A history of Long Island, from its earliest settlement to the present time, Part 92

Author: Ross, Peter. cn
Publication date: 1902
Publisher: New York ; Chicago : The Lewis Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 1188

USA > New York > A history of Long Island, from its earliest settlement to the present time > Part 92

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Henry James Cullen, born at Manor Ham- ilton, Sligo, Ireland, July 2, 1806, came to this country when about fourteen, remaining in New York five or six years, when he removed to New Orleans, where he began the study of medicine. In 1828 he graduated from the Geneva Medical College, in New York. Im- mediately after graduation he returned to Mat- amoras, Mexico, where he had previously lived some years, and remained there three years. In 1837, after a trip abroad, he settled in Brooklyn, where he resided at the time of his death. He became a licentiate of the Medical Society in 1843, a member in 1844, Vice- President in 1846 to 1847, and was elected its President in 1849. He served as Censor in I.851, 1856 to 1857. He was for years one of the physicians of the Brooklyn City Hospital, and at the time of his death consulting physi- cian to St. Peter's Hospital and St. Mary's. He was a member of the Brooklyn Medico- Chirurgical Society from 1856 to 1866, and President in 1866. He was one of the worth- iest practitioners Brooklyn ever had. The last time he was seen by some of his medical friends was on a cold night, when the air was filled with snow and rain, the pavements slip-

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HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND.

pery with sleet, walking a good distance in spite of his chronic enemy, asthma, to witness the transfusion of blood from the carotid of a lamb to the veins of a man enfeebled by dis- ease. Such occasions Dr. Cullen never allowed to pass. He was a practitioner of the old school, but in perfect sympathy with the pro- . gressive spirit of the profession. To Dr. Cul- len the medical corps of the Navy owes a debt of gratitude which, when known, will be fully appreciated. It was he who instigated the movement in 1859 to secure for the surgeons a right which had often been asked for, and as often denied. Acting upon his recommen- dation, the Society appointed a committee with power to promote, by all lawful means, the passage by Congress according to the Naval medical corps their just demands. Circulars were addressed to medical societies far and wide. Petitions were sent to Washington and members of Congress appealed to personally to further the cause, which two years later signally triumphed. Dr. Cullen was a man of decided natural ability and high intellectual qualities.

James Harvey Henry was born at Rut- land, Massachusetts, February 22, 1806. He died in Brooklyn November 1, 1875. He grad- uated at the Berkshire Medical Institute in 1827. A member of the Council of the Long Island College Hospital from 1860 to 1867, and of the Medical Society of the County of Kings, of which he was President in 1850.

Dr. Samuel Johnson Osborn was born May 4, 1813, at Mount Airy, Germantown, Pennsylvania. His early schooling was ob- tained at the Middletown Academy, Connecti- cut, and Joseph Hoxie's School, New York. After completing his education he entered the drug business, where he remained until 1840, when he began the study of medicine in the city of New York, under the preceptorship of Drs. Nichol H. Deering and Joseph Smith. Entering the Medical Department of Rutgers College in 1842, and the New York College of Physicians and Surgeons in 1843, he obtained

the degree of M. D. in 1844, and began the practice of medicine in the city of Brooklyn, connecting himself with the Medical Society the same year, serving the Society as Censor, 1846-50-52-55, and as President in 1851. He was Secretary from 1845 to 1851. In 1855 he removed to Oshkosh, Wisconsin, where his ability was recognized by the citizens, in evi- dence of which he was called upon to fill the following positions: Supervisor; School Su- perintendent, 1859 to 1869; School Commis- sioner, 1869 to 1871, and Alderman, 1871 to 1872. He was an upright man, a profound student of human nature, and an honor to his profession. During sixty years of his life he was connected with the Masonic order, having held the position of Master and High Priest in his lodge and chapter.

