History of Saint Louis City and County, from the earliest periods to the present day: including biographical sketches of representative men, Part 124

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 124

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Medical Books .- The following list comprises the titles and authors of the medical books which have been written by St. Louis physicians so far as the editor has been able to ascertain them :

A Practical Treatise on Diseases of the Eye. By B. B. Carter, M.D. Edited, with additions and test-types,1 by John Green, M.D. Philadelphia : Henry C. Lea & Co., 1875.

Outlines of General Pathology.2 By M. L. Linton, M.D.

Lectures on Diseases of the Nervous System. By J. K. Bauduy, M.D. Philadelphia : J. B. Lippincott & Co., 1874.

Reports on Yellow Fever. By W. Hutson Ford, M.D. St. Louis : George O. Rumbold & Co., 1879.

1 Dr. Green's observations and writings on the subject of as- tigmatism have made his name known to the profession all through this country and in Europe as well.

? This work appeared first in the St. Louis Medical and Sur- gical Journal, under the title of Medical Essays, by L. After- wards they were reprinted in a volume, and a small edition published for the benefit of his classes.

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HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.

Prolapse of the Umbilical Cord, its Causation and Treatment.1 By George J. Engelmann, A.M., M.D., etc. New York : Wil- liam Wood & Co., 1874.

The Mucous Membrane of the Uterus, with Special Refer- ence to the Development and Structure of the Deciduæ.1 By George J. Engelmann, A.M., M.D. New York : William Wood & Co., 1875.

Labor among Primitive Peoples, showing the Development of the Obstetric Science of to-day from the Natural and Instinctive Customs of all Races, Civilized and Uncivilized, Past and Pres- cnt. St. Louis : J. H. Chambers & Co., 1882.

The Nurse and Mother. By Walter Coles, M.D. St. Louis : J. H. Chambers & Co., 1882.

Lectures on Orthopedic Surgery. By L. Bauer, M.D.

Diseases of the Ear. By A. D. Williams, M.D. Cincinnati, 1873.

Hygiene and Treatment of Catarrh. By Thomas F. Rumbold, M.D. St. Louis : George O. Rumbold & Co., 1881.

Essentials of Vaccination. By W. A. Hardaway, M.D. Chi- cago : Jansen, McClurg & Co.

Holmes' System of Surgery. American edition. Sections on Injuries of the Chest, by Alfred Poland; and Injuries of the Abdomen, by George Pollock. Edited by Dr. John T. Hodgen.

The American Encyclopedia of Medicine, now in course of publication by William Wood & Co., has articles on Measles and Roetheln, by Dr. W. A. Hardaway, and on Abortion and its Importance to the General Practitioner, by Dr. George J. Engelmann.

Specialties .- A noticeable feature in the history of the medical profession is the remarkable develop- ment of specialism within the past few years. The first department to be differentiated from the rest as a specialty was that concerned with diseases of the eye and ear, and for many years this was the only special department represented in St. Louis. Then the treat- ment of diseases of the throat became more and more prominent as a special branch of practice, and still later the treatment of discascs peculiar to women, of diseases of the skin, and of diseases of the genito- urinary organs has been made more or less distinctly the work of individuals whose peculiar skill or ad- vantages have qualified them as specialists in these departments. The men whose success and skill have so notably developed this tendency to specialism and whose namcs are identified with their several depart- Inents, in some cases with a national or even European reputation, are still among the active workers of the day. They are now making their records, and their fame is still increasing. They are not yet a part of the history of the profession, but when the time shall come in which it may be proper to commemorate their lives and work, it will be to the historian a pleasant task to note and record the eminent success and skill of a considerable number of St. Louis specialists.

In ending this brief sketch the writer is aware that

many readers will close the book in disappointment at not finding here the names of the middle-aged and younger men of the profession, who are doing the greater part of the practice and are wielding the strongest influence in the profession and among the laity, so far as matters medical are concerned, at the present time. But it has seemed to him that history deals with work done and records completed, and that a history of the medical profession in St. Louis has to do with the men now living and working here only so far as these men were associated more or less inti- mately with those whosc work is done, or as they are identified with institutions which may be considered permanent elements in the life of the city. In accor- dance with this view it has seemed to him best to leave unsaid much that might with truth and pleas- ure be said of men with whom he is daily in more or less intimate association, having full confidence that when the time shall come in which their lives shall be a part of the history of their city, able pens will be found to delineate those lives and set them in their proper places.

