The history of Camden county, New Jersey, Part 39

Author: Prowell, George Reeser, 1849-1928
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: Philadelphia : Richards
Number of Pages: 1220


USA > New Jersey > Camden County > The history of Camden county, New Jersey > Part 39


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The society keeps a careful guardianship over its county interests. It having been reported, in 1879, that the Board of Chosen Freehold- ers had inadvertently appointed an incompe-


tent man as resident physician of the County Insane Asylum, at a meeting held May 12th, of that year, Dr. James M. Ridge " moved the appointment of a committee to report what action is, in their opinion, advisable for this society to take in reference to the ap- pointment." Doctors James M. Ridge, Alexander Marcy, N. B. Jennings, D. Ben- jamin, E. B. Woolston, D. P. Pancoast and H. Genet Taylor were appointed. At the next meeting of the society, held November 11th, of that year, the committee reported that they had held a meeting npon June 4th, and had appointed a sub-committee, consist- ing of Doctors D. Benjamin aud O. B. Gross, to attend the meeting of the committee of the Board of Freeholders at Blackwood, and that the latter had superseded the late medi- cal incumbent, and had appointed Dr. Jona J. Comfort, a former member of the society, as resident physician of the Insane Asylum. It also recommended that a number of phy- sicians, members of the society, be appointed to visit the asylum, in order that it might be more properly under their inspection. A vote of thanks was tendered to Director Isaac Nicholson, of the Board of Freeholders, and to the members connected with him, for their assistance in procuring the desired change. Dr. Henry E. Branin, of Blackwood, at present has charge of the County Asylum and Almshouse.


A notable feature of the meetings of the Caniden County Medical Society is the social gathering which accompanies them. The hour of assembling was, at one time, twelve o'clock, noon, but now it is eleven A.M. After the business is disposed of, a collation is par- taken of, at the expense of the society. It is the custom to invite to these a number of distinguished physicians from other places, who have previously joined in the discussions upon scientific and medical subjects, and have given the members the benefit of their knowl- edge and experience. The meetings have always been held at hotels, where suitable ac-


250


HISTORY OF CAMDEN COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.


commodations could be obtained. As was previously stated, the first two were held at the house of Joseph C. Shivers, in Haddon- field. The next meeting was held at the hotel of Israel English, at the foot of Coop- er Street, and when Mr. English became the landlord of the West Jersey Hotel, the so- ciety followed him to it. Between 1855 and 1857, inclusive, they were transferred to the hotel of James Elwell, at the foot of Bridge Avenue. This building has been demolished, and the site is now occupied by the offices of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company. The annual meeting of June 21, 1859, was held at the hotel at Ellisburg, then kept by Stacy Stockton. Returning to the West Jersey Hotel, this continued to be the favorite place until the retirement of Mr. English as hest. Mr. Samuel Archer, who then kept the old house at Cooper's Point, having offered to provide a suitable entertainment, and tlie Camden and Atlantic Railroad Company proffering the use of their rooms adjoining, for meeting purposes, the society met there from 1873 to 1880. Since then the meetings have been held three times at Gloucester (Buena Vista House and Thompson's Ho- tel), but otherwise at the West Jersey Hotel.


The expenses incurred by the society were met by an assessment upon each member for a pro-rata share of them, until the death of Dr. R. M. Cooper, in 1874. In his will, which was dated April 28, 1874, and pro- bated June 4th, of the same year, was the following clause, " I give and bequeath to the Camden County District Medical Society, of which I have been a member since its commencement, the sum of three thousand dollars, to be invested by the said Society in the loans of the United States, the State of New Jersey, or the City and County of Cam- den or some other public loan, and the in- terest of said sum to be used by the said So- ciety in the payment of the expenses ordina- rily incurred by the said Society. In case


my executors should think proper to pay said legacy in any securities belonging to my estate, bearing interest at their market value, I do authorize and direct them to pay said legacy in such securities instead of cash." To accept of this legacy, the society, at a meeting held May 10, 1875, determined to appoint two trustees, one for one year and one for two years, who, with the treasurer, should constitute a board of finance. These were elected the succeeding year, and were Dr. John V. Schenck for two years, Dr. Thomas F. Cullen for one year, and Dr. Isaac B. Mulford, treasurer. Dr. Cooper's executors set aside three one thousand dollar seven per cent. bonds of the West Jersey Railroad Company, which were left with, and are still in the possession of, John W. Wright, who is one of them, who pays the interest as it becomes due.


