Our County and Its People: A Descriptive Work on Erie County, New York (Volume 1), Part 86

Author: Truman C. White
Publication date: 1898
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 1017

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Annual meeting April 2, 1889 .-- Election of officers: President, A. A. Hubbell; vice-president, M. B. Folwell; secretary, W. H. Bergtold; treasurer, F. E. L. Brecht; librarian, Lucien Howe.

Annual meeting, April, 1890 .- Election of officers: President, A. A. Hubbell; vice-president, William C. Phelps; secretary, W. H. Bergtold; treasurer, F. E. L. Brecht; librarian, W. H. Heath.

Annual meeting, April, 1891 .- Election of officers: President, Will- iam C. Phelps; vice-president, C. C. Frederick; secretary, W. Scott Renner; treasurer, F. E. L. Brecht; librarian, J. B. Coakley.

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Annual meeting, April 5, 1892 .- Election of officers: President, C. C. Frederick; vice-president, H. E. Hayd; secretary, William G. Ring; treasurer, F. E. L. Brecht; librarian, W. C. Callanan.

The association held a regular monthly meeting, May 10, 1892, and another June 7, 1892, both at the Hotel Iroquois. These were the last meetings of the organization as it voted at a special meeting held May 17, 1892, to unite with three other societies in forming the Buffalo Academy of Medicine. This association became the surgical section of the new organization, and under the compact, the officers of the association elected April 5 were continued as officers of the section on surgery.

BUFFALO OBSTETRICAL SOCIETY.

On invitation, a number of physicians met at the office of Dr. Will- iam Warren Potter, January 27, 1884, to consider the propriety of or- ganizing a medical society for the consideration of subjects pertaining to obstetrics, diseases of women, and pediatrics. They voted to organ- ize the Buffalo Obstetrical Society and its first meeting was held Feb- ruary 25, 1884, at the residence of Dr. Potter. Its membership was limited to twenty-four.

The following named officers were elected: President, William Warren Potter; vice-president, Rollin L. Banta; secretary and treasurer, George E. Fell. This was the first special medical society organized in Buffalo, and it continued its work for eight years. Its proceedings were pub- lished during the greater part of this time in the Buffalo Medical Jour- nal, and they form an interesting chapter in the medical history of the period. It was the custom of this society, like most private medical societies, to meet at the houses of its members in rotation, and usually a collation was provided by the host after the scientific work was finished. When, in 1892, the Buffalo Academy of Medicine was or- ganized the Obstetrical Society was merged into it as a section, and its last meeting was held June 28, 1892, at the residence of Dr. Eugene A. Smith.

BUFFALO ACADEMY OF MEDICINE.

The propriety of creating a medical society, with the foregoing title, by grouping a number of associate societies under one administration, had been discussed for some time previously, but the proposition did not take final root until May 17, 1892, when the Buffalo Academy of

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Medicine was founded. It was formed out of the Buffalo Medical and Surgical Association, which became the surgical section; the Obstetric Society, that became the section on obstetrics, gynecology and pediat- rics; the Pathologic Society, that became the section on anatomy, physi- ology and pathology; and the Clinical Society, that became the section on medicine, materia medica and therapeutics.

As these four several societies were already in existence, it became necessary to obtain their consent to a proposed union which was done prior to the date before mentioned, and the June, 1892, meetings of the several bodies were the last they held as distinct organizations. It was provided that the general meetings of the academy should be held four times a year, namely, in March, June, September and December, and that each of the constituent bodies or sections should hold regular monthly meetings. Hence there would be one meeting in each week, and these occur every Tuesday evening.

The first officers of the academy, elected June 21, 1892, were: Presi- dent, Delancey Rochester; secretary, William C. Krauss; treasurer, Eugene A. Smith; trustees, James W. Putnam, Alphonse Dagenais and Roswell Park.

The meetings of the academy and its several sections have been con- tinued until the present time with a constantly increasing membership, and interesting proceedings have been varied by an occasional invita- tion to a non-resident who sometimes has come from a distance to pre- sent a paper before one of the sections.

The fact that the academy has not published its proceedings with regularity makes it impossible to give as complete a sketch of this body as would be done could official or accurate data be obtained.

