USA > Pennsylvania > Pennsylvania, colonial and federal : a history, 1608-1903, Volume Three > Part 13
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Institutions of Homoeopathy .- One of the most serious em- barrassments against which the founders of the homoeopathic school in Pennsylvania were obliged to contend was the lack of an institution for the education of those who desired to fit themselves
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for professional life as physicians and surgeons. To provide for such an institution Drs. Wesselhoeft, Detwiller and their few pioneer associates early began devising means, but the end seemed almost impossible of attainment until 1833, when Dr. Constantin Hering became a part of homoeopathic life in the State.
Soon after Dr. Detwiller administered his first dose under strict homoeopathic principles, the few converts to the new school associated together for the purpose of mutual improvement and held weekly meetings at the house of Dr. Freytag in Bethlehem. This was the beginning of the movement which led to founding a homoeopathic school, although several years passed before that re- sult was finally accomplished. In the late summer of 1834 the new-school physicians formed what then was known as the "Homoeopathic Society of Northampton and Adjacent Counties," the object of which was the advancement of homoeopathy among its members, and also mutual improvement and encouragement in the study of the Hahnemannian theory and practice. About this time Dr. Hering had become recognized as the central figure of homoeopathy in Pennsylvania, and naturally the leading members of the society sought his counsel and advice regarding the estab- lishment of a school of instruction.
On December 30, 1834, a meeting was held at the Hering resi- dence in Philadelphia, and on January 1, 1835, a plan was per- fected for the establishment of the "North American Academy of the Homoeopathic Healing Art," an institution to be located at Allentown with Dr. Hering as its president and principal instruc- tor. An incorporated company was organized, funds were raised and land was secured; and on April 10, 1835, the institution com- monly referred to as "the Allentown Academy" was brought into existence, although on account of lack of money the main build- ing was never erected. The institution was incorporated by an act of the legislature, passed June 17, 1836.
Notwithstanding the laudable object for which it was estab- lished and the zealous efforts put forth by its supporters and the
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splendid results accomplished during its existence, the acadamy proved to be a short-lived institution, and in 1843 its property was sold to satisfy mortgage creditors. The last meeting of its stock- holders was held July 14 of the year mentioned.
After the downfall of the academy homoeopathy was without an educational institution in Pennsylvania for about five years. During that period there was much discussion in professional cir- cles of the need of a medical college in Philadelphia, and at the meetings of the American Institute of Homoeopathy there was de- veloped a strong sentiment in favor of such an institution. The outcome of this discussion was an informal meeting of leading practitioners, and a determination to establish a college in the city, which resulted in a charter from the legislature, granted April 8, 1848, incorporating the "Homoeopathic Medical College of Penn- sylvania."
Having completed all preliminary arrangements, the new in- stitution began its career October 16, 1848, in a building in the rear of Arch street, formerly the seat of operation of the Woman's Medical college. In the next year, however, the college quarters were removed to Filbert street, above Eleventh, and was located in the old Pennsylvania Medical college building, in which local- ity it was maintained throughout the period of its existence and until the consolidation-or merger-with the Hahnemann Med- ical college. Along about 1860 the corporation in control of the college management became involved in dissensions and the feel- ings then engendered were manifested on frequent occasions until 1865, when a new charter was obtained and a radical reorganiza- tion was effected. Again, after the end of the school session of 1866 and '67, there was a revival of the former troubles between the management and the faculty which was carried to such an ex- treme that Dr. Hering resigned and took immediate steps toward founding the Hahnemann Medical college. After his retirement a reorganizaiton was again effected, but to no material purpose so far as good results were concerned, and in 1869, under an act of
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the legislature, the Homoeopathic Medical college lost its identity and was merged in the new and greater institution.
In the summer of 1867 the medical men who with Dr. Hering had withdrawn from the old college secured the charter of the Washington Medical college of Philadelphia (under which no or- ganization ever was effected) and made application to the court to change its name to Hahnemann Medical college of Philadelphia. This was done July 17, 1867, and by that action the new institu- tion began its career in the upper part of a building on Chestnut street. In 1869, the Homoeopathic Medical college having fallen into a decline, the new management had no difficulty in effecting a consolidation of interests and succeeding to the occupancy of the old college building. On April 2, 1869, the legislature passed an act of consolidation by which the Homoeopathic Medical col- lege passed out of existence and was superseded by the splendid institution which now honors Philadelphia with its presence, its influence and its excellent work. The present college building occupies a commanding site on Broad street (north), the grounds extending west from that thoroughfare to Fifteenth street. The college building itself was erected in 1885-6 and the hospital building in 1889-90.
