm; Eveline, and Mildreth, both now in high school. 3. Percy Elisha, born Au- gust 12, 1870; graduate of Presque Isle High School and of Augusta Commercial College. He was a farmer here, but later went West after having sold his farm and there bought real estate for himself and his father, and died in San Fran- cisco, February 2, 1913.
Elisha Parkhurst, father of Elisha Emery Park- hurst, was born in New Hampshire, June 26, 1766, and died in Unity, Maine, September 30, 1859. He married (first) Mercy Patterson, who died in Dresden, leaving no children. He married (second) Lucy G. Emery, of Fairfield, Maine, who became the mother of Elisha Emery Parkhurst. Elisha Parkhurst was a son of George (4) Parkhurst, who was born in Weston, Massachu- setts, in April, 1733, and who with his three sons,
Samnel, Nathan and George served in the Revo- lutionary War. George (4) Parkhurst was the son of George (3) Parkhurst, who was a son of John Parkhurst, born January 3, 1685. John Parkhurst was a son of George (2) Parkhurst, who was born in England in 1618. George (2) Parkhurst was a son of George (1) Parkhurst, the immigrant ancestor, who came to this coun- try in or about 1635, bringing with him at least two children, George (2) and Phebe. George (I) Parkhurst was living in Watertown, Massachu- setts, in 1642, and was admitted a freeman in 1649. The name of Parkhurst originated in the Isle of Wight about 1038.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.