History of Saint Louis City and County, from the earliest periods to the present day: including biographical sketches of representative men, Part 120

Author: Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas), 1843-1898
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Philadelphia : L.H. Everts
Number of Pages: 1358

USA > Missouri > St Louis County > St Louis City > History of Saint Louis City and County, from the earliest periods to the present day: including biographical sketches of representative men > Part 120

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The following estimate of Dr. Nidelet's standing as a physician and surgeon is furnished by a gentleman who has known him from a boy, was several years in- timately associated with him, and is familiar with his professional career.

" Dr. Nidelet is a good physician in every sense of the word, being thoroughly and scientifically educated for his profession. His success has been as great as that of any practitioner of his years in St. Louis, and he has a very large and growing patronage. His judgment is accurate, and in the diagnosis of diseases and the selection of suitable remedies he is distin- guished. I cannot say that he has any specialty, but he strikes me as being a fine specimen of the symmetrieally-developed doctor. His professional standing is excellent, and he enjoys the respect of his associates in the profession as a high-toned and hon- orable man."

Dr. James M. Youngblood was born in Tennessee on the 16th of December, 1833. He was reared in Tennessee and Kentucky, and graduated at the St. Louis Medical College, receiving also the ad eundem degree from Dr. Joseph N. McDowell, of McDowell College.

On the breaking out of the civil war Dr. Young- blood was at heart and in feeling a Southern man, but was opposed to secession and in favor of upholding the government. Hence he sought a position in which he could do the most good on both sides. He accordingly joined the army as a surgeon, and in 1863 was placed in charge of Gratiot Street prison, and served in that capacity till 1864. In that year he was sent South with Col. Thomas C. Fletcher's regi- ment, the Forty-seventh Missouri, and arrived just after the battle of Nashville. Dr. Youngblood was a man of benevolent disposition and charitable to the poor. When his death, which occurred Jan. 24, 1879, became known in the neighborhood, many poor children and their parents called at the office of their benefactor, manifesting regret for the loss of a dear friend.

He married a daughter of Edward J. Xaupi, who survived him, together with five children. A few months before his death he was chosen a member of the School Board.

On April 1, 1881, Dr. A. B. Niehols died at his home in Sparta, Wis. Dr. Nichols was well known in St. Louis, where he had many friends. He was born in Northfield, Vt., in 1842. After traveling about the country for some time he settled at Racine, Wis., where he studied and made wonderful progress in medicine. In 1862 he entered the army as an aid to an assistant hospital surgeon. He attended to hospital duties for about two years. Dr. Niehols was present at the battle of Pittsburgh Landing, and his skillful treatment, during and after the battle, of wounded soldiers gained him favor with the surgeon- general and many other high officers. In 1864 he removed to Sparta and settled there, following his profession until his death. Dr. Nichols left a wife and one child, a son.

That the complaint of over-crowding in the medieal profession is no new thing is apparent from the fol- lowing paragraphs, whieli appeared editorially in the Missouri Medical and Surgical Journal of August, 1845 :

" We have a list of the names of one hundred and forty-six persons who are endeavoring to obtain a livelihood by the prac- tice of the healing art in this city, which includes the homœop- athists, Botanics, Thompsonians, etc. Of this number prob- ably ninety or one hundred hold diplomas. With a population of forty thousand, each would have two hundred and seventy- four persons to attend upon, supposing the whole number to be equally divided ; but when we consider the fact that about one- third of the number have a large practice, we are not surprised that a large number are not able to collect enough to pay their expenses, and the consequence is that many, after spending ' from one to three years and the means which they brought to the city,' leave and settle in the smaller towns in the surround- ing country. Some, who are favored by circumstances, hold on, hoping that with the rapid growth of the city they will finally obtain a lucrative practice; others, determined to be employed, resort to whatever will obtain their ends, regardless of proper respect for themselves or their profession, by giving their professional services for little or nothing and a constant endeavor to build themselves up by injuring the professional reputation of their colleagues. Real merit never goes long unrequited, and it is an acknowledginent of weakness for any one to slander the whole profession because forsooth he has not sufficient merit to retain a lucrative practice.

