The history of Camden county, New Jersey, Part 40

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

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The proximity of Camden County to the port of Philadelphia has made it liable to be invaded by yellow fever. There is no record of its having become located within the connty limits, although the lower end of Gloucester County, from which it was set off, has been charged with having reproduced it along the river-shore in 1747 and 1798. There were epidemics of yellow fever in Philadelphia in 1762; between the years 1793 and 1798 ; between 1802 and 1805 ; and in the years 1819 and 1820. At these peri- ods there were isolated cases contracted by visits to infected districts of that city. Dur- ing the epidemic of 1853 there does not ap- pear to have been any deaths from it in Camden County. In 1854 there was one case of yellow fever in Camden in the person of a sailor who, two days previous to his attack, had landed from a steamer sixty hours from Savannah, Ga.

The insidious and obscure diseases of the kidneys observed and described by Dr. Bright, of England, in 1828, and after whom they are named, were not diagnosed by phy-

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HISTORY OF CAMDEN COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.

sicians until chemistry and microscopy had advanced to such a state of progress as to offer the only means of detecting them. The first application of these sciences in Camden County for this purpose was made by a mem- ber of its Medical Society in 1865. Since that date Bright's disease is known to be the cause of a limited number of deaths here an- nually. Fatal results from some formerly obscure cases of dropsy are now known to be caused by this disease. There are some fam- ilies who have noticed that for two or three generations a number of their members have died of dropsy. Some of these deaths within the last twenty years have been the sequelæ of Bright's disease. The inference is, there- fore, that the dropsy of former generations was produced by the same cause, and that, to a limited extent, Bright's disease is heredi- tary.

In 1735-36 a terrible epidemic swept over the colonies, called the "throat distemper." In the accounts of it that have come down to us, and in the traditions of a not infrequent disease called, in this county, " putrid sore throat," may be discerned the modern diph- theria. Under the latter name the malady is but little mentioned in the records of the Medical Society until 1862, when Dr. Cullen reported that it had been seen occasionally during the year, but that he did not believe that it had ever been epidemic in Camden City. Since that date it has appeared more or less every year throughout the county, but not to any great extent.

Small pox was a much dreaded disease in colonial times. The introduction of inocula- tion here, about 1750, robbed it of some of its terrors, and the discovery of vaccination, by Jenuer, at the close of the last century, made it still more harmless. Yet it still lingers, and at times becomes epidemic. The Camden County Medical Society reported it to be so in Camden City in 1856, 1864, 1871 aud 1880. In the latter year there were six hundred and eighty-eight cases and one

hundred and thirty-four deaths from it. The number of gratuitous vaccinations made to check the disease was about eight thousand.

Asiatic cholera is an imported disease in- digenous to Southern Asia. Its first appear- ance in Camden County was in 1832. The accounts of its ravages then are very meagre. Dr. Isaac S. Mulford, writing in 1855, says that it was not so violent as were the subse- quent epidemics of 1849 and 1854, all of which he witnessed. He also says that in the first-named year it possessed a sthenic char- acter. Among the papers of the late Dr. Charles F. Clarke, of Woodbury, is one stating that the people were greatly afraid of it, believing it to be contagious, and that he had helped to bury the bodies of the dead, which the people in their terror had thrown upon the river-shore.

Its second appearance was in 1849, the first case occurring in Camden in the middle of June. At that time the city had a popu- lation of nine thousand people, many of whom fled ; yet between its advent and the commencement of cold weather, when it ceased, there were one hundred and nineteen cases and fifty deaths. In Winslow there were a number of deaths from cholera, but no account of them has been preserved. There were also a few isolated cases in the other townships. Camden was next visited by this disease in 1854, when the first person attacked died from it on June 25th. It did not assume an epidemic form until October, and ceased on November 23d. In this year there were ninety-four cases and fifty-seven deaths. During its continuance the Camden City Medical Society held several special meetings to consult about it, and the mem- bers exerted themselves to the utmost to check its ravages. In Haddonfield there was a single case that had been contracted in Camden. The susceptibility of the latter city to become a cholera centre, the virulence and the fatality of the scourge there, gave it a reputation for unhealthfulness that seriously

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A HISTORY OF MEDICINE AND MEDICAL MEN.

checked its growth, so that between 1849 and 1866 its population only increased from nine thousand to eighteen thousand.

