USA > New York > Bronx County > The Bronx and its people; a history, 1609-1927, Volume II > Part 15
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In the middle of the century hospitals multiplied to meet the increas- ing needs of the city. Many of these were founded by churches or re- ligious organizations for the care of the destitute sick, without distinc- tion of creed or nationality. The Catholics early inaugurated this good work, establishing St. Vincent's Hospital in 1849. St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital was founded in 1850, and the credit for its start is due to the Rev. William Augustus Muhlenberg, the rector of the Church of the Holy Communion. On St. Luke's Day in 1816, he expressed to his congregation his ideal for a hospital, and devoted one half of the offertory, $15.00 towards its erection. After the first building for the hospital was put up, Dr. Muhlenberg resided there as pastor and super- intendent, until his death, carrying out his conception of a hospital, in which patients were "guests of the church," and establishing the motto : "Corpus sanare; Animam Salvare"-"To cure the body; to save the soul."
In 1852 the Hebrews established Mt. Sinai, one of the largest in- stitutions in the city, and admitting the sick of all creeds and classes, except those suffering from contagious diseases. In 1865, another Catholic hospital, that of St. Francis, was established, and in 1868, the Presbyterian was founded, upon the suggestion and active effort of James Lenox. St. Mary's Free Hospital for Children followed in 1870, and St. Elizabeth's the same year, and St. Bartholomew's Hospital for diseases of the Alimentary Canal. In the meantime a notable group of private but non-denominational hospitals was coming into existence.
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When James Roosevelt died in 1863, he bequeathed his entire estate of over a million dollars for a hospital which was erected on a pavilion plan, and opened in 1873. The German Hospital was established in 1857; the Hahnemann, later combined with the Laura Franklin, in 1875; the Woman's Hospital in 1857; the New York Medical College and Hospital for Women in 1863; the Manhattan Eye and Ear Hospital in 1869; and the Metropolitan in 1874. In course of time the hospitals so multiplied that only their numbers can be recorded.
There were no doctors in New Amsterdam under the administration of Minuit. There were, however, Comforters or Zecken-troosters whose duty, like that of the clergymen and the schoolmaster, was to visit sick persons and console them. Sometimes when a ship was in port the barber-surgeons would elect to come on shore and shave people or bleed them, or perform any other attentions necessary for their im- provement externally or internally. Some of these barber-surgeons did not return with their ships, but established themselves in the new colony. It is interesting to note that it was not until a hundred years after the settlement of the colony that the profession of surgeon became distinct from that of a barber. The barber-surgeon who stayed in the colony became very jealous of the visiting barber-surgeons and tried to prevent them from practicing their art while ashore.
The records of the colony show that in 1652 the feud which had existed for many years between the city barber-surgeons and the ships' barber-surgeons came to a head. It appears that the ship-barbers were augmenting their incomes by shaving persons on land to the pecuniary loss of land-barbers who therefore petitioned the West India Company for redress. The latter evidently took the part of the land barber- surgeons as may be inferred from their ruling on the question: "On the petition of the chirurgeons of New Amsterdam that none but they alone be allowed to shave, the Director and Council understand that shaving doth not pertain exclusively to chirurgery but is an appendix thereto; that no man can be prevented from operating on himself nor to do another the friendly act, provided it is for courtesy and not for gain, which is hereby forbidden. It is further ordered that ship-barbers shall not be allowed to dress any wounds nor administer any potions on shore without the knowledge and special consent of the petitioners, or at least of Dr. Montague."
The Dr. Montague mentioned was Johannes La Montague, the first doctor in New York. He was a Huguenot who had come under Kieft's governorship. He seems to have been popular and well thought of by the community, but it must be remembered that the doctor of those times had very different ideas from the doctor of today. His art was still dominated by astrology. His herbs and concoctions were considered more or less efficacious according to the positions of the moon when
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administered. He knew nothing of the circulation of the blood, of anaesthetics or germs. He believed in humors and his treatments were Galenic. The chief doctor under Stuyvesant's administration was Dr. Varresarger, who was instrumental in securing the first hospital estab- lished in the city. He complained to the company that many sick per- sons were dying for want of a proper place where they could receive treatment and that many of the houses where they were received were dirty and unsuitable for the care of sick persons. In 1661 it was recorded in the minutes of the Common Council that Dr. Kiersted and Dr. Huges were practising physicians in the city.
