USA > Ohio > Erie County > History of Erie County Ohio, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 23
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Walter W. Bowen was born at Akron, in this State, in September, 1849. He was educated at Oberlin College and the Baldwin University ; read law in the office of Messrs Walker & Bailey, of Norwalk, and was admitted to the bar at Elyria, Lorain county, in 1873. The next year, 1874, he came to practice in Sandusky.
In 1876 Mr. Bowen was elected as prosecuting attorney of Erie county, and filled that office two years ; and again, from July, 1880, to January, 1881, he held the same position. In the last named year he was elected to the office of city solicitor, and re-elected at the expiration of his first term.
Grayson Mills was born in the city of Sandusky. He was educated at Kenyon College, at Gambier, and graduated from the Columbia Law College, of New York City, in the year 1876. For about two years he practiced at Cincinnati, but came to Sandusky in 1878.
From 1881 to 1883 Mr. Mills filled the office of prosecuting attorney of this county, and since that time has been engaged in the general practice.
John P. Stein. Mr. Stein was born in Milan township of this county, in the year 1858. He was educated at the Milan Normal School, and came to Sandusky and entered the office of J. W. Tilly, as a student at law. This course was supplemented by further study in the law department of the Uni- versity of Michigan, at Ann Arbor, after which, in 1881, he was admitted to the bar. Two years later he was elected justice of the peace, the duties of which office were performed in connection with his professional work.
George C. Beis, the present city solicitor, of Sandusky, was born in Lucas county on the 12th of September, 1861. His early education was received in the common and high schools of his native county, after which he became a law student in the office of Scribner, Hurd & Scribner, of Toledo. He after-
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ward attended the University of Michigan, and was graduated with the class of 1883. In the same year he came to Sandusky and opened an office for practice. In the spring of 1885 Mr. Beis was elected city solicitor, and re- elected in 1887.
Linn W. Hull, the junior partner of the law firm of Goodwin, Goodwin & Hull, is a native of this county, born in Perkins township April 9, 1856. He was educated at Oberlin and Union Colleges and at Cornell University, bu: was not graduated from either of these institutions. He took a course at the law school at Cincinnati, and was graduated in 1883 and admitted to practice Prior to that time he had read law with Taylor & Finney, also Homer and Lewis H. Goodwin, of Sandusky City. In 1886 Mr. Hull became a partner in the present firm.
Fred Reinheimer was born in Sandusky in 1843. During the war he en- listed in the Eighth Infantry and still later in the Third Cavalry. He read law in the office of J. G. Bigelow, and was admitted to practice in 1873, since which time he has practiced in Sandusky.
Hewson L. Peeke was born at South Bend, Ind., April 20, 1861. He graduated from the Chicago High School in 1878, after which he entered Wil- liams College, and was graduated therefrom in 1882. He then read law with Tagert & Cutting, of Chicago, for one year, after which he went to Dakota and practiced law for a time. In 1883 he returned east and read law with Homer Goodwin, esq., of Sandusky, and was admitted to practice in January, 1885. He located at Sandusky.
Mr. Peeke is a strong Prohibitionist. He was the candidate of the Prohi- bitionists for common pleas judge in 1886, and again the candidate of the same party for circuit judge in the fall of 1887.
William A. Childs was born in this State November 2, 1857 ; read law in the office of Hon. Allen M. Knox, of Conneaut, after which he entered the Albany Law School, at Albany, N. Y., and was graduated in February, ISSO During the same month he was admitted to practice in Ohio. For a time he practiced at Conneaut and came to Erie county, locating at Vermillion, in ISS2. He has twice been elected justice of the peace, and also served two years as mayor of Vermillion.
W. B. Starbird, the present associate editor of the Milan Advertiser, was born in New York State. He commenced the study of the law at the age of nineteen years, and was admitted to the bar at the age of twenty-four. He commenced practice in 1882, but in connection with it, has for the last three years held the position of associate editor of the Advertiser.
Among the members of the Erie county bar, there may be mentioned the names of others who have been in active practice during the few years las: past, but whose efforts are now directed in other channels of trade or profes- sion : Thomas M. Sloane, Gottlieb Stroebel, Benjamin F. Lee, Charles L. Hub-
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bard, Rush R. Sloane, Lester Hubbard, C. C. Bittner, H. S. Kellogg, Herman Ohly, now in an insane asylum ; and possibly a few others whose names can- not now be recalled.