When it was reported, in 1865, that cholera was approaching the United States, the Camden City Medical Society, alert to the dangers to be apprehended from another visitation, at their stated meeting held Sep- tember 7th of that year, appointed Drs. John R. Stevenson, Isaac S. Mulford, Alexander Marcy and Thomas F. Cullen a committee to adopt measures to prevent an anticipated invasion of cholera. Their final report states that upon inspection they found Camden to be as filthy as any city of its size in the Union. The drainage was superficial and imperfect; garbage and coal ashes were thrown into the streets, but few of which were paved ; the cesspools, shallow in depth, were in many places overflowing upon the ground, and pig sties had been allowed to be erected in the yards of the poorer classes. The committee consulted with the City Council, who courteously received their sug- gestions, and through their sanitary commit- tee, of which John S. Lee was chairman and Colonel Joseph C. Nichols the efficient execu- tive officer, put in force the ordinances which were plenary. Before the summer of 1866 they had cleansed the city and abated all nuisances. In this year the first case of cholera occurred on June 25th, when the city authorities, having previously provided a stock of disinfectants, as recommended by the medical committee, virtually transferred the direction of sanitary measures to the latter, who investigated each case of the dis- ease, and had the premises and clothing of the sick promptly disinfected. There were in this year thirty-nine cases of cholera and thirty deaths. It did not become epidemic, as it only became located in two places, in both of which it was stamped out within thirty-six hours. Just beyond the city limits, in Newton township, there were twenty-seven cases, and twenty-five deaths in a negro

hamlet. With the exception of one at Winslow, there were no others in Camden County. In the year 1873 there were three reported instances of cholera in Camden City, and in one person it proved fatal.

The experience of 1866 in Camden and elsewhere demonstrated the power and effi- ciency of well-directed sanitary measures in preventing the spread of infectious and con- tagious diseases, and subsequent observation confirmed it.

In the year 1880 the Legislature of New Jersey passed an act creating a State Board of Health of nine members, which enact- ment provided that every city, town or borough shall have a Board of Health of not less than five nor more than seven members, of which the recorder of vital statistics, one city physician and the city health inspector shall be members. In each township, the township committee, the assessor and town- ship physician compose the Board of Health. Any city, borough or township which had a local Board of Health at the time of the passage of this act was exempt from its pro- visions. Camden was one of those exempted and did not accept the provisions of the health law until 1885. During the years 1884 and 1885, Dr. O. B. Gross acted as special inspector of that city for the State Board of Health.

The use of herbs as remedies has already been described. Cider, although a beverage, may be classed as a medicine. In former times it was drank hot at night as a cure for colds. The ground Jesuit's bark was mixed in it to make the dose more palatable, and it had the popular reputation of being " good for the liver." Every large farmer had his cider-mill, where he made his own cider, and which he loaned for the use of his less fortu- nate neighbors. Scattered at convenient points throughout the district were farmers who added a still to their cider-mill, and who distilled the cider of their friends into apple whiskey on shares. At the present time there

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HISTORY OF CAMDEN COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.

are only a few cider-presses, and but two whiskey stills in the county. One still is owned by Joshua Peacock, near Haddonfield; the other by Hugh Sharp, adjacent to Marlton. An early industry was the distillation of the essential oils of sassafras, pennyroyal, horse- mint, winter-green, spearmint, etc., from indigenous plants that were once very abun- dant. Their product was sold locally for use as liniments and rubefacients, and the surplus sent to the Philadelphia market. These oil-stills gradually fell into the hands of the negroes. Between 1840 and 1850 one was operated in Jordantown by a. colored man, Stephen Polk, and by his son Elzey. The last one in the county was owned by a colored man styled "Dr. Thomas," residing near Marlton. This was abandoned about twenty years ago.

About the year 1822, Nathan Willets be- gan the cultivation of the castor bean on the farm where he resided, on the Haddonfield and Clements Bridge road, two miles from Haddonfield. He also prepared the oil for market. He continued the business for some twenty years.

