USA > Vermont > Grand Isle County > History of Franklin and Grand Isle counties, Vermont : With illustrations and biographical sketches of some of the prominent men and pioneers. > Part 24
USA > Vermont > Franklin County > History of Franklin and Grand Isle counties, Vermont : With illustrations and biographical sketches of some of the prominent men and pioneers. > Part 24
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The great and wide advancement in the different branches of medical science within the last generation is as much a marvel as the progress
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made in any other of the arts and sciences. The poorest laborer can now obtain advice and medicine far superior to that which royalty could command one or two centuries ago.
"The advance of medical knowledge within one's memory," says Sir James Paget, " is amazing, whether reckoned in the wonders of science not yet applied, or in practical results, in the general lengthen- ing of life, or, which is still better, in the prevention and decrease of pain and misery, and in the increase of working power."
The dawning of medical science, which now sheds its light through the world, began with Hippocrates nearly 2,300 years ago, and he first treated of medicine with anything like sound or rational principles. He wrote extensively, much of which has been translated, and serves as a foundation for the succeeding literature of the profession. He relied chiefly on the healing powers of nature, his remedies being exceedingly simple. He taught that the people ought not to load themselves with excrements, or keep them in too long ; and for this reason he prescribed "meats proper for loosening the belly," and if these failed he directed the use of the clysters.
Through all the centuries from the beginning of the Christian era down to the time of the discovery of the circulation of the blood by Harvey, 1619, medicine shed but a glimmering light in the midst of the darkness then enshrouding the world, and the greatest strides in the ad- vancement of the various branches of medical science have been made in the last one hundred years, and most of them may be placed to the credit of the last half century.
Physiologists no longer believe with Paracelsus in the sixteenth cent- ury, that the planets have a direct controlling action on the body, the sun upon the heart, and the moon upon the brain ; nor do they now believe that the vital spirits are prepared in the brain by distillation ; nor do they admit that the chyle effervesces in the heart under the influence of salt and sulphur, which take fire together and produce the vital flame. On the contrary modern physiology teaches that the phenomena of the living body are the result of physical and chemical changes; the tem- perature of the blood is ascertained by the thermometer ; and the differ- ent fluids and gases of the body are analyzed by the chemist, giving to each its own properties and function.
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HISTORY OF FRANKLIN AND GRAND ISLE COUNTIES.
While the eighteenth century witnessed greater advancement in the department of medical science than any or all its predecessors, the crowning achievements seem to have been reserved for the nineteenth- the present century. Among the thousands of elements that comprise this century's advance in medical science mention will be made of but one, and that among the first discoveries, the use of anæsthetics, which benumb the nerves of sensation, and produce a profound but transient state of insensibility, in which the most formidable operation may be performed while the patient sleeps and dreams of home and happy hours, and the physician is left to the pleasing reflection that he is causing no pain or suffering.
But it appears that as rapid as has been this advance during the last hundred years, so, correspondingly, have there developed new forms and phases of disease to baffle the skill of the most eminent physicians and scientists in the land; and while diseases, malarious in their char- acter, have for a time defied the attempts to overcome them, they have, nevertheless, been subdued and conquered. Medical skill has proved equal to every emergency.
There is, to-day, known to botanists over one hundred and forty thousand plants, a large proportion of which are being constantly added to the already appalling list of new remedies. Many of these new drugs possess little if any virtue, save as their sale adds to the exchequer of some enterprising pharmacist. A drug house in New England re- cently issued a circular in which they advertised thirty-three syrups, forty-two elixirs, ninety-three solid extracts, 150 varieties of sugar- coated pills, 236 tinctures, 245 roots, barks, herbs, seeds and flowers, 322 fluid extracts, and 348 general drugs and chemicals.
The ancients were not so well supplied with drugs. It was the cus- tom among the Babylonians to expose the sick to the view of passengers, in order to learn of them whether they had been afflicted with a like distemper, and by what remedies they had been cured. It was also the custom of those days for all persons who had been sick, and were cured, to put up a tablet in the temple of Esculapius, wherein they gave an account of the remedies that had restored them to health. Prior to the time of Hippocrates all medicine was in the hands of the priests, and was associated with numerous superstitions, such as sympathetic oint-
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ments applied to the weapon with which a wound was made, incanta- tions, charms, amulets, the royal touch for the cure of scrofula, human or horse flesh for the cure of epilepsy, convulsions treated with human brains.
