USA > Wisconsin > Milwaukee County > Milwaukee > History of Milwaukee from its first settlement to the year 1895 > Part 45
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but where there were at one time forty cases. Dr. Selby says that it was the custom for Dr. Bean, who had immediate charge, to come out about twice a week and give directions to him as to the care and treatment of the patients. Dr. Selby states also that all persons afflicted with the disease were taken to the hospital so long as there was room, and without reference to their resi- dence or distinction of persons.
Soon after the breaking out of the War of the Rebellion, Dr. Selby was appointed by President Lincoln pension agent for Milwaukee, and re- mained in that office until July, 1866. The doctor, who still enjoys excellent health, in con- versing about those times, says that in an early day, and more particularly when there was much grading and tearing up of the ground, there was a great deal of intermittent and remittent fever, which took on a typhoid type, and was one of the principal and most difficult diseases to treat. There was no systematic drainage, and the con- siderable swamp land in the neighborhood gave rise to malarial disorders. One of the subjects which was urged upon the attention of the city officials by the physicians was the necessity which existed for drainage, to remove the stagnant water accumulated in the swamps and pools. Aside from this defect, Milwaukee was considered healthful. During winter and spring months pneumonia was quite prevalent, and it was the customary practice to bleed patients during the earlier stages of the disease. Drs. E. B. Wolcott and J. K. Bart- lett combatted the prevailing method of blood- letting, and pursued the modern system of sustain- ing instead of depleting the patient, and these views finally became general. Dr. Selby was actively engaged in treating the sick during the eholera epidemie of 1850, and states that it was then most frequent among the working elasses, and became frightfully severe in its symptoms ; men left their homes after breakfast feeling well, and before noon were dead. The first case he saw during the epidemic was one of this kind. He relates many instances of the horrible scenes wit- nessed by him during that terrible year. The seven members of one family not having been seen on the street for a day or two, were all found dead in their home. The treatment at that time con- sisted mainly in the use of ealomel and opium, but, said the doctor, " Dear me, they nearly all died." He speaks in the highest terms of the good work
done by the Sisters of Charity during this and the subsequent epidemics, and of the energy they manifested in establishing an infirmary to care for those sick of this disease, which the physicians of the city attended free of charge. He says that Drs. Bartlett and Johnson kept other physicians of the city well informed of the current medieal literature. Medical journals were then scaree, and but few felt able to subscribe for them. Those gentlemen made an abstract of the current items and cause them to be read at the meetings of the Medical Association, so that all members became quite well informed. Dr. Selby is still a resident of the eity, and although retired from active practice, enjoys excellent health, and takes a keen interest in the prosperity of Milwaukee.
Dr. Wileox came here from what was then known as the lead regions, in October, 1845, and was for a time a partner of Dr. James Johnson ; he did not remain long, leaving in 1849. IIe practiced his profession to the exclusion of all other work, and took part in the organization and maintenance of medical societies, his name being appended to the constitution of the Milwaukee City Medical Association, which was instituted during the sum- mer of 1845 .* He was a quiet, modest man, not given to controversy or political ambition, but an excellent physician.
In 1846 nine more medical men came to the growing city, which at that time had a population of about ten thousand.
They were Drs. F. A. Luening, James Dunovan, R. Fletcher, H. M. Hard, J. F. Spalding, Henry Smith, Azariah Blanchard, James P. Whitney, and William M. Gorham, who returned to Mil- waukee from Troy, Wisconsin, whither he went in 1840. Three of this number were here for three years or less. Dr. Spalding, who was a quiet, hard-working physician and a man of excellent parts. devoting himself enthusiastically to the work of his life, died in 1849. Dr. Hard trans- gressed the code of ethics by advertising, and was cited to appear before the members of the Milwaukee Medical Association to answer the charge. It seems that there was no doubt of the fact, and he was therefore dismissed from the society. He afterward (in 1847) opened an in- stitution for the treatment of the siek, which he called the "Sydenham Infirmary," but apparently it did not prosper, for in 1849 he left the city.
*Records of the Milwaukee City Medical Association.