" While the facilities for obtaining a medical education in St. Louis are not surpassed by those of any city in the West, and the city in its rapid strides to greatness has anything but a sickly appearance, it cannot rationally be supposed that its inhabitants are bound to sustain all the ambitious of the pro- fession who prefer to practice in the West; nevertheless they are always glad to rent them offices."

Medical Societies .- There are a number of med- ical socicties in St. Louis, which will be noticed in the order in which they were organized. Those of

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HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.

the regular school of medicine are the St. Louis Medical Society, the German Medical Society, the St. Louis Medico-Chirurgical Society, the St. Louis Ob- stetrical and Gynecological Society, the Beaumont Medical Club, and the Scientific Association of Ger- man Physicians.

ST. LOUIS MEDICAL SOCIETY .- In 1836 a med- ical society was organized, which was incorporated by a special act of the Legislature Jan. 25, 1837, under the name of the Medical Society of the State of Mis- souri. For some years its meetings were held monthly from May to November and semi-monthly from November to May, but after 1846 it virtually suspended. In 1850 a new organization was formed, which, under the name of the St. Louis Medical So- ciety, has done a good deal of valuable work and wielded a large influence. Its first officers were B. G. Farrar, M.D., president; Hardage Lane, M.D., vice-president ; B. B. Brown, M.D., recording secre- tary ; J. B. Johnson, M.D., corresponding secretary ; Y. D. Bolling, M.D., treasurer. The presidents since its first organization to the present time have been the following: B. G. Farrar, M.D., in the years 1836 and 1837; Hardage Lane, M.D., in 1838, '39, '43; Meredith Martin, M.D., in 1840, '42, '45, '65; William Beaumont, M.D., 1841 ; Stephen W. Adreon, M.D., 1844; Josephus W. Hall, M.D., 1846 ; R. P. Simmons, M.D., 1850; David Prince, M.D., 1851; George Engelmann, M.D., 1852; John Barnes, M.D., 1853; Thomas Reyburn, M.D., 1854, '57; John S. Moore, M.D., 1855; William M. McPhecters, M.D., 1856; E. H. McGintie, M.D., 1858; M. L. Lenton, M.D., 1859; S. T. Newman, M.D., 1860; M. M. Pallen, M.D., 1861 ; J. S. B. Alleyne, M.D., 1864; William Johnston, M.D., 1866; A. Hammer, M.D., 1867; Edward Mont- gomery, M.D., 1868; John H. Walters, M.D., 1869; John T. Hodgen, M.D., 1870 ; E. H. Gregory, M.D., 1871; E. F. Smith, M.D., 1872 ; Francis G. Porter, M.D., 1873; G. Hunt, M.D., 1874; J. M. Scott, M.D., 1875 ; G. M. B. Maughs, M.D., 1876; T. F. Prewitt, M.D., 1877; Thomas Kennard, M.D., 1878 ; L. Ch. Boislinière. M.D., 1879 ; H. H. Mudd, M.D., 1881; William Dickinson, M.D., 1882; and William L. Barret, M.D., 1883.

It is a somewhat remarkable fact that two of the greatest men in the profession that the medical society has numbered among its members never occupied the president's chair, viz. : Dr. Joseph N. McDowell and Dr. Charles A. Pope, the former being a skilled surgeon and the founder and for thirty years the dean of the first medical college established west of the Mississippi River, the latter a most skillful and

expert surgeon and for nearly thirty years Professor of Surgery in the St. Louis Medical College.

The St. Louis Medical Society, like all such or- ganizations, has liad its times of special interest and profit and its periods of depression and little value. At times its meetings have been fully attended, papers of interest and scientific value have been presented, and discussions liave taken place which attracted the attention of physicians throughout this section of country. At other times its halls have been the scene of heated and bitter wrangling, mutual recrimi- nation, charges and counter-charges of professional discourtesy or of unprofessional conduct. On one or two occasions the bitter animosities and differences of opinion growing out of personal antagonism between members have nearly wrecked the society; but the faithful work of some loyal members has kept it alive, and it still continues to be a valuable and profitable organization. Its meetings have been regularly held on Saturday evening of every week.

