USA > Ohio > History of Ohio; the rise and progress of an American state, Volume Five > Part 13
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place of the wigwam, the beaver dam had given way to the structure of man, and the rushing waters and whir of the gristmill transformed a scene of placid and restful beauty into one of sordid commercialism. Forges and factories sent up black columns of smoke to mingle with the clouds, and the sound of the anvil and the clank and clatter of machinery drowned the voices of nature. The wolf and the deer, the panther and the bear disappeared with the forest, and Hia- wathas took their Minnehahas by the hand and turned their faces sorrowfully to the setting sun.
Meanwhile, also, the spirit of progress was in the air and the medical profession began to awaken to a realization of its attitude toward the public. A college here and there, organizations and societies for improve- ment, grew apace with the advancement along other lines. In the early days the laws governing the prac- tice of medicine in Ohio were few, very incomplete, and so laxly administered as to render them practically of no effect. As a result, the profession was crowded with ignoramuses and pretenders whose self-assertive- ness and clamorous pretensions worked upon a credu- lous populace and gave to them a place alongside the most favored of the legitimate sons of ÆEsculapius. Good men there were, and plenty of them. Men of culture, refinement and high professional attainment; men who were college bred, and that too in the best schools of this or other lands, but they were hampered and mortified by the self-imposed company of char- latans and mountebanks. This latter class was not all imported, for with the inborn assertiveness of the native Ohioan many of them sprang direct from the
WILLIAM STARLING SULLIVANT
Born in Franklinton, Franklin county, Ohio, January 15, 1803; graduated from Yale, 1823; an eminent Ameri- can scientist, especially in the department of botany; died near Columbus, April 30, 1873.
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TMAVILIUS ONNIAAT& MANIIIW
-inomA frontime as : 8581 9IsY mont batsubstg Tusingit Waters and
.8781 ,08 InqAl, andmuloO ISSA bSib of placid lo one of sordid commercialism. mis wint up black columns of smoke This doanh, and the sound of the anvil And dano of machinery drowned the The wolf and the deer, the panther dvappeared with the forest, and His- : Manchahas by the hand and turned det less sorrowfuly to the setting sun.
Mobile, alho, the spirit of progress was in Lie and the medical profession began to awaken to a der Me attitude toward the public. A college livre aul riere, orgramatiout and societies for improve- ICHIL Www avse with the advancement along other Have Is die early days the laws governing the prac- Vtv af rodicas In Ohio were few, very incomplete, and a lany thiatired wy to render them practically od vin Soll A& a refait, the profession was crowded with Iguurdiduies and prendere whose self-assertivo ocks and chatpohodlk preissivous worked upon a credo- Jour populace and gave to them a place alongside the most fayomd of the legitimate sons of ÆEsculapioe Good men there were, and plenty of them. Men of culture, refinement and high professional attainment; men who were college bred, and that too in the best schools of this or other lands, but they were hamperrd and mortified by the self-imposed company of char- latans and mountebanks. This latter class was not all imported, for with the inborn assertiveness of the native Ohioun many of them sprang direct from the
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soil, full armed and audacious. With a few crude drugs, of which they knew little, a few instruments, of which they knew less, a pretentious vocabulary, and an assumption of great wisdom, what they did not know was made up for by the various subterfuges ignorance brings to its aid. In those days decorous entrance into the medical profession was attained through apprenticeship to a preceptor. The duties of the apprentice were to read, to recite to the precep- tor, make up powders and pills, compound medicines, look after the instruments and appliances, and in some cases curry the horse, sweep out the shop and make himself useful generally. As he advanced in pro- ficiency he assisted the preceptor and-married his daughter. With this, he instantly acquired a prodi- gious asset, for with it came a full partnership and all the accumulated patronage, knowledge and experience of pater familias. Others more ambitious and prob- ably better equipped with funds completed their education by attending one or two courses of lectures.
