History of Saint Louis City and County, from the earliest periods to the present day: including biographical sketches of representative men, Part 126

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 126

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The dental school, however, was a separate organiza- tion, and managed its own business concerns, the occu-

pants of the medical chairs named above being also mem- bers of the dental faculty. The theory upon which the school was founded was that the proper basis of a dental education was the same as of a medical educa- tion ; that a knowledge of anatomy, physiology, chem- istry, materia medica, and surgery was necessary in both ; that the best possible opportunity for obtaining a knowledge of these branches was found in a medical school, and that the special instruction should com- mence where the divergence from the courses in general medicine took place which led to the studies that were required by the special dental practitioner. The impor- tance of this " new departure" will be more clearly ap- preciated when we turn for a moment to the history of the dental schools which have been subsequently established.

A few years after the Missouri School had com- menced its operations, the Harvard Dental School was established upon a similar basis in connection with the Medical Department of Harvard University, another essentially upon the same principle at Ann Arbor in connection with the Medical Department of Michigan University, and soon another connected with the Medical Department of the University of Pennsylvania, at Philadelphia, besides schools con- nected with medical colleges and essentially upon the same plan established at Indianapolis, Iowa City, Kansas City, Chicago, and San Francisco. Since then a majority of the dental colleges in this country have followed to a greater or less extent the example set them by the Missouri Dental College. The high prices charged for admission to the Missouri School, together with the rigid examinations to which stu- dents are subjected before they can obtain a degree, are not favorable to the production of large classes, but no school has turned out a larger proportion of good operators or more judicious practitioners than this. The first faculty of the Missouri Dental College was made up of the incumbents of the five chairs of the St. Louis Medical College mentioned before, while the three special chairs were filled by Drs. Henry E. Peebles and William H. Eames, and Dr. Homer Judd, who was also dean of the faculty.

The first president of the college was Dr. Isaiah Forbes, who filled that position for fifteen years. His successor, the present incumbent, is H. H. Mudd, M.D. The present dean is H. H. Mudd, M.D. The first secretary was Frank White, M.D. ; the present secretary and treasurer have already been named.

The faculty is constituted as follows : Isaiah Forbes, D.D.S., Emeritus Professor of Institutes of Dental Science ; A. Litton, M.D., Professor of Chemistry and Pharmacy ; J. S. B. Alleyne, M.D., Professor of Ther-

1570

HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.

apeutics and Materia Medica ; G. Baumgarten, M.D., Professor of Physiology ; H. H. Mudd, M.D., Pro- fessor of Anatomy; W. H. Eames, D.D.S., Professor of Institutes of Dental Science ; A. H. Fuller, M.D., D.D.S., Professor of Operative Dentistry ; W. N. Mor- rison, D.D.S., Professor of Mechanical Dentistry ; J. G. Harper, D.D.S., Demonstrator of Operative Den- tistry ; C. Mathiason, D.D.S., Demonstrator of Me- chanical Dentistry ; J. Friedman, M.D., Demonstrator of Chemistry ; H. H. Mudd, M.D., Demonstrator of Anatomy.

The new infirmary erected one year ago, in eon- nection with the dispensary of the medical college, affords every facility for practical laboratory work ; and a dental elinic has been organized, which has already become a valuable means of instruction, be- sides affording relief to a large number of eliarity patients.

The curriculum is so arranged that the dental stu- dent can, by the study of a few additional subjects, put himself in a position to enter, at the completion of his dental course, the third or senior class of the St. Louis Medical College, and eventually obtain the degree of Doctor of Medicine by one additional year's work.

In 1869 the Missouri Dental Journal made its first appearance. It differed somewhat from other dental journals in that each number was divided into three separate departments, each one of which was under the supervision of one or more members of the edi- torial corps. It was hoped that by this method each department would receive adequate attention, and that none would be neglected, as had too often been the case with the older journals. The success of the Missouri Dental Journal in finding favor with the profession was demonstrated by the rapid increase in the number of its subscribers, as in a few years its patrons were found in nearly every State in the Union, as well as in South America, Europe, Asia, and clse- where. The Journal was edited by Dr. Homer Judd, assisted iu the operative department by Drs. Henry S. Chase and Edgar Park, and by William H. Eames and William N. Morrison in the mechanical depart- ment.