In 1691 the first post mortem examinations were made in New York, perhaps in America. Dr. Johannes Kerfbyle was asked to examine the body of Governor Sloughter, who it was thought had been poisoned. In 1665 the Duke of York's laws regulated the practice of doctors, forbidding them to exercise cruelty in the treatment of patients. Two doctors of importance in the early eighteenth century were John Nicholl, a graduate of Edinburgh University, who arrived in New York in 1700, and Dr. Magraw, who came in 1740. In 1741 there was a malignant fever prevalent in the city and Cadwallader Golden, who was Lieutenant Governor of the Province and a distinguished physician also, interested himself in the cure of this fever and later wrote a book on the subject. He also wrote a book on the use of the great water dock in the treat- ment of disease. Pleurisy caused a great many deaths in Long Island in 1749 and Dr. John Bard wrote a book on how to treat it. In 1764 Dr. Ogden of Long Island wrote a book on malignant sore throat.
About this time doctors were becoming much interested in anatomy. The earliest dissection of a body was in 1750 when Dr. Bard and Dr. Peter Middleton dissected that of a criminal. After this a medical school was opened at Kings College, later Columbia University, and subjects for dissection were needed. Yellow fever seems to have been common in the early days. There were no records kept of it at first but we know that in 1798 it was so violent that no fewer than twenty doctors lost their lives in combatting it. There were plagues of it also in 1803, 1804, 1805, 1809, and 1822. Since then, owing to better sanitary arrangements and to greater skill in medicine, it has been practically non-existent.
The year 1770 is an important one in medical history around Man- hattan and The Bronx, as it marks the conferring of the first degree of Doctor of Medicine. Even as late as this time in medical history, doctors did not consider the science of obstetrics as being part of their study. Women were tended during childbirth by the various midwives of the town. In 1767, Dr. J. V. B. Tennant was elected to fill the first chair of obstetrics established by Kings College, but it was not until 1774 that public opinion looked with favor upon the ousting of the midwife as supreme authority. This came about through the work
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of William Hunter. The first American book on obstetrics, which be- came the standard text book on that subject, was written in 1807 by Dr. Samuel Baird. Dr. David Hosack was a well-known physician of those days. In 1795 he was made Professor of Botany in Columbia. Two years later the chair of Materia Medica was added, and, in 1807, he was elected Professor of Surgery and Midwifery in the then newly formed College of Physicians and Surgeons of the State of New York. In 1826 he went to Rutgers College, which had been founded that year, and is noted as having started the first medical magazine, "The Medical Philosophical Register." He also wrote a book entitled "On the Means of Improving the Medical Police of the City of New York." Dr. Horace Green established the "American Medical Monthly."
Nurses and Pharmacopœias-The greatest problem which confronted the hospital authorities was the training and organization of nurses. The work was considered so onerous and disagreeable that few women would be induced to join the ranks except those from the various city penitentiaries. About 1872 several doctors who were extremely in- terested in the work done at St. Thomas' Hospital in London by Florence Nightingale's School of Nurses, decided to send Dr. Gill Wyle to see the work and bring back a report. His report was so favorable that the doctors asked Florence Nightingale to send someone over to train a similar school in New York. To their intense pleasure she sent her sister Helen and very soon the profession of nursing became rec- ognized as one of the most honorable a woman could join. At first the graduates of Helen Nightingale's School were only allowed to work in the women's ward, and there was a great outburst of disapproval when Dr. Stephen Smith decided that they should also be put in the men's ward. Helen Nightingale, however, favored the introduction and personally led the advance. So well were her ministrations received by the men that in a few days other nurses were introduced and within a few weeks the doctors who had been most opposed to the idea were among its enthusiastic supporters.