The New Jersey State Medical Society has three times met as the guests of the Camden Connty Society. The first time in 1849, when the semi-annual meeting of the former society convened at Elwell's Hotel, on November 13th of that year. The annual meeting, in January, 1864, was held in Camden, at Mor- gan's Hall, on the corner of Fourth and Mar- ket Streets. The reception committee were Drs. R. M. Cooper, T. F. Cullen, J. V. Schenck, O. H. Taylor and A. D. Woodruff. They found great difficulty in finding hotel accommodations for members, some of whom had to go to Philadelphia to secure them. The expenses incurred by the committee were paid by Dr. R. M. Cooper out of his private funds.


In the year 1874 Atlantic City had become a favorite seaside resort, with several hotels each large enough to accommodate the whole State Society. There being no medical soci- ety in Atlantic County, it was determined by the Camden County Society to invite the first-named society to hold their next annual meeting there. A committee, consisting of Drs. J. W. Snowden, J. V. Schenck, J. Or-


251


A HISTORY OF MEDICINE AND MEDICAL MEN.


lando White, I. B. Heulings, J. R. Stevenson and T. F. Cullen, was appointed to make preparatious. The meeting was held May 25, 1875. It was memorable for several rea- sons. It was the first time a county society had ever selected a place outside of its own jurisdiction to entertain its parent society. The Camden and Atlantic Railroad Company provided, free of expense, a special train to convey delegates and invited guests both ways, issuing tickets good for three days, on any train.


As far as is known, this was the first instance in the United States where a railroad had offered such a courtesy to any body of medical men. For several years a few of the members had been accompanied by their wives and daughters to these meetings of the State Society, which hold for two days. As the families of physicians enjoy but few op-


portunities to join them in a holiday excur- sion, it was determined by the committee to offer the greatest inducements for the ladies to accompany the delegates to Atlantic City. Invitations were issued for them to attend and to partake of a banquet, which the Cam- den County Society had ordered for the eve- ning, and the minutest details of the shortest route to Camden and thence to the seaside were furnished them. The attendance, es- pecially of ladies, was larger than it had ever been at any previous meeting. The State Society, however, passed a resolution prohib- iting any county society from providing any banquet in the future, because of the burden it would entail on poorer societies. The cit- izens of Atlantic City did all in their power to give pleasure to their guests.


Members of the Camden County Medical Society since its organization,-


Date of admission.


Name.


Year of graduation.


College where graduated.


Remarks.


1846


Jacob P. Thornton


1828


University of Pennsylvania


Removed West.


1846


Richard M. Cooper.


1839


University of Pennsylvania


Died May 24, 1874.


.1846


James C. Risley.


1844


Jefferson Medical College.


Died Nov: 26, 1866,


1846


Charles D. Hendry.


1832


University of Pennsylvania


Died April 29, 1869.


1846


Othniel H. Taylor.


1825


University of Pennsylvania


Died Sept. 5, 1869.


1846


Isaac S. Mulford.


1822


University of Pennsylvania


Died Feb. 17, 1873.


1847


A. D. Woodruff ..


1844


Jefferson Medical College


Died Jan. 1881.


1847


Bowman Hendry


1846


Jefferson Medical College


Died June 8, 1868.


1847


Daniel M. Stout.


1847


Jefferson Medical College


Present member.


1847


Benj. W. Blackwood


1828


University of Pennsylvania


Died Jan. 19, 1866.


1848


John .V. Schenck


1847


University of Pennsylvania


Died July 25, 1882.


1848


Edward J. Record.