Most prominent as an inventor of useful imple- ments in the profession of St. Louis stands the name of Dr. James Morrison, the senior member of the former firm of Morrison Brothers. After practicing a few years in St. Louis, he turned his attention to the con- struction of dental chairs and other dental appliances. He went to England, where he remained six years, during which time he invented and patented a dental chair, which was admirably adapted to meet the wants

of the dental practitioner. He then returned to St. Louis, and from 1869 to 1873 was engaged in con- structing an iron chair, for which it is elaimed that it has the greatest range of motions of any chair brought out before or since, and which is now in very general use. His next effort was to construct a dental engine, by means of which a rotary motion could be conveyed to a variety of instruments from a fixed lathe, making use of a flexible shafting and jointed arm, with belts and pulleys, in order to enable the operator to use the engine in his operations within the mouth. This effort was a complete success, and a dental engine constructed essentially upon the Morrison plan is now considered an almost indispensable appliance in every dental office. Seven different patents were obtained by Dr. Morrison upon his various improvements. Dr. William N. Morrison claims to have constructed the first gold crown of a tooth from heavy plate gold, and he has also been much interested in testing the feasi- bility of replanting and transplanting teeth, which has attracted considerable attention during the last ten or twelve years in this country.

Dr. Bowman has been quite prominent among the dentists of the West as an earnest advocate of the use of gutta-percha dissolved in chloroform for filling pulp canals, especially when the canals are very small.

Dr. Homer Judd, whose name figures prominently in the history of the dental profession of St. Louis, was born at Otis, Berkshire Co., Mass., March 29, 1820, the son of Asa and Ada Judd. The Judd family emigrated to Massachusetts from England at an early period, and a genealogical record of the family has been published which embraces more than eighteen hundred names, and extends down to the year 1845. Dr. Judd's father, Asa Judd, was a farmer of respectable standing, and represented his town several years in the General Assembly of Massa- chusetts. Homer attended the common schools of the neighborhood, and afterwards enjoyed the higher advantages of Lee and Worthington academies. In 1847 he graduated from the Berkshire Medical Col- lege at Pittsfield, Mass. He was a good student both at the academies and at college, and in addition to the Greek and Latin learned during his scholastic course, has since acquired a knowledge of the French, Spanish, German, and Italian languages, and some acquaintance with Hebrew and Sanscrit. His tastes, in fact, have always had a literary cast, and he has spent much time in study and research.

Dr. Judd commenced the practice of medicine and dentistry at Ravenna, Ohio, but after two years' resi- dence at that place he removed to Santa Fé, New Mexico, and was the first professional dentist to fill

1571

THE MEDICAL PROFESSION.

a tooth in that Territory. After remaining there one summer he returned to Ohio, and subsequently moved to Warsaw, Ill., where he praetieed medieine and dentistry for twelve years. At Warsaw he served as a member of the school board for several years, and one year as superintendent of the publie sehools. In 1847 he beeame a member of the Independent Order of Odd-Fellows at Ravenna, Ohio, passed through the chairs of his lodge at Warsaw, and was chosen as its representative to the Grand Lodge which met at Chi- cago in 1859. He then removed to St. Louis, where for many years he was actively engaged in the prae- tiee of dentistry, and was looked up to as one of the leaders in his profession. Dr. Judd has been ealled upon by his brethren to fill a number of important positions, among them those of president of the Ameri- can Dental Association, Missouri State Dental Asso- eiation, and St. Louis Dental Society, dean of the Missouri Dental College for seven years, and editor of the Missouri Dental Journal for five years.

During the civil war he served as aeting assisting surgeon, United States army, on the hospital steamers running to Vieksburg; and after the battle of Shiloh, Dr. Judd offered his services and was employed as one of the four surgeons charged with the care of five hundred wounded soldiers on board a hospital steamer. His labors in this connection were so ar- duous that his health beeame impaired, and he was compelled to visit Minnesota for rest and reercation. Subsequently he was appointed surgeon of the For- tieth Regiment Missouri Volunteers, and served with them at the battles of Franklin, Nashville, and Spanish Fort. For some months after the elose of the war he remained in the service, being stationed at Huntsville, Ala. In August, 1865, he was honorably mustered out of service, and returned to St. Louis, where he resumed the practice of dentistry.

