USA > Pennsylvania > Encyclopedia of genealogy and biography of the state of Pennsylvania with a compendium of history. A record of the achievements of her people in the making of a commonwealth and the founding of a nation, Volume I > Part 21
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to come hither yourself, you may come as a Planter, or a Merchant. but as a Doctor of Medicine I cannot advise you. for i hear of no dis- cases but some Agues, and catted legs and fingers, and there is no want of empirics for these already." And another. Gabriel Thomas, a man of standing, of positive ideas and strong individuality. declaimed against the infant medical profession in the following: "Of lawyers and phy- sicians I shall say nothing, because this country is now Peaceable and Healty ; long may it so continue and never have occasion for the tongue of the one, nor the Pen of the other, both equally destructive to Men's Estates and Sins : besides, forsooth. they, Hangman like, have a License to Murder and make Mischief."
The medical men who came with the early colonists were, out of the necessities of the case. obliged to engage in other than their profes- sional occupation, and, being men of education, the greater number of them took part in public affairs. Lloyd became deputy governor, presi- dent of the council. and keeper of the great seal of the province. Wynne was president of the first assembly, and was ever active in the affairs of the province. Owen became a member of the assembly, deputy master of the rolls, and commissioner of property. Physicians who came later devoted their energies more particularly to their profession and less to politics. In 1711 Dr. John Kearsley came into prominence at a time when Franklin was "mounting to the zenith of his influence and fame." Kearsley may not have been the founder of the first medical school in Philadelphia, but he was a pioneer in professional instruc- tional work, and he graduated to the profession from among his pupils some of the most accomplished practitioners of the early years of the eighteenth century. "Of his pupils he exacted services beyond those which belonged specifically to their medical studies, for they were re- quired to compound his medicines and go his errands, and do for him
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other menial services, emerging from his hard school with a rare fitness for their work."
Perhaps the most brilliant practitioner and teacher of his day was Dr. Cadwallader Colden. He was a native of Scotland, the son of an eminent clergyman, and was educated at the University of Edinburgh. He came to America in 1708, when twenty years of age, locating in Philadelphia: where he built up a large practice. In 1717 he began a series of "physical lectures," his purpose being to instruct young men ili the science of medicine, and he made an ineffectual attempt to pro- cure a legislative appropriation to aid him in his efforts. In the follow- ing year he removed to New York, which became the scene of his most active and useful effort. He was one of the earliest authors on certain contagious diseases and sanitation, anticipating much of what has been written in comparatively recent years in ascribing epidemic diseases, in large measure, to unsanitary conditions. Ilis worth as an investigator in scientific channels is evidenced by his correspondence with Benjamin Franklin, the Swedish naturalist Linnaeus, and the German philologist and antiquarian Gionovius. He was the first in America to give methi- odical attention to native botany, and he collected nearly four hundred plant specimens which were catalogued by Linnaeus in his "AActa Up- saliensia." Colden would undoubtedly have risen to even higher emi- nence in the medical career and other sciences had he not given his attention to politics. He was the first surveyor general of New York, and from 1761 to 1775 he was lieutenant governor of the province.
Dr. Thomas Cadwalader, a native of Philadelphia, began public medical teaching. with dissections and demonstrations in anatomy, about 1730, when he was twenty-three years old. This school was the first teaching institution of its kind in Pennsylvania, and is said to have been established for the especial instruction of Dr. William Shippen
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and others. In 1731. during the smallpox epidemic. Cadwalader, with Drs. Kearsley, Zachary, the elder Shippen. Somers and Boy, practiced moculation, and this innovation was also, favored by Dr. Graeme, one of the most noted practitioners of the day, who was, however, ill during the continuance of the scourge, and unable to take a part in combatting it.
From this time on, the advancements in medical instruction were anded through various instructional movements in other than professional! teaching channels. In 1749 was founded the Academy of Philadelphia. primarily through the effort of Benjamin Franklin, and at the sugges tion of Dr. Phineas Bond, and which finally developed into the Univer- sity of Pennsylvania, that splendid institution which has given a host of ornaments to medicine, to the law, to the arts and sciences, and to other useful pursuits. The Academy was followed. in 1751. by the Pennsylvania Hospital, which came into existence through the same agencies. Going outside of the chronological order, it is to be said that in 1786 was founded the Philadelphia Dispensary, the pioneer in- stitution of its kind, in the U'ited States.
