History of Philadelphia, 1609-1884, Part 172

Author: Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas), 1843-1898. cn; Westcott, Thompson, 1820-1888, joint author
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Philadelphia, Pa. : L. H. Everts & Co.
Number of Pages: 992

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able beauties of her time, as shown in her portrait by Gilbert Stuart, a superb example of his skill, which is in possession of the Philadelphia family. It is a curious fact that her descendants, and therefore the descendants of a Revolutionary general, are the pres- ent Duke of Portland and the son of Lord Archibald Campbell, prospective Duke of Argyle. The late John Cadwalader, born April 1, 1805, was the great- grandson of Dr. Thomas Cadwalader, and was elected to Congress in 1854. In 1858 he was appointed judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, a position which he filled A

In 1765, upon the organization of the medical department of the University, he was elected one of its trustees. He was a member of the Philosophical So- ciety and the Society for Promoting Useful Knowledge. He was a patriot in the Revolution, signed the non-impor- tation articles, and was one of the com- mission appointed by the Committee of Safety, July, 1776, to examine candidates for positions in the navy. He was also medical director of the army hospitals. He died at Greenwood, N. J., Nov. 14, DR. THOMAS CADWALADER. 1779, aged seventy-two years, and his re- mains were interred in the Friends' burying-ground at : brother of Judge Cadwalader was the bold Maj .- Gen. Trenton. He was married, June 18, 1738, to Hannah, daughter of Thomas Lambert, and their children were Anne, Martha, John, Lambert, Mary, Rebecca, Mar- garet, and Elizabeth.

John Cadwalader, son of the councilor, became the Gen. John Cadwalader of the Revolutionary war, and was the father of Gen. Thomas Cadwalader, of the war of 1812, and Frances Cadwalader, born June 25, 1771. She married Lord Erskine, British minister to the United States, and son of Lord Chancellor Erskine. Lady Erskine was one of the most remark-

George Cadwalader, distinguished for his services in the Mexican war and the civil war, and especially in connection with the quelling of the Philadelphia riots in 1844. The Gen. Thomas Cadwalader above men- tioned was, in 1826, associated with Gen. Scott and Col. (afterward President) Taylor in the revision of the tactics of the United States army. He was the author of numerous articles in various journals, and his residence at Ninth and Arch Streets was the re- sort of the most accomplished scholars of the country. Col. Lambert Cadwalader, of Revolutionary renown,

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was also a son of the councilor, and John Dickinson, the celebrated author of " The Farmer's Letters," was a nephew. Dr. Thomas Cadwalader, upon his return home from Europe, rose with marked rapidity into successful practice. He was represented as a man emi- nently polished in manners, yet equally popular among the humblest of the people. He had the leading prac- tice among the Welsh families, and in 1745 published one of the earliest American medical treatises, in which he recommended a change in the treatment of a then prevalent disorder. He was as generous as he was gifted. While abroad he had paid much attention to the study of anatomy. Not disposed to keep to himself an accomplishment which most of his brethren in the profession had not had opportunities to acquire, he took a house, in which he gave lessons in this sci- ence, illustrating its principles by practicing there upon such of his patients as could be removed from their homes. This house is supposed to have been furnished by James Logan.1 These lectures were at- tended not only by students, but by men already engaged in practice, and by other leading citizens.

Dr. George Glentworth was an early physician and surgeon. He was born in this city July 22, 1735, and died here Nov. 4, 1792. He graduated at the University of Edinburgh, in 1758, and was surgeon in the British army during the French and Indian war. In 1777 he relinquished his extensive practice in this city and became surgeon of a regiment; afterward senior surgeon in the American army, and subse- quently director-general of hospitals for the middle division.

Another physician of note in that day was Cad- walader Evans, a relative of the councilor. He was one of the pupils of Dr. Thomas Bond.