Dr. Judd now resides at Upper Alton, Ill., and is justly regarded as being one of the most distinguished men in his profession. He is a member of the American Medical Association, St. Louis Medieal Society, St. Louis Academy of Seience, American Dental Association, St. Louis Dental Soeicty, and various other associations, being also an honorary member of the California, Illinois, Iowa, Sixth Dis- trict of New York, and other dental societies. In Mareh, 1853, he was married, in Pittsfield, Ill., to Miss Emily F. Hodgen, of that place. They have had three children,-one son, who died at the age of six years, and two daughters.1

Public Health in St. Louis-the Epidemics of the City .- St. Louis has become a very healthy eity from a very unhealthy one, and this change, which has taken place sinee the adoption of a system of gen- eral drainage, is probably due to the fact that the porous underlying roek on which the eity stands is dry and permits foul matters and poisonous moistures to filter through it speedily. There seems to be a general consent of opinion as to the wholesomeness of the Mississippi River water for drinking purposes, and the climate of the eity, although changeable and sub- jeet to sudden and cxtreme periods of heat and eold, does not appear to be provocative of pulmonary affec- tions. Malarial and intestinal disorders have very generally been ameliorated with improved sewerage and good water, and these facts represent probably about the sum of the advantages which St. Louis has. over competing cities from a sanitary stand-point. Of course more is elaimed, as, for example, this, from a newspaper in April, 1880,-

" Dr. J. Berrien Lindsley, of Nashville, Tenn., member of the sanitary council of the Mississippi valley, asks the very perti- nent question, ' How is it that St. Louis is, by its mortality re- ports, shown to be the most healthful large city in the world ?'

" The question of Dr. Lindsley, so often asked, is certainly capable of an answer which will perfectly elucidate the causes, and it is worth being answered. In the first place, the geo- graphical position of the city favors its sanitation. Near the centre of a valley extending from the Northwest mountains to the Gulf of Mexico, traversed by an immense and rapidly- moving current of water, which occasions a constant series of atmospheric currents of frequent alternation and in velocity of from five to seventeen miles per hour, weekly mean, the pure, almost frosty air of the mountains sweeps to the gulf, alter- nating with the brcczes from that warm sea backwards to the north, thus preventing, as a usual thing, any prolonged season of very high or extremely low temperature. It is exceptional that we suffer from prolonged hot or cold seasons, although we may at times have to contend for a short space with both ex- tremes. While this constant aerial movement tempers the at- mosphere, it serves also to remove constantly the exhalations of a large city, replacing the foul with fresh air, which, by our system of streets and alleys, permeates every nook of our domiciles.

" Our strectage is in excess of any other city. The squares or blocks are small, few larger than three hundred fect square, each square or block intersected by broad paved alleys, which secure frec ventilation to the rear of all dwellings.

"Secondly, the topographical features of the city are, in the main, most favorable both to underground artificial and surface natural drainage. From the river-front westward the ground rises in gradually increasing series of undulations, the surface of porous clay resting, at varying depths, upon a limestone sub- stratum. The elevations permit of an admirable system of sew- age, which extends to a length of about two hundred miles (the last official report is 195.26 miles), being daily extended. The law requires, and the requirement is complied with, that every house shall be connected with the sewer wherever it can be reached, so that with few exceptions, and these in the outskirts of the city, all foul matter is washed directly to the river by

1 The above sketch of Dr. Judd was prepared by a friend of that gentleman, at the request of the author of this work.

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HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.

twenty-five million gallons of water, which is daily furnished by the water-works, in addition to the varying rainfall.

" The natural drainage is favored by our lack of what is called good paving, the loose macadam allowing rapid penctra- tion to the porous clay, through which the water finds ready un- derground access to the neighboring streams. Besides favoring water drainage, the configuration of the city site, as shown by a physician of the city, favors another very important drainage in the form of surface air-currents, diurnal, and especially noc- turnal, when the heavier air, falling to the ground, occasions movements which simulate those of fluids, creating, even with- out wind, constant change, as the heavier atmosphere, sink- ing toward the lower outlets, is replaced by the lighter, newer air. St. Louis has no need for crowding its popu- lation, and does not. There are no underground tenements, those lurking-places and breeding-nests of diseased minds, morals, and bodies, and indeed but very few above-ground tenements such as most large cities are cursed with. Thou- sands of the laboring class own their homes, and, with few exceptional localities, dense crowding is unknown, and even then it does not compare with what is considered crowding in other cities.

