Twentieth Century History of Findlay and Hancock County, Ohio, and Representative Citizens, Part 142

Author: Jacob Anthony Kimmell
Publication date: 1910
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 1189

USA > Ohio > Hancock County > Findlay > Twentieth Century History of Findlay and Hancock County, Ohio, and Representative Citizens > Part 142

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My purpose to-day is to show to those who are so fortu- ate as to have their own house in city or town, or to have an commodating landlord, how they may avail themselves of very new and practical device which will answer all pur- oses for outdoor life by day and by night. I am indebted Mr. H. C. Ford, a young mechanical engineer, and to the tarnook Company, with which he is associated, for the con-

FIG. 1 .- Starnook (Knopf Model) for the rest-cure in the open air and for outdoor sleeping at night.

uction of this device. As I have said, it is suitable for the t-cure in the open air by day and for outdoor sleeping by ght, and as the thought of the latter use came first, it has en called the " Starnook." This name is very appropriate ; as will be seen from the following description, on a clear ;ht the stars can be seen from this little nook.

[ have slept in my starnook since October, 1910, and never re I had more peaceful nights, more sound and more re-

Abstract from a lecture on Aerotherapy, delivered at the ns Hopkins Medical School, Baltimore, March 27, 1911.

freshing sleep. To lie outstretched in the warm bed, breath- ing constantly the pure, fresh air, to be able to gaze at the beautiful sky, and watch the starry constellations without any effort, is a sensation which must be felt, for it cannot be described. I am inclined to believe that the most restless and nervous person will soon fall asleep in a quiet starnook. On bright, moonlight nights the scene is equally enchanting. Even on rainy nights with roof overhead and the slats of the shutters open to admit air, the sensation is a cozy one. One

FIG. 2 .- Interior of Starnook ( Knopf Model) with windows, roof, and shutters closed. View from adjoining bathroom.

soon gets accustomed to the rain trickling on the roof and the monotonous noise of it is sleep inviting.

My purpose in having this starnook constructed was that it might serve as a model for tuberculous, pneumonic, or ner- vous patients who have been directed to live and sleep in the open air. As will be seen my own starnook (Fig. 1) is built on an extension at the rear of the house, but it could also rest on posts or columns, or triangular supports attached to the walls. The starnook consists of three walls composed of frames holding movable slats, of a roof and a floor. It is all made of galvanized iron with the exception of the floor, the

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window sash and the roof-frame. The wall of the house closes the fourth side through which access is had to the starnook by a long window or a door. It is about 9 feet long, 6 feet deep, 6 feet high at the outer side, and 8 feet next to the house. It can also be made 8 feet deep and will then hold a bed and couch or two beds.

In either end is a glass window which can be opened out- ward, and Florentine glass fills the triangular spaces at each end under the slope of the roof, which rests a short distance above the walls to allow for free circulation of air at all times.

Figure 1 shows the starnook in use at night in rainy or stormy weather. Figure 2 gives an interior view, all closed except the door leading from the house into the starnook. On a clear night when there is no fear of rain or snow the roof of the starnook is raised by means of a crank and counter- weights.

As seen in Figs. 3 and 4, the roof can be completely raised against the wall of the house and an unobscured view of the

FIG. 3 .- Starnook (Knopf Model) transformed from night- shelter to a pleasant rest-cure porch by day.

sky can be had by the occupant of the bed. During the day the starnook can be transformed into a typical rest-cure veranda. Three upper sections of the front shutters can be entirely opened, and with the two windows open and the roof up one is certainly out of doors. Figure 3 shows the starnook transformed from a night shelter to a pleasant resting porch by day time.

Figure 4 gives an idea of the interior aspect of the star- nook by day with roof and all windows open.

The advantages of this device are manifold. When painted to match the house it forms an attractive addition. The slats that form the walls, instead of being straight, are bent inward at the lower edge and outward at the upper in such a way that

when partly open they permit a free access of air, yet neithe: the bed nor the occupant of the bed can be seen by neighbor: and absolute privacy is thus secured (Fig. 5).