For a number of years in the early history of the St. Louis Medical and Surgical Journal, abstract reports of the meetings of the Medical Society were published in that journal. For several years now full reports, taken by a short-hand reporter and revised by a committee on publication, have formed a considerable and valuable part of the Journal's contents. The meetings of the society were held in 1835 in Masonic Hall, in 1850 at Westminster Church, afterwards in a hall at the corner of Fourth and Chestnut Streets, then in the commercial school, then for a time in the office of Drs. Jordan and Shumard. When the Academy of Science had its building at Seventh and Myrtle Streets, adjoining the St. Louis Medical College, the building erected by Col. O'Fallon, the Medical Society held its sessions in the Academy Hall. After the burning of that building, arrangements were soon made by which the society meetings have been held at the Polytechnic Building, at Seventh and Chestnut Streets, in a room well adapted for the purpose. One valuable feature of the society is the arrangement made some years ago with the Public School Library, by which the society turns over to the library the membership fees of three dollars per annum for four years, thus se- curing to the members not only the usual privileges of membership during that time, but also a life-member- ship ticket after that time, the library agreeing to expend all money so received for medical publications under the direction of the library committee of the Medical Society.

Any reputable regular practitioner resident in the city of St. Louis is eligible for membership in this society. Application for membership may be made

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THE MEDICAL PROFESSION.

in writing by the party seeking admission, or verbally by some member. The application is referred to the committee on elections, to whom must be exhibited the diploma of the applicant. A favorable report of this committee is equivalent to an election, although formally a favorable vote of three-fourths of the mcm- bers present is necessary in order to constitute an ap- plicant a member. An admission fec of five dollars is required, and a payment of dues to the amount of three dollars each year thereafter. The present mem- bership of the society is not far from one hundred and seventy-five.

The officers of the society for 1883 arc : President, William L. Barret, M.D .; Vice-President, G. F. Dud- ley, M.D .; Recording Secretary, A. H. Ohmann- Dumesnil, M.D .; Corresponding Secretary, Garland Hurt, M.D .; Treasurer, W. E. Fischel, M.D.

THE GERMAN MEDICAL SOCIETY (" Deutsche Med- icinische Gesellschaft") was organized in 1850. The society subscribes to the leading European medical journals, and these circulate among the members ac- cording to a definite plan. The membership is lim- ited to twenty-five. The society has accumulated a large library. The present officers are Dr. G. Baum- garten, president ; Dr. Hugo Kinner, secretary ; Dr. W. E. Fischel, treasurer ; Dr. George J. Engelmann, librarian.

THE ST. LOUIS MEDICO-CHIRURGICAL SOCIETY was first organized in 1873 under the name of the Medical Club, as a result of a state of affairs in the St. Louis Medical Society, which had led a consider- able number of members to cease attending its ses- sions. There is no permanent presiding officer of this society, somc member being chosen at each meet- ing to preside on that occasion. The secretary, treas- urer, and librarian each serve one year. The present officers are George Homan, M.D., secretary ; J. P. Kingsley, M.D., treasurer; W. A. Hardaway, M.D., librarian.

When first organized tlie club met in a hall at Twelfth and Pine Streets, then for several years in the directors' room of the Mercantile Library Asso- ciation. Later, when an arrangement was made to subscribe regularly for the most valuable European journals, the meetings were held statedly at the office of the librarian ; but as the membership of the so- ciety increased and the value of the journal list be- came more apparent, it was deemed best to secure permanent quarters for the meetings of the society and for a reading-room. Accordingly, a convenient hall was secured in a most desirable location on Wash- ington Avenue near Jefferson Avenue. This has been fitted up with comfortable chairs, cases for

books and periodicals, tables for reading and writing, etc. Already the nucleus of a valuable library has been collected through gifts of members and by an arrangement with the Medical Journal and Library Association, by which the exchanges of the Courier of Medicine and the books received by that journal for review are deposited in this room, and are at the disposal of its members.