CHAPTER XVI.
THE MEDICAL PROFESSION.
INTRODUCTORY observations.1 " When we consider the importance and elevated character of the science of medicine-its object, the preservation of the health and lives, and the healing of diseases, and the amelioration of the physical and mental sufferings of our fellow human beings-its extent embrac- ing a knowledge of all science-it is evident that medical education should engage the earnest attention of the entire medical profession. The advances made in all the branches of knowledge, and especially in the science of medi- cine during the past century, have exceeded in extent and value those of all past ages ; and it is no longer possible to compress its vast domain within the narrow limits of 'seven Professorships.' The present age owes its wonderful progress to experimental and scientific research.
" Evolution and development are the talismanic watchwords of the nine- teenth century, and the doctrine is being accepted that things in the world do grow, and are not made; it is no longer generally accepted as a matter of religious faith that the universe was created by supernatural power, for many of our deepest thinkers, men of the most profound understanding, believe that it has been gradually unfolded by the action of natural causes. But, not wish- ing to be accused of heresy, it may be stated that, whether the theory be according to Darwin or Hackel or Spencer, or some other philosopher, the law will be the same in any case, and away back, behind ' protoplasm,' 'ger- minal matter,' and ' cellular germ' there exists abundant proof of a ' First Great Cause,' of an ' Infinite wisdom,' for the depth of which, language has no expression. A great flood of light on this subject is now pouring forth on the world, but its acceptation as a convincing truth rests in a great measure wholly with the individual."
"The world," says Goethe, " is not so framed that it can keep quiet." All the natural energies are brought into full force by the spirit of enterprise, by the spirit of progress. The telegraph wires wipe out all territorial boundaries, and railways penetrate the utmost confines of the earth, and by them States and territories are bound fast together in one web.
' From selected sketches. " Qui facit per alium, facit per se."
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" The Bible," says Gail Hamilton, "is full of excellent precepts, and the world is full of bad examples. If a man smite us on the right cheek, we - knock him down. If a man sues us at law, we stand suit, and if he would bor- row of us we promptly turn away, unless he can give ample security."
Science and enterprise have spanned the continent with electric wires. cabled the Atlantic Ocean, given us the measurements of revolving planets. spread forth the canvas to the gale, and made the trackless ocean a highway through the world. By the use of scientific and cunningly devised instru- ments bleak skies and rude winds are foreseen, and the navigator places him in safety. The electric light has displaced gas as effectually as the latter did the " tallow dip," and is established upon a secure commercial basis. School- houses, churches, newspapers, and books open up to the poorest the lights and opportunities of knowledge.
The wealth of nations increases and we see all the arts of life approaching nearer and nearer perfection. In science, art and literature each succeeding generation is wiser than its predecessor. The mistakes of past experience serve as beacon-lights to warn us off the rocks of error and lead us to the port of truth.
The great and wide advancement in the different branches of medical science within the last generation is as much a marvel as the progress made in any other of the arts and sciences. The poorest laborer can now obtain ad- vice and medicine far superior to that which royalty could command one or two centuries ago.
" The advance in medical knowledge within one's memory," says Sir James Paget, " is amazing, whether reckoned in the wonders of science not yet ap- plied, or in practical results, in the general lengthening of life, or, which is still better, in the prevention and decrease of pain and misery, and in the in- crease of working power.
" The dawning of medical science, which now sheds its light through the world, began with Hippocrates nearly twenty-three hundred years ago, and he first treated of medicine with anything like sound or rational principles. He wrote extensively, much of which has been translated, and serves as a foundation for the succeeding literature of the profession. He relied chiefly upon the healing powers of nature, his remedies being exceedingly simple He taught that ' the people' ought not to load themselves with excrements. or keep them in too long; and for this reason he prescribed ' meats proper for loosening the belly,' and if these failed he directed the use of the clysters.
" Three hundred years before Christ, Erasistratus invented and used the catheter, introduced the tourniquet, and produced an instrument for lithotriptic operations. Celsus flourished A. D. 50 to 120 as the greatest of Roman sur- geons.
"Through the centuries from the beginning of the Christian era down to
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the time of the discovery of the circulation of the blood by Harvey, 1619, medicine shed but a glimmering light in the midst of the darkness then en- shrouding the world, and the greatest strides in the advancement of the vari- ous branches of medical science have been made in the last one hundred years, and most of them may be placed to the credit of the last half century.