Among the evils that occasionally interrupted the growth and happiness of this otherwise then most favored young community was the smallpox. In the beginning of the century there were those who, hav- ing carefully studied and compared the statistics of deaths by this disease and by inoculation, did not hesitate to advise the adoption of the latter as a pre- ventive. It required persistent argument to over- come the fears of the inhabitants; but so disastrous had been the ravages of the disease, and so persistent and able the arguments of Kearsley, Zachary, Cad- wałader, Bond, and Shippen, that the hostility was overcome at last about 1730. The first submission was that of J. Growden. It is recorded of Thomas Jeffer-

1 " Dr. Cadwalader, who had studied anatomy in London, under the guidance of the celebrated Cheselden, gave demonstratione to the physi- cisne of Philadelphia when he himself settled among them. It is in- tereeting to know that the place of delivery of these lectures was in Second Street, above Walnut. The Bank of Pennsylvania subsequently occupied the site. With respect to these lectures Dr. Wistar remarks, ' I suppose that the anatomy of that day, as well as of the presont, en- joyed the honorable protection of literature, and that the dissertations were made under the auspices of the most profound scholar of Pennsyl- vania, the president, James Logan, founder of the Loganian Library.'" - Watson's Annals.

son that when a lad, he made the journey to Philadel- phia for the purpose of receiving inoculation, and persons used to point out, near the bank of the Schuyl- kill, the house where he lay during his convalescence.

The following extract is interesting in several as- pects of the history to which we are devoting this chapter. It is taken from an address by Dr. Caspar Morris, published in the " Memoirs of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania" in 1829 :

"The winter of 1740-41 was very severe, and the succeeding summer the city was visited by a disorder which Noah Webster calls the American plague, and Dr. Bond saye was yellow fever, but supposes it to have been introduced by & sickly chip-load of convicts from the Dublin jail. Pre- vione to this it had been the practice to distribute eick immigrants among the inhabitants, at whose houses they received that attention their forlorn situation demanded. In this way jail, or ehip-fever, was frequently communicated to the families with which they were quar- tered (or it was so thought at the time), and about this time a ' pest- house' was erected at League Island. In 1747, Webster says, the city again was visited by the 'Bilious Plague,' preceded by influences which very frequently prevailed over the whole continent.

" The citizens frequently suffered from bilious remittent fevers, particu- larly while the dock remained open. This was a creek, running from near the centre of the city plat to the Delaware, following the course of Dock Street, and was navigable at high tide so far as Chestout snd Fourth Streeta. At low water, however, its muddy bed was left exposed to the sun, and emitted s most noxious effluvium, and Dr. Bond asserts that fewer ouoces of bark were taken after its closure, than pounds he- fore. As a preventive and cure for miasmatic diseases and their sequela, Dr. Bond lands highly the mild chalybeate waters which abound in the neighborhood of the city, and by his directions they were resorted to both by couvalesceote and those who wished to escape the 'bleaching ague.' Many facetious stories are told of the impositione that were practiced upon those who, too unwell to walk to the springs out of the city, were directed to particular wells as possessing equal virtnes. These springs seem early to have claimed attention, and were thought by the first set- tlers to equal the moet celebrated spas of Europe. So early as the year 1722, the one now known as the Yellow Springs, in the Great Valley, was diecovered, and much resorted to. There was one in the neighbor- hood of the Wind-Gap in the Blue Mountains, which on the early maps of the State was called the Healing Spring, and marked by the repre- sentation of a number of tents pitched around it. There was another situated near Bristol, and in the Watson Map one is noticed situate near where the Globe Mill now (1829) stande, which received the patronage of William Peon, who caused accommodations for visitors to be erected, and hoped to see a village collected round it, which, io anticipation, he Damned Bath,"

From some causes the method of inoculation for smallpox did not prove as great a blessing as its ad- vocates had foretold. It is probable that sufficient preliminaries were not observed for putting patients in condition to receive the virus. The indifferent success of its first employment seemed likely after some time to cause its disuse, until Dr. Thompson, about the middle of the century, brought forward a system of practice originated by himself, which made a very strong impression, not only in Philadelphia but in New York and Boston. It was also noticed with favor by the leading physicians abroad. Dr. Thatcher, from whose "American Medical Biog- raphy" this information has been obtained, seems to have not known whether to assign Dr. Thompson to Pennsylvania or Maryland.