The last century witnessed many great changes in medical practice especially as compared with the general practitioner of the eighteenth century, who was very ably described by Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes. The modern surgeon of New York may be said to have begun with Dr. Valentine Mott, who in 1807 began his first demonstrations of operative surgery at Columbia College. In 1816 the need for Pharma- copias was felt and the New York Hospital issued the second one printed in the United States. In 1817 Dr. Lyman Spalding brought the question of having a national one before the New York County Medical Society with the ultimate result that a modernized and standard- ized United States Pharmacopœia began to be issued decennially by
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a representative convention of physicians and surgeons. The American Microscopical Society was founded in 1865 when medical research more than ever before became centred on the importance of the microscopic living organism, but it was not until later that Pasteur in France and Lister in England developed their theories on the subject of bacteri- ology and formulated for materia medica the results of their extra- ordinary researches in inoculation and the antiseptic system. At first the medical world scoffed at Pasteur's views, and, because he was a chemist and not a doctor, would not listen to him, but slowly the keener minds understood and accepted his methods. If a Lister had not demonstrated the value of the sterilization of instruments, the operations of modern surgery would have been impossible. Later Von Röntgen discovered the X-ray, another remarkable hospital accessory. In dentistry and surgery this adjunct of the diagnostician became well nigh incalculable in value.
Doctors began seriously also to study the mind and the brain. In the early days of New York insanity was considered possession by an evil spirit and treatment was expected from the minister rather than the doctor, and half-witted people were considered amusing. As psychology was studied and medical knowledge increased, it was found that doctors could do much to alleviate and cure mental cases. The New York Neurological Society was founded in 1874, after which time the study of neurology and alienation of mind became widespread. Osteopathy was introduced in Missouri in 1892 and rapidly spread over the country and to New York. The osteopath maintains that if any of the bones or other structures of the body are impaired perfect health is impossible and he accordingly treats by adjusting such disarrange- ment. It was not until 1837 that the dentists formed an association for the study of new methods of dentistry, and free interchange of knowl- edge. Before that the only ways in which a dentist could learn his work was by apprenticeship, for the dentists had been very jealous of their knowledge and dental colleges were unknown. In 1840 the "Amer- ican Society of Dental Surgeons" was established, and the New York State Dental Association was formed in 1868.
Development in Medical Practice-These things give us an idea of the development of the branches of medical knowledge and practice generally in the early period and on the Manhattan side of the Harlem. They witness to the growth of medical custom in the entire country, in the various territories that later made up The Bronx as in the other lo- calities. In the localities immediately north of the Harlem things natur- ally moved at a somewhat lower pace than in the chief centres of popula- tion. The first five meetings of the Medical Society of Westchester County towards the close of the eighteenth century are recorded in con-
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temporary documents and they tell us how things were moving at that time. One of these documents says :
"At a respectable meeting of Physicians of the County of Westchester on the 9th Day of May, 1797,-at the Home of William Barker in the White Plains-Present-
Archibald McDonald
Lyman Cook
Charles McDonald
David Rodgers
John Ingersoll
Matson Smith
Elisha Bruister
Elias Cornelius
"That a due improvement and proper regulations may be made in the Practice of Physic, within the County of Westchester and for the purpose of a necessary and immediate compliance with the Law of Legislature passed the last Session. The Physicians aforesaid formed themselves into a Society to be known and called hereafter by the name and style of the 'Medical Society of the County of Westchester.' Upon motion Dr. A. McDonald, of the white plains, was elected president of the Society Pro-Tempore, and upon said motion Dr. Matson Smith, of New Rochelle, was elected secretary thereof.
"The Society, Pleased with the present progress and desirous that the Board shall hereafter exist upon the most fair and respectable terms and that the Physicians of the County shall indiscriminately receive an invitation to unite with the present members and to encour- age this Laudable design" (Here ends the first page).
"Resolved upon motion that the following resolution be inserted in the 'Danbury Journal' and 'Mount Pleasant Register':"
"Resolved upon motion that the Physicians of Westchester County be indiscriminately informed that it is the intention and hearty wish of the Members of the Society that there may be a perfect union of the Profession of Physic within the County for the purpose of establish- ing the Practice upon a liberal and satisfactory plan, that there may be due observance of the law passed at the last session of the Legislature of the State. And that an opportunity may be given for such an union, the Society have proposed a meeting on the 13th Day of June next, at House of Majr. Jesse Hally, in Bedford, and hope that this mode will be considered unequivocally an invitation. Should any gentleman neglect the present season for uniting with the Society after the Meet- ing aforesaid, no gentleman can expect admission in the Society without a vote for the purpose.