While all this credulous superstition of early ages, born of ignorance, existed to a vastly large extent, it has not been fully wiped out by the generally advanced education of the present day. The latest appeal to the credulity of the masses of the people is an invention to relieve the unfortunate sick, and is known as "Christian Science " and the "Faith Cure." The persons seeking to popularize these means of cure are either deceived themselves or are deceiving others. Upon this point a popu- lar writer says : " If the disease be an incurable one, all the prayers in the world will not cure it. Filth brings fever ; prayer cannot interpose."
There is probably no department of medicine at the present time more promising of good results than is sanitary science. While physi- ology and pathology are making known to us the functions of the hu- man body, and the nature and cause of disease, sanitary science is stead- ily teaching how the causes of disease may be removed or avoided, and health thereby secured.
Progress during the coming one hundred years, if only equal to that of the past, will more than have accomplished great works in the ad- vancement of sanitary science ; but the accomplishment of this work calls not only for the labor of the physician, but for the intelligent co. operation of the people. If anything really great is to be done in the way of sanitary improvement, and of preventing disease and death, it must be done largely by the people themselves. This implies that they must be instructed in sanitary science; must be taught what unsanitary conditions most favor the origin of disease, how disease is spread, and the means of its prevention. If it is true that that knowledge is of the greatest value to us which teaches the means of self-preservation, then the im- portance of a widespread knowledge of how to prevent disease and pre- mature death cannot be overestimated.
The village of St. Albans now ranks third in point of population and commercial importance among the municipalities of Vermont, while Swanton is second in size in Franklin county. In the former of these villages there is almost constantly prevalent a most malignant and obsti-
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HISTORY OF FRANKLIN AND GRAND ISLE COUNTIES.
nate type of disease, bred, it is believed, by the character of the land surface and insufficient drainage of the western portion, and augmented and increased by the refuse discharge from manufacturing establish- ments in the same locality, all of which have created highly unsanitary conditions. But of late there has been commendable action on the part of the authorities looking to the abatement and removal of the nuisance character of the vicinity, by constructing closed drains and sewers in- stead of permitting the refuse matter to stand in an open brook, a men ace to the life and health of every resident in the western part of the village. However, there is room for further improvement.
But what can be said here concerning the history of the medical pro- fession in these two counties, and who were its first representa- tives? Bearing upon this question there appears but little of record, and still less of reliable tradition. During the period of the early his- tory of the practice of medicine and surgery there were not the restric- tions and requirements governing the qualifications of the members of the profession that now exist and are enforced. At that time the state had not the thorough training schools and colleges that now afford op- portunities for medical education, but even then it became necessary that the practice should be in a measure restricted so far as the capac- ity of the practitioner was concerned ; therefore the legislature passed acts and laws establishing medical societies in various parts of the state, the third of which was made to include the physicians residing and prac- ticing in the counties of Chittenden and Franklin, and was known and in- corporated as "The Third Medical Society in Vermont." This act was passed at the legislative session held at Windsor in the month of Janu- ary, 1804. The corporators were John Pomeroy, Benjamin Chandler, Joseph D. Farnsworth, Nathaniel Wilson, Truman Powell, David Tracy, Ephraim Little, Julius Hoyt, and Horatio Powell. .
Besides containing the usual provisions incident to such incorporating acts, that in question conferred upon the society established by it the power "to judge and determine with respect to the qualifications of such person or persons as shall offer themselves for examination." In fact the act authorized the society to become medical examiners, and to grant or withhold the privileges of the practice of medicine and surgery within the jurisdiction prescribed, the counties of Chittenden and Frank -
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lin, which of course then included the present Grand Isle county. The original act also provided that the first meeting of the society should be held at the court-house in St. Albans on the second Monday in May, 1804; but for the reason that the medical public were not generally in- formed of the provisions of the same an amendatory act was passed, by which the time of the organization meeting of the society was desig - nated as the first Tuesday in January, 1805, the place being the same as previously fixed upon.
In accordance with the acts above referred to the Third Medical So- ciety was brought into existence and duly organized by the election of the officers provided for. And it is quite probable, indeed a fixed fact, that the society held undisputed sway in the matter of granting licenses to qualified applicants for a period of about eight years, and until the society itself was legislated out of existence by the act of 1813 that in - corporated and established the Vermont Medical Society, a state institu- tion with powers and privileges similar, but perhaps more extended, to those granted the old Third Society. But unfortunately there appears not to have been preserved any record of the proceedings of the Third Society; therefore these pages can give no account of acts done, officers elected, or applicants admitted to practice in the profession.