George Marvin was born at Norwalk, Con- necticut, February 23, 1798. Having been prepared for college in his native town, he en- tered Yale University in 1814, receiving the degree of A. M. in 1817. In 1818 he matricu- lated with the University of Pennsylvania,. where he received the degree of M. D. in 1821. He began private practice in Rochester, re- maining there until 1828, when he came to- New York city. In 1831 he removed to the city of Brooklyn, where he engaged in active practice until 1874. In 1831 he became a mem- ber of the Medical Society, holding the posi- tion of Censor in 1837-38 and 1839. Was. Vice-President in 1840 to 1841, and President in 1852. He was Assistant Physician to the City Hospital, 1840 to 1845, and a member of- the Council of the Long Island College Hos- pital from 1867 to 1874. For thirty-five years he was a member of the First Presbyterian church of Brooklyn.

Dr. Andrew Otterson was born near Ams- terdam, Fulton county, New York, February 22, 1822, and died April 15, 1897. His aca- demic education was received at Hempstead Harbor, Long Island, and Freehold, New Jer- sey, and in the year 18440 he commenced the study of medicine at Whitehouse, New Jersey,

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THE MEDICAL SOCIETY OF COUNTY OF KINGS.

having for his preceptor Dr. William John- son of that place. He went to the University Medical College, graduating from there in 1844, and immediately selecting Brooklyn as the field of his future efforts for fame and success. In 1845 he became a member of the Medical Society of the County of Kings, and remained a member fifty-two years. His con- nection with the Medical Society covers a period of more than two-thirds of his life. He signed his name as the seventy-eighth member on the roll, and added to that eminent list an unimpeachable presence, a sublime purpose, and a dignity of character that remained un- questioned, and lived to enjoy the growth of its membership to more than six hundred. At the time of his death he was the oldest ex- President of the Society in active membership, the oldest non-resident ex-President living be- ing Samuel J. Osborn, who filled the chair 111 1851, removed to Wisconsin in 1862, attain- ing his eighty-fourth year of age on May 4, 1897. Between these two there existed a warm friendship, which time failed to dim or dis- tance to sever. Dr. Otterson's membership in the Medical Society was not without recogni- tion. He was President in 1853, 1854, and again in 1868. He held the position of Censor in 1849, 1864 and 1865. Secretary in 1850, 1851 and 1852, and Treasurer from 1855 to 1861. He also became associated with the Brooklyn Medical Society in 1856, and was its President in 1857; with the Brooklyn Med- ico-Chirurgical Society from 1857 to 1866, be- ing its President in 1857, 1858 and 1859; the Brooklyn Pathological Society from 1877 to 1897; the Brooklyn Medical Book Club from 1892 to 1897, and the Alumni Association of the University Medical College of the city of New York, of which he was elected Vice- President in 1896. While thus professionally affiliated there were social duties which claimed his attention ; among these were Altair Lodge, No. 601, F. & A. Masons, Constellation Chap- ter, R. A. M., Brooklyn Consistory, No. 24, and Ancient Scottish Rite, thirty-third degree. To cease here would be denying him the time-

honored association of a membership where his presence was ever punctual and an inspira- tion for good-a Fellow for fifty years of Montauk Lodge, No. 114, I. O. O. F. In his early professional life he filled the position of Attending Physician to the Brooklyn Dispen- sary from 1850 to 1855. In professional pub- lic life Dr. Otterson was Health Officer of the city of Brooklyn in 1872, and again in 1883; was President of the Board of Health in 1875 and 1877; Commissioner of Health in 1879. and 1880, and again from February 6, 1886, to February 1, 1888. Like many physicians in active practice, Dr. Otterson found little time for contributing to the medical literature of the day. He was essentially a practical man, who never lost a suggestion, and was never found without one. His reports of the Health Department are chiefly clerical, but his papers on the cholera epidemics of 1848 and 1854 in Brooklyn give proof of a facile pen and an ability to understand the hygienic requirements necessary in times of sudden outbursts of dis- ease. Dr. Otterson's life was one continued earnest effort; right or wrong, he knew no. middle ground. To his brothers in the pro- fession he was singularly courteous, upright and void of dissimulation, ever ready to ex- tend the helping hand. In ethics he was a moralist ; in politics a Jacksonian Democrat ; in the practice of his profession an ideal physi- cian, kind, conscientious, faithful and beloved.