Homeopathy in St. Louis.2-The pioneer of homœopathy in Missouri was John T. Temple, A.M., M.D., who settled in St. Louis in 1844. Dr. Temple was a native of King William County, Va., and had a classical and collegiate education, obtained at Lex- ington, Va. He graduated in medicine at the Uni- versity of Maryland in 1824, and practiced in Wash- ington, D. C., until 1833, at which time he moved to Chicago, Ill., then a frontier post. In 1843, Dr. Temple became a convert to homœopathy, and in the following year, as stated, removed to St. Louis. In 1848. lie established the Southwestern Homeopathic Journal, which he maintained for two years, until he went to California, where he remained two years. In 1857 he assisted in founding the Homœopathic Med- ical College of Missouri, and was its dean and Professor of Materia Medica and Therapeutics until shortly before his death, which occurred in 1877. Dr. Temple was a skillful physician and worthy man, and was known among his fellow-practitioners in St. Louis as the " Nestor of homœopathy." He was a valuable con- tributor to the medical literature of the day, many of his articles being copied into foreign journals, and Was constantly on the alert to defend the cause of homœopathy. The next in order of arrival was Dr. Spaulding, who moved to St. Louis from Flatbush, N. Y., in 1846. He also was a convert to homœop- athy, a man of fine attainments, and an excellent physician. He died two years after his arrival.

1 These works are cited by all recent writers on gynecology and obstetrics as authorities on the subjects treated in them.

2 Written for this work by Dr. F. T. Knox, of St. Louis.

LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY "1 " AIDIS.

I. Griswold learnstock.

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THE MEDICAL PROFESSION.

During the same year four other homœopathists made St. Louis their home,-Dr. Ira Vail, from Ken- tucky, a fine physician, who remained only a short time, removing to New Orleans, where he obtained a large practice ; Dr. Steinestel, an accomplished scholar and excellent physician, who had a large practice, but died in 1849 of cholera; and Drs. Houghton and Hougli, partners, from Tennessee. Dr. Hough dicd of consumption in the following year, and Dr. Hough- ton removed to New York in 1853.

Dr. J. T. Vastine, a well-educated physician, came to St. Louis from Pennsylvania in 1849. He won many friends to homœopathy, and became a professor in the Homeopathic Medical College of Missouri. He died in 1872, greatly mourned and honored. He was succeeded in his practice by his son, Dr. Charles Vas- tine.

Dr. Thomas Griswold Comstock,1 next in order among thie homœopathic physicians of St. Louis, was born at Le Roy, Genesee Co., N. Y., July 27, 1828. His parents, Lee and Sarah Comstock, were natives of Lyme, Conn., and his mother was a lineal descend- ant (seventh generation) of one of the English Pilgrim familics that came over in the " Mayflower." His father was a soldier in the war of 1812, and his uncle, the late Dr. John L. Comstock, of Hartford, was the author of Comstock's "Philosophy," "Geology," " Chemistry," etc., standard text-books, which were popular in the schools of thirty years ago. He also served in thic war of 1812 as a surgeon.

Young Comstock, after finishing his education at Le Roy, removed to St. Louis, and studied medicine with the late Dr. J. V. Prather, one of the founders of the St. Louis Medical College, and its first Pro- fessor of Surgery. Dr. Prather resigned in 1847, and subsequently the late Dr. Pope received the ap- pointment. The present St. Louis Medical College was then the Medical Department of the St. Louis University. Under the tutelage of Professor Prather, Dr. Comstock entered the Medical Department of the St. Louis University, and in March, 1849, received the degree of Doctor of Medicine.

Immediately after graduation he began to investi- gate the merits of the homœopathic system of medi- cine, having formed the idea that in the treatment of some diseases it was superior to the " old school." In 1851 he went to Philadelphia, and having attended lectures, graduated at the Homœopathic Medical Col- lege of Pennsylvania.

He then returned to St. Louis and began practice, meeting with flattering success, but, regarding him-

self as still a student, he went to Europe a year later, and spent some time at the medical schools of Berlin, Prague, London, Paris, and Vienna. He remained two years at the University of Vienna, and was ad- mitted to the degree of Doctor of Midwifery after a rigorous examination before the faculty of Vienna, made in the German language.