" Physiologists no longer believe with Paracelsus in the sixteenth century, that the planets have a direct controlling action upon the body, the sun upon the heart, and the moon upon the brain; nor do they now believe that the vital spirits are prepared in the brain by distillation ; nor do they admit that the chyle effervesces in the heart under the influence of salt and sulphur, which take fire together and produce the vital flame. On the contrary modern physi- ology teaches that the phenomena of the living body are the result of physical and chemical changes; the temperature of the blood is ascertained by the thermometer, and the different fluids and gases of the body are analyzed by the chemist, giving to each its own properties and function.
" While the eighteenth century witnessed greater advancement in the de- partment of medical science than any or all its predecessors, the crowning achievements seem to have been reserved for the nineteenth - the present century. Among the thousands of elements that comprise this century's advance in medical science mention will be made of but one, and that among the first discoveries, i. c., the use of anesthetics, which benumb the nerves of sensation, and produce a profound, but transient state of insensibility, in which the most formidable operation may be performed while the patient sleeps and dreams of home and happy hours, and the physician is left to the pleasing reflection that he is causing no pain or suffering."
But it appears that as rapid as has been this advance during the last hun- dred years, so, correspondingly, have there developed new forms and phases of disease to baffle the skill of the most eminent physicians and scientists in the land; and while diseases malarious in their character, have for a time de- fed the attempts to overcome them, they have, nevertheless, been subdued and conquered. Medical skill has proved equal to every emergency.
There is, to-day, known to botanists over one hundred and forty thousand plants, a large proportion of which are being constantly added to the already appalling list of new remedies. Many of these new drugs possess little, if any virtue, save as their sale adds to the exchequer of some enterprising pharma- cist. A drug house of this State recently issued a circular, in which they ad- vertised 33 syrups, 42 elixirs, 93 solid extracts, 150 sugar-coated pills, 236 tinctures, 245 roots, barks, herbs, seeds and flowers, 322 fluid extracts and 348 general drugs and chemicals.
" The ancients were not so well supplied with drugs. It was the custom among the Babylonians to expose the sick to the view of passengers, in order to learn of them whether they had been afflicted with a like distemper, and
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by what remedies they had been cured. It was also the custom of those days for all persons who had been sick, and were cured, to put up a tablet in the temple of Esculapius, wherein they gave an account of the remedies that had restored them to health. Prior to the time of Hippocrates all medicine was in the hands of priests, and was associated with numerous superstitions, such as sympathetic ointments applied to the weapon with which a wound was made, incantations, charms, amulets, the royal touch for the cure of scrofula, human or horse flesh for the cure of epilepsy, convulsions treated with human brains.
" While all this credulous superstition of early ages, born of ignorance, ex- isted to a vastly large extent, it has not been fully wiped out by the generally advanced education of the present day. The latest appeal to the credulity of the masses of the people is an invention to relieve the unfortunate sick, and is known as 'the Faith Cure.' The persons seeking to popularize this means of cure are either deceived themselves, or are deceiving others. Upon this point says a popular writer: If the disease be an incurable one, all the prayers in the world will not cure it. Filth brings fever ; prayer cannot interpose.
"There is probably no department of medicine at the present time more promising of good results than is sanitary science. While physiology and pathology are making known to us the functions of the human body, and the nature and cause of disease, sanitary science is steadily teaching how the causes of disease may be removed or avoided, and health thereby secured. This knowledge is of the greatest practical importance to all, and especially to the people of this county where, upon not less than four occasions, have there been visitations of the dreaded cholera, and, save upon the first of these, swept the inhabitants away like chaff before the wind. But the probabilities of a future cholera epidemic are very materially lessened by the greatly improved sanitary condition of Sandusky in the introduction of a complete system of trunk and lateral sewers, and the provision of an excellent water supply, by which the use of the old wells was discarded, and the sewage matter carried by force of the water to points beyond the possibility of injury.