1848


Jefferson Medical College


Expelled.


1849


John W. Snowden.


1844


University of Pennsylvania


Present member.


1849


John J. Jessup.


1848


Jefferson Medical College


Died 1852.


1849


Robt. M. Smallwood.


1849


University of Pennsylvania


Died Feb. 8, 1856.


1850


Jacob Grigg


1843


University of Pennsylvania


Removed to Burl'n Co.


1850


Thos. F. Cullen


1844


University of Pennsylvania


Died Nov. 21, 1878.


1850


Sylvester Birdsell.


1848


Jefferson Medical College


Died May 29, 1883.


1851


Ezekial C. Chew.


1843


Jefferson Medical College


Removed West.


1852


B. Fullerton Miles.


1852


Jefferson Medical College


Removed.


1854


G. W. Bartholomew


1853


University of Pennsylvania


Expelled.


1854


Richard C. Dean


1854


Jefferson Medical College


Honorary member.


1859


Henry Ackley


1858


Jefferson Medical College


Died Dec. 1, 1865.


1860


H. Genet Taylor


1860


University of Pennsylvania


Present member.


1860


Henry E. Branin


1858


Jefferson Medical College


Present member.


1863


J. Gilbert Young.


1862


University of Pennsylvania


Honorary member.


1863


John R. Stevenson


1863


University of Pennsylvania .


Present member.


1864


Alex. Marcy


1861


University of Pennsylvania


Present member.


1866


Joseph F. Garrison


1845


University of Pennsylvania


Honorary member.


1866


James M. Ridge ...


1852


University of Pennsylvania


Present member.


1866


Jonathan J. Comfort.


1859


Jefferson Medical College


Removed.


1857


N. B. Jennings.


1856


Jefferson Medical College


Died April 17, 1885.


1857


W. G. Thomas


1854


Pennsylvania Medical College


Died Aug. 17, 1858.


252


HISTORY OF CAMDEN COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.


Date of admission.


Name.


Year of graduation.


College where graduated.


Remarks.


1867


Peter V. Schenck.


1860


University of Pennsylvania


Died March 12, 1885. Present member.


1867


H. A. M. Smith


1864


Jefferson Medical College


1867


Alex. M. Mecray


1863


University of Pennsylvania


Present member.


1867


J. Newton Achuff.


1867


Jefferson Medical College


Died.


1867


T. J. Smith


1866


University of Pennsylvania


Removed in 1868.


1867


John M. Sullivan.


1858


Jefferson Medical College


Removed.


1868


J. Orlando White


1868


University of Pennsylvania


Present member.


1870


I. W. Hewlings


1869


Jefferson Medical College


Honorary member.


1870


Randall W. Morgan


1870


University of Pennsylvania


Died Oct. 20, 1884.


1871


J. W. Mccullough


1860


Jefferson Medical College


Died March 5, 1881.


1871


John R. Haney


1861


University of Pennsylvania


Present member.


1871


D. Parrish Pancoast.


1859


University of Pennsylvania


Present member.


1871


R. B. Okie.


1870


University of Pennsylvania


Removed to Penna.


1871


Isaac B. Mulford.


1871


University of Pennsylvania


Died Nov. 21, 1882.


1871


Thomas Westcott ..


Resigned.


1871


W. H. Ireland.


1867


University of Pennsylvania


Present member.


1871


Geo. W. Boughinan


1863


Jefferson Medical College


Present member.


1872


Edwin Tomlinson


1872


Jefferson Medical College


Present member.


1873


C. H. Shivers.


1873


Jefferson Medical College


Present member.


1875 1875


E. B. Woolston.


1854


University of Pennsylvania


Present member.


1876


E. L. B. Godfrey


1875


Jefferson Medical College


Present member.


1876 1876 1876


Thomas G. Rowand


1850


Philadelphia College


Present member.


1876


E. J. Snitcher


1874


Chicago Medical College


Present member.


1876 1877


W. A. Davis


1876


University of Pennsylvania


Present member.