MEDICAL SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA.
In 1702 were laid the foundations of what came to be the Medical School of the University of Pennsylvania. In that year Dr. William Shippen, Jr., returned from England, whither he had gone to complete his medical studies, and began a course of anatomical lectures at his father's house, having for his equipment a number of anatomical draw- mg's and plaster casts which he had brought from London. Dr. Shippen taught alone until 1765, when Dr. John Morgan came. May 3. the trustees of the College ( Academy of Philadelphia ) elected Dr. Morgan "Professor of the Theory and Practice of Physic," who thus became
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the first medical professor in an American institution of learning. Three weeks later Dr. Morgan delivered his inaugural address on "The In- stitution of Medical Schools in America." and which he had written while he was yet in Paris. For a time Dr. Shippen seems to have been perturbed on account of the distinction conferred upon Morgan, while he himself had been the original projector of the school, but, some months later, he addressed the College trustees in approval of their action, and asking a faculty appointment. He was accordingly made Professor of Anatomy and Surgery.
The lecture courses were begun in November, 1765. On June 21. 1768, was held the first medical Commencement, and the degree of Bachelor of Medicine was conferred upon John Archer, Benjamin Cowell. Samuel Duffield. Jonathan Potts, Jonathan Elmer, Humphrey Fullerton. David Jackson, John Lawrence. James Tilton and Nicholas Way. In 1771 the full degree of Doctor of Medicine was conferred, some of the graduates being those who had received the Bachelor's degree in 1768. The priority of medical degrees has long been a vexed question between the medical school of the University of Pennsylvania and that of Columbia University, New York. There would appear to be no reason for antagonizing the claim of the former as to the conferring of the Bachelor's degree, inasmuch as, according to its own records. the New York school did not confer the degree until May 16. 1769. . As to the Doctorate degree, the New York school claims its first conferring. May 15. 1770, upon Robert Tucker.
111 1779 the Medical Faculty comprised Drs. Shippen, Kulm. and Rush, and to their number were added Dr. Casper Wistar. Dr. Samuel Griffith and Dr. Benjamin S. Barton. In this year the Bachelor's de- gree was abandoned. This was done for the reason that some who had. taken it had at once engaged in practice, styling themselves "Doctors."
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and failing to return to the school to complete their studies and take their full degree. The requisites for the full degree were now laid down : the candidate must be of legal age, should pass at least two years in college, attending all its principal courses of lectures, and, after passing examination, write and prim a thesis. In 1805 the Medical College made an unsuccessful appeal to the legislature for a building for its pur- poses. Notwithstanding the disadvantages under which it labored. it . urpassed the college proper in numbers and in reputation. By 1807 the medical students numbered two hundred and seventy. The average annual minber of medical graduates for the first half century was more than one hundred, and in some years prior to 1852 it was as high as one hundred and sixty. The early instruction was in large degree given in the Pennsylvania Hospital and afterwards also in the Alms House. which latter (in 1807) fitted up a room for instructional purposes. In 1810 a course in Pharmacy was established on motion of the Medical Faculty, and in 1825 degrees were conferred. In 1841 the first dispen- sary clinic was held. by Drs. Gerhard and Johnson.
In 1874 the Medical School took up its home in West Philadelphia. In 1877 the course was extended to three years, and the term to six and one-half months. In 1883 a voluntary fourth year was added to the course, but few students gave this innovation the sanction of their at- tendance. In 1893 a four years' course was made compulsory, and' the term was extended to eight months, as in the other departments of the University of Pennsylvania. The advantages of the Medical School had now been immeasurably increased. The University Hospital was greatly extended through the benefactions of the widow of Dr. D. Hayes Agnew, and a legislative appropriation of $80.000. Other adjuncts were the Pepper Laboratory of Clinical Medicine. a memorial to Dr. William Pepper: the Gibson Wing for Chronic Diseases; a Nurses' Home, the
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gift of the family of Juliana Wood: aund a Maternity Hospital, built and equipped out of funds procured by Professor Barton C. Hirst. In all. the Hospital property now represented a value of nearly if not quite one and a half million dollars.