Until the beginning of the present century physicians made their visits on horseback with a saddle-bag attached to it, in which were carried their medicines and the few in- struments they used. They prepared their own pills and potions. Among their prep- arations were those of mercury, a very an- cient remedy, which had been always in mod- erate use. Calomel came into repute in 1736 as an application for the throat dis- temper, but mercurials were not pushed to salivation until within the present century. This mode of medication continued up to 1850. Since then mercury has fallen into disuse by the medical profession, but when the great increase in the consumption of offic- inal and patent pills, most of which contain some compound of this metal, is taken into consideration, it is doubtful if any less of it is taken by the people now than formerly,

only the manner of administration has changed.

Venesection began to be employed about 1750 and became so popular with physicians that it was employed in all cases, the lancet being their invariable accompaniment. Now, so completely has it fallen into discredit that but few of the present members of the Cam- den County Medical Society have ever bled a patient.

Boerhaave, elected professor at Leyden in 1701, announced the doctrine that all dis- eases were the result of humors in the blood. This was accepted by physicians everywhere, who, in accordance with it, prohibited the use of cold drinks in sickness, but made their patients drink hot teas, keep the window closed to prevent the ingress of fresh air, and plied them with bed-covers to induce perspiration. There are old residents here who well remember the discomforts and mis- ery of such treatment.

A few of the best-known old standard drugs and some popular nostrums were early sold by the country merchants. They are at this day to be found in the stock of the cross-roads stores in this section. The first drug store in Camden County was opened by Thomas Redman in November, 1735. He was the son of Dr. Thomas Redman, of Philadelphia, and was born March 31, 1714. He was educated an apothecary, and, having removed to Haddonfield, commenced busi- ness where now stands the dwelling of the late Samuel C. Smith. In addition to drugs he kept other merchandise, but the former was a special department, where prescriptions were compounded. This business and the knowledge of the preparation of medicines was transmitted to his son and grandson, who continued the same occupation in the same place until 1846. Charles S. Braddock, a graduate of the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy in the class of 1851, opened the first store in Haddonfield for the exclusive sale of drugs in the year 1853. This is still

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A HISTORY OF MEDICINE AND MEDICAL MEN.

continued by his son. R. Willard is the proprietor of the other store in this town.

In Camden, Dr. Samuel Harris, in 1811, sold some medicines from his office. Be- tween the years 1812 and 1821, Freedom L. Shinn kept a drug store at the northeast corner of Second and Plum (Arch) Streets. After that there was no place other than at Dr. Harris' office where medicines could be purchased until 1832, when Dr. Sickler opened a drug store on Federal Street near the ferry. According to charges on his books, opium was worth fifty cents an ounce, and seven and one-half ounces of essence of peppermint eighty-seven and one-half cents. He also sold paints and oils. Paint oil was worth one dollar- and ten cents per gallon ; putty seven cents a pound, and a light of glass, ten by twelve, cost seven cents. This store was discontinued in 1834. In the lat- ter year Drs. Joseph Kain and David Smith started a store of the same kind at the north- east corner of Third and Plum (Arch) Streets. Early in the year 1835, Dr. Smith retired and moved away. Shortly afterwards, in March of the same year, James Roberts, of Philadelphia, purchased the store from Dr. Smith, and six months subsequently sold it to Joseph C. Delacour, who still continues the business, but he has removed his estab- lishment to the southwest corner of the same streets. The medical directory for 1885 enumerates thirty-six druggists in Camden.

About the year 1855, Thomas Hallam added a drug department to his store in Gloucester City, where he compounded phy- sicians' prescriptions. This was the com- mencement of the apothecary business in that place, in which, at present, there are five pharmacies. One was opened in Merchant- ville in 1881 by C. H. Jennings, and another iu Blackwood by Dr. J. E. Hurff in 1884.

CAMDEN CITY MEDICAL SOCIETY .- The Camden City Medical Society was organized in the city of Camden, June 21, 1853, by Drs. L. F. Fisler, I. S. Mulford, O. H. Tay-

lor, S. Birdsell, T. F. Cullen and J. V. Schenck. At this meeting a committee of three, consisting of Drs. O. H. Taylor, Bird- sell and Fisler, was appointed to draught a suitable constitution and by-laws. This meeting then adjourned to the 16th instant, when a constitution and by-laws were adopted and an organization effected by the election of Dr. Isaac S. Mulford, president; Dr. L. F. Fisler, vice-president ; Dr. J. V. Schenck, secretary and treasurer ; and a standing com- mittee composed of Drs. Cooper, Birdsell and Cullen. The officers are elected yearly, at the annual meeting in September.