In very stormy weather the shutters can be tightly che: (Fig. 6) to protect the occupant from rain, drifting snow ar: strong winds, and still there will be enough open spaces ; allow the freest circulation of air. The lower sections of ti- shutters are manipulated simultaneously by means of a hard !: conveniently located so as to be reached from the bed. Exc upper section has an individual handle whereby the slate (a: be placed at any angle desired. The handles are of wiei so as not to chill the patient or occupant when he touches them in cold weather. An electric light which can be turned

FIG. 4 .- Interior of Starnook (Knopf Model) with windows, roof, and shutters open. View from adjoining bathroom.

on and off with the aid of cords by the occupant of the bed. and a push button to call a maid or nurse in case of illness, complete the arrangement for comfort.

Sometimes the starnook cannot be constructed so that the roof can be raised upward to rest against the wall of tte house. If this is the case; then the roof has to be tilted out- ward. When for one reason or other it is desirable to have the construction on the roof of the house, a starnook can be con- structed with a little shack, the two joined together so that the latter can be heated when serving as a dressing room. Te make a good support for the roof of the starnook when raised. the shack would have to be somewhat higher. Another way is to divide the roof into two sections so that they may better

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AIR

OPEN

CLOSED

FIG. 5.

FIG. 6.

FIG. 5 .- Diagram showing the mechanism of the movable iron slats .- Open. FIG. 6 .- Diagram showing the mechanism of the movable iron slats .- Closed.

or garden. If it is desired to have a double starnook, the two devices can be joined, the bathroom and dressing room being between them.

To the timid who are afraid of sudden rain showers or snow storms and believe that they cannot get the roof down quickly enough, or who fear to get out of the warm bed for the purpose of lowering the roof, there can be arranged an electric motor manipulating the raising and lowering of the roof quickly and securely, operated by means of a push button within easy reach from the bed.

It is hoped that with a demand for a number of starnooks, two different standard sizes can be put on the market at very reasonable prices. In presenting this new device to the pro- fession and the public, the inventors trust to have been in a measure helpful not only in solving the problem of outdoor sleeping and outdoor resting for the tuberculous in cities, but also to have given opportunity to other sufferers to recuperate, and to the well and strong to enjoy constant fresh air, at least at night, and enable them to be more frequently in touch with nature than is granted to most city dwellers.

THE HAVEN OF HEALTH .* A REVIEW.

By W. H. BERGTOLD, M. D., Denver, Colo.

In these days of wood-pulp paper and cheap bindings, it is refreshing to see and to possess a book which is venerable with age, so old that it is, as it were, a voice from the ancient dead. There is now such a book before us, and it will be used as a text for my portion of this evening's talks.

Let us read its title page, a photograph of which is here presented for your inspection (see p. 304) ; printed in 1636, the book harks back 274 years, and since it was written (1584) eleven generations have been born, have run the gamut of human efforts, hopes, desires, and sorrows, and have died. It seems a long time to me. Is it not of striking in- terest to us at this precise time and in this State, to see by the title page that nearly three hundred years ago a woman could run a printing establishment?

As a material object the volume has the additional attrac- tion of exhibiting signs of the ravages of real book-worms.

How many of our present books will be found, 274 years from this day, in as good a condition as this old book? Very few, it is safe to predict.

The preface to this Haven of Health is inscribed 1584; such a date means but little to me unless I can orient myself by other chronologie marks. Perhaps some of you may have the same feeling, which will be excuse sufficient for me to try to fix this period in our minds by showing its relation to other dates and things. Elizabeth (1533-1603) was reigning in England when Coghan was writing, and he specifically men- tions her on page 159.

* Read before the Denver Medical History Club, January 6, 1911.

Shakespeare's span was from 1564 to 1616; this shows us that the great dramatist was a young man of but twenty when Dr. Coghan's dedicatory preface was finished. If we think of medical men of the immediately preceding, contemporaneous, and directly succeeding years, we realize that but a little while had elapsed since Servetus was burned at the stake, that Para- celsus had been dead less than fifty years, and that Van Hel- mont was but a child of seven at the issuance of the first edition. Only two years before, Galileo had discovered the principle of the pendulum, and before he had made his im- mortal discoveries of Jupiter's moons, this book had gone through at least two editions. Some renowned medical men were born about this time; Harvey six years after the book was written, and Willis and Sydenham shortly before it came out in the fourth edition.

When the book was chosen as a subject for to-night's paper, the speaker immediately wrote to the secretary of the Royal College of Physicians, England, for information concerning Coghan ; here is the result of this correspondence :

ROYAL COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS,

PALL MALL EAST. LONDON, S. W., May 11, 1910. DEAR SIR :-

I send you herewith some particulars of Thomas Coghan, M. A., which have been gleaned from various sources, and have, so far as is possible, been verified. ....