The Penn Medical University, long out of existence, was in- corporated under an act of the legislature in 1853, and while de- signed to furnish instruction in accordance with established homoeopathic principles, it taught old-school principles as well, and also was a co-educational institution in that its courses of in- struction were open to both males and females. In addition to these distinctive features the university courses were graded ; first the philosophical, second the physiological, third the pathological, and fourth the practical course. In this respect the Penn Medical university was the pioneer institution of its kind in the country.
At first the university occupied rooms at the corner of Ninth and Arch streets, and in the latter part of 1854 removed to Twelfth and Market; and in 1857 to Arch street (910), where it
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remained until the disturbing events of the war necessitated a sus- pension of operations at the close of the school year of 1863-64. During the period of its history the university graduated about one hundred and twenty-five physicians, of whom eighty were males and forty-five were females.
The formation of medical societies, so far at least as homoe- opathy is concerned, had its beginning in Pennsylvania, and that within a very few years after the Hahnemannian doctrine had been
Seventh Day Baptist Meeting House, Snow Hill
Still standing. Reproduced for this work from a negative by W. H. Richardson
accepted in the United States. On April 10, 1833, according to authenticated records, Drs. Ihm, Bute, Matlack, Hering and Wes- selhoeft, with several "laymen," personal friends of Dr. Hering, formed the Hahnemannian society, the design of which was to disseminate the doctrines of homoeopathy and make known its ad- vantages among the people. Five years later, 1838, the Homoe- opathic Medical society of Philadelphia was organized and in membership only physicians were admitted.
On April 10, 1844, the American Institute of Homoeopathy, a national organization, was formed in New York city, and two years later there was organized in Philadelphia an "association for the promotion of medical science," which was auxiliary to the na- tional body, and which soon took the more formal name of "Phila- delphia Branch of the American Institute of Homoeopathy." On
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July 7, 1852, the Philadelphia Homoeopathic Medical society was formed and continued two years.
The Homoeopathic Medical Society of the State of Pennsyl- vania, the principal organization of homoeopathy in the Common- wealth, and to which all district and county societies are auxiliary, had its origin in a meeting of homoeopathic physicians held in Pittsburg, June 5, 1866. Since that time the society has main- tained a continuous, healthful existence, and has ever been recog- nized as a powerful factor for good in professional circles. Although several district and county societies were organized pre- vious to the formation of the State society, the creation of the lat- ter had the effect to stimulate action in other localities, and now it may be said that even the remotest parts of the State are brought within the jurisdiction and influence of some of these minor or- izations.
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CHAPTER IV.
PENNSYLVANIA JOURNALISM
W HAT is now called journalism was practically unknown in this country at the beginning of the eighteenth cen- tury, and as Pennsylvania was the central colony in which the Colonial Congress met, in which the Declaration of Independence was framed and declared, in which the Constitution was framed, and in which the new government of the republic was administered during all of Washington's term as president, there was no opportunity for the development of journalism in any of the other colonies. Franklin founded the Pennsylvania Gazette in Philadelphia in 1728 and that may be accepted as the beginning of Pennsylvania journalism, but the weekly newspaper in which even the genius of Franklin was exhibited, could command little circulation because there were practically no mails to reach the people with regularity outside of the leading cities, and it is a notable fact that his annual almanac known as "Poor Richard's Almanac," became very much more widely known than his news- paper.
The work of journalism, however, has been going on indefi- nitely among all the civilizations of the world with the pamphleteer as the forerunner of the editor. Although there were a number of newspapers in Pennsylvania before the adoption of the Declara- tion of Independence, the great work of arousing the people to action in defense of their liberties was done by the pamphleteer. Pamphlets were then written in great abundance by the leading
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statesmen of the country, and slowly but surely reached even the remotest communities ; and in the absence of newspapers and other reading matter, the pamphlet that reached a home, however hum- ble, was carefully read and studied, and handed from man to man until the whole neighborhood would become interested in the sub- ject and discuss it with the earnestness and honesty of conviction then so prevalent in all rural circles. Some of the ablest political productions in the history of the republic appeared in pamphlets written before the Revolution, during the Revolutionary war, and during the great struggle for the establishment of free govern- ment in the new world. The most impressive and persuasive pamphleteer of that day was Thomas Paine, whose convictions and sympathies were intensely enlisted in the cause of freedom, but he had as associates in his great work the most brilliant men of the age. It was then the only way to reach the people.
The newspaper of that day was very small, devoted largely to advertisements, and set in large type, and it could accommodate nothing more than the briefest presentation of the news of the week, but the pamphlet was always exhaustive on the subject it discussed, almost invariably from the pen of a master mind, and it was by that method that the people were reached in the course of weeks or months as they are now reached every day by the daily newspaper. Thus the journalism of Pennsylvania and the jour- nalism of the country in the early days was practically the work of the pamphleteer, and without his offices it would have been im- possible to unite the people of the colonies in the great work of emancipating themselves from the then oppressive yoke of Britain.
