Beginnings of Medical Education 
 In and Near Chicago 
 
 THE INSTITUTIONS AND THE MEN 
 
 By 
 
 GEORGE H. WEAVER
 
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 ' L I E. R A R Y 
 
 OF THE 
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 or 1 LLl NOIS 
 
 G»\0.7 
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 COP. ^ 

 
 
 \f-M^^
 
 Begiiiniii«!;s of Medical Education in and 
 JNear Chicago 
 
 THE INSTITUTIONS AND THE MEN 
 
 GEORGE H. WEAVER 
 
 Rflirinled from The Prticfedin^s iij llie Institute of Medicine of 
 
 Cliicano. I<I2.^. \„l. .'). mid The llull.lin of the Soriely 
 
 of Mediciil History oj Chicino. l<)>:,. I ol. 3
 
 American Medical A; 
 535 North Dearbor: 
 CHICAGO
 
 CONTliXTS 
 
 Beginnings ot Medical 1-lducation 
 and the Men 
 
 Sketches of the Lives of Faculty 
 the Text. 
 
 Adams. Samuel 
 
 Allen, Jonathan .\dams 
 
 .Andrew, Jacob Piatt 
 
 Armor. Samuel (ilasgow 
 
 Barrows. George S 
 
 Blaney. James \"an Zandt 
 
 Brainard. Daniel 
 
 Brown. David E 
 
 Chapman. Chandler Burwell 
 
 Danforth. Willis 
 
 Davis. Nathan Smith 
 
 Davisson. Alfred W 
 
 Delamatcr. John 
 
 Deminij. Elizur H 
 
 Dillon. John F ,.. 
 
 Kvans. John 
 
 Everts. Orpheus 
 
 Fitch. Graham X 
 
 Flint. Austin 
 
 (ioodhue. losiah C 
 
 Hard. Xichols 
 
 Herrick. losiah B 
 
 Herrick. William B 
 
 in and Near Chicago. The Institutions 
 
 1-45 
 
 Members and Some Others Mentioned in 
 
 Higday, Tompkins 
 
 Hudson. .-Xbisha S 
 
 Hunt, Franklin W 
 
 Jones, Henry 
 
 Kennicott. John Albert 
 
 Kimberly, Edmund Stoughton. 
 
 Knapp. Moses l_ 
 
 Lee. George Washington 
 
 McLean, John 
 
 McNeill, Francis Asbury 
 
 Mead, Edward 
 
 Meeker. Daniel 
 
 Niles, John Barton 
 
 Prince. David 
 
 Richards. Get>rge W 
 
 Rose, (iustavus .Adolphus 
 
 Sanford. John F 
 
 Shipman, .Azariah B 
 
 Spencer, Thomas 
 
 Stahl, Daniel 
 
 Temple, John Taylor 
 
 Wing. Henry 
 
 67 
 67 
 68 
 68 
 68 
 70 
 71 
 72 
 74 
 74 
 75 
 76 
 76 
 78 
 79 
 80 
 80 
 82 
 84 
 85 
 86 
 88 
 
 Letters Written or Received by Members of the Faculties of the F^ioneer 
 
 Schools and Their Pupils. 
 
 .■\dams, Samuel 91 
 
 Armor, S. G 124, 128 
 
 Barton, Wm. P. C 121 
 
 Blanev. las. V. Z 
 
 95, 98, 100. 102, 104. 106. 1 12 
 
 Brainard. Daniel 92. 94. 97, 
 
 101, 105. 107. 111. 116. 117. 118 
 
 Chapman. C. B 119 
 
 CotKn. Nath 91 
 
 Danforth, Willis 131, 132 
 
 Dillon. John 124. 126. 127, 129 
 
 Evans. John 
 
 89. 107. 109. 110. 111. 116. 117 
 
 Everts, Orpheus 119 
 
 Fitch. (;. N 113, 114 
 
 Graham, John S 94, 103 
 
 Henry, Joseph 120 
 
 Herrick. W. B 102, 113, 114 
 
 Higbv. Jas. M 108 
 
 Knapp. M. L 118 
 
 Matthews. Wm 115 
 
 Mitchell. Thos. D 123 
 
 McLean, John 93, 98, 100, 105 
 
 Phillips, E. H 125 
 
 Richards, G. W 123, 127, 130 
 
 Stille. Alfred 123 
 
 Wheeler, Geo. S 130 
 
 llluslralioiis 
 
 Fig. 1. College of Physicians and Surgeons of the Western District of 
 New York : Fairfield iledical School. Laboratory Building, erected in 1809 3 
 
 Fig. 2. College of Physicians and Surgeons of the Western District of New- 
 York : Fairfield Medical School, South Building, erected in 1825 5 
 
 Fig. 3. Medical Department of LaPorte I'niversity, erected about 1846.... 10 
 
 Fig. 4. Letter to George Bunker from G. W. Richards. Oct. 12. 1848. 
 Written with right hand 11
 
 CONTENTS— Continued 
 
 Fig. 5. Letter to George A. Bunker from G. W. Richards. Oct. 10. 1849. 
 
 Written with left hand about six months after Ijullet-wound caused 
 
 paralysis of right arm 15 
 
 Fig. 6. Medical Department of Illinois College, erected in 1844 18 
 
 Fig. 7. Rush Medical College, erected in 1844 21 
 
 Fig. 8. Stock certificate of Rush Medical College 11 
 
 Fig. 9. Announcement of memliers of faculty of Rock Island Medical 
 
 School in Wisconsin Argus. Madison, Sept. 26, 1848 ll 
 
 Fig. 10. Letter to G. A. Bunker from G. W. Richards, Oct. 4, 1850 28 
 
 Fig. 11. Lecture tickets, College of Physicians and Surgeons of the Western 
 
 District of New York, issued to John McLean 31 
 
 Fig. 12. Lecture tickets for Rush Medical College ii 
 
 Figs. 13 and 14. Title pages of catalogs issued by the medical schools 35 
 
 Figs. 15 and 16. Title pages of catalogs issued by the medical schools il 
 
 Fig. 17. Title page of catalog issued by the medical schools 38 
 
 Fig. 18. Title pages of introductory addresses 39 
 
 Fig. 19. Title page of Illinois Medical and Surgical Journal, first volume, 
 
 1 844 42 
 
 Fig. 20. Instrument conveying two acres of corn standing in Aurora to 
 
 N. Hard, in payment of medical bill of $12.00 49 
 
 Fig. 21. Members of faculty of medical department of LaPorte University.. 53 
 
 1. Daniel Meeker 4. George W. Richards 
 
 2. John B. Niles 5. J. Adams Allen 
 
 3. Jacob P. .Andrew 6. Thompkiu Higday 
 
 Fig. 22. First page of letter from Moses L. Kuapp to Nichols Hard 57 
 
 Fig. li. Dr. George W. Richards' house at St. Charles, Illinois 61 
 
 Fig. 24. Front door of Dr. Richards' house, showing bullet mark above knob 65 
 
 Fig. 25. Members of faculty of the Medical Department of Illinois College 69 
 
 1. David Prince 4. Edward Mead 
 
 2. Samuel .Adams 5. Henry Wing 
 
 3. Daniel Stahl 
 
 Fig. 26. Letter from Daniel Brainard to John McLean regarding the 
 
 organization of Rush Medical College, Oct. 10, 1843 73 
 
 Fig. 27. Members of faculty of Rush Medical College 11 
 
 1. Daniel Brainard 4. Moses L. Knapp 
 
 2. James Van Zandt Blaney 5. Austin Flint 
 
 3. John McLean 6. Graham N. Fitch 
 
 Fig. 28. Members of faculty of Rush Medical College 81 
 
 1. Wm. B. Herrick 4. Nathan S. Davis 
 
 2. John Evans 5. Alfred W. Davisson 
 
 3. Thomas Spencer 6. Josiah B. Herrick 
 
 Fig. 29. Members of faculty of the Rock Island Medical School 83 
 
 1. Chandler B. Chapman 4. Orpheus Everts 
 
 2. John F. Sanford 5. A. S. Hudson 
 
 3. Samuel G. Armor 
 
 Fig. 30. Dr. Nichols Hard 87
 
 BEGIXXIXGS OF Mi:UlCAL EDUCATlUX IX 
 AXD XFAK CHICAGO 
 
 THE I.NSTITITIONS AM) THE MEN 
 
 (JKORGE H. Weaver 
 
 \\ lien the Society of Medical History of Chicago was organized in 
 1909, one of its objects was to collect and jireserve what relates to lt)cal 
 medical history. As secretary I had much to do with this. The lirst 
 nie«lical schools of this region soon became objects of interest. From 
 this l)eginning I have continued to gather information regarding these 
 schools and the men on their faculties as opportunity has allowed. FVom 
 the material secured, I have attenipted to construct the story of the first 
 efforts to teach medicine in Chicago and the adjacent country as it 
 occurred between 1842 and 1850. During this time, five medical schools 
 were organized and flourished for a time, but finally only one remained, 
 three having discontinued and one having permanently moved west of 
 the Mississippi river. 
 
 .\n effort has been made to learn as much as ])ossil)le about the 
 persons who appeared on the faculties of the medical schools, and 
 sketches of their lives have been prepared containing the most important 
 facts. These have been made more e.xtensive when former adeciuate 
 biographical sketches were lacking. Accuracy in dates, places of gradua- 
 tion, etc., has been aimed at, many inaccuracies in former statements 
 being corrected. Prolonged search has been rewarded by the finding of 
 pictures of almost every one of the principal characters of the story. 
 
 The information obtainable regarding these early institutions and 
 men has often been fragmentary. Much has been destroyed and lost 
 during the interval of over three quarters of a century. The records of 
 the e.xtinct schools have been lost in large measure, and the limited 
 printed matters issued by them have almost di.sapj)eared. Much historic 
 material was lost in the Chicago fire. But a general acknowledgment can 
 be made of the kindness of numerous persons who have generously aided 
 me in .securing the information here utilized.
 
 My estimate of this presentation is well expressed by Samuel D. 
 Gross when, on a similar occasion, he wrote : 
 
 I am not vain enough to suppose that I have exhausted the subject; like 
 a traveler who is exploring, for the first time, the resources of a new country, 
 I have made many extensive excursions. Wandered hither and thither in 
 pursuit of objects, culling here and there a choice flower, or picking up a 
 gem by the way-side; but many things liave doubtless escaped my attention, 
 and much is left to reward the research and scrutiny of my successors.' 
 
 As would be expected, traits of weakness as well as strength were 
 possessed liy the persons under consideration. The former have largely 
 been lost in the dim record of the past, and it is useful now to emphasize 
 only the latter. Those who organized and conducted these pioneer 
 schools are all dead, and any sentiment which may have existe<l regarding 
 them as individuals has been lost in the distance. We may now look at 
 them as depicted in what they did, and after the passage of over three- 
 quarters of a century, may place an impartial estimate on the vakie of 
 their accoinplishments and form some idea as to what sort of men they 
 were. In doing this, we must always bear in mind that the conditions 
 under which they worked were primitive and their ad\antages in a 
 material way limited. Standards of medical education were not such as 
 exist today. 
 
 The family of medical schools in America may be likened to a tree. 
 The original seeds from which the tree sprang were imported from Great 
 Britain, the roots and main trunk were formed by the original medical 
 schools near the Atlantic Coast, and the branches and sub-branches con- 
 sisted of several generations of schools always spreading further from 
 the ]:)arent trunk. During the growth of the tree, some branches have 
 died, and some have been cut out while still healthy to make room for 
 others. Some branches have been long, sturdy and strong, while others 
 have been delicate from injury by winds, late frosts or insect enemies or 
 because their supply of sunshine has been obstructed by stronger and 
 larger branches. Sometimes grafts from France and Germany have been 
 introduced. We may also think of the evolution of Ainerican medical 
 schools in terms of animal life. The original parents, having the 
 dominant traits of Scotch and English schools, with an inherited strain 
 from earlier Italian, French and Dutch schools, located near the eastern 
 sea border, ^^'ith the westward movement of population, the demands 
 
 ' Gross, S. D.: Report on Kentucky Surgery, Louisville. 185,^, ]>. 1.
 
 fur plivsiciaiis were met liy tlie fdrmatinii cii new schools liy men who 
 had been educated in the old ones. In the northern part of the country, 
 the first step in the process was the formation of "country schools" in 
 \'ermont, New Hampshire, Western Massachusetts and New York. 
 Next came the schools in Ohio, Indiana and Illinois. Still later schools 
 jjradually s])rang up all the way to the I'acitic coast. In the descendants, 
 the im|)riiU of the original i)arents is usually evident, and through the 
 entire series the characteristics ol the r.ritish slock lia\e ]iersisted with 
 modifications froni envirunnient. 
 
 Fig. 1. — College of Physicians and Surgeons of the Western District li New York; F,iirlield 
 Mnlieal School, Laboratory Building erected in 1809. 
 
 In each instance, the pioneer medical school had a faculty composed 
 of men who had been educated and often had some experience in teach- 
 ing in (jlder schools. There was usually a dominant i)ro])ortit)n of the 
 faculty that had been trained in the schools next removed with some from 
 still older schools farther east. 
 
 The leading spirits in the organization and early acti\ilies of the live 
 pioneer medical schools in or near Chicago had all received part or all of 
 their medical education in the College of Physicians and .Surgeons of 
 the \\'cstern District of New York at Fairtield, X. Y. The.se were 
 Daniel Meeker, of I^Porte, Ind. ; Daniel Rrainard of Chicago; George 
 W. Richards of St. Charles, Til., and David Prince of Jacksonville. Ill,
 
 Another graduate of this school who came to Chicago a little later and 
 who exerted a profound influence on medical education in Chicago and 
 through the entire country was N. S. Davis. It is impossible to estimate 
 the value of the service rendered by this pioneer medical school. 
 Founded in 1812 in a small village on the western border of civilization 
 in New York, during its 27 years of existence it sent out 589 graduates 
 and afforded instruction to 3,123 students. In 1856, Frank H. Hamil- 
 ton,- speaking of the graduates of this school, said that 19 held or had 
 held professorships in colleges, 8 were in the United States service as 
 surgeons, and many more had risen to distinction in the practice of 
 medicine and surgery. Its first president was Lyman Spalding, the 
 father of the U. S. Pharmacopeia, who had been a pupil of Nathan 
 .'■^niith. There were able men on the faculty of this "Country School" 
 during the time when the future leaders of medical education in the West 
 were students, among whom were Westel Willoughby, Jas. 
 McNaughton, John Delamater and T. Romeyn Beck. They were accom- 
 plished teachers and leaders in their time, several serving as presidents 
 of the New York State Medical Society. (See Fig. 1, p. 3. and 
 Fig. 2, p. 5.) 
 
 In 1827, in his presidential address before the New York State 
 Medical Society, James R. Manly, speaking of the medical schools of 
 the state of New York, said : 
 
 The only green spot on which our recollections can rest with satisfaction, 
 is the school of medicine at Fairfield. Ever since its organization it has 
 kept the "noiseless tenor of its way," neither coveting the distinction which 
 arises from angry controversy, nor shrinking from a puhlic exhibition of 
 its claims, whenever interest, jealousy, or hostility, have attempted to invade 
 them.' 
 
 Of the physicians scattered among the pioneers in Chicago and the 
 adjacent country, some had received a liberal general education as well as 
 a good medical education in the older eastern part of the country. They 
 were found in the various rural communities which grew up in northern 
 Illinois and Indiana, and southern Michigan and Wisconsin. They cared 
 for the sick under very trying circumstances, traveled over a large ter- 
 ritory on horseback in all kinds of weather, forded unbridged streams 
 often swollen beyond their banks and practiced all the specialties. They 
 often had some elementary legal knowledge and served as judges and 
 also as preachers. 
 
 - Hamilton ( Frank Hastings: Eulogy on the Life and Character of Theodric Romevn Beck, 
 Alhanv. 1856, n. 21. 
 
 3' Trans. Med. Soc. State of New York, .Mbany. 1868. p. 395.
 
 It is related ol a Vurkville physician that cm one uccasiim lie met a 
 neighboring physician from Aurora and told him that he had performed 
 a surgical operation and tried a law suit during the day. The friend 
 put his accomplishments to shame hy remarking that in the same time 
 he had visited his patients, tried a law suit and ])reached a funeral service. 
 In western New York many physicians had served as judges, and the 
 custom seems to have been carried farther west by the ])ioneers. In the 
 colonial jieriod of Xew England, the ])reacher and ])hysician were 
 often united in one person, and in the new western country the preacher 
 who accompanied the settlers often ministered to their liodily diseases as 
 well as to their spiritual needs. As conditions became more settled, one 
 
 
 
 Fig. 2. — College of Physicians and Surgeons 
 Medical School, South Building, erected in 182: 
 
 District of Xew York: Fairfield 
 
 or the other profession was often abandoned according to the taste or 
 circumstances of the individual. Jacob P. Andrew of the I^Porte 
 medical school had been a traveling preacher before he devoted himself 
 to medicine. The combination of the professions of medicine and 
 theology was well exemplified in Dr. Francis .A. McNeill, who from 1833 
 to 1S72 divided his energy between them. These country doctors were 
 called on to serve in all the capacities of citizens, and while I find no 
 record of their having been undertakers, there is abundant evidence that 
 they, in their zeal for anatomic study, often aided their students in 
 reversing the usual function of this calling.
 
 Some of these men combined agriculture with their professional 
 work, as had been dune by the early jihysicians in the east. Jas. C. 
 Cioodhue states that : 
 
 Anterior to 1840, nine tenths of all the physicians who had located them- 
 selves in this region, had done so with reference to pursuing agriculture and 
 the avowed intention of abandoning medical practice; most of whom either 
 from the necessity of the case, or from finding more truth than poetry in 
 pounding out rails, resumed their profession, and divided their attention between 
 farming and medicine.' 
 
 Among the early physicians who had a special interest in agriculture 
 was John A. Kennicott of Northfield, Cook County, Illinois. 
 
 The financial rewards to the practitioner were meager. I'ay was 
 sometimes made in farm products. An instrument, executed in 1847. 
 conveyed to Dr. N. Hard "two acres of corn standing in Aurora in con- 
 sideration of a series of medical services rendered of the valuation of 
 twelve dollars." (See Fig. 20, p. 49.) 
 
 Most of the pioneer physicians had received part of their education 
 in the offices of preceptors, and they in turn became the preceptors of 
 young men who wished to study medicine. Some who had natural ability 
 as teachers gathered about them groups of students, and so developed 
 schools or classes. In 1840, Daniel Brainard in Chicago gave a course 
 of private lectures on anatomy to a class of 6 students in the back of his 
 office. ''The second course was attended by eleven students, and a 
 second bench had to be added to the one used the previous winter to 
 accommodate the class." Chandler B. Chapman of Madison, Wis., had 
 a private school of .\natomy and Surgery in which 21 students were 
 enrolled in 1851-1852. Daniel Meeker of LaPorte, Ind., was an active 
 teacher of medical students before he organized the Medical School at 
 LaPorte. Samuel Adams and Henry Jones of Jacksonville and David 
 Prince of Payson, 111., who subsequently were on the faculty of the 
 Medical Department of Illinois College, were active teachers of medical 
 students. 
 
 Nichols Hard and his brother Chester Hard at Aurora, 111., were 
 favorite preceptors. They became associated with Geo. \V. Richards 
 of St. Charles, III, who was a very popular teacher. One of the things 
 which these jjreceptors could do for a group of students to good advan- 
 tage was instruct them in practical anatomy. The material for dissec- 
 tions was imported from a distance or sometimes stolen nearer home. 
 
 * Illinois and Indiana Med. &• Surg. Jonr.. 1846, 3. p. 261.
 
 The well inuiulcil I'car nf the "grave ruMitr" |icrsiste<l lor many years 
 in these rural coniiminities. Many griicsunic tales are loUl of these early 
 teachers of anatomy and their students, remiinling one tif the vivid por- 
 trayal of the "body-snatchers" by Stevenson. 
 
 As conditions became more settled some of the stronger and more 
 ambitious of these jiioneer teachers organized centers for medical instruc- 
 tion in which men of ability from the surrounding territory were invited 
 to teach groups of students, to which they all contributed. In this way 
 division of labor became ])ossible, and teaciiers could devote their energy 
 to subjects in which they were most interested or most qualified to teach. 
 Teachers were sought who could draw and hold students, and the dis- 
 criminating judgment of the students tended to eliminate the jKJorer 
 teachers. Thus medical schools came to be formed, for which there was 
 a real demand because of the need of physicians among the growing 
 population. The exi)ense incident to studying in older eastern schools, 
 together with difficulty of access through inadequate means of trans- 
 portation, often ])laced the study of medicine in establishetl schools 
 beyond the reach of local students. 
 
 A further evolution occurred when po])ulation began to concen- 
 trate in towns and the beginnings of future cities were established. Here 
 opiK)rtunities for clinical teaching became apijarent, and the "country 
 schools" were at a disadvantage and either moved to cities or became 
 e.xtinct. 
 
 The 5 pioneer medical schonls in and near Chicago were the Medical 
 Dejartment of the Lal'orte University (later Indiana Medical College), 
 I^l'orte. Ind., organized in 1842; Franklin Medical College, St. Charles, 
 111., organized in 1842; Illinois College Medical School. Jacksonville, 
 111., organized in 1843; Rush Medical College. Chicago. 111., organized 
 in 1S43, and the Rtx-k Island Medical Schodl. Rock Island. 111., organized 
 in 1848. 
 
 Of these schools. 3 were later discontinued, the LaPorte school in 
 1850, the St. Charles school in 1849, and the Jacksonville school in 
 1848. The Rock Island school was removed after a year to Davenjjort, 
 Iowa, later to Keokuk, Iowa, and finally merged into the State University 
 of Iowa College of Medicine. Rush Medical College is the only one 
 which has continued without interruption to the jiresent time, and it was 
 the only medical school in Chicago until 1859. when the medical (le])art- 
 nient of Lind Universitv was established.
 
 These schools, although often referred to in late years as "proprie- 
 tary," were not all so in fact. Their property rights rested with boards 
 of trustees, which included nonmedical men. It is true that in the schools 
 at LaPorte and Rock Island almost all the trustees were members of the 
 faculties. 
 
 The medical school of Illinois College at Jacksonville was under the 
 control of the university trustees, who appointed the faculty. Of the 
 17 original trustees of Rush Medical College, only 3 were physicians, 
 and none was on the faculty. From 1843 to 1850, Dr. E. S. Kimberly 
 was the only physician among the trustees. Even Brainard made his 
 promises regarding the faculty depend on the action of the trustees. 
 During the first 52 years of Rush Medical College, less than one-third 
 of the trustees were members of the faculty. When these schools were 
 organized, there was an abundance of quack doctors, but no provision 
 existed for the proper education of young men as physicians. When a 
 committee of the Western Medical Society of the State of Wisconsin 
 reported on the condition of the medical profession in the district in 
 1850, upwards of 60 persons were engaged in practicing medicine in the 
 counties of lona, Grant and Lafayette; and of this number only 12 were 
 graduates, or had the title of doctor." Two years later, Geo. G. Wilber 
 of Mineral Point, Wis., said that in his part of the state there were 
 "more than three quacks to every regularly educated physician." "^ The 
 demand for physicians was great, as the early inhabitants of the region 
 suffered extensivelv from malaria, dysentery and other disorders of a 
 new country with inadequate drainage and poor water. Epidemic cholera 
 appeared at intervals and claimed a high toll of lives. In the clearing 
 of land and in the building of houses and barns, frequent injuries called 
 for skilled surgical treatment. The need was keenly felt by the men who 
 appreciated what the practice of medicine really required, and they put 
 forth every effort to furnish in their schools as complete an education 
 as could be secured with the means available. They furnished the sur- 
 rounding country with physicians who were immensely superior to those 
 previously obtainable, and among them were many skilful and able 
 practitioners. During the 8 years covered by this study, from 1843 to 
 1850, these pioneer medical schools furnished instruction to over 1,234 
 students, and granted the medical degree to 345 persons. 
 
 s North-Westcrn Med. & Surg. Jour., 1851, 7, p. 495. 
 " Ibid., 1853, 10, p. 274.
 
 THE MEDll AI. DKPAKTMENT OF LAPORTE INIVKRSITV (I84.>t)); 
 INDIANA MEDICAL lOLI.ElJE 118-1(150] 
 
 In 1S41, in the town of LaPorte. Ind., with 1,0(.X) to \.R)0 inhahilants, 
 Dr. Daniel Meeker and \\m. P. Andrew were instructing students in 
 their offices in meilicine and law. respectively. To secure facilities for 
 the study of medicine and law, tliey were joined by others in securin;,' a 
 charter for l^Porte L'niversity in 1841. The law scliool was opened 
 in 1S41. The medical department was organized in 1842 by Daniel 
 Meeker. In 1848, the charter was amended, changing the name of the 
 niedical school to the Indiana Medical College. .\ ])reliminary spring 
 course was given in March and .\pril, 1842. to 9 students. The first 
 regular course of 16 weeks was given in 1842-.? to .W students, of whom 
 1 graduated. The last course was given in 1849-.^0. 
 
 TABLE 1 
 Sti'dexts and Gkaui'ates or Medical Schools Existing in 1843-1850 
 
 Medical 
 
 Department 
 
 of LaPorte I'niv. 
 
 (lodiaDa Meilk'ul 
 
 College) 
 
 LaPorte, Ind. 
 
 Rush Medii'iil 
 
 College. 
 Chicago, III. 
 
 liiinoiti College 
 Medical School. 
 Jacksonville, III. 
 
 Rock Island MedlcaJ 
 
 School (College of 
 
 Physicians and 
 
 Surgeons of the 
 
 Upper Mississippi). 
 
 Rock Island. III. 
 
 1SI2-3 
 
 I8B-4 
 
 1844-S 
 
 1845-6 
 
 1840-7 
 
 1847-8 
 
 1848-9. .-. . . 
 I849-S0. . . . 
 
 Total. 
 
 During the 8 years when the school was in operation, it gave instruc- 
 tion to 565 students, of whom 127 received a medical degree. Manv of 
 the graduates became prt)minent ])ractitioners in Indiana and the adjacent 
 states and were infiuential in medical organizations. 
 
 The original faculty consisted of 5 men ; Daniel Meeker, anatomv and 
 surgery; Franklin Hunt, materia medica and botany; Jacob P. .\ndrew, 
 obstetrics and diseases of women and children ; dustavus C. Rose, theorv 
 and practice of medicine ; and John B. Xiles. chemistry. They served 
 for two years ( 1842-4). In 1844-5, the faculty was reorganized, and 
 several were added who lived at a distance, while several of the local 
 professors were dropjied. The new faculty consisted of : Daniel 
 Meeker, LaPorte, surgery: George W. Kicli.irds. ."^i. Charles. 111..
 
 10 
 
 anatomy ; Aloses L. Kna]3]), Chicago, materia niedica ; Nichols Hard, 
 Aurora, 111., obstetrics and diseases of women and children ; Daniel E. 
 Brown, Schoolcraft. Mich., theory and practice of medicine; John B. 
 Niles, LaPorte, Ind., chemistry ; John L. Torrey, Elgin, 111., demon- 
 strator. For 3 years ( 1844-1847), the faculty remained as given, except 
 that in 1845-6, Daniel Brown dropped out, A. B. Shipman of Cortland- 
 ville, N. Y., was added to teach surgery, Daniel Meeker assumed the 
 teaching of anatomy and physiology, and George \\'. Richards was trans- 
 ferred to the department of theory and practice of medicine. 
 
 Fig. 3.— Medical Department of LaFurtc Ud 
 
 At the end of 1847, the men from Illinois, with the exception of 
 N. Hard, dropped out of the faculty. P>om 1847 to 1850, the teaching 
 force consisted of what remained of the previous faculty, with the 
 addition in 1847-1848 of E. Deming, LaFayette, Ind., materia medica, 
 and T. Higday, LaPorte, Ind., physiology and pathology, and in 1848- 
 1849 of J. Adams Allen, Kalamazoo, Mich., materia medica and medical 
 jurisprudence, and George W. Lee, Whitewater, Wis., demonstrator." 
 
 In 1849-50, the competition of other schools was being felt, as shown 
 in a reduction in the number of students and graduates, and the school 
 was discontinued. Two only were on the faculty throughout its entire 
 existence — Daniel Meeker and John B. Niles. ("See Fig. 22. p. 57.) 
 
 ' Kemper, G. W. H. : Medical History of the State of Indiana. Chicago. 1911. Higday, 
 Tompkins: The Indiana Medical College, LaPorte, from 18421850, Trans. Ind. State Med. Soc. 
 1874, p. 24.
 
 11 
 
 In the catalog of 18-k)-7. the construction of a c«)llege huiUling was 
 announced. It was described as "large enough to accommodate three 
 hundred students" and supplied with "two lecture rooms, four private 
 rooms including the laboratory, for the Professors : a large room for an 
 Anatomical museum, another for the Cabinets of the Xorth-W'estern 
 
 ^. ^/wvc ^^y- /i /-^ ^' 
 
 
 Academy, and a library. The dissecting room is large and well ven- 
 tilated. It is undoubtedly one of the best arranged and most convenient 
 College buildings in the Western country." " (See Fig. 3. p. 10.) 
 
 In the I^Porte school, as in all of these pioneer schools, enough 
 acceptable teachers could not be secured where the institution was 
 
 ■ ritaloituc In<i. Mrd. rolIcRf. Srssion 18-<8-<>. LaPorlc. 1849.
 
 12 
 
 located, and so teachers were brought from ouside. They came to give 
 their course of lectures and then returned home. (Jf such teachers, on 
 whom the LaPorte school depended in a large measure, were George 
 W. Richards. Aloses L. Knapp. Nichols Hard, John L. Torrey and 
 A. B. Shipman. 
 
 MEDICAL DEPARTMENT, LAPORTE UXIN'ERSITY (1842-81 
 
 LXDLANA MEDICAL COLLEGE (1848-50) 
 
 1842-1850 
 
 Students, 565 Graduates, 127 
 
 FACULTY 
 Anatomy : 
 
 1842-1844. Daniel Meeker, LaPorte, Indiana. 
 1844-1845. George W. Richards, St. Charles, Illinois. 
 1845-1850. Daniel Meeker. 
 
 Chemistry : 
 
 1842-1850. John B. Xiles, Laporte, Indiana. 
 
 Materia Medica and Therapeutics : 
 
 1842-1844. Franklin W. Hunt, LaPorte, Indiana. 
 1844-1847. Moses L. Knapp, Chicago, Illinois. 
 1847-1848. E. H. Deming. LaFayette, Indiana. 
 1848-1850. Jos. Adams Allen, Kalamazoo, Michigan. 
 
 Surgery : 
 
 1842-1845. Daniel Meeker. 
 
 1845-1850. A. B. Shipman, Cortlandville, New York. 
 
 Obstetrics and Diseases of Women and Children : 
 1842-1844. Jacob P. Andrew, LaPorte, Indiana. 
 1844-1850. Nichols Hard, Aurora, Illinois. 
 
 Practice of Medicine : 
 
 1842-1844. Gustavus C. Rose, LaPorte, Indiana. 
 1844-1845. Daniel E. Brown, Schoolcraft, Michigan. 
 1845-1847. George W. Richards, St. Charles, Illinois. 
 1848-1850. E. H. Deming. LaFayette, Indiana. 
 
 Physiology and Pathology : 
 
 1847-1850. Tompkins Higday, LaPorte, Indiana. 
 Demonstrator of Anatomy: 
 
 1844-1847. John L. Torrey, Elgin, Illinois. 
 
 1848-1850. George W. Lee, Whitewater, Wisconsin.
 
 13 
 
 I'KANKI.IN MKDICAL COI.I.IXiK U84.>1849) 
 
 III tlie region abiuit 40 miles west of Chicago, there were several able 
 jiractitioners who were active ])rece]Jtors uf students, (ieorjjc W. 
 Richards of St. Charles and Nichols Hard of .Aurora were popular with 
 medical students and had facilities for dissection in their o^1ll.■l•^. In 
 1848, M. L. Knapp, S|)eaking of I'rofessor Richards, stated that during 
 the ])receeding spring "as many as eleven subjects were dissected under 
 his ])rivate instruction." '■' 
 
 Keabbs says that both Professor l\icli;inls and rrofessor ii.ird liad 
 am])hitlieatres in the u])i)cr stories of their offices, where they gave 
 lectures to their students and where an al)undance of dissectinsj; material 
 was .always ready.'" 
 
 In 1S42. Richards organized a medical scIukj! at ."^l. ( liailo, ill., 
 which was known as the Franklin Medical College. The Western Lancet 
 of January, 1843, sjieaks of the medical college at St. Charles as having 
 been organized "during the past year." The date is also fixed by a letter 
 from St. Charles, dated Nov. 5, 1842, in which Nichols Hard speaks 
 of his arrival at St. Charles and the delivery of his first lectures. He 
 thought the "prospects good for a flourishing school," and adds: "We 
 shall have to get a charter from the Legislature this winter and can not 
 be a|)i)ointed Professors until we get a charter." He also ex])ressed a 
 belief that "the institution will be located in Chicago eventually, which 
 is a pleasant city and ofTers every advantage of Society." " 
 
 The original faculty of Franklin Medical College ccjusisted of : 
 George W. Richards, professor of anatomy and ])hysiology, and dean of 
 the faculty ; John Thomas, chemistry- and pharmacy, and president of 
 the college ; John De La Mater, surgery ; T'.dward Mead, materia nicdica. 
 therapeutics and jiathologic anatomy; Xicliols Hard. DJjstetrics and 
 diseases of women and children; Samuel l)cntiin, tlieiir\ and practice of 
 medicine.'- it has been impossible to Icirn Imw Icjug the facultv 
 remained as given. Richards and Hard were active teachers until the 
 school susjiended in 1S4''. 
 
 That this school operated under the name "l'"ranklin Medical College" 
 is ai)|)arent. It is so referred to in the Western lancet, in which the 
 names of the faculty are given, and in the announcement of the Psycho- 
 pathic Retreat at Winchester, Mass.. jniblished in 1872. the former 
 
 • Knapp, M. L. : Address delivered at the opening of llie Rock Islniid Medic.nl Sclloo!, 
 Chicago, 1849. 
 
 '» The Chieftain, Keokuk, 1907. 
 
 " Personal letter from Mrs. H. G. Wright, daughter of N. Hani. 
 
 " Western Lancet, Cincinnati. O., II, June, 184.1, p. 95.
 
 14 
 
 teaching positions of Edward Mead are enumerated, among which is 
 "Professor of materia medica and therapeutics and pathological 
 anatomy in the Franklin Medical College of Illinois." It has not been 
 possible to determine that the school ever secured a charter. In 1843, 
 a charter was issued to the "Literary and Medical College of the State 
 of Illinois, to be located in the town of St. Charles," '" and in 1845 a 
 charter was granted to the "Franklin Literary and Medical College of 
 Illinois to be located in the city of Galena." ^^ 
 
 The trustees of the two schools were entirely ditterent. and neither 
 correspond to those given as trustees of the Franklin Medical School 
 by Mrs. Shibley.''' 
 
 Strong political influence appears to have been required to secure 
 charters from the Illinois Legislature at that time. The granting of a 
 charter in 1845 to the Franklin Literary and Medical College of Illinois 
 to be located in Galena, three years after the organization of the 
 Franklin Medical College of St. Charles, arouses the suspicion that 
 this was a scheme to prevent the Franklin Medical School at St. Charles 
 from obtaining a charter and granting degrees under its name. I have 
 been unable to learn that a medical school ever operated at Galena. Some 
 of the men who were connected with this school appear to have expe- 
 rienced similar difficulty in securing an Illinois charter for the medical 
 school later established at Rock Island, and they obviated this by 
 operating as a branch of a medical school incorporated in Wisconsin. 
 