"Upon motion resolved that Dr. A. McDonald, David Rodgers and Matson Smith be a Committee to propose a Constitution for this Society against the Meeting at Bedford, which Constitution shall be Subject to Amendment.
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"The Board Adjourn'd to Meet at the House of Majr. Jesse Hally, in Bedford, on the 13th Day of June next.
Matson Smith, "Secretary Pro. Tempore."
The second meeting took place, as proposed, at Major Hally's house, June 11, 1797, at which seventeen doctors were present. After the transaction of business it was
" 'Unanimously resolved' that the Revnd. Robt. Z. Whitmore be in- vited to preach a Sermon before the Society at their next meeting. The board adjourned to meet at the House of Mr. Sutton Craft, Near New Castle Church, on Tuesday, the 8th day of August Next, at 10 o'clock A. M."
Only six members were present at the third meeting. No mention is made concerning the sermon, and we are left in doubt as to whether it was preached or not. The fourth meeting occurred on September 12, 1797, at Mr. Sutton Craft's, with eight members present. This is the first meeting at which it appears that anything strictly medical was proposed. "Doctor Ebenezer White was appointed to deliver a disserta- tion on the utility of a Medical Society," at the next meeting. The sixth and last meeting recorded in this little manuscript of thirteen pages was the annual meeting, which was held in Bedford on Tuesday, May 8, 1798, at which twelve members were present. Dr. Lemuel Mead "delivered a dissertation upon Physiology to the satisfaction of the Society."
The records of the society from this meeting to June, 1830, are un- fortunately lost. The society, it would appear never failed to convene afterwards at least annually, from the time of its organization. Later it held five sessions, each of which was usually well attended. It served the purpose for which it was founded. Its early publications consisted of several editions of its constitution and by-laws-a "Fee Bill," 1868; "Proceedings of the Society at its annual meeting, held in the village of Sing Sing, June 3, 1856, 1857"; and two pamphlets of "Biographical Sketches of Deceased Physicians of Westchester County," 1861; "In Memoriam," 1875; and a "List of Registered Physicians," 1881. In- dividual members of the society made no insignificant additions to the literature of the profession.
The minutes of the early meetings of the society, including the details of the discussion of the resolutions, impress the reader with the es- sential similarity of many of the professional problems of this early period and those of our own day. There is for example the insistence on the fundamental ethical conception that all medical discoveries of whatever nature belong to the profession as a whole. It is to be noted also that the irregular or illegal practitioner was existant at this period, and was a constant subject of discussion. In the minutes of an annual
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THE BRONX AND ITS PEOPLE
meeting held in White Plains, at the house of James Willis, June, 1832, we find the following :
"Resolved that each member be directed to report at our next annual meeting the name of any physician practising in this County contrary to Sec. 2, Chap. XI of the By-Laws, relating to ordinary members."
"Resolved that our Delegate be instructed to inquire of the said Comitia Minora into the expediency of memorializing the Legislature upon the subject of the collection of our Fees, which the abolition of the Law for Imprisonment for Debt has deprived us of."
The financial relation of patient and physician had evidently already become a serious problem. "Think of the service these men had ren- dered, the hardships they encountered in those early days, devoid of any of the comforts which we enjoy," writes Dr. Henry T. Kelly. "The doctor may have officiated at the ushering into the world of hundreds, he saw them grow to man's estate, and smoothed their way as they passed out into the darkness. Think of the tales he could write, the heart throbs that were strokes of grief and sorrow. Think of the countless number that were unable to recompense him save by words of gratitude or tears of love or affection; think of the multitude of others who gained his confidence, besought his services, received his best attention, and who refused or forgot to reward him even with a word of thanks."