During this period. the Faculty changes were numerous. Con- spicuous among the Professors and instructors were Drs. J. W. White. Charles 11. Mills. John Marshall. Wharton, Deaver. Reichart, Piersol. Duhring. Guiteras, Griffith. Musser, Penrose and Davis. Among those who closed periods of much usefulness were William Osler, Samuel Dixon. John S. Billings, the last named of whom was particularly service- able in the organization and conduct of the Hygienic Laboratory and the Hospital. In 1884 Dr. Alfred Stille resigned and became Professor Emeritus: Drs. Penrose and Hayes resigned in 1888. and Robert M. Smith and William Goodell in 1893. Dr. Joseph Leidy. Professor of Anatomy. a man of most brilliant attainments, died in 1891, and Dr. AAgnew. Professor Emeritus, died a year later.
The present instructional staff of the Medical School numbers 103. with 472 students. At the Commencement of 1902, 151 students re- ceived the degree of Doctor of Medicine. It will not be gainsayed that the prophetic utterance of Dr. John Morgan, who filled the first medical professorship created in America, in his opening "Discourse upon the Institution of Medical Schools in America." delivered in the College of Philadelphia, in 1765. has found complete fulfillment :
"Perhaps this medical institution, the first of its kind in America. though small in its beginning, may receive a constant increase of strength. and annually exert new vigor. It may collect a mimber of young per- sons, of more than ordinary abilities, and so improve their knowledge as to spread its reputation to distant parts. By sending these abroad duly qualified, or by exciting an emulation amongst men of parts and
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mature. It may give bitte to other useful institutions of a similar ferent kinds, calculated to spread the light of knowledge through the whole American continent, wherever inhabited."
OTHER EARLY MEDICAL SCHOOLS.
Following the close of the Revolutionary War, the custom fil- Javed by some of the older practitioners of giving to their office pupils instruction m anatomy and physiology, with occasional demonstrations in dissection, led in the opening of several private medical schools, some of which were of real usefulness, and all of which tended to increase interest in medical education, and ultimately led to the founding of a scound medical college. Among the private medical school pioneers was Dr. Nathaniel Chapman, who began his work (in 1817) after a more comprehensive fashion than had formerly prevailed. With him was as- sociated Dr. Horner, and out of this beginning came into existence the Medical Institute, which ten years later "reached the condition of a popular and systematic course of instruction" extending over nearly the whole year, and attended by upwards of one hundred students. In 1818 Dr. Joseph Parrish opened a school which soon numbered more than thirty students, and with this encouragement he called to his aid Dr. George B. Wood, and other instructors at a later time. In 1830 this school had developed into the Philadelphia Association for Medical Instruction, with a faculty comprising Des. Parrish. Wood. Morton. Barton and Bache, and still later were added Randolph, Gerhard. Pan- coast and Rush. This school flourished until 1836, when it began to decline. Its founder died in 1840. Between 1818 and 1820 Dr. William Gilson opened the School of Medicine. He was a capable practitioner. and a lecturer of more than ordinary capacity, flis assistants were
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Drs. Jacob Randolph, Benjamin II. Coates. Rene La Roche, John Hop- kinson and Charles D. Meigs. All were men of standing in their pro- fession, and Dr. Meigs was afterward prominent in the Jefferson Medical College, one of that "Faculty of 1841" which widely extended the fame of that institution. The School of Medicine enjoyed a successful career for several years, but finally closed its doors. In 1820 Dr. Jason V. Lawrence opened an institution which he called the Philadelphia Anato- mical Rooms. Ile was an originator of new ideas in professional work, and a scholarly lecturer. In 1822 he became a lecturer on Anatomy and Surgery in the University, and from that time his school became a summer school to continue during the vacation (April to November ) of the larger institution. He died in 1823, when Dr. John D. Goodman assumed its, control, and conducted it with great success. In 1826 Dr. Goodman removed to New York, and was succeeded by Dr. James Web- ster, who conducted the school for four years, and then left it to take a chair in another institution. Dr. Pancoast was his successor, and main- tained the school until 1839, when he joined the faculty of the Jefferson Medical College. In 1838, Dr. James McClintock opened the Philadel- phia School of Anatomy, on the plan outlined by Lawrence, Whose school he ultimately absorbed. The union was accomplished in 1841, and the School of Anatomy was recognized as notably useful until 1875. being in all respects a worthy institution, and frequently referred to as "a famous training ground for professional chairs" in the larger medical schools. For many years its history ran in parallel lines with that of the Jefferson Medical College, which undoubtedly profited by its existence, although the two were in no sense allies. Its teachers were among the most capable in the city -- Drs. William R. Grant, D. Hayes Agnew, James .A. Garretson, James P. Andrews. R. S. Sutton, W. W. Keen, and others of like attainments.
