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 72

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 72

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In the Dispensary, nearly 15,000 persons are treated in the course of the year, who pay between 25,000 and 30,000 single visits. There is no charge for medical attendance in any part of the Dispensary; the only con- dition of admittance to its benefit is, that the persons applying are in want of medical advice and can in no other way obtain it.

The Medical College connected with the Hospital was the first in this country to introduce clinical teaching at the bedside of the patient; this method of teaching has continued ever since one of its most distinguishing features; and the close connection between hospital and college has enabled the managers to mature and elabo- rate the original plan to an extent which is deemed un- equalled by any other school in this country. With

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this method of teaching, in later years, the graded system of instruction has been united; a great step in advance, as it enables the junior student to confine himself to the primary branches, whilst the senior classes can devote their time to the higher studies.

There are two terms each year; the "Preliminary Term," principally intended for less advanced students, commences at the end of September and closes with the beginning of the "Regular Term," which now opens on the 2d of January each year and continues for five months; the number of students at the regular term of the winter of 1882-83, was 154; the number of graduates, 54. Since the beginning of the school the number of graduates is 893, and they are now found not only in all parts of the United States, but also in the adjacent and even distant foreign countries.

On account of the great number of accidents happen- ing in the neighborhood, the Board of Health stationed an Ambulance Surgeon in the Long Island College Hospital, when the ambulance system was first intro- duced in Brooklyn. A number of physicians and surgeons are also permanently stationed at the hospital, who, in addition to their other duties, are ready at any time of the day or night to take charge of severe cases which are taken there, and prescribe for them, until the regular visiting staff can be summoned.

In order to derive the fullest benefit from the great improvements made two years ago, the managers intro- duced, on their completion, the system of trained nurses, and opened a school where this class of nurses can receive a thorough education by practical instruc- tion at the bedside, and, also, by lectures delivered by the professors attached to the college. There is but one other training school in this country-in the city of Cincinnati-where a similar close connection between hospital and college places at the disposal of the man- agers so complete a corps of instructors and lec- turers, of thorough training and long experience in the profession of teaching. At the head of the Train- ing School of the Long Island College Hospital a graduate of one of the leading New York schools, of long experience in her profession, has been placed. The school furnishes at present a sufficient number of competent nurses for the requirements of the hospital; and also sends them out for employment in such private families as may have occasion to avail them- selves of their services.

The Long Island College Hospital received, formerly, a small annual appropriation from the state ; but this was cut off, when the new Constitution forbade the appropriation, by the Legislature, of moneys to pri- vate corporations. The Hospital receives, from the city of Brooklyn, $4,000 ; the Dispensary, $1,500 per annum; all other expenses beyond these two amounts, so far as they are not covered by the moderate income derived from pay patients, are borne by the managers and their friends.

The management of the institution is in the hands of a Board of Regents, consisting of 25 members, divided in five classes, each class serving for five years. In all professional matters, the "Council," consisting of not less than four, and not more than ten members, who hold their appointment during good behavior, act as an advisory board to the Regents. There is also a Faculty of the Hospital and a Faculty of the College, who form, with the Council in their respective departments, a "Joint Board," and submit to the Regents such plans for the improvement of the institution, as they may jointly mature, but no changes or additions can be made unless approved and ordered by the Regents. The Regents have also the power to grant and confer the degree of Doctor of Medicine, upon the recommendation of the Council and Faculty of the College.

The first BOARD OF OFFICERS consisted of Samuel Sloan, Pres .; Samuel W. Slocum, Vice-Pres .; Cornelius Dever, Treas .; C. N. Bovee, Sec. Samuel Sloan con- tinued President until March 28, 1864, when he re- signed ; and Theodore Polhemus, Jr., was elected in his stead. On the death of Mr. Polhemus, he was suc- ceeded, in May, 1865, by Joseph Ripley, who continued in the presidency until May, 1866, when he resigned, on his removal from Brooklyn; and was succeeded by John J. Van Nostrand. The latter acted till April, 1875, when he resigned; he was followed by Thomas H. Rodman, who still occupies the position.

