The civil, political, professional and ecclesiastical history, and commercial and industrial record of the county of Kings and the city of Brooklyn, N. Y., from 1683 to 1884, Volume II, Part 68

Author: Stiles, Henry Reed, 1832-1909, ed
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: New York, W. W. Munsell & Co
Number of Pages: 1345

USA > New York > Kings County > Brooklyn > The civil, political, professional and ecclesiastical history, and commercial and industrial record of the county of Kings and the city of Brooklyn, N. Y., from 1683 to 1884, Volume II > Part 68

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914

HISTORY OF KINGS COUNTY.

James A. Bradley, Andrew B. Hodges, William H. Hanford, M. D., William M. L. Fiske, M. D., George Nichols, M. D., John Young, M. D., Carl von der Luhe, M. D., Mary C. Brown, M. D., Alice Boole Campbell, M. D., Augustus von der Luhe, M. D., James A. Falkner, Silas W. Brainerd, James H. Ward, M.D., Demas Strong.

The first officers were : William Wright, M. D., President; James A. Falkner, Secretary, and William E. Horwill, Treasurer. The dispensary is located in the elegant new building at 194 and 196 South Third street. Prosperity and a constantly enlarging area attended upon faithful and successful service; and, upon the completion of their present quarters, their former rooms were abandoned for their present quarters, erected specially for their use.

OFFICERS AND TRUSTEES : James Hall, Pres .; Hon. Demas Strong, George Nichols, M. D., Vice-Presidents; William E. Horwill, Treas .; Samuel S. Martin, Secy .; James Hall, Demas Strong, George Nichols, M. D., William E. Horwill, W. M. L. Fiske, M. D., Albert M. Kalbfleisch, George V. Tompkins, George L. A. Martin, George B. Hooton, Samuel S. Martin, E. C. Wads- worth, Trustees.

ALBERT WRIGHT, M. D., horn in Cambridge, Washington county, N. Y., April 14, 1804, and died December, 1874, was one of a farmer's nine children; pursued his medical studies under Dr. Jonathan Dow, of White Creek, and graduated from the Vermont Academy of Medicine, in 1831. Until 1849, he practiced according to the methods of the old school, mostly in Granville, N. Y., and then, removing to New York city, took up Homoeopathy under the friendly direction of Dr. John F. Gray and other pioneer practitioners of that school. He shortly removed to Williamsburgh; was one of the original incorporators of the Kings County Homo- pathic Medical Society, in 1857, of which he was president in 1860 and 1866, and which he frequently represented in the State Society. He was an uncompromising believer in Homoeopathy; yet, by virtue of his dignity and honesty of purpose, commanded the respectful recognition of his pro- fessional neighbors of the old school .. He was an eminently religious man, a Presbyterian; but always unostentatious and uncontroversial.

The Brooklyn Woman's Homeopathic Hos- pital and Dispensary, the latest Homeopathic char- ity, is at 534 Myrtle avenue. Opened in June, 1881, as a " Woman's Dispensary," but enlarged and incor- porated under the above title in April, 1883. Though yet in its earlier stages it has treated 2,180 patients during the last year, and will prove its claim to the confi- dence and liberal support of the public by the faithful- ness and the success of its work. Its special plea for favor rests in that it is the only institution where women (and children) can be treated exclusively by women, female physicians only being allowed. It was pro- jected by Dr. AGNES C. VICTOR, whose efforts were supported by Drs. ALICE B. CAMPBELL, IDA B. HUNT, GEORGIA A. CASSIDY, HELENA S. LASSEN, MARY C. and HARRIET E. BROWN, and FANNY R. CODDINGTON.

These physicians have called to their aid an efficient board of managers, also ladies, whose officers are Mesdames D. L. EVERITT, Pres .; C. A. GREENE, Vice- Pres .; E. SMITH, Secy., and W. H. DAKIN, Treas.