 It was the founding of the schools at LaPorte and St. Charles that 
 forced Daniel Brainard to open Rush Medical College sooner than he 
 wished. In 1844, Richards and Hard became professors in the school 
 at LaPorte, and being unable to grant degrees at St. Charles, they 
 took their students to LaPorte for graduation. 
 
 In the catalog of LaPorte Medical School for 1846-7. Richards 
 and Hard are given as preceptors to 17 students. The St. Charles school 
 came to an end in 1849. A recent grave in a neighboring town of 
 Sycamore had been robbed of its occupant and the students at St. Charles 
 were blamed. April 19, 1849, an armed mob of citizens was formed 
 and went to Richard's office and demanded the body. The family fled 
 over a stone wall back of the house, but Richards refused to leave. He 
 tried to convince the crowd that the body was not in the house ; but when 
 they ])ersisted in entering, he closed and locked the door and braced 
 
 " Law"; of Illinois, 18-)3, p. 69. 
 
 " Ibid.. 1S45. r- 218. 
 
 '■'• The OM .ind New St. Charles. St. Charles. 1909. p. 7.
 
 15 
 
 hiiiisell against it. A ririe bullet I'rom one of llie moii i)eiietr;iteil the 
 door anil passed through the doctor's shoulder, injurinjj the nerves of 
 the brachial i)lexus >o that his riglit arm was always (laralyzed. ( )ne 
 
 K. s . . ■ (- 
 
 'ii»v. V.V. v.Acxv.K.l uv-A^.^AA..aM^ \Va- WJ^ \~«-»' 
 
 ^ ^-.>-A ,^,,. V* ivy.rV, v^.-.wA; .iV>\.., i,"v,V.,,^ ^*^-'A >\i-^ t^<^ 
 
 of the loyal stiulents, John IvimjiI, who was credited with securing the 
 body in question, was also injured, and died tmni his wounds. The 
 school never reopened.'" 
 
 '• History of Kane County by Pliny A. Durant, p. 1085; Commemorative Biographical and 
 Historical Record of Kane County, 111., Chicago, 1888.
 
 16 
 
 Extensive search has failed to reveal any circulars or other items 
 printed by the St. Charles school, and there is no available information 
 as to the number of students given instruction. However, Franklin 
 Medical School at St. Charles represents the first organized eflfort to 
 teach medicine in Illinois. Good teachers were included in the faculty, 
 and some of them were later prominent in other schools. None of the 
 trustees of the school was a member of the faculty. The work was 
 carried on in quarters above a store, and in the offices of the teachers. 
 
 FR.AXKLLX MEDICAL COLLEGE. ST. CH.ARLE.S. ILLIXOIS 
 
 1842-1849 
 
 Xo records of students. Xo degrees granted. 
 
 FACULTY 
 Anatomy and Physiology : 
 
 George W. Richards, St. Charles, Illinois. 
 Chemistry and Pharmacy : 
 
 John Thomas. 
 
 Materia Medica, Therapeutics and Pathology : 
 
 Edward Mead. 
 Surgery : 
 
 John De La Mater. 
 Obstetrics and Diseases of Women and Children: 
 
 Nichols Hard, Aurora, Illinois. 
 Practice of Medicine : 
 
 Samuel Denton. 
 
 MEDIC.XL DEP.\RT.MEXT OF ILLIXOIS COLLEGE (184j-1848> 
 
 This school was the only one of those imder consideration which was 
 organized as a department of a going college. Instruction in Illinois 
 College had been given since 1830. For two years, plans had been matur- 
 ing for the establishment of a medical department, when in 1843 the 
 organization was completed. Lectures were begun Nov. 1, 1843, about 
 a month before lectures began at Rush Medical College. Six students 
 were given the degree in medicine at the end of the first session. From 
 1843 to 1848, inclusive. 43 received a medical degree, and instruction 
 was given to more than 100 students. The original faculty included 
 David Prince, professor of anatomy and surgery : Samuel .\dams.
 
 17 
 
 cliemistry, maleria iiifilica and tlieia|)ciitics ; llcniy Jnia->, iil)stctrii.>, 
 and Daniel Stalil, theory and practice of nietlicine. Stalil served onlv one 
 year. Tlie others remained on the facnhy as lon^ as the medical dei)art- 
 ment oj)erate<l. 
 
 In 1844. a "nieilical hall" was hnilt. 'I'lie bnildin^' was a frame 
 structure. ( )n the first floor was a small lahoratory and clinic room and 
 a ]arj,'e dissecting room. The second Hoor was occu])ied hy a small room 
 for the j)rofes,sors and a large room in which lectures were given. Many 
 of tile lectures were given in the college cha])el. ( See l-'ig. <>. \i. IS. i 
 
 In 1S45 and 1S46. addition to the faculty consisted of juhn lames, 
 jmifessor of theory and practice of medicine; John L. Miller, anatomy 
 and jihysiology, and Kdward Mead, materia medica and therapeutics. 
 The ne.xt year. Mead resigned; Miller served two years. In 1S47 and 
 1848, Henry Wing served as profes.sor of materia medica and thera- 
 peutics. This was the last year in which C(jnrses in medicine were given. 
 
 The school was not discontinued for lack of students, but because of 
 its unijopularity in the community and among the teachers in other 
 departments of the college. This was largely due to the "anatomical 
 >|uestion." Such a man as Prince would not iiritcnd tn teach anatomy 
 without dissecti(jns, and he always provided subjects. The methods of 
 securing subjects for dissection in a small community were always open 
 to {|uestion, and Prince came in for his share of blame. ( )nce the 
 medical building of the college was surrounded by an angry mob seeking 
 vengeance on the jirofessor o{ anatomy and his accomjilices for the 
 sui)|,osed ofl'ense of exhuming the body of a governor (Duncan) Inr 
 anatomical purjjoses. Only the timely presence of Dr. Samuel Adams, 
 with assurance and ]jromise to the family and ])ublic, jirevented a 
 catastrojjhe. It is likely that the difticulty in securing clinical material 
 was keenly felt, and ])laced the school at a disadvantage with others 
 which were developing in growing young cities like Chicago. 
 
 (Jn the faculty of this school were some strong and able men. and 
 it is likely that the teaching was done in a satisfactory manner. 
 
 Samuel .\<lams, who taught chemistry, jxissesscd a wide education 
 and was a successful, e.\|)erienced teacher. David Prince was a jiro- 
 gressive surgeon and a good teacher. Daniel .Stahl was a man of wide 
 culture, of e.xtensive education, and fond of teaching. Edward Mead, with 
 his scholarly habits and complete education ;it home anil aliru.-id, was a
 
 18 
 
 strong member of the group of enthusiastic j'oung professors. Persistent 
 agitation by those connected with the medical department of Illinois 
 College was largely responsible for the establishment of the first state 
 institution for the insane in Illinois. In this Edward Mead took a 
 leading part. 
 
 In the remote country town of Jacksonville, of about 2,500 inhabi- 
 tants, with its college atmosphere, conditions must have been very 
 favorable for the teaching of the fundamental branches of medicine.^" 
 
 Fig. 6.— Medical De| 
 
 College, erected in 1844. 
 
 MEDICAL DEPARTMENT OF ILLINOIS COLLEGE, 
 
 JACKSONVILLE, ILLINOIS 
 
 1843-1848 
 
 Students, 102 Graduates, 43 
 
 F.^CULTV 
 Anatomy : 
 
 1843-1845. David Prince, Payson, Illinois. 
 1845-1847. John L. Miller. 
 
 Chemistry : 
 
 1843-1848. Samuel Adams, Jacksonville, Illinois. 
 Materia Medica and Therapeutics : 
 
 1843-184S. Samuel Adams. 
 
 1845-1846. Edward Mead, St. Charles, Illinois. 
 
 1847-1848. Henry Wing. Collinsville, Illinois. 
 
 " Black, Carl E.: Illinois College Medical School. Bull. Soc. Med. Hist, of Chicago, 1913. 
 1, p. 171. Personal communications from Dr. Carl E. Black.
 
 19 
 
 Surgery : 
 
 1843-1848. David Prince. 
 Obstetrics and Diseases of Women and Children: 
 
 1843-184^. Henry Jones. 
 Practice ot Medicine : 
 
 1843-1844. Daniel Stahl, Ottawa, Illinois. 
 
 1845-1848. John James. 
 
 RISH MEDKAL COLLEGE a84J TO PRESENT D.\TE) 
 
 An act to incorporate Rush Medical College was passed by the Illinois 
 (General Assembly at \'andalia. March 2. 1837." An outline of the early 
 history of Rush Medical College is given by Daniel Brainard in an 
 introductory address in 1855.'* He says: 
 
 The first idea of the establishment of a medical college in Chicago dates 
 back as far as 1836. In the .\utumn of that year, in connection with the late 
 J. C. Goodhue of Rockford in this State, then a resident of the City. I drew 
 the act of incorporation and had it presented to the Legislature, at its session 
 in \'andalia, the subsequent winter. The application for a charter had been 
 made in good faith, and with the full expectation of immediately organizing 
 an institution under it, but the revulsion which took place in business in 1837, 
 fell with blighting influence upon private and public enterprises alike, and 
 some of those, who, the year before, had the means and the disposition to aid 
 and handsomely endow the institution, here found themselves without the means 
 of supporting their own families. The plan for the immediate organization 
 was therefore dropped, and no action took place under the charter before 
 the summer of 1843. 
 
 The only reason discovered for the selection of Rush as patron saint 
 of the institution is stiggested in a letter from the widow of A. W. 
 Davisson, who was demonstrator of anatomy in the original Rush 
 faculty. She says: "When the question of a name for the college was 
 discussed, it was decided to name it after Dr. Benjamin Rush of Phila- 
 delphia, then deceased, in hope of his heirs handsomely remembering it. 
 However at that time, they received no more titan a letter of thanks." 
 Brainard does not appear to have especially insisted on the name, and 
 later was inclined to drop it, as in 1854, when he published in Paris his 
 "Memoire sur le traitement des fractures non reunies et des diffoniiities 
 des OS," he placed after his name as author "Professeur de chirurgie au 
 college medical de L'lllinois, a Chicago." etc. In 1853. he reported to 
 the Paris Academy of Science the results nf his cxjieriments on the 
 
 «• Private 1.2WS of Illinois. 1873. pp. 233-235. 
 
 » North-WMiem MnJ. & Surg. Jour.. 1855. 12. p. 537.
 
 20 
 
 poison of the rattle snake, as "Professor de chirnrgie an College niedicale 
 de Chicago (Illinois)." Also in his introdnctory address of 1855, he 
 speaks of "The Medical College of Chicago." The name Rnsh, how- 
 ever, continued to be attached to the college ever afterward. 
 
 The men who are given as trustees in the act of incorporation com- 
 prised a strong group. They were some of the most able and successful 
 of the citizens of Chicago. Eight were lawyers, half of whom became 
 judges and one a governor of Illinois. Three were physicians, 2 clergy- 
 men, and 4 prominent business men. Without exception, these men were 
 leaders. They were the men who were most active in all public enter- 
 prises and most influential in directing the political, educational, religious 
 and financial affairs of Chicago and Illinois. Being men of education 
 and culture, they appreciated the appeal of Brainard in his effort to 
 establish a medical school which should furnish physicians of a desirable 
 type to the rapidly growing city and country. Sketches are given of 
 the 3 physicians who were trustees : Josiah C. Goodhue, Edmund S. 
 Kimberly, John T. Temple. 
 
 During 1839-1841, Brainard was in Paris preparing himself for his 
 future career as teacher and waiting for conditions to improve so that 
 the school might be organized under favorable circumstances. In Alay, 
 1842, Brainard was appointed to fill the chair of anatomy in St. Louis 
 University where he gave two courses of lectures. There he met Dr. 
 J. V. Z. Blaney, who was later one of the original faculty of Rush 
 Medical College. 
 
 In the summer of 1843, circumstances seem to have forced the 
 organization of the school at Chicago. In a letter to John McLean, dated 
 Oct. 10, 1843, Brainard wrote : "I think it urgent there should be a 
 commencement made this season. By commencing at present a number 
 of students might be prevented from going from this region to other 
 places and thus give advantages to other schools." See Fig. 26. p. 73.) 
 Thus impelled by the issue of prospectuses for courses of lectures by 
 the schools at LaPorte and St. Charles, Brainard determined to inaug- 
 tirate his school. His judgment of the advantages of Chicago over the 
 other places as a location for a medical school was soon confirmed by 
 the acute foresight of Daniel Drake. During the summer of 1844, Drake 
 visited Chicago for the purjxjse of collecting material for his work on 
 "Diseases of the Mississippi ^'alley." He did not think LaPorte, Jack- 
 sonville, and St. Charles places where flourishing medical colleges could
 
 21 
 
 l>e Iniilt. i Ic ciiiisiiltTfil tliat west of 1 Vmisylvmiia and New NUrk. k-a\- 
 iiifj out i>f view tlie towns on or near tlic ( )hio, tlic three points favoring 
 and requiring inetlical schools were St. Louis. Cliicago and Cleveland.-" 
 
 During the summer, the faculty was orjjanized. and Icclures were 
 instituted, Dec. 4, 1843. 
 
 The faculty consisted ol Daniel I'.rainard. Chicai,'o. ])rofesMir of 
 anatomv and surtjerv : |:i^. \ . /.. lUaiuy. C'hica!,'ii, c!iemisn\ and materia 
 medica : |ohn .McLean, Jackson. Midi., medicim- ; .Moses L. Kna])]), 
 
 p.:(ti;(^<^rj|i;ijpj^ij/iii]j^U«ftfiii|feif^^^ 
 
 Fig. 7. — Rush Miciical CuUcgi- 
 
 Springfield, 111., obstetrics and diseases of women and cliildren, and 
 A. W. Davisson, prosector. 
 
 The lectures were given to 22 students in the "srdoon" huildini,'. 
 southeast corner of Clark and Lake streets. There was one graduate. 
 The population of Chicago was then about 7, .^00. 
 
 Because of the forcing of i'.raiiiard's band, tlie preiiaraliniis for tlie 
 first course of lectures were made in haste and very iniperfectl\ , Imt 
 ])lans were rapidly carried into execution to correct the defects. Durinj,' 
 
 »' nl. Med. & SuTg. Jciiir.. 1844, 1. p. 135.
 
 22 
 
 the summer of 1844, a college building was erected at 77 and 79 N. 
 Dearborn Street, the southeast corner of Indiana Street, at a cost of 
 about $3,500, and the second course of lectures was conducted under 
 much improved conditions.'-' (See Fig. 7, p. 21.) 
 
 That the school had the support of influential people is indicated by 
 
 Brainard's statement : 
 
 We are proud to say that in the undertaking we have been aided and 
 cheered by the smiles and encouragement of those whose sympathy and good 
 opinion we most highly value. Persons distinguished for their intelligence, 
 and their works of charity, their social virtue, and their wealth, have not 
 
 ^Share8|M:| chicaqq. ii-Lmois. ^^^^^ 
 BE IT »NOW», Ti,at /^^ J( 4-/e/a^,.4^ 
 
 . ■iil},il i„ ,/f„r^/^ /—, ,hare f in Iht Ca/iifiil SloA of Ike Bush Medical College, 
 
 ii"i friiich Fifty Dalian ■<« ■■„ I, ,l„irt l,a- btrit ynri ; Iraiujirabtt on llit Ifxiki of Ih Board uf Trusleet of laid 
 
 Colleisf. at ll,e Scrrelary's OJfo, in Choaxu. i,/ x'^<A ^. KJfdx'/t,. ^ 
 
 or /f<y^ Altormy n„ ll„ „i,„,ul,r „j lliis nrlifnoh. 
 
 Ig WllneiS Whereof, Ihe ngnalurei of the President and Secretary of the 
 floanl of Trntlen of mid VMgt an hereunto affixed, al Chicago, Ihii 
 
 t/iiA A- ^ — •Ian of ./linn.^AjKLYi 
 
 A- U. 18V^< 
 
 ./^.c,*^ 
 
 
 ^ ^ Prt4 
 
 Fig. 8. — Stock certificate of Rush Medical College. 
 
 ceased to give us the support of their good wishes, their advice, and in case 
 of need, of more substantial aid. 
 
 When the second course of lectures was begun, the faculty had been 
 strengthened by the addition of Graham N. Fitch, Logansport, Ind. ; 
 Austin Flint, Buffalo, N. Y., and Wm. B. Herrick, serving respectively 
 in obstetrics and diseases of woinen and children, medicine, and 
 anatomy. Moses L. Knapp had been dropped. The following year the 
 faculty received an addition in John Evans of Attica, Ind. In 1849. 
 Thomas Spencer and N. S. Davis were added to the faculty. 
 
 =1 The first ImiKliiic of Rush Medical College was erected on land donated by Walter L. 
 Newberry. Tli> ^ Ov( r, Wm. L. Ogden and Arthur Bronson. They also gave $500 toward 
 the buildii'ig. 1 Im v w, n mlluential men and interested in real estate north of the river and 
 save the land as ,iii iiidnmnent for the school to locate on the north side. Others on the north 
 side and on the soutli sule also subscribed "liberallv." The balance of money was made up bv 
 the faculty members. (Letter Blaney to McLean. July 17. 1844.)
 
 23 
 
 Bv 1S5U. Chicago's iKipulation liad ymwii u< 2S.2<>'^. ami the city 
 school with lietter clinical advantages liatl oiitrnn the country schools. 
 Rush Medical Collcfje alone reniaine<l in the field. The other schools 
 had discontinued or movetl away. L'p to this tiinc, 132 had {graduated 
 from Rush, and during the 7 years, ^M students had been in attendance. 
 
 The early j;raduates of Rush hecanie prominent, successful practi- 
 tioners through the adjacent country, and later were prominent in the 
 organization of medical societies. 
 
 In the summer of 1849. when N. S. Uavis was elected a ])rofessor in 
 Rush Medical College, the movement for reform in .\merican medical 
 e<iucation was well under way. Davis had been the originator of the 
 plan and an active agent in 1846 in putting into operation the National 
 Medical Association, which soon developed into the .American Medical 
 Association. One factor which interfered with the ai)])lication of the 
 measures for improvement of medical education was the increased 
 expense to students. In February, 1849, .\le.\ander H. Stevens, who 
 was president of the American Medical .Association and the New York 
 State Medical Society, delivered his annual address before the New 
 York State Society on ".V Plea of Humanity in Behalf of Medical 
 Education." in which he urged the state to assume the burden of expense 
 for the education of medical students on the ground that the service of 
 medicine to the state was very large and that the e.xjjcnse of medical 
 education and equipment for practice was very great. -- 
 
 When Davis delivered the introductory address at Rush Medical 
 College in the autumn of 1849, he laid emjjhasis on "the inordinate 
 exjiense imjMised on the student"' as one obstacle in the way of a more 
 thorough and complete system of medical education.-^ 
 
 This compelled many to resort to those country schools in which 
 lecture fees and board were cheapest, and to graduate at the earliest 
 practicable moment. The expenses were also entirely out of proportion 
 to the emoluments afterward resulting from practice, 7 to 10 years of 
 the average practitioner's life being required to regain the amount 
 sacrilied in time and money to acquire a knowledge of his profession. 
 At this time, Davis announced that Rush Medical College contemplated 
 the entire altolition of the professor's ticket fees and that at that session 
 the tickets for 3 chairs were given without charge. 
 
 = .\nnual addrcM delivered before the Kew York Slate Medical Society an.1 members of 
 the le«i<lalure at the Capital. Feb. 6, 1849. by Alevander H. Stevens. Albany. 1S-J9. 
 * Northwestern Med. St Surg. Jour.. 11*4'). 6. \>. 365.
 
 24 
 
 The movement to reduce students' fees was met liv acrid criticism 
 from many schools which drew students from the central district, but 
 was ably defended by the ready pen of the young reformer. Another 
 innovation was introduced in 1849 by Rush Medical College. It was 
 announced that a demonstrator of anatomy would be selected on merit. 
 This was to be determined by a written application with testimonials, 
 by dried or wet preparations in human or comparative anatomy, and by 
 a dissection and demonstration before the faculty of a region of the 
 body assigned by lot among the candidates. This appears to be the 
 first instance of the use in the United States of a public concourse for 
 the selection of a medical teacher. This method of free competition was 
 strongly advocated by Brainard. and was in active operation in Rush 
 Medical College for many years.-* 
 
 While the "anatomical question" may have been a factor in deter- 
 mining the discontinuance of the schools outside of Chicago, much more 
 influence was exerted by the inability of the country schools to secure 
 adequate clinical material. Located in a rapidly growing city with more 
 available material resources at hand, a permanent resident faculty soon 
 developed at Rush Medical College. Such a faculty was able to secure 
 the foundation of hospitals whose facilities were available for teaching 
 students. The opportunities and advantages of the city school were 
 such as to attract the more able and ambitious teachers and the f onnation 
 and operation of medical schools in smaller places became less attractive 
 and more difficult. 
 
 RUSH MEDICAL COLLEGE, CHICAGO. ILLINOIS 
 
 1843-1850 
 
 Students, 532 Graduates, 132 
 
 FACULTY 
 Anatomy : 
 
 1843-1844. Daniel Brainard, Chicago, Illinois. 
 1844- William B. Herrick, Chicago, Illinois. 
 
 Chemistry and Pharmacy : 
 
 1843- .las. Van Zandt Blaney, Chicago, Illinois. 
 Materia Medica and Therapeutics : 
 
 1843-1844. Jas. Van Zandt Blaney. 
 
 1844- John McLean, Jackson, Michigan. 
 
 =• Ibid., 1850, 6, p. 457.
 
 25 
 
 Surgery : 
 
 1843- Daniel Brainard. 
 
 Obstetrics and Diseases of Women and Children : 
 
 lS43-184-t. Moses L. Knapp, Waynesville, Illinois. 
 1844-1845. Graham N'. Fitch. Longansport. Indiana. 
 1845- John Evans. .-Xttica, Indiana. 
 
 Practice of Medicine : 
 
 1843-1844. John McLean. 
 
 1844-1&45. Austin Flint. ButTalo. New York. 
 
 1845-1849. Graham X. Fitch. 
 
 1849-1850. Thomas Spencer. Syracuse. New York. 
 
 Physiology and Pathologj- : 
 
 1849- Xathan S. Davis. Chicago, Illinois. 
 
 Prosector of Anatomy : 
 
 1843-1845. A. \V. Davisson. Chicago. Illinois. 
 1845-1846. J. Herman Bird. 
 
 Demonstrator of .\natomy : 
 
 1848-1849. J. B. Herrick. Vandalia, Illinois. 
 
 ROlK ISL.AXD MKDIC.AL SCHOOL i l!<481849) COLLEGE OF PHYSICI.WS 
 AND SLRGEOXS OF THE VPPEK MISSISSIPPI U8491850) 
 
 In 1848, the Madison Medical College was incorporated by the 
 W isconsin legislature. In its chaii^er, power was granted to create a 
 branch, and this was exercised in the organization of the Rock Island 
 Medical School at Rock Island. 111."' 
 
 The Madison Medical College seems never to have done any business 
 at Madison. The Rock Island Branch was its only activity. It is likely 
 that the organization was effected in this way because a charter was 
 easier to secure from the newly organized legislature of Wisconsin than 
 in Illinois. 
 
 The incorporators were Geo. W. Richards. Moses I.. Knaj)]), 
 Giandler B. Chapman, John V. Smith, Richard S. Maloney and 
 Nathaniel W. Dean. The first three were on the faculty of the Rock 
 Island School, the others being laymen. Knapp had held a position on 
 the original Rush faculty, and both he and Richards had recentlv severed 
 their connection with the school at LaPorte. The faculty- of the Rock 
 
 " Lotbrop. Cha«. H.: Mtd. & Surg. Dircctun- of the Stale of Inwa; Lvoik. Iow.t. isr6. 
 p. 129. Knapp. M. L.: Addrfss driivrrrd at llic Opening of the R. ck Island Mrtlical School. 
 Nov. 7. 1848. Chicago. 1849.
 
 24 
 
 The movement to reduce students' fees was met by acrid criticism 
 from many schools which drew students from the central district, but 
 was ably defended by the ready pen of the young reformer. Another 
 innovation was introduced in 1849 by Rush Medical College. It was 
 announced that a demonstrator of anatomy would be selected on merit. 
 This was to be determined by a written application with testimonials, 
 by dried or wet preparations in human or comparative anatomy, and by 
 a dissection and demonstration before the faculty of a region of the 
 body assigned by lot among the candidates. This appears to be the 
 first instance of the use in the United States of a public concourse for 
 the selection of a medical teacher. This method of free competition was 
 strongly advocated by Brainard, and was in active operation in Rush 
 Medical College for many years.-* 
 
 While the "anatomical question" may have been a factor in deter- 
 mining the discontinuance of the schools outside of Chicago, much more 
 influence was exerted by the inability of the country schools to secure 
 adequate clinical material. Located in a rapidly growing city with more 
 available material resources at hand, a permanent resident faculty soon 
 developed at Rush Medical College. Such a faculty was able to secure 
 the foundation of hospitals whose facilities were available for teaching 
 students. The opportunities and advantages of the city school were 
 such as to attract the more able and ambitious teachers and the fonnation 
 and operation of medical schools in smaller places became less attractive 
 and more difficult. 
 
 RUSH MEDICAL COLLEGE, CHICAGO, ILLINOIS 
 
 1843-1850 
 
 Students, 532 Graduates, 132 
 
 F.^CULTV 
 Anatomy : 
 
 1843-1844. Daniel Brainard, Chicago, Illinois. 
 1844- William B. Herrick, Chicago, Illinois. 
 
 Chemistry and Pharmacy: 
 
 1843- Jas. Van Zandt Blaney, Chicago, Illinois. 
 Materia Medica and Therapeutics : 
 
 1843-1844. Jas. Van Zandt Blaney. 
 
 1844- John McLean, Jackson, Michigan. 
 
 =' Ibid., 1850, 6, p. 457.
 
 25 
 
 Surgery : 
 
 1843- Daiiiil Hraiiiard. 
 
 Obstetrics and Diseases of Wmneii ami C'liihireii : 
 
 1843- 1S44. Moses L. Knapp, Waynesville. Illinois. 
 IS4-4-1S-45. (iraliam N. Fitcli, LoiiKaiisport, Indiana. 
 1845- John Kvans. .Attica, Indiana. 
 
 Practice of Medicine : 
 
 1843-1844. John McLean. 
 
 1844-184.=;. .Viistin Flint. HulTalo, New York. 
 
 I845-I84'>. Graham \. Fitch. 
 
 1849-1850. Thomas Spencer, Syracuse, .\e\v ^'ork. 
 
 Physiology and Pathology : 
 
 1849- N'athan S. Davis, Chicago, Illinois. 
 
 Prosector of .-\natoiny : 
 
 184J-1845. .\. W. Davisson, Chicago, Illinois. 
 1845-1846. J. Herman Bird. 
 
 Demonstrator of .Anatomy : 
 
 1848-1849. J. B. Herrick. \andalia, Illinois. 
 
 KOI K ISL.AXD MKDKAL SCHOOL ( lS48-lS-t9) COLLEGE OF PHVSICL\.NS 
 .■\.\D SCRGEONS OF THE IPPER MISSISSIPPI 084918501 
 
 In 1848, the Madison .Mi-diial College was incorporated by tlie 
 W isconsin legislature. In its charter, power was granted to create a 
 branch, and this was exercised in the organization of the Rock Island 
 Medical School at Rock Island, 111.-"' 
 
 The Madison Medical College seems never to have done any business 
 at Madison. The Rock Island Branch was its only activity. It is likely 
 that the organization was efl'ccted in this way because a charter was 
 easier to secure from the newly organized legislature of \\'isciiiisin than 
 in Illinois. 
 
 The incor|)orators were (ieo. W. Richards, Moses L. Kna])p, 
 Chandler B. Chapman, John V. Smith, Richard S. Maloney and 
 Nathaniel W. Dean. The first three were on the faculty of the Rock 
 Island School, the others being laymen. Knapp had held a position on 
 the original Rush faculty, and both he and Richards had recently severed 
 their connection with tiie school at I-aPorte. The faculty of the Rock 
 
 ■ l/oihrop. C\as. H.: MkI. & Surg. Directory of Ihc St.iic of Iowa: Lyoin. To»a. 1876. 
 p. 129. Knapp. M. L.: .Addrrss ddiverrd at the Opening of the Rock Island Medical School. 
 Nov. 7. 1848, Chicago, 1849.
 
 28 
 
 One of the early graduates of this school was John F. Dillon, who 
 attended the course at Rock Island and graduated at Davenport in 1850. 
 He later entered the legal jnofession, was circuit judge for 10 \-ears, and 
 
 (vVW- t Y^^ *^/*»'-^ Wvx.^ v.H^ \Hi4iti»l">Aaj.V!;< 'lu Ivti'uu o IW\v 
 \nt ^ oa^ ;Su»v \\\Vi i\i\xJ. ^«^ '&\ 111 ' <»^ W ^V.U ^!^lV^ ^\ui. 1*4, 
 
 
 Fig. :0.— Letter to G. A. Bunker from G. W. Richards, Oct. 4, 1850. 
 
 finally accepted the professorship of law in Columbia University, New 
 York, in 1879. Speaking of the faculty of the early school, he said : 
 "The professors as a body were able men, some of them of great learn- 
 ing and even genius." Abler teachers than Prof. Richards who taught
 
 29 
 
 practice. Prof. Sanfurd who taught surgery and Prof, .\rmor who tauglit 
 physiology, it would have been difficult to liiid in the chairs of any con- 
 temporary medical institution." •'" 
 
 Of the graduates of this early school, many became e.xcellent ])racti- 
 tioners, and a few attained some prominence in the jirofession of the 
 surrounding territory. 
 
 ROCK 1SL.-\.\D MKDIC.\L SCHOOL (1848-49) 
 
 COLLEGE OF PHVSICI.WS .AND SURGEONS OF THE 
 
 UPPER MISSISSIPPI (1849-50) 
 
 1848-1850 
 Studonts. 4<) Graduates. 43 
 
 FACILTV 
 .^natom\ : 
 
 1848-1849. W". S. Pierce, Rock Island, Illinois. 
 I849-I850. Chandler B. Chapman, Madison, Wisconsin. 
 
 Chemistry and Pharmacy : 
 
 1848-1849. Calvin Goudv, Tavlorville. Illinois. 
 1849-1850. Orpheus Everts. 
 
 Materia Medica and Therapeutics : 
 
 1848-1850. Moses L. Knapp, Chicago, Illinois. 
 Physiology, Pathology and Medical Jurisprudence : 
 
 1848-1850. S. G. Armor, Rockford, Illinois. 
 Surgery : 
 
 1848-1849. Chandler B. Chapman. Madison, Wisconsin. 
 
 1849-1850. John F. Sanford, Farmington, Iowa. 
 
 Obstetrics and Diseases of Women and Children : 
 
 1848-1850. John F. Sanford, Farmington, Iowa. 
 Practice of Medicine : 
 
 1848-185C. George W. Richards, St. Charles, Illinois. 
 Demonstrator of Anatomy: 
 
 1848-1849. Orpheus Everts, Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. 
 
 1849-1850. J. D. Fisher. 
 
 As regards courses of instruction, requirements for graduation and 
 fees, there was great uniformity among these schools, and they cor- 
 responded to those in vogue in the eastern schools of the period. Raising 
 of fees or lengthening the time occupied by the course of study beyond 
 
 =• l..wa Mrd. Jour.. 1908. p. .107.
 
 30 
 
 those adopted by neighlxjring schools were avoided as tending to turn 
 prospective students to the rivals. 
 
 The common requirements for graduation were: (1) age of 21 
 years; (2) good moral character; (3) three years of study under a 
 preceptor and attendance on two courses of lectures, the last of which 
 must be in the institution ( it was usual to accept several years of practice 
 as equivalent to one course of lectures) ; (4) a thesis; (5) payment of 
 fees in advance. 
 
 In its first catalog, the Medical School of Illinois College required a 
 competent acquaintance with the Latin language, but omitted it subse- 
 quently. The formality of a final examination was usually insisted on. 
 
 The fees for a course of lectures were $10 for each professor, or a 
 total of $60, together w4th a matriculation fee of $5 and a graduation 
 fee of $20. In each school, the dissection fee was $5, but it was always 
 optional. 
 
 The payment of fees was often made by signing notes which were 
 assigned to the individual professors and later paid from the proceeds of 
 practice. This appears to have been quite general. In the announcement 
 of its second session in 1849-50. the College of Physicians and Surgeons 
 of the Upper Mississippi states that : "The Professors will conform to the 
 usage in neighboring schools, in receiving the obligation of such students 
 as cannot conveniently pay cash down," but "the matriculation and 
 graduation fee must be cash down." In the catalog of Illinois College 
 for 1847, it appears: "No young man will be excluded from the 
 privileges of this institution for want of means to pay for his ticket in 
 advance. But we trust that those who have friends or relations, who 
 are alale to help them, will always esteem it more honorable to be in 
 debt to those friends than to a public institution." The catalog of the 
 Indiana Medical College in 1846-47 states that "Payment in advance 
 is expected from all who can raise the means. Those who cannot need 
 not stay away; the professors will at discretion extend to them credit." 
 In the catalog of Rush Medical College for 1847-48, it is stated : "A 
 credit of twelve months will be given for half the Professors' Tickets 
 if secured by a joint note, bearing interest." 
 
 The money secured for matriculation and graduation seems to have 
 been reserved to cover the running expenses of the schools. The 
 immediate remuneration of the teachers was derived from the lecture fee 
 of $10, which was paid each professor by the student. When the student 
 paid his fee to the professor, he was given a ticket for the course. These
 
 31 
 
 tickets were can- fully iireserved and were often kept l)y the men wiio 
 received tlieni as lun^ as tliey lived. (See l''i{;. 11. ]). .M, and l-'it;. 12, 
 ]). .>3. ) in the case of those teachers wiio traveled some distance from 
 home to give their lectures and who ahandoned their ])ractice for the 
 l)eriod, the remuneration does not seem very large. It was liecause of 
 the inadeiiuate pay that I'lint tantjht niilx mie \ear in l\nsl\ Medical 
 
 
 r^) 
 
 '<f > 
 
 olnivrrcili) « iiu !Jiiiltiit/>rU>narij 
 
 "'/' '/ 
 
 "T 
 
 ANATOMY* PHYSIOLOKV 
 
 '^ J-lmbrreiti) .^riv "Watr^t J }ni> 1 Im 1; -' 
 
 ■ "; - //^ O; , /^„.^.,. Or/ '. /' 
 
 itliciiiiilni 4ii» jUjItru .<llc»u 
 
 J:<;^5 J)l)I?»lt(iin0 «: siirotona, 'v!^ 
 
 vO; '■'</1.17-/.£A-.,.VMVir/0.VY, W? 
 
 O: uj w'lu. .M.uier, .11. D. j*^:;- 
 
 
 l-r:..!!.-,. .J- n.v.lr .i.„l M„li, ;,| Ji,rt»|.nMl.-iirr 
 
 College, and Stahl hut a year at Jacksonville. ( iraliani .\. |-"itch. after 
 going from Logansport, Ind.. to Chicago for several years to lecture, 
 referred to it as "small ])otato business." The teaching positions were 
 much more valuable to the resident teachers, who v.'ere able to carry on 
 their private jiractice without intcrru])tion. These factors operated 
 against the country school.
 
 32 
 
 The length of the term of instruction in each school was 16 weeks, 
 beginning November 1 in three, and December 1 in one. The time 
 occupied by the course of lectures was so arranged as to come during 
 the part of the year when the work on the farm was least exacting, 
 since most of the students were farmers' sons. Preliminary and spring 
 courses were sometimes given but did not count for graduation. 
 