In 1857, Dr. Comstock returned to St. Louis and resumed practice. Although he had adopted the homœopathic system, he became noted for his con- servatism, or, rather, a liberal eclecticism which will- ingly accepted all that seemed to be good in both schools.

During the late war he was appointed surgeon of the First Division of the enrolled militia of Missouri, but he declined the appointment. He has been at- tending physician of the Good Samaritan Hospital for twenty years, and at present is one of the con- sulting physicians. He is a frequent contributor to medical journals, and his writings are characterized by exceptional breadth and vigor.

The cares and responsibilities of a large practice do not appear to absorb him to the exclusion of affairs around him, and he exhibits a keen interest in . all movements for the benefit of the community. Among the enterprises which have elicited his warm sym- pathy and support are the Humane Society and the Citizens' Committee. In religion he is an earnest Episcopalian.

A friend of Dr. Comstock, who has known him inti- mately for many years, describes his character in the following words :

" He is a man of broad intellect and catholic views. Always liberal in thought, he exercises charity where differences begin. He has acquired various cultures, and made large attainments beyond the limits of his profession. Choice and rare objects of art have an unusual interest for him. The idea of beauty in all its forms scems to delight and fascinate him. The world would have lost a first-class physician, but would have gained in the fields of art had he chosen another profession. He possesses a choice library, probably the most extensive and costly of any physi- cian in St. Louis. It abounds in works not only in the mother tongue, but in learned volumes in Latin, French, German, and other languages, in all of which the doctor is very proficient. He is a man of wide and varied reading in every field of thought.

" As a physician, he stands very high. He could not be content with any abbreviated or partial course of study. He has made himself equally master of the allopathic and the homœopathic systems of prac- tice. He has not only an exact and exhaustive knowl-

1 Prepared by F. H. Burgess.

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HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.

edge of his chosen profession, but he also has what culture and science do not always give, a curious run of luck. It seems to follow him in all things. He belongs to that fortunate class of men to whom work and study come easily, and is able to indulge in culti- vated tastes and beautiful things. Feeling the need of rest and change, he consigns his patients to proper hands, drops all things, runs off to Europe, attends a course of lectures in London, Vienna, or Paris, gathers up the points of medical advancement there, and comes back as quietly as he went, and resumes an immense practice, and all his home work comes to him again. His ideal of a doctor seems to keep him a perpetual student.

" A full, rounded intellect, well developed, and well informed, characterizes the doctor. He enjoys society and clubs and art, but none the less close application to his professional and literary studies. In the very prime of life, there can be no reason why lie should not continue to grow intellectually, and in full ripe- ness of his years become one of the leading physicians in the West."

Although a general practitioner, his specialty in medicine is gynecology, and in this branch he has superior attainments and a large experience.

Homœopathy made steady progress from 1849 to 1857, during which time Drs. B. M. Peterson, D. R. Luyties, E. A. Fellerer, and others appeared on the scene.

It was in 1857 that the charter of the Homœo- pathic Medical College of Missouri was obtained by Drs. Temple and Peterson, and in this year also Dr. E. C. Franklin moved to St. Louis from Dubuque, Iowa. This gentleman was already well and favor- ably known in New York, San Francisco, Panama, and Iowa, but his fame has since become widespread as the " chief founder, teacher, and acknowledged authority in homœopathic surgery." It is due largely to his skill as a surgeon and instructor that homœo- pathic surgery has reached the proud place it now occu- pies. Dr. Franklin was converted to homœopathy by being himself cured by homœopathic remedies when all others had failed. In 1860 he was appointed demonstrator of anatomy in the Homnœopathic Medical College of Missouri. In 1861 he entered the United States army as surgeon ; in 1864 was ap- pointed to the chair of surgery in the Homeopathic Medical College of Missouri, and in 1867 publislicd "The Science and Art of Surgery." Soon after this Drs. Franklin, P. G. Valentine, and others succeeded in prevailing upon the city Board of Health to give the homcopaths a day to lecture in the City Hospital. In 1871, Dr. Franklin was appointed surgeon of the

Good Samaritan Hospital, and in 1876 became dean of the Homoeopathic Medical College of Missouri. In 1879 he received and accepted a call to a profes- sorship in the Michigan State University at Ann Arbor, where he now resides.