George I. Bennett was born November 15, 1809. He graduated at the University of the City of New York in 1842. Practiced in Brooklyn during his professional career, 1842 to 1875. He was the first outdoor temperance orator in Brooklyn, lecturing on Fort Greene plaza on Sunday afternoons, and using the stomachs of patients who had died of alchohol- ism (as prepared by Dr. John G. Johnson, of Brooklyn) to illustrate lis text. He was a member of the Kings County Society, 1842 to 1875. The Vice-President in 1851 ; Censor in 1858; Librarian in 1859 to 1869, and Presi- dent in 1855.

. Timothy Anderson Wade was graduated

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HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND.

from Berkshire Medical Institute, 1843. He practiced medicine from 1844 to 1866. Was physician to the Brooklyn Dispensary, 1846 to 1850; physician to the Kings County Peni- tentiary, 1849 to 1859. A member of the Kings County Medical Society from 1845 to 1856. Was Secretary, 1847 to 1848 and 1849. Censor in 1849; President in 1856; Delegate to the American Medical Association in 1855. He died in Brooklyn, in April, 1866.

Samuel Boyde was born in Manhattan, in 1806, began studying medicine in New York city, 1825, with Dr. Alexander Stephens. Graduated from the College of Physicians and Surgeons in 1828; post-graduate studies were conducted in the hospitals of Dublin, Edin- burgh and Paris. Began private practice in New York city, 1829. In 1844 he moved to Staten Island, where he remained until 1848; also had an office in Brooklyn from 1830 to 1860. Health Officer of the city of. Brooklyn from 1857 to 1859, and Visiting Physician in the City Hospital, 1840 to 1843. Member of Kings County Society, 1847 to 1861; was Vice-President in 1857. Delegate to the State Society in 1835. Physician to Seamen's Re- treat, Staten Island, 1844 to 1848; a surgeon in the Seminole War, and the only member that contributed a pamphlet on the yellow fever of 1856 then prevalent in New Utrecht.

Daniel Brooks, M. D., born in Westmore- land, New Hampshire, in 1813, took the degree of A. M. from Yale University in 1839; the degree of M. D. from the Vermont Medical College in 1845; was interne at the Insane Asylum at Hartford, Connecticut, 1845 to 1846; practiced medicine in Brooklyn, 1846 to 1861 ; attending physician at the Brooklyn Dispensary, 1846 to 1850; member of the Kings County Society, 1847 to 1861 ; Vice- President, 1859; President, 1860; delegate to the American Association, 1860; died De- cember 24, 1861.

Christopher Raborg McClellan, born in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1813 ; graduated from Yale University, 1833. Received the degree

of M. D. in the University of Maryland, 1835; was interne at Baltimore City Hospital and County Almshouse, 1835 to 1836; practiced medicine in Brooklyn, 1837 to 1887; Health Officer of Brooklyn, 1841 to 1842; attending physician City Hospital, 1845 to 1850; con- sulting physician, St. Peter's Hospital, 1877 to 1887 ; member of the Kings County Medical Society, 1839 to 1887; Censor in 1842; Vice- President, 1850 to 1860; President, 1861 ; member New York Mutual Aid Association, New York Academy of Medicine, State Medi- cal Association, and in 1866 he was a delegate to the American Medical Association ; Profes- sor of Botany in the New York College of Pharmacy in 1839; he died in Brooklyn Jan- uary 13, 1887.

Samuel Hart was born at Wakefield, Mass- achusetts, November 27, 1796; graduated at Harvard University (A. B., 1817; A. M., 1820; M. D., 1821). Began the practice of medicine at Beverly, Massachusetts, in 1821. In 1828 he removed to Oswego, New York, and in 1855 he removed to Brooklyn, where he died September 3, 1878. He was a mem- ber of the Kings County Medical Society, 1858 to 1878, and Censor in 1861, 1863 and 1870. Was President in 1862. He was a member of the Oswego Medical Society, 1829 to 1855, also a member of the American Medi- cal Association and of the New York State Medical Society, and Fellow of Massachusetts Medical Society. He was Curator of the Medical Department of the University of Buf- falo, and Surgeon to the Riflemen of Oswego, New York. He bequeathed his library to the Kings County Medical Society in 1878.