PRIVATE MEDICAL SOCIETIES .- In addition to the foregoing there are also a number of private medical societies that hold regular meetings and do active and efficient work in promoting medical science. The first of these to organize was the Medical Club that meets on alternate Wednesday evenings. The next was the Medical Union which meets the third Tuesday in every month. Perhaps the Buffalo Microscopical Society ought to be mentioned, though this is a branch of the Society of Natural Sciences. It, however, engages the attention of a number of physicians and helps to stimulate the science of microscopy. The Roswell Park Medical Club is another of these flourishing coteries. The private societies are entertained at the houses of the members in rota- tion, and after the scientific work is disposed of a collation is usually served.

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II. MEDICAL COLLEGES.

Though the subject of establishing a medical college at Buffalo had been agitated previously during several years, formal steps prepara- tory to the application for a charter were not taken until the autumn of 1845. In the winter of 1846 authority was granted by the Legisla- ture to establish a medical school under the name and title of the Medical Department of the University of Buffalo. Hon. Nathan K. Hall, afterward postmaster-general, was then a member of the State Assembly, and it was mainly through his efforts that the charter was obtained. The first council of the university was composed of the fol- lowing named gentlemen :

Ira A. Blossom, Isaac Sherman, Theodotus Burwell, James O. Putnam. Gaius B. Rich, William A. Bird, George R. Babcock, Herman A. Tucker, Joseph G. Masten, Thomas M. Foote, John D. Shepard, Millard Fillmore, Elbridge G. Spaulding, Orson Phelps, Orsamus H. Marshall and George W. Clinton.

Public announcement of the success of the enterprise was made in the Buffalo Medical Journal for September, 1846, in which it was stated that the medical department had been fully organized by creating seven professorships, to which the Council of the University had made the following appointments: Chemistry and pharmacy, James Had- ley ; physiology and medical jurisprudence, Charles B. Coventry ; gen- eral and special anatomy, James Webster; pathology and materia medica, Charles Alfred Lee; principles and practice of surgery, Frank Hastings Hamilton; obstetrics and diseases of women and children, James Platt White; principles and practice of medicine, and clinical medicine, Austin Flint. Corydon L. Ford was appointed demonstra- tor of anatomy. The first five teachers above named were holding similar chairs in Geneva Medical College, an institution that was soon afterward discontinued. Dr. Hamilton removed to Buffalo in 1845, Dr. Webster retained his residence in Rochester, Dr. Coventry his at Utica, while James Hadley's son, George, delivered the chemistry lectures from the beginning, and was soon appointed to the chair.

The chief promoters of the college enterprise were Drs. White, Flint and Hamilton, who were ably seconded by Mr. O. H. Marshall and several other prominent citizens. Millard Fillmore, afterward president of the United States, was the first chancellor of the university, an office which he continued to fill until his death, March 8, 1874. He was suc- ceeded by Orsamus H. Marshall, and he by E. Carlton Sprague, who in turn was followed by James O. Putnam, the present incumbent, who

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has been a member of the council from the outset This was the be- ginning of the first permanently successful effort to establish in Buffa- lo an educational institution above the grade of common schools.

The structure occupied by the college during its first three academic years known as the First Baptist church, then stood on the corner of Seneca and Washington streets, the site of the present post-office build- ing. The first course of medical lectures opened February 24, 1847, with an attendance of sixty- six registered students, one of whom was Mr. L. G. Sellstedt, the distin- guished artist of Buffalo (still living), who took a special course. The first commencement was held at the First Presbyterian church, June 16, 1847, at which Hon. Millard Fill- more, chancellor, after a brief address conferred the degree of doctor of medicine upon seventeen gentlemen whose names were as follows: George Abbott, M. H. Andrews, FIRST BUFFALO MEDICAL COLLEGE-WASHINGTON AND SENECA STS. H. W. Barrett, Z. H. Blake, John P. Dudley,

Sidney A. Foss, H. D. Garvin, John Hardy, James E. King, S. G. Rogers, Wells Taber, and J. A. Whiting. Of these Dr. Abbott is still living and engaged in the practice of his profession at Hamburg.

The address to the graduates was delivered by the dean of the fac- ulty, Prof Frank Hastings Hamilton, the exercises were interspersed with music, and closed with a benediction by the Rev. Mr. Schuyler of St. John's church. These were the first literary exercises of the kind ever witnessed in Buffalo and were attended by a large concourse of prominent citizens.