" Progress during the coming one hundred years, if only equal to that of the past, will more than have accomplished great works in the advancement of sanitary science; but the accomplishment of this work calls, not only for the labor of the physician, but for the intelligent co-operation of the people. The physician cannot do it alone. If anything really great is to be done in the way of sanitary improvement, and of preventing disease and death, it must be done largely by the people themselves. This implies that they must be instructed in sanitary matters. They must be taught what unsanitary conditions favor the origin of disease, how disease is spread, and the means of its prevention. If it is true that that knowledge is of greatest value to us which teaches the means of ' self preservation,' then the importance of a wide spread knowledge of how to prevent disease and premature death cannot be overestimated."
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THE MEDICAL PROFESSION.
The older residents of this county well remember the cholera scourge of the years of 1849, 1852, and lastly in 1859, and there may be still living a few that can recall the first visitation in 1832. But then the county had not ac- quired a sufficient population to make felt the ravages of this disease in its greatest severity ; nor was there then a sufficient accumulation of filth in which the germs of the disease could breed and develop. But during the years 1849, 1852 and 1854 the scourge was indeed terrible, and hundreds of per- sons fell victims to its ravenous greed. The medical force of the county at that time was small, only in proportion to the population, and those here had little knowledge of the disease or of the means of its cure and prevention.
Of the early members of the medical profession of Erie county only a tra- ditional record exists. It is one of those classes of occupations that record but little of their own history except as shown by local societies formed at different times, and in this county there appears to have been none organized prior to the year 1850.
The great body of medical practitioners in Erie county may be divided into two classes, and known commonly as Allopathic and Homeopathic. The name of the former, however, is rarely applied by its representatives to themselves, they claiming to be "regular" physicians, and considering all others as the cre- ation of a digression from the true and correct principles of medicine and prac- tice. The name Allopath is one applied by Homeopathists to the "regulars " to distinguish them from their own body. In this chapter space is devoted to each of these branches of the profession.
Among the medical practitioners of Erie county there have, perhaps, been none that attained a standing of special eminence in the profession, but there have been, and are now to be found in the ranks, men of understanding, men of science, men of great mental and moral worth and integrity, whose influence has been so salutary and all-pervading that the whole profession seems to have caught something of its spirit, and maintained a freedom from all unworthy methods, such as can be found in but few communities.
SOME PIONEER PHYSICIANS.
Reliable information concerning the names of the pioneers of the medical profession in all parts of Erie, or what afterward became Erie county is indeed meagre, and in the following mention it is more than possible that some names are lacking. But from facts gleaned from all sources we are enabled to furnish the names of several who were identified with the profession at a very early day.
The pioneer in the town of Sandusky was, unquestionably, Dr. George An- derson, who came to this place from New York State, and continued in prac- :ce for several years. Dr. Anderson died during the first cholera epidemic. Dr. John W. Russell came to the town in the spring of 1828, and left in the fall following. Another pioneer in the profession was Dr. Jeremiah S. Coch-
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HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY.
ran, who came to Sandusky in 1832, just at the time of the first cholera out- break, and rendered efficient service during its continuance. He died in July, 1845. Dr. Elwood Stanley came here during the cholera epidemic of 1849, and rendered efficient service during that and the subsequent cholera periods.
Waitsell Hastings commenced the practice of medicine in Oxford town- ship as early as ISII, but he afterward moved to Parkerstown, a hamlet of Gro- ton township, where he died. Dr. Strong succeeded Dr. Hastings in Oxford, and was, in turn, himself succeeded by Dr. Carpenter. The latter subsequently moved west, and Dr. George Carpenter took his place. Dr. Isaac Rogers, a Botanical physician, also practiced in Oxford. At Huron Dr. Ansolem Guth- rie located in 1813, but after four years removed to Canada. Dr. McCrea, a former resident of New Jersey, practiced in Huron township at a very early day. Dr. Charles H. Leggett came here in 1830, and practiced at the village about two years. He was drowned in the Huron River in 1832. Dr. George S. Haskins settled at Huron in 1832, and Dr. Joseph Caldwell in 1833.
The first physician of Berlin township was Dr. George S. Baker, who locat- ed here in 1822. Dr. Xenophon Phillips, Dr. Guthrie, Dr. Harkness, Dr. Fay, Dr. Daniel Butler, also David Butler,-the latter a "root and herb" physician -practiced here, but all were not resident practitioners. Among others of later years were Professor L. B. Hill and Dr. George S. Hill. In Margaretta, Dr. Hartshorne established at Venice as early as 1817; Dr. Samuel Carpenter at Castalia in 1824, and at the same place Dr. M. J. Morseman came in 1836. Drs. James F. Wilson, R. C. Luce and J. D. McKim were also quite early phy- sicians of Margaretta. Dr. Strong seems to have been the pioneer of the pro- fession in Vermillion. Dr. A. E. Merrill, formerly probate judge of the county, and F. C. McConnelly were settlers of a later day.
