USA > Ohio > Hamilton County > Cincinnati > Cincinnati, the Queen City, 1788-1912, Volume II > Part 33
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ST. FRANCIS HOSPITAL OR THE HOTEL FOR INVALIDS.
In 1842 Dr. Talliaferro, aided by Drs. Vattier, Strader and Marshall, estab- lished a hospital at the southwest corner of Franklin street and Broadway, which was known as the Hotel for Invalids. It was the second regular hospital in the city. This hospital was conducted by Dr. Talliaferro and others for ten years.
In 1852, when the Sisters of Charity took charge of the building, they called the new institution St. John's Hotel for Invalids in honor of St. John the Baptist, the patron saint of the Ecclesiastical Superior of the Sisters of Charity, Archbishop Purcell. The medical staff was composed of the professors of the Miami Medical College.
Coincidentally with starting this hospital, the Sisters of Charity had opened an asylum for male orphans at the northwest corner of Third and Plum streets, under the name of St. Peter's Asylum.
In 1855 the St. John's Hotel for Invalids was moved to the northwest corner of Third and Plum streets, St. Peter's Asylum having a new home in Cumminsville. The cost of making the necessary alterations in the building, and fitting it up for a hospital, was borne by Drs. Mussey, Mendenhall, Murphy and Foote. The new hospital had accommodations for seventy-five.
One day in the spring of 1866, a man poor and weak, called at St. John's and asked to see the superior. Sister Anthony received him. He told her he had been taken sick, and being a stranger, had applied to Joseph C. Butler, president of the Lafayette Bank. Mr. Butler gave the man a card to Sister Anthony with a request to take care of the man, and promised to be responsible for any ob- ligations incurred. A few weeks later the man called on Mr. Butler to thank him for the kindness received. Mr. Butler then called on Sister Anthony and asked what the obligation was. Sister Anthony replied that there was none, that "our dear Lord would pay the poor man's debts."
Mr. Butler was shown through the institution. He asked about the work, and noticed the crowded condition of the place. Sister Anthony said: "We could do much more good if we had room to take care of the many who apply for aid, only to be refused because we have neither the means nor the room to receive them." When Mr. Butler reached his office he found Mr. Lewis Worthington waiting for him. Mr. Butler told him all that had transpired. The two decided that so worthy a charity should be aided. At this time the United States govern- ment was anxious to dispose of the Marine Hospital, at Sixth and Lock streets, which had been a military hospital during the war. Messrs. Butler and Worth- ington purchased the property for $70,000, and gave it to Sister Anthony and her associates. The conditions of the deed were that it should be held in perpetuity as a hospital under the name of The Hospital of the Good Samaritan; "that
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no applicant for admission should be preferred or excluded on account of his or her religion or country, and that with the exception of cases of contagious or chronic diseases, any and all afflicted requiring medical or surgical treatment should be admitted if there was room for their accommodation; that one half of the rooms or wards should be kept for the destitute sick, the preference being al- ways given to women and children, and if practicable one ward should be de- voted especially to sick children, and, as far as practicable, consistent with the object of the trust, rooms should always be kept for receiving those victims of accidents occurring in shops, on railroads, or from fire and other causes; that when the resources from paying patients, donations or endowments should af- ford revenue sufficient to support the institution as an entirely free hospital, it should then become such, and should be devoted exclusively to the use of the destitute sick, except that the managers might receive persons who were able to pay for special medical or surgical treatment to the extent of one third of the capacity of the institution, such persons paying or not, as their sense of right might dictate, provided that all the funds received after securing an endowment sufficient to make the hospital a free one should go towards extending the build- ings and accommodations ; provided always that any patient should be at liberty to send for any medical adviser he or she might desire, though not employed by the institution, but such medical attendance was not to be a charge or cost to the institution; that a portion of the ground might be used for the erection of a dispensary, medical or surgical lecture room or building devoted to the pro- motion of medical or surgical science, but such building or buildings must al- ways belong to the institution and estate, and no portion of the funds derived from the hospital should be appropriated to such improvements."
In October, 1866, St. John's was abandoned and the Good Samaritan opened. The medical charge of the hospital gradually passed into the hands of the faculty of the Medical College of Ohio ..
In 1867 W. T. G. Morton gave a demonstration of ether-anaesthesia in the hospital.