The Literature of Homeopathy. - Brooklyn's contributions have been such as to show both profes- sional scholarship and practical usefulness. The mono- graphs of Dr. P. P. WELLS, on Routine in Medicine, Diarrhoea, Dysentery, Rheumatism, Pneumonia, In- termittent Fever, Typhoid Fever, What is Homo- pathy ? and Scarlet Fever, rank deservedly high in the profession. The last two have been translated into German and Italian, and enjoy an European reputa- tion. Besides these are numerous minor Essays, Prov- ings, Dissertations, etc., etc., from his pen, that have welcome place in the magazines of the school. Dr. BRYANT's Pocket Manual, UNDERWOOD'S Diseases of Childhood, and Therapeutics, and his Materia Medica of Differential Potency. Dr. MINTON's Domestic Physician ; Uterine Therapeutics, and Homoeopathic Journal of Obstetrics and Diseases of Women and Children (quarterly); SEARLE's A New Form of Ner- vous Disease, with an Essay on Erythroxylon Coca.

The above are some of the publications thus far; but Lectures, Reports, Communications, Essays, Provings, Dissertations, etc., etc., all the various forms of medical utterances, of various authorship, are presented in pam- phlet form or in magazine articles too numerous for men- tion. With so numerous and so respectable a laity, with charitable institutions so varied and so creditable, it is easy to infer that Homeopathy has advanced in accept- ance and favor with the public so as to be in all respects socially, as well as legally, the peer of the rival school. The obloquy and acrimony with which it was formerly regarded are wholly things of the past. In private life there are mutual courtesies and tolerance such as ob- tain between gentlemen of differing religious creeds. In public life the Homoeopathist is as readily appointed to office, if his claims be as well supported, as his rival. In some of our semi-public charities, notably in the Home for Consumptives and in the service of the Sea- side Home, physicians of both schools work side by side, the patient being allowed to select under whose care he will place himself.

DAVID A. GORTON, M. D., was born in the town of May- field, Fulton county, New York, November 22d, 1832. He is a son of John and Joanna (Sheldon) Gorton, and descended on his father's side from Samuel Gorton, the first settler of Warwick, R. I., and on his mother's side from John Rogers, the martyr, illustrious progenitors who have a record in his- tory, and to whom the world is largely indebted for its civil and religious liberty. Samuel Gorton was born in Gorton, England, about 1600, and was self-educated to a more than ordinary degree. Prior to 1636, when he settled in Boston, Mass., he was a clothier in London. He became involved in controversy on religious questions, removed to Plymouth and became a preacher; and, though bred in the church of Eng- land, soon developed such radical views that a charge of

Very tiny your DA. Gorton, M .

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THE MEDICAL PROFESSION.

heresy was brought against him, and he was banished from the colony. With a few followers, he went to Rhode Island, then recently settled by exiles from Massachusetts Bay, but soon got into trouble for opinion's sake, and found an asylum with Roger Williams in Providence, about 1641. We do not propose fully to enter into the career of the elder Gorton, but simply to say that his sense of justice and fair play, the rights of man involving the relations of the religious sects, and, in turn, their relations with their Indian neighbors, kept him husy with disputations with his puritanical neighbors in the Massachusetts colony. So inflexible was his purpose and so zealous was he of his rights to an independent judg- ment, that he was frequently brought in conflict with the authorities, civil and religious; was tried for heresy at Boston, and came near suffering martyrdom for opinion's sake. His latter years were spent in peace and quiet, and he had lived to realize all the rights, civil and religious, for which he had contended.

It may not be uninteresting, also, to note in this connection that the elder Gorton discharged many important civil offices, and, on Sundays, used to preach to the colonists and Indians. He died in Rhode Island in the latter part of 1677. During his active career he wrote and published many con- troversial works, among them the following : "Simplicity's Defence against Seven-headed Policy;" " An Incorruptible key composed of the CX Psalme;" "Salt-marsh returned from the Dead;" " An Antidote again the common Plague of the World," and " Certain copies of Letters ;" and at his death left an unfinished commentary on a part of the Gospel of St. Matthew. His life by J. M. Mackie, in Sparks' American Biography, is an interesting and valuable contribution to our early history. John Rogers, the martyr, was born about 1500; was a graduate from Cambridge and became an English clergyman, and later assisted Tyndale and Coverdale in trans- lating the Scriptures into English, translating the Apocrypha unaided, and correcting the whole for the press. He was the author of a number of theological works. His career was full of vicissitudes, incident to the unsettled religious status of the time; and finally, having incurred the hostility of the Catholics, he was, after much persecution and long imprison- ment, burned at the stake at Smithfield, February 4th, 1555. Several of his grandchildren removed to the American colo- nies and from one of these is Dr. Gorton descended.