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Dr. James P. Whitney came from Michigan, where he had practiced for some years. It is said that he was a native of New York state. Although a powerful, wiry man, the malaria of Michigan overcame him, and after recovering from his illness he removed to Milwaukee. His warm- hearted, good-natured manner soon made him popular, and he acquired a large practice. He was a man of studious habits, not much given to social life, but of literary tastes and of tireless activity. At a meeting of the Milwaukee Medical Associa- tion held November 16, 1848, Dr. Whitney read part of a manuscript prepared by himself called the "Therapeutic Indicator," which he stated was designed as a hand-book or pocket manual for the use of the practicing physician. The several remedies were classified under their appropriate heads, their effect upon the human system was given, together with their doses, and their com- patible combinations. It was to be a ready refer- ence book, and was highly commended by those who heard the manuscript read .* At one time Dr. Whitney was in partnership with Dr. Dunn; later he was a partner of Dr. Louis McKnight. During the time of the gold excitement in Califor- nia in 1852 he left for that state and remained there until his death.
Dr. Azariah Blanchard was graduated from Geneva Medical College, but came from Courtland county, New York, where he had spent the earlier years of his professional career. He was in all respects an " old-style gentleman," brought up in the system used in early days, relying implicitly upon heroic doses of medicine, and bitterly op- posed to hiomœopathy. Old methods were then changing into newer, and this fact led him to re- gard younger members of the profession with some degree of suspicion. Like many another worthy physician in those days, he kept the sharp- est lookout for evidence of leniency toward those who departed a hair's breadth from what was con- sidered to be the true faith, and any such circum- stance demanded investigation and rebuke, if not inore severe treatment. His thoroughly orthodox practice had subjected him to criticism, which the new is always making upon the old, especially where rivalry is sharp, and the doctor was never (nite able to give up the " good old methods " of attempting to extirpate homoeopathy root and branch. He was devoted to his work, conscien-
* Unpublished Records Milwaukee Medical Association.
tious in all that he did, especially so in advancing the interests of his profession. At one time he held the position of surgeon in the United States Marine Hospital service in Milwaukee. He died in this city in 1866.
During 1847 the population of the city had in- creased to about fifteen thousand, and there was another influx of physicians, namely, Drs. Victor Auler, F. D. Beardsley, Thomas M. Clark, J. C. Dowe, J. K. McCurdy, W. W. Lake, Alfred Mercer, S. Robinson, D. H. Shumway, F. G. Smalley, H. VanDusen, E. C. Wunduly and J. G. Wolcott. Of this number nine left within two or three years. Dr. VanDusen went to Mineral Point, Dr. Shumway to Stevens Point, and Dr. Mercer returned to New York, each acquiring subsequently excellent reputations in their re- spective fields. While in this city Dr. Mercer read a memorial to the City Medical Associa- tion, which had been prepared by him and which received the endorsement of the society, pray- ing the United States Congress to pass laws pro- hibiting the importation of worthless drugs and medicines into this country, a demand still made by the profession, but not yet complied with.
Dr. Lake acquired a good practice, but later he opened a druggist's establishment and withdrew from the more active labor of his profession. He was a man of positive opinions, and, although a de- vout Methodist, was ready to employ carnal weapons in defense of the right, and would leave his church, his dinner or his bed to strike blows for liberty of conscience, free speech and good government. It was Dr. Lake who, with Dr. E. B. Wolcott, rescued the ex-priest Leahy from the mob which clamored for his life .*
During 1848 eleven more physicians came; they were William Atwater, Abram Babcock, C. A. Barlow, T. H. Brown, W. J. B. Darwin, A. B. Dunlop, J. E. Garner, L. Jurgens, E. Lynch, George K. Walker and Charles Wilhelmi. Of this number nine found the field already occu- pied and soon left for other places; Dr. Wil- helmi stayed until 1858. Dr. J. E. Garner remained until his tragic death in 1875; he was a good practitioner of medicine, interested in his calling, taking a prominent part in the work of the medical societies.
He was called to his door one day by a woman
* Personal recollections of Peter Van Vechten and other settlers.
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who had sent in a request to see him personally ; as he approached her she drew a revolver and fired, killing him. She proved to be an insane woman, who entertained delusion that Dr. Garner "blew chloroform after her," even in Europe, whither she went, as she said, to escape the ef- fect of the fumes; but she stated that they reached her even there, and the only way to escape them was to kill the man who "blew the chloroform after her."
In 1849 Dr. H. H. Button came to Milwaukee. He was graduated from Brown University and from the medical department of the University of New York, and then practiced for a time in Brooklyn. On arriving here the tempting pecuni- ary benefits of commercial enterprise were more alluring than the labors of a pioneer physician, and he established himself in the drug business, the house eventually becoming one of the largest in the West.