The first section of the act of November 6, 1813, provided " that all those practitioners who have heretofore belonged to any medical society under a legislative act or acts, of the state, together with the following physicians and surgeons in the county of Franklin: Benjamin Chandler, Medad Parsons, Ephraim Little, Joseph D. Farnsworth, Amherst Wil- loby, Chauncey Fitch; and in the county of Grand Isle, Melvin Barnes, Melvin Barnes, jr., David Taylor, Artemas Goodno, Swift Berry, Sim- eon Clark, Josiah Law, Jonathan Berry, be and they are hereby author- ized to meet in the several county towns of the counties in which they respectively belong for the purpose of forming into a society by the name of the Medical Society of the county in which such society is formed." The officers provided to be chosen for the societies, under this act, were a president, vice-president, secretary, treasurer, librarian, and three or more censors. . And further it was provided " that no student shall be admitted to an examination by the censors unless he possess a good moral character, and shall have pursued the studies of physic and
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HISTORY OF FRANKLIN AND GRAND ISLE COUNTIES.
surgery at least three years, and, being by said censors approved, shall receive a diploma from the president, which shall entitle him to all the privileges of a member of said society." The State Medical Society was, by other provisions of the above act, constituted by the meeting of three delegates from the several county organizations.
The organization of the Franklin County Society was effected the Ioth day of January, 1814, at the office of Dr. Benjamin Chandler, in St. Albans, by the election of the following officers: President, Benja- min Chandler; vice-president, Joseph D. Farnsworth; secretary, Chaun- cey Fitch ; censors, Samuel Butler, Joseph D. Farnsworth, Chauncey Fitch ; librarian, Benjamin Chandler ; delegates to State Society meet- ing, Drs. Chandler, Farnsworth, and Fitch. On the second Monday in . March a meeting was held at which was adopted a code of by laws for the society's government.
Now for the purpose of bringing as prominently as possible before the reader the names of the persons admitted to the society, there have been taken from the records the names of the physicians so admitted, as follows : Shilometh S. Hall, Amos Town, Norman Barber, Caleb Stev - ens, Bingham Lassell, David G. McClure, Eliphaz Eaton, Charles Hall, Calvin Conant, Theodore England, Joseph Carter, jr., Ami R. R. Butler, Asahel Clapp, Charles McCrady, Elisha Sheldon, Charles Parsons, Jon athan Berry, John L. Chandler, Chester Abell, Henry Fassett, Chester Keyes, Lewis Jaynes, Thomas Chamberlain, Levi Cushman, Joseph B. Cutler, Orlando W. Cushman, John Page, Isaac N. Foster, Moses M. F. Page, Samuel Chesson, B. S. Minor, Horace P. Blair, Dr. Weeks, Hosea P. Cobb, David H. Bard, Harding C. Whittemore, Minor M. Rob erts, Wm. L. Richards, Horatio H. Brayton, Nathaniel W. Perry, Ho ratio N. May, I Chamberlain, I. Brown, B. W. Fuller, F. W. Judson, S. P. Barnum, Wm. C. Ellsworth, John Huse, Horace Eaton, Samuel L'Hommedieu, - Farnsworth, David Grant, John B. Cilley, F. W. Judson, Michael Hatch, P. F. Fuller, C. N. Burleson, N. H. Ballou, A. M. Brown, George S. Gale, John Branch, M. N. Babcock, J. Butler, Benj. B. Searles, B. W. Fuller, R. Eaton, O. F. Fassett, W. R. Hutchinson, A. Pixley, G. S. Goodrich, S. R. Day, D. J. Morrill, H. F. Stevens, George Briggs, E. J. Hall, C. F. Hawley, J. B. Morgan, J. H. Hamilton, George M. Hall, S. E. Parks, J. O. Crampton, H. O. Bartlett (Milton), D.
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Fosburgh, O. S. Searle, N. A. Fairchild, George Hall, Horace P. Hall, Chapman Smith, Charles E. Teele, H. N. Baxter, S. W. Langdon, Dr. Hatch, R. C. M. Woodward, R. F. Hamilton (Sutton), Ralph Sherwood, S. S. Wilbur, Dr. Leonard, Drs. Miller, Woodworth, Leach, Damon, Fairchild, Brigham, Knight, J. B. Kendall, S. S. Clark, Dr. Harding (S. Hero), H. R. Wilder, W. H. Giddings, George Dunsmore, R. E. Welch, R. R. Clark, Dr. Fletcher (Georgia), W. R. Prince, L. G. Lat- ourneaux, H. D. Belden, E. M. Brown.