The society is in effect, although not in fact, a subdivision of the County Society, composed of those members of the latter who practice medicine iu the city of Camden. In the list of its members from the organization to the present time there are but seven who were not members of the other society. Their names are,-

NAME.

Date of Elec.

Where gradu- ated.

Remarks.

Lorenzo F. Fisler.

June 16, 1853 Univ. of Penna.

Died 1871

Jesse S. Z. Sellers.

Sept. 7, 1854 Univ. of Penna.

Died

Reynell Coates ..

Dec. 5, 1867 Univ. of Penna.

Died 1886

D. N.Mahone (honorary). Sept. 3, 1868 Univ. of Penna. Res'd 1868

Charles F. Clarke ...

June 3, 1869 Univ. of Penna. Died 1875

William G. Taylor.

Mar. 4, 1875 Jeff. Med. Col. Died 1877

Charles A. Baker.

Mar. 2, 1870 Jeff. Med. Col. Removed

It meets quarterly, in the evening, gener- ally at the house of one its members, but since the establishment of the Dispensary it occasionally meets there. Its meetings have never been discontinued, but sometimes have lapsed for want of a quorum. It has a super- vision over all medical matters that belong exclusively to Camden City, and which are not of special interest to the townships out- side of it. Reports made to it of the health of the city, of epidemics, of medical and other cases of special importance, are brought to the attention of the standing committee of the County Medical Society. Therefore, the transactions of the City Society, as far as re- lates to disease and its treatment, have already been given in the history of the former society.

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HISTORY OF CAMDEN COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.

Formerly a subject of frequent discussion in their meetings was the fee-bill or the rates to be charged for professional visits and cases of surgical injuries, it being desirable that a uniform price should be fixed upon by all its members for similar attendance upon the sick.

The City Medical Society has always taken an active interest in all public measures that concerned the health or bodily welfare of the citizens of Camden. In 1857, at the request of the Philadelphia Board of Health, it ap- pointed delegates to meet in that city with those of similar societies on May 13th, for conference in relation to the establishment of a uniform system of quarantine laws. In the succeeding year another delegation was elected to attend a like convention in Balti- more.

At the meeting held July 3, 1858, a com- mittee composed of Drs. Mulford, O. H. Taylor and Cullen was appointed to investi- gate and report upon the filthy condition of the hydrant water. The paper which they prepared condemned the management of the water-works. It was read at the next meet- ing of the society, and a' synopsis of it was sent to the Public Ledger and to the directors of the company who then controlled the water supply of Camden.

In 1859 a resolution was introduced into the society looking to the establishment of a Dispensary in Camden. This will be more fully described in the history of that institu- tion. In 1865 a committee was appointed to recommend measures for the prevention of an invasion of the city by cholera, an account of whose work is given in the sketch of cholera in Camden. This committee, in ad- dition to the duty assigned to it, was, at a meeting held August 9, 1866, requested to make inquiry as to the mode of registering deaths in Philadelphia, which having been done, the plan was recommended to City Council, with the request that they pass a similar ordinance.

At the meeting held March 4, 1876, the family of the late Dr. Richard M. Cooper presented his library of medical works to the Camden City Medical Society. A committee was appointed to prepare an appropriate place for it, and to arrange a catalogue of it. The Dispensary was selected as a suitable building in which to deposit it.

There never had been any coroner's physi- cian for Camden County. In case of sudden death, where the coroner desired an investiga- tion of its cause by a physician, he could call upon any one convenient to the inquest. The doctor's services were paid for in each indi- vidual case. There having arisen some dis- pute between the officials and the members of the Camden County Medical Society as to the value of the services rendered, a fee-bill was drawn up by the society and laid before the proper authorities. At the meeting held December 2, 1869, Dr. Thomas F. Cullen moved, " That members of the Camden City Society refuse to make or assist at any post- mortem examination as directed by the cor- oner or coroners of Camden County, or by any court or courts of said county, until the fee- bill as already presented to the Board of Chosen Freeholders, as agreed upon by this society, shall be accepted and agreed upon by them, and the Board of Chosen Freeholders be notified by the secretary of this society of the same." This resolution was adopted and copies were ordered to be sent to the Board of Freeholders and to the managers of the Dispensary.