In 1858, Dr. William Tod Helmuth-another physician who has since won a national reputation- came to St. Louis from Philadelphia. At the age of twenty (in 1853) he graduated in medicine at the Homœopathic Medical College of Pennsylvania, and in two years thereafter was Professor of Anatomy in the same college, which position he held until he came West. In 1855 he published a work entitled " Surgery, and its Adaptation to Homeopathic Prac- tice," a late new edition of which is a large handsome volume, and is a text-book in the homœopathic colleges. In 1859 he was appointed to the chair of anatomy in the Homoeopathic Medical College of Missouri, and elected registrar of the faculty. He held the same chair until 1865, when he took the chair of theory and practice. About this time he visited Europe, and on his return, finding disagree- ments in the faculty of the college, he used his influ- ence in 1869 to aid the establishment of a new medi- cal school, to be called the St. Louis College of Homeopathic Physicians and Surgeons. In this new school he filled the chair of surgery until 1870, when he accepted a call to the chair of surgery in the New York Homoeopathic Medical College.

It would be impossible, in so brief a history of ho- mœopathy in St. Louis, to give a sketch of all the physicians, but no history would be valuable for ref- erence or correct in facts that did not allude to,one other physician, Dr. G. S. Walker.

George S. Walker1 was born June 19, 1820, in Allegheny County, Pa. His medical training was preceded by a thorough literary course in Jefferson College, Pennsylvania, from which institution he was graduated in 1844. This preliminary training doubt- less laid the foundation for those eminent attainments in literature and art by which he has been especially distinguished among the men of his profession, and which, while they adorn his domestic and social life, give added vigor, precision, and breadth to his medical opinions.

After leaving college he taught for two years in the academies of South Carolina and Georgia, thus con- firming and establishing his literary tastes and culture, while at the same time he was constantly exploring the field of professional knowledge. To enlarge and perfect his medical acquirements, he devoted the years

1 Prepared by F. H. Burgess.

G. J. Walker

LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS.

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THE MEDICAL PROFESSION.

of 1846-47 to attendance upon lectures in the schools of Philadelphia, and then began the practice of his profession near Pittsburgh. Soon, however, the gold fever of 1849 broke out, and Dr. Walker was one of its carliest subjects. Yielding to the prevailing excite- ment for profitable adventure, he became an " Argo- naut," and remained nearly three years on the Pacific coast. With a mind stored with reminiscences of the struggles of those exciting days, he returned to the States by the Isthmian route, entered upon another course of lectures in Philadelphia, and was graduated in 1852. In the previous autumn he had been mar- ried to Miss A. C. McKain, of Allegheny City, Pa., a lady whose high social qualities and varied accom- plishments, and especially her pure and cultivated taste in music and art, have long made her the delight and or- nament of the beautiful home over which she so grace- fully presides. Of the four children of this union but one survives, a promising boy, who inherits appar- ently his father's strength, energy, and fine mental balance, with his mother's refined and delicate tastes.

While visiting St. Louis, in April, 1852, Dr. Walker was so much impressed with its advantages as a field of professional labor that he determined to make it his home. He was then of the allopathic school in medicine, and so remained until 1860. The claims of homœopathy having been presented to his attention, he candidly investigated them and became satisfied of their validity. He did not conceal his convictions, and was summoned by his professional brethren to appear be- forc the medical society of which he was a prominent member and answer to the charge of infidelity to their faith. He replied in a defense which has be- come memorable as the vigorous protest of an inde- pendent mind, but, though unable to answer him, they " cast him out of their synagogue." This, however, was an unintentional kindness, for it resulted in plac- ing him at the head of the new school of medicine.

In May, 1861, Dr. Walker entered the United States army as surgeon of the Sixth Missouri Infantry Volunteers, but acted during the greater portion of luis service as brigade surgeon under Gen. Sherman.

He has held the chair of obstetrics, or gynecology, in medical colleges of the city for eleven years, occupying prominent official positions in the medi- cal societies of which he has been a member, and has repeatedly been elevated to the presidency of the Society of Homœopaths. He has also been president of the Western Academy and American Institute of Homœopathy, and an honored mem- ber of the American Medical Association (allopathic). In these places and relations his profound learning, his sparkling wit and genial humor, and above all

his great talents and accomplishments have made him of the first consideration, and responsibilities have de- volved upon him which were as honorable as they were onerous. He is a member of the Academy of Science of St. Louis, and takes a warm interest in all its pro- ceedings, notwithstanding the absorbing demands of a large and successful practice. He is also a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He was for some time associated with Dr. William Tod Helmuth in the editorial labors of the Homeopathic Observer, and with Dr. T. G. Com- stock in the conduct of the Occidental, medical jour- nals published in St. Louis. His lectures, addresses, and orations, of which a number are preserved in permanent form, have attracted the attention of first- class minds throughout the country.