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JEFFERSON MEDICAL COLLEGE.
For the sake of continuity, one noteworthy school has been left out of its chronological order. In 1821 Dr. George Mcclellan fitted up a lecture room in connection with his office, and therein laid the foundations for the Jefferson Medical College. He was only twenty- four years of age, but he had been a diligent and ambitious student under the preceptorship of such eminent physicians as Dorsey and Physick, and had come to be an accomplished practitioner. both in medicine and surgery, and excelling in the latter department. His recognized high ability and winning personality soon brought to him more students than he could serve, and it became necessary for him to call in assistant instructors. Before him, successful private teachers had endeavored to secure an act of incorporation to enable them to establish a medical school which should come to a like dignity and prestige with that of the University, but the greater institution had stoutly antagonized such efforts and with entire success. Seven years after the last abortive effort (that of Dr. W. P. C. Barton ), Dr. Mcclellan enlisted agencies through which he achieved success. \ Scotch Presbyterian himself. he applied to Jefferson College, at Canonsburg. an institution under the control of his sect. proposing the founding of a medical school in con- nection therewith, with the result that ( in 1824) the trustees of Jefferson College established a medical faculty in the city of Philadelphia, under the name of Jefferson Medical College, the Professors being: Joseph Klapp. Theory and Practice: John Eberle, Obstetrics; Jacob Green. Chemistry: George MeClellan. Surgery and Anatomy; B. Rush Rhees, Materia Medica. Of this first faculty Dr. Henry says : "Drs. Mcclellan, Eberle, Rhees and Green were the force that upheld the institution during its critical period of beginning." and, it may be added. they struggled
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nobly against many and serious embarrassments until the College be- came established upon a reasonably firm basis. In some respects the first faculty was a remarkable body of men. Eberle was the author of two works. "Materia Medica" and "Practice of Medicine," which made for him reputation abroad as well as at home; the former was translated in Germany, and seenred for Eberle a membership in the Medical Society of Berlin. Rhees, who graduated under Dr. James Rush, was a man of varied accomplishments, and a careful and conscientious teacher. Green outserved all his colleagues in the Faculty. He had a broad knowledge of the natural sciences, to which he devoted himself in preference to medicine, for which he conceived a dislike after witnessing a painful operation. McClellan was a born surgeon. Dr. Gross said of him: "I never met one who was his superior in dexterity and rapidity of execution, and only two or three who were his equals." In 1824 Mc- Clellan assisted Dr. Eberle in founding the "Philadelphia Medical Re- view and Analytical Journal," to which he contributed articles upon some of his more interesting cases and operations. His best written paper was a review of Larrey's "Surgical Memoirs," which attracted mich attention. After his retirement from public teaching he com- posed a work on surgery, ultimately issued in one volume, the last pages of which were passing through the press when he was seized with the illness from which he died, in 1847. One of the darling objects of his early life, after he had founded the Jefferson Medical College, was the publication of a "Treatise on Anatomy," in conjunction with his brother, Dr. Samuel MeClellan, but the only portion of the work that was ever written was the preface.
The first regular meeting of the Medical Faculty was held in Phila- delphia. December 24, 1824, and the Medical College was opened in the Tivoli Theatre building (now No. 518 Locust street ). March 8. 1825.
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Provision was made for the reception of indigent patients who were to be supplied with medicine gratuitously, and on May o a patient was received into the hospital department, and was operated upon by Dr. Mcclellan. On the 10th, the day of formal opening, six patients were prescribed for, and this was the beginning of the history of the Jefferson Medica! College Hospital, now one of the most complete institutions of its char- atter in the United States. On the last Thursday in October the Medical ( Hege was formally opened, with a matriculate list of one hundred and nine, representing fourteen States and two foreign countries.