1877


Dowling Benjamin


1877


University of Pennsylvania


Present member. Removed.


1878


J. F. Walsh


1876


University of Pennsylvania


Present member.


1878 1879


W. H. Iszard.


1870


Jefferson Medical College


Present member.


1879


Onan B. Gross.


1878


University of Pennsylvania


Present member.


1879


James H. Wroth


1878


University of Pennsylvania


Rem. to New Mexico.


1880


J. W. Donges.


1866


University of Pennsylvania Jefferson Medical College Jefferson Medical College


Present member.


1881 1881


C. G. Garrison.


1872


University of Pennsylvania


Honorary member.


1882


W. A. Hamilton


1870


University of Maryland


Present member.


1883


H. F. Pa


1881


Jefferson Medical College


Present member.


1883


E. P. Townsend


Jefferson Medical College


Present member.


1884 1884 1884


A. T. Dobson, Jr


1882


University of Pennsylvania


Present member.


1885


Daniel Strock


1877


1885


Joseph H. Wills


1880


University of Pennsylvania


Present member.


1885


Wm. Warnock


1880


University of Pennsylvania


Present member.


1886


Jesse J. Wills.


1884


Jefferson Medical College


Present member.


1886


James A. Wamsley


1878


Jefferson Medical College


Present member.


PRESIDENTS OF CAMDEN COUNTY MEDICAL SOCIETY.


James C. Risley, 1846-47.


Isaac S. Milford, 1848-51.


Charles D. Hendry, 1852-53.


A. Dickinson Woodruff, 1854. John W. Snowden, 1855-75. Othniel H. Taylor, 1856. Thomas F. Cullen, 1857. Sylvester Birdsell, 1858. John V. Schenck, 1859-73. Bowman Hendry, 1860. Napoleon B. Jennings, 1861. Henry E. Branin, 1862.


James M. Ridge, 1867.


Jonathan J. Comfort, 1868. Alexander M. Mecray, 1869. J. Orlando White, 1870. Richard M. Cooper, 1871-74. Isaac W. Henlings, 1872. Edwin Tomlinson, 1877. H. A. M. Smith, 1878. D. Parish Pancoast, 1879. C. H. Shivers, 1880. Isaac B. Mulford, 1881. E. L. B. Godfrey, 1882.


J. Gilbert Young, 1863. John R. Stevenson, 1864. Dowling Benjamin, 188.4. Il. Genet Taylor, 1865. E. B. Woolston, 1885. W. H. Ireland, 1886.


Alexander Marcy. 1866-76.


DISEASES AND THEIR REMEDIES .- There is but little information concerning the diseases that prevailed in Camden County prior to the formation of its Medical Society. The limited number of physicians who practiced in it between 1730 and 1846 had but little


1877


John S. Miller.


S. B. Irwin.


1844


Jefferson Medical College


Present member.


Present member.


1881


C. M. Schellinger.


1879


H. H. Davis.


1879


Present member.


Conrad G. Hoell.


1863 1882


University of Pennsylvania


Present member.


P. W. Beale.


1876


Jefferson Medical College Jefferson Medical College


Present member.


W. P. Melcher


1876


University of Pennsylvania


Rem. to Burlington Co.


James A. Armstrong


1861


University of Pennsylvania


Died Oct. 30, 1885.


Maximillian West


1875


University of Pennsylvania


Rem. to Atlantic City.


D. W. Blake


1876


Jefferson Medical College


Present member.


Present member.


John R. Haney, 1883.


253


A HISTORY OF MEDICINE AND MEDICAL MEN.


time to write any account of their observa- tionsand experience, and still less opportunity to publish them. It is, therefore, from traditions that have been well preserved in this section, compared with the accounts of diseases and epidemics in other parts of this and adjacent colonies, that a knowledge of them can be best obtained.