Dr. Gorton was reared on his father's farm in Fulton Co., N. Y., and attended such public schools as were then in vogue in that section. At the age of sixteen he was apprenticed to lis uncle, John Sheldon, to learn the trade of carriage-maker; but, becoming dissatisfied with his prospect of success in a mechanical career, he ran away, two years later; and not long afterwards began to gratify an inclination he had for some time felt to become a physician by studying medicine, reading without a perceptor for two or three years. At the age of twenty he entered, as a student, the office of Dr. Charles W. Adams, an old school practioner at New Wood- stock, Madison county, N. Y., where he remained about four years, acquiring a knowledge of Anatomy, Physiology, Pharmacy, old-school Therapeuties and Chemistry. Becoming skeptical of the scientific position of old-school Therapeutics, while observing the effect of its medication in his tutor's practice, he began the investigation of other methods. About this time he made the acquaintance of Dr. R. T. Trall, of New York, who was waging a relentless warfare against the old school of physic, and began a course of study under his direc- tion. At the age of twenty-four he entered, as a student, the New York Hygeic-Therapeutic College, which had been founded by Dr. Trall, and which had just received its charter from the Legislature, and was graduated therefrom in 1858. It

is worthy of note that this institution was the first medical institution in this country to open its doors to women on the same terms as to men; and its faculty the first to openly espouse the cause of medical education for woman, and fight for her position and advantages in the hospitals of New York, Dr. Gorton became associated with Dr. Trall in this work, and in the year of his graduation, 1858, was appointed Pro- fessor of Chemistry and Physics, a position which he filled for two years, during which time he was also House Physician to the Infirmary in connection with the College, Curator of the College and Secretary of its faculty. During this period, he wrote much, and spoke often in defense of hygienic medi- cation, and concerning the evils of drug medication. The study of Hahnemann's Organon of Medicine led him to the adoption of Homoeopathy in 1860; and to his resignation fron his position in the New York Hygeic-Therapeutic College early in that year. Soon afterward he removed to Newburgb, N. Y., and took a practice there, then recently vacated by Dr. Carroll Dunham. There he engaged in active work, meanwhile diligently studying the Homoeopathic Materia Medica and the practice of that system. During his reei- dence in Newburgh, he began, under tutors, a study of the classics, and ancient and modern languages, continuing until 1869, when he removed to Brooklyn.

His literary career may be said to have fairly begun after his coming to Brooklyn, though he had previously been a contributor to the American Homoeopathic Review. Now he became a regular contributor to the United States Medical and Surgical Journal and the National Quarterly Review; of which latter publication he became editor in 1876, having been one of the chief contributors since 1873, writing the heavier articles.

Among Dr. Gorton's contributions to the National Quar- terly Review may be mentioned: "The Responsibility of Gov- ernment for the Public Health," "The Decline and Rise of Civil Marriage," "The Etiology of the Atmosphere," "The Atheistical Aspects of Physical Science," "The Monism of Man," "Matter, Life and Mind," "The Relation of Physical States to Mental Derangement," "The National Interest in the Labor Question," "The Ethics of Civil Governments," "Physiology of Lunar Light," "The Physics and Metaphy- sics of Light," "The Natural and Supernatural," "Divine and Human Agency." The department of "Reviews and Criticisms " of the periodical was mostly written by him. From this work Dr. Gorton withdrew in 1880, his health pre- senting to him the alternative of either retiring from prac- tice, or taking a less active part in literature. Besides his contributions to periodical and medical literature above re- ferred to, he has written a book entitled " The Drift of Medi- cal Philosophy," and another entitled "Principles of Mental Hygiene," both of which have been issued by well-known publishing houses and were well received by the public. He is now a contributor to the New York Medical Times and the Homeopathie Journal of Obstetrics, and has written many articles on political economy and kindred topics.