In 1875 an amphitheatre for clinical teaching with a seating capacity of four hundred was erected, mainly through the efforts of Robert Bartholow, who col- lected most of the money for its erection. In 1891 a large annex was constructed which greatly increased the capacity of the institution.
The new Good Samaritan Hospital will be located at Clifton and Dixmyth avenues, opposite Burnet Woods. Fourteen acres of ground have been secured. The sisters purchased eight, and six were given by Joseph C. Butler. The build- ing will be on the pavilion plan-but all under one roof-a large central ad- ministration building with six wings. Any one or more wings may be shut off at any time, and become as isolated as if in a separate building. When the en- tire structure is completed it will have a capacity of four hundred beds, with five operating rooms, dressing rooms, preparation rooms, sterilizing rooms, a floor devoted to maternity cases, a well-equipped hydrotherapy department, sun- porches, open porches, and every convenience known to modern therapeutics. A free clinic department will be maintained from the time the hospital opens. The estimate cost of the buildings now being erected is about $350,000.
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The old buildings at Sixth and Lock streets will be used as an emergency hospital.
OHIO HOSPITAL FOR WOMEN AND CHILDREN.
The Ohio Hospital for Women and Children started with a free homeopathic dispensary in 1879 under the special care of Dr. Martha May Howells and Dr. Ellen M. Kirk, who gave their services free. In three years the number of pa- tients amounted to 2,164.
The need of a hospital was felt and the one now in use at 549 W. Seventh street, was opened in 1881. A legal corporation was founded and a complete or- ganization effected "Its purpose being to establish and maintain a hospital for the homeopathic treatment by competent female physicians-of the diseases of wo- men and children-of giving therein clinical instruction to female students of medicine and of training nurses-for a purpose other than profit and with no capital stock."
The names of those signing the articles of incorporation were Mrs. Davies Wilson, Mrs. Jane Wendte, Mrs. Rev. John Goddard, Mrs. Wm. N. Hobart, Miss Jennie Spencer Smith, Miss H. M. Hinsdale, Dr. Ellen M. Kirk and Dr. Martha M. Howells.
The work has gone on steadily, in a quiet, unostentatious way, making more of a home than the ordinary hospital for the patients.
Besides the free wards, where only female physicians are in charge, there are private rooms where patients may have any physician or any school.
A free clinic is established, and there is a training school for nurses, who must be high school graduates.
The hospital with its up-to-date operating room, and its new elevator, is in thorough sanitary condition and in beautiful order throughout.
ST. FRANCIS' HOSPITAL.
In the year 1888 the St. Peter's Cemetery, located at Queen City avenue, Fairmount, was abandoned, and on its site was erected a large and commodious hospital, which began its career on December 27, 1888, under the charge of the Sisters of St. Francis. It was originally intended as an annex or adjunct to St. Mary's Hospital, of Betts street, by admitting principally tubercular patients and those suffering from chronic or incurable diseases, whose presence in St. Mary's would prejudice the admission of acute cases. However, for several years past some patients with acute diseases, not of an infectious nature, have been some- times admitted.
The St. Francis Hospital soon had a large influx of patients, so that the first annual report of the medical staff, for the year ending Dec. 31, 1889, showed that 371 patients had been admitted during the year, 216 were discharged, 46 died, and 109 remained in the institution on the date mentioned. That the un- tiring efforts of the Sisters of the Poor of St. Francis to minister to the poor of every nationality, race or religion, were appreciated, was shown by many ben- efactors who made it possible to add more beds and otherwise increase the ca- pacity of the hospital. In 1890, 501 patients were treated at the hospital; in
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1891, 617 patients were treated. This number rose in 1894 to 663, in 1896 to 815, in 1900 to 1,057. In 1910 the total number under treatment was 1,077. In 1892 there were 242 beds, which by extension to the buildings were increased to 366 in 1910.
The rapid increase in the number of cases of cancer and the fact that very few local hospitals were equipped to treat the unfortunates suffering from this terrible disease, induced the self-sacrificing sisters to erect two extra wings or separate buildings for the reception of these patients. Here the sufferers are made as comfortable as sympathy and care can render possible.
In 1906 a well-equipped laboratory was established, and in the same year the operating room was equipped with all the necessary instruments and appur- tenances for emergency work in surgery.