" Another most important factor in causing good health is an abundance of water unequaled for healthfulness. It is a common joke for the citizens of the North and East to ridicule the hue that our drinking-water at times possesses, but it is a fact well known to seamen that no water throughout the world is as self-preservative as that which stains the blue waters of the gulf for miles beyond the jetties. A cask of Mississippi water may travel a year, and at the last be sweet, pure, and wholesome. It is consumed at the rate of more than fifty gal- lons per diem to each person, estimating the population at half a million."

To these things must be added good food, abundant, cheap, and various; a frugal working class, having good wages, steady and constant employment, tem- perate habits, and the domestic ways of the Germans, and thus securing a good degree of exemption from the nervous afflictions of the average American people.

The claim that a vastly improved condition of the public health of St. Louis has resulted from a more effective sanitary and drainage system is certainly substantiated by the results of the following tables, when we eliminate from them the vitiated figures which prove nothing whatever. It is to be observed that cach of the census years happens to be bad for comparison, showing a heavier mortality bill than the years preceding and succeeding it :

Year.

Population.

Mortality.

1847

47,974

24001

1848

2425 2

1849

63,471

8423

1850

74,438

4361

1853

84,116

3766

1855

95,542

5122

1856

121,813

3602

1857

126,266

3103

1858

135,355

4104

1859

143,800

4521

1860

153,800

5945

1861

5035

1 Eight months.

2 Eleven months.

Year.

Population.

Mortality.

1862

5866

1863

157,182

5744

1864.

164,456

6720

1865

178,690

5501

1866

204,327

9465

1867

216,477

6538

1868

250,000

5193

1869.

284,967

5884

1870

310,000

6670

1871.

350,000

5265

1872

375,000

S047

1873

400,000

8551

1874

435,000

6506

1875.

460,000

7532

1876

480,000

6019

1877.

500,000

5560

Here is the evidence of a very substantial, not to say remarkable improvement, and it accords with the development of the sanitary improvements. The re- turns of mortality statistics only begin in 1847, in which year we have the data for eight months, on the basis of which the deaths for twelve months that year were 3600 in a population of 48,000, in round numbers, equal to a rate of 75 in the 1000. In 1848 the rate was about 41.6 in a thousand ; in 1849 (the cholera year) it was 132.7 per thousand, or 13} in a hundred. In 1850 (reflex cholera year) the rate was 58.5; 1860, it was 38.5; 1870, for population returned, 21.5, for actual population, 26.67 ; 1880, the total was 7035 in a total of 350,000, equal to 20.1 per thousand. The steady and persistent ratio of amelioration is very apparent in these figures, in which, besides, we have presented the maximum of adverse circumstances and the minimum of popula- ţion.

The proper mortality statistics of St. Louis, as has been observed, do not begin until 1847, and we have only fragmentary data relating to antecedent periods, such as may be gleaned from the meagre chronicles and from the newspapers. The only great epidemic that has visited St. Louis was the cholcra in 1849, when the disease more than decimated the people. The cholera was severe also in 1866, and its effects were felt at two or three other dates. Of other epi- demics we have no certain data, but on several occa- sions a bilious form of malarial fever appears to have prevailed with great severity, and to have been very fatal. This was the case probably in 1821, and the Spanish garrison seems to have suffered considerably at times.

The smallpox has visited St. Louis at regular in- tervals, and once or twice has been epidemic. This seems to have been the case in 1801, which year is known in the annals of the village as " l'annee des picotés, or de la picoté" (year of the pitted, or smallpox year). There are no details of this visita- tion, but it was repeated several times, the Mississippi River providing a thoroughfare for its travel, such as

1573

THE MEDICAL PROFESSION.

this loathsome disease likes to take possession of. Inoculation began to be susperseded by vaccination about the time that St. Louis became an American town. In 1803 the doctors of Philadelphia had is- sued a circular to the whole profession, inculcating the virtue and duty of vaccination. That circular is as follows :

" PHILADELPHIA, April 12, 1803.

