History of Oneida County, New York : with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 51

Author: Durant, Samuel W
Publication date: 1878
Publisher: Philadelphia : Everts & Fariss
Number of Pages: 920

USA > New York > Oneida County > History of Oneida County, New York : with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 51

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which they lived, and not only the founders of this society, but most of their successors who enrolled their names among the zealous workers for its welfare, were men of mental acumen and unfaltering energy, who were devoted to the interests of their chosen profession, who labored faithfully for the relief of human suffering, and conscien- tiously for the welfare of the human family.

We will return from this digression, and resume the history of this society. The first meeting at Rome, held the 1st of July, adjourned to meet at Whitesboro' the 2d day of September, 1806. The committee to prepare a code of by-laws not being ready to report, they were con- tinued, to report at the annual meeting in July, 1807. At the annual meeting the committee reported a system of by- laws, which was adopted, and a further new appointment of Drs. Hopkins, Sampson, Wolcott, Sayles, Capron, Francis Guiteau, and Luther Guiteau was made to report a fee-bill for the society. The character of the men who were ap- pointed on this commission is sufficient to show they placed little value on the bread and butter side of the profession.

At the meeting held the 12th of January, 1808, at Judge Ostrom's, in the village of Utica, the fee-bill was adopted as reported by the commission. There was nothing pecu- liar in the fcc-bill. The prices were graduated for the times, and a liberal margin allowed to meet the necessities of indi- vidual patients. Drs. Sampson, Hopkins, Francis Gui- teau, and Luther Guiteau were appointed to deliver disser- tations on typhus fever at the anniversary meeting in July. At this meeting strong resolutions were passed against illegal practitioners. It is very evident that we have not the ad- vantage of that law which bound them to the legal enaet- ments so recently passed; for now the State in its great liberality has legalized almost every kind of medical practi- tioners. Amasa Trowbridge was admitted to membership at this meeting, and the next year asked for a letter to the Jefferson County Society. He located in Watertown, and became the leading surgeon of that seetion of the State. The meeting held the 30th of July, 1810, closed the first period of its existence. Since its organization in 1806, covering a period of four years, it had held seven meetings, adopted a code of by-laws, formed a fec-bill to regulate the prices in the county, and established a representation to the State Society. Ten new members had been admitted, making 37 in the aggregate, to guard the interests of. the profession. We have no means, of course, to determine what causes led to the suspension of its regular meetings.

The enthusiasm which first led the physicians of the county to organize and found this society had in some measure been burned ont, while the distance to be traveled, with the loss of time and the fatigue to be endured, would seem good reasons for this apathy. But it was not destined long to slumber. The noble impulses which were fostered in the free intercourse of men engaged in the same pursuit for four years, called for renewed exertions, and after a three years' rest the society awoke from its dreamless sleep and became a leader in the medical army of the State. On the establishment of its regular meetings, the men who had joined those who united in the few succeeding years gave the society a prominent place in the medical meetings of the State.

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HISTORY OF ONEIDA COUNTY, NEW YORK.

A meeting had been called for July 6, 1813, and a good representation of the leading physicians of the county re- sponded to the call, and re-organized the meetings by eleet- ing the regular officers of the society. A committee was appointed to devise means for establishing a library, and the number of members necessary to form a quorum was reduced to seven. Recommendations for the purchase of books and adopting a plan for the use of the library were the more important results of this meeting.

In 1814, January 6, the semi-annual meeting was held at Utica, when a circular from the State Medieal Society was presented asking the co-operation of this society at the present Legislature for a change in the State law ; but, as the report of the committee to whom it was referred has not been preserved, nor the circular itself, we are left in ignorance of the objects sought to be obtained.

Rules regulating the use of books from the library and the annual tax of $1.50 per head were adopted. The an- nual meeting in July was the first in which the treasurer's report was presented in due form, and passed through the hands of an auditing committee, and the first in which mem- bers were fined for non-attendance. The fine was $1, and no professional engagements would be allowed to cancel the debt.