 The facuhies consisted of from 5 to 7 professors. The designation 
 of the chairs and combinations of subjects in various chairs differed 
 somewhat among the schools. In general, the chairs were medicine, 
 surgery, anatomy, chemistry, materia medica and therapeutics, obstetrics 
 and diseases of women and children, and physiology. Often anatomy 
 and surgery were united in one chair. Medical jurisprudence might be 
 placed with materia medica and therapeutics. Physiology and pathology 
 were usually placed together and with them medical jurisprudence was 
 sometimes coupled. The faculty always ended with a "Demonstrator 
 of Anatomy," whose function was to secure subjects for dissection as 
 well as to aid in the practical study of anatomy. 
 
 Most members of the faculties did not live where their schools were 
 located. They came to the schools for a few weeks, gave their lectures 
 and returned home to resume their practice for the rest of the year. 
 A migratory faculty of this sort had been common everywhere in this 
 country, and the permanent resident faculty only became established as 
 the country schools were displaced by schools in cities. 
 
 The material equipment of a school of the character indicated was 
 not elaborate. Rooms for lectures, a suitable dissecting room, and a 
 chemical laboratory of a simple sort comprised about all that was needed 
 as regards buildings. At Jacksonville, most of the teaching was done in a 
 small two-story frame building, known as the "medical Iniilding." Init 
 some classes were held in the other college buildings. 
 
 At LaPorte, Chicago and Jacksonville, special buildings were erected 
 for the medical schools. Buildings and rooms were leased for the 
 medical school at Rock Island and Davenport. 
 
 The departments of anatomy were usually ])rovided with charts, and 
 dissected preparations for purposes of demonstration, "cabinets" of 
 chemicals, minerals, etc., are spoken of in the announcements. Free 
 dispensaries and clinics of ambulatory cases were utilized for clinical 
 teaching. The material was necessarily limited in quantity and variety, 
 and the supply depended largely on the reputation of the professor who 
 treated the patients. With poor and slow transportation, cases could not 
 be brouijht anv considerable distance.
 
 33 
 
 Dissecting material in aluimlance was n>iially ailvcrtised in the 
 announcements. The anatomy i|nestion was always a tmuhlesnnie one in 
 the earlier me<lical schiH)ls in America, as it had l)een in I-"<linl>urj,'h and 
 London. In 1S44. .Xnstin Flint, speakin-,' of the difhculty of secnring 
 inidies for dissection, said: 
 
 L, _ - --. -~~- - 
 
 ■ •ft •<«■.. 1 <«iiit<. 
 
 
 «j ;M«««fMc«l»ie*ntir. 
 
 
 ; M..t J«ttl..l <.M . 
 
 " _ ; -■■-'■ ■ ■ ■»-*_ - 
 
 vmiKH iii;iiii\» 1 111:1: vri:i Til- 
 
 - ' ;■ '•" 
 
 C_?i±;;w; is:?^::.-... 
 
 
 ~Pi;iNCII>LCr. AND PRACTICE 
 
 ■^ V •» • ••'>>» m „ 
 
 
 *i TVgaAt trtX'n « » 
 
 ^ •-"..*, "xl.. » -. : 
 
 
 
 "'— A«^_ •. 
 
 
 
 Kisii \\\:w\\. M.I. M.I, 1, 
 
 INSTITUTES ANO PRACTICE 
 
 1.' ^H 'II.IMI il. 1 11:. 1 l.'l. 
 
 
 ■ r S'J-\y -J- 
 
 liXC-jTirs; til t jisTXj-jac; 
 
 -; BBIIOIXC: 
 
 tW^S 1^ VXV^QIKX. 
 
 lltttlil H tl«il 111 CIIIHII 
 
 '•• ^.r^...^^ 
 
 
 JilH\ tl\\> ■* 11 
 
 
 
 Iiiiai} <|iictiii.ii 6«iita(. 
 
 It ti g 1) f n 1 9 1 c .1 1 c 1 1 1 n r < 
 
 Jl'ir:2I UXJiSUJ^h UbXXXAX 
 
 i.ZZZ-T.-J.- 
 
 
 11 ■lUK. £ OK IKSinUICS 
 
 ^ a ^ -.^ .:> _! ^ .. 
 
 
 
 
 v^vt^\tv*\ ^v^\t\iikV 
 
 ». Jw^_ _ 
 
 
 
 «^.'- 
 
 
 '■ ^ 
 
 _ 
 
 
 
 il«at JM(»f(al Coiitoi- 
 
 imaQ itlrVUai College. 
 
 .UHaij <« tBir .11 eniir^r. 
 
 '™=""".'-'"" 
 
 """"'■,'"■'"" 
 
 _i .i -J" J i d J i .i -.y J i> ..» 
 
 • ■aaiavav. 
 
 ■ ■0Boaa». 
 
 Ill m:t 
 
 
 ..,-„ 
 
 ''• . >.jr^^ ^«My., 
 
 »- . . 
 
 
 .4 /;5 *« iLK~- 
 
 ^^^\.... ,. , 
 
 
 — ' . . '. --f ■ 
 
 The position which legislation generally sustains at present toward this 
 suliject is truly anomalous. In its requirements tor ample knowledge and 
 its penalties fur ignorance and mal practice, in effect, it holds the following 
 language to the medical student and practitioner: "You must not fail to 
 make yourself acquainted with the construction of the human machine, com- 
 posed of a multitude of parts, comhined, and variously involved with each 
 other; and if you arc not found thoroughly conversant with this intricate 
 pursuit, you render yourselves liable to heavy damage* in .n civil suit ;" hut
 
 34 
 
 it coiitiiuies in the next section to hold forth, "do not dare to study the consti- 
 tution of the human body, and the operation of its organs and functions, if 
 you would avoid the pain of punishment by fine and imprisonment.*' 
 
 Realizing that practical anatomy could only be learned with the aid 
 of careful dissection of human bodies, conscientious teachers of anatomy 
 everywhere in this covmtry saw that the required material was secured. 
 In doing this, they exposed themselves to annoyance and often to 
 personal dangers. 
 
 In 1770, the house of Dr. Shippen of Philadelphia was attacked by 
 a mob and the windows broken because of the report that the church 
 burying-groimd had been despoiled to furnish material for his private 
 class in anatomy. In New York, a century later, the report of stolen 
 bodies precipitated a mob attack on the dissecting room of Columbia 
 College, with riots lasting two or three days. 
 
 Scandals connected with securing anatomical material also appeared 
 in the West. At Cincinnati, the culmination was reached when the 
 body of John Scott Harrison, son of Wra. Henry Harrison, and father 
 of Benjamin Harrison, was found in the dissecting room of the Medical 
 College of Ohio. 
 
 Our pioneer schools also had similar experiences. At St. Charles, 
 the house of Geo. W. Richards was visited by a mob, organized to secure 
 the body of a young woman stolen by his students. At Jacksonville, a 
 similar visit to the luedical building was made by a mob intent on finding 
 the disinterred Ijody of a governor (Duncan). At Rock Island also 
 there was "excitement." 
 
 In the earlier days, the student was usually expected to seciu-e his 
 own subject, and was aided in this by his associates and the demonstra- 
 tors and perhaps by the professor of anatomy. Later, when established 
 medical schools created a demand for subjects for dissection, the pro- 
 curing and disposing of bodies passed into the hands of certain persons 
 who followed this as a profession, and were known as "resurrectionists." 
 The price paid for bodies was from $10 to $23. 
 
 Fearless men such as Daniel Meeker, David Prince, and Ceo. W. 
 Richards were needed to carry out the anatomical program in ])rimitive 
 conditions. 
 
 The tales told by the partici])ants have been lurid, sometimes over- 
 colored, but in fact they sometimes equaled the vivid descriptions of 
 R. L. Stevenson in the "Body Snatcher." 
 
 » Reciprocal Duties .ind Obligations of the Medical Profession and the Public, introductory 
 lecture delivered at Rush Medical College. Chicago, 1844.
 
 35 
 
 \\ ill) tlie apiwrent piiriK)se of ilivi-rting piiMic attention in mi tlic 
 local origin of subjects tor dissection. Ijotli tlie I-al'orte and Jacksonville 
 schools in their circulars stated tiiat an ample supply of sui>jects was 
 obtained from "abroad," and in the circular of his Practical Sciiool for 
 Anatomy and Surgery at Madison. \\ is., C. B. Chapman urged early 
 ai){ilication in order "to give time to provide material before tile close 
 of navigation." 
 
 rlRCI'LAR AND CATALilClE 
 
 F.\CILTY -VND STUDE.NTS 
 
 COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS 
 
 IVE8TERS DISTRICT OF THI STATE OF KEW TORS. 
 
 IRFIELD, nEREIMER CorKTV. 
 
 E. w. A r. (KiiniEK. 
 
 
 CATALOGUE 
 
 
 Tl<I^^TI,■l:« 
 
 ;. ut I'll i:ks tKii 
 
 vriiiir.\TS 
 
 l\ll||\l 
 
 \if:«inL 
 
 niiiUF. 
 
 
 ^awuon int- 
 
 ■■'■ 
 
 • 
 
 LA FORTE i> 
 
 • • I 
 
 ISS8 
 
 Fig. 13 
 IJ anij 14. — Title itage;. uf calalugs 
 
 :d liy the medical ^.-huols 
 
 The lirst state to provide a law giving the bodies of persons unclaimed 
 by friends to recognized medical institutit)ns was Mas.sachusetts. This 
 was in 1830. The Pennsylvania law, passed in 18<S3. has served as a 
 mwlel for other states. The Illinois law was ])assed in 1885. These 
 laws could only be passed after repeated outrages to the feelings of the 
 public had brought it to accept such measures for self protection." 
 
 •• Bardecn. C. R.: Anatomv in .\mrrica. Bull. Univ. of Wis.. \o. 115. Madison. 190S. 
 Otto. Juettner. Daniel Drake and his followers. 1909. p. 392. Bardeen, C. R.. in Kelly. Ifoward 
 A.: Cyclopedia of .\iner. Med. Biography. 1912, 1. introduction p. XI. Morton and Wix>dbur»; 
 History of the Pennsylvania Hospital. Philadelphia, 1897. p. 493.
 
 36 
 
 The rivalry between these schtKils was acute. The field could not 
 permanently support all of them, and the struggle was for existence. In 
 the primitive conditions, the methods of combat were probably not always 
 refined. Evidence of this appears in the few available letters written by 
 teachers and students. As the reputation of the school and its professors, 
 as well as the remuneration of the teachers depended largely on the 
 number of men in attendance, competition for students was acute. Each 
 professor was expected to bring as many students as possible from his 
 region. During vacation, students were employed to round up prospec- 
 tive students and were paid by reduction or remission of their fees. 
 Some of the professors gave popular lectures in the country and so 
 helped to spread the reputation of their schools. 
 
 Annual announcements or catalogs were issued by each school. They 
 contained lists of trustees, faculty, and students. They described the 
 physical equipment of the school and its advantages. The cost of tickets 
 and of living was stated. A list of textbooks was added. In speaking 
 of similar publications l)y the medical schools of Cincinnati about the 
 same time, Juettner ^- said : "The announcements issued by the schools 
 impress the readers of today as being strangely at variance with the 
 unwritten laws of tact and taste. They read like an advertisement of a 
 merchant passing his wares." It is, however, to be rememljered that our 
 group of schools only followed the example of older ones farther east. 
 They made much of the buildings, "anatomical nniseums" and "cabinets." 
 (See Figs. 13, 14, 15, 16. 17, pp. 35, i7 and 38. ) 
 
 In 1847, the Indiana Medical College announced : 
 
 The faculty have been at great expense in importing a large English micro- 
 scope; and they now take pleasure in assuring the profession of the North 
 West that, hereafter, the students of this school, in their investigations in 
 Microscopic and Physiological Anatomy, will have the benefit of as perfect an 
 instrument as the students of any other similar institution in this country. 
 This will also enable the incumbents of the different chairs to push their 
 demonstrations, as occasion may require, far beyond the limits of natural 
 vision. 
 
 In 1845, the Medical Department of Dartmouth College also 
 annotmced that "the professor of Anatomy has received from Paris one 
 of Chevalier's best coinpovmd Achromatic Microscopes, with a magnify- 
 ing power which may be varied from 50 to 3,000 diameters, or nine 
 million areas." We may imagine that occasion did not often require the 
 use of these instruments. 
 
 s= Daniel Drake and his Followers, 1909, p. 212.
 
 37 
 
 Tlic ]iractice of delivering introiiuctury lectures hy meinl)ers of the 
 faculty at the bejiinning of sessions of medical sc1uk>1s was early estab- 
 lished as a custom in America, and jiersisted until recent times. These 
 addresses form an interesting [wrt of medical literature. They deal with 
 a wide variety of subjects and sometimes atYoril us a glimpse of the 
 authors which is not .secured otherwise. Many arc devoted to general 
 advice to the student. Some deal with |nircly scientific subjects. In 
 
 AN.MAL A.NXOLi.\CE.MENT 
 
 KU511 .MKDirAF. COI.I.KfiE, 
 
 SESSION IH>-I. 
 
 CHICAGO, 
 -ro AT THK DfJiOcaAT omciL 
 1«43. 
 
 Fig. 16 
 V the nu-.lic.il -.chot.ls. 
 
 many, much intimate historic information regarding the schools is 
 recorded which is not to be found in any other place. Especially note- 
 worthy are the introductory addresses by Benj. Rush, which comprise 
 a choice bit of American medical literature. 
 
 The custom of giving introductory lectures was fortunately ado|)ted 
 by the pioneer schools under consideration. Addresses written by 
 Brainard, Flint, Davis, Knajjp antl others furnish us with almost the 
 only accurate information we ix)ssess of the early days of the schools, 
 and give us an idea as to what the.se men attempted to do. They also 
 reveal something of the struggles, jealousies and rivalries of the schools.
 
 38 
 
 T(i this opening address the ])ublic was invited and welcomed. A 
 public address by a prominent man, perhaps a nonresident member of the 
 faculty, was doubtless an outstanding event in the small communities in 
 which the schools were located. In this way, the public was reliably 
 informed on matters of general medical interest and on the purposes 
 and aims of medical practice. The subjects for the addresses were 
 varied, and the presentation such as to appeal both to the medical student 
 
 CATALOKVB 
 
 OFFICERS AND STUDENTS 
 
 ILLINOIS COLLEGE. 
 
 FOR THE YEAR ENDING JUNE, 1844. 
 
 PRINTED AT THE •TELEGRAPH" OFFICE. 
 
 1644. 
 
 Fig. 17. — Title page of catalog issued by the medical schools. 
 
 and the layman. The student was given good advice as to his studies and 
 future practice. Different phases of medical history were presented, 
 including that of the institution itself. The most brazen forms of 
 quackery then flourished unopposed by any legal regulation of the prac- 
 tice of medicine. In many addresses, the evils and dangers of quackery 
 were dwelt on, and the students were urged to avoid any association with 
 such practice. A splendid address by Austin Flint was delivered at the
 
 39 
 
 oi>cning ut the sccimd session of Rush Mt-dical College in 1S44 on ilie 
 reciprocal duties and obligations of the medical profession and the 
 public." He tm)k occasion to insist that the ohligation of furnishing 
 
 •t»in«ru iTTit^ m fl«UKin»A 
 
 ■iwrii riorc»iii\ iMiricriit 
 
 SVSH MEDICAL COLUUiE 
 
 H*a iiiv..i utiiicM. j'-aixiu 
 
 M. L. IM»>». ••^I; 
 
 INTBODVCIORY LECTCaE. 
 
 AXrORD^ M », 
 
 FiK. IJ*. — Title pages of intro<lucl< 
 
 op|K>rtunity for pro]ier medical education tlrrough the estalilishment of 
 endowments for medical schools, hos|)itals. etc.. rested on the public 
 since the resulting benefits were to be enjoyed by it. He also urged that 
 
 " Flinl, Auslin: The Rrciiirxcal Diiti 
 Public. Chicago, 1844. 
 
 ..( the Me.lical Profc
 
 40 
 
 measures be enacted for securing by legal means materials for the 
 practical study of anatomy. The benefits to the puljlic from necropsies 
 were also pointed out. 
 
 The educational value of such addresses to the public as well as the 
 stimulating effect on the young men must have been considerable. 
 
 The addresses were often printed in pamphlet form, ostensibly to 
 satisfy a desire of the students. The formal request for publication to 
 the author by a committee of the class was usually printed on the 
 first page. (See Fig. 18, p. 39.) 
 
 Country medical schools had always to defend themselves against 
 city schools which had better advantages for clinical teaching. They 
 tried to offset this by their own advantages in other respects. 
 
 In its competition for students with other schools, the country 
 location of the Fairfield College was advanced as a great disadvantage. 
 In its circular for 1839, it defended itself in this manner: 
 
 The College is within 8 miles of the Great Rail-Road from Albany to 
 Utica; and any Medical Student, who is deterred from coming to the Institu- 
 tion by the dread of riding over 8 miles of a country road, had better choose 
 some other profession than that of Medicine. It is true, that the village has 
 only one tavern, and no theatre, except the anatomical, and not a single grocery 
 licensed to sell ardent spirits, but it has three churches, a moral population, 
 and good boarding-houses. It is to be hoped that parents will think these 
 advantages sufficient to counterlialance tlie want of incentives to idleness and 
 dissipation." 
 
 In its catalog for 1842, Castleton Medical College, Castleton, \'t., 
 made a ])lea for its advantages because of its rural location. 
 
 Remote as we arc from the ten thousand snares and dangers attendent 
 upon college life in large and populous cities, and aloof from the multiplied 
 sources of excitement and agitation inseparable from a city residence, our 
 location in this retired spot, would seem to offer peculiar facilities for reflec- 
 tion and study where, as in the academic groves of the ancient Lyceum, we 
 may cultivate the pursuits of philosophy without annoyance or interruption from 
 without. And while we would make no comparison which would be deemed 
 invidious, we may claim for this college, a healthy location in the midst of a 
 virtuous population, happily exempt from those fashionable places of pulilic 
 entertainment, where vice is decked in attractive garb, and where demoraliz- 
 ing influences are arrayed in splendid magnificance, thus lending a charm to 
 the corrupting snares so often fatal to the young. Here the practice of sobriety 
 and temperance is universal, the public sentiment of the entire population having 
 banished the traffic and use of all intoxicating drinks, by withholding licenses, 
 even from the hotels, within miles around their quiet town. When our 
 proudly eminent rivals in the city, are able to make a similar announcement, 
 we shall no longer make an exclusive claim to this pre-eminence.^' 
 
 « Circular of the College of Phvs. & Surg, nf the Western District of the State of N. V.. 
 Fairfield, Herkimer Co., Albany, 1839. 
 
 2= Catalogue Castleton Medical College, 1S4.'
 
 41 
 
 In 18J5, 1>T. T. Rumcyn Picik, one of tlic n)o>t >cliolarly men in tlic 
 American ine»lical i)rottssion in tlic first hall ol" tlie l^tli century, 
 publislied a i)hamplilet dcteniiin^' the country medical school of the 
 I)eriCKl, referrinj,' especially to the one at I'airlield. N'ew York/" 1 Ic did 
 not l)elittle the advantages of a city medical sciiool with ])roi)erly utilized 
 facilities lor hos])ital instruction, Init he set fortii the urgent medical 
 needs of the newer jxirtion of a rapidly growing country, and indicated 
 how these neetls were best met by the local medical schools. He argued 
 tiiat the young man of the frontier could not afTord to study in the 
 old schcR)ls of the Atlantic coast. Beck sjieaks well of the clinical 
 instruction which the students received from their ])recei)tors. Many of 
 these jireceptors were skilful jiractitioners antl took every o])])ortunity to 
 give their students clinical instructions in a wide range of diseases. In 
 1855, the advantages of instruction by preceptors is set forth in the 
 announcement of the College of Medicine and Surgery of the l'ni\ersitv 
 of Michigan as follows: 
 
 .As iiotrd in the previous amiouncemeiits, clinical instruction, it i> lielievrd. 
 is far better imparted in the walks of private practice, especially in that 
 section of the country where the student intends to locate himself, than can 
 he done even in the best regulated hospital. The hasty walk throui^h the 
 wards of a hospital furnishes at best but a sorry suljstitute for the close and 
 accurate study of cases as they ocirur in the professional rounds of the private 
 practitioner. 
 
 This statement was made by such men as Zona Pitcher, Moses (iuim, 
 .\lonzo Palmer, C. L. Ford and Edmund Andrews. The men on the 
 faculties of these pioneer schools realized the value of clinical instruction 
 in dispensaries anil hospitals. They all early foun<led ambulatory clinics. 
 In 1S47, the faculty of Rush Medical College secured the establishment 
 of the Chicago Hospital, in which during the first year 80 patients vs-ere 
 tinder treatment at one time. The cases were utilized for clinical 
 teaching. 
 
 The faculties of (tther schools of this group seem to have made 
 efforts to originate medical journals, but that of Rush was the only one 
 which succeeded during the period under consideration. During the 
 first year after the organization of the school, jas. \'. Z. Hlaney, began 
 to publish the Illinois Medical and .Surgical Journal. This was the 
 |)ioneer, and for many years the only journal of this region. It com- 
 pared very well with similar publications in this country. It contained 
 original contributions by the ablest men of this part of the couiitrv. 
 
 " On the IJiility of Coiirir.v Mcilical Itmiiuiion?. .Mlianv. 18.'5.
 
 42 
 
 Diseases peculiar to the region were described. There were also reviews 
 of new books, critical abstracts of recent medical publications in this 
 country and Europe, news items and reports of the meetings of the 
 medical societies as they became organized in Indiana, Illinois and 
 Wisconsin. Aside from being an organ of the school and faculty, it 
 
 ILLINOIS 
 
 MEDICAL AND SURGICAL 
 
 JOURNAL. 
 
 JAMES V. Z. DIANEV, A. M., M. D. 
 
 CHICAGO, ILL.; 
 ruBLisriFD nv ellis & Fergus. 
 
 1S44. 
 
 Fig. 19.— Title page of Illinois Medical and Surgical Journal, first volume, 1844. 
 
 performed a valuable service to the profession of an extensive territory. 
 The files of this journal are of great historic interest as they contain 
 much of the availalile materials bearing on the early medical history of 
 this region." ( See Fig. 19, p. 42. ) 
 
 " This journal had a continuous existence of forty-five years, comprising 58 volumes. 
 The name was changed several times; Illinois Medical and Surgical Journal (1844-1846), Illinois 
 and Indiana Medical lournal (1846-1848): Northwestern Medical and Surgical Journal (1848- 
 57); Chicago Medicarjounial and Examiner (1875-1889).
 
 43 
 
 If wc ci>in])are tlicsc sclumls with tlmse nl tlic i>rcscnt. tliev apiicar at 
 a disadvaiitafje, hut not more so tlian would he tlic case if we couiiKire 
 local institutions of all sorts of 7^ years aj,'o with those of today. In 
 their day. there were no railroads, telegraphs, or telephones, only prinu- 
 live roads and bridle |)aths leatling into the surroundinj^ coinitry.-''' 
 There were no modern farmiii}; machinery and no accumulated capital, 
 and the common comforts of life were in the distant future. 
 
 However, in comi>arison with institutions of medical education in 
 the older iKirts of the country, these did not appear at such a dis- 
 advanta.tje. In the report of the Committee on Preliminary ICducation 
 presented at the National Medical Convention at I'hiladel])hia in 1S47,-''' 
 it is stated that "there are no uniform standards of ])re])aratory educa- 
 tion e.xacted of medical students throujjhout the United States. The 
 whole subject is left to private precejitors, many of whom recommend 
 and a few exact an elevated standard, while others leave it to the 
 discretion of the students themselves or their parents." The Committee 
 on L'niform and Elevated Standards of Requirements for the Degree 
 of M.D.'*" reported at Philadelphia that information had been secured 
 from 19 colleges. They had from 5 to 8 professors, and the time 
 employed in lectures annually was from 13 to 18 weeks — 16 in a large 
 majority. The general requirements for graduation were uniformly 
 21 years of age, gcxwl moral character, satisfactory examinations, 
 )>assable thesis, attendance on two courses of lectures within a jieriod 
 of 3 years' study. In .some, 4 years of practice might be substituted 
 for one of the courses of lectures. Clinical instruction was required in 
 12 and not in 7. Dissection was obligatory in 5 and recommended in 
 14. In 1851. N. S. Davis wrote: 
 
 Of 36 or 37 medical colleges in active operation in the country, only si.xtcen 
 were so located as to afford those in attendance any opportunity for witnessing 
 hospital or bedside instructions, five continued (heir regular courses of lectures 
 less than sixteen weeks, twenty-six for sixteen to eighteen weeks, two have 
 extended their courses to little more than five months." 
 
 As elsewhere in the country, a S|jecial ])reliminary education does 
 not appear to have been demanded of students. Self education played a 
 
 " Thf fir^l tclrKram was received in Chicago on Jan. 15.1H4S. fr.ini Milwaukee, ami it 
 reaHr ".MiUaiitce with her 14.000 sends in ChicaRo wilh her 17,000 greetings." The oixrator 
 al the receipt of this first message was .\ml.ro«e Jones, a senior student in Rush Meilical College 
 I Bull, .\lufnni .Assn. Rush Medical College, .\i.ril 1911. p. 10). The lirst through telegram from 
 the east was receive.1 in Chicago. April 6, 1848. The lirst eastern trunk line of radrrad was 
 c.jnplete to Chicago Feb. 20, 1852. 
 
 "• I'rnceeding of the Xat. Med. Convention held in New York, May, 1846, and in Phila- 
 delphia. .May, 1847, p. 79. 
 
 •• Ibid., p. 63. 
 
 « Hist, of Med. Education .ind Institutions in the U. S , Chicago. 1851. p. 166.
 
 44 
 
 large part in tlie preparation of the ambitious applicant for medical 
 honors. It was not uncommon for young men to teach school to secure 
 funds to defray the expense of study in medical schools. In 1846, 
 Nichols Hard remarked : 
 
 It is a curious and interesting fact that more than one half of those who 
 enter the profession come from tlie respectable calling of the school master. 
 This is made the stepping stone to the Doctorate. The dextrous use of the 
 pen knife, precedes that of the scalpel, and the statement of a problem in 
 the Rule of Three, the statement of a case in consultation. 
 
 In the pioneer schools, as in all later ones, it was true that the teach- 
 ing value of the institution depended in largest measures on the char- 
 acter of the men comprising the faculties. As expressed by Osler,''- 
 "The great possession of any University is its great names. It is not 
 the 'pride, pomp, and circumstance' of an institution which bring honor, 
 nor its wealth, nor its halls, but the men who have trodden in its service 
 the thorny road through toil, even through hate, to the abode of Fame, 
 climbing 'like stars to their appointed height' !" 
 
 The leaders and most of their associates were relatively young men 
 who had the enthusiasm and hopefulness of youth. They usually 
 possessed as good an education as was afforded at the time in America, 
 and some had the advantage of European stud}'. Most of them came 
 up from humble circumstances, were self made men, and anxious to 
 take advantage of every opportunity. Everything indicates that most 
 of the men on the faculties of these schools were good teachers. Soine 
 became skilful investigators and successful authors. They were leaders 
 in all matters of public interest. A few of the men who were on the 
 faculty of these early schools served in the Mexican War. Many of their 
 pupils as graduates of these schools in these early years served as 
 surgeons in the Civil War. They founded hospitals, aided in establishing 
 schools of all sorts, from common schools to universities. On the 
 faculties of those schools were found the men who are to be largely 
 credited with securing the establishment of the first public hospitals for 
 the insane in Indiana and Illinois. Many were prominent in the 
 organization and activities of local and state medical societies, and 
 several were participants in the early struggle of the American Medical 
 Association, one being later designated the "father" of that organization. 
 The birth places of these men were widely scattered. They came from 
 various parts of the United States, from England and Germany. Their 
 
 *- Acquaiiimit.is, with other .Addresses to Medical Students, etc., Ed. 2. Phil.idelphia. 1906.
 
 45 
 
 final resting places are I'oiuul in unr i>\vn ccitntry, Iruni New England to 
 California, and also in Mexico, Cierniany and at the bottom of the 
 ocean on the rocky shores of the Azores. 
 
 Where yonder marble city tops the plain. 
 And shining temples in the sunset glow, 
 Where wealth and beauty hold perpetual reign. 
 And busy hands the seeds of progress sow, — 
 In that same spot, a few short years ago, 
 The cabin of the swarthy pioneer. 
 In cheerless solitude, surpassing show, 
 Nurtured beneath its roof the hearts that were 
 To build the Empire of the western hemisphere. 
 The Lute of Life — 
 The Pioneers — 
 Jas. Newton Matthews, M.D.
 
 Sketches of the Lives of Faculty Members, 
 
 and of Some Others Mentioned 
 
 in the Text 
 
 SAMUEL ADAMS 
 1806-1877 
 
 Samuel Adams was bom at Gilead, Maine, Dec. 19, 1806. He was educated 
 at Bowdoin College, where he received the degree of Doctor of Medicine in 
 1836 and of Master of Arts in 1837. In his alma mater, he served as tutor 
 in modern languages in 1835-37, and librarian from 1835-36. In 1838, he assumed 
 the chair of Natural Philosophy, Chemistry and Natural History at Illinois 
 College, Jacksonville, III. 
 
 In the iriedical department of the school, he was professor of chemistry and 
 materia medica and therapeutics from 1843 to 1845. During his connection 
 with the college, he gave instruction in nearly every branch embraced in the 
 college curriculum, including the French and German languages. He was a 
 profound scholar, which was illustrated in occasional contributions to scientific 
 and literary periodicals. These dealt particularly with discussions as to the 
 relation of religion and science. 
 
 His connection with the college continued until his death, .^pril, 1877, after 
 38 years of service. (Portrait p. 69.) 
 
 JONATHAN ADAMS ALLEN 
 1825-1890 
 
 The father of J. Adams Allen, whose name was given the son, was long a 
 prominent and influencial physician in Vermont. He taught materia medica 
 in the Vermont Academy of Medicine, and Chemistry at Middlebury College. 
 J. Adams Allen was born in Middlebury, Vt., Jan. 16, 1825. He received a 
 general education in Middlebury College, and in 1846 he was given his medical 
 degree by Castleton Medical College. He soon located at Kalamazoo, Mich., 
 and while there, in 1848, was made professor of materia medica and therapeutics 
 in the Indiana Medical College. Here he served only one year, when the school 
 disbanded. When the medical department of the University of Michigan at 
 Ann Arbor was organized in 1850, he occupied the chair of physiology and 
 pathology, and he continued in this position until 1855. 
 
 From 1859 to 1890, when he died, J. Adams Allen was professor of medicine 
 in Rush Medical College, the last 13 years acting as president of the faculty. 
 From 1861 to 1863, Allen was associated with Brainard as editor of the Chicago 
 Medical Journal, and from 1866 to 1875 he was proprietor and editor of this 
 publication. He published "Essays on the Mechanism of Nervous Action" and 
 "Medical Examination for Life Insurance Companies,'' The latter passed 
 through many editions and was translated into German. 
 
 He was a popular teacher and an accomplished writer and speaker. (Por- 
 trait p. 53.)
 
 47 
 
 JACOB riATT AXDKIAV 
 
 18ti3-18S<i 
 
 Jacob Piatt Aiiilrcw was born on Dec. 14. 1>W.?, a lew miles njrtli of Cin- 
 cinnati, being descended, on botli sides, from families that took part in the 
 Revolution. When a very young man, he became desirous of being a preacher. 
 Having but limited educational opportunities, he associated himself with a noted 
 preacher of the day with whom he traveled on the circuit and studied Latin 
 and Hebrew together with other subjects. Then for 3 or 4 years, he became 
 a traveling preacher in the mountains of Kentucky. Tennessee and \'irginia. 
 He traveled about on a horse, sharing the l)eds and tables of the settlers. 
 Under this life his health broke down, and he was forced to return to Ohio. 
 When he had recovered he determined to study medicine, and graduated from 
 Ohio Medical College in Cincinnati in 18,)2. After practicing in Cincinnati for 
 five years, he removed to LaPorte. Ind.. in 1837. where he was active in the 
 practice of his profession for 20 years. In 1857. he removed to Fort Calhoun, 
 \'eb.. where he practiced medicine for 23 years. He died in Blair. Neb., in 
 July. 1886. (Portrait p. 53.) 
 
 SAMUEL GLASGOW .\K.\I()R 
 
 1819-1885 
 
 Samuel Glasgow Armor was born in Washington County, Pa., Jan. 29. 1819. 
 He early came to Ohio with his parents. He attended Franklin College, New 
 .Athens, Ohio, and in 1844 received his medical degree from Missouri Medical 
 College, St. Louis. He located at Kockford. III., and in 1846 was the first 
 secretary of the Rock River Medical Society, which was the first large medical 
 society in Illinois. The meeting of the society in May. 184(). was attended by 
 Daniel Brainard. who was a member. This was the occasion which brought 
 .■\rmor to the attention of the Rush f.-iculty. and resulted in an invitation to 
 him to deliver a course of lectures on physiology. He did this during 1846-1847. 
 .\n earlier engagement with the school at Rock Island prevented .\rmor's 
 acceptance of an offer of a chair in Oiicago. He taught medicine in Rock 
 Island, Davenport. Keokuk, Cincinnati. St. Louis. Ann Arbor and finally in 
 Brooklyn. In 1866. he became professor of materia medica, therapeutics and 
 general pathology in Long Island Medical College, and two years later succeeded 
 .Austin Flint in the chair of practice of medicine, which position he filled until 
 his death Oct. 27, 1885. 
 
 Samuel G. .■\rmor has left a reputation of having been one of the ablest 
 teachers of medicine of his time. (Portrait p. '^i.) 
 References: 
 
 In memory of Dr. Samuel G. Armor, Cleveland, 1886. 
 
 Kelly and Burrage; American Medical Biagraphies. Ballimore. 1920, p. 37. 
 
 Juetiner. Otio; Daniel Drake and His Followers, Cincinnati, 1909, p. 220. 
 
 GEORGE S. BARROWS 
 
 1815-1<;07 
 
 George S. Barrows was l»rn at Watertown. X. Y.. on Jan. 17. 1815. He 
 li«gan his medical studies in Rush Medical College, and graduated from the 
 Rock Island Medical School in 1845. He practiced for a tiine at Rockford. 
 III., then at Marion. Kan., where he died on N'ov. 1. 1907. In 18<i8. he joined 
 the .American Institute of Homoeopathy, and in 1877 received a diploma from 
 the Hahnemann Medical College of Chicago. He was a successful practitioner 
 for more than fifty years.
 
 48 
 
 JAMES VAN ZANDT BLANEY 
 1820-1874 
 
 Of the original faculty of Rush Medical College, the first member selected 
 bj' Brainard was James V'an Zandt Blaney. He was born at New Castle, Del., 
 May 1, 1820. In 1838 he graduated from Princeton College at the age of 18. 
 He remained some time afterward studying chemistry under the distinguished 
 Prof. Joseph Henry. In 1842 he graduated from the Medical Department of 
 the University of Pennsylvania. 
 
 After spending the winter of 1842-1843 at Jefferson Barracks, St. Louis, he 
 came to Chicago to assume the duties of professor of chemistry and materia 
 medica in the newly organized Rush Medical College in the autumn of 1843. 
 He soon became one of the most popular teachers on the faculty and also 
 enjoyed the most lucrative practice of any physician in the city because of his 
 professional attainments and rare social qualities. 
 
 In 1844 he began the publication of the first medical journal in the North- 
 west under the name of the Illinois Medical and Surgical Journal. In 1846 he 
 conducted explorations on the south shore of Lake Superior. 
 
 He was one of the founders of the Chicago Medical Society and the Illinois 
 State Medical Society, serving as president of the latter in 1870. 
 
 Through his skill as an analytic chemist, he acquired international reputa- 
 tion. In 1857 he occupied the chair of chemistry and natural philosophy in the 
 Northwestern University at Evanston. 
 