De Witt Clinton Enos, M. D., was born at De Ruyter, New York, March 17, 1820. Died in Brooklyn, New York, December 14, 1868. Received his medical education in the College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, grad- uating in 1846. He was professor of General and Descriptive Anatomy in the Long Island College Hospital, 1860 to 1867. Professor of operative and clinical surgery, Long Island

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THE MEDICAL SOCIETY OF COUNTY OF KINGS.

Hospital, 1867 to 1868. He was President of the Medical Society of the County of Kings in 1863. He practiced medicine in the city of Brooklyn from 1847 to 1868.

Joseph Chrisman Hutchison was born in Howard county, Missouri, Feb. 22, 1827, died in Brooklyn, New York, July 17, 1887. Grad- uated M. D., University of Pennsylvania, 1848, receiving the degree of LL. D. from the Uni- versity of Missouri in 1880. Was Professor of operative surgery and surgical anatomy of the Long Island College Hospital from 1860. to 1867. President of the Collegiate Depart- ment, 1886 and 1887. President of the Medi- cal Society of the County of Kings, 1864; New York State Medical Society, 1866; New York Pathological Society, 1871 ; and Health Com- missioner of Brooklyn from 1873 to 1875, where he practiced medicine from 1853 to 1887.

John Terry Conkling, M. D. was born at Smithtown, Long Island, March 19, 1825, died in Brooklyn March 17, 1898, thus rounding out a useful life of more than the allotted time of three-score years and ten. His preliminary education was received in the schools at the place of his birth, and at the State Normal School of Albany, graduating from there in 1847. Shortly after this he came to Brooklyn, and in 1852 began the study of medicine in the office of De Witt Clinton Enos, M. D. Dr. Conkling matriculated at the College of Physi- cians and Surgeons, attending lectures during the winters of 1853, 1854 and 1855, graduat- ing in 1855. He began the practice of medi- cine in Brooklyn, 1855, and continued until incapacitated by sickness. Was Superintend- ent of the Metropolitan Board of Health from 1864 to 1870, and was made President of the Brooklyn Board of Health in 1873. Was a member of the Board of Education, 1864 to 1870 ; member Council of the Long Island Col- lege Hospital, 1886 to 1893; Physician to the Brooklyn Dispensary and Eye and Ear In- firmary and Consulting Physician of the Long Island College Hospital. Member of the Long

Island Historical Society ; became a member of the Kings County Medical Society, 1859: Censor, and President in 1864, serving one term.

William W. Reese was born of Quaker parentage, about eighty-seven years ago, near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He received the degree of M. D. from the University of Penn- sylvania in 1845. After coming to this city he became a member of the Medical Society in the county of Kings in 1861. Six years after joining the society he was elected to the Presidency, which office he held during the year 1867. Dr. Reese was one of the con- stituent members of the New York Physicians' Mutual Aid Association. Was the first Vice- President, his term extending from 1871 10 1892. From 1874 he was also an active mem- ber of the Committee on Applications for Membership. Besides holding the office of President he was Librarian from 1870 to 1878 and later held the office of Assistant Secre- tary. He was elected a delegate to the New York State Medical Society for the years 1870 to 1873; a delegate to the American Medical Association from 1870 to 1879, and the Na- tional Quarantine and Sanitary Commission in 1866. He died on October 20, 1894.