The present OFFICERS are: Thos. H. Rodman, Pres .; Reuben W. Ropes, Vice-Pres. ; Francis E. Dodge, Treas .; Wm. J. Osborne, Sec .; Wm. H. Dudley, M. D. President of the Collegiate Department ; Professor Samuel G. Armor, M. D., LL. D., Dean of the Faculty ; Professor Jarvis S. Wight, M. D., Registrar.

Council: William H. Dudley, M. D., Pres .; Chaun- cey L. Mitchell, M. D .; George G. Hopkins, M. D .; John L. Zabriskie, M. D., Joel W. Hyde, M. D., Sec.

The Long Island College Hospital, and the Long Island College Hospital Dispensary, form but one cor- porate body, and have, therefore, but one set of officers.

Dr. THEODORE LEWIS MASON, was born in Cooperstown, in this State, in 1803. After a thorough classical education, under the tuition of his grandfather, he began his medical education at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, studying under the preceptorship of Dr. David Hosack, and took his degree in 1825. For seven years he practiced at Wilton, Conn., then he removed to New York city, where he remained for two years, and in 1834 moved to Brooklyn, where he began the labor that will endear his name as long as charitable work shall be recorded. He entered into partner- ship with Dr. George Marvin, which lasted for thirteen years. When Dr. Mason first came to Brooklyn, no provision existed for the sick poor ; he prepared a memorial to the Cominon Council, urging some action on their part in the matter, in conformity with a clause in the city charter on the subject ; unsuccessful at that time, he again pressed the matter, when the Hon. Cyrus P. Smith became Mayor in 1839, and suc- ceeded in persuading the Common Council to donate a small

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sum for the support of a city hospital. This institution was called, from its location, the Adams Street Hospital. Dr. Mason was made Senior Surgeon and President of a Board of Managers, who, by their enthusiasm in the matter, demon- strated the utility of the hospital. But a change in the city's administration put a stop to the work, and the institution was closed. The good accomplished by this attempt was not lost however, and Dr. Mason was consulted by charitable citizens, with a view to the organization of a new hospital ; the liber- ality of a private citizen rendered the plan feasible and the labor was begun. Dr. Mason was influential in the framing of the charter and selection of the Board of Directors and medical staff of the new institution. As Senior Surgeon he labored in this hospital work till failing health compelled his resignation. As time passed, and the growth of Brooklyn became an assured fact, several of the leading physicians of the city, among whom was Dr. Mason, conceived and carried out the idea of establishing a hospital and medical school, and in 1858 the Long Island College Hospital was organized. Dr. Mason was elected president of the collegiate department, and by successive re-election held that office until within a year of his death ; in all, a period of one and twenty years. Early identified with the movement to effect a change in the then defective sanitary regulations of New York city and Brooklyn, Dr. Mason was a member of a committee of the "Citizens' Association of New York," that visited the Legis- lature of 1864 to advise and aid in the effort to secure the Metropolitan Board of Health. But perhaps the greatest labor of his life was the vindication of his belief that inebri- ety is a disease. His attention was called to the subject early in his professional career, and he spoke and wrote almost constantly on the subject. Among his many monographs on the topic, one address-Inebriety a Disease-was published and circulated, not alone here, but in other States and countries, and in Great Britain was largely quoted in favor of the es- tablishing of inebriate asylums there. By his efforts the Ine- briate Home for Kings County was chartered in 1866, and until his death he was President and Consulting Physician of that institution. He was one of the founders of the American Association for the Cure of Inebriates, was elected President of that body in 1875, and held the office for several years. Dr. Mason was a member of the Kings County Medical Soci- ety from 1834 till his death, and was its president in 1842-'43; a permanent member of the State Medical Society ; of the American Medical Association ; of the International Medical Association, held in Philadelphia in 1876, and a Resident Fellow of the New York Academy of Medicine. He was one of the founders, a life member and director, of the L. I. His- torical Society, and in 1874 was elected Vice-President of the American Colonization Society. His long and useful life ended February 12, 1882, by an attack of pneumonia.