 In 1861 Blaney was appointed surgeon of volunteers with the rank of 
 major. He was medical director of hospitals until the end of the war and 
 was mustered out with the title of lieutenant colonel. 
 
 On the death of Brainard, in 1866, he become president of the faculty of 
 Rush Medical College. 
 
 He was active in all public matters ; he was one of the incorporators of the 
 Chicago Historical Society, an original member of the Chicago Academy of 
 Sciences, a member of the original faculty of the Chicago College of Pharmacy, 
 a member of the committee which drafted the bill recreating a city board of 
 health, which was passed by the state legislature in 1867. 
 
 He laid the cornerstone of the University of Chicago in 1857. 
 
 His versatility was "literally unbounded and his oratorical power phen- 
 omenal." (Portrait p. 77.) 
 
 DANIEL BRAINARD 
 
 1812-1866 
 
 As one casts a retrospective glance over the group of early medical teachers 
 in Chicago and the adjacent country, the figure of Daniel Brainard stands 
 out as the largest of all. 
 
 He was born May IS, 1812, at Western, Oneida County, N. Y. After 
 receiving a common school and academic education, he began the study of 
 medicine in 1829. Throughout his medical studies he was attracted by teachers 
 of surgery, and a love for this department of medicine seems to have been 
 developed early. He attended a course of lectures in the College of Physi- 
 cians and Surgeons of the Western District of New York at Fairfield, where 
 his preceptor was the able surgeon and brilliant teacher, John Delamater. Two 
 courses of lectures were then taken in JefTerson Medical College. Philadelphia, 
 where he graduated in 1834. It is likely that the presence at Jefferson of 
 George McClellan determined his choice of a school. It is easy to imagine 
 that one sees the influence of this brilliant, fearless operator and founder of 
 medical schools in the subsequent activities of Daniel Brainard.
 
 49 
 
 
 I*^<.^6a~ ^^-C A-E-<V-/^ -^BSOfc** <-*»^ C>fc-^^ 
 
 
 U-^L. 
 
 
 1 
 
 Fig. ^0.~ Instrument conveying two acres < f corn standing in Atinira it> N. Hard, in pavnu-nt 
 of medical bill of $12.
 
 50 
 
 After spending two years at Whitesboro, N. Y., teaching anatomy and 
 physiology, practicing a little, but especially studying Latin and French, he 
 came to Chicago in 1836. His forceful personality quickly placed him among 
 the most influential persons in the rapidly growing western city. His enthusiasm 
 soon brought him private students. In 1837 he secured a charter from the 
 Illinois legislature for Rush Medical College, but financial conditions soon 
 became so disturbed that he deferred organization of the school. While await- 
 ing favorable conditions for the launching of his school in Chicago, he went 
 to Paris in 1839 to further prepare himself for his future work. Here he 
 remained until 1841. .\ fellow student of surgery in Paris was Cliarles A. 
 Pope, who later became the prominent teacher and practitioner of surgery in 
 St. Louis. Rush Medical College was organized by him in 1843, and he was 
 the dominating figure and professor of surgery in the institution until his death. 
 He served as vice president of the .'American Medical Association in 1850 and 
 in the same year aided in organizing the Cliicago Medical Society and the 
 Illinois State Medical Society. A second visit was made to Europe in 1852. 
 While there, he read papers before the .-Xcademy of Science and Society of 
 Surgery of Paris. Two years later he was awarded a prize by the American 
 Medical Association for his classical essay on a "New Method of Treating 
 Ununited Fractures and Certain Deformities of the Osseous System." 
 
 He acted with several of his colleagues as editor of the North-Westcrn 
 Medical and Surgical Journal. This journal contains many reports of his sur- 
 gical clinics and numerous able editorials on the burning medical questions 
 of the day. 
 
 Brainard stands as an example of an enthusiastic and skilful teacher, a 
 gifted public speaker, an able organizer, and accurate original investigator. 
 His reputation was worldwide and his loyal students were widely scattered over 
 the western country. Juettner speaks of Daniel Brainard of Chicago, C. A. 
 Pope of St. Louis and G. C. Blackman of Cincinnati as "the great western 
 surgical triumvirate" of the middle third of the last century. Brainard died 
 from cholera in 1866. 
 
 He married Evelyn Sleigh in 1845. They had four children ; two of them 
 died in infancy from scarlet fever; a son and daughter, wlio readied maturity, 
 died without children. (Portrait p. 77.) 
 
 References: 
 
 Hyde, Tames Nevins.: Early Medical Chicago, 1879. 
 
 Ingals, 'E. Fletcher: Life and Work of Dr. Daniel Brainard, Bull. Alumni Assn. Rusli 
 Medical College, July, 1912. 
 
 Weaver, George H.: The First Period in the History of Rush Medical College, Bull. 
 Alumni Assn. Rush Medical College. July, 1912. 
 
 Field, David D.: The Genealogy of the Brainard Familv in the United States. New 
 York, 18.S7. 
 
 DAVID E. BROWN 
 1795-1871 
 
 Little has been learned of the subject of this sketch. In the "Medical His- 
 tory of Indiana," by Kemper, the first name is given as Daniel. In the History 
 of Kalamazoo County, Mich., it is given as David. The latter is the source 
 of all our information. David E. Brown was born in London County, Va.. 
 Tune 20, 1795. He is said to have studied in the medical departinent of the 
 University of Pennsylvania, but we have been unable to determine whether he 
 ever received a degree. He came to Schoolcraft, Mich., in 1830. 
 
 In 1844-1845, he was professor of medicine in the Medical Department of 
 La Porte University. He is said to have been remarkably well educated in 
 medicine for tlie time, and to have possesed strong, sterling personal qualities.
 
 51 
 
 CllANDI.Hk BL'RWKl.I. c 1 lAl'MAX 
 1815-187/ 
 
 One of the most prominent mvdical men in early Wisconsin, Cliandlcr B. 
 Chapinan, was iMjrn in Middlehury, \'t.. July 7, 1815. He received his early 
 education in his native state, and graduated from tlie \crmont Academy of Medi- 
 cine at Castleton in the autumn term of 1836. 
 
 In 1837. he married Mary Eugenia Pease, and located in Truml)ull County, 
 Ohio, where he practiced medicine for several years. In 1846, he moved to 
 Madison. Wis., making the journey in one week by private conveyance, steam- 
 boat and stage. He was one of the organizers of the Rock island Medical 
 School in 1848, being professor of anatomy. Tlie following year he occupied 
 the same chair at Davenport. In a letter to M. L. Knapp, written from Daven- 
 port, dated March 19, 1850, he signs himself as President of the Faculty of the 
 Medical Department of Iowa University. He does not appear to have followed 
 the school in its further migration to Keokuk. 
 
 When the Medical Society of the Territory of Wisconsin met at Madison 
 in 1847. C B. Chapman was elected a permanent member and chosen record- 
 ing secretary. Besides teaching in the medical school at Rock Island and 
 Davenport, Giapman taught private students at Madison. Favill quotes 
 Dr. B. F. Dodson as follows : "I went into Dr. C. B. Chapman's family Dec. 
 17. 1851. and remained until Xovembcr. 1853. Several others were also residents 
 there, but were in active practice. .At the time Dr. Chapman was giving a 
 good deal of time to instructing students, having a couple of rooms for the 
 purpose on the corner of State Street, in which the students had an oppor- 
 tunity to do some dissecting, some friendly physician outside furnishing the 
 dissecting material. During the summer months his aim was to hold weekly 
 recitations in anatomy and physiology." 
 
 During the summer of 1852 Chapman went to Europe to study in the hos- 
 pitals of Great Britain and the continent. In the collection of the State Historial 
 Society of Wisconsin at Madison is an interesting circular and catalog of 
 Dr. C. B. Chapman's Practical School for Anatomy and Surgery for 1852. 
 The "advertisement" reads as follows : "Dr. Chapman will receive pupils for 
 instruction throughout the year in the various branches of medicine and Surgery. 
 
 "There will be a lecture term of about eight weeks in the winter, commenc- 
 ing the first week in December, in which will be given a course of lectures on 
 practical anatomy and operative surgery. Throughout the remainder of the year 
 recitation and clinical instruction, with the best facilities we can command, will 
 be given. 
 
 ".■\mple facilities will be aflforded for the study of anatomy during the 
 winter term. .-Kn opportunity will be afforded, and provision made, for private 
 dissection, providing application be made early — a privilege as rare as valuable, 
 but without which no one can obtain an adequate acquaintance with anatomy 
 and surgery. 
 
 "Everything will be supplied that circumstances admit, calculated to facilitate 
 the progress of the student. Free access may be had to a respectable ana- 
 tomical collection, library." etc. 
 
 The "Terms of Tuition" are thus given: 
 
 "Ffirty dollars a year including the winter course. 
 
 "Tickets for the winter course, only on anatomy and surgery, $8. .■\fter 
 two year's tuition has been paid, no more will be demanded, except for inci- 
 dental expenses. 
 
 UBI
 
 52 
 
 "To make the advantages of this arrangement still greater during the 
 winter course of lectures, the class may be arranged into classes of five, and 
 to every such class material will be furnished for private dissection, with 
 an additional fee of only $5 from each student. 
 
 "In order to be sure of provision for this arrangement, early application 
 must be made and this fee arranged so as to give time to provide material 
 before the close of navigation, as a more limited supply will otherwise be 
 provided. 
 
 "Dr. C. purchased at considerable expense, while in Paris, during the last 
 summer, Cruveilhier's Pathological Anatomy, including the colored plates. This 
 will prove a valuable aid to students in preparing them to distinguish post 
 mortem appearances — even better than a residence of months in the largest 
 hospitals of our country." 
 
 For 1851-1852 he lists twenty-one students, of whom five had the degree 
 of M.D. 
 
 At the outbreak of the Civil War, Chapman accompanied the Sixth Wis- 
 consin Regiment as surgeon and later was appointed surgeon of the famous 
 Iron Brigade. During the later years of the war he served as medical director 
 of the army of the Rio Grande — his entire service covering the period between 
 June, 1861,' to August, 1864. 
 
 In 1865, when Miami Medical College was revived. Chapman became pro- 
 fessor of chemistry and served until 1868. He had been professor in the Cin- 
 cinnati College of Medicine and Surgery. In 1853-1854 he was professor of 
 anatomy. According to Juettner, he was also professor of physiology in this 
 school, but the exact dates have not been learned. About 1868 he abandoned 
 his teaching in Cincinnati and spent much of the latter years of his life in 
 Kansas. He died at Madison, Wis., May 18, 1877, leaving a son and daughter, 
 both of whom died later. 
 
 He was an able chemist and surgeon, a good teacher, courteous in manner, 
 kind and affable to his friends, associates and patients. Juettner speaks of him 
 as "a man of means, who loved science." (Portrait p. 83.) 
 
 References: 
 
 Kellv and Burrage: American Medical Biographies, 1920, p. 207. 
 
 Juettner, Otto: Daniel Drake and His Followers, 1909, pp. 31S, 333. and 3-10. 
 
 Favill, Henrv B. ; Early Medical Davs in Wisconsin. Bull. Soc. Med. Hist, of Chicago. 
 1919, 2. p. 97. 
 
 Trans. Wis. State Med. Soc, 1869, p. 8. 
 
 History of Dane County, Wisconsin. 1906, p. 160. 
 
 Catalogue Cincinnati College of Medicine and Surgery. 1853-54. (In Medical Library, 
 Cincinnati (jeneral Hospital.) 
 
 WILLIS DAXFORTH 
 
 1826-1891 
 
 \\'illis Danforth, born at Lake ^■illage. X. H., Sept. 26. 1826. was descended 
 from Puritan stock. He studied medicine in the Indiana Medical College 1847- 
 1848 and in the Rock Island Medical College in 1848-1849, receiving his degree 
 from the latter school in 1849. After practicing medicine at Oswego, 111., for 
 a year, he moved to Joliet. where he remained for sixteen years. Immediately 
 after locating at Oswego he appears to have become an active preceptor for 
 iTiedical students. During the civil war he served as surgeon of the One- 
 hundred Thirty-fourth Illinois Infantry and as medical director of the district 
 of Western Kentucky until the close of the war. In 1869 he liecame professor
 
 53 
 
 
 Mrrkct. (.-P .loiili II .\ 
 
 (6) Thumpkin Higday.
 
 54 
 
 of surgery in the Hahnemann Medical College of Chicago. In 1879 he moved 
 to Milwaukee. Wis., where he died June 5. 1891. 
 
 Frank. Louis Frederick: The Medical History of Milwaukee, Milwaukee. 1915. p. 60. 
 Cleave: Biographical Cyclopaedia of Honueopathic Physicians and Surgeons, Philadel- 
 phia, lS/3, p. 245. 
 
 XATHAX SMITH DAVIS 
 1817-1904 
 
 One of the most fortunate events for subsequent medical education in Chicago 
 occurred when the faculty of Rush Medical College prevailed on the brilliant 
 young medical reformer. Xathan S. Davis, to leave Xew York, where he had 
 already secured a footing, and come to the young western city in which no 
 hospital existed and where everything lay in the future. 
 
 Xathan Smith Davis was born in Greene, Chinango County. X. Y., Jan. 9, 
 1817, in the log house of his pioneer father. Here he spent the first sixteen 
 years of his life on the farm. He attended a single term in Cazenovia Semi- 
 nary, and in 1834 began to study medicine. In 1837. he graduated from the 
 College of Physicians of the Western District of Xew York at Fairfield at the 
 end of three courses of lectures. 
 
 After practicing a year at Vienna. X'ew York, he moved to Binghamton, 
 where he remained nine years. He soon became secretary of the County Medical 
 Society, and from 1843 to 1846 represented the County Medical Society in the 
 Xew York State Society. Here he was an active advocate of improvement in 
 medical education, and the agitation in which he prominently participated led 
 to the organization of the American Medical Association. In 1847, he removed 
 to X'ew York City, taking charge of the dissecting room of the College of 
 Physicians and Surgeons, lecturing on medical jurisprudence in the spring 
 course, and assuming editorial charge of the Annalist, a semi-monthly medical 
 journal. 
 
 He came to Chicago in 1849, to occupy the chair of physiology and general 
 pathology in Rush Medical College. The next year he was promoted to the 
 chair of principle and practice of medicine and of clinical medicine. This he 
 occupied for ten years. He was largely responsible for the organization of 
 the Illinois General Hospital of the Lakes, which later became Mercy Hospital. 
 
 In 1859 he led in the organization of the Medical Department of Lind 
 University, with the purpose of introducing graded medical instruction. This 
 he did for the first time in any American medical school. He was editor of 
 the Chicago Medical Journal from 1854 to 1859. When the new school was 
 established, he founded the Chicago Medical Examiner as its organ, and he 
 acted as its editor until 1873. For six years he acted as editor of The Journal 
 of the American Medical Association (1883-1889). 
 
 Davis was one of the organizers of the Illinois State and Chicago Medical 
 Societies, serving as president of both. 
 
 He was intensely interested in temperance, on which he wrote and lectured. 
 He was an active supporter of the Washingtonian Home, a hospital for 
 inebriates. 
 
 Dr. Davis published numerous papers in current medical journals, and also 
 several books. His "History of Medical Education and Institutions in the 
 United States" was published in 1851. and is usually considered the first medical 
 book published in Chicago. .\ history of the American Medical Association 
 was published in Philadelphia in 1855. These books are especially valuable
 
 55 
 
 because they cimtaiii aiitlmritativi- discussions of the coiulitions leading up to 
 the orKanizatioii of ihc Ainorican Medical Association, and tlie actual liappen- 
 ings when it was inanKnrate<l. 
 
 X. S. Davis has l)een called the "Father of the American Medical Associa- 
 tion." His inlluence was dominant at the hirth and dnrinf^ the early Kfowth 
 of this orKani/.ation. To him. more than to any one, we owe the reform in 
 .■\merican medical education. (Portrait p. i<\.) 
 Rkfekencbs: 
 
 Culler. H. i;.: Medical and Dental College of the West, Chkago, 1896. p. 177. 
 
 Danfurth. I. N. : The Life u( Nathan Smith Davis, Chicauo, 1907. 
 
 ilistur.v of Mrdicine and Surgery and Physicians and Surgeons of Chicago. Chicago, 1922. 
 
 Ai.i-'RF.i^ \v. n.wissox 
 
 1N15-1W5 
 
 When the oriniiial faculty of Rush Medic.il CoUeKe was organized. .Mfred 
 W. Davissoii was i)rosector of anatomy, lie was born at Xeiiia, Ohio. May 31. 
 1815, his parents being Andrew W. and Rebecca (.Todd) Davissoii. He attended 
 two courses of lectures at Ohio Medical College, but it has not been possible 
 to learn of his graduation. During his student days, he supported himself by 
 making wood bedsteads at night. 
 
 After practicing medicine for a time in Indiana, he came to Chicago in 1842. 
 The ne.\t \ear he was county physician. He served one year as prosector of 
 anatomy in Rush Medical College, and, with the aid of his negro servant, took 
 an active part in securing material for dissection. 
 
 Davisson soon became actively interested in business, and dropped medicine. 
 In 1852, in conjunction with his brother-in-law, Thomas McCalla, he established 
 the Bank of Commerce, a banking lirm composed of Davisson, McCalla & Co. 
 Of this he was president. The bank was first located on the present site of 
 Sherman Hotel, but in 1854 was removed to Lake and Clark streets, where the 
 bank erected a brick, tive-story building, the first of that height in Chicago. 
 Later in life he lived in Xew York, and finally at .\llaiita. (ia.. wlurr be died 
 in 1895. ( Portrait p. 81.) 
 
 JoilX DKLAMATF.R 
 
 17x;-KSo7 
 
 Of the peripatetic medical professors, so freque.it in the period of his life, 
 John Delamater is one of the outstanding figures. He was born in Chatham. 
 X. v., April 18, 1787. He was of Huguenot descent, and his father was a 
 farmer. When 19 years of age, he received a license to practice medicine 
 from the Medical Society of Oswego County, X. V. 
 
 .^fter spending short times in various places where he rapidly acquired a 
 reputation for ability, he was called lo the chair of materia medica and phar- 
 macy in the Berkshire Medical Institution at Pittsficid, Mass., in 182,?. .\fter 
 serving here for three years, he was invited to occupy the chair of surgery 
 in the College of Physicians and Surgeons of the Western District of New 
 York at Fairfield. Here he remained until 1840, lecturing on surgery, theory 
 and practice of physic, midwifery and diseases of women. From 1841 to 1843. 
 he lectured on general pathology and materia medica in Ijeneva Medical College. 
 During the period from 1828 to 1842. he also delivered courses of lectures on 
 various subjects in the Medical School of Maine, connected with Bowdoin 
 College; in the Medical School of Xew Ham|ishire. connected with Dartmouth 
 College; in the University of Vermont; in the University of Willoughby at
 
 56 
 
 Willoughby, Ohio, and in the Medical College of Ohio at Cincinnati. In 
 1843, when the school at Willoughby removed to Cleveland, he became pro- 
 fessor in Western Reserve College, where he taught general pathology, obstet- 
 rics and diseases of women for seventeen years. It has been said of him that 
 he aided in the medical education of more young men than any man of his 
 time, and that he was the most versatile medical teacher in America. He gave 
 over seventy courses of lectures embracing every branch of medicine. He 
 contributed to medical literature in several articles which were well written. 
 He was tlie first surgeon in ."Xnierica to perform excision of the scapula. 
 
 References: 
 
 Handerson, Henry E. : Sketch in American Medical Biographies by Kelly and Burrage, 
 Baltimore, 1920, p. 303. 
 
 Juettner, Otto; Daniel Drake and His Followers, Cincinnati, 1909, p. 170. 
 
 ELIZUR H. DEMING 
 
 1797-1855 
 
 Elizur H. Deming was born in Great Barrington, Mass., March 4, 1797. 
 He received his medical degree in 1827, but the source is not known. 
 
 In 1821, he was located in Chillicothe, Ohio, and in 1834 in Lafayette, Ind. 
 In 1842, he was elected to the legislature on an antislavery platform. In 
 1846, he was appointed to the chair of materia luedica and therapeutics in 
 LaPorte Medical School. In 1853, he was appointed to the chair of general 
 pathology and clinical medicine in the University of Missouri and completed 
 two courses of lectures before his death. In 1854, he was president of the State 
 Medical Society of Indiana. About 1853, he was a candidate for the presidency 
 of the University of Michigan, but his antislavery opinions were an insuperable 
 objection. He was the preceptor of Dr. W. W. Mayo. 
 
 References: 
 
 Kemper. G. W. H.: A Medical History of the State of Indi.ina, Chicago, 1911, p. 261. 
 Tr. Ind. State Med. Soc, 1,S57, p. 53. 
 
 JOHN F. DILLON 
 
 1831- 
 
 John F. Dillon was a member of the first class to receive a inedical degree 
 in the state of Iowa, and the author of the first paper printed in the first 
 medical journal published in that state. He abandoned medicine for law, in 
 which he achieved great success. He was born in the state of New York, Dec. 
 25, 1831, the eldest of his family. In 1838, he was taken by his parents to 
 Iowa. When 17 years of age, he began the study of medicine with Dr. E. S. 
 Barrows at Davenport, Iowa. He was a student at the Rock Island Medical 
 School in 1848-1849, and at the College of Physicians and Surgeons of the 
 Upper Mississippi at Davenport the following year, where he received his 
 medical degree in 1850. Before his graduation, he was appointed curator of 
 the school. In 1850. he was one of the organizers of the Iowa State Medical 
 Society. He practiced medicine a short time at Farmington, Iowa, and while 
 ■here was called on to hold a necropsy on a man who died suddenly under 
 circumstances which led to a general belief among the people that he had 
 died because of malpractice. It was found that death was caused by apoplexy 
 associated with great hypertrophy of the heart. .\ report of the case was 
 published by him under the title "Rheumatic Carditis, .\utopsical Examina-
 
 57 
 
 
 
 
 ..^- 
 
 _-,^/ ^^i^^ p^~ '^--^^i:^'—"^ 
 £»<^- ^»--— ■--'Taa ^^~^*^ 
 
 Ki. .!:cr from M.,5«s L. Ki.ai.i. to XiclioU HarJ. 
 
 ^r^V*--- 
 
 .■■.-- ...J
 
 58 
 
 tion" in the first number of the Mcdico-Chirurgical Journal nf Keokuk, Iowa, 
 Sept. 1, 1850, p. 1. He concludes his article thus: "I have drawn up this hasty 
 sketch of the above case for two prominent reasons; in the first place, to 
 present your readers with some additional testimony confirmatory of the fre- 
 quent connection between arthritic and cardiac disease ; and in the second place, 
 to illustrate the great benefit often derivable from necroscopic examination. 
 The one is frequently overlooked, the other too sadly neglected." 
 
 After a brief experience in the practice of medicine, he concluded that he 
 had made a mistake, as he could not practice medicine in this country without 
 being able to ride on horseback, which he was utterly unable to do. He took 
 up the study of law, in which he was eminently successful. ."Kfter serving as 
 judge of a district court in Iowa, he was transferred to the supreme bench of 
 the state. A few years later, he was appointed by President Grant a United 
 States circuit judge, which office he held 10 years until, in 1879, he accepted a 
 call by Columbia University to a professorship in law. Before he went East, 
 he lectured each year on medical jurisprudence at Iowa University. He stated 
 that he found that his knowledge of medicine and its principles not only was 
 a great satisfaction throughout his life, but at times or real utility.^ 
 
 1 Iowa Medical Journal, 1908, 14, p. 397. 
 
 JOHN EVANS 
 1814-1897 
 
 John Evans was born at Waynesville, Ohio, March 9, 1814. His father 
 was a Quaker, an extensive farmer and prosperous merchant of Waynesville. 
 In a letter to his father, written in January, 1836, from Cermont, Pa., where 
 he was in school, John Evans pleads to be allowed to study medicine. He 
 says : "I am reading physiology, the most delightful stuflf that I have found, 
 but all the books are more and more interesting, even the Latin lesson is delight- 
 ful." He concluded by pleading "nut to be sent liack into the old store to loll 
 on the counter." 
 
 It is evident that the young man was given his way, for in 1838 he graduated 
 from the Cincinnati College. His wisdom in choosing a medical school is 
 shown in the selection of Cincinnati College, which at that time had a most 
 remarkable faculty, comprising such men as Daniel Drake, Samuel G. Gross, 
 Willard Parker, and John G. Harrison. 
 
 Provided with $10 and a pony with saddle and bridle, gifts from his father, 
 he located at Attica, Ind. 
 
 Several years of agitation terminated in the establishment of the Lunatic 
 Asylum of Ohio at Columbus in 1838, the year Evans graduated. We may 
 expect that his interest in this matter was keen, and when he settled in 
 Indiana, he soon began to plan for a similar hospital there. In December, 
 1840, he, together with Dr. Isaac Fisher, sent a memorial to the state legislature 
 urging the need of a hospital for the insane. The next autumn he published 
 an article in the Wabash E.vl>rcss. urging its necessity, and again that winter 
 sent another memorial to the legislature. ^ 
 
 On Dec. 25, 1843, he delivered an "Address on Insanity and the Establish- 
 ment of a Lunatic Asylum in the M. E. Church before the committee of the 
 House of Representatives and the Public." - During the session of the legis- 
 lature of 1844-1845, an act was passed and approved providing for the establish- 
 ment of a state lunatic asylum in Indiana. These successful efforts of Evans 
 
 1 Nortli-Westcrn Med. & Surg. Tour.. 1851. 8, p. 371. 
 = 111. Med. & Surg. Jour.. 1844, 1. p. 30.
 
 59 
 
 began bi-Iiire Dorothy Dix had bccoim- iiroiiiiiieiitly before the pubhc' and 
 they do not appear to have been intlnenced by her activities. Kvans was 
 appointed superintendent of the liospital, and he designed and directeil the 
 erection of the buildings. When things were ready for tlie reception of patients, 
 he resigned to take up new tasks. 
 
 In 1845. John Evans became professor of obstetrics and diseases of wmuen 
 and children in Rush Medical College. The next year, he became one of the 
 editors of the Illinois and Indiana Medical Journal. His editorial connection 
 with this publication continued through 6 volumes (1846 to 1852). Throughout 
 these volumes, his reviews and editorials bear evidence to his skill as a writer, 
 to his judgment and foresight. 
 
 In 1848, he established his residence in Chicago. In 1850. he described an 
 obstetrical extractor to take the place of forceps. It showed a great deal of 
 originality.* 
 
 During the years he lived in Chicago, be took an active part in the organi- 
 zation of the state and local medical societies, and was one of the incorporators 
 of the Illinois General Hospital of the Lakes, which later became Mercy Hospital. 
 
 Educational institutions always specially appealed to him, and he was active 
 in the organization of the public schools. His interest was largely responsible 
 for the organization of Xorthwestern University, and his name is incorporated 
 in Evanston, where this university is situated. 
 
 The pressure of financial and other duties caused his retirement from active 
 practice of medicine, and two or three years later, in 1857, he resigned from 
 Rush Medical College, but he served as a trustee until 1863. In the early 
 sixties, he became active in politics and was a member of the convention which 
 nominated Lincoln. The latter appointed him Territorial Governor of Colorado 
 in 18<)2. The rest of his life was iiassed in Denver, where he was always 
 interested and active in all matters of public concern, such as education, trans- 
 portation, etc. On his 80th birthday, special honors were done him by the city 
 of Denver. He died in Denver July 3. 1897. 
 
 Taken all in all, Dr. John Evans was a remarkable man — a great organizer 
 and executive, an able teacher and patron of eduction in all lines, a philan- 
 thropist in a wide sense. (Portrait p. 81.) 
 
 Reference: 
 McMcchan. E. C: Life of Governor Evans. Denver. 1924. 
 
 ORPHEUS EVERTS 
 
 1826-1903 
 
 Orpheus Everts was born at Salem, Ind., Dec. 26, 1826. With limited 
 advantages in local schools, he prepared for the study of medicine, which he 
 l)egan under his father and Dr. Daniel Meeker of I^ Porte. Ind. He graduated 
 from the Indiana Medical College in 1846. and located at St. Charles, 111., where 
 he was associated with Dr. George \V. Richards. In 1847 he married Mary. 
 daughter of Dr. G. W. Richards of St. Charles, 111. In 1849-1850, he became 
 professor of chemistry and pharmacy in the college of Physicians and Surgeons 
 of the upper Mississippi at Davenport, Iowa. leaving St. Charles in 1856, 
 he assumed the editorship of a newspaper in LaPorte. Later, he studied law, 
 being admitted to the bar in 1860. When the Civil War began, he resumed 
 his medical profession, and became surgeon of the Twentieth Regiinent Indiana 
 
 "The Institutional care of the Insane in the U. S. and Can.nda, Baltimore, 1917, 
 1. p. lO.i. 
 
 • NorthWentern Med. & Surg. Jour.. 1850, 7, p. S3.
 
 60 
 
 Volunteers, and was present at all the battles of the army of the Potomac 
 except two. After the war, he devoted his attention to phychiatry and diseases 
 of the nervous system. In 1868, he was appointed superintendent of the Indiana 
 Hospital for the Insane, and filled the position for 11 years. Also in 1868, 
 he was given an honorary degree from Rush Medical College. In 1880, he 
 became superintendent of the Cincinnati Sanitarium, and remained at its head 
 until his death in 1903. An honorary degree was granted him by the Uni- 
 versity of Michigan. He had a wide reputation as an alienist and as an e.xpert 
 in medicolegal cases. (Portrait p. 83.) 
 
 References: 
 
 Aitkinson. W. B.: The Physicians and Surgeons of the United States, Philadelphia, 1878. 
 Kelly and Burrage: American Medical Biographies, 1920, p. 373. 
 Juettner. Otto; Daniel Drake and His Followers, Cincinnati, 1909, p. 474. 
 The Institutional care of the Insane in the United States and Canada, Baltimore, 1917, 
 4, p. 394. 
 
 GRAHAM N. FITCH 
 1810-1892 
 
 Graham N. Fitch was born in LeRoy, N. Y., Dec. S, 1810. After limited 
 preliminary education, he early began to study medicine with his father. Dr. 
 Frederick Fitch, and completed his studies with Dr. Townsend of Geneva, N. Y. 
 No evidence of his receiving a degree has been found. Beginning the practice 
 of his profession in his native town, he removed to Logansport, Ind., in 1834. 
 He soon established a reputation as a skilful surgeon. He became professor 
 of obstetrics and diseases of women and children in Rush Medical College in 
 1844. From 1845 to 1849, he was professor of institutes and practice of medi- 
 cine in that institution. During this time, his ability as an author and acute 
 observer is reflected in his lucid description of epidemic erysipelas, based 
 entirely on 213 cases of which he took clinical notes. He insisted on the con- 
 tagiousness of the disease, and related instances of transfer through infected 
 clothing. (III. and Ind. Med. and Surg. Jour., 1846, 3, p. 1). That he possessed 
 unusual skill as a clinical teacher is indicated by a report of his "clinique" in 
 the College Dispensary in Chicago (III. and Ind. Med. and Surg. Jour., 1847, 4, 
 p. 126V .\s a delegate from Rush Medical College, he served as a member of 
 the Medical Convention which met iti Philadelphia in 1850 to revise the U. S. 
 Phannacopea. Dr. Fitch was a prominent politician. From 1836 to 1840, he 
 was a member of the Indiana legislature ; from 1848 to 1852, he represented 
 his district in Congress, and from 1856 to 1861, he was United States senator 
 from Indiana. When elected to Congress from the Northern District of 
 Indiana, he resigned his professorship in Chicag(5. In all of his legislative 
 positions, he acquitted himself honorably. He foresaw that events were leading 
 to civil war, and early warned his Southern colleagues in Congress of the conse- 
 quences which would result in their section of the country if this occurred. 
 Although a strong Democrat, he refused to support Stephen A. Douglas. The 
 latter challenged him to a duel, which Fitch accepted. The knowledge of Fitch's 
 unerring markmanship caused Douglas' friends to interfere, and the duel never 
 came off. 
 
 Fitch's ancestors had been soldiers, his grandfather in the Revolutionary 
 War, and his father in the war of 1812. When the Civil War opened, he 
 raised a regiment (the Forty-sixth Indiana Volunteers) and entered the Federal 
 service at its head. He was soon in command of a brigade. He performed 
 valuable service in many of the engagements along the lower Mississippi and 
 in Arkansas.
 
 61 
 
 Fig. ."J.— Dr. George W. Richard's house al St. Charles. 111.
 
 62 
 
 After the war, he resumed his medical work in Logansport, and ahhough 
 not again actively in poHtics, he always vigorously opposed what he thought 
 wrong in civil and political affairs. He was active in medical societies, and 
 interested in everything pertaining to the profession. Dr. Fitch died in Logans- 
 port in 1892, aged 82 years. (Portrait p. 11.) 
 References: 
 
 Stone, R. French: Biography of Eminent American Physicians and Surgeons, Indian- 
 apolis, 1894, p. 161. 
 
 Kemper, G. W. H. : A Medical History of the State of Indiana, Chicago, 1911, p. 270. 
 
 Miller, George D. : A Biographical Sketch of the Deceased Physicians of Cass County, 
 Logansport, 1920, p. 5. 
 
 AUSTIN FLINT 
 1812-1886 
 
 At the beginning of its career, it was the good fortune of Rush Medical 
 College to have for a year the service of a man who stood among the leading 
 medical teachers of this country for fifty years. 
 
 Austin Flint was born in Petersham, Mass., Oct. 20, 1812, being the fourth 
 in succession of a medical ancestry. After academic courses in Amherst and 
 Harvard, he graduated from the Harvard Aledical School in 1833. After prac- 
 tising a short time, he moved to Buffalo in 1836. During the succeeding fifty 
 years, he served as professor of the theory and practice of medicine in several 
 medical schools in various parts of the country : Buffalo Medical College, 1836- 
 1844, and 1846-1852; Rush Medical College, 1844-1845; University of Louis- 
 ville, 1852-1856; New Orleans School of Medicine, 1859-1861; Long Island 
 College Hospital, 1861-1868; Bellevue Hospital, 1861-1886. Because of his exten- 
 sive study and writings on diseases of the chest, he was referred to by Gross 
 as the "American Laennec." 
 
 His "Principles and Practice of Medicine." issued in 1866, passed through 
 seven editions, and was valued by American physicians and students for twenty- 
 five }-ears as the best available book in English on the practice of medicine. 
 
 As a diagnostician and clinical teacher he ranked high." (Portrait p. 11.) 
 
 1 Kelly and Burrage: American Medical Biographies, 1920. 
 
 JOSIAH C. GOODHUE 
 1794-1847 
 
 The father of Josiah Cosmore Goodhue was Dr. Josiah Goodhue, who became 
 president of Berskire Medical Institute in Pittsfield, Mass., in 1823, and con- 
 tinued to teach there until his death in 1829. He was the preceptor of Xathan 
 Smith, and a prominent man in New England. 
 