Yours faithfully, (Signed) W. FLEMING.

W. H. Bergtold, Esq., M. D.

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" Thomas Cogan, 1545-1607, physician, was born about 1545 at Chard, Somersetshire. He was educated at Oxford, graduated B. A., January 14, 1562-1563, M. A., July 5, 1566, and M. B., 1574. He became a Fellow of Oriel College in 1563, continuing until 1574. In 1574 he resigned his Fellowship and then (or in 1575) was appointed Master of the Manchester grammar school. He practiced as a physician at Manchester, taking a degree in that faculty in 1574. Before 1586 he married Ellen, daughter of Sir Ed- mund Trafford, and widow of Thomas Willott, who had property in Manchester. In 1591-3 he was the family physician of Sir Richard Shuttleworth. In 1595 he presented Galen's works, and other medical books, to the library of Oriel, where they are still pre- served. He resigned the schoolmastership before 1602, died in June, 1607, and was buried on the 10th of that month in the Church of St. Anne's at Manchester. His will mentions property both in Somersetshire and in Manchester, and bequeaths books to all the Fellows and other officers of the college, and 4th, to each boy in the school. His widow died in 1611.

His works are:

1. The Well of Wisdome, containing Chiefe and Chosen Sayings Gathered out of the Five bookes of the Olde Testament . .. . 1577. 2. The Haven of Health, made for the Comfort of Students . . . 1584. (Several later editions.) With this was published " A Preservation from the Pestilence, with a short censure of the late sickness at Oxford," and several books in Latin intended as text-books.

THE HAVEN John OF Hobilo 1726 HEALTH.

Chiefely gathered for the comfort of Students, and confequently of all thofe that have a care of their health, amplified upon five words of Hippocrates, written Epid.6. Labor, Cibm, Fotio, Somnus, Venms.

Hereunto is added a prefervation from the Peftilence, With a fors censure of the late fisknes at Oxford.

By THOMAS COGHAN Mafter of Arts, and Batcheler of Phyficke.

Eccle fioficus Cap. 37. 30. By furfeit have many perifhed : but he that dieteth himfelfe prolongeth his life.

The fourth Edition, corrected and amended.

LONDON, Printed by ANNE GRIFFIN, forROGER BALL, and are to be fold at his, thop without Tempke-barre, at the Golden Anchor next the Nags-head Taverne. 1636.

Wood, in his " Athenae Oxoniensis," from which most of the above notice has been taken by the writer of the article In te " Dictionary of National Biography," finishes with:

What other things he wrote I know not, nor anything es of him, only that he deceased at Manchester, in sixteen hundre: and seven, and was buried in the Church there 10 June laact :: behind him the character of an able physician, and Latinist. : good neighbor, and an honest man.

Through this information it becomes evident that I? Coghan was a man of parts, estimated by the then eristi: standards; one notes, too, with surprise that he did not gr: his degree in medicine until he was 29 years old, which m .; be of some comfort to those who regret that a son is, in thex days, so long in going through the academic and professiist. schools. It does no violence to historical evidence to aBIT. that the practice of medicine in those days was just as kez a competitive game as it is now, and Coghan's taking up tes :- ing with practicing lends support to this notion. You . note that his biographer describes him as an " able physician there is however, to me, an indefinable something in this beek. which gives me the impression that this man was not so much a real clinician as a student of medicine, a man who dont; less saw something of actual practice, but who wrote mon from his book knowledge than from his bedside experience. This feeling has come to me between the lines of his book, a: it were, notwithstanding that he clearly indicates that his book is intended as a guide to the preservation of health on's. and the feeling may be wholly unwarranted.

Years ago in studying the birds mentioned by Shakespear. the speaker gleaned a passing insight of the conditions of life in England during the period covered by the editions of this book ; while the savagery of the times has doubtless been over- drawn, yet, softening it all we can, life then and there was far from gentle, and medicine was on a similar plane. We are apt to forget that there were no carpets, that dishes and fork were all but unknown at the table, and that slices of bread, called " trenchers," were served, to be used in place of plates One gathers an inkling of these conditions, it seems to me. from various things in this book of " Health."