The following is an alphabetical list of the mem- bers of this society: G. Baumgarten, L. Ch. Bois- linière, J. K. Bauduy, John P. Bryson, C. E. Briggs, N. B. Carson, C. O. Curtman, D. V. Dean, J. O'F. Delaney, George Engelmann, George J. Engelmann, W. E. Fischel, W. H. Ford, W. A. Frazier, R. M. Funkhouser, E. H. Gregory, E. C. Gehrung, D. C. Gamble, W. C. Glasgow, A. A. Henske, B. M. Hypes, T. E. Holland, W. A. Hardaway, George Homan, J. B. Johnson, E. W. Jamison, W. C. Ken- nett, J. P. Kingsley, A. P. Lankford, James M. Leete, E. S. Lemoine, I. N. Love, E. Montgomery, J. M. B. Maughs, C. E. Michel, S. G. Moses, G. A. Moses, H. H. Mudd, M. P. Morrell, E. M. Nelson, R. J. O'Reilly, T. F. Prewitt, T. L. Papin, S. Pollak, M. H. Post, P. G. Robinson, E. W. Saunders, P. V. Schenck, James M. Scott, A. B. Shaw, H. N. Spen- cer, I. G. W. Steedman, A. J. Steele, F. L. Stuever, H. Tuholske, C. A. Todd, O. A. Wall, B. T. Whit- more.

Applicants for membership must be recommended by two members. The name is referred to the execu- tive committee, and posted for two weeks in the hall of the society. If the executive committee report favorably upon the application tlie name comes before the society, all the member's having been notified by postal card of the election. Two adverse ballots ex- clude an applicant from membership. No physician is eligible for membership in this society until after having practiced medicine in the city for a period of at least two years. The admission fee is ten dollars, and the annual dues are the same amount. The meetings of the society are held on alternate Tuesday evenings throughout the year, and the discussions are regularly reported in the St. Louis Courier of Medi- cine A paper is read at each meeting by some mem- ber of the society, the order of reading being deter- mined by lot.

THE ST. LOUIS OBSTETRICAL AND GYNECOLOGI- CAL SOCIETY was organized in 1877. Meetings are held on the third Thursday evening of each month, except July and August. Papers arc read by the members in turn, and discussions follow upon the paper or verbal reports of cases. The discussions are taken down by a short-hand reporter, and are pub-

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HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.

lished in the St. Louis Courier of Medicine, and have been generally regarded as of very considerable in- terest and value .. The meetings are held at the houses of the different members, and one fact that has had a pronounced influence in sustaining the interest and at- tendance upon the meetings has been the custom of adding a social to a scientific interest by the serving of a supper to the members after the regular busi- ness meeting has been concluded.

The officers of the society for the current ycar are T. L. Papin, M.D., president ; W. H. Ford, M.D., vice-president ; Walter Coles, M.D., recording secre- tary ; M. Yarnall, M.D., corresponding secretary ; T. F. Prewitt, M.D., treasurer.

The following list embraces the present membership of the society : W. L. Barret, L. Ch. Boislinière, W. Coles, George J. Engelmann, W. H. Ford, E. C. Gehrung, E. H. Gregory, G. M. B. Maughs, E. Mont- gomery, S. G. Moses, G. A. Moses, William McPhee- ters, T. L. Papin, T. F. Prewitt, and M. Yarnall. Drs. George Engelmann and Adolph Wislizenus are honorary members.

THE BEAUMONT MEDICAL CLUB was organized in April, 1879, by a number of the younger men of the profession, for the purpose of medical discussion and social intercourse. The meetings were held monthly for a couple of years, but have been discontinued of late. The first officers were I. N. Levi, M.D., presi- dent ; W. H. Frazier, M.D., secretary ; and George Homan, M.D., treasurer. The officers last elected were George Homan, M.D., president ; E. M. Nelson, M.D., secretary ; J. R. Lemen, M.D., treasurer.