WM. HENRY DUDLEY, M. D., of Brooklyn, was born in Ire- land in October, 1811, of English parents ; his father was Sheldon Dudley; his mother, Elizabeth Evans Dudley. His early education having been completed in his native country, he chose the medical profession for the pursuit of his life, and entered the Royal College of Surgeons in Dublin in 1831. Graduating from there in 1833, his desire to see the world in- duced him to accept a government appointment in the West Indies, and he left in the same year for Jamaica, where he was appointed Health Officer and Surgeon to the Marine Hospital at Port Maria. Whilst holding that office he was elected a fellow of the Kings College of Physicians and Sur- geons of Jamaica. During his stay in the island he married Emily W. Fitzgibbon ; in 1841 he came with his wife on a visit to this country, and decided soon after on permanently

remaining here, where he had made himself acquainted with the much greater opportunities presented for the practice of his profession. In 1842 Dr. Dudley received a diploma from the College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York ; in 1843 he settled in Brooklyn, and made that city his permanent home.

In 1851 he was elected one of the Curators of the New York Medical College, and served in that capacity for several years ; he was also elected a permament member of the Medical Society of the State of New York, and took an active part in the establishment of the Long Island College Hospital; and, later in that of the St. John's Hospital, of which organization he has been from the beginning the professional adviser of the Executive Committee.

In 1859 his wife died; he married again (in 1861), Charlotte G. Duckwitz, of Brooklyn, by whom he has three children, one daughter and two sons, the elder of whom has chosen the profession of his father, while the second is studying for the law.

Ever since coming to this country, Dr. Dudley has steadfastly declined to be a candidate for any office for which medical men are generally chosen, or even to accept a nomination for a position strictly within the medical profession, when his doing so might interfere, in the least, with his private prac- tice. Hisaxiom was always, that he belonged to his patients, and that anything which tended to divert his attention from them to other matters or other pursuits, was an injustice to those who placed their health and their well-being in his care. When we consider this leading principle of his life, we are not astonished at the great and rare success which he has achieved as a practitioner; nor do we wonder at the love and veneration which is felt for him hy those whose fami- lies he has visited in the dark hours of sickness, giving them not only the benefit of the great resources of his profession, but becoming to them a friend, such as is never more needed than in the hours of sickness and adversity. If Dr. Dudley has deviated, in one thing, from his great principle of liv- ing only for his patients, it is in his connection with the Long Island College Hospital. He took a leading part in its organi- zation at a time when his ordinary pursuits were perhaps not sufficient to divert his mind from a great loss he had sus- tained. He was one of the original members of the Council, and was also elected to the Board of Regents, when a change in the charter inade medical men eligible thereto. In 1881, on the resignation of Dr. Theodore L. Mason, he was elected President of the Collegiate Department and he fills that posi- tion to this day. From the day when the institution was called into existence to the present moment, Dr. Dudley has not only largely contributed to its financial support, hut he has also watched over it and its inmates with a fatherly, never- failing and never-tiring care. And, if the Long Island College Hospital is to-day in a flourishing condition, and a great futurs before it, it is principally owing to him. He never despaired in the darkest hour, and never lost his faith in the final suc- cess of a work which has almost become a part of himself.

CHAUNCEY L. MITCHELL, A. M., M. D .- In the long list of Brooklyn's eminent physicians, no name stands higher than that of Chauncey L. Mitchell. For nearly forty years, from a time when the city scarcely had outgrown its village stage, until it stands third in the Union in population, with corres- ponding accessions in wealth, intelligence and whatever goes to make up a great community, he has pursued here his chosen profession, with untiring industry, unflagging zeal, and rare success.

Dr. Mitchell was born in New Canaan, in the State of Con- necticut, on the 20th of November, 1813. He is of Puritan

Mr. Dudley

C L. mitchell.

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HOSPITALS, DISPENSARIES, ETC.

descent; his ancestors from Halifax, England, landed in Bos- ton, August 17th, 1635, and have been residents of this country nearly two centuries and a half. His father, Minott Mitchell, was an able and accomplished lawyer, and for many years a leader of the Bar of Westchester county, New York. His mother, Eliza Leeds Silliman, was a member of the Con- necticut family whose name appears so often and so honor- ably in the literary and scientific history of the country. It may have been due to hereditary tendencies in the direction of intellectual activity, acquired from both the paternal and the maternal side, that the subject of this sketch could read fluently at the age of three years, and that at the age of seven he was studying Latin. He was sent to the New Canaan (Connecticut) Academy, where he prosecuted the studies pre- paratory for entering college, until their near completion, at the age of twelve years. Two more years were passed at other like institutions, and the next four in studying law under his father's supervision. Having arrived at a suitable age, his academic studies were revised under a private tutor, such others as were necessary were completed, and he en- tered the junior class in Union College in 1831. His standing in all departments during his collegiate life was among the first, and at the end of the course he was appointed class orator. He was honorably graduated in 1833.