 Josiah Cosmore Goodhue was born in 1794 at Putney, Vt. In 1829, he 
 graduated from Yale Medical School. The choice of Yale as his medical school 
 was probably made because of the presence there of Xathan Smith, who had 
 organized the school in 1813. In October, 1829, he received a certificate to 
 practice in Canada (Canniff, W. : Medical Profession in L'pper Canada 1783- 
 1850, Toronto, 1894. p. 56). He practiced at St. Thomas until 1832. when he 
 moved to Chicago. He journeyed by sail boat from Lake Erie to Michigan 
 City, and from there to Chicago by horse. When Chicago was organized as 
 a city in 1837, the city was divided into 6 wards, and Dr. J. C. Goodhue was 
 elected a member of the council from the first ward. As such, he had drawn 
 up by Hon. John Y. Scammon the city ordinance, which resulted in the estab- 
 lishment of the public school system of Chicago. He designed the seal of the 
 citv. He selected a central sheaf of wheat as signifying that plenty which he
 
 63 
 
 saw for the future city, a ship to typify her commercial supremacy, an Indian 
 as historical ami an infant in a sea-shell crowning all as a symhol of Chicago's 
 hcauty as "The Pearl of the Lakes." The motto, "i'rbs in horto" (City in a 
 garden) was suggested hy the line gardens which surrounded many homes. In 
 18J6, he was on a committee of prominent citizens appointed to solicit snhscrip- 
 tions to stock in Cliicago's newly incorporated lirst railroad, the Chicago and 
 Galena Union. He was interested with several prominent men in a mill 
 privilege on the Rock river, and at his suggestion its location was designated 
 Rockford, because of the splendid ford of rock in the river. In 1838, he moved 
 to Rockford. On Feb. 17, 184(), he was otic of the organizers and president 
 of the Rock River Medical Society which met at Rockford (111. Med. & Surg. 
 Journ., 1846, 2, p. 180; 111. and Ind. Med. and Surg. Journ., 184<). 3, pp. 153 
 and 252). His address at this time contains much regarding early medical 
 history. 
 
 In 1847, while making a night call, he fell into an open well when 
 leaving the patient's house, and died from the resulting injuries. 
 
 NICHOLS II.XRD 
 1818-1851 
 
 Dr. Xifhols Hard was descended from a long line of educated ancestors 
 who had lived in the state of New York. He was one of four brothers, each 
 of whoin studied medicine, and three of whom were among the ablest prac- 
 titioners in northern Illinois during their lifetime. Nichols Hard was born 
 July 4, 1818, probably at Geneva. New York. 
 
 While his sons were still young, the father, Peter Nichols Hard, moved 
 froin New York to Grass Lake near Dexter, Mich., where he was drowned in 
 1837. Thrown on his own resources when 18 years of age, Nichols matriculated 
 in the Medical College of Ohio at Cincinnati in 1839, and graduated from that 
 school in 1841. when 22 years old. One week after his graduation, he began 
 a journey by boat from Cincinnati to New Orleans. A little "Journal," ' 
 which he kept during the trip, enables us to form some picture of this modest, 
 enthusiastic youth, and to recognize the qualities which characterized him 
 always. There is evidence of his acute power of observation, interest in the 
 objects of nature, love of the beautiful, and a gentle humor. The first entry in 
 the "Journal,", a farewell to the "Queen City," "Peace be within thy walls, 
 where I have passed hours of sadness and moments of bliss," suggests that he 
 had not secured his medical education without a struggle. 
 
 Reference is made to points of interest along the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. 
 At Xorthbend he saw the "log cabin" of President Harrison and remarked : 
 "Here from this spot on the banks of the Ohio, have the millions of freemen 
 chosen a Chief Magistrate — whether in wisdom or n'cakncss. time will soon 
 inform us." 
 
 Near Baton Rouge, he accomplished the principal purpose of his journey in 
 visiting an elder half-brother, whom he had never seen. This half-brother, 
 Anson Owen Hard, was his senior by 5 years, and received the degree of M. D. 
 from Yale College in 1836. He was practicing medicine at Stony Point, near 
 Baton Rouge, La. The "Journal" ends at New Orleans, of which he wrote 
 with much interest. 
 
 In the fall of 1842, we find him at St. Charles, 111., beginning his successful 
 career as a teacher, and writing enthusiastic letters of his work and prospects 
 
 * A short and disconnected journal of a trip down tlic Ohio and Mississippi rivers, Jfarch, 
 1841. hy N. Hard. Manuscript possessed by Mrs. Edwanl C. O'lSrien, icrand-dauchter ol* 
 Nichols Hard.
 
 64 
 
 to Eunice Farnsworth, whom he married April 9, 1843. He continued to teach 
 in the medical school operated by George W. Richards and to practice medicine 
 at St. Charles until 1845, when he moved to Aurora, 111., where he successfully 
 practiced medicine until his death. 
 
 In 1844, Nichols Hard became professor of obstetrics and diseases of women 
 and children in the Medical Department of LaPorte University, and served in 
 this capacity until 1850, when the school was discontinued. Two addresses pre- 
 pared by Hard while connected with the medical school at LaPorte have been 
 found. One is a valedictory address given at the close of the session in 1846, 
 entitled "The Practice of Medicine — Its Roses and Thorns — the Way to Secure 
 the Former and Avoid the Latter." 2 This address is well written, showing a 
 good command of English and presenting a great fund of valuable information 
 and advice to the graduates in a logical and pleasing manner. The other address 
 is an introductory lecture read in 1848.' He then departed from the common 
 custom and presented a discussion of a purely scientific subject. The subject 
 of "Atresia Vaginae" was discussed in a masterful manner, illustrated from 
 personal experience, showing his skill as a teacher and writer. 
 
 From the time, he located in St. Charles to his death, he was a popular pre- 
 ceptor of medical students, large numbers of whom came to him for instructions. 
 
 At the meeting of the Fox River Medical Association at Elgin, Fet. 1, 1850,'' 
 he "delivered an able and interesting address on cholera, showing its contagious 
 character as exhibited in the epidemic of 1849, especially in that which appeared 
 at Aurora, Kane Co., 111., the fallacy of specific cures and the departure from 
 the usual concomitant symptoms as there exhibited." 
 
 In 1850, N. Hard was made professor of anatomy in the University of 
 Iowa at Keokuk. 
 
 In the summer of 1851, he contracted cholera, and with impaired health an 
 attack of dysentery caused his death, Oct. 16, 1851. A colleague wrote of him: 
 "Prof. Hard maintained a good character as a pleasing and instructive lecturer 
 during his connection with the medical schools at LaPorte, Ind., and Keokuk, 
 Iowa, and enjoj'ed a high reputation as a practitioner in Aurora, III., the place 
 of his residence. He has been cut down in the prime of life and in the midst 
 of his usefulness." ^ Speaking of the medical school at Keokuk, Keabbs of the 
 class of 1852, said :" "Late in the fall of '51 Professor Hard died. This was in 
 many ways a loss to the college. He was a strong, level-headed man from 
 -'Aurora, Illinois, and had more students than all the other professors combined, 
 except Professor Richards." 
 
 X. Hard was fond of the best literature, and had excellent musical taste, as 
 had also his wife. They were the first in Aurora to possess a piano. He 
 collected a cabinet of geological specimens and wrote shorthand. 
 
 The records of the life and activities of Nichols Hard are few, but there is 
 sufficient to show that his was an unusual character. He had an excellent repu- 
 tation as a popular teacher and able practitioner. Kindly toward others, he 
 received an unrelated orphan girl into his family, and took an active part in 
 the education of his two younger brothers. Both brothers became able physi- 
 cians, Chester Hard in Ottawa and Abner Hard in .Aurora, 111. His life work 
 was completed when he was but 33 years of age. (Portrait p. 87.) 
 
 = The Practice of Medicine — Its Roses and Thorns — the Way to Secure the Former and 
 Avoid the Latter. LaPorte, 1846. Manuscript possessed by Mrs. Geneve Hard Murphy, 
 niece of Nichols Hard. 
 
 » Hard. N.: Lecture on Atresia Vaginae. LaPorte. 1848. 
 
 « North-Western Med. & Surg. Jour., 1850, 6, p. 517. 
 
 "Ibid., 1851, 8, p. 306. 
 
 "The Chieftain, 1907. Also personal communications from Mrs. Geneve Hard Murphy.
 
 65 
 
 Fig. 24.— Front door cf Dr. Richar<l'< houK, sh.HinK l>ullcl iiurk al>ove knob.
 
 66 
 
 JOSIAH B. HERRICK 
 
 1821-1850 
 
 Josiah B. Herrick was born Jan. 8, 1821, in Durham, Me. He was a 
 younger brother of William B. Herrick, and was educated in the schools of his 
 native state until he came West and continued his studies in the Hillsboro 
 Academy at Hillsboro, 111. He began to study medicine in St. Louis, continued 
 it in Chicago, and graduated from Rush Medical College in 1845. He located 
 at Vandalia, III., where he practiced medicine. In 1848, he became demonstrator 
 of anatomy in his ahna mater. In this year, he married a daughter of General 
 William F. Thornton of Shelbyville, 111. The young wife died in 1849, leaving 
 an infant son. After the death of his wife. Dr. Herrick moved to Sheboygan, 
 Wis., but in the spring of 1850, he joined a party going to California by the 
 way of Panama. At Sacramento he died of peritonitis, July 14, 1850. In an 
 obituary notice in the North-Western Medical and Surgical Journal (1850, 
 7, p. 266), he is spoken of as a young man of much promise, endowed with 
 a quick and philosophical mind, a strong constitution, great energy and zeal in 
 the prosecution of his designs. Special mention is made of his affability and 
 kindness which had secured to him a large circle of friends. (Portrait p. 81.) 
 
 WILLIAM B. HERRICK 
 1813-1865 
 
 William B. Herrick was born in Durham, Me., Sept. 20, 1813. When 16 
 years old, he began teaching school, and at intervals attended Gorham Academy, 
 Me. He attended lectures at Bowdoin and Dartmouth Colleges, graduating 
 from the medical department of the latter Nov. 16, 1836. 
 
 In 1837, he settled in Louisville, Ky., and was appointed assistant demon- 
 strator of anatomy in the Louisville Medical Institute. In 1839, he moved to 
 Hillsboro, III. In 1844, he was elected to the chair of surgery in the medical 
 department of Illinois College, but did not occupy it, but came to Chicago and 
 became lecturer on anatomy in Rush Medical College. From 1845 to 1850, he 
 was professor of anatomy, from 1850 to 1855 professor of anatomy and physiol- 
 og}', and from 1855 to 1857, professor of physiology and patholog}\ 
 
 When the Mexican War began, he was appinted assistant surgeon in the 
 First Regiment of Illinois Volunteers, and was in the engagement at Buena 
 Vista. Later, he was in charge of the hospital of Saltillo. 
 
 In May, 1847, ill health compelled him to resign, and he returned to Chicago 
 to resume his duties. In June, 1850, he was one of the organizers of the Illinois 
 State Medical Society, and served as its first president. He also in that year 
 aided in organizing the Chicago Medical Society, and was its second president. 
 He aided in editing the Illinois and Indiana Medical Journal from 1846 to 1849, 
 and wrote many able reviews and editorials. 
 
 When the U. S. Marine Hospital at Chicago was opened in 1852, William 
 B. Herrick was appointed surgeon and physician to the institution. 
 
 In 1857, Herrick was compelled to resign his college position because of 
 broken health, never having been well after the sickness contracted during the 
 Mexican campaign. He returned to his native state, where he died on Dec. 
 31, 1865. 
 
 It was said of him that "few who have been associated with him, in the 
 office of medical instructor, ever exceeded him in the influence he had upon
 
 67 
 
 his students by tlio zealous and liiKli-toned ardor tliat characterized his ciucst 
 of science and his skill in communicating it to tithers." (Portrait p. 81.) 
 
 Refereni ts; 
 Chicago Mr.lical Kxamincr. 1866. 7, p. l.'O. 
 
 History uf Mr.li>-iii<- jml Surgery and l'liysici;iiis an.l Surucons of Cliuau... CliiiaK". 
 19.'.', p. Ai 
 
 TOMPKINS IlKiDAV 
 1820-18/0 
 
 Tompkins Higday was born in Tompkins Co., N. V., August, 1820. He 
 was educated in the common schools and Homer Academy, Cortland Co.. 
 N. Y. He began the study of medicine al)out 1844, with Dr. .\. li. Shipman 
 at Cortlandvillc, N. V., and attended one course of lectures at Geneva Medical 
 College. He graduated at Indiana Medical College at Lal'orte, Ind., in 1847. 
 
 His thesis was on ".Xbdominal Surgery." and he always paid special atten- 
 tion to general surgery. He tilled the chair of physiology and general pathology 
 in Indiana Medical College from the year of his graduation until the di.scon- 
 tinuance of the school. He wrote a valuable history of "The Indiana Medical 
 College. Lal'orte. Ind.. 1842 to 1850" (Tr. Ind. State Med. Soc, 1874 p. 24.) 
 
 When Rush Medical College was raising funds to rebuild after the Chicago 
 tire. Tompkins Higday was one of four who purchased scholarships for $500. 
 His name is one of those appearing in the colored memorial windi w in the 
 front of the college building. (Portrait p. 5.!.) 
 
 .VBISliA S. HUDSON 
 1819-1905 
 
 A. S. Hudson was born in Massachusetts May 1. 1819, and in early life was 
 taken to Jefferson County, \. V. In 1846, he graduated from .Mbaiiy Medical 
 College. Coming west, he located at Sterling 111., where he carried on a 
 general medical practice for more than twenty years. 
 
 In 1849. Hudson became prosector of obstetrics and diseases of women 
 and children in the College of Physicians and Surgeons of the upper Mississippi 
 at Davenport. Iowa, and the following year he was professor of materia medica 
 and therapeutics at Keokuk in the Medical Department of Iowa State University. 
 
 When the Rock River Union Medical ."society was organized in 1855. Hudson 
 was elected vice president. He was cliosen to represent the society at the 
 next annual meeting of the National Medical .Association, and was appointed 
 to deliver the leading address at the next annual meeting.* 
 
 At the annual meeting of the Illinois State Medical Society in 1859, he was 
 awarded a prize for the best essay on "The Uses of Opium in Inflammatory 
 Diseases." - The same year, he became professor of physiology and pathology 
 in Rush Medical College. 
 
 During the Civil War^ Hudson served as surgeon of the Thirty-fourtli Illi- 
 nois Infantry. 
 
 In 1871, he moved to Stockton. Calif., where he was associated with his 
 twin brother, A. T. Hudson, until ill health compelled him to discontinue active 
 practice. The last five years of his life were spent at Mount Vernon, Ohio, 
 where he died on Oct. 9, 1905. 
 
 A. .S. Hudson seems to have been a student, fond of scientific study. He 
 was evidently an acceptable teacher, having been c.illed to a chair in Rush 
 after his experience in the other schools. (Portrait p. 8,?.) 
 
 ' NnrthWcKttrn M<-d. & Surg. Jour.. 1855. 12, p .V,.1. 
 = Chicago Med. Jonr., I8S9, 16, p. 4^1
 
 FRANKLIN W. HUNT 
 1810- 
 
 F. W. Hunti was born on Nov. 10, 1810, in Wayne County, Ind. ]-le began 
 practice during the cholera epidemic at Richmond, Ind., in 1833-1834. 
 
 He wa,s professor of materia medica and botany in the LaPorte Medical 
 School 1842-1843. He is said to have graduated at the Indiana Medical College. 
 He was prominent in Indiana state politics, having participated in the production 
 of the Revised Statutes of Indiana in 18S2. He was active in building up benev- 
 olent and scientific institutions in Indiana, including the asylums for the blind, 
 deaf and dumb and insane. About 1852, he expressed his approval of homeopathy 
 and aided in establishing the New York Homeopathic College, in which he 
 occupied a chair for five years. He was subsequently identified with homeo- 
 pathic organizations and publications. 
 
 ' Biographical Cyclopaedia of Homeopatliic Pliysicians and Surgeons, Pliiladelpliia, 1S73, 
 p. 328. 
 
 HENRY JONES 
 
 1803-1884 
 
 Henry Jones was born in New York City. August 26, 1803. He graduated from 
 the Berkshire Medical College in 1824, his theses entitled "On the Analogue exist- 
 ing between certain American indigenous vegetables and foreign articles of 
 medicine" being still preserved in the Berkshire Athenaeum and Museum at Pitts- 
 field, Massachusetts. He began practice in New York City and in 1826 married 
 Catherine Smith of Hadley, Massacliusetts. In 1831 he moved west, locating at 
 Jacksonville, lillinois, where he continued in active practice the balance of his life. 
 He was professor of obstetrics in the Medical Department of Illinois College 
 during the entire period of its existence. He is said to have been a man of good 
 education and an excellent teacher. He died in 1884. 
 
 JOHN ALBERT KENNICOTT 
 1802-1863 
 
 John .\. Kennicott was born in Montgomery Co.. N. Y.. (?) Jan. 5. 1802. 
 About 1823, he began the study of medicine at Buffalo, and graduated at the 
 Fairfield Medical School in 1826. He was early an enthusiast on subjects^ of 
 botany and horticulture, and gave lectures on these subjects in his twenty-first 
 year. In 1829. he went to New Orleans, visiting several cities, and practiced 
 medicine and lectured near Jackson. Miss., during one summer. He remained 
 at New (Drleans until the spring of 1836, serving for 6 years as principal of 
 the upper primary school. Old Fauxbourg. St. Mary's. While there, he estab- 
 lished the Louisiana Recorder, a literary, scientific and religious paper.i 
 
 When he came to Illinois in 1836. he located at The Grove (later North- 
 field), Cook County, where he practiced medicine with unusual success for 
 about twenty-seven years. He covered a circuit of 30 miles on horseback, over 
 dirt roads in storms and floods, through swollen streams and almost bottom- 
 less mud. At his home he established a nursery on the ridge dividing the 
 Des Plaines water shed from the Lake Michigan water shed, and on the plank 
 road leading to Milwaukee. 
 
 June 8, 1852. a convention met at Springfield to consider the plan for an 
 industrial university. Dr. John A. Kennicott was president. At tliis time, 
 Jonathan B. Turner presented his plan for an industrial university. 
 
 'DuSonchet: Dental Rev., Chicago. 1911, 25. p. 376.
 
 69 
 
 I),., ,1,1 St..!;. ■4, K.lu^.r.l M,,,.;, 1 = 1 ll.Iiry W i
 
 70 
 
 Dr. Kennicott was an earnest friend of J. B. Turner, with whom he was 
 associated through the most trying years of the campaign that led to the 
 establishment of the land grant system of industrial universities. After J. B. 
 Turner, John A. Kennicott and Bronson Murray are most to be credited with 
 initiating and advancing the movement which finally led to the establishment 
 of the present state university of Illinois.- He was one of the first officers 
 of the State Agricultural Society, and edited one or two of its annual reports. 
 From 1853 to 1855, he was horticultural editor of the Prairie Fanner, and 
 contributed many articles on horticulture to this publication. 
 
 When J. A. Kennicott was president of the North American Pomological 
 Convention, held at Syracuse in 1849, he made a report as chairman of the 
 committee from Illinois. He closed the report with remarks upon "the prophy- 
 lactic and curative properties of ripe fruits." After calling attention to the 
 many virtues of fruit in health and disease, he adds : "It is the best, the 
 cheapest, and the least exceptionable cure for intemperance. It not only lessens 
 the desire for alcoholic drinks, but supplies their place, and removes the effects. 
 Eve was tempted by an 'apple.' A good God has given us the object of 'the 
 primal sin' as a great blessing."'' 
 
 = Powell. B. E. : University of Illinois, Semi-Centennial History, 1918. 
 » North-Western Med. & Surg. Jour., 1850, 2. p. 519. 
 
 EDMUND STOUGHTON KIMBERLY 
 1803-1874 
 
 Among the original members of the colony of New Haven was Thomas 
 Kimberly, the remote ancestor of Edmund S. Kimberly, who was one of the 
 most influential and public spirited citizens in the formative period in Chicago. 
 Edmund S. Kimberly was born in 1803 at Troy, N. Y. .He graduated from 
 the academy at Lennox, Mass., in 1849, and from Union College, Schenectady, 
 N. Y., in 1822. Being commissioned surgeon's mate by Governor Dewitt Clin- 
 ton, he spent some time observing the febrile disease of the southern states, 
 then returned to New York and resumed the study of medicine. He was a 
 student in the College of Physicians and Surgeons of New York during 1824- 
 1825, but did not graduate. 
 
 In 1832, he came to Chicago, being, according to Goodhue, the second 
 physician to settle in Chicago (111. and Ind. Med. & Surg. Jour., 1846, 3, p. 
 260). He served as clerk at the meeting held in 1833, which determined the 
 incorporation of Chicago as a village. In 1834, he was a member of the first 
 Chicago Board of Health. In 1837, he aided in securing the charter of Rush 
 Medical College through the effects of his business partner, Pruyne, who was 
 a member of the state senate. In 1844-1846, he took a prominent part in the 
 efforts made through school conventions to bring about an efficient public school 
 system in the state. 
 
 From 1834, when he was a member of the first board of health, until 1847, 
 he was active in public health matters, being part of the time the health officer 
 of the city. 
 
 When the City Hospital was established, in 1846, he was consulting physician 
 on the staff. In 1847, he was elected recorder of Cook County, and in 1843 
 clerk of the county. In 1848-1850, he served as president of the Board of 
 Education. 
 
 Forced by failing health, he retired from active life in 1858, and took up 
 his residence near Barrington, 111., on land bordering on the eastern shore of
 
 71 
 
 Honey Lake. Here at Hybla Hill lie lived until his death in 1874. The 
 estate was purchased in 1905 by Prof. E. O. Jordan of the University of Chicago, 
 and here the Serum Division of the John McCorinick Institute for Infectious 
 Diseases for several years produced diphtheria antito.xin, probably the tirst of 
 this agent manufactured in Illinois. 
 
 Kefeiie.sces: 
 
 The Barrington Rev.. Sept. 18, 1903. 
 
 Hist, of Med. and Surg, and Thysician and Surgeons of Chicago, 1922, p. 27. 
 
 MOSES L. KX.VPP 
 1799-1879 
 
 In his association with newly organized medical schools, the subject of this 
 sketch had unusual e.xperience. He was a private student of George McClcllan 
 when the latter organized Jefferson Medical College, and graduated in the 
 first class sent out by that school. He was on the original faculties of two of 
 the medical schools under consideration, and for some time was professor in 
 the third. He rightly referred to himself as a "ncw-schoolsman." 
 
 Moses L. Knapp was born Nov. 25, 1799, at Barkhamstcad, Conn. He was 
 educated in the common schools of Oxford. X. V., and in 1825 he matriculated 
 at the first session of Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia.' He was one 
 of the twenty men who formed the first class graduating from that institution 
 in 1826. He stood at the top of his class, and his thesis, ".\pocynum Canna- 
 binum," was the first handed in and the first thesis from Jefferson Medical 
 College to be printed.- In the first edition of the Dispensatory of the United 
 States of America by Wood and Bachc, the thesis of Knapp is referred to as 
 the principal authority on Apocynum Cannabinum or Indian hemp, and quota- 
 tion is made from it. 
 
 .\fter graduation he located in Baltimore and practiced there until about 
 1831, when he migrated to Illinois. On .\ug. 20, 1831, Dr. Knapp married 
 Mary Jane Long, and went to Springfield to live. Here he practiced medicine 
 for about 3 years. He bought large quantities of land, becoming one of the 
 largest land owners in Logan County. .Xftcr the financial panic in 1837, his 
 land values shrunk, and there was no money to pay taxes. He moved his 
 family to Waynesville, 111., and later to Middletown, and continued to practice 
 medicine. In 1845, he moved his family, consisting of wife and 5 children, 
 to Chicago, where he followed his profession until 1851. His home was at 
 96 Clark St., opposite the public square now occupied by the City and County 
 buildings. Everywhere he was a leader in all social and political activities. 
 When Rush Medical College was organized in 1843, Knapp entered the faculty 
 as professor of obstetrics,^ still residing at Waynesville. From 1845 to 1851, 
 he resided in Chicago, and practiced his profession and was professor of 
 chemistry in the University of St. Mary of the Lake. He served as professor 
 of materia medica in Indiana College at LaPorte, from 1844 to 1846,< and 
 while he does not appear among the faculty of 1846-1847, he delivered the 
 
 'Gould, C. M.: Jefferson Medical College of Philadelphia. X. Y. and Chicago, 1904, 
 p. 63. 
 
 'Wood. G. B.. and Bache. Franklin: The Dispensatory of the United States of America; 
 Inaugural dissertation on the properties of the Apocynum Cannabinum (Indian Hemp), 
 submitted to the faculty of the Jefferson Meilical College, I>hiladelphia. 1836, Philadelphia, 
 1833. n. 96. 
 
 •Bridge. Norman, and Rhodes, John Edwin: History of Rush Medical College and 
 Med. & Denul Colleges of the We<t. Chicago, 1896. 
 
 •Kemper. G. W. : A Medical History of the State of Indiana, Chicago, 1911. p. 53.
 
 72 
 
 address to the graduating class in 1847.^ In the autumn of 1848, he delivered 
 the opening address at the first session of the Rock Island Medical school, in 
 which he was president and professor of materia medica and therapeutics.^ 
 The following year he followed this migrating school to Davenport, Iowa.' 
 In 1850, his health was such that it was deemed wise for him to seek a milder 
 climate. At this time, he was given a certificate as to his character and ability, 
 signed by many prominent men of Illinois. His colleagues on the faculty gave 
 him certificates to use in establishing him in new surroundings. 
 
 In 1852, Knapp moved his family from Chicago to Covington, Ky., where 
 he engaged in active practice. 
 
 In 1855, he published a book on epidemic cholera * and an essay on cholera 
 infantum," and in 1856 a book on nursing sore mouth. i" 
 
 In 1857 and 1859, he published what was generally known as "Knapp's 
 Pathology," ' >■ in two volumes, in which he elaborates a scorbutic diathesis as 
 the explanation of almost all disease processes. He insisted on the daily use 
 of fruits and fresh vegetables in scorbutic cases in opposition to the general 
 use of farinaceous foods. The dietetic innovations, which he advocated, came 
 at a time when depleting measures, such as blood-letting, etc., were falling into 
 disrepute. The measures he urged were accepted by many physicians through- 
 out the country, and were found to be useful in treating the sick. He antici- 
 pated by two generations much that is now considered new in the vitamin 
 regimen. Fruit juices were given to babies, and milk, ripe fruits and vegetables 
 were urged as important articles of diet. 
 
 While he was in Philadelphia supervising the publication of his last work, 
 he suffered severe pulmonary hemorrhage, and in 1860 went to Metamoras, 
 Mexico, hoping the warmer climate would be beneficial to his health. With 
 restored health, two years later, he located at Cadereyta, State of Nuevo 
 Leon, Mexico, and there successfully practiced medicine luitil he died of 
 pneumonia, on his 80th birthday, 1879, having been in the active practice 
 of medicine more than 50 years. i- His remains lie in the Campo Santo in 
 Cadereyta. 
 
 While in Illinois, Knapp was especially interested in general education, having 
 manifested special interest in the State Common School convention, held in 
 Chicago in 1846.i' He was popular as a teacher, and his writings show that 
 he was possessed of much literary ability. (Portrait p. 11.) 
 
 GEORGE WASHINGTON LEE 
 
 1820-1889 
 
 George W. Lee was born Oct. 25, 1820, at Spring Hill, Fairfax County, 
 Va. He was given the name George Washington because he was descended 
 from Ellen Ball, a sister of the mother of George Washington. About 1838, 
 
 ''Knapp. M. L. : Address Delivered to the Graduating Class of the Indiana Medical 
 College at the Public Commencement, Feb. 18, 1847, Chicago. 18-47. 
 
 "Knapp, M. L.: An Address Delivered at the Opening of the Rock Island Medical 
 School, Nov. 7, 1848. Chicago. 1849. 
 
 ' Lothrop, Charles, H. : Med. and Surg. Directory of the State of Iowa, Lyons, Iowa, 
 1876, p. 130. 
 
 s Discovery of the Cause, Nature, Cure and Prevention of Epidemic Cholera, Cin- 
 cinnati, 1855. 
 
 ^ Essav on Cholera Infantum, Cincinnati. 1855. 
 
 1" Inquiry Into the Cause and Nature of Nursing Sore Mouth, Philadelphia. 1856. 
 
 " Researches on Primary Pathology and the Origin and Laws of Epidemics, 2 vols., 
 Philadelphia, 1858. 
 
 ^ College and Clinical Record, Philadelphia, 1880, 1, p. 7. 
 
 " History of Chicago, by A. T. Andreas, 1884, 1, p. 212.
 
 73 
 
 
 -yntu d.tt*jt. ,'^<*.i^ J e.e/£.A^j!L^ 
 
 Lfi £. pc. ■) U JiL,.- tt-vt. rn--, *'"i«- .'/«cV/ y.. /<y^, ,;<<.mA^, 
 /^ />'' ('<^A. r^ <'^t A/^<L- ,tC,.- /-<^4 «>-,"•-'*.', A<- 
 
 Zozi^cX^i Ll^/^i*- y^-^ /(^****~ ■'^^ ■Uyx'^ *i 
 
 Ct*>-ti Ob^ iflM C^-d-t-t-Uy^ £ 4^Z^ Jf/--^Ji 
 
 Fig. 26.— Litter from Danid BrainarJ 1., luhn .McLean regar.ling the- itk . 
 Medical College. Oct. 10, 1S4.'.
 
 74 
 
 he settled at Cortland, N. Y.. where he practiced medicine. It has not been 
 possible to determine where he studied medicine, or whether he possessed 
 a degree. 
 
 In 1848-1849, he was prosector of anatomy in the Indiana Medical College, 
 his home address being Whitewater, Wis. 
 
 About 1852, he located at Shullsburg, Wis., where he practiced until 1872. 
 He then went to Milwaukee for two years, and about 1875 finally located at 
 Darlington, Wis., where he died in 1889. 
 
 In a personal letter. Dr. W. W. Peck of Darlington, Wis., said: "He was 
 a man far ahead of the majority of his fellow practitioners in this locality." 
 Like many another physician, he had the mining "craze," and all his invest- 
 ments in lead mines proved disastrous, so that he died a poor man, although 
 he enjoyed a lucrative practice. He is said to have delivered many "useful 
 and entertaining lectures," probably popular, in various parts of Wisconsin. 
 He was a close friend of General Grant, whom he entertained in his home 
 in S'liullsburg. 
 
 JOHN McLEAN 
 1814-1879 
 
 John McLean was born at Caledonia, Livingston County, N. Y., June 25, 
 1814. His father, Daniel McLean, was a farmer, and John spent his early 
 years on the farm. He attended the country school during the winter, and by 
 his own industry and efforts equipped himself for teaching. With the aid 
 of funds earned by teaching in country schools, he prepared himself for his 
 chosen profession. In 1834-1835, he attended a course in the College of Physi- 
 cians and Surgeons of the Western District of the State of New York at 
 Fairfield, but does not appear to have graduated. In 1835, he received a cer- 
 tificate from Herkimer Co., N. Y., Med. Society, which entitled him to practice 
 medicine. In 1837, he moved to Jackson, Mich., making the trip by canal, rail- 
 road, and the last 50 miles by wagon. He received a certificate from Jackson 
 Co. Mich. Med. Soc. in 1839. He continued to practice at Jackson, Mich., 
 up to 8 years of his death, which occurred March 10, 1879. In 1845, a diploma 
 was given him from Castleman Medical College. 
 
 When Rush Medical College was organized in 1843, he was made professor 
 of materia medica and therapeutics. This position he held until 1855, when he 
 resigned. He was held in high esteem by the students, and when he resigned, 
 a resolution by the faculty bore testimony to "his high qualities, his uniformly 
 kind and gentlemanly deportment, and his faithful discharge of the duties 
 imposed on him." i In 1844. he wrote on anemia for the local medica! journal.- 
 He was very fond of chemistry, and in 1845 was appointed professor of chem- 
 istry, botany and physiology in the Michigan Central College.' In the last 
 years of his life, he busied himself with the study of chemistry. (Portrait p. 11.) 
 
 FRANCIS ASBURY McNEILL 
 
 1809-1872 
 
 The combination of skill in the practice of medicine, ardor as a religious 
 
 teacher, and enthusiasm in politics is well exemplified in Francis A. McNeill, 
 
 born in Allegany County, Md., Jan. 1, 1809. His grandfather. General John 
 
 McNeill, served in the American army during the Revolutionary War. Francis 
 
 1 North-Western Med. & Surg. Jour., 1855, 12, p. 341. 
 = 111. Med. & Surg. Journ., 1844, 1, p. 76 
 = Ibid., 1845, 2, p. 74.
 
 75 
 
 was baptized in infancy by Rev. Francis Asbnry, the first bishop of the Methodist 
 Cliurch in America, and at the a^e of 20 years was riding a circuit as a 
 Methodist minister. Because of faihn>; healtli, he a1)andoned preachinjf and 
 entered on the study of mc<hcine, and, wlien 2S years of at-e, graduated from 
 the University of Maryland, Bahimore, in 1834. In the spring of 1835, he 
 located at Springfield, 111., where he practiced medicine for 12 years. In 1840. 
 he was one of the organizers of a State Medical Society at Springfield. Dur- 
 ing his residence at Springfield, he continued to preach, being ordained Klder 
 by Bishop Soule at Jacksonville, 111., in 1837. In 1847, he removed to I'coria 
 to become pastor of the Methodist society in that city. From there, he went 
 to Racine, Wis., and Mt. Morris, 111. He made campaign addresses throughout 
 the state of Illinois in support of William Henry Harrison in 1840, and was 
 a delegate to the convention which nominated Henry Clay f<ir President. He 
 was a member of the convention for the purpose of organizing the Illinois 
 State Medical Society in 1850, and served on the committee on arrangements. 
 He attended the Blooniington convention in 1856, which gave rise to the 
 Republican party in Illinois. A newspaper which he published in Ogle County 
 was among the first to advocate the cause of Abraham Lincoln. In 1860-1801, 
 he was elected a member of the legislature at Springfield, attending the regular 
 winter session and the e.xtra spring sessions when the Civil War began. He 
 was appointed army surgeon to the Thirty-fourth Illinois Volunteers by 
 Governor Yates, Oct. 12, 1861. After 6 months, failing health compelled hiin 
 to resign. The next summer, he received a commission as hospital chaplain 
 at Paducah, Ky., where he remained for more than 2 years, when he was 
 transferred to Louisville. Here he remained as chaplain until 1865, when he 
 returned to Mt. Morris and resumed the practice of medicine. He died on 
 F'eb. 3, 1872, from a paralytic stroke. 
 
 ICDW.XKI) .MI-.Al) 
 1819-1883 
 
 .■\mong the teachers in these early medical schools, Edward Mead stands as 
 the pioneer student of psychiatry in this region and as the first to offer institu- 
 tional care for the insane in Illinois. He was born in Leeds, Yorkshire County, 
 I'jigland, March 21, 1819. When 12 years of age, his parents brought him to 
 America. Little is known of his early years. About 1838, he began the study 
 of medicine with Dr. Robert Thompson of Columbus, Ohio. In 1841, he 
 graduated from the Medical College of Ohio, and then journeyed to Kuro|)e to 
 complete his education. On his return, he located in Cinciimati, and in 1842, 
 he moved to St. Charles, 111. Here he carried on an extensive practice among 
 the settlers. Almost at once he began agitation for the establishment of a 
 state hospital for the insane, and after years of persistent endeavor, backed 
 by his colleagues in Illinois College, the Illinois State Hospital at Jacksonville 
 was established in 1847. 
 
 When a medical school was organized at St. Charles, 111., in 1843, he was 
 one of the teachers. In 1844, he wrote a report on medical education for an 
 Illinois school convention, and he made a report on medical education at the 
 Illinois State Medical Convention at Springfield, Dec. 16, 1846.' In 184.=;-1846 
 he was professor of materia medica and therapeutics in the Medical Depart- 
 ment of Illinois College. As a delegate from this school, he attended the 
 
 > Wrslrrn Lanccl. 1847, i. p. iif, Wravi-r. GcorKc- H.: E.lw.ir.l Mr.nl. M.U., ihe Pioncrr 
 Ncuropsychiatrist of Illinois, III M.-.l. lo.ir . Kil. , W_M. |. 1 W. .,n.l li.il. Sue. Mcil. Hist., 
 Chicigo, 1924, 3, p. 279.
 