" We, the subscribers, physicians of Philadelphia, having carefully considered the nature and effects of the newly-dis- covered means of preventing, by vaccination, the fatal eonse- quenee of the smallpox, think it is a duty thus publiely to deelare our opinion that inoculation for the kine or eowpox is a certain preventive of the smallpox, that it is attended with no danger, may be practiced at all ages and seasons of the year, and we do, therefore, recommend it for general use. John Redman, A. Kuhn, Benjamin Rush, Benjamin Say, C. Wistar, Jr., John R. Coxe, S. F. Conover, E. Perkins, M. Leib, F. Pasealis, James Dunlap, T. T. Hewson, Charles Caldwell, W. P. Dewees, Isaae Sermon, J. P. Minniek, Adam Seybert, W. J. Jacobs, Isaac Cathrall, John Kmeele, J. C. Rousseau, Réné La Roche, Elijah Griffiths, G. F. Alberti, Joseph Strong, W. Shippen, Samuel Duffield, Thomas Parke, P. S. Physiek, S. P. Griffiths, J. Woodhouse, P. E. Glentworth, William Currie, John Porter, James Stuart, James Proudfit, James Gallaher, Thomas C. James, B. S. Barton, George Pfeiffer, William Barn- well, James Mease, John C. Otto, J. Reynolds, J. Church, A. Blayney, William Budd, Joseph Pfeiffer, Edward Cutbush."

" Philadelphia Dispensary .- The attending and consulting physicians have informed the managers 'that they had for these eighteen months past inoeulated for the eowpox, and found it mild, unattended with danger, and a full security against the smallpox, and expressing their wishes that the superior advantages of the eowpox may be fully experienced by the objects of this charity.' Therefore, Resolved, That we do entirely accord with the sentiments of the physicians, and earnestly recommend to the poor of the eity to embrace the means now offered of preserving themselves and families from a dangerous and loathsome disease by the newly-discovered and happy mode of inoculation for the eowpox, which will be daily performed by the physicians at the dispensary.

" Published by order of the board of managers,

"WM. WHITE, Prest.

" Aug. 25, 1803."

Not long after the establishment of the Missouri Gazette, as heretofore stated, Dr. Saugrain, the lead- ing physician of St. Louis, a man of great scientific attainments and liberal culture, published a card, offering his services in vaccination, and alluding to the above-quoted circular as if it were indeed (as it was) a convincing and final argument.

On the 30th of October, 1822, the Missouri Ga- zette published the following mortuary statistics of St. Louis, the first we have been able to come across :

Male adults ..

Female adults.

Children 28

"In the burying-grounds out of town :

Male adults 33

Female adults 11

Children

" From the hospital :

Age and sex not specified .. 4

Total 103

"It is worthy of remark that most of the adults buried in the Catholic churchyard were of an advanced age. Of twenty-five, the whole number, two, a man and his wife, were considerably over ninety, three over seventy, and several over sixty. It is observable also that a majority of burials in that ground were children.

"In the other burying-grounds it seems that almost the whole number of burials during the time above specified were of grown persons, and two-thirds of them males."

These are pretty good data, and they do not show by any means a good bill of health. The population of the town in 1822 did not exceed 4500. It was estimated at 4000 in 1820, and 103 deaths for seven months and a half means 165 deaths per annum, equal to 36.66 per 1000 of population.

On Aug. 20, 1823, was passed the first ordinance of the new city looking to an effectual mode of gath- ering the actual statistics of mortality. The title of this is sufficiently definite,-

" An ordinance to compel a report of the deaths in the eity of St. Louis." In this ordinance it was provided that every praetieing physician or association of physicians within the eity shall, on the Monday of each week during the months of June, July, August, September, and October, and the first day of every other month in each year, make a report in writing to the mayor of the eity of each death happening under his or their immediate notice, stating in such report as aeeurate as may be the disease or cause of death, age, sex, name, and length of residence of deceased within the city.

This was intended to give fuller effect to a previous health ordinance looking to the annual appointment of a health commissioner for each ward, " whose duty it shall be, under the direction and superintendence of the mayor, to watch over the health of the city, and to carry into effect" the various ordinances relat- ing to their functions.

In 1832 the cholera made its first appearance in this country, and after devastating the Eastern sea- board, traveled westward to the Mississippi. Its dreaded approach was not unheeded by the citizens of St. Louis, who, on September 10th of that year, convened in town-meeting, with the following result :

"Town-meeting, Monday evening, Sept. 10, 1832. Pur- suant to publie notice previously given, a large and respectable meeting of the citizens of St. Louis assembled at the town hall for the purpose of taking into consideration measures for elean- ing the eity, to avert as far as possible the dreadful disease ealled eholera.

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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 126

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