The awakening of the medical profession of Ohio, at or about the middle of the 19th century, is reflected in the president's address to the Ohio Medical Society for the year 1860. He felicitates them on the large and constantly increasing attendance, the quantity and high character of work accomplished; deprecates the avaricious tendency of the times, which lures the doctor into other callings in association with medicine, and, speaking of those who essay to practice medicine and preach the Gospel, he says: "I should be loth to trust either my body or my soul in their keeping." In that strange combination of doctor, carpenter and
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preacher, the carpenter being also the coffin-maker, one can imagine the doctor "curing" the patient till he dies, the carpenter boxing and labeling the remains and the preacher launching him into the Great Beyond with appropriate word and ceremony. Then, speaking of the necessity of an elevation of the standard of medical education, he says: "The community judges the qualification of the physician for his knowl- edge of general subjects. If they find him ignorant of everything outside, they naturally conclude that he is ignorant of everything inside the profession. The time has passed when by mere display a man can palm himself off as an intelligent physician. The time has passed when a mere knowledge of calomel and jalap will serve as a passport to public confidence." He goes on to discuss certain needed reforms in our medical colleges, the registration of physicians and the regula- tion of the sale of patent medicines, and recommends that a law be passed by the legislature requiring every manufacturer of such to print on the label the recipe of the compound. While the above is interesting as indicating the strides of the profession and its aspira- tion for higher things, yet the tone of discouragement pervading it all, and the little that is accomplished compared with that which is talked about, suggest Mark Twain's discovery that "people are always talking about the weather, but nobody does any- thing." This at first blush seems particularly apropos to the situation, but when we stop to look around and observe that most of the things discussed at that meet- ing are to-day accomplished facts, it reminds us for the hundredth time that agitation must always pre-
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cede action and that the agitation of a good cause is one of the most hopeful signs of its realization. At this same meeting the reports of the various commit- tees on subjects assigned them are full and free and exhibit a comprehensiveness and acumen that would do credit to any like body anywhere. The committee on Medical Literature speaks of the unusual activity of the American press, the products of which, for scien- tific value, scholarship and polite learning, take rank among the best works of the old world. "Who reads an American book?" is obsolete sarcasm and only hurts because it once applied. After mentioning a half- dozen or more books in a fairly critical way, and some in lavish praise, the reviewer stops to pay his respects in a not altogether complimentary way to the recent great work of Prof. S. D. Gross, whose "System of Surgery" not only created a big stir at the time, but maintained a leading position in this and other coun- tries for more than a quarter of a century, and is even now consulted more frequently than any other work on the subject not strictly up to date. Further on the reviewer makes partial amends by adding: "Neverthe- less the disposition is to accord it a friendly reception; at home and abroad hearty and even extravagant encomiums have been bestowed on the 'System' of of this prominent American surgeon and teacher. Simpson, of Edinburgh, speaks of it as the most complete work on Systematic Surgery in the English language."
It is worthy of note that the medical books of the early part of the 19th century were, for the most part, examples of more than ordinary literary merit. They were flowery and fascinating and as delightfully fra-
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grant as the zephyrs that come over the Gardens of Spices. Their perusal, so far from being a task, was a pastime and a pleasure. As science advanced and facts accumulated, it became necessary to sacrifice imagery and elegance of diction to brevity and directness. As an example of epigrammatic terseness and perspicuity, coupled with scientific accuracy, Prof. Austin Flint's "Practice of Medicine" stands preeminent. It has been asserted that not a single line of this work could be expunged without materially affecting the sense.
The foregoing gives a pretty fair idea of the status of the medical profession of Ohio in the mid-period between pioneer days and the present. It must be considered, however, that it applies to the more in- telligent and progressive contingent, and that many were still plodding along in the rut of their prede- cessors, and many were beyond the pale of the up- lifting influence by which the profession was being elevated to the plane of respectability. Of this latter contingent a word may not be amiss. We are too prone to look upon the illiterate and those removed from the centers of public activities with undisguised contempt. It was always thus, not only as concerns the medical profession but in all the other callings of life. When Ben Franklin went to England and applied for a job at a printing establishment, the proprietor, on learning that he was from the Colonies, seemed to regard it as something of a joke. How could this green provincial know anything about type-setting?