THE SCIENTIFIC ASSOCIATION OF GERMAN PHYSICIANS (" Wissenschaftliche Verein Deutsche Aerzte") was organized in the fall of 1881. The so- ciety meets every other Friday, and at each meeting an essay is read, followed by discussion, pathological specimens are shown, cases presented, and the usual business routine gone through with. Every member is compelled to read an essay when his name is called in the alphabetical order. The society has commenced the formation of a library, for which there is already a respectable nucleus. The present membership num- bers twenty-one. There is no permanent president, the presiding officer being selected at each meeting. The secretary is Dr. George Richter ; Treasurer, Dr. Joseph Sprigelhalter ; Librarian, Dr. A. Alt.

Medical Schools .- The history of medical cduca- tion in St. Louis is an interesting chapter in the his- tory of the profession.

MISSOURI MEDICAL COLLEGE .- In 1840, when Joseph Nash McDowell came to St. Louis from Cin- cinnati, there was a literary institution west of the

city, where the old county farm lies just east of the insane asylum. Some of the original stone buildings of the college are still standing. This institution was incorporated with a university charter under the name of " Kemper College." It was established under the auspices of the Episcopal Church, and President Hutchinson was then at its head. Dr. McDowell set to work with enthusiasm, and organized a faculty of medicine to work under the charter of this institu- tion and to be known as the Medical Department of Kemper College. The first course of lectures was delivered in the winter of 1840-41 by the following faculty : Joseph Nash McDowell, Professor of Anat- omy and Surgery ; John S. Moore, Professor of Obstet- trics and Diseases of Women and Children ; Josephus W. Hall, Professor of Theory and Practice of Medicine ; John De Wolf, Professor of Chemistry ; Hiram L. Prout, Professor of Materia Medica and Therapeu- tics.

These lectures were delivered in a building erected for the purpose on the high bank of Chouteau's Pond, at the corner of Ninth and Cerré Streets, where the Wainwright brewery now stands.

In 1847, Kemper College having failed, owing to the lack of financial backing, the Medical Depart- ment became the Medical Department of the State University, and was so conducted until the general organization of the State University, when a separate charter was procured, under which the college is now conducted as the Medical Department of the Missouri Institute of Science, more commonly known, however, as the Missouri Medical College.

The stone octagonal building on the corner of Eighth and Gratiot Streets was erected for the use of the college, and was occupied by it until the war, when it was confiscated by the United States government and used as a military prison. After the close of the war, when the faculty was reorganized, lectures were again delivered in the same building for three or four years. In 1874 a joint-stock company was formed for the purpose of erecting a new college building. The capital stock of this company amounted to fifty thousand dollars, most of which was taken by members of the faculty. The present site was pur- chased, and an excellent building erccted at the north- east corner of Lucas Avenue and Twenty-third Street, at a cost of twenty-five thousand dollars. During the last year the building has been improved and enlarged at an expense of fifteen thousand dollars.

The college is now in a most flourishing condition, with classes numbering between two hundred and three hundred each year. The faculty, as constituted at present, is as follows :

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THE MEDICAL PROFESSION.

