History of Berks county in Pennsylvania, Part 107

Author: Montgomery, Morton L. (Morton Luther), b. 1846
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: Philadelphia : Everts, Peck & Richards
Number of Pages: 1418

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The society began to write to medical prac- titioners at a distance to lecture upon special topics by resolution passed September 7, 1880, aud Dr. E. H. Coover, of Harrisburg, delivered

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the first lecture upon the subject of "Spinal Curvature."

The society changed its place of meeting, by resolution passed March 8, 1881, from Dr. Brooke's office, where the members met for a period of ten years, to the Reading Library Building, at Fifth and Franklin Streets. At this meeting Dr. Atkinson, of Philadelphia, lectured before a number of physicians and invited guests upon the subject of " Scarlatina."

Amendments to the by-laws were added during the year 1882, pertaining chiefly to the requirements affecting office students, and the society also condemned the practice of copy- righting common pharmaceutical preparations by registering them as trade-marks.

The following important resolution was sub- mitted by Dr. Coblentz at the meeting held November 12, 1883, and unanimously passed :

" Resolved, That we earnestly request our Repre- sentative in Congress to use his best endeavors to aid in procuring an adequate appropriation for the erec- tion of a suitable building in Washington, D. C., in which the National Medical Library and the National Medical and Surgical Museum can be advantageously arranged and displayed for reference and examination; and that a copy of this resolution, with the compli- ments of this Society, be transmitted to Mr. Ermen- trout."

The officers elected to serve for the year 1884 were Dr. W. G. Beyerle, president, and Dr. C. W. Bachman, secretary ; and in the month of May, Professor Roberts Bartholow, of Phila- delphia, lectured before an audience of over one hundred and ten physicians from different parts of the county, in Young Men's Christian Association Hall, under the auspices of the County Medical Society. The delegates to the State Medical Society, which convened in Philadelphia in 1884, consisting of Drs. Bach- man, Cleaver, Hertzog, Hunsberger, Lee, Schulze, Sterley and Weidman, were instructed to vote affirmatively upon the resolution of the Philadelphia County Society favoring the crea- tion of a State Board of Health.

The society, at one of its meetings this year, also discussed the subject of poisons, the sale of which was engaging the popular mind at this time, resulting in the following motion :

" Resolved, That a committee of three be appointed

to examine into the law governing the sale of pois- ons, and that the committee meet with the Druggists' Association, of this city, for the purpose of consider- ing such action as may prevent or restrict an indis- criminate sale of the same."

The officers elected for the year 1886 are as follows : J. M. Myers, of Wernersville, presi- dent; Israel Cleaver, of Reading, first vice- president ; W. E. Hunsberger, of Maiden- creek, second vice-president ; C. W. Bachman, of Reading, recording secretary ; Howard S. Rieser, corresponding secretary ; J. B. Brooke, J. Y. Shearer and R. B.º Shulze, censors ; W. F. Muhlenberg, J. E. Kurtz and I. Cleaver, medical examiners, and W. Murray Weidman, curator.

The following is a list of the members of the society for the year 1886 :

John A. Brobst, Bernville; W. George Beyerle, Bernville; L. H. Francis, Boyertown ; James A. Hoffman, Centreport ; J. S. Trexler, Kutztown; Ed. Brobst, Leesport ; J. K. Seaman, Lenhartsville; D. H. Hain, Lower Bern ; Wm. E. Hunsburger, Maiden- creek ; W. B. Shaner, Mohrsville; J. B. Rupp, Mull- town; W. D. De Long, Pikeville; Charles Weber, Pricetown; George H. Bickle, Rehrersburg ; James Y. Shearer, Sinking Spring; James M. Matthews, Temple; M. L. Fritch, Virginsville; James M. Myers, Wernersville.