 76 
 
 National Medical Convention in New York, being the only representative from 
 Illinois. Here he was appointed a member of a committee to prepare a report 
 on preliminary education of students in medicine, and he contributed to the 
 report of the committee which was presented in Philadelphia the following 
 year when the American Medical Association was organized. In 1847, Mead 
 opened a private hospital for the insane in Chicago, at the time being the only 
 hospital for the insane west of Columbus, Ohio. The institution was located 
 on 20 acres of land 2^4 miles northwest of the business part of the city. The 
 institution came to an end in 1851, when the buildings were destroyed by fire. 
 During its existence, treatment was given to 139 patients, nearly half of whom 
 were cured. After the loss of his institution by fire, he accepted the chair 
 of obstetrics in the Cincinnati College of Medicine and Surgery, lecturing 
 also on his favorite topics, mental diseases and medical jurisprudence. In 
 1853, he founded the American Psychological Journal, which was published 
 for one year. 
 
 Unable to subscribe to the methods followed in conducting the medical 
 school, he resigned after 2 years. He then founded the Cincinnati Retreat for 
 the Insane, which he conducted until 1869, when he moved to Boston. From 
 1872 until his death, he conducted private hospitals for insane in Winchester 
 and Ro.xbury, Mass., near Boston. 
 
 In 1883, while on a trip for his health, the vessel in which he sailed was 
 wrecked on the coast of Pico in the Azores, and he was drowned. ( Portrait 
 p. 69.) 
 
 DANIEL MEEKER 
 1806-1876 
 
 Daniel Meeker was the originator of the LaPorte school and the leader in 
 the faculty. He was born in Schoharie Co., New York., Dec. 17, 1806; attended 
 his first course of lectures at Fairfield, N. Y. ; graduated at the close of his 
 second year at Willoughby, Ohio, and located at LaPorte in 1835. "He was 
 a man of iron will, great physical endurance, and withal a firm believer in 
 the resurrection of the dead, just the man to start successfully a medical college 
 in a small town. 'Old Death,' as the students familiarly called him, never 
 failed to keep the dissecting room abundantly supplied with fresh subjects." i 
 
 In 1844, he was a candidate for a professorship in Rush Medical College, but 
 failed to receive it. About this time, he published a very good description of 
 epidemic erysipelas as it occurred in LaPorte. - 
 
 Dr. Meeker was president of the Indiana State Medical society in 1857. To 
 the Transactions in 1857, 1858 and 1859 he contributed three articles on "Frac- 
 tures and False Joints." In the Civil War, he was surgeon of the Ninth 
 Indiana Volunteers (3 months), and later, for a short time, was surgeon of 
 the same in the 3 years' service.-' 
 
 After the LaPorte school was discontinued, he gave a course on anatomy at 
 Indianapolis and 5 courses at Keokuk, Iowa. He was a thorough anatomist and 
 a bold, successful operator in surgery. (Portrait p. 53.) 
 
 1 Higday, T.: Tr. Ind. State Med. Soc, 1874, p. 24. 
 = 111. Med. & Surg. Jour.. 1844, 1, p. 17. 
 
 2 Kemper, G. W. H.: Medical History of the State of Indiana, Chicago, 1911, p. 310. 
 
 JOHN BARTON NILES 
 
 1808-1879 
 
 J. B. Niles was born at West Fairlee, Vt., Sept. 17, 1808. In 1830, he 
 
 received the degree of B.A. from Dartmouth College. He probably received 
 
 no medical degree. He practiced law at LaPorte, Ind. In 1843, he was judge
 
 Fig. 27.— McmlKT- 
 Van Zand! Blancy. ( .1 i 
 N. Filch. 
 
 Mc.lical CiillrKr: 111 Uaiiirl Krain.ird. IJI Jam 
 I Musts L. Kiiapp, I3l Austin Flint. I6j Cralia
 
 78 
 
 of the circuit court of Indiana ; in 1850. a member of the Indiana Constitutional 
 Convention. During the life of the Indiana Medical College, he was professor 
 of chemistry. He is said to have been » most fluent and scholarly lecturer. 
 (Portrait p. 53.) 
 
 DAVID PRINCE 
 1816-1889 
 
 Before 1640, the remote ancestor of David Prince, had left his native Eng- 
 land and settled at Salem, Mass. This was Robert Prince. Four generations 
 later, David Prince was born in 1791, and his oldest child was David, the 
 subject of our sketch, who was born in Brooklyn, Conn., June 21, 1816. David 
 and Sophia Ellsworth Prince, the parents of David, were of limited means, 
 and in the hope of bettering their conditions, moved to Central New York, 
 near Canandaigua, where they entered a piece of land on which they lived 
 until David was grown. They then moved to Payson, III., but David remained 
 behind to complete his education in Canandaigua .'\cademy, where he lived most 
 frugally. While here, he made botany a delightful pastime while he prepared 
 a large herbarium. In 1836-1837, he attended a course of lectures at the College 
 of Physicians and Surgeons of the Western District of New York at Fairfield. 
 Here Reuben D. Mussey was professor of surgery and midwifery. The next 
 year, Mussey went to the Medical College of Ohio at Cincinnati. Y'oung 
 Prince probably already had developed his leaning toward surgery, and naturally 
 followed his teacher to Cincinnati, where he graduated from the Medical College 
 of Ohio in 1839. -\fter assisting Mussey for a year and a half, he came to 
 Payson, 111. The next few years, he spent between Payson and Quincy, 
 acquiring a reputation as a surgeon. Here he successfull.v operated for ovarian 
 tumor. In 1843, an opportunity to gratify his desire to teach occurred when 
 he was made professor of anatomy in the newly organized Medical Depart- 
 ment of Illinois College at Jacksonville, where he taught anatomy and surgery 
 for 5 years. During his residence at Jacksonville, he was one of the most 
 enthusiastic advocates for the establishment of a state institution for the insane. 
 
 When the Medical Department of Illinois College was discontinued in 1848, 
 he moved to St. Louis, accepting the professorship in surgery in the St. Louis 
 Medical College. In 1852, he returned to Jacksonville, and soon established him- 
 self in the practice of surgery. During the latter part of the Civil War, for 
 14 months, he was a brigade surgeon in Grave's brigade. Army of the Potomac. 
 When soldiers of his brigade were captured and sent to Libby prison, he 
 voluntarily gave himself up and went along with them in order to attend them. 
 After the war, he was employed by the sanitary commission for several months 
 to assist in preparing a history of the conflict. Then he returned to Jackson- 
 ville, and in 1867 established a private hospital, known as "The Infirmary" 
 (later, "The Sanitarium"). His book on orthopedics, published in 1866, secured 
 a wide circulation and was a standard textbook of the time. About this time, 
 he was one of the organizers of the Morgan County Medical Society, and was 
 one of its most active members. He was active in the organization of the 
 Illinois State Medical Society, and for 50 years was one of its most active 
 members, and served as its president. He was an active member of the Amer- 
 ican Medical .Association, being its vice president in 1863, and 11 times served 
 as a delegate to the meetings. . He also took an active part in the American 
 Surgical Association and the American Public Health .Association. He attended 
 international medical congresses in 1881 and 1884. 
 
 His surgical activities extended over a wide field, but his special interest 
 seems to have been in orthopedics. He prepared several extensive reports on
 
 79 
 
 orthopedic surgery for the Illinois Slate Medical Society, lii conji;iic:ioii with 
 Dr. G. v. Black, he devised a set of instruments for operations on cleft palate. 
 He was quite along in years when the modern antiseptic surgery was established, 
 but he accepted and practiced it. Aside from his teaching in medical schools. 
 Prince acted as preceptor to numerous students. He always had one or more, 
 and not infrequently there were several about his oftice. He devoted much time 
 to their instruction, and so far as known never accepted any pay from them. 
 He had a private dissecting room and plenty of material. It was hidden away 
 in the second story of his barn and pr,.vided with many conveniences and 
 devises for receiving and preserving anatomical material. He believed that 
 anatomy was the fundamental branch of medicine, and himself practiced dissec- 
 tions as long as he lived. He liied in Jacksonville from pneumonia, Dec. 
 19, 1889. (Portrait p. 69.) 
 
 RsrEiENCES: 
 
 Tr. III. Stale Med. Soc, 1890. p. 26. 
 
 Atkinson. \Vm. B.: The Physicians of the L'nited States, Philadelphia, 1878, p. 638. 
 Ktrlly and Burrage: American Medical Biographies, Baltimore, I9J0, p. 943. 
 Unpublished paper ..n David Prince prcpare<l by Carl E. Black for the Fiftieth Anni- 
 versary of the Morgsi County Medical Society. Dec. 20, 1917. 
 
 GEORGE \V. RICH.XRDS 
 1800-1853 
 
 Among the early medical teachers in the Middle West, George W. Richards 
 stands out as one of the most forceful characters, and he was probably second 
 in influence only to Daniel Brainard. His skill and enthusiasm as a teacher 
 brought to him numerous students, and this with his organizing and executive 
 ability caused him to be sought by medical schools. About all wc know of him 
 before he studied medicine is that he was born in 1800 at Norfolk, Conn.' 
 Nothing has been learned of his parentage or early education. He graduated 
 in 1828 from the College of Pliysicians and Surgeons of the Western District 
 of New York at Fairfield.- The next year, he became a member of the Onon- 
 dago County, N. Y., Medical Society, of which he was vice president in 1835. 
 and president in 1836. During this time, his address is given as Camillus, 
 N. Y. At a meeting of this society, in 1835, he "reported a case of wound 
 of the heart of a child with a small knife producing death in 10 minutes, the 
 child having, tn appearance, been well most of the time." ■ Just when he came 
 west is uncertain, but he located in St. Oiarles, III., about 18-11. W. G. Todd,'' 
 who was a student at the first session of Rush Medical College in 1843-1844, 
 says : "About 1839 Dr. George W. Richards came to St. Charles from Lock- 
 port, 111., bringing with him a subject, a man who had been killed on the canal. 
 He sent an invitation to all the students around to make him a visit. 1 came 
 with the rest. He was a splendid teacher and after listening to his first lecture, 
 1 decided at once to be one of his students." For many years, he was the lead- 
 ing physician in and about St. Charles. 
 
 In 1842, he organized a medical school at St. Charles. The reputation of 
 Richards and his associates and the number of their students led to his being 
 placed on the faculty of the LaPorte Medical College as head of anatomy in 
 1844-1845, and as professor of theory and practice in 1845-1847.'' In the catalog 
 of the LaPorte school for 1846-1847, he appears as preceptor for 13 students. 
 
 •Dubuque (I.iwa) Daily Herald. .April 23, 1853. 
 
 * Catalog of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Western District of N. V. for 
 1839-1840. 
 
 'Centennial Meeting of the Onondago Medical Society, Syracuse, 1907, pp. 41, 156 
 and 157. 
 
 •Bull. Alumni Assn. Rush Med. College, Chicago, 1911. 7, No. 3. p. 1. 
 
 'Kemper. G. W. H.: Medical History of the State of Indiana. Chicago, 1911, p. 53.
 
 80 
 
 In 1848, he was active in organizing the Rock Island Medical School, taking 
 with him M. L. Knapp from the LaPorte School. He was professor of theory 
 and practice of medicine and president of the faculty. In his address at the 
 opening of the Rock Island school, M. L. Knapp, speaking of Professor Richards, 
 said: "His office of late years, especially since he commenced pubhc teaching, 
 has been thronged with students, ranging from 20 to 40 in number, who have 
 received daily instructions and examinations in the various branches of the 
 medical sciences." 
 
 In the spring of 1849, he was suspected of having in his office the body of 
 a young woman which had been removed from a recent grave in the neighbor- 
 hood. Having given assurance that the body was not in the building, he resisted 
 the efforts of a mob to search the house, and a bullet, fired by a member of 
 the mob. passed through his shoulder, and caused such injury to the nerves 
 that his right arm was permanently paralyzed. (See Figs. Zi, p. 61. and 24, 
 p. 65.) 
 
 When the medical school at Rock Island was moved to Davenport, Iowa, in 
 1849, Richards remained on the faculty as dean and professor of theory and 
 practice of medicine, and when later, in 1850, the school again moved, locat- 
 ing now in Keokuk. Iowa, he continued to occupy the same chair. 
 
 When Nichols Hard, of the Keokuk faculty died in 1851, Richards and 
 Armor left the school because they could not endure the friction which arose 
 among the faculty over the appointment of a successor." Richards then located 
 in Dubuque, Iowa. Here he took an active part in the organization of the 
 North-Western Medical Society, and was elected its first president. Jan. 11. 
 1853.^ He enjoyed this honor but a short time, dying in Dubuque. April 22. 
 1853, of prenumonia, aged S3 years. 
 
 After the loss of the use of his right arm in 1849. Richards learned to write 
 well with his left hand, but he was restricted in his ability to practice medicine, 
 and the experience seems to have left permanent effects on the man. This 
 appears in the affecting letter, written in 1850 to one of his earlier students. 
 Dr. George A. Bunker, in which he appeals to his "boys" for financial aid. 
 (See Fig. 4, p. 11, written before and Figs. 5. p. 15. and 10. p. 28, written after 
 the injury. ) 
 
 This fragmentary information is all we have been able to find regarding 
 G. W. Richards, but it is enough to convince us that he was no ordinary 
 man, and that he was naturally a teacher able to attract and hold young men. 
 No intimation has been uncovered which even suggests that he was not a man 
 of the highest honor and of the best ideals for his profession. In the group 
 of men who taught medicine in the district west of Chicago, he was the lead- 
 ing character. (Portrait p. 53.) 
 
 GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS ROSE 
 1788-1860 
 G. A. Rose was born at Geddes. Amberst Co.. Va.. March 13, 1788. Nothing 
 has been learned as to his medical education. For many years, he was a success- 
 ful physician of Lynchburg, Va., and in 1835 moved to LaPorte. Ind. 
 
 JOHN F. SANFORD 
 
 1823-1874 
 
 John F. Sanford was born in Chillicothe, Ohio. April 13. 1824. When 14 
 
 years old, he began the study of medicine with Dr. J. S. Prettyman, and in 
 
 1839 attended lectures at the Medical Department of Cincinnati College, in 
 
 which Daniel Drake was a prominent teacher. 
 
 » Keables. B. F.: The Chieftain, Keokul<, 1907. 
 
 ' North-Western Med. & Surg. Jour., 1853, 10, p. 142.
 
 81 
 
 \\ . |l:ivisMii, (III .|.-M.,li II.
 
 82 
 
 Being too young to graduate, San ford went to Farmington, la., in 1841, 
 and began the practice of medicine. In 1846, he was elected to the state senate. 
 In 1847, he attended lectures at the Philadelphia College of Medicines. We 
 have been unable to determine whether he ever received a degree. 
 
 In 1848, he became professor of midwifery in the Rock Island Medical 
 School and the following year was professor of surgery in the College of 
 Physicians and Surgeons of the upper Mississippi at Davenport, la. As a 
 delegate from this school, he attended the second annual meeting of the 
 American Medical Association in Boston, in 1849. On his return, he began an 
 agitation looking to the organization of a state medical society in Iowa. His 
 personal eflforts were largely responsible for the gathering of twenty-five physi- 
 cians at a convention over which he presided and during which, on June 19, 
 1850, the Iowa State Medical Society was organized. 
 
 In 1850, through his influence as a member of the state senate, the College 
 of Physicians and Surgeons at Davenport became the Medical Department of 
 the State University of Iowa, and he moved with the school to Keokuk, la. 
 
 In 1850, at Keokuk he established "The Medico-Chirurgical Journal," in 
 which Samuel G. Armor was joint editor. This was the first medical journal 
 published west of the Mississippi river. 
 
 John F. Sanford was an e-xcellent teacher and a skilled surgeon, and did 
 much for the profession of medicine in the early purind in Iowa. (Portrait 
 p. 83. ) 
 
 Jour, of the Iowa State Med. Sot., 1920, 10, p. 347. 
 
 Jenkins, Geo. F.: Iowa Med. Jour., 1909, 15, No. 11; Iowa Med. Jour. 1908. 1-t, p. 392. 
 
 Personal communication from Dr. Frank M. Fuller, Keokuk, la. 
 
 AZARIAH B. SHIPMAN 
 1803-1868 
 Azariah B. Shipman was born in Roxbury, Litchfield County, Conn., March 
 22, 1803. He was one of a family of five brothers, all of whom became success- 
 ful physicians. When Azariah was quite young his father removed to Pitcher, 
 Chenango County, N. Y., where he followed his profession as a farmer. Work- 
 ing on the farm in the summer and attending a district school in the winter, 
 young Shipman reached the age of 17, when his father died. He continued to 
 work on the farm during summers, and in the winter taught school. In 1822, 
 he began to study medicine with his eldest brother, and in 1852-1856 attended 
 a course of lectures at Castleton Medical College. Obtaining a license from 
 the County Medical Society, he commenced the practice of medicine at Delphi, 
 N. Y. In 1828, he married Miss Emily Clark, and the next year moved to 
 Fayetteville. In 1832-1833, he attended lectures in Philadelphia, at tlie University 
 of Pennsylvania, and Jefferson Medical College, and then located in Cortland. 
 N. Y. In 1835, he received a medical degree from Castleton Medical College. 
 In 1844, because of his reputation as a surgeon and his frequent contributions 
 to medical literature, he was appointed professor of anatomy in the Medical 
 Department of LaPorte University, LaPorte, Ind., and the following year was 
 transferred to the chair of surgery. In 1844, he was given a medical degree 
 from Jefferson Medical College. He held the position in the Indiana Medical 
 College until it went out of existence in 1849. This same year, he sought a 
 wider field for his special work in Syracuse, N. Y. Early in the Civil War, 
 he became assistant surgeon in the Seventeenth Regiment of the New York Vol- 
 unteers. In 1862, he was promoted to the rank of brigade surgeon, and placed 
 in charge of a large hospital at Newport News. In 1863, he resigned and
 
 83 
 
 l..hli K. S^.IM r.l, (.11 S.imn.l I,. Ailii.,r, i4i Oii.hru^ Kv.rl^. i5i A. S. Ilu,l.,,i
 
 84 
 
 returned to Syracuse. Afterward he served as reserve surgeon until compelled to 
 resign because of failing health. Three years of service with its privations, 
 work and an.xiety so undermined his health that he never again was well. In 
 1868, he went to Europe hoping to regain his health, but he died in Paris on 
 September 15. 
 
 Azariah B. Shipman was an excellent surgeon, serving a large territory 
 for many years. As a teacher, he was concise and practical. His education 
 and success depended entirely on his own efforts. In 1831, he became a mem- 
 ber of the Onondaga Medical Society, and in 18.S6 he served as its president. 
 
 At the National Medical Convention held in New York, May, 1846, he 
 attended as a delegate for La Porte University. He was for many years a 
 member of the New York State Medical Society, and was four times a dele- 
 gate to the American Medical Association. 
 
 At Indiana Medical College, in 1847-1848, his introductory address was a 
 scholarly essay, full of historical references and good advice to his students. 
 It indicates that he was a wide reader, and a clear thinker. It might be read 
 with profit by the medical student of today. 
 
 References; 
 Jewett, H. O. : Tr. of the Med. Soc. of the State of New York, Albany, 1869. p. 247. 
 Centennial Meeting of the Onondaga Med. Society. Syracuse, 1907, pp. 156, 162. 
 Kelly, Howard A., and Burrage, Walter L. : American Med. Biographies, Baltimore, 
 1920, p. 1045. 
 
 THOMAS SPENCER 
 1793-1857 
 
 Coming to Chicago when his most active years were over, Thomas Spencer 
 never made much impression on local medical education. He was born in 
 Barrington, Mass.. Oct. 22, 1793. Most of his early education was obtained at 
 home in a log cabin : he was taught arithmetic by his brother. For 3 months 
 he went to school to learn English grammar. Before he was 15 years old, he 
 was teaching school. When 19 years old, his older brother taught him survey- 
 ing. By surveying and by teaching school he earned the fees for his medical 
 course. In 1816, he received a license to practice from the Medical Society 
 of Herkimer County. N. Y., and began to practice in Lenox. 
 
 In 1820. he attended a second course of lectures at the College of Physicians 
 and Surgeons of the Western District of New York, at Fairfield, and received 
 his degree in 1820. In 1824, he was elected to the New York Assembly. In 
 1832, he attended a course of lectures at the University of Pennsylvania. While 
 here, he wrote an article on cholera, which was epidemic for the first time on 
 the western continent. This work was his presidential address at the annual 
 meeting of the Medical Society of the State of New York.i It comprises 131 
 pages and is a comprehensive discussion of the disease, founded on his personal 
 observations. 
 
 In 1833 and again in 1834, lie was president of the Medical Society of the 
 State of New York. 
 
 He was largely instrumental in securing the establishment of Geneva Medical 
 College in 1835. in which he was professor of theory and practice of physic 
 for IS years. While here, in 1844-1845. he delivered several lectures on animal 
 heat, which were later published in book form and were favorably received at 
 home and abroad. 
 
 ^Spencer, Thomas: An Essay on the Nature of the Epidemic Usually Called Asiatic 
 Cholera, etc., Albany, 1833. Biographical Memoir of Thomas Spencer by Sylvester D. 
 Willard, Albany. 1858. Mercer, Alfred: Alumni Address, College of Medicine of Syracuse 
 University, June 14. 18S3.
 
 85 
 
 In 18.>() Ik- made a trip to KiirDpe. stiidyinK and otisiTviiii^ in Paris, London, 
 EdinburKh and othor cities. 
 
 In 1847, when the Mexican War l)roke out. he was appointed surgeon of the 
 Tenth Regiment of Xew York and New Jersey \'oUniteers. He served nearly 
 a year and a half, and organized a hospital at Metamoras. 
 
 In 1849, he became professor of principals and practice of medicine in Rush 
 Medical College, but after delivering one course of lectures was obliged to 
 resign on account of ill health. He was made emeritus professor, which was 
 continued until his death. In 1852, he accepted a professorship in the Philadel- 
 phia College of Medicine and removed to that city, where he died. May 30, 1857. 
 
 He was a serious man with an indomitable spirit for work, and always a 
 Student. He was a clear thinker and able writer. ".As a teacher be was 
 unostentatious and patient, his instructions were simple and practical." (Por- 
 trait p. 81.1 
 
 DANIEL STAHL 
 1807-1874 
 
 One of the most interesting characters met among these early teachers of 
 medicine in Illinois is Daniel Stahl. His sterling personal qualities and charm 
 combined to make him a good teacher, a splendid practitioner and consultant, 
 and an efficient medical officer. 
 
 He was born in Gilserberg. Germany, July 12, 1807, he was educated in Ger- 
 many and attended the Universities of Munich and Vienna in 1828 and 1829. 
 In 1832-1833, he attended the University of Marburg, wlierc he was a fellow- 
 student of Pclissier. In 1833 or 1834. he came to .America. He first went to 
 Philadelphia, where he continued his studies of medicine and the English 
 language. He received a medical degree in 1844 from Western Reserve College. 
 Hudson. Ohio.' By 1835. Stahl had settled in V'incennes, Ind., and in March 
 of that year he became a member of the Vincennes Medical Society.- While 
 in Vincennes. he married Therese DeHoule, whose grandfather came from 
 France with LaFayette. Here also he lectured on anatomy and physiology at 
 St. Gabriel College. He remained here until about 1841, when he located in 
 Quincy. III. 
 
 When the Medical Department of Illinois College was organized, he became 
 professor of theory and practice of medicine.^ Here he gave two lectures daily 
 and appears to have been a popular teacher, several of the professors attending 
 his lectures regularly. Aiter one year, he discontinued his lectures, probably 
 because he could not afford to leave his family and practice to give lectures 
 with little remuneration. 
 
 In the cholera epidemic of 1849, his wife was one of the first victims in 
 Quincy. 
 
 About this time he published several medical articles. In one, entitled "Sul- 
 phate of Quinine in the Congestive Modifications of Scarlet Fever and Measles."* 
 he introduces his subject in this manner: "In medicine we want no idle words, 
 nor talk for talking's sake ; we want facts, true observations, and laws and 
 principles deducted from them." In other articles he published translations 
 
 ' Notc« frnm journal and letters of Daniel Stahl. prepared by his granddaughter, Ida 
 Irwin Small (Mrs. Arthur .\twell Smalt), personal communication. 
 
 • Secrctar>'s Notes of V^inccnncs Medical >cciety, personal communication from D. H. 
 Richards. .M. D. 
 
 •Black, rarl E. : Illinois College Medical School, Bull. Soc. Med. Hist, of Chicago. 
 1913. 1. p. 1/1. 
 
 • III. and Ind. Med. & Surg. Jour., 1846, 3. p. 193.
 
 86 
 
 from German of articles on pyelophlebitis and transposition of the viscera.'' 
 Two years later, he wrote on the "Sectional Teaching of Medicine." '' In this 
 scholarly production, he maintained that the symptoms, etiology, course, and 
 treatment of western diseases were best taught by western physicians, schools 
 and hospitals. He was a member of the medical convention for the purpose of 
 organizing the Illinois State Medical Society in 1850, and a member of the 
 committee on practical medicine. The same year he was one of the organizers 
 and first officers of the Adams County Medical Society. He was depended on 
 by the other physicians in his region in surgical cases. 
 
 In 1857. he retired from practice, went to Europe, where he put his children 
 in Swiss schools, and visited the medical clinics of France and Germany. Owing 
 to the financial panic later in the year, which affected his finances unfavorably, 
 he returned to Quincy and resumed practice. 
 
 At the opening of the Civil War, Stahl entered the national service. May 
 1, 1861. For 5 years, he served as surgeon in various commands, and was then 
 brevetted a lieutenant colonel and retired. 
 
 On account of his health, he spent the last 4 years of liis life in Paris, 
 London, Dresden, Heidelberg and Baden-Baden. Here he occupied himself with 
 study and attendance on lectures. Before his plans to return to America were 
 realized, he died in Baden-Baden, Oct. 26, 1874. 
 
 His last instructions to his children were : "The period during which I 
 served in the army of the United States being the proudest of my life, I wish 
 to preserve as heirlooms in the family my commissions and my sash. 
 
 "Put a plain white marble slab on my grave with the inscription ; 
 
 Daniel Stahl, M.D. 
 
 Late Brevet Lieutenant Colonel 
 
 and Surgeon, U. S. V." 
 
 He was buried in the Protestant Episcopal Cemetery in Baden-Baden. 
 
 Stahl read and spoke fluently English, French and German. He was a real 
 patriot, devoted to his familv, generous, and had a host of friends. (Portrait 
 p. 69.) 
 
 JOHN TAYLOR TEMPLE 
 1803-1877 
 
 J. T. Temple w-as born. May 5, 1803, on a plantation in King William County, 
 Va. He was educated in various boarding schools, then pursued his studies in 
 Union College at Schenectady, N. Y. He studied medicine in the office of Dr. 
 George McClellan of Philadelphia for 3 years, attending lectures at the Univer- 
 sity of Pennsylvania. In 1824, he received a medical degree from the Univer- 
 sity of Maryland. 
 
 Marrying soon after his graduation, he returned to his farm in Hanover 
 County, Va., acting as physician to the County Alms House. After 2 years, 
 he located for a time in Philadelphia, then went to Washington, where he was 
 employed in the patent office. Failing health compelled him to seek outdoor 
 life, and through the aid of Mr. Van Buren, he secured a contract to carry 
 mail from Chicago to Fort Howard on Green Bay. This brought him to 
 Chicago in 1833. In 1834, under contract to carry mail from Chicago to Peoria, 
 he established a line of four-horse coaches from Chicago to Peoria. He became 
 a member of tlie first board of health of Chicago in 1835. In 1836, in associa- 
 
 E North-western Merl. & Surg. Jour., 1948, 5, pp. 1 and :14. 
 "Ibid., 1850, 6. p. 111.
 
 87 
 
 Fig. 30.— Dr. .Nichuls Hard.
 
 88 
 
 tion with Dr. Boone, he excavated 2 sections of the Illinois and Michigan Canal. 
 In 1842, he became a convert to homeopathy and moved to Galena, 111., and 
 soon to St. Louis. Here he was the only homeopathic physician. In 1857, he 
 founded the Homeopathic Medical College of Missouri, holding the position of 
 dean. Until his death he was prominently identified with national homeopathic 
 medical societies and journals. 
 
 References: 
 
 Cleave's Biographical Cyclopaedia of Homoeopathic Physician.s and Surgeons, Philadelphia, 
 1873. p. 37. 
 
 Histoiy of Medicine and Surgery in Chicago, 1922, p. 29. 
 
 HENRY WING 
 
 1821-1871 
 
 Horace Benjamin and Mary Perkins Wing, the parents of Henry Wing, 
 came from Woodstock, Vt., to Troy, Mo., in 1819, and here Henry was born 
 .\pril 6, 1821. He was prepared for college in Lincoln .'Academy, Troy, and two 
 winters taught in country schools. From Illinois College, he received the degree 
 of Bachelor of Arts in 1844. and in 1846 the degrees of Master of Arts and 
 Doctor of Medicine. He located in Collinsville, where he married Marie 
 Catherine Collins. Here he lived and practiced his profession, except during 
 1863 and 1864, until his death. Soon after his graduation from the medical 
 department of Illinois College, he was selected by his alma mater to fill the 
 chair of materia medica and therapeutics, which he did acceptably during 
 1847-1848. 
 
 In 1861, he was commissioned by Richard Yates, a member of the Board 
 of Medical E.xaminers of the State of Illinois under general orders from the 
 War Department, receiving the rank of major. During his service on this 
 board, his ability was recognized by the members connected with the medical 
 department of Lind University, and he was invited to join the faculty of that 
 school. In the medical department of Lind Universit}', which later became 
 Chicago Medical College, he served as professor of general pathologj' and public 
 hygiene from 1863 to 1865, and as professor of materia medica and therapeutics 
 from 1865 to 1866. During most of this time, he continued to practice at 
 Collinsville, coming to Chicago during the time his lectures were given. His 
 health had never been vigorous, and following the death of his wife, in 
 1864, he was forced to relinquish his teaching position in Chicago. In 1868, 
 he accompanied as botanist, the exploring expedition of Major J. W. Powell 
 to the mountains of Colorado. Some improvement in his health followed, but 
 this was followed bv a period of ill health ending in his death at Collinsville 
 on Feb. 18, 1871. 
 
 For several years, he was a trustee of the Illinois Normal School. He 
 took an active interest in the local schools at Collinsville, being repeatedly 
 elected a member of the school board. He devised a series of boxes and blocks 
 to aid in demonstrating the decimal system to children. 
 
 He was known as the best physician in Collinsville, and had a wide consulta- 
 tion practice there and in the surrounding towns. Of him, Samuel Willard 
 wrote: "His gentle, noble, useful life ended Iiefore he was fifty years old." 
 (Portrait p. 69.) 
 
 References: 
 
 Hollister. Tohn H. : Biographical Sketches of some of the Early Physicians of Illinois; 
 Tr. 111. State Historical Society. Springfield, 1908. p. 189. 
 
 Black, Carl E.: Illinois College Medical School, Bull. Soc. Med. Hist, of Chicago, 
 1913. I, p. 171. 
 
 Notes from daughter.
 
 89 
 
 I.KTTKKS WRITTEN OR Rl-XEIVED HV M l.M I'.I.KS 
 
 OF THE FACULTIES OF THE I'loXEER 
 
 SCHOOLS ANT) Tlli:ik I'LTILS 
 
 The Society of Medical History of Chicago possesses the original McLean, 
 Kiiapp and Stahl letters, having received them from Dr. Frank Mclean, son of 
 Dr. John McLean, of Jackson. Mich.; Miss Mary J. Knapp. danKhfer of Dr. 
 Moses L. Knapp, of San .Antonio, Te.xas ; and Ida Irwin (Mrs. .Arthur .-\. ) 
 Small, granddaughter of Dr. Daniel Stahl, of Chicago. 
 
 Loans were made of the letters written to Dr. tieorge .A. Bunker hy his son, 
 Dr. W. C. Bunker, of Oregon, III.; of the letter to Dr. Nichols Hard by his 
 niece. Mrs. (leneve H. Murphy of Chicago; and of the letter to his father from 
 John Evans by his son, tlie late W'm. C. Evans of Denver, Colorado. 
 
 Clermont, 1st Mo. 21st, 1836. 
 
 Dear Father: — It has now been near six weeks since I wrote to Joel and no 
 answer has yet arrived nor have I heard from you more than once since I came 
 away. 1 mean 1 have not had direct news from you more than once that came in 
 a letter from Joel which with two from cousin Benj. make up the whole amount 
 of letters which I have received since I left home, now this is a mortifying 
 circumstance made worse by seeing Noah get letters from his folks every few 
 days. I have been an.xiously inquiring at the post offices every chance but 
 without any luck and I have at last concluded to send for news again. If yoti 
 knew how an.xious I am to hear from you, you would not hesitate writing for 
 one moment. 
 
 Many imaginary circumstances present themselves as the probable cause of 
 your silence perhaps a miscarriage of your letter, etc. but it all is involved in 
 doubt and uncertainty and will be until your communications shall some of 
 them come to my hand. As I told you in my letter to Joel I then e.xpected 
 to leave old Joseph's, so accordingly Noah and I bid adieu to old Gwynedd 
 school for boys on the last day of last year and came to Philadelphia ; on New 
 Year's day came here to this academy of the arts and sciences whose head 
 professor is Samuel S. Griscom, a nephew of Benj. Griscom who came out 
 with Peaslce he is a fine man very pleasant intelligent and kind. He is aided 
 by four other teachers, one his brother professor of mathematics, a German 
 by the name of Knorr who is professor of the Latin and Greek and (jcrman 
 language; there is a Spaniard teaches the Spanish language and a frenchman 
 teaches the french language. We have a very good chance for information 
 here are studying the latin language. Our teacher is the right kind of man 
 for a teacher. He gives us long lessons and long lectures on them so that we 
 are advancing quite fast and Knorr says if we keep on we will go to reading 
 in two or three weeks more, this encourages me for 1 long to be reading 
 latin. \Vc study philosophy have a very good class of about 20. There is 
 another one as large in aitother book we try a great many experiments. They 
 have a great number of apparatus such as air pump, electrifying machines and 
 such things as appertain to them. Their apparatus has not cost less than a 
 thousand dollars at a rough guess. 
 
 There are now about 65 scholars here, we make a large family, the scholars 
 are mostly friends children although some are not. 
 
 The teacher has a very good salary. They made 40.00 per quarter apiece. 
 Some pay more, some 35, we pay -10; 5 of it for latin. There is a library of 
 2.l)0() volumes here — how unlike Fnulkes he has nothing hut a few journals
 
 90 
 
 Scotts Foxes — Old Joseph is not a smart man by a great deal, he makes a 
 tolerable preach and that is about all of him. I would not be back there 
 for money If I had to stay, this place suits me to a fraction. 
 
 I told Joel that I was determined on studying medicine if I could get the 
 chance. I tried to fix it up some how so that the store might not be a preventa- 
 tive and hope he got it and my plans some of them will answer. I would like 
 to commence in the spring in order to get some knowledge of Anatomy and 
 Anatomical terras against next winter when I hope to attend the lectures at 
 Lexington. 
 
 I would prefer Lexington to this place on some accounts but on others I 
 prefer the Jefferson College of Philadelphia. But this can be soon fixed after 
 we determine whether I shall or shall not be a doctor. I tell folks here I am 
 going to be a doctor and am quite used to the name already. Benj. says we 
 will aim at professorships. This I would like, from observation I think we 
 would be able to get a diploma in as short a time as most students. I think 
 by next winter commencing a year I could obtain a diploma and I would rather 
 have that than the whole store, as Benj. said yes and if I had to stay in the 
 store for life I would rather have a diploma than two such stores. 
 