At the annual meeting in June, 1834, the following resolution is to be noted :
"Resolved that immediate suit be commenced against Dr. Lockwood for neglecting to attach himself to this Society as directed by Law, and for any penalty he may have incurred for illegal practice, also for such demands as may be against him for annual dues, and that the officers of the Society be a committee to carry this into effect."
It would seem therefore that in conformity with legal sanction of State Legislature membership in the society was obligatory upon all physicians of the county. That failure to present oneself for inquiry and examination of credentials established an illegal status subject to prosecution by the society. This view is corroborated by a printed leaflet in the minute book under date of February 14, 1843, as follows :
"The following is a correct list of legal practitioners of Medicine and Surgery in this County. All other persons practising Medicine or Surgery in this County do so without the authority of Law, and cannot recover any compensation for their services." Signed, G. W. Hodgson, Secretary. The names of fifty-two physicians are on this list-the total number legally qualified to practice in Westchester County in February, 1843.
From the above we get something of a bird's-eye view of things medical immediately north of the Harlem in part of the period before
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the incorporation of The Bronx as a county and a borough of New York City, and during the long period when it remained part of Westchester County. South of the Harlem medical interests show a like develop- ment, first slow, and then proceeding with accelerated speed. “Much in the way of encouragement or development of the medical art could not be expected from the barren advantages of a mere trading-post, with its inducements for the turbulent adventurer, such as the prospect of the ownership of much land under a protectorate not over-strenuous for dominion," writes Dr. John Shrady. "The temper of the times, it must be remembered, was that of the pioneer laboring for speedy results and material advancement. Thus medicine, in common with kindred sciences, as a quiet pursuit engaged the attention of only the few, in- asmuch as not much honor or emolument waited upon its cultivation. The expounders of any dominant theory were many, and their dogmas wore the livery of a few celebrated names, of which, Europe claimed, of course, the majority. There was some traditional science and some addiction to conventionalities, but the medicine-man of the surrounding tribes had, in all probability, as large a following as the most erudite Hollander who left his home to improve his fortunes. A ready tact, no doubt, supplied the requisite deficiences and reconciled the amenities supposed to exist between demand and supply. At the beginning of the seventeenth century medicine was merging from an art into a science."
Dr. George H. Tucker gives a number of names in the "Medical Register" of the city of New York beginning about the last decade of the seventeenth century-to wit, John Miller, Lewis Giton, Hugh Far- quhar, Cornelius Viele, Jacobus Kiersted, John Newberry, Jacob Pro- voost, Hartman Wessels, and Peter Bassett. All of these names sug- gest the nationalities of their owners, and forecast the metropolitan character of the seaport city. To John de la Montague, a Huguenot refugee, Leyden graduate, and scion of the ancienne noblesse of France, belongs the honor of having been the first permanently established physician on the island who attained to any degree of prominence. He arrived here in 1636, settling in Harlem with his wife's people. He became the principal counsellor of Governor Kieft in 1638, and is re- corded as "the only doctor on Manhattan in whom the settlers had any confidence." He seems to have been active in the political affairs of the province, and certainly could not have devoted much time to the practice of the healing art. Two of his daughters became the wives of Doctors Hans Kierstede and Gysbert Van Imbroeck, the latter of whom settled in Fort Orange. Dr. Johannes Kerfbyle, with five other phy- sicians, made an autopsical examination of the body of Governor Slough- ter, who died July 23, 1691, after a debauch, and not from poison, as first supposed. Kerfbyle was the graduate of Leyden, having come here after the Dutch surrender.
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The eighteenth century was an age of systems somewhat modified by the interchange of ideas based upon the observation of natural processes, observes Dr. Shrady. "A taste for research, a bias toward the division of labor, with its concomitant of greater thoroughness, and above all an ambition to contribute labor without the hope of immediate reward for the benefit of the community, became recognized features of the period. Alchemy as the remedy for impecuniosity, and necromancy, with its awe-inspiring paraphernalia, were beginning to lose their hold upon the popular imagination. A drifting toward particular pursuits conduced to a larger acquaintance with details and the revision of old doctrines. Medicine shared in the general improvement and gave to fame Hermann Boerhaave (1668-1738) and William Cullen (1712-1790), both of whose teachings had a marked influence in the formation of current opinion."
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