The St. Francis Hospital is one of the great hospitals of Cincinnati, and it has done noble work in behalf of the suffering poor in this region of the country.
MEDICAL LIBRARIES.
Early in the history of the Medical College of Ohio a library of medical books was established there. It is known to have been a good collection, but has long since passed out of existence. In the first circular of the college, issued August 20, 1820, it is stated that "the library provided for the institution already consists of more than five hundred volumes in the English and French languages, and embraces most of the text and elementary, and many of the rare and curious works in anatomy, physiology, the practice of physic, surgery, chemistry, ob- stetrics, materia medica, medical jurisprudence, and botany, both general and medical." Most of the books were imported.
At one time, in 1830, Dr. Jedediah Cobb, a member of the faculty, was sent to Europe to make purchases of books, engravings, etc., for the library. From time to time reports were made to the legislature and the faculty as to the con- dition of the library. In 1831, Drs. John Moorhead and John F. Henry reported over nine hundred volumes. A report made in 1847 showed 2,002 volumes. The library had cost $6,500.
THE CINCINNATI MEDICAL LIBRARY ASSOCIATION.
In September, 1851, was founded the above named society. Forty-four phy- sicians subscribed $515. The list embraced every prominent member of the profession in the city at that time. Dr. Drake gave 140 volumes, including Cloquet's great work on anatomy.
At a meeting of the executive committee Dr. Drake was appointed to deliver the inaugural address at the opening of the library, three rooms having been leased for a term of five years from the Medical College of Ohio. The date of opening was to have been December 26, 1851. On December 20, 1851, it was announced that Dr. Drake's lecture was postponed on account of the freezing of the Ohio river, Dr. Drake being at that time in Louisville. Dr. Drake arrived in Cincinnati, January 5, 1852. He delivered his first lecture January 9th, on "The Early Medical Times in Cincinnati," and the second lecture on January 10,
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1852, on "The Origin and Influence of Medical Periodical Literature and the Benefits of Medical Public Libraries." The constitution of the association, in Dr. Drake's handwriting is hanging on the walls of the library in the Cincinnati Hospital. On April 16, 1852, Dr. Drake gave a public lecture on the "Causes of Consumption," under the auspices of the Library association. On January II, 1853, a committee was appointed to draft a new constitution. On January 18th the committee announced that "they had secured twenty-two new members, too few to carry on the association." There is no memorandum later than March 8, 1853. The books and furniture were auctioned off.
THE CINCINNATI HOSPITAL MEDICAL LIBRARY.
In 1865, Dr. John H. Tate, who had been a member of the hospital staff for some years, presented to the Academy of Medicine the following resolution : "Resolved, That the legislature of Ohio be respectfully petitioned to alter the law establishing and regulating the Cincinnati Hospital, so that the money received from the sale of tickets to medical students shall be set apart as a special fund to be used only in creating and maintaining a medical library and museum in con- nection with that institution, which shall be open to all physicians of Cincinnati free of charge." The motion was carried. .
Upon motion of Dr. Tate a committee of six was appointed to memorialize the legislature on the subject. The president of the Academy of Medicine then appointed the following committee : Drs. Patton, Muscroft, Tate, Walker, Thorn- ton and Unzicker.
On March 1, 1870, the legislature passed the following amendment to section 5 of an act entitled "An Act regulating the Cincinnati Hospital:" The trustees in their discretion, and under such regulations as they may prescribe, may ad- mit medical students, not pupils of said college (Medical College of Ohio), to witness the medical and surgical treatment of patients in said hospital. The trustees shall have the power whenever they may deem it for the welfare of said patients so to do, to dismiss the faculty of said college from attendance on said hospital.
"The trustees may affix to the introduction or admission into said hospital of the pupils of said college, or other medical students, such fees as they may deem proper, but the same shall be alike to all, and shall be paid to the treasurer of the city of Cincinnati, and be used for a fund for establishing and maintain- ing a medical library and museum for said hospital; and the said board of trustees shall, from time to time, appropriate and apply such said fund for the purchase of a library of scientific books and specimens and illustrations directly connected with, and collateral to, the cultivation of medical and surgical science, which shall be open, at reasonable hours, to all physicians of Cincinnati, and to all such pupils, and medical students admitted to the privileges of said hospital, as aforesaid, free of charge."