Vin arose a disturbing question-had the faculty of Jefferson College of Canonsburg, which was a literary educational institution, the right to grant diplomas ta and confer degrees in medicine upon the graduates of Jefferson Medical College? The legislature was appealed to, and on April 26, 1826, an act was passed which enlarged the board of trustees by the addition of twelve members in Philadelphia to superin- tend the Medical Department, and authorizing the conferring of medical degrees, and on April 1. twenty candidates, the first class graduated. having passed the necessary examinations. received their diplomas.
·In 1828 it was determined to procure more commodious quarters for the Medical College, the expense not to exceed $20,000, and the funds to be procured by stock subscriptions, and the Rev. Ezra Styles Ely. D. D. was engaged to carry the intention into effect. Dr. Ely moved with great promptness and ability. He purchased a lot on Tenth street, be- tween what are now known as Sansom and Moravian streets, whereon he erected a building which was occupied in the fall of the same year.
In the spring of 1838 an act of the legislature was procured which provided that "the Medical Department of Jefferson College be and here- by is created a separate and independent bendy corporate, as The Jefferson Medical College of l'inladelphia with the same powers and restrictions as
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the University of Pennsylvania." The College was non finally estab- lished upon the basis originally contemplated by its founders. Mcclellan, the founder, was yet a member of the Faculty, as was his original associ- ate, Professor Green. The others-Eberle, Rhces and Klapp-had re- tired. For MeClellan the victory was complete, and the goal of his am- bition had been reached. But he was now struggling to retain a con- trolling influence in the affairs of the institution which he, almost alone. had brought into being and reared to a healthful existence, sustaining it for years wth his arduous laber and unfaltering enthusiasm and hope. He still remained a power, but his influence was declining under the rapid progress now making in the medical world, and in two years he was set aside to give place to fresh blood.
Under the new charter, the trustees of Jefferson Medical College in- creased their number to fifteen, and provided for enlarging and remodel- ing the college building. Now came a period of disturbance, which cul- minated ( in June, 1839). in an assertion of authority upon the part of the trustees, who dissolved the Faculty. A majority of the old Professors were reappointed, but Dr. George Mcclellan was ignored. Unquestion- ably one of the most accomplished surgeons in the United States, he had no superior as an instructor and clinician, and in his setting aside the col- lege lost a famous teacher and a devoted friend. But the very qualities which were essential to the achievement of his great purpose-the found ing of the college -- were those which destroyed him now that the insti- tution was firmly established. He was strongly self-assertive and deter- mined ; when opposed, he was disposed to be arbitrary, even obstinate ; and, withal, he had infirmities of temper. And so, the dissensions which had arisen between himself and others of the Faculty were irreconcilable. and among those whom he antagonized most strenuously was the re nowned Dr. Rebley Dunglison, who came to lead in the crusade against
·
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him. Dr. Mcclellan was succeeded in his chair by Dr. Joseph Pancoast. whose associates upon the new Faculty were John Revere. Theory and Practice: Granville S. Pattison. Anatomy : Samuel Mcclellan. Midwif- ery : Rolley Dunglison. Institutes of Medicine and Medical Jurispru- dence: Robert M. Houston. Materia Medica; and Jacob Green. Chem- istry.
Notwithstanding the undoubted strength of the new Faculty and the individual popularity of its members. Mcclellan still had a strong fol- lowing. He immediately conceived the purpose of forming another med- ical school, and he procured a charter for what was known as the Medical Department of Pennsylvania College at Gettysburg. This was opened in November. 1839. with nearly one hundred students, under the follow- ing faculty: Dr. Samuel G. Morton, Physiology and Anatomy: Dr. George Mcclellan. Principles and Practice of Surgery: Dr. Calhoun. Materia Medica and Pharmacy: Dr. Samuel MeClellan, Obstetrics: Dr. William Rush. Theory and Practice of Physic : Dr. Walter R. Johnson. Chemistry. Meantime, the 1830-40 session of Jefferson Medical College was poorly attended, and the graduating class fell off nearly forty per cent. below the class of the preceding year, and sixty per cent. lower than that of 1836.
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