In 1810 a circular from the College of Physicians and Surgeons, and from Columbia College, offering students free access to the lectures, had been received, and a coin- mittee appointed to mature the plan of examinations for such students as desired the aid of their liberality; but in the three years' suspension of its meetings both the com- mittee and its objects were lost sight of. In 1814 a plan for organizing the library department and drawing books was adopted, and a catalogue of the books to be purchased and the periodicals to be secured for its use by the society seems to be one of the most important results of this year. In 1817, Amos G. Hull's truss for the cure of hernia had been patented, and the secretary of this society was di- rected to give him a certificate of recommendation for his patent. Dr. Hull was then president of this society and delegate to the State Medical Society. This official action seems to be a strange commentary on the stringent meas- ures before taken by the society for violation of its code of medical ethics. The fec-bill was changed so as to con- form to the State Medical Society. An effort was now ou foot to get a pharmacopcia of the United States, and this society engaged in the plan and gave its influence to the measure in 1819. The initiation fee was now established at $1 per annum, and the vice-president to give an address at the semi-annual meeting. Typhus fever seems to have been epidemic for several years, and some of the most prominent men in the profession had been designated to prepare articles for the benefit of the society. Dr. Luther Guiteau was the only one of the five appointed to the duty who responded to the call, and his dissertation has not been preserved. The society should now be rich in manuscripts of addresses and dissertations covering a period of seventy- two years, in which the changes in disease induced by the transition from a newly settled condition of the country to a higher state of culture and civilization would have been portrayed. A fine of $5 had been imposed for neglecting

to read dissertations when appointed, and in 1820 the treasurer was directed to enforce collection. The semi- annual meeting of 1821, and the annual meeting in July, the same year, failed for want of a quorum. A few of the medical men of the society met at Whitesboro', on the 18th of October, 1821, and appointed a committee of three to revise the by-laws and report to the semi-annual meet- ing in 1822. The result was a more thorough and perfcet system of rules to regulate the action of the society than had ever before been adopted. For several years after the meeting in 1822 but few changes were made in the society, and only the usual appropriations to the State Society and the delegate were made. The society was now entering upon a period of prosperity, a library had been established, with frequent appropriations to increase the number of its vol- umes and periodicals, aud establish a fund for a prize essay. At the annual meeting in July, 1825, the award was given to Luther Guitcau, in answer to the question what consti- tutes fever. This essay has been preserved, and is in the hands of the society. At the meeting in 1826 preliminary steps were taken to found a lunatic asylum for the county, with or without a hospital. There was another revision of the by-laws in 1828, and a committee appointed to confer with the trustees of Hamilton College for the purpose of forming a medical branch under the auspices of the County Society. In 1824, Robert C. Wood was admitted to mem- bership, who became distinguished as surgeon-general of the armuy in Mexico with General Taylor, and James Douglass, founder of a private lunatic asylum at Quebec. In 1829 a committee was appointed to consider the subject of a med- ical journal, and a voluminous report on the subject of in- temperance was offered to the different papers of the county for publication. A revision in the form of the diploma of the county was reported this year and adopted.

An effort was made in 1830 to have the general law of the State for the organization of county medical societies repealed, and the society promptly called a special meeting and sent forward a remonstrance. At this meeting Andrew P. Moore made his charges against Dr. Newell Smith for criminal operations on his wife and for unlawful intimacy connected therewith, covering a period of about eighteen months. Special meetings were held to hear the report of committees and to obtain evidence, which resulted in his expulsion from the society in October, 1832.

At the semi-annual meeting in 1834, Dr. C. B. Coventry introduced a preamble and resolutions, praying the State Legislature to pass a special act for building an asylum for the benefit of the insane poor of the State. He urged the necessity, especially on the State Society, and through them on the Legislature, and the massive walls and fluted col- umns of the State Asylum in our city will stand a lasting monument of his philanthropic spirit until it crumbles into dust from the ravages of time.