"Take this," said he, handing him a compositor's stick, "and set up something." Before the proprietor
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could turn around twice, Franklin was back and placed in his hands as neat and perfect a piece of work as ever was done.
"Can any good come out of Nazareth? Come and see. " This is what the proprietor read and wondered. "Why," said he to himself, "the boy is not only an adept in the art, but he has brains and wit."
In speaking of the settlement or backwoods doctor we do not wish to be understood as including that despicable class of harlequins whose mere assumption is a stigma on the noblest of professions, but of that infinitely higher and better class of honest, homely, brainy men who are doing the best possible for them- selves under the hampering influences besetting them. The backwoods doctor had no library to speak of, and such books as he had were old, thumbed and dogeared from long use. He knew little of medical lore. He knew little of what was going on in the great teeming world beyond the horizon of his own little world, but for this reason he was compelled all the more to exercise his faculties, to meet the various exigencies that presented themselves in his path. He could not turn to his library, for that was archaic and woefully incomplete. He could not summon to his assistance the masters of the art, for they were too remote and beyond the means of his clientele. He just had to sit down and think it out. He had to devise methods, instruments and appliances to meet the case, and he had to do it right. There could be no false step-no error of judgment, for the end results were the telltale which gave him an approving conscience or otherwise. Nature gave him brains,
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just as it did the city-bred boy. It would seem often- times that nature, in consideration of the absence of opportunity, had been prodigal in bestowing natural gifts, for we find among these men a larger proportion endowed with strong native intellectuality than among the more favored in the centers of learning. Who has not seen men of the stamp we are describing, great, honest, whole-souled fellows, with massive brains and bodies and homely, simple ways that some- how got into your affections as no other men could? These men lead their lives and die, wept and honored by their little community-but often carry down into oblivion a mental and moral equipment that under favoring circumstances would have moved the world. Should we not take off our hats to such?
We are now compelled to turn to another phase of medical life, and one which, considered in its nature and effects, is calculated to bring the blush of shame to the cheek of every properly constituted physician. We refer to that most detestable trait of animal nature-jealousy. We shall not assert, as some have, that jealousy is inherent in the calling, that the most evenly tempered and unselfish man, when he dons the cloak and staff, emblazoned with the serpent, becomes instinct with the malignity of that reptile, but it is a fact nevertheless that jealousy has always been rife among physicians to an extent seldom seen among other professions. Not only so, but these jealous strifes and bickerings between doctors often assume such magnitude as to involve whole communi- ties. This, of course, was subversive of concerted effort and exercised such a retarding force on all
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attempts at betterment of the profession as to con- stitute an almost insuperable obstacle. They would not get together, or, if they did, would not pull together, for what one suggested the other was sure to oppose, and so between them they managed effectually to block the wheels of progress. It is one of the functions of polite society to discountenance such sentiments, or at least the manifestation of them, and as a result men get together now and work together and accom- plish things. We shall have occasion more than once in the succeeding pages to note the baneful effect of this ugly distemper on the life and action of otherwise most worthy men, and to witness its blighting effects on enterprises originally launched with high purpose.
MEDICAL COLLEGES
The medical colleges of Ohio, at the present writing (1912), are six in number and are located in Cleveland (2), Cincinnati (2), Columbus and Toledo. The present population of the State, according to the census of 1910, is 4,767,121. Of the cities in which these colleges are located, Cleveland has a population of 560,663, Cincinnati 363,591, Columbus 181,51I and Toledo 168,497. These colleges, with the excep- tion of the Eclectic Medical College, Cincinnati (Eclectic) and the Cleveland-Pulte Medical College, Cleveland (Homeopathic), belong to the regular school. The Ohio-Miami Medical College, Cincinnati, created by the mergement of the Ohio Medical College, founded in 1819, with the Miami Medical College, founded in 1852, constitutes the medical department of the
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University of Cincinnati; the Ohio Medical College being admitted to such relation in 1896 and the Miami Medical College by virtue of its mergement with the Ohio in 1909. The faculty consists of 19 professors, with a teaching force all told of 117. The course consists of four terms of eight months each, extending over a period of four years. The tuition fee is $125 a year, with a matriculation fee of $5, payable but once. The graduation fee is $25. The Dean is Dr. Paul G. Wooley. The registration for 1910-II was 149, of whom 38 graduated.