Much of the information we have of medical events and others in the early history of Philadelphia has been derived from the works of Thomas Story, an English Quaker, who traveled in the colonies of

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North America about the beginning of the eigh- teenth century. Among other things, he published his "Travels and Labors in the Service of the Gos- pel." We may have some idea of the degree to which the science and practice of anatomy had risen in 1699 by his account of a surgical operation, claimed to be the first that had taken place in that community :

" The next day, being the Ist of the 10th mooth, we went over Chester Creek on a boat to the towa, and as the Governor landed 1 some young men, officionsly and contrary to express command of some of the magis- trates, fired two small pieces of cannon, and being ambitious of making three out of two by firing one twice, one of the young men, darting in a cartridge of powder before the piece was sponged, had hie left hand and arm shot to pieces, upon which, a surgeon being seot for from on board & ship then riding, an amputation of the member was quickly re- solved on by Dr. Griffith Owen (a Friend ), the surgeon, and some other skillful persons present. But as the arm was cut off, some spirits in a basin happened to take fire, and being spilt on the surgeon's spron, eet his clothes on fire, and there boing a great crowd of spectators, some of them were in the way, and in danger of being scalded, as the surgeon was upon his hands and face ; but running into the street, the fire was quenched, and so quick was be that the patient lost not very much blood, though left in that open, bleeding condition."

From this it appears that Dr. Owen had quite an extensive practice. Perhaps there was no physician residing at Chester, or perhaps Dr. Owen merely happened to be there to pay his respects to the newly- arrived Proprietary.

It is interesting to contemplate the rapid rise of the medical profession in Philadelphia from this rude beginning. There was promise to be indulged by the sight of the laborions philanthropic lives that were being led by the men comprising that list, from Wynne and Owen to Bond and the elder Shippen; how they devoted their endeavors not only to the at- tainment of fame and fortune for themselves, but the dissemination among one another and among the people of what they had learned of the principles of the general sanitary condition of mankind. It was to them most specially that Franklin could always appeal with success for co-operation in those great schemes which he was chief in establishing in the city he had made his home. It was to a physician that he was indebted for the leading ideas that re- sulted in the foundation of the American Philosoph- ical Society.

Dr. Cadwalader Colden, a Scot, educated at the University of Edinburgh, came to Philadelphia in the early part of the century, and there resided for about ten years. Thence, and before the coming of Frank- lin, he removed to New York. But the distance be- tween did not hinder the formation of an intimate cordial acquaintance. A physician, a botanist, a natural philosopher, he and Franklin were wont to make frequent interchange of notices of new discov- eries, and of ideas and suggestions appertaining to general science. Franklin had already founded the Junto, which, limited in membership as it was and maintaining a quasi-secresy as to its operations, he

was fond of and even proud to the end of his life to remember. The intercourse with Dr. Colden led him | to believe that the Junto was less sufficient for the development of the continually growing interests of Philadelphia than a society based upon a larger fra- ternity, and public and more extended operations. To this end he issued in 1743 his celebrated " Pro- posal for Promoting Useful Knowledge among the British Plantations in America." Some account of this institution has been already given, and we notice it in this connection for the sake of those physicians who were prominent in its foundation, and those who subsequently enacted prominent parts in its transactions. Of the nine original founders two were physicians, the two brothers, Thomas and Phineas Bond. The position of honor was assigned to the older as physician, and that of general natural phi- losophy to the younger. It was but a short time when another society, similar in its aims to the former, was established. This also had been known in its incep- tion by the name of Junto, but afterward assumed that of the " American Society for Promoting and Propa- gating Useful Knowledge." Among those most promi- nent in the foundation and conduct of this kindred insti- tution were some of the physicians already mentioned. The rivalry between the two societies was such as it ought to have been between those which were founded upon such enlightened and benign intentions. It seemed a fitting compliment to the aged Dr. Thomas Bond when after twenty years the two institutions were consolidated, and he was chosen as the represen- tative of the older in this generous work.

In this interval between the foundation of the first society and the union of the two, another great insti- tution was begun, if of not greater, certainly of not less importance. This was the Pennsylvania Hos- pital.