There was no such thing as sanitation, or hygiene; William Shakespeare, the poet's father, was fined, in 1552, twelve pence for not removing household dirt and refuse from his own door.

If one reads this book carefully and tries, even in a cursor: way only, to follow some parallel and radiating lines of study suggested by it, one gains, it might be said, a liberal educa- tion. Let me hint at some things which aroused keen interest as the book was perused.

It is probably fair to assume that Coghan was as well edu- cated as any average college man of his time; in effect it may be correct to feel that he was likely to have been better schooled than the majority of his classmates, since we find him teaching, and later, head master of a considerable scho! at Manchester. It is highly probable, then, that his pages re- flect, tolerably well, contemporaneous knowledge, general and special. Hence one notes with interest the extremely diver- gent spelling in different parts of the book; it might be taken to signify that English spelling had not yet crystallized.

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"This bizarre spelling was considered by some in those days, it s said, to be " smart."

One stumbles in reading a word like "rise " for rice, 'rere " for rare, " limmes " for limbs, " todes " for toads, and o a botanist " cinckfoile " seems indeed odd. The obsolete vords look strange; "eftsoons " for soon is one. "Gisar of 'oule," while rather foreign in looks, becomes, after a little study, " gizzard of fowl." We meet with many words which ook as though one ought to use them now; " misorder " in the following is one: " Wherefor it is better to preserve health by sobriety and temperance, than by surfit and misorder." " Dis- commodities " for inconveniences and " dispraised " for dis- countenanced are two other examples. The modern verb " let " and its parts sound queer when used as a synonym for " hin- der." Frequently one finds, in a single sentence, obsolete and living words of to-day, the latter however in a strange sense. Thus, in speaking of butter he writes: "Wherefore it is good for such as be commonly costive; and this experience I have of it, that some . . .. which eat no bread but manchet, by the eating of browne bread and butter in the morning fasting, (which is a Country mans breakfast), have beene made as soluable as if they had taken some purgation."

Vinegar made from ale is "aliger," while cider made from pears is "piery." " Oppilation " for constipation warns us that we would have to learn a new vocabulary if we were to converse with, and understand, our sixteenth-century confrère, on the value of cheese as a food.

We all know, through our reading along the lines of eth- hology, that many living barbarous people consider the entrails of animals a great delicacy ; the North American Indian has been described many times as eating the still warm small in- estine of a freshly killed buffalo, deer, or steer, devouring it aw by the yard, as it were, deftly milking out its contents as a nere incident in the swallowing of the tid-bit. Coghan gives hint of the survival in England, at least in a modified form, f a similar habit, when he discusses the uses of the inwards f beasts as food, calling the small intestine " chitterlings."

With us to-day there still remains some trace of this custom, or we still eat sausage, do we not?

The most interesting parts of his strange vocabulary are le words which seem surface indications of the distinct, but en coalescing, linguistic streams, the Anglo-Saxon and the Forman, which have since flowed down the channel of time, verging as the English of to-day. Such indications are, for cample, " milt " for spleen, " reines " or "reynes " for kid- eys; "mo" and " moe " for more are true middle English ords which make us think of the negro pronunciation of more. he possessive is formed in three ways, " Noah, his floud," oah's floud," and the "floud of Noah." While we have elved very briefly into this fascinating side issue, even this ttle takes us back to the plastic and formative period of our ngue, making us realize anew that the way has been long to is our day of condensed, yet amplified and exact, English. L addition to these indications of age, there are the words

providence of God, and the travaile of men, there is found further in the West, as it were a new world, a goodly coun- trey named America, or new India, for largeness, plenty, wholesome and temperate ayer, comparable with Affrike, Europe or Asia."

This old volume gives many examples which go to prove anew the truth that "history repeats itself "; the following quotation, with a little alteration, might well be taken for the warning recently ascribed to one of our captains of finance :

And what commodity a good warraine of Conies bringeth to- ward the keeping of a good house, men of honour and worship that love hospitality doe well know. Which vertue being accept- able to God, and a singular benefit of all the country round about them (the more it is to bee lamented) is every day more and more neglected in England. The chiefe cause thereof (as wise men think) is wastefull and sumptuous apparell, now commonly used in every degree farre otherwise than William Rufus did, who being a kings sonne and the second king of this land after the conquest, was thought to exceed, when he bestowed a marke upon a paire of hose, using commonly to bestow but three shil- lings.