A record still extant shows the names of physi- cians who came to Milwaukee from 1849 to the end of 1851. They were as follows: Erasmus D. Baker, who died in 1880; J. Black, who left in 1853; Asa Blood, who left in 1854; J. Crugom, who came in 1850; Dr. Eastman, C. H. Fessel, John Fox, who left in 1854; Frederick Haebertin, Fran- cis J.Young, both of whom left in 1858; F. Hatch- ard, Louis McKnight, William Law, Edward Wierschang, who left in 1852; F. Ortalli, who left in 1857; C. H. Orton, C. C. Robinson, Charles C. Shoyer, John Seibert, Edward Siller, Thomas Spen- cer, William Ulrich, Ferdinand Weitze, Edward Wundsch, Templeman Van der Hoven and Ed- ward Zimmerman.
The rapidly changing population carried with its incoming and out-going tides many members of the medical profession, and there were but few of the foregoing who anchored firmly to the soil and became permanent residents of the municipal- ity. Dr. Crugom, who came from abroad, settled here in 1850, and practiced medicine until he en- tered the army as assistant surgeon of the First Wisconsin Volunteers ; he served during the war, resuming medical work on his return from the army to Milwaukee, and followed the honorable path of quiet usefulness to the end of his life.
Dr. Louis McKnight first visited Milwaukee on a trip connected with business interests in 1848, again in 1849, and in 1850 he became a resident.
The doctor is a graduate of Princeton College
and of the medical department of the University of Pennsylvania. Shortly after graduation he went abroad to complete his medical studies in the hos- pitals of Paris, where he remained for a year or more. Soon after commencing the practice of his profession in Milwaukee he associated himself with Dr. J. P. Whitney, and this partnership continued until Dr. Whitney went to Califor- nia. The doctor had considerable experience with cholera in 1850 and subsequently, treating many cases on the South side, where the epidemic was most severe. He continued his general profes- sional work until 1864, when he was elected ex- amining surgeon of the Northwestern Life Insur- ance Company, which position he now holds.
Dr. Chauncey Clark Robinson came within the pioneer limit by reaching here in May, 1849, some months after graduating from the medical department of Geneva (now Hobart) College, New York. At that time Corydon L. Ford was dem- onstrator of anatomy ; and Dr. Robinson dis- sected with Miss Elizabeth Blackwell, preparing the subjects for the class lectures of Professor Webster, who thed held the chair of professor of anatomy. Dr. Robinson speaks of Miss Blackwell as an enthusiastic, hard-working student, gaining the respect of every one by her close attention to her studies.
The doctor came to Milwaukee just in time to become acclimated before the scourge of cholera appeared in 1849, during which he was actively engaged, soon acquiring a lucrative practice.
At that time the system of auscultation and percussion as a means of diagnosis in cases of con- sumption was in its infancy, and the older physi- cians here knew very little practically of what were then called " Louis' laws." Soon after his ar- rival he was sent for in consultation, and according to the custom among physicians, being the junior he was requested to make his examination and ex- press an opinion first. He did so, and with the then new methods to aid him stated with some bold- ness that there were cavities in each lung; that the man was far advanced in consumption and would soon die. This ex-cathedra statement startled the elderly medical gentlemen present, who stood by witnessing this novel and extraordinary perform- ance, which they afterwards spoke of as "crazy nonsense ;" they shook their heads at the young man's oracular presumption, and were not at all impressed with the soundness of his views, taking
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occasion to so inform him. Then for the patient they prescribed "foxglove to tone up his heart," and sent him home, where he died a few days afterward of consumption. For a time Dr. Robin- son was in partnership with Dr. Thomas Spencer, who came the same year. He continued to practice his profession for many years; his busi- ness projects and thrifty habits aided him in the accumulation of a handsome competency, so that he has for some years found congenial employment in a way not common to elderly practitioners of medicine, that is, in looking after his property interests, collecting his dividends, and thoroughly enjoying a healthful old age.