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At the second annual commencement, June 14, 1848, there were thirty two graduates out of a total attendance of ninety-five students. In the absence of the chancellor, the vice chancellor, Dr. Thomas M. Foote, conferred the degrees, and Prof. Austin Flint delivered the address to the graduating class. Among those to receive medical de- grees on this occasion was Dr. C. C. Wyckoff, who is at present in active professional practice in Buffalo.

The church structure referred to was used by the college during its first three academic years. By this time, however, the necessity pre-

SECOND BUFFALO MEDICAL COLLEGE-MAIN AND VIRGINIA STREETS.

sented itself for increased accommodations, which culminated in locat- ing the school in a building of its own. Public spirited citizens were invited to contribute to the enterprise through a subscription list that was circulated. This was headed by A. D. Patchen, who subscribed $500; next came Jesse Ketchum, who gave $600, the largest single donation, and then followed in their order the names of Albert H. Tracy, George W. Tifft, Elbridge G. Spaulding and Jabez Goodell, who gave each $200. There were eighty citizens who subscribed $100 each, and the remainder was raised in sums of $60 and $40, until the aggre- 97

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gate subscription reached $12,000. The State appropriated $2,000, which made a sufficient amount to justify the commencement of the new edifice. Meanwhile land was purchased at the corner of Main and and Virginia streets, a location then quite outside of the city, and the construction of the building was begun under the most inspiriting auspices. It was completed in season for the fourth lecture course, 1849-50, at a cost of about $15,000. It would be interesting to trace the history of the college from this time forward, but only a few of the important events can be recorded in the space allotted.

It was during its fourth year that Dr. White introduced demonstra- tive or clinical midwifery into the college curriculum, a method of teaching that had already been established in Europe, but had not been attempted before in this country. Part of the plan was as follows: A woman, two weeks before confinement, entered the janitor's apart- ments where she was boarded and cared for by the janitor's wife. After labor began the graduating class, twenty-two in number, as- sembled in an adjoining room, and one by one, under the supervision of Dr. White, were admitted to the confinement room. This was all, and the woman made a rapid convalescence; yet seldom has an event oc- curred that so completely shook the foundations of society in any city as did this. Newspapers commented upon it, doctors denounced it as immoral, and a suit for libel followed. A scathing critique signed "L." appeared in one of the daily newspapers, reflecting so intem- perately upon Dr. White's course that he promptly brought suit for libel against Dr. Horatio N. Loomis, the supposed author of the article; for it was known that he had expressed himself verbally in opposition to this method of teaching. A trial ensued lasting four days, able counsel appeared on both sides, two stenographers were employed by the complainant (this was before the days of court sten- ographers) and a full report was made and published to the world. Much stress had been laid by the counsel for the defendant upon the fact that "public opinion " placed the stamp of its emphatic disapproval upon the course of Dr. White. Mr. Justice Mullett, who presided at the trial, swept all such fallacies from the jury box in a terse and able charge which reached a climax of haughty eloquence in the following paragraph :

Public opinion has not in Christendom been deemed a very safe agent in the ad- ministration of justice since it profaned the judgment seat and insulted heaven by the cry of Crucify Him! Crucify Him !! Pilate, weak and time-serving, disobeyed

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the dictates of his own conscience and followed the popular outcry which he mistook for public opinion. But the sacred history of that awful tragedy informs us that the chief priests and elders persuaded the multitude.

Dr. Loomis was acquitted, for it was proved that another had writ- ten the libel, but Dr. White was vindicated. His name will be handed down during all time as the first in America to attempt the clinical teaching of midwifery. Dr. White continued his work as a teacher from 1846 to 1881, during which time he inaugurated many methods of improvement in his specialty, and successfully performed many difficult operations in abdominal and pelvic surgery. He was in ad- vance of his time in many respects, and left a name that will always be conspicuous for having contributed much to the advancement of the science of medicine. He devised many ingenious instruments, and his obstetric forceps is well known throughout the land. Since his death, which occurred September 28, 1881, Dr. Matthew D. Mann, who was soon afterward appointed to the chair made vacant, has continued to teach obstetrics and gynecology in the university.

Dr. Frank Hastings Hamilton, who was the first teacher of surgery, held the chair until his removal to New York in 1860. During the fifteen years of his residence in Buffalo he did much original work that served to establish him among the first surgeons in the country and he was ever afterward recognized as such. He published fracture tables and introduced new methods in the treatment of fractures, which laid the foundation for his classic treatise on fractures and dislocations that has been translated into several foreign languages.