There is a widespread belief that the climate of this section has changed, and that diseases now are very different from what they were in early times. A hundred years ago the old were wont to lament the change and deterioration of the seasons, since the days of their youth, in the same strain as their descendants do now. A careful examination of weather notes shows that there has been no climatic variation since the early settle- ment of the county. There were then, as now, cycles of hot and dry summers, alter- nating with cool and moist ones ; cold, bleak winters with warm and wet ones. There was the chilly spring and the mild autumn. With the exception of a few maladies, like cholera, that have been imported from countries with which, in former times, there was only in- frequent and slow communication, there is no evidence that there are any diseases now that did not occur in early days. Their symptoms and courses have been greatly modified by a change in the habits and cus- toms of the people, and by improved medi- cation and sanitation.


In colonial times the houses were nearly all built of wood, a few were log, but most of them were constructed of rough sawed boards, with board partitions, and without plaster. There were no carpets on the floor. The only mode of heating them was by a wood fire in an open fire-place, by which the family sat in the Arctic cold of winter, one side of the body alternately chilled and warmed as it was turned to or from the blazing logs. Their clothing was of home- spun wool ; only on ceremonial displays did the well-to-do wear linen or silk shirts or


stockings. Underclothing was not worn until the present century, even after cotton cloth had been substituted for wooleu stuffs. Overcoats were a rare luxury, but a few of the wealthier men possessed them. Bangups they were called, made of good imported cloth ; they were reserved for state occasions ; they were expected to last a life-time, and sometimes descended as an heirloom to the son. Rubber over-shoes and clothing were never dreamed of until within the present generation. The only mode of traveling was in the open boat or on horseback exposed to the weather.


Their diet did not compare any more favorably with that of modern times than did their clothing. Vegetables were plentiful in the summer, but there was no method of preserving the perishable ones through the other nine months of the year. Their bread was made from rye, wheat having come into general use only within the last fifty years. The staple meats were salt pork and ham. In the earlier period of the settlement this was relieved by game, but as the country filled up, it became scarce and had a mercan- tile price ; then it was sold. Mutton was but little eaten. Prior to the Revolution sheep were so valuable that in old wills bequests are left to daughters of a ewe-lamb and feather-bed in lieu of any real estate. After the embargo laid upon wool during the war it became unpatriotic and disreputable to eat mutton, and this sentiment continued to pro- hibit its use long after the reason for it had been forgotten. It was only in the winter that they had fresh meat. When they wanted beef they fatted the oldest and most worthless cow on the farm, and when cold weather set in they killed it, and after the meat had been cooked to the indigestibility of leather, they ate it three times a day until putrefaction commenced. It is not surprising that beef was not considered a wholesome food. One superlative article of food they possessed in abundance, whose value as a substitute for


32


254


HISTORY OF CAMDEN COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.


any deficiency in a diet is unsurpassed, but which has not been appreciated by either the medical profession or the laity, until recently. That was milk. This was not a salable commodity, and that is, perhaps, the reason why it was considered to be a plebeian drink. The dividing line between gentility and common people was milk. To have offered an invited guest at the table a glass of it would have been an un- pardonable offence. The family, including the children, at the first table had their tea and coffee ; the bound boy at the second table had an unstinted supply of milk. The result was that a quarter of a century afterwards the bound boy owned the farmn.


Alcoholic drinks were freely used. Apple- whiskey was in every one's house. Imported wines and brandies purchased by the wealthier people were reserved for special occasions. It was customary to take a drink of spirits be- fore breakfast to counteract the deleterious effects of fog and dampness. If a neighbor was visited, or the visit returned, the de- canter was set out as a mark of hospitality. It was not believed that any excessive labor, like haying and harvesting, could be done without it. The jug was taken to the mea- dow or field along with the water-bucket, and when the men had cut a number of swaths across the grass or grain, a halt was made to take a draught of the liquor. At social gatherings, at weddings, at funerals, and even at child-births the flowing bowl was passed around.


The contrast between these early habits and customs and those of to-day is most marked. Without enumerating them, it will suffice to state that a temperance man in the eighteenth century was one who never got intoxicated ; now he is a total abstainer from alcoholic beverages. Now the well-filled de- canter is not only kept out of sight, but it is banished from the house. One township in this county has for fifteen years prohibited the sale of liquor within its limits.