Steps were then taken to establish the library. There was a difference of opinion as to the location : in the hospital building or in a room provided for it in the Cincinnati Public Library. On August 8, 1870, a proposition from the board of trustees of the Cincinnati Hospital was presented to the board of man-
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agers of the public library relative to arrangements for a room to accommodate the books about to be purchased.
On September 12, 1870, the board of managers of the public library replied that they would prepare a distinct catalogue, and a room suitable for the accom- modation of the books, with the power of the board of trustees to designate whether the library would be in whole or in part a circulating library, or a library of reference. The above to continue in force for five years. On September 16, 1870, the board of trustees of the Cincinnati Hospital unanimously accepted the conditions of the public library. On December 1, 1870, a list of books was se- lected by the medical staff and forwarded to the board of trustees. On May 28, 1871, the books were ordered and paid for out of the library fund. The arrange- ments with the public library proved so unsatisfactory that on January 29, 1874, the medical staff recommended to the board of trustees the withdrawal of the hospital library from the public library, the same to be deposited in the hospital building. In 1875 this recommendation was carried out. The library at that time contained 1,521 volumes.
On May 28, 1874, Dr. William Carson was elected librarian. Dr. Carson held this position until his death, July 9, 1893. On July 1, 1885, P. Alfred Marchand was appointed assistant librarian. This position he still holds.
On May II, 1892, the library was opened to the profession, in its new quar- ters on the upper floor of the hospital. Dr. C. G. Comegys, president of the staff, opened his address to the audience as follows: "It gives me great pleasure to welcome you to this spacious and commodious hall, which the trustees of this hospital have so beautifully prepared for the large and growing medical library of this school. Few of our citizens have been aware of this accumulation of medical literature, which is of so much value in the progressive growth of Cin- cinnati as a seat of learning in the great Ohio valley. I think we can assert that there is none comparable to this special library west of the Alleghany moun- tains." At the same time Dr. William Carson, librarian, thus summed up the contents of the library : Total bound volumes, 7,363; current periodicals, 151. After the death of Dr. Carson, Dr. P. S. Conner was elected librarian. This position he held until his death, March 26, 1909. Since that date Dr. E. W. Mitchell has held the position. At this date (September I, 19II) the number of bound and unbound works of all kinds is about nineteen thousand. The library hall has long been inadequate-it is filled to overflowing. The present con- dition calls for the consolidation of all the medical libraries in the city, and an up-to-date, fireproof building capable of holding one hundred thousand volumes.
THE MUSSEY MEDICAL AND SCIENTIFIC LIBRARY.
On March 17, 1874, Dr. W. H. Mussey placed his collection of medical and scientific works in the public library, on such terms as to make it practically a gift to the public. In addition to the purely professional and scientific works there were many theological and philosophical works. On July 31, 1909, there were 6,021 bound volumes and 4,390 pamphlets in the library.
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THE WHITTAKER MEDICAL LIBRARY.
The Whittaker Medical Library, bequeathed by the late Dr. James T. Whit- taker to the Medical College of Ohio, contains 1,547 volumes and 538 pamphlets. It is at present stored in the Van Wormer Library building.
THE WESTERN ASSOCIATION FOR THE PRESERVATION OF MEDICAL RECORDS.
The Western Association for the Preservation of Medical Records was estab- lished in this city in May, 1909. The material desired is briefly stated as follows :
I. Medical journals published in the west and south prior to 1880;
2. Medical books and pamphlets written or published in the west and south ;
3. Manuscripts and autographs of early physicians ;
4. Old diplomas and other documents of a medical character ;
5. Proceedings of medical societies ;
6. Reports of hospitals and other medical institutions ;
7. Catalogues and announcements of western and southern medical colleges of all "schools ;"
8. Biographies and portraits of western and southern physicians ;
9. Information and material of any kind pertaining to medicine and medical men and affairs in the west and south ;
IO. Curios of medico-historical character.
THE LLOYD LIBRARY.