The work of the pamphleteer had become so important and so widely appreciated that it was continued even long after journal- ism had begun to reach every community. During the War of 1812, when newspapers were quite limited in circulation, the grave questions which arose in the administration of the government were elaborately discussed in the pamphlets of that day, and even as late as our Civil war a number of pamphlets were issued North
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and South which are preserved to-day as among the choicest political literature of that period. Horace Binney, then at the head of the Philadelphia bar and patriarchal in years, wrote one of the most important utterances of his life in support of the gov- ernment in suspending the writ of habeas corpus, and many pamphlets appeared from men of the ripest experience in politics and statesmanship, which were well worth preserving to enable the student to understand fully the grave problems to be solved in our fraternal conflict.
The Civil war dated the development of progressive journalism throughout the country. There were very many able journals before that period, but a great war with nearly every family di- rectly or indirectly interested in the army, called for a newspaper in nearly every home and enforced the increase of mail facilities to enable the newspapers to reach their patrons. Indeed, we date our wonderful progress in every line of advancement from our Civil war because its four years of conflict, with the colossal measures and movements necessitated by it, advanced the coun- try half a century in a single decade, and when the newspaper once reached the home it was there to stay. The energy and enter- prise developed by the journalism of that period could never be receded from, and journalism from that time until the present has been altogether in the line of advancement, until to-day the news- paper is the great educator of our eighty millions of people, and furnishes the news of the entire world in vastly multiplied pages at one-fifth the cost of the newspaper of the olden time.
The work of the pamphleteer prepared the people of the coun- try for the newspaper, but it was not until nearly the middle of the nineteenth century that the penny newspaper became success- ful in all the leading cities. The New York Sun was made the paper of the people by the Beaches ; the Public Ledger of Philadel- phia was made a brilliant success by Swain, Abel and Simmons, as was the Baltimore Sun by the same people, and the Pittsburg Dispatch was the first of the successful penny dailies west of the
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Alleghanies. These papers inaugurated the advertising sys- tem that has given millions of profits to modern journalism, and became the newspapers of the well-to-do people of the country. In those days there were public market houses on the streets of Philadelphia as in other cities, and the country people came to the various stalls in the market place on Wednesdays and Saturdays, and the penny newspaper, as journalism ever does, adapted itself to the conditions confronting it. The great days of the week for
Hollidaysburg about 1840
From an old print
the Public Ledger were Wednesdays and Saturdays, when the business houses as a rule made their announcements in the adver- tising columns. It became such a fixed habit for Philadelphia merchants and business men to advertise on Wednesdays and Saturdays, that twenty-five years ago, when the market houses had disappeared and people came to market any day that suited them, the business men continued to insist upon Wednesdays and Saturdays for presenting their advertisements.
The penny journals of that day did a great work. They did not have telegraph dispatches, but they gave a brief summary of the news brought from Europe by every weekly steamer, gave all local events of special interest, and carefully avoided elaborate editorials. It was not an uncommon thing to see the penny paper of that day without a line of editorial in it, and only some most
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extraordinary occasion would bring out an editorial of half a col- umn. They had Washington correspondents who became im- portant factors in the presentation of political information, and it is certainly due to the penny journalism of that day to say that reliability was one of its chief attributes. The New York Herald was founded by Bennett as a penny newspaper, as was the Tribune by Greeley some ten years before the middle of the last century. They wanted to make success in journalism by a large circulation, and only a penny paper could reach the people, but they led the advance in cheap journalism by developing what might be called first-class papers of that day at the price of two cents. It was considered a very bold venture, as there seemed to be no middle ground then between the penny newspaper and the five-cent pon- derous daily that was simply a luxury and confined to readers of liberal resources, but they achieved great success as two-cent jour- nals, and when the Civil war came with paper quadrupled in cost and other expenses increased proportionately, the leading dailies of the country advanced to four cents. Thus penny journalism fallowed the field for the present universal success of American newspapers, which have advanced from the costly four-cent news- paper to a vastly greater supply of news and reading matter and many of them furnished to the public at a penny a copy with large profits for publishers. Half a century ago Philadelphia had one great penny newspaper, the Public Ledger, and three large blan- ket sheets published at five cents a copy, but to-day there is not a single morning or evening newspaper published in the city of Philadelphia at a higher price than one cent. per copy.