The other members reside in the city of Reading; their names are as follows :

C. W. Bachman, John M. Becker, J. B. Brooke, Israel Cleaver, A. B. Dundor, Frank H. Good, J. S. Hinnershotz, J. W. Keiser, Samuel L. Kurtz, J. Ellis Kurtz, B. R. Lee, C. G. Loose, Martin Luther, W. F. Muhlenberg, H. M. Nagle, A. S. Raudenbush, H. S. Rieser, M. A. Rhoads, R. B. Schulze, J. B. Sterley, W. Murray Weidman,

THE PATHOLOGICAL SOCIETY .- This so- ciety, from whose membership is furnished the medical staff of St. Joseph's Hospital, was or- ganized May 10, 1871. Dr. D. L. Beaver was chosen first president ; B. F. Bunn and Martin Luther, vice-presidents ; M. Albert Rhoads, secretary and treasurer, The society, since its organization, has held its monthly meetings in the offices of different members. The officers for the year 1886 are as follows : M. A. Rhoads, president ; S. C. Ermentrout and H. Landis, vice-presidents; James W. Keiser, secretary and treasurer. The membership of the society is

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HISTORY OF BERKS COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

limited to a certain number. Some of the orig- inal members and those of a later date are Mar- tin Lnther, D. L. Beaver, E. R. Scholl, S. P. Heckman, M. A. Rhoads, H. Landis, John G. Kalbach, J. N. Stephens, H. M. Nagle, D. He- ber Plank, B. D. Bunn, D. Breidenbaugh, T. A. Dunkel, J. M. Hoffman, Frank Rieser, A. J. Cressman, James W. Keiser, M. Wuelfingh, Frank H. Good, M. L. Weiger and C. G. Loose. The medical staff of St. Joseph's Hos- pital for the year 1886 is composed of the fol- iowing-named physicians of this society : Mar- tin Luther, D. L. Beaver, Henry Landis, H. M. Nagle, S. C. Ermentrout, M. Wuelfingh, A. J. Cressman, James W. Keiser and Frank H. Good.

THE READING MEDICAL ASSOCIATION .- On the evening of May 27, 1850, Drs. William Gries, John P. Heister, D. L. Beaver, C. H. Hunter, L. L. Stewart and Edward Wallace met at the office of Dr. Hunter and organized "The Reading Medical Association," adopt- ing a constitution and by-laws, electing to mem- bership Dr. Peter F. Nagle and choosing officers as follows: President, Dr. William M. Gries ; Vice-President, Dr. John. P. Hiester ; Record- ing Secretary, Dr. Edward Wallace ; Correspond- ing Secretary, Dr. L. L. Stewart ; Treasurer, Dr. Charles H. Hunter.

Of the gentlemen who thus projected this or- ganization, Dr. Beaver alone survives.

The usual purpose of such organizations, viz., the fostering of professional intercourse and consequent increase of knowledge, the preserv- ing of a code of medical ethics and the conserv- ing of everything of interest and benefit to the profession in the city of Reading, is expressed in the preamble to their constitution. For reasons not on record, there appears to have been no meetings from 1854 to September 12, 1859, when a move for reorganization was made and effected at the next meeting, held October 12, 1859. Again, for unrecorded reasons, a hiatus in events occurs. The last minute of this second organization bears date of January 24, 1860.

On July 30, 1867, a preliminary meeting was held, a third organization effected, a new con- stitution and by-laws adopted and on August

14th, the officers elected were: President, Dr. Peter F. Nagle; Vice-President, Dr. Charles Hunter ; Secretary, Dr. W. Murray Weidman ; Treasurer, Dr. Martin Luther ; Censors, Drs. Wallace, Brooke and Beaver. From that time to the date of this writing (January, 1886,) the association has had no more attacks of no quorum catalepsy.

The present members are as follows : Presi- dent, Dr. Israel Cleaver ; Vice-President, J. B. Sterley ; Secretary, R. B. Schulze ; Treasurer, S. L. Kurtz; Curator, W. Murray Weidman ; Censors, Drs. Schulze, Brooke and Raudenbush, also Drs. Bachman, Dundor, J. E. Kurtz, Loose, Muhlenberg and Reeser.