Politically, Dr. Gorton is a liberal Republican, and his sym- pathy is wholly with the struggling classes. Political econ- omy has long claimed his earnest attention, he having some time since become a student of James Mill, John Stuart Mill, Adam Smith and Ricardo. Like his historically celebrated progenitors, he is strong in his belief and is willing to suffer if need be, for opinion's sake. His religious convictions are strong, and he is of the Unitarian faith.

In 1855 Dr. Gorton married Maria F., daughter of Horatio S. and Harriet (Betts) Graham, of Delta, N. Y., by whom he has had three children: Hattie, born in 1855, Eliot, born in 1863, and Annie, born in 1868.

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HISTORY OF KINGS COUNTY.

S. T. BIRDSALL, M. D., was born in Newburgh, Orange county, N. Y., December, 15th, 1845. His parents were mem- bers of the Society of Friends, and his great-great-grandfather was a pre-revolutionary settler of Westchester county. Dr. Birdsall's father owned and operated a farm in Orange county, and the subject of this sketch was reared as a farmer boy, mow- ing, hoeing and holding the plow until he was eighteen years old, assisting his father during the spring, summer and fall, and attending a country school during the winter months.

After completing a course of study at Oakwood Seminary, in Cayuga county, N. Y .. young Birdsall went to New York city in 1865, and began the study of medicine in the office of Dr. W. M. Pratt. After attending a course of lectures at the New York Homoeopathic Medical College, and another at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, he went to Philadelphia in the fall of 1867, and in the following February graduated from the Homoeopathic Medical College of Pennsylvama, now known as the Hahnemann College, as the " honor" man of his class, receiving the-entire vote of the Faculty for the degree of Doctor of Medicine.

During 1868 he returned to New York and took the degree of M.D. from the New York Homoeopathic Medical College, soon afterwards entering into partnership with his former preceptor, Dr. Pratt. He was married in June, 1869, to Miss S. Josephine, daughter of D. S. Haviland. Esq. of Glens Falls, N. Y. In 1871, Dr. Birdsall's partnership with Dr. Pratt ter- minated, and he opened an office in Brooklyn as an adjunct to his New York practice. Hs practice in Brooklyn increased so rapidly that he deemed it best to remove to that city, and in the spring of 1874, he located at the corner of Bedford and Lafayette avenues, where he has remained to this time, conducting a large general practice, and making a specialty of Gynecology. Dr. Birdsall is a member of the Kings County Homoeopathic Medical Society, a permanent member of the New York State Homoeopathic Medical Society, and a member of the American Institute of Homoeopathy. Owing to the extent and the arduous demands of his private practice, the Doctor has never associated himself with the management of any public hospital or dispensary.

JOHN FRELINGHUYSEN TALMAGE, A. M., M. D .- This ac- complished physician, so named after his mother's brother- in-law, Gen. John Frelinghuysen, was born March 11th, 1833, at his father's pleasant hillside home, "Mont Verd," near Somerville, N. J.

His father, Thomas Talmage, a farmer, was one of a fam- ily of twelve, all of whom lived to maturity, served well their generation in various spheres of activity, and died in the fellowship of the Christian church. One of these was Samuel K. Talmage, D. D., president of Oglethorpe Univer sity, Georgia; another was the father of four sons, who became clergymen, viz .: James; John, a distinguished mis- sionary in China; Goyn, and T. DeWitt, the widely known and popular pastor of the Brooklyn Tabernacle.

John F. Talmage's boyhood was passed on his father's farm, with all the advantages afforded by the happy home circle, and the excellent society in which his parents moved. His early education, commenced at the village academy. was completed under the invaluable personal tuition of his pastor, Rev. T. W. Chambers, D. D., himself a pupil of Dr. Alexander McClelland, whose tact and method of instruc- tion he was able to follow in his own teaching.

In 1849, young Talmage entered as Sophomore at Rutgers College, New Brunswick, N. J .; and was duly graduated in 1852, under the presidency of the late venerable Theodore Frelinghuysen. For a time, after leaving college, he occu- pied the chair of Ancient Languages in a (now extinct) col-

lege in Alabama, and while in that State became first ac- quainted, by practical observation, with the tenets of Homoeopathy. This also revived in him an already half- formed resolution to select medicine as his life profession. Pursuing his medical studies for six months with Drs. Bur- ritt & Gillson, in Huntsville, Ala., he came north and at- tended a course of lectures at the Medical Department of the New York University.