The penny journalism of the olden time that was the fore- runner of the great journalism of to-day, as a rule made no effort whatever to mould public sentiment. They were simply news- papers in a very small way and distinguished for neutrality in poli- tics and as a rule on all other questions on which there was serious diversity of conviction. The chief exception I can recall to the rule was given by the Public Ledger of Philadelphia during what
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is now known as the Native American riots of 1844, when churches and halls were burned and many persons killed on the streets in riotous conflicts. The Ledger took a firm stand for the maintenance of law and order, and denounced the rioters in the boldest terms. As it was the only paper read by the masses of the people it attracted very general attention, and aroused the riot- ous element to such a frenzy that the Ledger narrowly escaped an assault by the mob, but the mastery of the law was speedily as- serted, and the Ledger thereafter occupied a very much more com- manding position in the community than it ever did before.
The penny journals of the olden times could not reach into the country. Generally their circulation was confined to the cities in which they were published and to the surrounding counties. A very few of them would find their way into the larger towns twenty to fifty miles away, but in the village post-offices they were strangers. It was not uncommon in those days for one or two specially enterprising people in a rural town to take the penny newspaper, and if there was a business man or merchant who re- ceived country products to market in the city, he would receive one of the large commercial papers to keep himself advised of the condition of the markets and to protect himself from counterfeit or worthless money. In nearly every town of importance there was one such business man, and the people of the town and com- munity expected him to give them all the information about the markets and money. The price of a commercial newspaper was not less than $8 a year, and only a man largely engaged in business could afford such an outlay.
The weekly newspaper gradually extended throughout the rural districts into every country town of importance, and in sev- eral of the earlier towns like Chambersburg and Erie and Harris- burg the weekly newspaper was an important political factor fully a century ago. I remember when publishing the Chambers- burg Repository, in looking over an old file of the paper published near the close of the eighteenth century, I found an editorial apol-
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ogy for the failure to issue the Repository the previous week be- cause the pack mules which brought the paper from Pittsburg had been storm-steaded in the Alleghanies. . The weekly journalism of Pennsylvania that developed in the early part of the nineteenth century was the most potential journalism the State has ever known. This expression will startle thoughtless readers, but it is none the less entirely and absolutely true. Fifty years ago Pennsylvania had well established weekly newspapers in every leading county town of the State, and as a rule they were published and edited by men of commanding ability. They became very generally circulated throughout their respective counties, and many of them made liberal fortunes for their owners. It was a rare thing in those days to find more than one political paper of each party in a county town, and none in the smaller towns. Im- mense counties like Lancaster and Berks would have a more lib- eral supply, but the rule was one established Whig and one estab- lished Democratic paper in each county town, which were the ora- cles of their respective parties. Common schools had then done a reasonably good work, and paved the way for the weekly news- paper, and it was the first necessity of the weekly paper of that day to command the confidence and trust of its own party, and the re- spect of its political opponents.
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When I recall the weekly editors of the decade between 1840 and 1850, and the immense influence exercised by them, not only in their respective counties, but in the direction of State politics, I recall the period in the history of journalism in Pennsylvania when the political newspaper was most omnipotent. The editors were, as a rule, strong writers and thoroughly familiar with the political movements of the day, and I could name of that period a half dozen newspapers of either party whose considerate expres- sion on any public question of vital interest was vastly more potent in controlling the political action of the respective parties in the State, than a like expression would be from all the newspapers in Philadelphia to-day. The weekly newspaper was a political jour-
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nal, and it was trusted by its party and the people who were its patrons. They did not then, as newspapers do now, simply pre- sent the conditions and then give their deductions in the editorial columns; but they spoke wholly from the editorial chair, and in those days the editorials of the respected weekly journals were first read by the great mass of their subscribers, while to-day the most brilliant editorials are regarded as secondary to the news, and many of the most intelligent of readers hastily skip over the news columns, and then lay the paper aside. The weekly news- paper of that day was not simply an educator as is the public jour- nal of to-day. Its editor did the thinking for his people, and his deliverances were accepted as commands, while to-day the people read the news, form their own convictions, and are not generally guided by editorial instructions. The period of the weekly news- paper at the zenith of its power, as it was half a century ago, was the only period of our history in which the newspaper absolutely dominated political conviction and action. The two most conspicu- ous and potent of the weekly newspapers of that time were the Reading Adler and the Lancaster Volksfreund, one the German Democratic bible of Berks, and the other was the German Whig bible of Lancaster ; and Bear's Lancaster German Almanac was equal in importance in the German homes of the Old Guard, to Franklin's Poor Richard's Almanac of the olden time.
The weekly newspaper is practically eliminated as a political factor in Pennsylvania. In a number of the smaller counties where daily papers cannot be sustained, it maintains some meas- ure of its importance, but even there the daily newspaper from the leading cities is found, not only in all business and professional cir- cles in the county towns, but also in the villages. The local weekly is taken simply because it is the only medium by which the people can obtain the news of their county and respective communities, but for general news and family literature they depend upon the city daily journal, that is now furnished them at a little more than the old time cost of the local weeklies. In the larger counties and
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