 There is no kind of chance for literary pursuit in a store and the study of 
 medicine is all scientific and literary — we, cousin Benj. and I will study together 
 at Lexington or at Waynesville or any where else that may suit me he says — 
 I do not care where so that we have a good chance for books and necessary 
 instructions. I never knew a person who had a diploma to practice medicine 
 but what done well, if they half tried. This part is the least of my concern 
 for I could be satisfied with (what no one need want that is) enough to eat 
 and shelter from the cold. But this I do not fear at all that is being so very 
 poor and if I get a diploma winter after next I sliall think I am coming out 
 doctor in short order. 
 
 I do not want mother to say anything against my calculations and want 
 her to be satisfied. I would not miss studying for a plantation. The calling 
 is honest and honorable and I believe the very calling for me. I believe that 
 in this way I could do more good to the human family than in any other 
 way, and the object of our creation was that we should do good to one another. 
 
 By relieving the sufferers from their infirmities 1 believe I could render 
 a more acceptable service to the world than by speculating on store goods. I 
 also am of the opinion that I would not be one of the last in the list of my 
 profession — now I like to talk about myself and thow wilt think I do a good 
 deal of it ; so quit of it directly. Oh I am reading physiology the most delight- 
 ful stuft' that I have found but all the books are more and more interesting 
 even the latin lesson is delightful. I expected it would be dry but it is very 
 interesting and we are promised it will be so the fartlier we advance. I have 
 been several times to Philadelphia. Been to Amos, Peaslee's house. He has 
 a fine old lady not near so old as he is though she is a pleasant countenanced 
 woman, Amos is complained of by a great many of his old neighbors for 
 being too close in his dealings. He has yankee ways of doing business. He 
 sent his love. 
 
 We are acquainted with John Child's family. They were out to the yearly 
 meeting 3 or 4 years ago and at Ashe Browns. Israel will know then, they 
 inquired after him, I found J. F. Wright in an . . . of books one evening. 
 He is very kind to us. I attended several lectures with him with which I was 
 pleased had been reading chemistry and saw some experiments that done me 
 good.
 
 91 
 
 A few days aRO 1 sent I'ncic Jason a letter wisliiii^ him joy. Chapman 
 says that thee sold pork too sintn by some he Rot 6.00 per liiindred and thee 
 only 4.75. This latter is a Rood price and the other an uncommonly hiRh one. 
 It is 8.00 here I believe but 1 scarcely ever hear anything said alnnit it. Noah 
 and 1 bouRht 150 dollars on the Miami E.xportiuR Company and sent it to Cliap- 
 nian to change for us if it be Rood; please ask him if he Rot it and say nothinR 
 about it if it is not good. I would like to hear how the old store is coniiuR on, 
 whether the Roods I sent got there or not. how the crockery turneil out, which 
 Chapman sent to Buck and Davis for a few goods, they said shawls— in his 
 box. I sent some little books to my dear little sisters and brother. O, have you 
 sold the sugar and what did you get for it? If it would be convenient Johnston 
 Murk and Davis no doubt would accept a little more money. I got some of 
 them the other day. They asked Noah when I was out whether it was safe to 
 let me have. If our export money is good 1 can come home without any more 
 but if not I will be in need of a little. 
 
 Write instanter if thow doest please for I am very uneasy to hear from 
 you. I cannot contrive why 1 have not got something before now. Xoah sends 
 his respects and says tell his folks he is doing well. 
 
 If it is convenient thow mayst say whether thee can consent to my wish to 
 study or not, and please do not send me back into the old store to loll on the 
 counter. O, I cannot do it unless I have to. but thy word is sovereign and I 
 hope to be dutiful. 
 
 Thy affectionate and grateful son, Joh.n Ev.xns. 
 
 David Evans, Waynesvillc. Warren County. Ohio. 
 
 Illinois College, July 6, 1843. 
 To Daniel Stahl, M.D. 
 
 Dear Sir: — At a meeting of the F'rudential Committee of the Trustees of 
 Illinois College, held upon the 5th inst., you were appointed to the Professorship 
 of The Theory & Practice of Medicines in the Medical Department of this 
 Institution, and I am directed to notify you of the appointment. 
 
 X.\TH. Coffin, Secretary. 
 Dr. Stahl. 
 
 Dear Sir: — I take great pleasure in adding a few explanatory remarks to the 
 above official communication. I would remark that the medical school in which 
 you are elected to the chair of Theory and Practice is now for the tirst time 
 organized. It is the plan of the Trustees of this Institution to commence 
 operation with four Professorships, viz. .Anatomy and Surgery, Gicmistry and 
 Materia Medica, The Theory and Practice of Medicine, and Obstetrics and 
 Diseases of Women and Children. Dr. Prince of Payson has been elected to 
 fill the chair first named. I have the honor to occupy the second, the third 
 named is offered to you, and Dr. Jones of Jacksonville is appointed to the fourth. 
 It has been thought best to fix the price of tickets for admission to each course 
 at fifteen dollars. This multiplied by the number of students in attendance will 
 constitute the income of each professor for a course of lectures. It is proposed 
 to follow the usual precedents of other similar institutions, with regard to 
 conferring degrees, free tickets etc. 
 
 As this is a new enterprise and comes forward in the midst of rival insti- 
 tutions, it is not to be expected, that there will be a very large number in 
 attendance at the first course of lectures. But it is hoped that a zealous and 
 enterprising faculty will soon secure to this institution a place in the first rank 
 of similar institutions in the country. It is earnestly huped, that ynu will accept
 
 92 
 
 the professorship offered to you and tlnis contribute the influence of your 
 talents and reputation to bring forward an enterprise, which promises to be 
 so useful and we hope honorable to our State. Our plan is to commence the 
 course of lectures annually about the middle of Nov. and continue sixteen 
 weeks. If you conclude to join us we can plan our course, so that you need 
 not be absent from your practice the whole sixteen weeks, if you choose to 
 shorten the time by lecturing more than once a day. The school must entirely 
 depend upon the ability of its teachers, and we hope, if you accept the appoint- 
 ment, you will come prepared to labor at first for a small compensation and 
 to look a little into the future for the reward of your labors. A speedy answer 
 is earnestly solicited, as it is important to publish our circular as soon as 
 possible. I shall have it all in readiness, leaving a blank to be filled with your 
 name, if you shall return a favorable reply. You can learn particulars more 
 in detail by consulting Dr. Prince, who was with us at our College Commence- 
 ment. If you conclude to accept the appointment please send a list of books 
 to be recommended to students in your department, and to be introduced into 
 the circular, and also a list of the names of Physicians known to you in this 
 and the adjoining States, that I may forward the circular to them. I wish to 
 make our announcement as extensively known as possible in order, if possible, 
 to bring in a goodly number of students to attend our first course. Your reply 
 may be directed to me, as Mr. Coffin will probably be absent. 
 
 Sincerely and truly your friend Samuel .A.dams. 
 
 Chicago, Oct. 10, 1843. 
 Dr. McLean. 
 
 Dear Sir: — Sometime since I addressed a letter to Dr. Sager in relation to 
 a course of lectures at this place. He referred me to you, as he could not 
 accept. His answer was, however, so long delayed that I had written to 
 another person in relation to the chair of chemistry and Dr. Blaney of N. 
 Jersey, who is a young gentleman, well qualified, has written me that he would 
 come. If, however, you would give a course on Materia Medica, or of practice 
 of medicine, I should be happy to have you do so. The number of students 
 for the first course, at this late period would probably be from twenty to 
 thirty. If there are any from Michigan, perhaps more. The fees would do 
 little more than pay expenses, but this would prepare us for a second course. 
 I have been several years engaged in giving private courses of anatomy and 
 surgery. I think it urgent there should be a commencement made this season. 
 A course on Mat. Med. might be finished in 6 or 8 weeks if necessary. By 
 commencing at present a number of students might be prevented from going 
 from this region to other places and thus give advantages to other schools. 
 
 If it would be consistent with your engagements to accept, will you please 
 inform me by return mail. 
 
 Respectfully, d. Brainard. 
 
 Dr. Jno. McLean, 
 Jackson, Mich. 
 
 Chicago, Oct. 21, 1843. 
 Dr. McLean. 
 
 Dear Sir: — I received yours yesterday and have delayed answering it for 
 one mail in order more explicitly to reply to your question. The institution 
 is to be a permanent one. ft was incorporated by the legislature of Illinois 
 in 1837. Several vacancies had occurred in the board, and no appointments 
 been made of professors, so that altho several of the trustees assured me they 
 would make any appointments I might wish, still I did not like to speak posi-
 
 93 
 
 lively of a thing subject to a certain degree of doubt, and therefore said 
 nothing of this character, thinking it possible we might be obliged to get some 
 other authority. As soon, liowever. as 1 knew of individuals competent to 
 till the chairs (as I suppose) the board met and made the appointments 1 
 wished not only of Professors. l)ut also to the vacant places of Trustees. Vou 
 were appointed to the chair of Theory and Practice, Dr. M. L. Knapp to 
 that of Obstetrics, Dr. Blaney to that of Chemistry and Mat. Med., and the 
 lectures on anatomy and surgery 1 give myself. .-Ml of these appointments 
 are to expire on the first of May ne.xt. 
 
 The object of this was not to give places to entire strangers without reserve, 
 but if you or Dr. Knapp should give a satisfactory course as i have no doubt, 
 in regard to yourself particularly, then far from desiring any change in the 
 organization, it would be to our injury, and therefore avoided. I have been 
 lately engaged in teaching in St. Louis and my experience there has shown me 
 how difficult it is to make a commencement with a defective organization. It 
 is not probable that Dr. Blaney would relinquish the chair of chemistry and I 
 should be sorry to have him do so. He has been in the laboratory of Prof. 
 Henry and prepared himself with great care for chemical analysis and teach- 
 ing. I have heard him lecture and think he possesses every requisite for a 
 successful teacher. He would have preferred chemistry alone, but as he is now 
 preparing himself on Mat. Med.. I do not know what his wish might be in 
 regard to relinquishing that branch but will write him on the subject. 
 
 The ffes I have no doubt will be sufticient to pay all your necessary- 
 expenses : if it should be otherwise I will supply the deficiency, indeed I 
 think you will get a little more than your expenses covered in the commence- 
 ment. The course will commence on Monday, Dec. A, and if it would be more 
 convenient for you to give yours at the close, you might be here about the 
 latter part of January. Will you inform me how I can forward to you a 
 number of circulars for distribution, or. if there is no other way than the 
 mail, give in your letter a catalogue of names and I will send them? 
 
 D.\NIEL Br.mnard 
 
 Jackson. Mich.. Oct. 29, 1843. 
 Dr. D. Brainard. 
 
 Sir: — Some two or three days since I received yours of the 21st (as 1 
 suppose, there being no signature to it) stating that the board met and appointed 
 me to fill the chairs of Theory and Practice : and Dr. Blaney to Chemistry and 
 Mat. Medica. Yours also stated that Dr. B. is now preparing himself on 
 Materia Medica and that you do not know what his will might be in regard 
 to relinquishing that branch, but that you will write him on the subject. As 
 he is preparing himself for it, I think he better not relinquish it. If you have 
 not written him on the subject, I hope you may not. 
 
 I will endeavor to be at your place about the middle of January next for 
 the purpose of discharging the duties of my appointment. 
 
 When you get fairly started, ( say about the middle of Dec. ) 1 wish you 
 would write me and let me know how you get along ; the number of students, 
 etc. You may direct your circulars to the following gentlemen : Docts. A. 
 Sager, O. Russ. G. W. fiorthan, I. C. Backus, Davis, TunnicIifT, Lewis, D. G. 
 McClure and myself, all of Jackson; Dr. Acres, Barry, Jackson County, Dr. 
 Cornell, Spring .\rbor. Jackson County. 
 
 Did your school commence earlier, and were there no doubts but what the 
 time spent there would count as a course of lectures with students, I think 
 I might have got two or three to attend from this place, but as it is now.
 
 94 
 
 one has been gone east some four weeks; another talks of going this week, 
 but thinks he would go to Chicago if he was sure his time there would be 
 counted and another would like to go if he could raise the funds, but it is now 
 so late in the season he is afraid he cannot get ready and raise the necessary 
 funds. 
 
 Yours respectfully, 
 
 John McLean. 
 
 Chicago, Dec. 15, '43. 
 Dr. McLean. 
 
 Dear Sir: — According to your request I address you at the present time in 
 relation to the state of things here, at present, and, as far as can be judged 
 of, our prospects for the winter. Our course commenced according to the circular 
 issued, but little else than introductories was given the first week. Our open- 
 ing appeared to go off in every respect, and the lectures are, I think, given in 
 a manner quite satisfactory to the class, which includes twenty students of 
 medicine and some persons who only take the chemical course. There are four 
 or five more who were in and made arrangements to attend, but who have not 
 yet arrived. This I think a good number considering the lateness of our 
 announcement, and there is another circumstance which is gratifying, it is that 
 the course which had been commenced at St. Charles has stopped and several 
 students who were there are now with us. I do not think they can commence 
 — certainly not this season. 
 
 In regard to payment of ticket fees, we have been obliged, in order to 
 have as many students as twenty, to give credit to such as required it. Those 
 whose notes are good within a year will be more than sufficient to pay your 
 expenses if the receipts in cash do not, or in any case, you can if you prefer 
 it, accept the proposition of my last letter. 
 
 The labour of giving the course is very great and on that account as well 
 as to satisfy the class and to have time to become more perfectly acquainted 
 with the students it would I think be well if you could come to Chicago sooner 
 than the time I formerly mentioned and the sooner the better. In any case, T 
 will be obliged if you will write by return of mail and satisfy the class as to 
 the precise time when your course can commence. 
 Respectfully, 
 
 Your Obt. Svt., 
 
 D. Brain.\rd. 
 D. John McLean, 
 Jackson. Mich. 
 Dr. McLean. 
 
 Dear Sir: — I received through your kindness the circular of the Rush Medical 
 College last fall and. presuming that you have by this time returned from 
 Chicago. I drop you a line to inquire respecting the prospects of the institution 
 — number of students, etc. A good medical school at Chicago ought to be well 
 sustained, and I think will eventually overcome all seeming difficulties that may 
 now present themselves if properly managed. It is a central location for the 
 whole west and furnishing, as it must, facilities for studying more extensively 
 the indigenous materia medica and having a water communication with all 
 parts of the country, it offers inducements not attainable in sea-board towns. 
 I have long expected the establishment of a medical school at Chicago, and 
 believe that in no place in the West could so eligible a location be found. Only 
 let the trustees and faculty maintain a friendly and honouralile deportment 
 towards each other and allow no personal grievances to interfere with the
 
 95 
 
 prosperity of the institution. Look :il the scenes formerly enacted in the 
 JeflFerson Medical College, at the faculty quarrels and change of professorships. 
 Even our favorite school here has its troubles, though (>ulu\irdly they are now 
 healed. But I need not enumerate; most of the medical scho<ils of our country 
 have been seriously injured and some entirely prostrated, in consequence of 
 the spirit of rivalry and jealousy indulged in l>y the professors. But 1 did 
 not intend to give you a homily on ethics, in indicating the rock on which 
 so many have dashed. 
 
 In order to insure a good beginning, the trustees should supply the facilities 
 for instruction etpial to the most popular institutions ; for instance, the follow- 
 ing professorships : 
 
 1. Institutes and Practice of Medicine. 
 
 2. Materia Medica and Pharmacy. 
 
 3. Descriptive and Surgical Anatomy. 
 
 4. Principles and Practice of Surgery. 
 
 5. Obstetrics and Diseases of Women and Children. 
 
 6. Chemistry and Medical Jurisprudence. 
 
 7. Physiology an<l Pathological .-Knatomy. 
 
 Some such a course would show a determination on the part of the trustees 
 not to Ije outdone and if the President of the Board is Judge Ogden, formerly 
 of Delaware Co., N. Y., there will be no danger of the school. I have a 
 half a mind to offer myself as a candidate for some of the vacancies, and if 
 I should, I would prefer 5, 2. or 1 in the order named. Send circulars or 
 announcements of the Rush Medical College and any of the documents of 
 interest relating to the school. 
 
 1 suppose you know that I am now a resident of Geneva. I was in Cale- 
 donia last week. Your friends there are in their ordinary health. Your 
 correspondents there probably keep you informed of the changes that occur. 
 I should be glad to hear from you as soon as you can find time to write, and 
 hope you will consider this letter f>crftxlly confidential. It is designed for no 
 eye but yours, and for you only as a friend. 
 
 Respectfully, 1 am as ever your. 
 
 .In. S. Graii.vm. 
 Geneva, f)ntario Co., 
 March 12, 1844 
 
 Chicago, June 8tli, 1844. 
 Dr. McLean. 
 
 Dear Doctor: — Your letter I rccei\ed upon my return from Ottawa, to 
 which place I had taken Dr. Brainard on his way to St. Louis. -After my 
 return to Chicago, I was very busily engaged in the issue of the May No. of 
 the Journal. .As it was issued late, I immediately after finishing with it, set 
 to work on the June Xo., and just at this time my two sisters from St. Louis, 
 coming to town, monopolized so much of my time that I had but little leisure 
 for correspondence. Allow me to plead this as my excuse for not sooner 
 answering your kind letter. 
 
 Had I written sooner I could not have given you much accurate informa- 
 tion as regards our movements preparatory to the next session of the college. 
 It is only within a few days that our plans have been at all matured. Dr. 
 Brainiard has been in correspondence with Drs. Meeker, Fitch and Flint, and 
 nothing determinate could he done until matters were arranged with thtin
 
 96 
 
 As regards Dr. Meeker, we are quite out of opinion of him. and he will not 
 have our recommendation to the chair. His opposition cannot we think be of 
 any great account and we are quite satisfied that he would not fill the chair 
 in a way which we would desire. Dr. Brainard will then for the present retain 
 the two chairs of .Anatomy and surgery. 
 
 Dr. Fitch we have heard well spoken of by others, as well as yourself, 
 and we are of opinion that he will be a proper man. He has announced him- 
 self independent of Dr. Meeker and will receive the appointment to the chair 
 of Obstetrics, etc. 
 
 Dr. Flint wished a chair of tlie Inslilitlcs, but will accept the chair of Theory 
 and Practice. He will not, however, be able to remain long enough to give 
 a complete course. It is desirable then that in addition to the course on Materia 
 Medica, you should give a part of the course on Practice. Dr. Flint will give 
 the first part of the course including Diseases of the chest, etc., etc., and 
 after he shall have left, he desires that you should give your lectures upon 
 Fevers and Eruptive Diseases. As regards the remuneration, that will be an 
 arrangement between Dr. F. and yourself; proportionate to the No. of lectures 
 given by each of you. For myself, I shall retain the chair of Chemistry. So 
 much for the Faculty. 
 
 We have come to the determination to build a college and a good one. 
 We have had a draught of the building and an estimate made. We propose 
 to have a frame building 30 ft. by 55, two stories, with a portico and doric 
 columns in front, and possibly an observatory on top over the skylights. The 
 cost will be about $2500.00. We propose to raise the money by selling stock, 
 say $25 a share, or the like, and pay the interest from the matriculation and 
 graduation fees. We think that we shall have at least 50 to 60 students provided 
 we have a proper building. Of these 10 probably will graduate. $20 from each 
 of them will give §200 as a sinking fund to buy up the stock and clear the building 
 from the stockholders. Dr. Brainard and I each expect to take to the amount of 
 |200 in it. li you or any of your friends are disposed to make an investment, I 
 think it will pay well. It will probably pay to the Professors the amount of $200 
 in fees beyond w-hat they would receive if we should not have a building. It will 
 also give an air of permanency to the Institution, and call public attention more to 
 it than we could otherwise expect to be the case. 
 
 I would be much obliged to you or Dr. Sager for communications for the 
 journal. Could not one or both of you have one for the next Journal. If it 
 is here by the 18th or 20th inst. it w-ill be in time. Dr. Flint has also promised 
 to write for it. 
 
 Dr. Knapp has come back to town with his family to reside. I will send 
 with this a paper containing his card. He has rather, I think, avoided Dr. 
 Brainard and myself since his return. Before he left town to go for his 
 family. Dr. Brainard candidly explained to him that he would not recommend 
 his re-appointment so that he does not come to town with the expectation of 
 retaining his chair through Dr. B's influence. 
 
 I am much obliged to you for your kind interest in my affairs, 1 had no 
 expectation that Dr. Houghton would give up his chair of chem. I fear that 
 it will not be in my power to visit you this summer, as you have kindly invited 
 me to do. I expect to stay here and attend closely to the practice. I am doing 
 some practice and have besides the appointment of Physician to the Harbour, 
 for which I receive $26.00 per month. .\s the bill for western rivers has passed, 
 perhaps 50 men will be engaged in the harliour when I shall receive S40.00 per 
 month. I shall thus lie able to stay in town and pay my expenses.
 
 97 
 
 Dr. Iiraii)aril ilcsircs to be rtnu'iiibcrol to you. W't would be bappy to see 
 you aud Dr. Sagcr here during tliis sumiuor. 1 liavi' placed tbo nanii's whicb 
 you si'ut tne upon tbc list of subscribors to tlic Journal. 1 am oblij-cd to you 
 for tbeiu. 1 bopi- to bear from yt>u soon and bave your oi)iiiioii upon our 
 movements as regards tbe appointments, etc.. etc. As soon as llie appuintincnts 
 are made (wbicb will now be in a few days) wc will notify you. 1 tbink tbere 
 will be but little dirticnlty in raising tbe money to build the college. Dr. Brainard 
 says he will not rest day or niHbt until be has aflfectcd his object and when 
 he has determined upon a thing be generally carries it through. 
 With much respect, I remain. 
 
 Yours, etc. 
 Dr. John McLean J.xmks \'. 7.. Ri..\ney. 
 
 Dr. John McLean 
 
 Jackson. Chicago, 111., June 2t), 1844. 
 
 Dear Sir: — At a meeting of tbe Trustees of tbe Rush Medical College, held 
 on the 26th inst., you were duly appointed Professor of Materia Medica. 
 Yours Respect fidlv. 
 
 N. B. JUDD. 
 
 Sec. Protem. 
 Chicago, July 2. 1844. 
 
 Dear Sir: — Vou will perceive In the above lirief docunieiu that we have bad 
 a meeting of tbe hoard of trustees. It took place the 24th ult. and they did 
 everything up to my liking. We are now making efforts to erect a building 
 which is, if we succeed, to be 30 by 50 feet, 2 stories high and of brick, to have 
 a handsome portico and 4 coluiuns in front. It will cost about $2.1KK) besides 
 tbe lot wbicb we hope to have given. That sum is to be raised in subscriptions 
 of 50 or 100 dollars each, having interest at the rate of 6 per cent, for the 
 payment of wliicb the matriculation fee, $5, and tbe graduation fees are pledged 
 by tbe Trustees. They must, therefore, be always paid in cash. We would 
 find no difficulty in raising this sum were it not that 1 wish also to build me 
 a house this summer and do not, therefore, feel able to do as much as I would 
 otherwise be most bappy to do, for although 1 do not think an investment at 
 that rate of interest an object it is certain we shall be well repaid in tbe 
 character and prosperity it will give the Institution. If we can induce the 
 public to erect tbe building, then whatever cnntriliutiuiis we can make may be 
 towards a library and museum. 
 
 .\mong other actions of tbe Board was tbe conferring of tlie honorarv degree 
 of Doctor of Medicine upon John McLean. 
 
 We have now numerous applications for Professorships, it having been <lis- 
 covered that "Chicago is a good place for a medical school" Init we have no 
 places to dispose of at the present time and as they are liecoming every day 
 more valuable, we must make those taken in after the school gels on well give 
 "an equivalent." Dr. Fitch was appointed but Dr. Meeker was not. I am glad 
 that arrangement meets with your approbation. Tbere is no doubt is to the 
 fate of tbe LaPortc School. Nothing but tbe per.sonal interest of Dr. Meeker was 
 in favour of his appointment and it coubl nr)t be done without displeasing some of 
 our Trustees and all our students. I tbink it probable that be will not be well 
 pleased with tbe appointment of Dr. Pitch, but as be offered to accept a place alone: 
 it docs him no wrong. 
 
 When you receive this, please send your acceptance that our advertisement 
 may appear as soon as possible and .is to tbe a<lvertisement itself, have it
 
 inserted in as many papers as are essential or useful and notice in as many 
 as possible without expense. Write me and make any suggestions you may 
 think useful in regard to our future course, etc. 
 Give my respects to Dr. Sager. 
 
 Yours sincerely, 
 
 D. Brainard. 
 John McLean. M.D. 
 Jackson. Michigan. 
 
 Jackson, Mich.. July 8. 1844 
 To the Secretary of the board of 
 trustees of the Rush Medical College, 
 at Chicago, Illinois. 
 
 Dear Sir: — Having been duly notified that on the 24th ult. the trustees of 
 the Rush Medical College did me the honour of appointing me professor of 
 Materia Jiledica, I do respectfully inform them that I accept the appointment. 
 Yours respectfully, 
 
 John McLe.\.n'. 
 Dr. Brainard. 
 
 Dear Sir: — 1 u<.>uld have directed this letter to tlie secretary of the board 
 of trustees, had I known his name; but in consequence of having given away 
 all the old circulars which I had in my possession, I was unable to ascertain 
 it. In giving my acceptance I thought it better to have it addressed to the secy, 
 of the board of trustees than to Mr. Judd, who was but secy. Pro. Tcin. There- 
 fore, (whoever he is) you can give the otlicr half of this sheet to him. upon 
 which is my acceptance. 
 
 .\s regards the present faculty : — I am acquainted with them all excepting 
 Dr. Flint of Buffalo, and I must say, (not intending to flatter), that so far as 
 acquainted with, they are a very respectable set of gentlemen who are well 
 qualified to discharge the duties of their respective appointments ; and if Dr. 
 Flint is not an exception, (and I have good reason to believe that he is not), our 
 next course of lectures will be both profitable and pleasant. From present 
 appearances there is much to encourage; and if the faculty maintains a good 
 will and friendly feeling among themselves, and take a deep interest in, and 
 labour for the good of the school, it soon must become an ornament to Chicago. 
 and an honour to the West. 
 
 Yours respectfully, 
 
 John McLean. 
 
 P. S. My thanks to the trustees for the lionorary degree which they con- 
 ferred upon me. 
 
 John McLean. 
 
 Chicago, July 17, 1844 
 .1/v Dear Doctor: — The receipt of yours of the 27th ult., gave me much 
 pleasure. Since its receipt I have been very busily engaged with the Journal, 
 in assisting Dr. Brainard in the arrangements for the College and in the Prac- 
 tice. We were glad to find that we agreed so well as regards the appointments 
 and other arrangements. I presume that Dr. Brainard has informed you of 
 your reappointment, and of other arrangements made by the Trustees. 
 
 The subscriptions for the College buildings are advancing quite rapidly : 
 four gentlemen. Messrs. Newberry, Ogden, Brunson, and Dyer, giving us the 
 permanent title to a lot, and $500.00 besides in order to have it located upon the
 
 99 
 
 North side of the river. Others upon that side have also subscribed quite 
 liberally, and upon tlic South side, we can depend upon at least an equal amount. 
 The buildings is to be of brick. <>0 by 35 ft., with a portico in front and Doric 
 columns, on the first tloor will be the lecture room for chemical lectures, i. c., 
 35 by -10, liack of that two rooms, one for a cabinet and apparatus mom, the 
 other for a laboratory. Above will be the .Anatomical Theatre, and back of it 
 a museum and Dissecting rooms. The whole will cost about $2,300,00. There 
 will be an additional expense of several hundred dollars, in arrauKing the 
 grounils, and building the outhouses. We will be able with hard work to raise 
 the greater part of it an<l will have to make an effort to make up the rest 
 ourselves. 1 think thai we can the better afford to do so, as it will almost 
 certainly put several hundred dollars into each of our pockets, from the increase 
 in the number of students. 
 
 1 do not recollect if I mentioned to you that Dr. Brainard has received a 
 number of works and magnificent plates from Paris. They will assist much 
 in the demonstration of anatomy, obstetrics, etc. Speaking of obstetrics. Dr. 
 Knapp is rather sore as respects his being left out. His course in the whole 
 affair since his return to town has been such as to remove altogether all delicacy 
 and regret that we may have previously felt upon the subject. N'othing could 
 now induce us again to be associated with him. The details we will talk over 
 when we meet again in the fall. If you could make arrangements to assist 
 us somewhat in the matter of the College. 1 do not think that you would have 
 cause to regret it. On the stock subscribed the Trustees have guaranteed to 
 pay 6 per cent interest. 
 
 As regards the Journal. 1 hope, my dear Doctor, that you will assist me as 
 much as possible. The present number has been most miserably delayed in its 
 issue until today, partly because 1 waited until I should hear from you. fully 
 e.xpecting that I should have a communication from you. Failing in this. I 
 had to manufacture a long article myself. .After I had sent it to press. I was 
 put oflf by the printers who had a press of business on hand, which, (because 
 it paid better, 1 suppose) took precedence. I hope that if you have not for- 
 warded an article to me previously to the receipt of this, that you will send 
 it as soon as possible. I hope also that Dr. Sager will not forget us. I have 
 not a single communication for the ne.xt number, and must send it to press in 
 a few days in order to warrant its punctualitv. 
 
 I am much obliged to you for your additional subscriptions; I will myself 
 (tomorrow, if possible) attend to forwarding the hack numbers. 
 
 I am doing just now a pretty good practice, with prospect of its con- 
 tinuance. We are having diarrhaeas. dysenteries and cholera infantum pretty 
 frequently. My time is fully employed, and I begin to find the Journal quite 
 a burden. Do come to my assistance. Dr. Brainard desires to be remembered 
 to you. I neglected to send the paper containing Dr. K's advertisement. I 
 send it with this. I will mail for you tomorrow or next day a paper contain- 
 ing the advertisement of the College which you will please to have copied into 
 such papers in your State as may give it the most extensive circulation, in 
 those portions where it will be of most advantage. Dr. Fitch will attend to 
 having it advertised in his section of country. 
 
 Hoping to hear from you soon, 
 
 I remain, in haste. 
 
 ^■ours truly. 
 
 JaMI'S \'. 7.. Rl.A.VKV.
 
 100 
 
 Chicago, Aug. 20, 1844 
 
 My dear Doctor: — Though it is quite late this evening I have determined 
 to write a few hasty lines to you before I retire. I have been detaining the 
 Sept. 1st No. of the Journal from the press, waiting for the 2nd part of your 
 article upon Anemia. I hope that you will not disappoint us in it. The article 
 we esteem an e.xcellent one and are anxious that the 2nd part should follow 
 the first. I had not quite room enough to insert all that you sent me, as it 
 arrived late. Do send the rest immediately, as I shall still wait three or four 
 days for it. I will have room I think for that which I have already and from 
 4-6 pages besides. 
 
 I send on this sheet a wood engraving of the College, as it is to be. It will 
 be built of brick with two lecture rooms 40 ft. square, one on each story; 
 behind the lower lecture room a museum and laboratory ; behind that in the 
 second story a Cabinet and Dissecting room. The front projection, contains 
 beside the entrance the stairways to the upper story; and a projection behind, 
 a back stairway. The dome will be 30 ft. span, and is over the Anatomical 
 Amphitheatre, with a skylight at top. The whole will cost $2,600. We have 
 subscriptions sufficient to warrant us in making the contract though there are 
 still several hundred dollars that are not raised. Brainard and I have each 
 subscribed $200 out of our own pockets. We are determined to put it through. 
 The foundation is nearly finished and ready for the brick work. According to 
 contract, it will be ready for occupancy on Nov. 10. the day upon which the 
 regular courses will commence, allowing the first week for Introductories. 
 
 The announcement will probably go to press tomorrow. We are having 
 applications and inquiries from students every few days, and I have every 
 promise of a good class. 
 
 Practice is increasing ; there has been a good deal of diarrhea and dysentery 
 here, and considerable mortality among children. The fever is commencing and 
 there will probably be a good deal of it. How is it with you? Can you not 
 lend us a little help towards the building? How many students will we probably 
 have from your section? What time will we have the pleasure of seeing you? 
 Write soon and do all you can for the Journal. I have not yet received a 
 communication from Dr. Sager. Excuse the disjointed and hasty scrawl from 
 Your friend and colleague, 
 
 James V. Z. Bl.^nev. 
 
 Not having sealed my letter last night I have the pleasure to add this morn- 
 ing that your communication has arrived. .\s I have not time to write another 
 letter before the mail goes I send this which you will excuse. 
 
 Jackson, Mich., Oct. 7, 1844 
 Dr. Brainard. 
 
 Dear Sir: — This week. I received the annual announcement of the LaPorte 
 School for 1844-5. By it I learn that Dr. G. X. Fitch of Logansport, retains 
 his chair of the theory and practice of medicine. I do not think he ought 
 to hold a chair in each of the Schools. If he does, his influence will be 
 as much for the one, as for the other. If he intends to hold a chair in the 
 Rush Medical College. I do not think he ought to hold another in a school so 
 near by. I do not understand why he retains his place at LaPorte, but it may 
 be that he could explain the matter to my satisfaction. Knapp is Professor of 
 Mat. Medica. Dr. Richards of St. Charles of .-Xnatomy; Dr. Hard of Obst. 
 I suppose you have received their announcement and thereby are made acquainted 
 with their arrangement.
 
 101 
 
 In my last to Dr. Blaiiey. I informed him that 1 thought of going to Chicago 
 about the middle of the present month, but my business is such that I cannot 
 leave so soon as expected. Therefore, you need not look for me until the 
 latter part of this month. D. Fitzgerald of Hanover, Jackson County, Mich., 
 has signed for the first volume of the Med. Journal. I will see that the Dollar 
 is franked to Dr. Blaney today or tomorrow. 
 
 Will you write me on the receipt of this, and if you can explain why Dr. 
 Fitch holds the chair of Theory and Practice at La Porte, you will confer a 
 favor by so doing. 1 would be nkid to have aided you with funds for the 
 erection of the college building, but as 1 wished to make additions to my 
 library and had some back liabilities to be paid this fall. 1 found it impossible 
 for me to do so. 
 
 When you write, will you inform me. if it is expected that each of the 
 Professors open with a public introductory, and at what time you expect the 
 others at Chicago. 
 
 Respect full.N yours. 
 
 John M(I.k.\.\. 
 
 P. S. On the 82nd page of the Journal I discover an error in my communi- 
 cation on .Incniiii. It is in the last sentence of the 1st paragraph. I think it 
 reads ditTerently from the original. Instead of reading as it does it should 
 read thus: I am aware that many differ from the opinion here expressed, of 
 the periodical character of the diseased action being less evident. I think my 
 original manuscript read something like the following : I am aware that many 
 dilTer from the opinion here expressed, and think, that during the periods of 
 gestation and lactation the system is more susceptible to the malarious influence. 
 This may be. liut if so. 1 think the periodic character of the diseased action less 
 evident than in their absence, other things being equal. 
 
 If there is time for the present No. would it not be well to have an eratta 
 making the corrections. J. McL. 
 
 Chicago. Oct. 14, 1844 
 Dear Sir: — Your letter of Oct. 12 arrived today. In relation to Dr. Fitch 
 and the LaPorte concern, I am sorry I cannot give you an answer which is 
 entirely satisfactory, to me; he has resigned his place there, but by delaying to 
 do so, gave them an e.xcuse for putting his name in their circular. Possibly, 
 they did so before receiving his resignation ; perhaps after having received it, 
 as it is now their object to accuse him of having dealt unfairly with them. 
 It appears to me that his only fault is negligence and his excuse for not send- 
 ing his resignation sooner is that he did not suppose that any attempt was to 
 be made there to organize this winter. 
 
 As I am convinced of his sincerity in our favour, there can no serious 
 difficulty arise in regard to the matter : jjerhaps his name in their circular may 
 be more injurious than beneficial to them, but I regret its appearance. 
 