The Eclectic Medical College, Cincinnati, was founded in 1832 at Worthington, under the name of the Worthington Medical College. In 1843 it was re- moved to Cincinnati, and after various vicissitudes and change of name it assumed its present title in 1910. It has a teaching force of 26, including all grades. There are four terms of 30 weeks each, extending over four years. The enrollment for 1910-1I was 95, of whom 27 graduated. Dr. Rolla L. Thomas is the Dean.
The Starling-Ohio Medical College, Columbus, was organized in 1907 by the fusion of the Starling Medical College, founded in 1834, with the Ohio Medical University, founded in 1890. The college has a teaching force of 64, of whom 27 are professors. The course covers four terms of eight months each, and extends over a period of four years. The tuition is $135 yearly, including hospital fees and incidentals. The examination (graduation) fee is included in the last year's tuition. The matriculation fee of $5 is payable but once. The enrollment for 1910-1I was 252, of
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whom 51 graduated, the largest in the State. The Dean of the medical department is W. J. Means.
Cleveland Medical College, Cleveland, founded 1843. First class graduated in 1845. It assumed present title in 1881. In 1910 it absorbed the Cleveland College of Physicians and Surgeons. Under the terms of the merger the Ohio Wesleyan University will grant degrees to students enrolled in the College of Physicians and Surgeons prior to the merger. The faculty includes 44 professors and 34 subordinate teachers, a total of 78. The course embraces four years of eight and a half months each. Three years of college work are required for admission to the first year of medical course. The fees for the first year are $142, and $135 for each of the other three years. Dr. B. L. Millikin is the Dean. The total regis- tration for 1910-1I was 171, including 64 students of the College of Physicians and Surgeons. The graduating class numbered 36, of whom 22 were from the College of Physicians and Surgeons.
The Cleveland-Pulte Medical College, Cleveland, was founded in 1849 as the Western College of Homeo- pathic Medicine, Cleveland, and after many ups and downs and as many changes in name, it assumed its present title after mergement with the Pulte Medical College of Cincinnati in 1910. The teaching force numbers 59. The fees are $125 for each year and the terms approximately eight months in duration. The enrollment for 1910-1I was 81, of whom 13 gradu- ated. Dr. George H. Quay is the Dean.
The Toledo Medical College was founded in 1883. It has a teaching force of 48 all told. The course
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consists of four terms of eight months each, extending over a period of four years. The tuition fee is $120 for each year and a matriculation fee of $5, payable but once. The enrollment for 1910-1I was 40, with 8 graduates.
A systematic attempt to name and follow up all the medical colleges with which this State has been blessed or cursed would be a bootless task. There is, however, one school whose origin and history are so intimately interwoven with that of the State as to demand special mention. The system upon which this school was founded, originated with Samuel Thompson (1769-1843), a native of New Hampshire. Care of the stomach, good food, and elimination, by sweating, purging, emetics, etc., were the keynotes of his system. He laid great stress on the use of vapor baths and extolled the virtues of certain botanic drugs, such as lobelia, yellow root and marigold. He investigated the medical properties of various native roots and herbs and protected himself in their use by letters patent. Thompsonianism took deep and firm hold on the minds of the people and drew to its support many men of intelligence and ability. To the long suffering public it was as the voice of one crying in the wilderness. It would be difficult to estimate the influence of this new cult in bringing about the changes in medical practice which followed in this country some years later. Undoubtedly it was very great. Intrinsically it was not new and was only valuable in its limitations and restrictions of the drastic measures then in vogue, and, like Homœop- athy and Hydropathy, demonstrated the possibility
DANIEL DRAKE
Born near Plainfield, New Jersey, October 20, 1785; in childhood came with his parents to Kentucky; studied medicine under Dr. William Goforth of Cincinnati; removed to that city and began practice in 1807; a con- spicuous citizen, practitioner, and writer, founder of the Medical College of Ohio, etc .; died in Cincinnati, Novem- ber 6, 1852.