Likewise a loud complaint of this day had its counterpart three hundred years ago, a fact plainly seen when we read in the preface to the use of fish, remarks as follows: "This much of flesh. Now concerning fish which is no small part of our sustenance in this Realme of England. And that flesh might be more plentifull and better cheap, two days in the weeke, that is Friday and Saturday, are especially appointed to fish." We can join hands with our professional brother of three hundred years ago, and lament with him over the price of meat.

One can well believe that the drift of human conduct has not changed much in all these years, when one finds that Coghan waxes warm over those obstinate people who will not avoid infection, on the ground that one will have a disease sooner or later, and it might as well be first as last.

The book shows strikingly how deeply rooted in the past are some common customs of to-day, little things which are so trivial that no one thinks of them in any way but as things of the moment. We all know how often one is told to smell of bread if one tends to sneeze on smelling mustard. The same advice is in this book. And so is the advice to toast cheese before putting it in a trap, the better to entice rats.

The same vanities were then as now, for we find Dr. Coghan remarking on the custom of young girls drinking vinegar to make the complexion pale.

" Cummin seeds sodden in water, if the face be washed with the same, doe cause the face to be clearer and fairer," all of which shows that women, perhaps men too, had an eye to com- plexions, and were wont to consult a favorite physician on such important matters.

Familiar stories and jokes appear, even in this medical book; the drunkard's wish for a giraffe's throat bobs up, only it is a crane's gullet that is desired this time; and the ostrich story is at hand, but it is the mullet which hides its head when Coghan tells the tale.

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As one reads, one finds two particular vanities cropping out, one a national and one an ethnic; Coghan thought, as do many Englishmen to-day, that his country was superior to all others, and there are many expressions in his writings which, through him, exhibit the ethnic belief that man is of different clay from the brute.

Dr. Coghan's long experience as a teacher seems to have fixed in his mind many definite ideas concerning students ; they were not a very robust lot and were bothered more or less with weak digestions. He seems to think he knows why so many students fail to achieve success : "The excess of wine is the cause .... why few young men that bee students, come to profound knowledge and ripenesse in these days"; and to avoid such a harrowing possibility, the following advice is written : " But I advise all students, such as bee students nomine et re, because they have commonly feeble braines, if not by nature, yet through study, to refraine from strong wines, because they distemper the braine, and cause drunkennesse ere a man bee ware." Our worthy author may have been no novice in Bacchus, for he says that cold water hinders digestion because it " cooleth the stomach overmuch. .. . The like effect it hath .. when thirst happeneth after drinking of much wine." One might imagine this candid old practitioner comparing notes with Eugene Field when they met in the Beyond, for Field's verses on the Clink of the Ice in the Pitcher would surely appeal to him. " Katzenjammer " was evidently not an unheard-of thing in Coghan's days.

The book has running through it a vein of piety, which, it seems to me, is quite genuine; notwithstanding this attitude towards things religious, our author does not hesitate to pay his respects to clergymen and priests, in a way which was per- haps not to their liking.

Because of good Wine, more than of any other drink, are en- genaered and multiplied subtile spirits, clean and pure. And this is the cause (saith hee) why the divines that imagine and study upon high and subtile matters, love to drink good wine.

Assuming that there was no other information available, would this old tome help to throw light on the natural history of England as it was in those days? Indeed it would; it tells us that the wild ox (the present Chillingham Park cattle) and the wild boar still roamed in England; in fact, we can assume that both were common enough to be considered as possible sources of food; we should also learn that deer, hare and rabbits were frequently used as food, though it might bother us a bit to determine what a " conie " was, did not the author use the word synonymously with rabbit. We should learn, too, that paleolithic man's habit of breaking the long bones to extract the marrow had survived to Coghan's time, since we find him writing of the uses of bone marrow as food ; by the same page we learn that he did not wholly differentiate between the long bone marrow and the spinal cord, for he says that the "marrow that cometh downe the backe bone is of like nature to the braine."

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Twentieth Century History of Findlay and Hancock County, Ohio, and Representative Citizens, Part 142

Author: Jacob Anthony Kimmell Publication date: 1910 Publisher: Number of Pages: 1189

Author: Jacob Anthony Kimmell
Publication date: 1910
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 1189