Of the learned professions, for one of which his father had designed him, he selected that of medicine; and the wisdom of the choice is fully proved by a conspicuous success, which could have been achieved only with the aids of a singular mental adaptiveness to the work, no less than the special training which he brought to it.

In order to secure this training, for which a liberal educa- tion had furnished a broad foundation, he hegan the study of medicine and surgery, and was matriculated at the College of Physicians and Surgeons of the city of New York. The thoroughness and zeal which have characterized his whole career, especially marked this period of it. He studied under Professor Joseph M. Smith, whose intelligent and stimulating instruction perhaps never met with heartier, more sympa- thetic, or more fruitful co-operation. An economist of time and a niggard of recreation, the student found his chief pleasure in books and demonstrations; and early morning and late night found him at his work. In this early experience, and these severe labors, such as few care to encounter, and fewer still are able to bear, the future practitioner, with patient painstaking, marked out the lines of his remarkable professional success.

When Dr. Mitchell was a student, the opportunities for sci- entific education in this country were far more limited than they now are. Therefore, after he had received his degree from the New York College of Physicians and Surgeons in 1836, he resolved, in conformity with his purpose of equip- ping himself as completely as possible for his life work, to continue his studies abroad. Accordingly, in 1837, after a full term of service as walker and resident physician in the New York Hospital, he sailed for Europe. The next two years were spent in England and on the Continent, most of the time in Paris, where he improved, to the full, the teaching of the great professors gathered there, and of the then un- equalled school of the French hospitals.

Upon his return to the United States in 1839, he began practice in the city of New York. He also formed a connec- tion with the Northern Dispensary, then located in Fourth street, where he was associated with Dr. Cammann in the department of Diseases of the Heart and Lungs Not long after he was invited to the Professorship of Obstetrics in the Castleton (Vermont) Medical College. The duties of this position were in the direct line of the specialty which had

engaged his attention in Europe. The chair which he filled successfully until 1845, enabled him not only to share his acquired knowledge with others, but to push his special sci- entific investigations still further.

In 1844, Dr. Mitchell transferred his practice from New York to Brooklyn, where he rapidly rose to eminence among his local contemporaries.

The more important part of the history of Brooklyn has been made during Dr. Mitchell's life and work in it. Almost all of its public institutions of significance and value have been born and have matured within his observation, and to the establishment and maintenance of some of them, he has contributed time, labor and money, unostentatiously but lib- erally. For many years he has been a member of the Kings Connty Medical Society, serving for three terms as its Presi- dent, and been always actively concerned in its advancement. He is a member also of the New York Academy of Medicine; of the Physicians' Mutual Aid Association, and of the Society for the Relief of the Widows and Orphans of Medical Men. He belonged to the first Board of Visiting Physicians of the Brooklyn City Hospital, and was one of the founders of the Brooklyn Dispensary and of the Long Island College Hos- pital. He is still a member of the Council of the latter and of its Board of Regents. He is a consulting physician of St. John's Hospital, and of the Home for Aged Men. He has represented the Kings County Medical Society in the State Medical Society; was a delegate to the National Convention, which formed the American Medical Association, and for several years represented in the latter the Kings County Medical Society. He is also a member of the American Academy of Medicine.

Dr. Mitchell was among the original members of the Long Island Historical Society, and is still, as he has been for years, one of its trustees.

While he has long been a conscientious and consistent pro- fessor of religion, he lays more stress upon a practical Chris- tian life, and is a severe and critical judge of his own conduct in that relation. He is a member of the Church of the Pil- grims (Dr. Storrs, Pastor), and was one of its founders.