William M. McPheeters, M.D., Emeritus Professor of Materia Medica and Therapeutics ; John S. Moore, M.D., Professor of Principles of Medicine and Hygiene; G. M. B. Maughs, M.D., Professor of Obstetries and Diseases of Women; P. Gervais Robinson, M.D., Professor of Practice of Medicine and Clinical Medicine; J. K. Bauduy, M.D., LL.D., Professor of Psycho- logieal Medicine, Diseases of Nervous System and Clinical Medi- cine; Charles E. Michel, M.D., Professor of Histology and Ophthalmology; H. Tuholske, M.D., Professor of Clinical Sur- gery and Surgical Pathology ; Otto A. Wall, M.D., Ph.G., Pro- fessor of Materia Medica, Therapeuties, and Pharmaey ; C. A. Todd, M.D., Professor of Anatomy and Diseases of the Ear and Throat ; J. P. Kingsley, M.D., Professor of Physiology and Clin- ical Professor of Diseases of Children; T. F. Prewitt, M.D., Dean, Professor of Principles and Practice of Surgery and Clinical Surgery ; C. O. Curtman, M.D., Professor of Chemis- try ; P. V. Sehenek, M.D., Clinical Teacher of Gynecology ; C. A. Todd, M.D., Demonstrator of Anatomy and Curator of Museum ; Justin Steer, M.D., Assistant Demonstrator; Ad- junets : A. B. Shaw, M.D., Adjunct to Professor of Clinical Medieinc and Leeturer on Physical Diagnosis ; F. Stuever, M.D., Adjunct to Professor of Ophthalmology; J. R. Lemen, M.D., Clinical Assistant to Chair of Surgery.

Hotel for Invalids .- In the summer of 1848 the upper stories of the large house situated on the cor- ner of Second and Walnut Strects, previously known as the Paul House, were fitted up as a " hotel for in- valids," which was conducted under the supervision of Drs. W. L. Barret and John S. Moore, of Mis- souri Medical College, as consulting physicians, and Drs. Frazier and Johnson, as resident physicians and surgeons.

Post-Graduate School of the Missouri Medical College .- The object of this school is to give practi- tioners of medicine and recent graduates facilities and advantages for special studies and practical instruction such as cannot be afforded in the ordinary courses of lectures. The faculty of tlic Post-Graduate School is constituted as follows :

Professor P. Gervais Robinson, M.D., Dean of the Faculty, Physical Diagnosis; Professor John S. Moore, M.D., Malarial Diseases ; Professor A. B. Shaw, M.D., Clinical Medicine; Pro- fessor A. P. Lankford, M.D., Surgery ; Professor H. Tuholske, M.D., Diseases of the Genito-Urinary Organs; Professor T. F. Prewitt, M.D., Surgery ; Professor T. L. Papin, M.D., LL.D., Diseases of Women; Professor George J. Engelmann, M.D., Secretary of the Faculty, Operative Midwifery ; Professor J. P. Kingsley, M.D., Diseases of Children ; Professor Charles E. Michel, M.D., Diseases of the Eye; Professor II. N. Spencer, M.D., Diseases of the Ear; Professor W. A. Hardaway, M.D., Diseases of the Skin; Professor O. A. Wall, M.D., Ph.G., Urinology.

The school was organized in 1880 under the charter of the Missouri Medical College, and its classes are held in the building of that college.

ST. LOUIS MEDICAL COLLEGE .- In 1836, after frequent consultations between the trustces of tlie St. Louis University on the one hand and the St. Louis Medical Society on the other, an agreement was entered

into for the appointment of a medical faculty in connec- tion with the university. A constitution was prepared and ratified by both parties, and the Medical Society selected as the first faculty Drs. C. J. Carpenter, J. Johnson, William Beaumont, E. H. McCabe, H. Lane, and H. King. A prospectus of the medical lectures was published annually with that of the literary department of the university, but the medical depart- ment was not actually put into operation until the fall of 1842. In the mean time (in 1841) the St. Louis Medical College had been organized, and in 1842 it was chartcred as the Medical Department of the St. Louis University. In 1855 it became inde- pendent, and was incorporated under its present name, incorporators being John O'Fallon, James H. Lucas, Luther M. Kennett, James Clemens, A. L. Mills, Trusten Polk, G. Penn, W. G. Eliot, James E. Yeatman, J. Laughton, Thomas Allen, and H. D. Bacon.

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History of Saint Louis City and County, from the earliest periods to the present day: including biographical sketches of representative men, Part 120

Author: Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas), 1843-1898 Publication date: 1883 Publisher: Philadelphia : L.H. Everts Number of Pages: 1358

Author: Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas), 1843-1898
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Philadelphia : L.H. Everts
Number of Pages: 1358