Richard Cresson Styles was born in Phila- delphia, Pennsylvania, Oct. 4, 1830, died at Westchester, Pennsylvania, April 17, 1873. In 1851 he took the degree A. B. from Yale University, and in the following year began the study of medicine in the office of Thomas Turner, M. D., of Flatbush, Long Island, matriculating with the University of Pennsyl- vania, and receiving the degree of M. D. in 1854. The years 1855 to 1856 were spent in the Paris Hospitals. Returning to this coun- try, he began the practice of medicine in the State of Vermont, where he continued until 1862, receiving in that year the appointment of surgeon of volunteers. In 1863 to 1864 he was surgeon in Hancock's corps, coming to the city of Brooklyn. In the same year he en- gaged in the practice of medicine, his office be-

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ing at 16 Court street. He accepted an ap- pointment as resident physician to the Kings County Hospital, remaining until 1866. Dur- ing the years 1865 to 1866 he held the position of Superintendent to the Hospital. Under the Metropolitan Board of Health he held the of- fice of Registrar of Kings county in 1866, and was Assistant Sanitary Superintendent from 1868 to 1870. Previous to his coming to Brook- lyn he filled the following positions : Lec- turer on Physiology, College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, 1861 to 1862; Pro- fessor of Physiology and Pathology, Vermont Medical College, 1857 to 1865; Professor of Physiology, Berkshire Medical Institute, Mas- sachusetts, 1858 to 1862. His affiliation with medical societies has been as follows: Medi- cal Society, County of Kings, 1865-1873 ; Vice- President, 1867; President, 1868-69; Censor, 1870; Brooklyn Pathological Society, 1870- 73, of which he was one of the organizers. New York Academy of Medicine, 1865 to 1873. Delegate to the American Medical Association, 1865. In this connection it may be interesting to note that Dr. Styles had given some time to the study of Texas cattle disease, and dis- covered the parasite which caused the malady, and which Professor Haller, of Jena, named the fungus Conisthecium Stilesianum, in honor of the discoverer.

William H. Thayer was born in Milford, Massachusetts, June 18, 1822, became a mem- ber of the class of 1841, Harvard University, taking his A. B. in regular course. He re- ceived his M. D. from the Harvard Medical School in 1844. He was an interne of the Massachusetts General Hospital during his student period. For about ten years he prac- ticed at Boston and at Newtown Centre, Mas- sachusetts. From 1854 to 1862 he resided at Keene, New Hampshire. Was a member of the State Medical Society, New Hampshire and Vermont, and a surgeon of the New Hampshire volunteers. From 1862 to 1855 was Medical Director of New York, the Sec-

ond Division of United States Army Corps, being mustered out in July, 1865. He joined the Medical Society of Kings County in 1866, filling various offices from 1867 to 1878, and holding its Presidency in 1872 and 1873. In 1869 or 1870 he, with his friend, Dr. R. C. Styles, and nine others, laid the foundation of the Brooklyn Pathological Society. In 1892 he gave up the practice of the profession on account of deafness, and removed to Lanes- boro, Massachusetts. There he spent the last five years of his life in the enjoyment of outdoor freedom. He died December 22, 1897.

William Wallace was born in Cork, Ire- land, May 14, 1835; began the study of medi- cine in Edinburgh in 1851, and graduated from the Royal College of Surgeons in 1856, and the Royal College of Physicians in 1860. During 1855 he was acting Assistant Surgeon to the Royal Navy, in the Russian War. After the completion of his medical course Dr. Wallace entered the service of the Cunard Steamship Company, and for seven years served as sur- geon. In 1864 he began practice in Brooklyn. He held the office of attending physician to the Out-door Department of the Long Island College Hospital. Subsequently he became visiting physician to the following institutions : Long Island College Hospital, St. John's Hos- pital and Home for Consumptives. Consult- ing physician to Long Island College Hospital and St. Mary's Hospital, and medical director to the college dispensary, were the important titles conferred upon him. His appointment as a member of the Council of Long Island Col- lege and Hospital Committee of St. John's Hospital, and the board of Managers of the Church Charity Foundation, shows the con- fidence reposed in him by the general public. In the Kings County Medical Society he was elected Censor, Trustee and President, and delegate to the State Society, and President of the Brooklyn Pathological Society. He died in 1897.

CHAPTER LI.

VARIOUS MEDICAL SOCIETIES-BROOKLYN HOSPITALS- DISPENSARIES.