At all the meetings, business usual to medical societies was transacted, and made the occasion of much pleasure and profit. But in addition there was an interest, having this association as its mainspring of action, that caused its mem- bers many misgivings, demanded personal sacrifice and here and there provoked antago- nisms, and which interest, while wrapped up in the transactions of the association, requires sepa- rate treatment for its consecutive presentation. Besides, it is the great work of the association in its past, and not likely to be overshadowed by anything it may accomplish in the future.

At the meeting of November 11, 1867, it appears there was read a communication from the Berks County Medical Society, embracing a proposition of establishing a hospital in the city of Reading. A committee, consisting of Drs. Brooke, Beaver and Luther, was appointed to consider the subject and report at next meeting. This led to the choosing of sixteen gentlemen representing the various business interests of the city, who should be asked to serve as a board of managers for the proposed hospital. These gentlemen, acting in conjunction with the Medical Association, agreed to institute a dispen- sary service in a small rented building, in which should also be placed a few beds for the reception of in-door patients, the medical staff to be chosen from the Reading Medical Associa- tion. The Association submitted a draft of rules and regulations for the government of the dispensary, to which the managers agreed, and which formed substantially the articles of the

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charter of incorporation, a prerequisite to which was also the incorporating of the Medical Asso- ciation. January the 28th, 1868, was fixed as the day for opening the building for hospital and dispensary service. From this time for- ward the records of the Medical Association, saving what relates solely to medical topics, read like those of a board of managers of a hos- pital. And such they really were of necessity, because of the difficulty of regularly convening the board of managers, many of whom business withheld from due attention to this work.

Illustrative of how much this enterprise was dependent upon the Medical Association, a few facts are cited. At first the board of managers was composed entirely of gentlemen from the laity. Gradually so difficult did it become to convene a quorum of that body that in April, 1872, seven resigned and their places were sup- plied by seven others chosen from the association. Just previous to this time the financial distress of the hospital service was so great that the necessity for its closure became imminent. At this juncture the following resolution was unanimously adopted at the meeting of March, 1872, viz .: " That the members of this associ- ation will hold themselves individually and col- lectively responsible for the debts of the Read- ing Dispensary for three months from April 1, next."

Notwithstanding this burden, when the Sisters having charge of a charity, corner of Ninth and Walnut Streets, asked by note, May, 1872, the professional aid of the association, it was promptly tendered. In 1873 the association was approached, relative to taking charge of St. Joseph's Hospital, just organized. The answer given was substantially that, as a body, they could not formally accept such duty, but as in- dividuals they would cheerfully serve. This answer appears to have failed reaching Rev. Father Borneman in due time, by reason of which other physicians were selected.

In 1876 the financial support from the com- munity became so low that the hospital work was suspended and dispensary and out-door ser- vice only prosecuted.

The minutes of the association show that this step was previously determined upon in

that body, as a temporary expedient, until with improved financial status, a hospital building could be erected on the grounds already secured, a purpose which was never abandoned.

Comment upou all this is unnecessary, except that its prompting lay in that spirit of all hon- orable physicians by which they habitually ad- minister to the indigent sick.

Is it not safe to say that but for the Reading Medical Association, the Reading Hospital, at this writing almost completed, would have no existence ? Nay, more, is it not probable that this faithfulness to a cause was provocative to the other benevolent enterprises that subse- quently sprung into existence in this city ?

(The history of this association was very kindly furnished by Dr. Israel C. Cleaver.)

HOMEOPATHY.