At the annual meeting in 1836, Dr. Blair, president,. gave an address on the changes that had followed the epi- demics of 1793, 1812, and 1832, and their influence on the character of disease in this section of the State. An ad- dress before the society, in 1838, by Theodore Pomeroy, describing the fatal epidemic of puerperal fever which pre- vailed in the winter of 1830 or '31, with all its practical

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HISTORY OF ONEIDA COUNTY, NEW YORK.

teachings, has been lost. The prize essay of Dr. Luther Guiteau, on typhus fever, the important changes that fol- lowed the fearful epidemies described by Dr. Blair, and the more limited, but equally distressing seourge, in the ratio of its victims, in the reported eases of Dr. Pomeroy ; all of them connected with interesting periods of medical history, and described by living witnesses, now leave only a blank leaf for us to study, instead of the lessons of experience. These are only a tithe of what has been lost by not having a proper system of preservation for the important papers that have become the property of the society.

In 1839 a committee was appointed to ascertain the num- ber of insane and of idiots in the county. An effort was made to abolish the power of county societies to examine students and grant diplomas, which raised an opposition quite as strong as the one a few years before to have the medical laws of the State repealed.

In 1843 a valuable acquisition was made to the member- ship of the society by the admission of Dr. Amariah Brig- ham, Superintendent of the Lunatic Asylum. He came to Utiea, to take charge of this institution, from the Hartford Retreat for the Insane, with a reputation securely established for this department of medical seienee, and a name for in- telleetnal gifts that had few rivals.

In 1846 an effort was made to increase the usefulness and interests of the society by dividing it into seetions, so as to have two dissertations at each meeting. In the fol- lowing year a new measure was proposed, that of quarterly meetings, but at that time so few of the members beeame zealous workmen, that after a very few efforts to keep them up, the plan failed, and the quarterlies died a natural death. The stated times for the regular meetings had been fixed on the first Tuesday of July and Jannary. It was so often that they occurred on New Year's Day and the Fourth of July, that a resolution was carried io 1848 changing the time to the second Tuesday in each month. The society had now for a few years been losing in its strength and im- portanee ; no steps that had been taken to regain its former prestige had been successful, and a dark and portentons cloud shrouded it in gloom and threatened its destruction. The annual attendanee ranged from eight to sixteen, and in 1851 but one dollar and ninety-three cents was in the treas- ury, with outstanding bills of indebtedness to large amounts. Special notices were sent to all the practicing physicians, and strong appeals were made through individual efforts to arouse the members to a proper sense of the danger of its extinction. In 1853 a new treasurer was elected, who had been a strong advocate for enforeing collections, and within one week after his appointment four of the prominent de- linquents in different parts of the county had been sued. Of course strong opposition was roused to the measure, and every available means of defense were set up to avoid pay- ment. A few lessons in the sale and costs of collecting under an exeeution seemed to be a good argument in favor of at- tending the meetings and paying without further trouble. The society's tax had been repealed, its fines remitted, and the initiation fee of three dollars abolished, to bring baek the reereant members, but it had all been to no use.

The State law was so amended in 1853 that it gave the same number of delegates to the State Society as we had of

members to the Legislature. The influence of the new measures for collecting the annual tax became manifest in the increased attendance and its improved treasury, so that in 1855 the new system of by-laws had been printed, and the semi-centennial year dawned on a renovated society, again starting on a career of prosperity, which gave promise of better days to come.

At the semi-annual meeting of Jan. 7, 1856, a resolution was passed ordering a semi-centennial celebration for the annual meeting, to be held the 8th of July, in the city of Utiea. A committee of seven was appointed to organize a plan of action, and to establish such measures as would most certainly carry forward the cherished wish of its mem- bers, and in this publie union of the medical men of this county aeknowledge the great obligations we owed to the heroes of 1806. The address of welcome to the guests by the chairman of the committee of arrangements will give some idea of the spirit and enthusiasm with which this call for a semi-centennial anniversary was hailed by the medieal men of the eonnty : " Gentlemen, fifty years have just passed, the first of this month, since twenty-nine of the medieal men of the County of Oneida met at Rome, and organized the Oneida County Medieal Society. At the semi-annual meet- ing of the society, held at Rome the 8th day of January, 1856, a committee was appointed to make the necessary ar- rangements for holding a semi-eentennial celebration. They have fixed on this day and this place for the interesting ceremonies. In behalf of that committee, gentlemen, I welcome you to this hall ; not as strangers, but as brethren ; fellow-laborers in the same ealling; members of one and the same noble profession. Yes, gentlemen, we have come here to-day to commemorate an important professional move- ment; to do honor to the founders of this society, and to extend to the survivors of that noble band a cordial greet- ing." At that time there were but twe of the original founders left. They were escorted to their places of honor, at the well-loaded tables, by Dr. Coventry and Dr. McCall, where, with the members of the profession of this and ad- joining counties, with the invited guests, they gave ample assurance of their ability to enjoy the pleasure of this social union, and to contrast its poor and meagre advent with the prestige of this its erowning hour. Men eminent on the bench and at the bar, the mayor and common eouneil of the city, distinguished representatives of the press, and citizens of social position and character, all united in giving prominence to this anniversary meeting of the medical men of Oneida County.