In this great enterprise we observe again that Franklin, its prime mover, looked to the medical faculty mainly for co-operation. The first movement began in 1750, with a memorial addressed to the House of Representatives of the province of l'enn- sylvania. The petitioners made a strong case before the Assembly. Beginning with the "lunaticks," who are represented to be greatly increasing in the prov- ince, and whose going at large was a constant "ter- rour to their neighbors," a reminder is made of the beneficial influences of the Bethlehem Hospital when it is asserted that "two-thirds of the mad people re- ceived thercin, and there treated properly, have been perfectly cured." The petitioners call attention to the fact that relief is provided for the poor who are well, and modestly suggest that --

"Something further seems wanting In favor of such whose poverty la made more miserable by the additional weight of a grievous disease, from which they might be relleved if they were not situated at too great a distance from regular advice and assistance, whereby muy languish out their lives, tortured, perhaps, with the stone, devoured by the can- cer, deprived of sight by cataracte, or gradually decaying by louthsome distempera, who, if the expense in the present manner of nursing and

1 William Penn, on the occasion of his second visit to his guvern- ment.

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attending them separately when they come to town were not so die- couraging, might again, by the judicious assistance of physic and sur- gery, be enabled to taste the blessings of health, and be made in a few weeka useful members of the community, able to provide for themselves and families."

They conclude by expressing confident assurance that the granting the petition "will be a good work, acceptable to God, and to all the good people they represent."

There was heroism of a high type in the manner in which the objections to the bill founded on the petition were met by the physicians, especially Zachary and the two Bonds. When it was urged that the expenses of surgical and medical aid would probably consume whatever funds might be raised, these men agreed to serve without salary or fees in the hospital for three years. This generous proposal, which, of course, ought never to have been accepted, overcame all op- position, and the bill was passed unanimously. Its chief condition was the raising by voluntary subscrip- tion the sum of two thousand pounds sterling, upon the success of which the Speaker of the Assembly would give his warrant on the provincial treasurer or trustees of the loan-office for another two thousand pounds.

The managers, without waiting for the selection of a lot and the erection of buildings, hired a house and agreed upon a set of rules governing the conduct of officers and the reception and disposition of patients. These rules are fifteen in number :

"First, That no patients shall be admitted whose cases are judged incurable, lunatics excepted, aor any whose cases do not require the particular conveniences of a hospital.

"Secondly, That no person having the smallpox, itch, or other infec- tions distempers, shall be admitted, until there are proper apartments prepared for the reception of such as are afflicted with those diseases: and if any such person should be inadvertently admitted they shall be forthwith discharged.

"Thirdly, That women having young children shall not be received, volese their children are taken care of elsewhere, that the hospital may not be burthened with the maintenance of such children, oor the patients disturbed with their noise. *

* * % *

" Eighthly, That at least one bed shall be provided for immediate relief.

* * * *

"Thirteenthly, That no patient go out of the hospital without leave from one of the physicians or surgeons, firet signified to the matron; that they do not swear, curse, get drunk, behave rudely or iadecently, on pain of expulsion after the first admonition.

" Fourteenthly, That no patient presume to play at cards, dice, or any other game within the hospital, or to beg anywhere in the city of Phila- delphia, on pain of being discharged for irregularity.

"Fifteenthly, That such patients as are able shall assist in abraing others, washing aud ironing the linen, washing and cleaning the rooms, and such other services as the matroo shall require.

" The foregoing rules were agreed to by a board of managers of the Pennsylvania Ilospital, the twenty-third day of the first month (Janu- ary, 1752).

" BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, Clerk.

" We do approve of the foregoing rules.

" WILLIAM ALLEN, Chief Justice,

" JaAAC NORBI8, Speaker of the Assembly.

"TENCH FRANCIS, Attorney-General."

A very interesting account of the foundation of the hospital and the earlier regulations for its conduct, was printed at the office of the United States Gazette,

in Philadelphia, in 1817, from which it appears that the rules regarding the choice and conduct of physi- cians were suggested mainly by themselves. The following extract will be read with interest.

" About this time all the physicians and surgeons who were contributors were consulted, in order to form some rules relating to the choice, admission, and conduct of the practitioners, and, after sundry meetings, the following were prepared and agreed to, at a general meeting of the contributors :

" Rules to be observed in the choice of the physicians Aod surgeons of the Pennsylvania Hospital, to limit and appoint their oumber, ao- thority, aod duty, and to raise a fund for supplying the said hospital with medicines.

" Imprimis, The managers of the said hospital shall within ten days after their first meeting in the month called May, yearly, choose six practitioners io physick and surgery, to visit and take care of the patients in the said hospital. and the other practitioners (who are at this time members of this corporation), shall have the privilege of attending and observing the practice of those chosen for the service of the year.