The founder of homoeopathy, Samuel Hah- nemann, was born April 10, 1755, at Meissen, in Cur-Saxony, one of the regions in Germany. He passed several years at the Stadtschule, and at the age of sixteen began to attend the Fir- stenschule of Meissen, where he remained eight years. His parents were poor, but his inherent thirst for knowledge induced his instructors to give him the advantages of an education with- out paying the usual tuition fees. In 1775 he entered the University of Leipsig, where he raised enough money to spend two years in study, by giving lessons as a tntor and making translations into German. He took his degree of Doctor of Medicine at Erlangen August 10, 1779. He spent ten years in the practice of his profession at different places, and in 1789 returned to Leipsig, where he soon became fav- orably known for his knowledge of medicine, chemistry, mineralogy and the kindred sciences, and for many important discoveries which gave him widely-spread reputation. In pursuing his investigations he became dissatisfied with the state of medical science around him. He claimed that it was imperfect, and then began to elaborate a new system of medicine which he termed homœopathia, which is derived from the two Greek words, homoios (similar) and pathos (feeling or suffering). He tested the use of a number of drugs, convinced himself and ad-

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HISTORY OF BERKS COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

vanced it as a theory, that a remedy which would cure a certain disease would also pro- duce a disorder very similar to that disease in a healthy person, and that the converse was equally true,-i. e., that a drug which produced a certain disease in a healthy body would cure it in a sick one. He tested drug after drug on his own person, carefully noting the minntest ef- fects produced and comparing them with the symptoms of well-known diseases. He in- duced some of his friends to join him in these tests or provings, and, by mutually comparing notes, certain positive facts and a code were established. This was the origin of the famous axiom, similia similibus curantur. Many Ger- man physicians tested the principles of Hahne- mann, and afterwards advocated them. The founder of this new system of medicine, after he had attained the age of forty-five years, lived in complete self-abnegation and en- dangered his own physical constitution in test- ing the system he was promulgating. In the mean time he wrote ten volumes of the " Ma- teria Medica Pura," and effected some remark- able cures on persons of eminence in promul- gating the theory of minimum doses. His greatest work is entitled the " Organon of Ra- tional Medicine," which has always been, and doubtless will continue to be, a text-book of the homœopathic profession. In 1805 he published a little work on the " Positive Effects of Medi- cine." In 1831 be rendered efficient service during the time the cholera raged so violently in Eastern Europe. In 1836 he left Leipsig and resided for fifteen years with the Duke at Coëthen, perfecting his system by experiments and in the treatment of the sick of many fami- lies of the nobility.

During his residence at Coëthen, when, in his eightieth year, he married Mademoiselle D'Hervilly Gohier, a member of one of the prominent families of France. She had been cured by him of a dangerous malady. The marriage was somewhat romantic, inasmuch as she was forty-five years his junior. Soon after this event he and his wife removed to Paris, where he spent the remainder of his years, and died July 2, 1844, at the advanced age of eighty-nine years. He was of slender form

and diminutive stature. His head was large and his forehead well-proportioned. He was known by his cotemporaries as a man of fine intellect.

EARLY HISTORY OF HOMOEOPATHY IN BERKS COUNTY .- In the year 1838 homœop- athy was first made known to the people of Reading and Berks County by Dr. Adolph Lippe, who spent a year or two in practice here, being followed by Dr. Moore, who remained two years or longer and then removed to Philadel- phia. Dr. John H. Behne located at Reading in 1840, and remained until his death. Dr. Caspari practiced in the city also for a few months in 1843. In 1854 Dr. George R. Starkey began practicing in Reading, and suc- ceeded in establishing homeopathy among the English-speaking residents of the place. He left the city in the spring of 1857, and went to Philadelphia, where he became professor of surgery in the Hahnemann Homeopathic Col- lege of that city. He was followed in Reading by Dr. R. Sargent, who remained two years. Dr. B. R. Bratt, who was graduated from the Hahnemann College, at Philadelphia, in 1858, succeeded Dr. Sargent. He died January 31, 1872. Dr. E. H. Spooner, a graduate of Amherst College, Mass., two years a student of theology at Princeton, a soldier in the Union army from 1862 to 1865, and a graduate of the Homoeopathic College of New York, in the class of 1869, located in Reading the year of his grad- nation. He afterward moved to New York City. He has written several articles for the New England Medical Gazette. Dr. David L. Dreibelbis, born in 1842, was educated at the Union Semiuary, of New Berlin, Pa .; taught school for four years ; studied medicine with Dr. G. A. Detweiler and attended lectures in Philadel- phia and was graduated in 1865. He practiced in Reading until his death in 1872. Dr. S. L. Dreibelbis, a younger brother, and a graduate of the Hahnemann Medical College of Philadel- phia, class of 1871, took the practice of his brother.