As in professional, so in political affairs; Dr. Mitchell comes to his conclusions after mature deliberation, and his convic- tions, when formed, are strong and earnest. He is not a politician, but is an attentive observer of the affairs of the City, State and Nation, and has decided opinions, to which, upon occasion, he gives expression with intelligence and candor. He is, however, above all things a professional man, and the steadfastness with which he has put his chosen call- ing before other interests, largely explains his mastery of it. His methods are conservative and cautious, rather than radi- cal or innovating, but he is fully abreast of the learning of the time, and his patients never fail to get the benefit of later studies and discoveries.

Among his friends, Dr. Mitchell is a cultivated and com- panionable man; and, as a citizen, he is generous, public- spirited and influential.

He has been thrice married; in 1843, to Caroline L., daugh- ter of B. F. Langdon, Esq., of Castleton, Vt .; in 1857, to Frances E., daughter of Benjamin Wright, Esq., of Rome, Oneida county, N. Y .; and, in 1875, to Kate M., daughter of J. M. Van Cott, Esq., of Brooklyn, N. Y.

St. Mary's General Hospital, under the charge of the Sisters of Charity, St. Mark's avenue, between Rochester and Buffalo avenues, is the outcome of a less pretentious institution, namely, St. Mary's Female Hospital, incorporated in 1868, and first located at 247

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HISTORY OF KINGS COUNTY.

SULLIVAN & SCHAEFER N W

ST. MARY'S GENERAL HOSPITAL.

Clinton street. The plot of ground on which the building stands-being an entire block, with a frontage on St. Mark's avenue of 700 feet, and running along Buffalo and Rochester avenues 225 feet to Prospect place-was purchased by Right Rev. Bishop Loughlin, in 1878. The corner-stone was laid on October 18th, 1879; and the present structure, the western wing- (about one-third the entire building), extending 165 feet on St. Mark's avenue and 225 feet in the direction of Prospect place-was formally thrown open to the public on December 17th, 1882; though owing to nu- merous applications, it was found necessary to admit many patients, principally surgical, during the three or four weeks preceding.

The hospital, as it now stands, can accommodate from 250 to 300 patients. The architect was P. C. Keely.

The incorporators, constituting the Board of Trustees, are: Right Rev. Bishop Loughlin, Rev. E. J. O'Reilly, Jno. D. Keiley, Jr., John J. Kiernan, Dr. John Byrne and James Clyne, together with three members of the order of St. Vincent de Paul, all of the city of Brooklyn.

In the fall of 1882, the present structure being near completion, the Trustees confided to Dr. John Byrne the responsible duty of effecting such a professional organization as he deemed most consistent with a thoroughly practical working of the institution, and one worthy the largest hospital in the city.

To this end Dr. Byrne summoned to his aid a num- ber of the leading physicians and surgeons of Brook- lyn, to whom he submitted his views, the main novelty of which consisted in his proposition to make this a hospital of specialties, and thus not only the better promote the interests of suffering humanity, but supply a long-felt want, and at the same time meet the cordial approval of the entire profession.

The result of repeated conferences was the nomina. tion of the following gentlemen, who constitute the present faculty, and whose appointments were duly ap- proved and confirmed by the Board of Trustees :

CONSULTING STAFF .- Surgeons : Jarvis S. Wight, M. D .; John S. Andrews, M. D. Physicians : Alex. Hutchins, M. D .; Avcry Segur, M. D .; Edward Malone, M. D .; William Wallace, M. D.

FACULTY OF THE HOSPITAL .- John Byrne, M. D., M. R. C. S. Ed., Dep. of Gynecology and President of the

Faculty. Frank E. Rockwell, M. D., Dep. of Genito- Urinary Surgery; Samuel Santoire, M. D., Dep. of Diseases of the Joints ; Charles Jewett, M. D., Dep. of Diseases of Children ; George R. Fowler, M. D., Dep. of Fractures and Dislocations ; Benjamin F. West- brook, M. D., Dep. of Diseases of the Thorax; George R. Kuhn, M. D., Dep. of Diseases of the Abdominal Viscera; Joel Wilbur Hyde, M. D., Dep. of Obstetrics; Landon Carter Gray, M. D., Dep. of Mental and Ner- vous Diseases and Electro-Therapy, and Secretary of the Faculty: Arthur Matthewson, M. D., Dep. of Dis- eases of Eye and Ear ; William E. Griffiths, M. D., Dep. of Diseases of the Skin.

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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 72

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