After Dr. Hamilton's removal to New York, Dr. E. M. Moore, of Rochester, who had been teaching surgical pathology in the college for some years was appointed to the chair of surgery. Professor Moore was an original thinker and an attractive teacher as well as an ingen- ious surgeon. He continued to occupy this chair until 1883 when he resigned on account of advancing years. Dr. Roswell Park, of Chi- cago, was appointed to fill the vacancy thus created and has been teaching in that capacity until the present time.

In 1867 the chair of special surgery was created, and Dr. Julius F. Miner was invited to fill it. It was not long before Professor Miner developed popularity as a teacher, and skill as a surgeon. He con- tinued this work until failing health in 1884 compelled him to resign.

In 1851 Dr. Coventry resigned the chair of physiology, and Dr. John C. Dalton, jr., was appointed to succeed him. Dalton had been a

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pupil of the great French physiologist, Bernard, and he at once insti tuted the methods of the latter in illustrating his lectures by vivisec- tions before the class. This was the first time the method had been adopted in this country-a system of teaching which has since gained universal application. Dr. Dalton held this chair until 1858, when he went to New York and continued his work in that city. He became the author of a text-book on physiology that was almost universally adopted. He died at New York, February 12, 1889, aged sixty-four years, after having obtained most conspicuous prominence as an author and teacher of physiology.

Dr. Austin Flint, one of the founders of the college, taught the prac- tice of medicine from 1846 to 1853. In the latter year he was invited to Louisville, and subsequently to New Orleans, in both of which cities he taught internal medicine for several years. Finally he went to New York and occupied the chair of practice of medicine at the Bellevue Medical College until his death, March 13, 1886. He was a recognized authority in diseases of the chest, and reduced physical ex- ploration to an exiguity that had not been heard of before his time. His ear was so finely attuned to rhythmical sounds that he was enabled to detect minute chest râles that were not easily differentiated by others, and to give them a fixed and definite significance in the pathology of cardiac and pulmonary diseases. He was a voluminous writer, his works have been recognized everywhere as standard authority, and have in some instances come to be regarded as classics. He specially distin- guished himself in establishing the true nature of the infection of ty- phoid fever as early as 1843. A well at North Boston became poi- soned by the excreta of a typhoid patient brought from Massachusetts. Twenty-one cases occurred in families living within a few rods of the well, of whom seven died. Dr. Flint visited the scene, diagnosticated and traced an infectious disease, then unknown in this region, from New England to that obscure hamlet, distinctly establishing its con- tagion, and pointed out its source. The published report became a classic in medical literature that will always be referred to, and it formed the basis of a series of essays afterward published by Professor Flint on the subject of typhoid fever.

In 1853 Dr. Thomas F. Rochester, a native of the city that bears his name, who had lately been serving in Bellevue Hospital, was appointed professor of practice to fill the vacancy caused by Dr. Flint's removal. An incident in his life deserves to be recorded in this place. He was

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one of twelve young men who entered the hospital at Bellevue as unpaid assistants. Soon afterward a fearful pestilence invaded the wards and at the close of the year seven of the little band had died while performing the duty named. They rode not down to the valley of death in a magnificent charge with banners and trumpets like the historic 600 at Balaklava, but they went down to their pestilential battle- field just as consciously, just as heroically. No mausoleum, no obelisk, no monumental bronze marks their resting place to perpetuate their deeds. Only upon a mural tablet at Bellevue may be read the record of this martyrdom. The facts and circumstances are recorded here as received from an intimate friend of Dr. Rochester who was familiar with the circumstances. Dr. Rochester did much to advance the science of medicine, and was one of the most conscientious and pro- gressive teachers in the college. He continued to perform his labors until within a few months of his death, which occurred May 24, 1887, when he was sixty-three years of age. He was succeeded by Dr. Charles G. Stockton, who still occupies the chair of medicine.

Dr. Corydon L. Ford, who afterward attained conspicuous eminence as an anatomist, resigned the demonstratorship of anatomy in 1853, and Dr. Sanford .B. Hunt, of Mendon, N. Y., was appointed to fill the vacancy. The following year Dr. Hunt was advanced to the professor- ship of anatomy, which he held until 1858. He was a man of science, and made anatomy an interesting subject to his pupils. Instead of the usual dry methods of teaching, he adopted those that directed attention and fixed the memory through the novelty of surrounding it with more than ordinary interest. He resigned the chair to engage in editorial and educational work, and was elected superintendent of public schools.