At the time of the annual meeting in July, 1857, a por- tion of the lunatic asylum was destroyed by fire. Dr. Bagg offered a resolution of sympathy with the officers and man- agers of the institution, which was passed unanimously. (Those who believed it was caused by the negligence of the active officers of the asylum, were willing to give them this

mark of consideration while suffering from such a fearful calamity.) It can be said to the praise of the management that no inmate was injured in this fiery ordeal ; but a young and promising physician lost his life in vain efforts to save this monument of pride to the citizens of Utiea. This year a resolution was passed to divide the life of the society into five periods of ten years each, and all who had died in each

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HISTORY OF ONEIDA COUNTY, NEW YORK.

of the ten years, whose biographies had not been written, should be cared for by the individuals appointed for each period. Dr. McCall was appointed for the first, Dr. Cov- entry for the second, Dr. Barrows for the third, Dr. Bagg for the fourth, and Dr. Thomas for the fifth. We never had reports, I think, covering either of the above periods.

A fee-bill was adopted, and another petition was sent to the Legislature praying for the appointment of a commis- sioner of lunacy. In 1859, Dr. Coventry reviewed the works of Drs. Forbes and Bigelow, on nature and art in the cure of disease. The society ordered its publication, and in January, 1860, 300 copies were ready for distri- bution. Arba Blair, president of the society, and one of the original founders, from the infirmities of age being un- able to attend the anniversary meeting, presented several ancient works on medicine, to be preserved by the society, as exhibiting by contrast the improvements made in the art of book-making, as well as in the science of medicine and surgery. July, 1861, another resolution and petition to the Legislature for the appointment of a commissioner of lunacy, to inquire into the condition of the insane confined in the poor-houses and jails, was presented by Dr. Coventry. The committee reported in 1862 that circulars had been sent to most of the county societies, and many petitions sent to the Legislature; and at the semi-annual meeting in 1864 the medical men of the county signed a petition from this county, which was followed by the passage of the bill soon after.

In 1864 it was proposed to divide the life of the society into five periods of ten years each. The first period was given to Drs. McCall and Whaley, the second to C. B. and W. B. Coventry, the third to Charles and F. M. Barrows, the fourth to Dr. Thomas, and the fifth to Dr. Bagg. The duties assigned were for the gentlemen named to prepare notices of all the members who had died in each period, whose biographies had not been written.

By resolution, the fees for medical services were increased 100 per cent. It will only be necessary to refer to the in- creased expenses of living, caused by the calamities of the civil war which then threatened the life of the nation, to give good reason for the increased value of medical services. Fifty certificates of membership were reported by the committee. They were copied from the first issue, which was on parch- ment, with the portrait of the head of John Hunter. Amount in treasury, $83.26.

In 1865 the attendance still continued large in com- parison with the past, and the collections increased in a cor- responding degree. Dr. Coventry's Essay on Tuberculosis was ordered to be published, and 300 copies were ready for distribution.

At the semi-annual meeting, Jan. 9, 1866, the prevalence of influenza attracted the attention of the society. It was considered the harbinger of severe epidemic disease, which seemed proved by its advent in December, 1831, and had preceded the advent of all severe epidemic diseases since the cholera of 1832. We have no means to determine now how such atmospheric conditions may have operated long before this period. Resolutions were reported touching the ser- vices of Dr. Walter B. Coventry in the army, and the promise he had given of future eminence in his profession.