Dr. George Hastings applied the healing art to the people of Groton town- ship as early as ISIo. He died in 1864. In Perkins Dr. Richard P. Christo- pher performed a like service commencing in 1815, and in Milan were Drs. Goodwin and Guthrie.
THE MEDICAL SOCIETIES.
The first steps looking to the organization of a medical society were taken while the lands embraced by Erie county were included within the territorial limits of Huron, and at a time when the idea of establishing such a county as Erie was unconceived. On the 10th of April, 1824, an order was promulgated by the press (the old Clarion), which being copied herein will fully explain itself.
" MEDICAL NOTICE .- Pursuant to an act to incorporate medical societies for the purpose of regulating the practice of physic and surgery in this State, I hereby notify the medical gentlemen, resident in the counties of Richland, Huron, Lorain, Sandusky and Seneca, that a meeting will be holden at Nor- walk, the last Tuesday of May next, at 10 o'clock A. M., for the purpose of or-
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ganizing a medical society agreeable to said act. It is expected that there will be a general attendance of physicians of this district, as the eleventh section of the act provides that no person, other than members of one of the medical so- cieties in this State, shall be permitted to practice physic or surgery after the Ist of July next. DANIEL TILDEN.
"Norwalk, April 10, 1824."
The Clarion, in its issue of June 2d following, contains the following report relative to the proceedings had in pursuance of the above notice :
"COMMUNICATION. - Agreeable to the act on the 25th instant, came on at Norwalk the first meeting of the Fourteenth Medical Society in this State. The meeting was full, and upon the whole we were much pleased with the re- spectable display of parchment. At three o'clock the gentlemen proceeded to organize by choosing Dr. Tilden, of Norwalk, president; Dr. Anderson, of San- dusky, vice-president; Dr. Mantor, of Elyria, secretary ; Dr. Fay, of Milan, treasurer ; Dr. Lucas, of Uniontown, Dr. C. G. Miller, of Mansfield, Dr. Baker, of Florence, Dr. Sanders, of Peru, Dr. Strong, of Bloomingville, censors.
Officers for 1825 .- Dr. Nathan H. Mantor, president; Dr. John B. Johnson, vice-president; Dr. Amos B. Harris, secretary; Dr. Lyman Fay, treasurer; Dr. George G. Baker, Dr. Moses C. Sanders, Dr. Daniel Tilden, Dr. Eli Dresback and Dr. Charles E. Ford, censors.
Officers for 1826 .- Dr. Moses C. Sanders, president; Dr. George Ander- son, vice-president ; Dr. Amos B. Harris, secretary ; Dr. Lyman Fay, treasu- rer; Drs. George G. Baker, Daniel Tilden, Nathan H. Mantor, Daniel Brain- ard, junior, and Joel Luther, censors.
Officers for 1827 .- Dr. Allen G. Miller, president; Dr. George G. Baker, vice-president ; Dr. A. B. Harris, secretary ; Dr. Lyman Fay, treasurer ; Drs. George G. Baker, William F. Kittredge, Moses C. Sanders, Daniel Tilden and Eli Dresback, censors.
Officers for 1828 .- Dr. George G. Baker, president; Dr. Moses C. Sanders, vice-president; Dr. Amos B. Harris, secretary; Dr. Lyman Fay, treasurer; Drs. William F. Kittredge, Allen G. Miller, Eber W. Hubbard, Moses C. Sanders and Daniel Tilden, censors.
Officers for 1829 .- Dr. Moses C. Sanders, president; Dr. Daniel Tilden, vice-president; Dr. Amos B. Harris, secretary; Dr. Lyman Fay, treasurer ; Drs. George G. Baker, Nathan H. Mantor, William F. Kittredge, William W. Nugent and Henry Kuhn, censors.
At a meeting of the society held in 1830, a resolution was adopted approv- ing of the efforts then being made for the suppression of intemperance. During the year Dr. George Anderson was the president, but no further mention of the proceedings of this society are found, and it is probable that the organiza- tion was not maintained much later than the year 1830.
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