In the following summer he made the acquaintance of the late Dr. A. Cooke Hull, of Brooklyn, whose office he en- tered as a student. Pursuing his studies, with all the advan- tages offered by the eminent abilities, extensive practice, and personal sympathy of his accomplished intructor, he made rapid progress, and graduated in the spring of 1859, from the University Medical College. After a further period of time spent in enjoying the advantages of Dr. Hull's office, he was by him taken into partnership-a relation which existed for about twelve years. After Dr. Hull's death, in 1868, Dr. Talmage naturally succeeded to the larger portion of his practice, and so rapid was the increase of his clientage, that, in 1870, he felt obliged to seek relief from the strain, by associating with him in practice, his brother, Dr. Samuel Talmage, also a graduate of the University Medical School.

In 1863, Dr. Talmage married Miss Maggie A., youngest daughter of Thomas Hunt, Esq., one of the merchant princes of New York. Graceful, winning, and attractive in person and manner, warm in her affections, delicate and yet strong in her enthusiasm for whatever she valued, she was well fitted to be a favorite, as she was, in society at large; but it was as daughter, as sister, as the wife early married and tenderly cherished; as the mother, conscientious and faithful, far-sighted and wise in her solicitudes, that she remains in the memory of her family and friends. Her death, July 7th, 1881, was most deeply felt by them ; ss also by the various charitable interests in which she was interested.

Ever since Dr. Talmage entered upon professional life, his practice has proved so increasingly exacting, as to pre- clude the possibility of much active effort, on his part, in the various medical and public charities, enterprises, etc., of the day. Yet he has had his share of such lahors, being at one time Physician of the Brooklyn Orphan Asylum; at another, in charge of the Department of Diseases of Women at the Brooklyn Homoeopathic Dispensary; Consulting Physi- cian of the Brooklyn Nursery, and Visiting Physician of the Brooklyn Homoeopathic Hospital; and, more lately, Surgeon of the Eleventh Brigade, N. G., S. N. Y.

From the same reason, as ahove stated, Dr. Talmage has not made frequent or large contributions to the medical lit- erature of the day, and they have generally been in the form of clinical observations. But, at the time of the last visita- tion of Asiatic cholera to this country. in 1866, he issued early in the spring, a printed circular of hints and sugges- tions for the use of his patients; which, though intended only for private circulation, found its way into the press, where it was largely reprinted with most favorable commendation.

Still in the prime of a vigorous manhood, Dr. Talmage is as full as ever of professional work; his practice is chiefly among the most cultured and refined families of the city; and he enjoys an en viable social position, the result of a constantly growing appreciation of his signal ability. Skill in diagnosis, prognosis and therapeutics, together with sound judgment, un- remitting attention to his patients and fidelity to truth and honor, characterize his professional record, and justify the remark of an eminent Edinburgh physician, that "in an overcrowded profession there is always room for brains."

Ser. Mi der all

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THE MEDICAL PROFESSION.

HISTORY OF THE ECLECTIC SCHOOL OF MEDICINE IN BROOKLYN.