"Secondly, The practitioners chosen shall give their attendance at auch times, and in such manner, and be classed with each other as shall be concluded and agreed upon by the managers and practitioners.

" Thirdly, Upoo extraordinary cases, the practitioners in attendance shall call in two or more of the practitioners chosen for the service of the year, to consult with.

"Fourthly, In all such cases, which will admit of time for delibera- tion, all the six practitioners chosen for the service of the year shall have timely notice thereof.

"Fifthly, If any practitioner be removed by the managers for neglect of duty, or any other cause, or shall die, in that case the managers shall choose another practitioner (who is a member of the corporation) to supply his place.

" Sixthly, Each apprentice, or other student the practitioners shall lo- troduce to see the practice of the hospital, shall pay an English guinea, or thirty-four shillings current money, per year, to be laid out in medi- cines, or such manner as the munegers think most proper.

"Seventhly, No practitioner, during the term for which he is chosen to serve the hospital, shall act as a manager.

"Eiglithly, The practitioners shall keep a fair account (in a book pro- vided for that purpose) of the several patients noder their care, of the disorders they labor under, and shall enter in the said book the receipts or prescriptions they make for each of them.

" Ninthly, No person shall be received hereafter as a candidate to be employed in the said hospital, as a physician or surgeon, notil he be a member of thuis corporation, and of the age of twenty-seven years, bath served a regular apprenticeship in this city or suburbs, hath studied physick and surgery seven years or more, and hath undergone an ex- amination of six of the practitioners of the hospital, in the presence of the managers, and is approved of by them. And with respect to strangers, they shall have resided three years or more in this city, and shall be examined and approved of in the manner and under the re- etrictions aforesaid."

The hospital was ready and received its first patients on Feb. 10, 1752. The physicians elected were Thomas Bond, Phineas Bond, Lloyd Zachary, Thomas Cad- wałader, Samuel Preston Moore, and John Redman. For the first year, or until December, 1752, the phy- sicians of the hospital furnished medicines without charge. Then an apothecary-shop was opened in the hospital, and the first stock of medicines was paid for by contributions from "the charitable widows and other good women of the city."1

1 The following Is the list, which we take from the pamphlet of 1817:

£ &. d.

Mary Allen

24 6 0 Margaret Clymer. 1 7 0 Deborah Claypole. 5 8 0

Mary Calvert. 200

1585

Old as it was claimed to have been, strange seems to us now the device that was used to obtain, surrep- titiously as it were, benefactions for the new charity. It is amusing to read the following :

" About the beginning of this year twelve tin boxes were provided, on which were written these words, in gold lettere, 'Charity for the Hos- pital.' One box for each manager, to be put up at his house, ready to receive casnal benefactions, in imitation of a good custom practiced in some foreign countries, where these kind of boxes are frequent in shops, storee, and other places of business, and into which the buyer and seller (when different prices are proposed) often agree to throw the difference, instead of splitting it, in which the successful in trade sometimes pionely deposit a part of their extraordinary gains, and magistrates throw their petty fees, a custom worthy of imitation. But these boxes among us have produced bnt little for the hospital as yet, not through want of charity in our people, but from their being unacquainted with the nature and design of them."

One would not desire to see a more tender excusing of tardiness and reluctance in taking a hint for char- itable action.

When the institution was in existence, Dr. Zachary was attacked by paralysis, when the managers chose Dr. William Shippen to supply his place.

If cards, dice, and other games were forbidden to the inmates, not so the things that seemed to remind at least the poorest whence they had come, and whither it was to be hoped they might return in good time. "In the beginning of 1754 spinning- wheels were provided by the managers for the em- ployment of such of the women patients as may be able to use them."

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History of Philadelphia, 1609-1884, Part 172

Author: Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas), 1843-1898. cn; Westcott, Thompson, 1820-1888, joint author Publication date: 1884 Publisher: Philadelphia, Pa. : L. H. Everts & Co. Number of Pages: 992

Author: Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas), 1843-1898. cn; Westcott, Thompson, 1820-1888, joint author
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Philadelphia, Pa. : L. H. Everts & Co.
Number of Pages: 992