By this time it became apparent that the growth of population, with its increasing wants, demanded a physician clothed with the proper authority, and sufficiently remunerated to take charge of the physical interests of the public departments. The society having this object in view, at its meeting in March, 1874, adopted a motion, made by Dr. James M. Ridge, that a committee should be ap- pointed to " confer with the relief committee of City Council upon the appointment of a

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A HISTORY OF MEDICINE AND MEDICAL MEN.

city physician." The result of these repeated efforts of the profession to arouse the atten- tion of the officials to the needs of the com- munity was the appointment of a county physician.

The Legislature of New Jersey, by an act approved April 21, 1876, created the office of county physician. The laws thus enacted and in force give the county physician pre- cedence and anthority in all coroner's cases until he has given orders for a view or in- quest to a coroner or justice of the peace. He is obliged to assume the responsibility of all coroner's work. Besides this, he furnishes medical attendance and gives medicines to the inmates of the county jail. His salary is eight hundred dollars per annum, in lien of all fees.

Dr. Randall W. Morgan was county physician from 1876 to 1881 ; Dr. Wm. H. Ireland, from 1881 to 1884; and Dr. Gross, the present incumbent, since the latter date.

PENSION BOARD .- In June, 1884, a United States Pension Board of Examining Surgeons was established in Camden. It is one of three assigned to New Jersey, the other two being respectively at Newark and Trenton. It was composed as follows, viz .: Dr. H. Genet Taylor, president; Dr. James A. Armstrong, treasurer ; Dr. Onan B. Gross, secretary. Upon the change of ad- ministration of the government, the board was reorganized in July, 1885, by the ap- pointment of Dr. James M. Ridge, president ; Dr. John W. Donges, treasurer; and Dr. Onan B. Gross, secretary. The board meets every Wednesday at the Dispensary for the purpose of examining applications for pen- sions.

CAMDEN CITY DISPENSARY .- The first movement towards establishing a Dispensary in Camden was made in 1859. Dr. O. H. Taylor, when a young graduate in medicine, had been a visiting physician for the Phila- delphia Dispensary, and was impressed with the usefulness and the beneficent charity of

such an institution in a young city. At the meeting of the Camden City Medical Society held March 3d, in that year, he brought to its attention the propriety of petitioning City Council for the establishment of a Dispensary. This was discussed and laid over until the next meeting, on June 2d, when a committee of three, composed of Drs. O. H. Taylor, R. M. Cooper and L. F. Fisler, was appointed " to frame a memorial to the City Council of Camden, in order to co-operate with the City Medical Society in the establishment of a City Dispensary." At the December meeting the committee read a report, and after considera- ble debate in regard to the encouragement likely to be extended by those appealed to for aid, the subject was indefinitely postponed.

After the call of President Lincoln for three hundred thousand men was made, De- cember 19, 1864, it became evident that another conscription for troops would be en- forced in Camden. A number ofmen formed an association called " The North Ward Bounty Association," to insure such of its members as might be drafted against enforced mili- tary duty, by paying a bounty to volunteers to fill the places of those whose names might be drawn from the wheel. The drawing had been made in Camden, and part of its quota had been filled, when the surrender of Lee at Appomattox closed the war and stopped recruiting. During this month the members of the North Ward Bounty Associ- ation held a meeting and passed a resolution appropriating the sum left in the hands of Thomas Mckean, treasurer, amounting to $3956.96, to charitable purposes. After consultation with Dr. Taylor and other members of the City Medical Society, Mr. McKean determined, with the committee of the association, to appropriate it toward the founding of a Dispensary. He and Samuel B. Garrison were selected as a com- mittee to make inquiries as to the manner and practicability of establishing thesame. On May 4, 1865, a special meeting of the Med-

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HISTORY OF CAMDEN COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.

ical Society was convened for the purpose of taking " action in reference to a resolution passed at the last meeting of the North Ward Bounty Association, devoting funds on hand to the establishment of a Dispensary in the City of Camden." A committee was then appointed to confer with the above-named gentlemen, consisting of Drs. O. H. Taylor, Fisler, Cooper, Schenck and Cullen.

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The history of Camden county, New Jersey, Part 40

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

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