Thomas Spencer, who arrived in 1849, was a man of much more than ordinary acquirements. Born in 1793 in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, he was descended from the celebrated family of that name which has given to this country so
The pioneer days may fairly be said to have ended in 1850, when Milwaukee had a population of more than twenty thousand. The rapid influx of settlers from that time forward attracted great attention to the place, and there were many physi- cians who came; among them may be mentioned Dr. H. Nauman, 1854; Dr. O. P. Wolcott, in 1857; many men of eminent ability. In an early day . Dr. James Diefendorf the same year. In 1865 he went to Geneva, New York, where he had a large practice. Learning the needs of the college at that place, he secured an election to the legis- lature, and through his zealous advocacy he ob- tained an appropriation for the establishment of the medical department of Geneva (now Hobart) College, in which institution he afterward held the chair of the Principles and Practice of Medicine.
Failing health compelled him to relinquish his work. He was a surgeon in the army during the war with Mexico, where his health improved, and at the close of the war he sought a home in the West, coming to Milwaukee, where he very soon obtained a good practice. He was a man of fine appearance, tall, courteous in manner, charming in conversation,and withal an excellent teacher After coming to Milwaukee he was elected to the chair of the Practice of Medicine, in Rush Medical Col- lege, Chicago, and made his plans to remain here.
Jealousy and its attendant villainies destroyed his plans; a man of his mould could not escape the shafts of envious traducers, and a suit for malpractice was instigated by some one, but brought by the father of a child who had lost part of the jaw-bone. It was alleged that the loss of the bone was caused by the administration of calomel in excessive doses. During the trial it was proved that the doctor had given no calomel, and he was acquitted .* The animus was
made apparent, however, and the doctor, stung by the injustice of the proceeding, left the city for Philadelphia, where he was elected pro- fessor in one of the medical colleges, and where he remained until his death in 1857. In 1832 Dr. Spencer published a work entitled "Observations on Epidemic Diarrhoea, known as Cholera." This was followed by "Lectures on Vital Chemistry or Animal Heat," published in 1845, and in 1853 he published "The Atomic Theory of Life." His memoir, by Dr. Sylvester D. Willard of New York, was published in 1858.
Dr. Solon Marks, William Thorndike and H. E. Hasse came. In 1866 Dr. J. M. Allen, in 1869 Dr. Edwin W. Bartlett, in 1870 Dr. James H. Thompson, in 1871 Dr. O. W. Wight, in 1873 Dr. Nicholas Senn, and in 1874 Dr. George D. Ladd, all becoming residents of the city.
Oliver P. Wolcott, M. D., a brother of E. B. Wolcott, has resided in Milwaukee since he first came, is still erect and alert at the age of ninety- three, enjoying life's golden autumn.
Dr. Solon Marks, who has acquired wide repu- tation as a skillful surgeon, came from Vermont to Wisconsin in 1848, and after acquiring the neces- sary preliminary education was graduated from Rush Medical College in 1853, and practiced his profession until the breaking out of the War of the Rebellion, when he was commissioned sur- geon of the Tenth Regiment Wisconsin Volun- teers. His merit was soon recognized, and he received the appointment, first of brigade, then of division surgeon, and finally medical direc_ tor of the First Division of the Fourteenth Army Corps, which position he held until his reg. iment was mustered out of service. Dr. Marks received a wound on the right knee at Fort McCook, Battle Creek, Tennessee, and at the battle of Stone River was made a prisoner and remained in the hands of the enemy for three days, when he escaped. His army experiences fitted him for the work which was to follow on resuming civil life, and he rose rapidly, not only in
* Unpublished Records of the Milwaukee City Medical Association,
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the estimation of the people, but among his pro- fessional compeers, soon attaining a distinction as a physician and surgeon which has made him well known throughout the state. He has made many contributions to the literature of his profession, generally published in the transactions of societies or in medical journals. He has been president of the State Board of Health for twelve years, being much interested in the subject of public health and all improved methods of sanitation; he has worked early and late to secure more extended sewerage facilities for the city of Milwaukee, to relieve it from the noxious emanations arising from lack of such facilities along the Menomo- nee river. He has been president of the State Medical Society, also president of the Board of Pension Examiners, and now holds the professor- ship of military surgery in the Wisconsin College of Physicians and Surgeons.
Dr. William Thorndike was a graduate of Har- vard College and Medical School. He embodied in an eminent degree the virtues of a good physi- cian ; quiet and unassuming, a conscientious, up- right man, he went about continually doing good until he laid down to rest, his life having been devoted to the relief of suffering.