The founding of the Lloyd Library may be said to date from the purchase of two books-Fowne's Chemistry and Parrish's Pharmacy-by John Uri Lloyd. These books were studied by him in 1864, during his apprenticeship, and are now in the library. Broadening necessity compelled the young student to pur- chase more books in the pursuit of his studies. After serving two apprentice- ships, and a decade of prescription work, the habit of collecting developed into a longing for whatever touched upon pharmacy, practically or educationally. Through years of indifference, if not of hostility on the part of friends of the founders, the library grew, as each acquisition made others necessary to carry out the expanding ideals of the founders. Gradually pharmacists and medical men came to appreciate the scope of the library. As the institution grew a divi- sion of the work became necessary. The younger member of the firm of Lloyd Brothers, Mr. C. G. Lloyd, was from his youth inclined to the study of botany. After graduating from the School of Pharmacy, and serving an apprenticeship in the drug business, he began his life work in the department of botany. In the library his collection of books, herbarium and specimens became larger than the one devoted to materia medica and pharmacy. In making this magnificent collection Mr. Lloyd has spent years of research in Europe. In process of time the merged libraries became so great that a building was determined upon. This building was erected in 1902, and was designed to contain both books and specimens. For five years this building was ample for all purposes, but at the end of that time the building was filled to overflowing, and in the winter of 1907-8
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CITY HOSPITAL, 1897
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the new building was erected. Building number one contains the mycological (fungi) library, the herbarium containing over thirty thousand pressed flowering plants, and the mycological museum, more complete in classified fungi than the combined museums of the world. L
Building number two has four stories, 221/2 x 72 feet. It is devoted to botany and pharmacy (with a section on eclectic medicine). The libraries contain at present about thirty-five thousand bound volumes, and twenty thousand unbound pamphlets. The library has sufficient shelving to receive ninety-eight thousand volumes. The care of the libraries requires the entire time of two librarians.
MEDICAL SOCIETIES.
Ninety-two years ago was formed the first medical society of Cincinnati-the Cincinnati Medical Society. This society, as far as can be ascertained, expired with the same year, 1819. Its officers were: Elijah Slack, A. M., president ; Oliver B. Baldwin, M. D., vice president ; John Wooley, M. D., secretary ; Wil- liam Barnes, M. D., treasurer.
Elijah Slack, the president, was not a physician, but a Presbyterian minis- ter and a chemist of note. In 1817 he took charge of the Lancaster Seminary, and in 1820 became president of the Cincinnati College. He was made professor of chemistry when the Medical College of Ohio was founded and continued with that institution for eleven years.
The registered physicians of that date were: John Selman, Daniel Drake, John Cranmer, Coleman Rogers, Daniel Dyer, William Barnes, Oliver B. Baldwin, Isaac Hough, John A. Hallman, Josiah Whitman, Samuel Ramsay, Edward Y. Kemper, John Douglas, Ithiel Smead, John Wooley, Trueman Bishop, Ebenezer H. Pierson, Jonathan Easton, Charles V. Barbour, Vincent C. Marshall.
THE MEDICO-CHIRURGICAL SOCIETY.
The Medico-Chirurgical Society was founded January 3, 1820. Its consti- tution provided for two classes of members, honorary and juniors. The former consisted of practitioners of physic and surgery, or persons eminent in its collateral sciences, residing in the western country, and especially in the State of Ohio; the latter of students of medicine, who were admitted under certain regulations.
The first officers were: Daniel Drake, M. D., president ; Elijah Slack, A. M., vice president ; Vincent C. Marshall, M. D., junior vice president; B. F. Bed- inger, M. D., corresponding secretary ; John Wooley, M. D., recording secretary ; C. W. Trimble, M. D., librarian and treasurer.
The last meeting of which there is any record was held in March, 1822.
THE CINCINNATI MEDICAL ASSOCIATION.
The Cincinnati Medical Association was founded February 21, 1821. Dr. John Selman was elected president, and Dr. James Buchanan, secretary. At this meeting a "Medical Police" (code of ethics), and rules and regulations
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for the government of the association were adopted. A "Fee Bill," which cov- ered every possible kind of service, was promulgated.
The members were: John Selman, Samuel Ramsay, Jesse Smith, Ebenezer H. Pierson, Coleman Rogers, John Moorhead, John Cranmer, Wm. Barnes, Josiah Whitman, Daniel P. Robbins, Joseph Buchanan, Ichabod Sargent, Oliver Fair- child, Edward Y. Kemper, Cyrus W. Trimble, Abel Slayback, Trueman Bishop, Wm. T. Crissey.
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