The foregoing list purports to be and is a roll of the physicians and surgeons who became, from time to time, members of the medical soci- ety, and therefore became licensed physicians. This is as shown by the records of the society, but the roll cannot be accepted as furnishing the names of all who have practiced throughout the jurisdiction, for as years passed, and medical universities and colleges were founded, students who completed a course in them became entitled to diplomas without the formality of submitting to examination before the board of censors of the society, or of even becoming members of the local society. In truth, after the first thirty or forty years of its existence, the society lost much of its usefulness as a physician-creating power, being superceded by the authority conferred on medical colleges and universities. But the old society was an institution of considerable worth in its palmy days, having large powers which it did not fail to exercise ; but there is no evidence tending to show that its powers were ever abused, or dis- torted and prostituted to unauthorized purposes. Had the contrary been the case the society could never have continued in existence from the time of organization under the act of 1813 until the present day, which existence, as a matter of fact, has so continued, although there have been years in which no meetings appear to have been held.
To give the reader something of an idea of the form and style of the diplomas granted by the ancient society a copy of the "sheepskin " granted to Dr. Lewis Janes is here furnished. At the upper left-hand corner is a picture representation of a physician giving counsel to a younger person ; or, to be slightly humorous, the scene apparently rep- resents an " office call" Surrounding this picture is the motto : " Scrutare assidue : Delegatio tua magna est. Cui multa dantur, ex es multum requiretur." In the opposite corner on the upper right - hand
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HISTORY OF FRANKLIN AND GRAND ISLE COUNTIES.
is the representation of the physician at the bedside of a sick person in the act of " ascertaining the pulse." The surrounding inscription reads : " Experientia docet. Vita brevis est, ars longa ; Experimentum pericu- losum ; Indicium difficile."
The diploma reads thus: "STATE OF VERMONT. THE MEDI- CAL SOCIETY, as by Law established, in the County of Franklin ; The Censors having examined and approved Lewis Janes relative to his knowledge of the healing art, he is admitted a Member of this Society, and is entitled to all its privileges, honors and immunities ; and we hereby recommend him to the Public as a person well qualified for the prac- tice of Physic and Surgery.
"Witness, our President and the Seal of the Society, affixed this 13th day of November, A. D. 1820.
"J. D. FARNSWORTH, Pres't. " Attest, CHAS. HALL, Sec'y.""
At a meeting of the society held at Enosburgh Falls, May 13, 1856, (at which time, by the way, Drs. W. R. Hutchinson and O. F. Fassett became members,) there was established a schedule of prices for pro- fessional services, by which the members pledged themselves to stand. From the records of this meeting there is extracted the following tariff rates : For extracting teeth, bleeding, for an emetic, cathartic, or portion of medicine of any kind, 25 cents ; for a call, when passing, and prescrip- tion, 50 c .; visit and pres., one mile and less, 75 c .; one to two miles, $1 .; two to three miles, $1.50; three to five miles, $1.50 to $2.00 ; five to six miles, $2.50; for obstetric case, if not detained over six hours, $4.00 ; for cases of twins, $5.00; for instrumental delivery, extra, $5.00; for reducing dislocation, fracture, each, $25.00; vaccination, 50 c .; " Resolved, that we charge clergymen for our services the same as others."
The succession of presidents of the county society have been as fol- lows: Benjamin Chandler, 1814-17; Joseph D. Farnsworth, 1818-24; Jonathan Berry, 1825 ; Ephraim Little, 1826-27 ; Charles Hall, 1828- 35 ; Samuel S. Butler, 1836-37 ; Joseph D. Farnsworth, 1838; S. S. Butler, 1839; O. W. Cushman, 1840-41 ; John Branch, 1842-45 ; S. S. Butler, 1846-48, 1856-57; John Huse, 1858-60 ; H. F. Stevens, 1864; John Branch, 1865, 1870-71; George Hall, 1866; A. M. Brown, 1867 ;
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G. N. Briggs, 1868; R. C. M. Woodward, 1869; S. S. Clark, 1872-74; O. F. Fassett, 1875-76 ; C. F. Hawley, 1877-78 ; William R. Hutch - inson, 1879-80 ; J. H. Hamilton, 1881; G. S. Goodrich, 1882; J. B. Hall, 1883 ; H. R. Wilder, 1884; W. H. Giddings, 1885-86; R. E. Welch, 1887 ; B. W. Davis, 1888; Ralph Sherwood, 1889; E. M. Brown, 1890.
Present members of the society : S. S. Clark, R. E. Welch, H. R. Wilder, J. B. Hall, G. S. Goodrich, George Dunsmore, B. W. Davis, W. R. Hutchinson, J. H. Hamilton, H. D. Belden, A. M. Brown, W. W. Hutchinson, E. M. Brown, W. H. Giddings, J. N. Jenne, E. A. Bates, O. G. Stickney, S. W. Paige, R. W. Pelton, F. D. Robertson, Frederick S. Hutchinson, Ralph Sherwood, C. R. Draper, William G. E. Flanders, Frederick Ladue, C. E. Allen, D. O. Powers, A. E. Moody, H. A. Phelps, Dr. Dunton, C. S. L. Leach, C. F. Hawley, M. A. Powers, Dr. McBurney.