Dr. John H. Helfrich, son of Rev. John Helfrich, who was one of the pioneers of homœopathy in this county, practiced for a number of years in Kutztown and then removed

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to Allentown. Dr. R. F. Krebs practiced from 1857 to 1874 in the borough of Hamburg, and then moved to Reading, where he continues in his profession. Dr. Frederick Isett and Joseph Hatzfield, former students of Dr. Krebs and both graduates of the Hahnemann College of Philadelphia, succeeded their preceptor at Ham- burg. Dr. L. R. Lentz is now practicing at Fleetwood. Dr. Robert May, a graduate in medicine from the Pennsylvania College, for a while practiced the allopathic system in this county. About 1840 he took up the study of homeopathy, and lectured upon it through Chester and Berks Counties. He lived near the dividing line of these counties, and attended the sick over a large territory in both. His widow, Elizabeth May, who studied medicine and practiced to some extent before her marriage, continued the practice of her husband, who died in 1865, and, notwithstanding violent opposition, she succeeded admirably in the profession.

The Berks and Schuylkill County Homœo- pathic Medical Society was founded by Drs. Charles Haesler, of Pottsville, B. R. Bratt, of Reading, and R. F. Krebs, of Hamburg, in 1870, at the office of the last-mentioned physi- cian. The membership increased, and regular meetings were held for a number of years, but it finally ceased to exist.

The names of the other physicians of the homeopathic school of a later date, to practice in this county, with the college from which they were graduated, will be found in list of regis- tered physicians in this chapter and in the biographies which follow this history.

THE HAHNEMANN MEDICAL SOCIETY .- The Hahnemann Medical Society of Reading was organized November 23, 1882, in the office of Dr. S. R. Rittenhouse, No. 38 South Fourth Street. The physicians who originally formed the society were F. R Schmucker, W. F. Marks, S. L. Dreibelbis, S. R. Rittenhouse, E. Z. Schmucker, J. G. Grosscup, Theodore Pach- ali and C. B. Jennings. The first officers were as follows : S. R. Rittenhouse, president ; F. R. Schmucker, vice-president ; C. B. Jennings, secretary ; S. L. Dreibelbis, treasurer ; E. Z. Schmucker, W. F. Marks and J. G. Grosscup, censors. Since the organization of this society

L. J. Knerr, W. A. Haman, D. C. Kline, J. S. Rittenhouse, R. F. Krebs and R. A. Shollenberger liave been admitted to membership. The so- ciety holds its meetings monthly at the office of Dr. J. S. Rittenhouse, for the purpose of dis- cussing topics pertaining to the profession and for general business. During the year 1886 Dr. Pachali was president and Dr. Jennings secretary.

BIOGRAPHIES OF HOMOEOPATHISTS.

ADOLPH LIPPE, one of the most celebrated homœopathists in this country, and who intro- duced the system in Berks County, was born in Germany May 11, 1812, and is the oldest son of the late Count Ludwig and Countess Au- gusta zur Lippe. He was graduated from one of the higher institutions of Berlin ; emigrated to the United States in 1839, and received the degree of Doctor of Medicine in 1841 from the Homoeopathic Medical Academy at Allen- town. He began the practice of medicine in Reading, where he remained two years and then moved to Carlisle, Pa., where he won distinc- tion as a practitioner, by means of which he was induced to locate in Philadelphia, and there gained great popularity. He filled the chair of Materia Medica in the Homoeopathic College of Pennsylvania from 1863 to 1868, and during that time translated valuable German, Italian and French homoeopathic essays and treatises that are now standard in English. He adopted homœopathy after a careful examination into its merits, believing it to be progressive, and, having devoted the best years of his life to its practice, he defended that school of medicine in its infancy, and nursed it through a crescent youth. He seems to have had the rare pleasure of witnessing the realization of his best hopes in observing his system of practice have a popular- ity, to which his own labors have contributed a full share. He is a resident of Philadelphia.