Dr. Henry E. Hasse came to Milwaukee from Saxony in 1845. His medical studies were com- menced in St. Louis, Missouri, and completed in the University of Wurzburg, Bavaria. He re- turned to Milwaukee in 1861, and soon thereafter received a commission as assistant surgeon of the Ninth Regiment Wisconsin Infantry. In the autumn of the same year he was transferred to the Twenty-fourth Wisconsin as surgeon, and as such remained with the regiment until the close of the war, then resumed practice in Milwaukee, where he remained for some years, subsequently going to California.
Doctor James H. Thompson was another of Milwaukee's physicians who participated in the experiences of the war. He was graduated from the medical department of Bowdoin College in 1859; in 1861 he was commissioned assistant surgeon of the Twelfth Maine Infantry. In November, 1863, he was commissioned assistant surgeon United States Volunteers, and promoted to surgeon December 5, 1863. He was brevetted lieutenant-colonel "for faithful and meritorious services" September 15, 1865, and in 1867 was appointed surgeon to the National Soldiers' Home
in Milwaukee, where he remained until 1870, when he resigned, moved into the city of Milwaukee and practiced his profession until his death.
Another physician who had an army experience was Darius Mason, M. D., a graduate of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of New York. He was commissioned surgeon of the Thirty-first Regiment Winconsin Infantry in 1862, and re- mained with the regiment until 1864. In 1877 he removed to Milwaukee, was made president of the State Medical Society in 1878, and always took an active interest in professional work. The Doctor left Milwaukee some years ago.
Orlando W. Wight was a prominent figure among the physicians of Milwaukee. He was a man of culture and of exceptional literary ability, and had a remarkable career. His ancestors were pioneers from the old world to the new, settling in Massachusetts in 1637. Dr. Wight was gradu- ated from the Collegiate Institute in Rochester, New York, at the age of twenty. Soon, after he held a professorship in the academy at Cayuga, New York, and then the presidency of the female seminary in Auburn, New York. Then he went to New York city and was for a time a writer upon the staff of the " Whig Review." While in New York he studied theology, being ordained by the Rev. E. H. Chapin, and for three years had charge of a congregation in Newark, New Jersey.
After relinquishing ministerial duties he went to Europe, where he remained about four years. He studied medicine and graduated ; this was fol- lowed by a course of law reading and adinission to the bar.
After living for a time in New York he moved to Pennsylvania, thence to Oconomowoc, then to Milwaukee in 1871. Ile was made surgeon gen- eral of the state, and state geologist in 1874, and in 1878 was appointed Commissioner of Health of Milwaukee, which position he held for four years, resigning to accept a similar position in Detroit, which he held until his death.
He was a pleasant writer and a fluent speaker, writing many articles on historical and other sub- jects, which were published in Reviews. He translated the works of Victor Cousin and Mon- taigue, "Pascal's Thoughts and Provincial Let- ters," " Germany " by Madame de Stael, Chateau- briand's " Martyrs," and selections from Balzac. He edited the philosophical papers of Sir William Hamilton and wrote a life of Abelard and Heloise.
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Beside the foregoing, Dr. Wight wrote and edited a valuable series of text-books for higher institutions of learning.
A chapter upon the medical men of Milwaukee would not be complete without the mention of Dr. Nicholas Senn, whose brilliant career as an investigator and surgeon commenced in this city shortly after he reached it in 1874. Dr. Senn has been a hard worker and a prolific writer, record- ing the results of his observations and experiences in a number of works, having already published "Principles of Surgery," "Experimental Surgery," "Surgical Bacteria," "Intestinal Surgery," and the article on "Abdominal Surgery" in the "American Text-book of Surgery;" also a work entitled "Four Months Among Surgeons of Europe," besides numerous articles published in the transactions of societies and in medical journals. He has also been instrumental in developing a taste for mili- tary surgery among the medical officers of state militia. In all his achievements the medical men of his foster state feel a just pride.
Since the pioneer days men of ability have taken the places left vacant by the fathers, and they fill them not unworthily. Modern medicine is well represented in its progressive steps by such gentlemen as G. D. Ladd, F. E. Walbridge, E. W. Bartlett, Joseph Schneider, A. J. Burgess, W. H. Washburn, S. W. French, H. A. Levings, H. V. Ogden, H. V. Wuerdemann, Thomas H. Hay, William Mackie, U. O. B. Wingate, Ernest Copeland, Thomas Fitzgibbon and others.
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