Officers of the society for 1890: President, Dr. E. M. Brown, of Sheldon ; vice-president, William Watson Hutchinson, of Enosburgh ; secretary and treasurer, H. R. Wilder, of Swanton ; censors, S. S. Clark, of St. Albans, J. H. Hamilton, of Richford, G. S. Goodrich, of Berkshire, W. H. Giddings, of Bakersfield, C. F. Hawley, of Fairfax, O. G. Stick- ney, of Isle La Motte, E. A. Bates, of Highgate.
The practicing physicians of the several towns of Franklin and Grand Isle counties, at present or recently resident therein, respectively, are as follows :
Bakersfield, W. H. Giddings, George C. Cutler. Berkshire, G. S. Goodrich, Dr. Johnson. Enosburgh, William R. Hutchinson, William W. Hutchinson, Frederick S. Hutchinson, C. R. Draper, A. J. Darrah, Achille G. Payment. Fairfax, A. G. Brush (eclectic), C. F. Hawley, F. A. Petty, Morton A. Powers, C. E. Mudgett (eye specalist). Fairfield, William G. E. Flanders, A. D. Patten. Fletcher, W. R. Morrow. Franklin, E J. Powers, R. E. Welch, James B. Hall, Dennis O. Powers. Georgia, Dr. Stickney. Highgate, E. A. Bates, Henry Baxter, O. S. Searle, Dr. Piette. Montgomery, Bateman W. Davis, Chapman C. Smith. Richford, Jamin H. Hamilton, W. S. Manuel, R. W. Pelton, Saline T. Fuller. Sheldon, Seth W. Langdon, A. B. Brown, E. M. Brown. St. Albans, S. S. Clark, George Dunsmore, Ralph Sherwood,
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HISTORY OF FRANKLIN AND GRAND ISLE COUNTIES.
J. N. Jenne, H. D. Belden, F. D. Robertson, S. W. Paige, Dr. Daig- nault, Theodore R. Waugh (homeopathist). Swanton, H. R. Wilder, C. E. Allen, C. S. L. Leach, Mrs. Hannah Asseltine, Dr. Dunton. Alburgh, A. J. Howard, C. B. Anderson, Fred Ladue, Herbert Phelps. Grand Isle, A. H. W. Jackson, B. Haynes. Isle La Motte, A. E. Moody, O. G. Stickney, B. E. Lingfeld. North Hero, Melvin C. Hyde. South Hero, Charles W. Petty. Drs. Moody and Hyde are now in Isle La Motte, Dr. Jackson is deceased, and North Hero has no resi- dent physician. By reference to the chapters of town history there will be found further and more extended mention of the past and present physicians of the counties.
The St. Albans Village Medical Association was organized in April, 1871, through the efforts of Drs. O. F. Fassett, Horace P. Hall and John Branch, three leading physicians, not only of the village, but as well of the county, and chief of the three, and the principal organ - izer, was Dr. Fassett. The society was in all respects a worthy one, and productive of great good to the profession in the village. Its meet- ings were regularly held for a period of ten or twelve years, but then, after the death of the originators and guiding spirits of the society, the interest appears to have waned until the association passed out of existence. Upon the death of the prominent men and founders, Drs. Fassett, Branch and Hall, the burden of maintaining the society fell upon Drs. Clark and Dunsmore, who nobly sustained it for a time, but the younger practitioners did not seem to take the interest in its welfare as did the older members, wherefore the decline and eventual death of the organization.
CHAPTER XVI.
THE PRESS.
E DUCATION is the great civilizer, and printing its greatest auxil- iary. Were it not for the aid furnished by the press the great mass of people would still be groping in the darkness of the middle ages, and knowledge would still remain confined within the limits of the cloister. It is surprising, when searching our libraries, to discover how little has been written of the "Art preservative of all Arts," and the educator of all educators. While printing has been the chronicler of all
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arts, professions and learning, it has recorded so little of its own history as to leave even the story of its first invention and application wrapped in mystery and doubt. The first regular newspaper published was called The Certain News of this Present Week. It was issued in London, England, in 1622. In 1682 advertisements first appeared in a paper called the Mercurius Politicus. In 1787 the first American daily journal, the Independent Gazette, made its appearance in New York. From the old Ramage press, which Faust and Franklin used, capable of producing only a hundred impressions per hour, we have now the ponderous machine which turns out one thousand printed, pasted and folded papers per minute.
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