HE reason for the organization of the Medico-Chirurgical Society is that usually offered, want of harmony. or inactivity, in the older societies. J. H. Hobart Burge, M. D., located in the city of Brooklyn in 1855. The Medical So- ciety of the County of Kings was the only medical body in existence and its members met quarterly. Dr. Burge felt that medical men should come together oftener, and issued a call to a number of physicians to meet at his office, 138 Duffield street, to consider the ad- visability of forming an active medical so- ciety. The result of this meeting was the or- ganization of the above society on November 10, 1856.

The society was duly organized, in Duf- field street, the name of which it received in honor of Dr. Jolın Duffield, a surgeon in the Revolutionary War, who practiced medicine in the village of Brooklyn until his death in 1798.

During the ten years that the society had an existence in Brooklyn it included fifty of the most active physicians as members, many of whom were connected with the different hospitals of the city, and in a position to pre- sent a great many specimens at the meetings of the society, so much so that the society par- took largely of the character of a pathological society ; this work continued until 1866. Dur- ing this year the Medical Society of the Coun- ty of Kings resumed active work, which made

it unnecessary to have two medical societies in one section of the city. The members of the Medico-Chirurgical Society simply trans- ferred their field of active work to the County Society.

The first President was Andrew Otterson, M. D., who held the office from 1856-59.

He was followed by Joseph B. Jones, M. D., in 1860. Dr. Jones is a graduate of the College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, of 1855. He was local Health Officer from 1860-63 and 1864-66; Coroner of the county, 1869-74; member of the Medical So- ciety of the County of Kings, 1860-76, and the last President of the Brooklyn Medical Society in 1857. Daniel Ayres, M. D., LL. D., fol- lowed as President, during the years 1861-62- 63. He was born in Jamaica, Long Island, on October 6, 1822, "a year that marks the birth of our County Society." He was prepared for Princeton College, from which institution he was graduated, A. B., in 1842. Wesleyan University conferred upon him the degree of LL. D. in 1856. He commenced the study of medicine at the Castleton Medical College, Ver- mont, completing his studies at the University of New York, receiving the degree of M. D. in 1845. During the years 1844 and 1845 he was interne in Bellevue Hospital, and commenced private practice in the city of Brooklyn in 1846, continuing in the active practice of his profession in the city until his death, January 18, 1892. During his long and active service

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in the practice of the healing art he ever main- tained that dignity of character and honesty of purpose which go to make the true man and physician. In 1848 he was surgeon of the Fifth Brigade, Thirteenth and Fourteenth Regiments, New York, and from 1861-65 sur- geon, New York State Volunteers ; surgeon to the Brooklyn Hospital, 1846-53 and 1892; surgeon to St. Peter's Hospital, 1864-70; Con- sulting Surgeon, 1870-92.

His greatest work was in connection with the Long Island College Hospital. He was one of the founders, his active co-laborers be- ing Louis Bauer, M. D., F. R. C. S., and John Byrne, M. D., LL. D. He was surgeon to the hospital from 1858-60, and elected the first Professor of Surgery in 1859, and Professor Emeritus of Surgical Pathology and Clinical Surgery, Long Island College Hospital, 1874- 1892.

In the history of Bellevue Hospital, pub- lished in 1893, Dr. Daniel Ayres appears as Professor of Surgery, Long Island College Hospital, 1858-74. This is simply a mistake, in so far as the dates are concerned. His con- nection with medical societies was as follows : Medical Society of the County of Kings, 1845-92 ; Censor, 1847 ; American Medical As- sociation, New York Academy of Medicine, New York Pathological Society, Medical So- ciety of Berlin, Medico-Chirurgical Society of Brooklyn, New York.

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A history of Long Island, from its earliest settlement to the present time, Part 92

Author: Ross, Peter. cn Publication date: 1902 Publisher: New York ; Chicago : The Lewis Publishing Co. Number of Pages: 1188

Author: Ross, Peter. cn
Publication date: 1902
Publisher: New York ; Chicago : The Lewis Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 1188