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vapor baths and errolled the vinges of certain botan of lue system: He laid great stress on the use wheating, purging, emetics, etc., were the keynote Care of the stomach, good food, and elimination, by Thompson (1769-1843), a native of New Hampshire this school was founded, originated with Samu co demand special mention. The system upon whi
investigated the medical properties of various nati drugs, such as lobella, yellow ruot and marigold. H row and herbs and protgond himself in their u Vy lettem patant. Thompsonianism took deep an firm hold on the minds of the people and drew to its AUpport many med of wie washce and ability. To. the long suffering putin a ave as the voice of one crying in the wilderness It would be difficult To estimate the influence of IN new cult in bringin about the changes in medisi practice which follow. in this country some jem lanr. Undoubtedly was very great. Intrinsically it was not new and war only valuable in its limitations and restrictions the drastic measures then in vogue, and, like Homœop- athy and Hydropathy, demonstrated the possibility
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of conquering disease without them. The first Thomp- sonian college, known at different times and in different places under various aliases, but longer known as the Physio-Medical College of Ohio, was organized by Dr. Alvin Curtis in 1838 and located in Worthington. Dr. Alvin Curtis (1799-1880) was a native of New Hampshire, a man of education, broad intelligence, tremendous energy, and untiring devotion to the cause of Thompsonianism. He was a cogent and convincing talker and revelled in debate. In this capacity he entered the arena with some of the strong- est men of the country, and never had occasion to acknowledge defeat. He was the brains and body of the cult, and when he died the death rattle came in the throat of Physio-Medicalism. Of the dozen medical colleges of this school organized in various parts of the United States, none survive to-day (19II), the last having just terminated its existence by mergement into the Chicago College of Medicine and Surgery.
OHIO MEDICAL COLLEGE
This venerable institution, the first of its kind in Ohio and the second west of the Allegheny Mountains, was founded by Dr. Daniel Drake in 1819. The first faculty consisted of Dr. Daniel Drake (1785- 1852) and three colleagues, Dr. Jesse Smith, Dr. B. S. Bohrer and Elijah Slack. The fees were $20 to each professor and an additional $5 for hospital and incidentals. The requirements for graduation were two terms of lectures of five months each and the presentation and public defense of a thesis on some
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medical subject. There were seven graduates at the end of the course. At the second commencement in 1822 there were also seven graduates, among whom was John L. Richmond, of Newtown, O. Dr. Richmond enjoys the distinction of being the first man in the United States to perform the Cesarean Section. This occured in 1827, only five years after his graduation, which, when we consider the dearth of opportunity to acquire surgical experience and the limited ar- mamentarium at his disposal, cannot but excite wonder and admiration for the daring operator. In April, 1912, a memorial tablet was erected in Newtown in commemoration of the man and his achievement.
About this time it became manifest, and soon con- spicuously so, that all was not serene with the Ohio Medical. Questions of policy and personal interest had obtruded to create dissatisfaction and distrust. Drake, as it would seem, was the disturbing element. He was a man of intense nature, bold, aggressive, and unrelenting; a man of great mental dynamics. Even to-day he is regarded by many as the most conspicuous figure on the medical horizon of the State. Notwithstanding this, and the fact that he has been eulogized as few men are, the conviction is forced upon one that he was not a leader in the sense that he attached men to him. He had not a magnetic personality. He had not those traits which bring voluntary subordination. Rather he repelled men and awakened their antagonism by his assertiveness and want of tact. Though usually at the front of every enterprise which he championed, it was not by reason of the good will of his colleagues,
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