As might be expected, inflammatory dis- eases were formerly very frequent, and their symptoms violent. Pleurisy, bronchitis, pneumonia and rheumatism prevailed exten- sively, especially in years in which the thermometric changes favored their develop- ment. They were much oftener fatal than they are now. Cholera-morbus, dysentery and diarrhoea, which are rarely fatal now, then caused the death of many. Scarlet fever, measles and whooping cough, which are the bane of childhood, exhibited the same infantile violence as the diseases of adult life. Sickness, especially epidemics, as far back as 1726, are noted as having been sthenic or asthenic, but there is no record of that popular word typhoid, as applied to depressed forms of illness, having been used in this county until 1855, when Dr. T. F. Cullen reported that malarious diseases had that year assumed a typhoid form. These facts would indicate that the changes in the mode of liv- ing of the people, which had been gradually improving up to the discovery of gold in California in 1848, and very rapidly since then, had produced a moiety of people of weak constitution, who, under the surround- ings of earlier days, invariably died young.


Intermittent and remittent fevers were common on the Delaware slope of the county. In 1798 there is a record that they were prevalent on the high ground, while yellow bilious fever attacked those along the river- shore. In 1823 Dr. Charles F. Clarke, of Woodbury, in his notes, says that bilious fevers were epidemic, and so numerous were the cases, that as he rode along at night, farmers would keep a light burning as a signal for him that there was sickness in the house. The reports made to the Camden County Medical Society state that malarial fevers prevailed along the streams in 1848. After this little is said about them until 1856, when they again became frequent, and con- tinued to increase until 1862, when they were declared to be epidemic. Then they began


255


A HISTORY OF MEDICINE AND MEDICAL MEN.


to decline, until in 1867, and for five years afterwards, they had so diminished that the physicians congratulated themsel ves that these diseases were finally disappearing. In 1873 they reappeared, steadily increasing in nnm- ber and severity until 1877, when they were again pronounced to be epidemic ; since then they have been declining, and at present (1886) are quite infrequent. Professor Kalm, reporting to the Swedish government in 1748, concerning Gloucester (Camden included) County, says fevers and agues were more common than any other disease. In some years they ravaged the whole county, in others " scarcely a single person was taken ill."


At the time that Kalm wrote, the Atlantic slope of the county, called the " Pines," was not inhabited, except by a few. wood-chop- pers. From the earliest times this section has been popnlarly credited with great ex- emption from pulmonary and miasmatic dis- eases. More recently Dr. John W. Snowden, who has practiced medicine in that section for forty years, and who is the able chairman of the Standing Committee and reporter of the Camden County Medical Society, states that he never saw a case of intermittent or remittent fever originate there. He also confirms its reputation for freedom from pul, monary affections.


Typhoid fever was not known as a distinct disease until it was investigated and de- scribed by Louis, a French physician, in the early part of the present century. There is no doubt but that cases of it occurred here so soon as the concretions from filth were suffi- cient to form a nidus for its growth. The milder forms of it were classed with obsti- nate remittent fever, and helped to swell its mortality list. In the tradition that has come down to us of the dreaded and fatal nervous fever, as it was called, may be found a description of a severe case of typhoid fever where the cerebral symptoms were promi- nent. In the reports of the medical society


this disease is noted as occurring more or less throughout the county every year, although in some seasons it is more frequent than iu others, especially in Camden. Haddonfield seems to have had great immunity from it, as there is no record of any case happening there that was not contracted elsewhere.


Typhus fever has been an infrequent dis- ease during the history of the county. There was an epidemic of it in Camden in 1812, in which a number lost their lives, but otherwise that city has been remarkably free from it. Dr. Bowman Hendry had some cases of it adjacent to the almshouse at Blackwood. At this institution it is occa- sionally introduced by vagrants, and in 1881 it became epidemic, there having been one hundred and three cases and thirty-three deaths from it. Dr. Mccullough, one of the attending physicians, fell a victim to the disease.




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