JOHN HENRY BEHNE was born in Nord- hausen, Prussia, in the year 1800, attended different universities of Germany, and was graduated in medicine at Wuertzberg, Bavaria. He came to America in 1840, and located in Reading the same year as an allopathic phy- sician. Soon after arriving here he formed an

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intimate acquaintance with Dr. Lippe, then residing in this city, who persuaded him to study and practice homeopathy. Dr. Behne was a gentleman of literary culture, of fine per- sonal appearance, easy and graceful in, his man- ners, and possessed many personal traits which soon won him numerous friends. He was be- loved by the Germans. He enjoyed a large and lucrative practice, and was the family physician of many of the wealthiest families of Reading. Many patients came to him from different parts of the State for medical treat- ment. He was, for many years, an active member and secretary of Germania Lodge, No. 53, I. O. O. F.

Dr. Behne was twice married. His first wife, whom he married in Europe, died in Reading soon after he located in the city. They had one child, Gustavus, an artist of fine ability, who is now in Munich, Germany. Many of his paintings adorn the homes of citizens of Reading.

Several years after the death of his first wife, Dr. Behne married Miss Zabel, of New York. After spending many years of usefulness in Reading, attending to the wants of the sick and taking an active interest in the prosperity of the city, he died August 1, 1876.

Few Germans who came to America were as deeply interested in the prosperity of their adopted country as Dr. Behne. Many people of Read- ing now living have a very tender recollection of his many virtues.

GEORGE R. STARKEY, one of the early homœopathists of Reading, was born in Vassal- boro', Maine, June 23, 1823, and spent the early years of his life on a farm. When he reached the age of fourteen a benevolent Quakeress interested herself in his behalf and had him admitted into the Friends' Boarding- School at Providence, Rhode Island. He there obtained a preparatory education and afterward engaged in teaching. He was graduated from Waterville College, Maine, in 1848, and from the Homoeopathic Medical College at Phila- delphia in 1855. Immediately after his gradua- tion in medicine he came to Reading, where he remained two years, having at the time of his removal to Philadelphia, in 1857, a large

number of prominent families on his visiting list. In June, 1860, Dr. Starkey was elected to the chair of anatomy in the Homeopathic Medical College, and the year following was called to the chair of surgery in the same insti- tution. This position he filled four years. In 1869 he retired from the medical institution and became deeply interested in the compound oxygen gas treatment, as a specialty for the cure of chronic disease, and thereafter re- linquished his general practice, meeting with success in administering this new agent. He is now in Philadelphia.

JOHN HELFRICH was a clergyman and also one of the first homoeopathic physicians of Lehigh County. Late in life he was graduated from the Homoeopathic Academy at Allentown, which was founded in 1835 and had a brief existence. For a number of years he practiced medicine at Kutztown. His son, J. Henry Helfrich, a graduate of the Pennsylvania Medical College in the class of 1846, practiced in Lehigh County until 1866, when he also moved to Kutztown, where he practiced homoeopathy for eleven years, and returned then to Allentown. Rev. John Helfrich, in 1849, published a work in German on homoeopathic veterinary practice. It was the first book of its kind published in America.

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History of Berks county in Pennsylvania, Part 107

Author: Montgomery, Morton L. (Morton Luther), b. 1846 Publication date: 1886 Publisher: Philadelphia : Everts, Peck & Richards Number of Pages: 1418

Author: Montgomery, Morton L. (Morton Luther), b. 1846
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: Philadelphia : Everts, Peck & Richards
Number of Pages: 1418