USA > New Jersey > Camden County > The history of medicine and medical men of Camden County, New Jersey > Part 4
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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 tlie cider of their friends into apple whiskey on shares. "At the present time there
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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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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 in 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 in 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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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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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 authority 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 lieu 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 the same. On May 4, 1865, a special meeting of the Med-
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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.
Subsequently a minority of the members of the Bounty Fund Association became dissat- isfied with the disposition that had been made of the funds, and they held a meeting on May 24, 1865, and passed a resolution, ad- dressed to Messrs. McKean and Garrison, to distribute the money among the "contributors and drafted men." This action caused some litigation, which was decided by the court in favor of the Dispensary. At a meeting of the society held in December of the same year the committee on Dispensary reported that negotiations were in progress for the purchase of the Perseverance Hose-House, and that a gentleman had purchased twelve cots, which he designed presenting to the institution. At the next meeting, in March, 1866, it was reported that the hose-house on Third Street, below Market, had been purchased, and that a room was being fitted up for the meetings of the society, and that A. Browning, Esq., had offered his services gratuitously for pro- curing a charter for a corporate body. The committee were instructed to organize the Dispensary in conjunction with such citizens as may be appointed to act with them, and the plan of organization drawn up by the society in 1859 was reported and accepted. Subscription books were ordered to be pre- pared for each member, for druggists and other citizens. On March 17th the keys of the Dispensary were handed to the society, with . the request that it should carry on the insti- tution until a charter could be obtained from the next Legislature authorizing a board of managers. On March 21st the following visiting physicians were appointed : North
Ward, Dr. H. Genet Taylor ; Middle Ward, Dr. John R. Stevenson ; and South Ward, Dr. A. Marcy. O. G. Taylor was elected druggist and superintendent. The consulting physi- cians, who were appointed at the next stated meeting in June, were Drs. R. M. Cooper, L. F. Fisler and Thomas F. Cullen.
The Dispensary was opened immediately and managed by the medical committee until the procurement of the charter, approved February 5, 1867, in which Drs. Isaac S. Mulford, O. H. Taylor, Richard M. Cooper, Lorenzo F. Fisler, Thomas F. Cullen, John V. Schenck, William S. Bishop, Bowman Hendry, James M. Ridge, H. Genet Taylor and John R. Stevenson were named as cor- porators. Under this charter an organization was effected March 7, 1867, by the election of Dr. Isaac S. Mulford, president ; Dr. L. F. Fisler, vice-president ; Dr. J. R. Stevenson, secretary ; and Dr. R. M. Cooper, treasurer. On the 12th of December of the same year the Perseverance Hose-House was conveyed to the corporation, the consideration being two thousand dollars. The first annual meet- ing of the corporators and contributors, as pro- vided by the constitution and by-laws which had been adopted the 18th of April of the year previous, was held January 14, 1868, at which it was reported that the net amount received from the draft fund had been $3776.94, of which $2128.03 had been expended, leaving a balance on hand of $1648.91. Since the opening of the institution the cash contri- butions were one thousand one hundred and twenty-seven dollars, besides donations of various articles to the value of sixty dol- lars. Of this there was a balance of $3.33 on hand. The total number of patients pre- scribed for had been six hundred and eighty- two, and the total number of prescriptions compounded, two thousand and twenty-three. On the 21st of January the reorganization of the Dispensary under the new charter took place, at which Drs. Thomas F. Cullen was elected president ; John V. Schenck, vice-
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president ; R. M. Cooper, secretary and treas- urer. Dr. Cullen served as president until 1870, when Thomas A. Wilson was elected. He was succeeded in 1874 by John Morgan, who continued in office until his death, in 1881. The next president was Thomas Mc- Keen, who died in 1884, when Dr. Alexan- der Marcy, the present incumbent, was elected to fill the vacancy. Dr. John V. Schenck continued to be vice-president until his death, in 1883, when Dr. Alexander Marcy became vice-president, who, upon his election to be president in 1884, was succeeded by the pres- ent official, Maurice Browning. Upon the resignation and removal from the city of the secretary, Dr. John R. Stevenson, in 1867, Dr. R. M. Cooper was appointed to the va- cancy, holding the combined office of secre- tary and treasurer until his death, in 1874, when Dr. H. Genet Taylor was elected secre- tary, a position he still holds, and Joseph B. Cooper became treasurer, but resigned in 1882. The present treasurer, R. H. Reeve, succeeded him. O. G. Taylor, the druggist and superintendent, elected March 21, 1865, served continuously for nearly twenty years, during which time he never made a mistake. His health failing, so that he was unable to perform his duties, he resigned January 10, 1886, and died shortly afterwards in the same year. Dr. H. F. Palm now fills the post.
In the year 1868 City Council appropri- ated three hundred dollars a year to the Dis- pensary, in consideration of the services it rendered to the poor of the city. This ap- propriation continued until the year 1879, when an ordinance was passed authorizing its sanitary committee to divide the city into three districts and make a contract with the board of managers of the Dispensary to fur- nish medical attendance and medicines to the poor of the city for the sum of sixteen hun- dred dollars per annum. This agreement was ratified on June 1st of that year, and the following physicians were elected by the board of managers, viz .: For the First District,
Dr. O. B. Gross ; Second District, Dr. C. M. Schellinger; Third District, Dr. M. West- with a salary of two hundred dollars a year for each. Prior to this time all the physi- cians who had attended to the Dispensary had given their services gratuitously. The younger members of the society had each, in their turn, filled these positions, serving until a new member-usually a young graduate in medicine-would relieve them from this duty. These physicians had been elected by the City Medical Society and were accountable to it, but when the officers became salaried, then their selection was transferred to the board of managers of the Dispensary. This contract with the city was renewed annually at the same price, until 1885, when the latter opened it to the lowest bidder. The board offered to renew it at sixteen hundred dollars, which was not accepted ; consequently the election of the district physicians was abandoned, and the Medical Society again resumed its free attendance.
When the Dispensary building was fitted up, the first floor was divided into two rooms, the front one being used as a pharmacy and the rear one as an office in which to examine patients. Meetings were also held here. During the winter of 1866 and 1867 a course of gratuitous medical lectures was de- livered here to the students of Rev. T. M. Reilly's Theological School. Dr. John R. Stevenson lectured on materia medica and practice of medicine, and Dr. H. Genet Tay- lor on anatomy and surgery to these young men, who were preparing themselves for mis- sionary work in the Territories. In the year 1884 an additional room was built in the rear, to be used for holding consultations. At first the second floor was filled with hos- pital cots for the reception of persons who might receive accidental injuries ; but as suffi- cient means could not be raised to provide nurses and open a culinary department, the project was abandoned, and the beds were sold in 1869. In 1868 this room was rented
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