Dr. Walker has a fine physique, is exceedingly fond of field sports, and devotes to them the brief intervals for recreation which lie is able to snatch from absorb- ing professional labor. He has purchased land near Lake Detroit, Minnesota, on which he is about to erect a cottage for summer resort, where, with his family and friends, he proposes to enjoy his few remis- sions from arduous professional toil.

A career of such unbroken success and distinction would seem to lack none of the conditions of happi- ness, but Dr. Walker is no exception to the common rule of life. Death has not spared his household treasures, and he has suffered much and keenly from their loss. He has, however, had the consolation in all his afflictions of the wide and generous sympathy of unnumbered friends.

With unimpaired mental and physical health and vigor, Dr. Walker is still devoted to the labors of his profession.

There are upwards of seventy-five homœopathic physicians in St. Louis, a few of whom are devoting their skill to specialties with marked success. Among the latter may be mentioned Drs. J. A. Campbell, oculist and aurist ; J. Martin Kershaw, mental and nervous diseases; and S. B. Parsons, surgery. Dr. Campbell, however, is the only one who has entirely given up general practice.

The first homœopathic pharmacy in St. Louis was established by Dr. Wessclhoeft, and the next by Dr. John T. Temple. Subsequently Dr. D. R. Luyties established one, which in 1859 passed into the hands of R. & H. Luyties. In 1861, H. C. G. Luyties, brother of the doctor, became its proprietor, and is still the owner of what has grown from small begin- nings to be one of the finest homœopathic pharma- cies in the West. Mr. Luyties edits and publishes a journal called the Homœopathic News.

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HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.

In 1867, John W. Munson opened Munson's Western Homœopathic Pharmacy. Under the suc- cessful management of Mr. Munson and his chief assistant, William F. Bockstruck, who is now a part- ner, this has also become one of the prominent phar- macies of the West. This pharmacy also publishes a journal called Munson & Co.'s Homeopathic Bul- letin.

HOMEOPATHIC MEDICAL COLLEGE OF MIS- SOURI .- On the 23d of November, 1857, the Gen- eral Assembly of Missouri passed an act to incorporate the Homeopathic Medical College of Missouri, lo- cated at St. Louis, and appointed the following trus- tees : John M. Wimer, George R. Taylor, Robert Renick, Samuel C. Davis, and Gen. Bernard Pratte. This charter was proposed and drawn up by Dr. John C. Morgan, and after revision was enacted through the combined influence of Drs. John T. Temple and H. B. Peterson, who were at that time the leading homœopathic physicians in St. Louis. In 1859, by invitation, several of the most prominent representa- tives of homœopathy in the West met in St. Louis to make arrangements for the establishment of a col- lege under the charter. In accordance therewith the following persons were appointed professors in tlie first faculty of the college : R. E. W. Adams, M.D., of Springfield, Ill., Professor of Theory and Practice of Medicine ; B. L. Hill, M.D., of Cleveland, Ohio, Professor of Institutes and Practice of Surgery ; J. Brainard, M.D., of Cleveland, Ohio, Professor of Chemistry and Medical Botany ; A. R. Bartlett, M.D., of Aurora, Ill., Professor of Physiology and General Pathology ; E. A. Guilbert, M.D., of Dubuque, Iowa, Professor of Obstetrics and Diseases of Women and Children ; John T. Temple, M.D., of St. Louis, Mo., Professor of Materia Medica ; and William Tod Hel- muth, M.D., of St. Louis, Mo., Professor of Anat- omy. The officers of the faculty were John T. Temple, dean, and William Tod Helmuth, registrar.

The calamity of civil war determined the board of trustees to close the doors of the college during the years of 1860, '61, '62, and '63. In 1864 lectures were renewed under more favorable auspices than during any of the foregoing sessions, and an entire change of organization was effected in the faculty by the appointment of resident professors. With but few changes in the faculty the college continued to prosper and had little to contend with until the fall of 1869, when, as has been previously mentioned, Dr. Helmuth organized the "St. Louis College of Homoeopathic Physicians and Surgeons," with almost an entirely new faculty.

The Homoeopathic Medical College of Missouri,

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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 124

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