The Eclectic School of Medicine in Brook- lyn. - D. E. Smith, M. D., was the pioneer of Eclec- tic Medicine in Brooklyn, in the spring of 1847; being followed within two years by Drs. B. J. Stow and H. E. Firth, and later by Samuel W. Frisbie and others. Of these, Dr. Wm. W. Hadley was the first, and H. S. Firth the second, in the present eastern District. They met with much opposition from the so-called " regular " school ; and, finally, October 1st, 1856, organized the Eclectic Medical Society of Kings County, of which Drs. D. E. Smith, Wm. W. Hadley, A. E. Jackson, William Barker, and H. E. Firth, were among the earliest and most active members. The Brooklyn Eclec- tics were also members of the New York and Brook- lyn Medical and Pathological Society, which met semi- monthly in New York City, where they also had a chartered medical school, entitled The Metropolitan Medical College. In May, 1861, the Eclectic Society of Kings County was reorganized and incorporated as The Brooklyn Academy of Medicine; and, March 15, 1866, became auxiliary to the Eclectic Medical So- ciety of the State of New York, which had been char- tered in April of the preceding year, taking the place of the former State Botanic Society. Of this State Society, Drs. D. E. Smith and Wm. W. Hadley, of Brooklyn, were among the corporators; and since then Drs. Hadley, D. E. Smith, H. E. Firth, and H. S. Firth, in the order named, have been its Presidents ; Dr. D. E. Smith, having been also for 8 years its Treas- urer. Among the incorporators of the Eclectic Medi- cal College of the City of New York, in 1865, Brooklyn had three representatives, viz., Prof. Wm. W. Hadley, Frank W. Taber, Esq., and D. E. Smith. It was in this College that Dr. Hadley held the chair of Materia Medica. He also delivered two courses of lectures in the Central Medical College, at Syracuse, N. Y., in 1849 and '50. He came to Brooklyn in 1856, and until his death, December 19, 1869, rendered dis- tinguished services to his profession, not only as a college lecturer, but as editor of the New York and Brooklyn Medical and Pathological Journal. Both the Eclectic Medical College and the U. S. Medical College are now in active operation ; the latter broad and liberal in its scope, and fully equipped for its work of instruction in the science of medicine and surgery.

There are now about 45 eclectic practitioners in Brooklyn, enjoying their full share of practice and public favor.

Brooklyn Academy of Medicine was first organ- ized in 1856, under the name of the "Eclectic Medical

Society of the County of Kings," with eight members ; incorporated under its present name in 1861, and re-in- corporated 1865, for the following purposes : To inves- tigate all methods of medical practice, without preju- dice, and to adopt the best remedies for or means of curing disease, and alleviating the sufferings of humanity, and that without regard to the source of methods, remedies or means; and further, to associate together for the promotionof the objects here indicated. and for mutual improvement in the science of medicine.

In May, 1866, it became auxiliary to the Eclectic Medical Society of the State of New York. The first officers were: D. E. Smith, M. D., Pres .; H. E. Firth, M. D., Vice-Pres .; J. T. Burdick, M. D., Sec .; B. J. Stow, M. D., Treas. Presidents, since its organization: 1861, Dr. D. E. Smith; 1862, Dr. S. W. Frisbie; 1863, Dr. J. T. Burdick ; 1864, Dr. W. W. Hadley ; 1865, Dr. Robert S. Newton ; 1866, Dr. D. E. Smith ; 1867, Dr. H. S. Firth ; 1868, Dr. W. W. Hadley ; 1869, Dr. J. Y. Tuthill ; 1870, Dr. H. C. Cooper ; 1871, Dr. H. S. Firth ; 1872, Dr. H. E. Firth ; 1873, Dr. J. E. Dan- elson ; 1874, Dr. C. B. Tucker ;* 1875, Dr. Napoleon Palmer ; 1876, Dr. B. F. Chapman ; 1877, Dr. Chas. E. Griswold ; 1878, Dr. S. M. Hersey ; 1879, Dr. B. J. Stow ; 1880, Dr. H. S. Firth ; 1881, Dr. Lewis P. Grover ; 1882, Dr. G. P. Carman. The present BOARD OF OFFICERS is comprised of William Barker, M. D., who, as Vice-President, succeeded H. E. Firth, Presi- dent, at the latter's death, June 4, 1883; H. B. Smith, Rec. Sec. ; L. B. Firth, Cor. Sec. ; D. E. Smith, Treas. Present Board of Censors ; J. E. Griswold, M. D .; G. A. Cassidy, M. D .; H. S. Firth, M. D .; George P. Car- man, M. D .; Lewis P. Grover, M. D.

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The civil, political, professional and ecclesiastical history, and commercial and industrial record of the county of Kings and the city of Brooklyn, N. Y., from 1683 to 1884, Volume II, Part 68

Author: Stiles, Henry Reed, 1832-1909, ed Publication date: 1884 Publisher: New York, W. W. Munsell & Co Number of Pages: 1345

Author: Stiles, Henry Reed, 1832-1909, ed
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: New York, W. W. Munsell & Co
Number of Pages: 1345