At the annual meeting, in 1867, the president gave an address on the founding and development of the first hos- pitals of the United States. Dr. Gray generously proposed to publish the address in the Journal of Insanity, and give the society 100 copies. His offer was accepted ; the address was published and distributed to the several members of the county.

A semi-annual meeting of 1868 was called to order, and the deaths of Drs. J. McCall and N. H. Dering were an- nounced, and appropriate measures taken to give them a fitting place in the annals of medicine. Dr. McCall, throughı a long life, had been one of the leading men in the society, by his firmness and decision guarding its interests, and with zealous ambition striving to give it rank and consideration among men. Dr. Dering, with a shorter life among ns, had lent his enthusiasm for the medical profession to aid the society in holding the raok it had obtained among the so- cieties of the State.

At the annual meeting Dr. Bagg gave his eulogy on Dr. Dering, and C. B. Coventry on the life and character of Dr. McCall. The president, Dr. Guiteau, gave an address on the influences produced by the early settlements of a country, and the effects which civilization has over the vital forces of the human family.

The subject of quarterly mectings was again called up, and a resolution offered to hold them the second Tuesday of January, April, July, and October. This resolution was laid over to the semi-annual meeting in 1869.

At this meeting the resolution became a law of the so- ciety, and the first quarterly meeting was fixed for April 12, to be held in Utica.

At the annual meeting, July 13, 1869, a committee was appointed to examine and report the standing of applicants for admission to membership. But little care had been taken for several years of the acquirements and standing of persons admitted to membership, and the committee re- ported the following : "That applicants be required to file in the County Clerk's office their diplomas before present- ing themselves for membership."

At the second quarterly meeting, held Oct. 11, 1869, resolutions were passed condemning the criminal acts of the abortionist. Really there was no discussion on the questions involved in the resolution, for a crime so abhor- rent to the best feelings of human nature could have no advocates in a society of high-minded medical men, zealous to maintain the purity of the profession.

At the semi-annual meeting in 1870, January 11, the deaths of the brothers Drs. H. and G. Pope were brought to the notice of the society. They had both died of the same discase,-hypertrophy of the prostate, Resolutions were passed commemorating the positions they had held in the practice of medicine,

At the quarterly meeting held the 11th of April, the amended fee-bill was passed, and one of the members ex- pelled for immoral conduct,

The semi-annual meeting in 1871, Jan. 10, could claim unusual interest, for one of the veterans of the society whose name graced the roll of the first meeting and the founding of the society,-now the ouly survivor, ninety-two years old,-came to meet with the society once more before

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HISTORY OF ONEIDA COUNTY, NEW YORK.

being called to his never-ending home. Time had touched him lightly, for after the seventy years since he began the practice of his profession, he showed few signs of such a life of toil and exposure.

The quarterly meeting this year, in October, took up the subject recommended by the American Medical Association, and resolved to use its influence to have half-free scholar- ships in the New York College of Veterinary Surgeons.

At the semi-annual meeting of 1872, delegates to the American Medical Association were instructed to vote for the admission of women, properly qualified in the profession, to membership.

At the quarterly meeting in April, Dr. Flandran re- ported a case of delirium tremens from the use of hydrate of chloral.

Dr. Gray, at the annual meeting, invited the society to hold its next quarterly meeting at the Lunatic Asylum, which was accepted, and the members of the society at the October meeting, after organizing, adjourned to the asy- lum. The members were conducted through many of the wards of the institution, saw Professor Diek's demonstra- tions of morbid anatomy, Kempster's mieroscopie speci- mens, and closed the labors of the day by getting fresh supplies of the necessaries of life from a table of large dimensions and magnificent supplies. Through the doctor's exertions the meeting had been a novel and interesting one, and the members did not fail to give public expression in the records of the society of the gratification they had re- ceived.

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History of Oneida County, New York : with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 51

Author: Durant, Samuel W Publication date: 1878 Publisher: Philadelphia : Everts & Fariss Number of Pages: 920

Author: Durant, Samuel W
Publication date: 1878
Publisher: Philadelphia : Everts & Fariss
Number of Pages: 920