Dr. Sandford Eastman, an alumnus of the college, was appointed to fill the vacancy and held the chair until his death, January 8, 1874. Dr. Eastman was one of the most popular teachers in the college, one who commanded the respect alike of his colleagues and his pupils as well as the love and esteem of a large clientèle that mourned his de- cease as a loss of inestimable moment.

Dr. Milton Grosvenor Potter, also an alumnus of the college, was chosen to fill the vacancy. He, too, was an interesting and forceful teacher who obtained at once the respect and love of his pupils as well as the most distinguished consideration of his colleagues. He died January 28, 1878, lamented by a large circle of friends and acquaint- ances. Dr. Charles Cary was appointed to the vacant chair.

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The chair of materia medica was nominally held by Professor Lee from the beginning down to 1870. The lectures, however, were de- livered during his unavoidable absence by Prof. Theophilus Mack from 1857 to 1860, and by Prof. Joshua R. Lothrop from 1860 to 1864. When Dr. Lee resigned in 1870 Prof. H. N. Eastman was appointed to the chair and was succeeded in 1873 by Dr. E. V. Stoddard, of Rochester, who held until 1888, when Dr. Charles Cary was transferred from the chair of anatomy to fill the vacancy occasioned by Professor Stoddard's resignation. Professor Cary is still engaged in teaching materia medica and therapeutics at the college. Dr. John Parmenter was appointed to the chair of anatomy made vacant by Dr. Cary's transfer, a post he still occupies.

The following named gentlemen have served as demonstrators of anatomy from 1846 to the present writing, viz .: Corydon L. Ford, Sanford B. Hunt, John Boardman, Benjamin L. Lemon, Hugh Van Deventer, S. W. Wetmore, M. B. Folwell and William C. Phelps. Dr. Phelps still continues as demonstrator and has also been made assistant professor of anatomy.

A few years ago the college building at the corner of Main and Vir- ginia streets became unsuited to modern methods of medical teaching, as well as too limited in its capacity to accommodate the increasing attendance of students. Its anatomical rooms were inadequate; its laboratories too restricted; its amphitheaters were too small, and in short the methods of 1890 had outgrown those of 1850. Though it was a comely structure and the first building erected on the Holland Purchase for collegiate instruction since the soil on which it stands was relinquished by the Senecas, it has ceased to be occupied, is fast falling into decay, and is about to be torn down.

Ground was obtained on High street in the vicinity of the General Hospital, and the construction of a new building put under way in 1892. The present college edifice was opened March 5, 1893, with public ceremonies befitting the occasion. This superb building is ad- mirably adapted to the purposes of medical instruction and it fittingly bespeaks the energy and sagacity of its projectors. The remaining part the college is to play in history concerns the immediate present and the future which is yet to be written.

We may very fittingly close this chapter by recording the names of the successors of the original seven teachers. They who are now in office are as follows: Charles Cary, professor of materia medica,

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therapeutics, and clinical medicine: Matthew D. Mann, dean, profes- sor of obstetrics and gynecology; Roswell Park, professor of the prin- ciples and practice of surgery and clinical surgery; Julius Pohlman, professor of physiology; Charles G. Stockton, professor of the prin- ciples and practice of medicine, and clinical medicine; John Parmen- ter, secretary, professor of anatomy, and adjunct professor of clinical surgery; Herbert M. Hill, professor of chemistry, toxicology, and physics.

In addition to these there are seven adjunct professors, seventeen professors of special departments, and eleven instructors, besides a number of clinical instructors and student assistants. This array of teachers contrasted with the original seven indicates the progress in medical instruction during the last fifty years. As a further evidence of progress it may be mentioned that the following departments have been erected in the university since the creation of the medical de. partment in 1846, namely, the department of pharmacy, established in 1886; the department of law established in 1887; the department of dentistry established in 1892; and the school of pedagogy established in 1895. It is, therefore, a university in fact as well as in law.

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Our County and Its People: A Descriptive Work on Erie County, New York (Volume 1), Part 86

Author: Truman C. White Publication date: 1898 Publisher: Number of Pages: 1017

Author: Truman C. White
Publication date: 1898
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 1017