 I am well pleased with the efforts you have made in favour of the school 
 and for the Journal, and although we should have liked assistance in the 
 erection of the building, we can get through with it. It is now in a fine way 
 to be finished in 3 weeks, and will. I think, be much the handsomest building 
 in the city. The prospects for a class grow better every day and nothing but 
 incompetence on the part of the teachers, and that 1 do not fear, can in my 
 opinion prevent the school from ranking at once among the first in the West. 
 When you left it would have been impossible to have obtained funds to erect 
 a building, and the mere accomplishment of this object will have put us 
 several years ahead.
 
 102 
 
 If you should think any publication necessary in consequence of any 
 LaPorte circular you can make it, but it will most likely be better to write 
 to such persons as are liable to be affected by it or see them, as this will save 
 you from inaking more public their concern which is of but poor standing here, 
 and I think anywhere. 
 
 I hope you will write me and let us know how many students can be 
 expected from your state and when you come bring them with you, as a 
 good show in the first part may be of material service. Dr. Blaney has received 
 your letter and sends his respects. 
 
 Respectfully yours, 
 
 D. Br.m.v.\rd. 
 Dr. John McLean. 
 Tackson, Mich. 
 
 Chicago, Feb. 16th, 1845 
 
 My dear Sir: — We were glad to hear by the letter which I received from 
 you a short time since that yourself and lady arrived safe in Jackson. 
 
 We closed the course of lectures here on Saturday. Dr. Blainey tells me 
 he intends to write to you and I suppose he will give you the particulars. 
 
 My wife started for the south about a week since in company w'ith Josiah. 
 I have not heard from them yet ; as regards the book about which you seem 
 to be giving yourself unnecessary trouble, return it when it happens to be 
 perfectly convenient, or keep it till next winter if you wish. I shall not want 
 it. Mrs. McLean, like all other good wives, was merely taking good care of 
 your books. Speaking of these interesting subjects reminds me that Dr. 
 Brainard took to himself a lovely wife about a week since. May they live a 
 long and happy life together. 
 
 Please write as often as convenient. Give my best regards to your lady. 
 Most respectfully your friend, 
 
 W. B. Herrick. 
 To J. McLean, M. D. 
 
 Chicago, Feb. 16th, 1845 
 
 Dear Doctor: — Mr. Kirwin, leaving in the morning, has kindly offered to take 
 a letter to you. I write to inform you of our doings, etc. since departure. 
 
 Dr. Fitch completed his course and left upwards of two weeks since. At 
 the request of a number of the students, we three, who remained, lectured each 
 two hours daily, which enabled us to complete the courses a week sooner than 
 we had intended. We all closed yesterday. Last evening a meeting of the 
 Trustees was held and the degree of M. D. passed upon the following candi- 
 dates : King, Needham, Monroe L Oatman, Garvin, Herrick, Ritchey, Sherman, 
 Long and Fosdick. Sutton passed an examination, but as he had not all the 
 Tickets he could not receive the degree. Perhaps it would be well not to 
 mention the names of the successful candidates, as your students knowing all 
 who presented themselves would then know who has been rejected. Only the 
 names of those who pay their Graduation Fee will be put in the Circular. 
 
 Dr. Herrick has been appointed to the Chair of .\natomy. This pleases me 
 and is satisfactory to the class and I presume also to every member of the 
 Faculty. 
 
 Dr. Brainard was married to Miss Sleight on Thursday week past. They 
 are at private boarding. 
 
 I have received a letter from the Dean of the Faculty at Louisville propos- 
 ing that a Ticket of dismissal be issued to students upon the last day of each 
 session, and that it be equally compulsory upon candidates to exhibit such
 
 103 
 
 ticket as for tlic matriculation ticket. The object is to prevent students from 
 leaving before the end of the session. Exceptions are to be made in cases of 
 necessity, the student obtaining a certificate of leave of absence. It is proposed 
 that the rule Ro into effect as soon as a number of schools containing a 
 majority of two-thirds of the medical stu<lents in the U. S. ac(|uiesce in its 
 adoption. We think favorably of it. I would like you to give mo your opinion 
 as soon as convenient. I will for the present forward a favorable reply as I 
 presume there will he no objections urged by any members of the Faculty. 
 
 Cannot you assist me in the Journal? Dr. Sager has not yet sent to me his 
 promised contributions. 
 
 Inclosed the subscription of Dr. Hurd and have forwarded to liini llif back 
 numbers, e.xcepting No. 1, which you know it out of print. 
 
 Vour friend Monroe passed a very fair examination. He takes his diploma 
 with him with all the signatures excepting yours. .Several I have signed in your 
 name and have taken the liberty to imitate your autograph as well as 1 could. 
 I hope that you will not indite me for forgery. 
 
 Remember me to Mrs. McLean. 1 regret that 1 was unavoidably prevented 
 from calling upon her to say farewell as 1 had fully intended to do. 
 
 It grows late and as I have been very busy today I am too fatigued to write 
 more. It is less necessary as Dr. Herrick has also written and probably toiti 
 you everything else that I could say. 
 
 Write soon and often as your letters give me much pleasure. 
 I remain as ever, 
 
 Sinccrelv vour friend, 
 
 I. \'. /.. B. 
 John McLean. .\1. D. 
 Professor, etc. 
 
 P. S. — Dr. Flint in his letters appears somewhat disinclined lo return unless 
 the cash amount of his ticket fees be insured to him ? .\s this cainiot he done 
 there is some little doubt of his return so that until the matter is arranged there 
 has been no action of the Trustees upon the permanent a|)pointment of Dr. 
 Fitch or Dr. Flint. Dr. Fitch might (if Dr. Flint does not return) like to have 
 this chair. 
 
 Yours etc.. 
 
 J. V. v.. B. 
 
 Geneva, .-Kpril 3, 1845 
 Dr. McLean. 
 
 Dear Sir: — Through some unaccountable delay your note of Feb. 26 was not 
 received until today. In answer to your queries respecting a Professorship 
 in the Rush Medical College, I may as well express myself frankly, and say 
 that I am willing, if not desirous, should a vacancy occur, to accept tlie chair 
 of Dbstetrics or of the Theory and Practice of Medicine, though [ would much 
 prefer the former. So long a time has elapsed since you wrote that the arrange- 
 ments are probably by this time complete. 
 
 If the vacancy you supposed might occur, has taken place, and not yet filled, 
 I wish to be considered a candidate, and as you have expressed yourself in 
 friendly terms in my favor heretofore, may I hr)pe that you will represent 
 my willingness to accede to such arrangements and will he most conductive 
 to the interests of the school. .-Ml private and personal feelings should yield 
 to this great object. The great (|uestion with the Profs., Trustees and patrons 
 of the school should he to place the Institution on high ground and lo this 
 end their time and talents should be devoted. b<ilh in their individual and
 
 104 
 
 corporate capacity. The location is central, in respect to the great west, and it 
 is but reasonable to expect that a Medical School at Chicago should be well 
 sustained. In the Geneva Medical College there were this winter 180 students, 
 of whom 40 graduated. Dr. Chas. A. Lee. of New York, has been appointed 
 Prof, of Materia Medica and General Pathology in place of Prof. De Lamater, 
 resigned — the rest as heretofore. I will send you one of their circulars soon 
 and would be glad to receive your second annual announcement — if you sent it, 
 it was not received. I expect you will consider the first part of this letter 
 confidential and if nothing is done, let nothing be said. 
 
 I have not heard from Caledonia lately, and can consequently give you no 
 news from that quarter. 
 
 In the hope of hearing from you soon and frequently, I subscribe myself. 
 Respectfully yours, 
 
 J NO. S. Gr.'VHAM. 
 
 Prof. McLean. 
 
 Chicago. April 7th, 1845 
 
 Dear Doctor: — I wrote to you by return of one of the students to Jackson, 
 informing you of a resolution of the Louisville Med. Institute, and asking 
 your opinion tliereof, and is nearly two months ago, and I have not yet received 
 a word in answer! What in the world has happened to you? .A.re you sick, 
 or overwhelmed with practice? 
 
 In case that letter has never reached you. I will again state the substance 
 of the resolution which we are invited to join in adopting. It is that Tickets 
 of Dismissal, as well as of Matriculation, be demanded of all candidates for 
 a degree, and that such tickets be issued upon the last day of the term, to such 
 students only as may be present at that time. That, in cases where necessity 
 demands the absence of the students before the end of the term, he be required 
 to obtain a written permission from the Faculty, which will serve in place of 
 the ticket. The object, of course, is the prevention of students leaving before 
 the close of the term. I have returned an aswer favourable to its adoption, 
 provided that the absent members of our Faculty concur in the opinion of 
 those now in Chicago? It is not to go in force until a majority of the schools 
 containing % of all the students in the U. S. shall have adopted it. 
 
 .At the meeting of the Trustees to pass candidates, etc.. Dr. Herrick was 
 unanimously ajipointed Professor of .Anatomy. 
 
 A letter has been received from Dr. Flint, demanding as a condition of his 
 return that he shall be indemnified by cash payment, for any loss of practice, 
 as well as his traveling expenses. As we do not feel able to promise to meet 
 any svich demand, it is scarcely probable that he will be associated with us 
 any longer. In consequence of this, the confirmation of the appointment of Dr. 
 Fitch has been postponed, as it may perhaps be advantageous that he should 
 fill the chair of Practice and a new appointment be made to the Chair of 
 Obstetrics. Dr. John Evans, of Attica. Indiana, is thought of. He has for- 
 warded a large package of very strong letters from a number of practitioners, 
 who offer their assistance to the Institution, should he be appointed, and assure 
 us that it would secure, annually, a considerable number of students from that 
 section. It would perhaps be as well for the present that nothing should be 
 said of this out of the Faculty, as nothing is yet determinate. 
 
 I have had an offer made to me by a friend to advance me money enough 
 to go to Europe fto be ref'aid ivhcn I choose without demandiug any security) 
 upon condition of my accompanying him to Europe to leave about June 1st. 
 If I go I will not return until Oct. '46. in which case I would require a 
 substitute for one winter only. In case I go and cannot find a substitute else-
 
 105 
 
 where tcoiiiti you br tiilliiii/ lo ijivc the loursc, in addition to your otiii, ami 
 take the ticket fees in payment? Please write immediately in answer to this 
 as all my arrangements must be made ivrv shortly. 
 
 I shall leave for the Kast to visit my parents in two or three weeks, if I 
 laii raisi- the funds. Monroe promised to forward $3(1.1)0 the amotnit of a note 
 in my hands, as soou as he should iirritv (i( home. 1 have as yet received no 
 remittance or letter from him. Will you please state to him the urgency of 
 my case and see if he cannot foncord it at once. What are Kirwan's circum- 
 stances? .\nd what is the time his note has to run? Would it be very 
 inconvenient for him to pay my ticket fee? If he could, it would be a great 
 convenience to me. I never had so much difficulty in collecting as at present, 
 and I am obliged to raise enough to pay my debts before 1 go East, and the 
 demand I leave soon i.t imperatife. 
 
 Cannot you soon send me a communication for the Journal ; also one from 
 Dr. Sager? We have commenced the second volume liut did not feel able to 
 enlarge it. 
 
 Please answer this as soon as practicable and you will much oblige me. 
 
 Kemember me particularly to Mrs. McLean. 1 should like much to stop 
 and see you as I go East but shall be compelled, 1 expect, to lake tlie Southern 
 route to take with me my sister, who is at St. Louis. 
 
 Drs. Brainard and Herrick desire to be remembered. 
 I remain, dear sir. 
 
 Ever your friend. 
 
 J. \'. /,. Bl..^NEV. 
 
 To John McLean. 
 
 Jackson, Mich. Chicago. June 2nd, 1845 
 
 D<'<ir Sir: — I received your letter in due season, and have since received one 
 containing a remittance for Dr. Sager. Dr. Blaney is now on a visit to the 
 East, and will most likely give you a call on his way homeward. He will not 
 visit Europe at present. 
 
 We have received nothing from Mr. Monroe. l)ut should be glad to. as soon 
 as convenient. There are several applications for the vacant place in the 
 College, but unless something more advantageous than anything we know of 
 yet should present itself, I think Dr. Evans had better be chosen. He has 
 great activity and energy and is so placed that he may be of great service to 
 us. The appointment will be made soon. Mr. Thomas Dyer of this city requests 
 me to state that he received at the East $100 to be remitted to you (or Mrs. 
 McLean). He wishes your commands in regard to it. 
 In haste. 
 
 Yours, etc.. n. BH.\iNARn. 
 Dr. John McLean. 
 Dr. Brainard : Jackson, July 23. 1845 
 
 Dear Sir: — Enclosed I send you two letters, the one from Geneva, the other 
 from Castleton. I send them for possiI)ly you may have occasion to refer to 
 them. You can keep them until they are called for. 
 
 Dr. .\. B. Crawford, of Tompkins, Jackson Co., has signed for the 2d vol. 
 of the Journal. You will please see that it is forwarded to him. Dr. James 
 Higby of South Jackson, whose name I sent on some time ago told me not 
 long since that he had not received any. Will you see if they have been sent. 
 Before the 1st of Nov. I will endeavor to collect the amount of subscription in 
 this part of the country. 
 
 Yours, etc., ,,,„^. M, i.j.^.v.
 
 106 
 
 Chicago, Oct. 14th, 1845 
 
 Dear Dr.: — Your favor of Aug. 11th should have been answered long since, 
 but for a press of business of different kinds, almost unprecedented since my 
 residence here. My return was on July 12th, and I am almost afraid to inform 
 you, that I did actually foss through Jackson. There were two good reasons, 
 which I had for not stopping. One was that I was in haste to return. Brainard 
 had written to me that he was anxious to issue the announcement and it could 
 not be done until my return. The other was had I stopped at Jackson until the 
 ne.xt stage, I would have been delayed there several days, as Sunday intervened 
 and I did not wish to travel on that day. 
 
 Oct. 21st. 
 
 Dear Dr.: — I began this scrawl just a week ago. I was broken in upon 
 and have not had time to resume it since, so you may judge how busy I have 
 been. I will go on immediately with what 1 have to say that is important and 
 leave the minor things to the last, lest I should again be interrupted. 
 
 First then we e.xpect you to be with us at the beginning of the Session, 
 and to remain as long as possible, which will give more satisfaction to the 
 Class. I have gone to the trouble and expense myself to get up for you a 
 complete cabinet of Materia Medica for which I hope the Matriculation and 
 Graduation fees will pay. If not, however, I think it but fair that you should 
 relieve me of the expense which will not I think exceed $10-$1S. This is the 
 cost of the case. The material is furnished by a druggist without charge, also 
 the bottles, jars etc. We expect quite a large class. Some have come in already, 
 and a number have signified their intention so to do. We have adopted a fixed 
 rule in all cases, viz. to demand casli payment in advance. I insist upon it in 
 all practicable cases, but failing in that, to accept in pay only notes payable 
 zvithi)! the year, and endorsed by a good and responsible person. Those who 
 will not come into such terms cannot be received, unless a vote of the Faculty 
 admit them as Charily students. I should have informed you of this previously 
 but for reasons before stated my time was all employed. 
 
 Please write and let me know when to expect you. If you could come on 
 at once it would be well, that I may be relieved of the trouble of arranging your 
 cabinet, which I shall scarcely have time to accomplish, as I have also my own 
 Mineralogical cabinet yet to fit up (a work of no little trouble) and both should 
 be done before the lectures commence. 
 
 We have engaged a negro man as janitor to live in the College and be 
 always there. If you were here to superintend him in part, in making arrange- 
 ments we would get on bravely. 
 
 Evans is to be here to give a public introductory. The rest of us do not 
 intend to give any other than one to the class. Fitch will be here to relieve 
 Evans during the session. Brainard, Herrick, yourself, Evans and I are to 
 commence together and keep at it until we finish. So come on as soon as 
 you can. I have been rigging up an apparatus to heat the upper lecture room 
 by hot air. I have not yet tried it, but expect to do so tomorrow or next 
 day. Evans reports a good many students. I hope you will bring along a good 
 number and from others whom we have lieard from we expect an excellent 
 class. 
 
 Shipman of the LaPorte school passed through yesterday. We exchanged 
 calls. He appears quite a respectable man. 
 
 Dr. Herrick has built or rather is building on the corner opposite the College. 
 He and wife and boy are well and desire to be remembered. Dr. Brainard is 
 comfortable settled in his new house. He and his wife are well and happy.
 
 107 
 
 He also desires to be renu-iiibi-reil to you and Mrs. McLean. Present also my 
 remembrances to Mrs. McLean. 1 congratulate you on the birth of your son. 
 I wish him a long, happy and useful life. I hope to see Mrs. McLean and the 
 baby boy with you very shortly. 
 
 If possible send me at once a communication for the Journal. 1 corrected 
 the errors, as you may have perceived. One of the mistakes was your own, 
 the other mine in reading the proof. 
 
 I can think of nothing further of interest, of which to inform you. Please 
 answer this if possible by return mail, and let mc know when we may expect you. 
 I remain as ever 
 
 Trulv vour frieiul. 
 
 J. \'. Z. Bl..\NHV. 
 
 I sent you a doz. of announcements. If you can use more let me know. 
 I also sent them to all the names you sent me. 
 
 Chicago. Jan. 3. 1846 
 
 Dear Doctor: — Since you left things have taken somewhat of an unexpected 
 turn, which renders it necessary for me to write to you and perhaps to ask your 
 aid in getting through with the course. 
 
 Dr. Fitch has not arrived and the class today passed resolutions stating 
 that as there was barely time for a course to be given and as there was no 
 certainty of his arrival, they respectfully requested that provision be made for 
 commencing the course imint-dintt'ly. I think this no more than just and in 
 order to satisfy them I shall commence lecturing twice a day on Monday and 
 continue until the regular course commences on Practice, one of my lectures 
 daily being on the phlegmasia of the chest. In the meantime, if Dr. Fitch 
 does not arrive by Monday we shall have a meeting of the Board and have the 
 place vacated and ourselves ( the present faculty ) authorized to till for this 
 term, in this case we rely upon you to give the principal part of the course. I 
 write at present to forewarn you. I shall write again on Monday if we wish 
 you to come. Of course, we expect if you give the course you will receive 
 the emolument from it. 
 
 Yours etc., n. I5r.\i.nard. 
 
 John McLean, NL D. 
 Jackson, Mich. 
 
 Chicago. 111.. Feb. 7tli. 1847 
 
 Dear Doctor: — 1 got your note when I arrived Jan. 18. I have delayed writ- 
 ing until now more for want of time than inclination, for I have been exceed- 
 ingly busy with the Dispensary. My lectures and writing for and reading 
 proof of the Journal. — By the way. you must have a long article for the next 
 No. of the Journal if possible, and if the Journal is packed off onto me next 
 year you must expect to spend considerable time working for it: so much, please 
 understand as settled. 
 
 In reference to future operations, nothing definite has yet been settled. There 
 is a move going on in community here in favor of the establishment of a hos- 
 pital that shows now signs of life and promise better for us than anything that 
 has happened for a long time. Xo doubt in my mind remains that \vc will have 
 before next year a good institution of the kind which will do more for us than 
 anything else we can get. The Dispensary is doing good and reports of cases 
 from it for the Journal will be made. 
 
 I was exceedingly sorry that I was so long detained as that you left before 
 my return. I would have been highly pleased to .sec you again, especially as 
 we parted expecting to meet soon. I am highly gratified with the impression
 
 108 
 
 you have left on the boys. They all speak of you in the highest terms of 
 approbation and praise. Dr., you must see that the character usefulness, and 
 success of our school must depend upon the reputation of its teachers. Then 
 it becomes important for us each not only to teach well and profoundly, but 
 to write well and extensively. This, while it enriches our Journal, extends the 
 reputation of the school. Pray make some experiments on the wahoo and get 
 its active principles separated and test their effects. 
 
 If you will tell me what plants you want specimens of from our country 
 that do not grow with you will try and gather and preserve them for you, and 
 if you can preserve any babies, abortions, etc., I will be thankful for them. 
 
 Mrs. Nicholson requests me to say to you that she has news from Mr. N. 
 and her son. They were well, were near two months crossing the Atlantic and 
 will be home in May. 
 
 You say to Snyder that Granger is blowing a "Nigger School,"* etc. Well, 
 let him — but certainly he can't do much harm. 
 
 My affairs at Indianapolis are all right. I had a hard fight to get them 
 my own way, but succeeded entirely. I shall spend the summer building again, 
 and by fall will have an establishment that will make a fine show if all works 
 right. It may be that I will go into it eventually but I now feel much more 
 like hanging on to the college. We are quite in the spirit of the college now, 
 and no one of us but thinks our class will be over a liundred next year. 
 
 I take up diseases of women today and keep if up to the close at two lectures 
 a day. 
 
 I shall be glad to hear from you at any time you may find leisure to write. 
 Yours truly, 
 
 Jno. Evans. 
 Jno. McLean. M. D. 
 
 * This evidently refers to the fact that David 1. Peck, of Peiinsylvani.i, colored, graduated 
 from Rush Medical College in 1847. His preceptor was Dr. C. V. Dyer of Chicago, one of 
 of promoters of the "Underground Railroad." 
 
 Chicago, Feb. 13, 1846 
 Dear Doctor: — Your letter containing the vaccine matter for Dr. Brainard, 
 was duly received. The case of small po.x, however, that produced the excite- 
 ment and called forth the request for the preventative, proved to be a false 
 alarm. The Dr. has nevertheless vaccinated his little girl, evincing, thereby, his 
 parental care for the dear little creature, watching its health, and guarding it 
 from the noxious vapours of the earth — seeing that no pestilential disease shall 
 come near to it to attack its tender frame or dim the lustre of its sparkling eyes. 
 Our lectures are now nearly at a close. Dr. Fitch has been occupying two 
 hours per day since he commenced. His lectures are very interesting and 
 instructive, he has the faculty of mingling with his science, occasionally, a 
 spatering of fun, which comes very apropos. As you may well imagine that 
 we are getting rather weary of the lectures. We have been put through a 
 pretty thorough course, five lectures a day and part of the time six. Dr. Blaney 
 is giving us, at present, two a day ; Dr. Fitch two, Herrick and Brainard each 
 one, making in all six, which arrangement I suppose will be continued to the 
 end of the term, which will be on Thursday ne.xt when we are to have a public 
 commencement. Dr. Brainard is to give us the valedictory or farewell address. 
 What the full arrangements are I am not aware, but it is said that those who 
 succeed in graduating are to receive their sheep skins in public. I suppose 
 they intend to have something of a performance. I sincerely hope they will 
 succeeed in exciting considerable of interest and in bringing the institution into 
 notoriety, for if there is any institution in the world that deserves patronage.
 
 109 
 
 it is this. 1 shall at least do all that lies within my power to give it a name 
 abroad, and to turn students hither; at least, if I have the luck to receive 
 the honors of the institution myself, for I consider it the duty, and not only 
 that, but it is for the interest of a physician to increase as much as possible 
 the reputation of his Alma Mater, that he need never be ashamed of acknowl- 
 edging from whence he hails, but none need ever fear regretting having chosen 
 this institution as their Alma Mater, for it is destined to rank among the first 
 in the Union. There is nothing to hinder it, its location, and every other circum- 
 stance is in its favour. 
 
 There is not much news of interest that I am aware of. The class is becom- 
 ing quite thin owing to a number of students leaving for home. 
 
 I had the pleasure of attending a Chicago party the other evening given 
 by my friend, Mrs. Kinzie, there were about sixty persons present, and the 
 evening passed ofif very agreeably. 
 
 Copper speculations seem to be all the rage about town. N'ews has been 
 received by Mr. Kinzie from Julian Magill, who is in the copper region spend- 
 ing the winter, that there has been discovered a large quantity of silver in 
 conjunction with their copper ore, so much so that the silver becomes the moSt 
 important of the two. One Company has found (by digging) a rock of native 
 copper, eight inches wide, eight feet long, and how far it runs into the ground 
 is not yet ascertained. It is estimated that the weight of what they have exposed 
 is at least five tons. The great rock about which so much was said a few 
 years ago and which is now in the cabinet at Washington, weighed, I believe, 
 but about three tons. How much this will weigh when they get to the bottom 
 of it is impossible to say. Is this not a geological wonder Nature seems to 
 have amused herself smelting ores in that wonderful region. 
 Yours, etc., 
 
 J.\s. M. HicBv. 
 To John McLean, M. D. 
 Jackson. Mich. 
 
 Indianapolis, Ind.. Feb. 14, "46 
 
 Dear Doctor :— I have written out one letter for you which on account of 
 news from Chicago, explaining enquiries therein made. 1 deferred sending, and 
 on account of my pressing duties and the perplexities attendant upon getting 
 our Hospital going. I have neglected to write another until now. I promised 
 to write from LaPorte, but I only remained there long enough to sleep two 
 hours on the floor of a dirty bar room wrapped up on my generous Buffalo Robe. 
 
 I am glad to hear from Chicago that you were not only safely delivered of 
 your course in due time but that it was no still born affair. (Drawing on my 
 own departement for phraseology). I congratulate you upon the favor you have 
 gained with the class and the reputation you arc building up. 
 
 I received a letter from Dr. Brainard a few days ago. They are getting 
 along pretty well. They propose requiring us all to be on the ground at 
 the commencement of the session and to lecture but once a day each until 
 through. I think it will he a good arrangement for the schools. The ques- 
 tion of my remaining in the faculty appears to be mooted matter with them 
 at Chicago. They enquire into the probability of my permanently filling a chair. 
 I have been appointed Medical Superintendent of "The Indiana Hospital for the 
 Insane" and am now supervising the erection of the buildings. This appoint- 
 ment will not for two years at most interfere with my filling a chair with 
 you and after that I must be left to determine which I will adhere to, the 
 Hospital or College, or I must (and I would do it with sentiments of the highest 
 regard fur my Colleagues and regret at parting) decline being a candidate
 
 no 
 
 for reappointment. So far as an opinion was expressed by Dr. Brainard, I 
 gathered the idea that the only obstacle in the way of re-election is the doubt 
 in reference to my remaining permanently in the faculty. Yesterday I received 
 a circular from the post office and "MirabUc dictu!" on opening it what should 
 it be but a proposal to publish precisely such a Journal as we resolved to make 
 ours in Chicago under the title of "Northwestern" by M. L. Knapp, M.D.. under 
 the auspices of a LaPorte Medical Society ! ! 
 
 I have procured several subscribers to our Journal for next volume. We 
 must make "a long pull, a strong pull and a pull all together" and we will 
 triumph. 
 
 I have two new students promised for next winter that I knew nothing 
 of when I saw you. We must secure 75 for next winter. I'll go my best 
 towards it certainly if I remain in the faculty. What say you to my remaining 
 in the faculty under the circumstances. 
 
 I now get a salary of $800 per year and will have nothing to do in the 
 Hospital and be at liberty to pursue my practice all tlie time. My duties are 
 to superintend the erection of our Hospital buildings and to gather information 
 oh the subject of such institutions. I propose to go to the Convention of 
 Superintendents to meet in Washington City in May. 
 
 -\n act was passed last session (just closed) of our Legislature changing 
 the name of the Med. Department of LaPorte University to that of "Med. 
 College of Indiana." "A rose by any other name would smell as sweet." 
 
 Let me hear how you are getting along in all respects. 
 
 With sentiments of high regard, 
 
 I am your friend, etc., 
 
 Jno. Evans. 
 Professor McLean 
 Jackson 
 
 Indianapolis. Mar. 9th. 1847 
 Dr. McLean, 
 
 Dear Sir: — I am publishing tlie Journal down here. You must send me 
 instanter a long article on the tannate of quinine, etc., and on any oflier 
 subject you please. 
 
 Our prospects are 100 per cent brighter than ever before. We must double 
 the class next winter. The faculty is all alive and that will make the thing go. 
 
 The half term business would not work for us at a distance. A resolution 
 was passed requiring each member of the faculty to invest in books or apparatus 
 $60.00 before next session commences. They will have, a hospital in operation 
 before next winter. All bids fair for Rush Med. to be the Great Institution of 
 the Northwest. 
 
 Try and send me in some new subscribers and turn Michigan over to our 
 interest. 
 
 I shall be able when Dr. Bradway comes down to do a heavy business for 
 the Journal and College. I guess the Indianapolis school will be laid on the 
 table with the unfinished business. 
 
 Yours truly. 
 
 Jno. Ev.-\ns. 
 
 Indianapolis, June 21st. 1847 
 
 Dear Doctor: — I have not been unmindful of my owing you a reply to 
 
 yours received some time ago. but expected another ere this, as you promise 
 
 some original. We will want it badly in about a week or ten days. The June 
 
 and July numbers will be out in about a week.
 
 Ill 
 
 Now. Doctor, I tell you wliat it is, you must be up auil (loins. We nuist 
 have 150 stutlents this winter or break a trace and at least 25 of them nuist 
 come from Michigan. Now, if you do not know where they are to he found 
 it is time you were looking them up. I will take 25 and I-"itch 20 from this 
 state and the other 75 must come from Mo.. Wisconsin. Iowa and elsewhere. 
 
 Vol! would better, 1 think, operate in the Southwest part of your state strong. 
 
 1 will try and have Kitch send Moore through there. Keep a list of 
 students' names and residences, so as that Moore can hunt theiu up and take 
 them over to Chicago as he goes over in the fall. Wni had better lix to travel 
 through the country so as to see all that talk of going when >ou start and take 
 them along. This is the strongest game of all. 
 
 1 am going to make the strongest effort I ever did and want all nthers 
 to do it too. 
 
 If we can once heat the Laporte concern we have lliom down and tlicy 
 never can rise, so you see how important it is to work now while thoj are 
 busy about Knapp and their building. 
 
 Soine three or four weeks spent now travelling on a Botanical tour, gather- 
 ing specimens, etc.. etc.. will be the best way of extending your reputation for 
 science, making acquaintances with physicians, finding students and extending 
 the circulation of the Journal. If we do not work, neither shall we eat. I 
 am going to pursue a similar course. What say you? 
 
 Pray write Dr. Thayer and get him to send on his article and send yours 
 immediately. Our Journal is pufTed all over the country. We must write for 
 it and extend its reputation and at the same time extend our own. 
 
 Let me hear from you soon and often, 
 
 "^'"'"■•^ "■"'>-. Jno. Ev.\ns. 
 
 Jno. McLean, M. D. 
 
 Chicago, Sept. 1/", 1847 
 Dr. McLean. 
 
 Di'ar Sir: — I h.ad the expectation of seeing you tlie otlier day in Midi, as 
 I went through, hut on my way back when 1 intende<l to call was in a hurry 
 on account of important business. Besides there was nothing to communicate 
 which could not be done by letter. When in Boston I purchased $285 worth 
 of apparatus for Dr. Blaney, which will put his department on a respectable 
 footing. 
 
 We are putting up an addition to the college for the purpose of furnishing 
 a shed below and two dissecting rooms above. Our Hospital is thriving, 
 about 40 patients at present. Mr. Freer is in the country attending to the 
 students and the Journal and is doing well. I have favorable accounts from 
 every part of the country except Michigan, from which 1 hear nothing. But 
 I have learned that in the neighborhood of Xilcs there arc several students who 
 attended last year at LaPorte. but who this year will attend elsewhere. They 
 must be seen. Dr. Fitch is doing well and Dr. Evans also. We expect about 
 fifty students from Iowa. We shall cut off half the Fo.\ River students that 
 went to LaPorte and rely upon you to <lo as much for those of Mich. 1 have 
 no doubt of having 100 students and if all work 125 or 150. hut 1 am afraid 
 you will have the most difficulty in your state. But we rely upon you to make 
 a good show of volumes on the benches next winter. We passed a resolution 
 that each Professor should deposit $10 worth of books in his own hand in 
 the library this fall. 
 
 Write and let me kiniw how you get on. 
 
 S-ours sincerely. ,)^ Bkaksaki..
 
 112 
 
 Chicago, Oct. 9th, 1847 
 
 Dear Sir: — It is better late than never, so I embrace a few leisure moments 
 — the first I have had for a long time — to write to you. 
 
 I am rather ashamed of myself that I have not sooner informed you of our 
 doings here; especially of a resolution passed by the Faculty at their last session, 
 which was to the effect that every member of the Faculty expend a sum not 
 less than $60.00 on the means of teaching his own branch or on the Library 
 and that he exhibit vouchers to that effect at the first meeting. Xow, I 
 acknowledge myself much to blame that I have not informed you of this 
 before, as it may inconvenience you considerably to raise that sum beyond your 
 anticipations at so short a notice. Our prospects of a class are, however, so 
 good that I have but little doubt that you will receive this winter enough in 
 cash to reimburse you and also pay your expenses. Everything promises fairly. 
 I have made a tour westerly. Fitch and Evans have each sent out a young 
 man or gone themselves. Brainard has made a tour to Galena and he and 1 
 have had several young men out as agents for College and Journal. Richards, 
 of St. Charles, has had a break with the LaPorte people and there is every 
 probability that all the students whom he has drummed up will be in here. 
 From all these sources of increase, from the numbers who have written to 
 us not seen by any one, and the old class returning, I have not the least 
 doubt that we shall number at least 120, perhaps more. Of these a good many 
 will pay cash, though many will want one year credit and a few have asked 
 more, which has been granted them. If any apply to you make the best terms 
 with them you can and bring them along. If you can take a tour through 
 Kalamazoo and along down by Niles and around you as far as may be, I think 
 you may do good service for the College and Journal. 
 
 Stebbins and Reed are complaining loudly that you have not furnished 
 them with a list of medicines to be procured for your Mat. Med. case which 
 they wish to fit up immediately. If you want any additions to last years 
 assortment send the list to me immediately. 
 
 Now, for what we have been doing. Brainard has spent on instruments ; 
 Evans also considerable sums. I am expecting daily apparatus for which I 
 have paid over $300.00 and am making other additions to the amount of over 
 $100.00 more, all to be completed before the end of the session. Herrick is 
 putting up an addition to the College building for Dissecting rooms without 
 any communication with the main building. What Fitch is doing I have not 
 learned. Brainard and I gave the Summer Course alone. Robbe died before 
 the course finished and did not come in at all. Our hospital goes off finely. 
 We have in it about 60-80 patients ; affording excellent opportunity for clinics. 
 Brainard lias the surgical and I the medical wards. I give a clinic of from 
 1-3 hours daily, over about 40 patients. The Dispensary is kept going in the 
 hospital from 20-30 patients daily. Bird has charge of it. Some students are 
 coming in. I had 8 or 10 follow me round this morning. 
 
 The Journal for October and November is about half up. Your article on 
 Tannate of Quinine was forwarded by Evans and I put it in as the leader. 
 It is a good thing. I have prepared a quantity and used it freely in the hospital. 
 I think you are in error in making the dose no larger than that of the Sulph. 
 I think it requires nearly tzvicc the dose of the Tannate to produce the same 
 amount of Anti-periodic effect. It is a fine thing in cliildren and in cases of 
 irritable stomach, 
 
 I suppose you have heard that I am married. My wife and I board with 
 Herrick. Will ynu bring Mrs. McL. with you this winter?
 
 113 
 
 Griffith's Medical Botany which 1 noticed in tlie last No. of Jour, was 
 sent to you as I'rof. of Mat. Med. It is a line work. 1 have had no chance 
 to forward it to you. 
 
 .An apportionment of notes was made at the end ol tlie hist session. Several 
 were assigned to pay General K.\penses to the ColleKe I-'und. so that the Notes 
 which you took were somewhat (not much, say $20.0(1) over your share. They 
 were, however, assigned to you in full. .Ml that you collect on them use as 
 your own. The excess over your share you can make up in the apportioiunent 
 of the coming year, ^'ou had better ct>me prepared to stay all the session and 
 be here punctually as Brainard insists strongly on the necessity of the rule. 
 
 Herrick, Brainard and I have all heeii doing a good practice tliis summer, 
 although it is not very sickl\'. 
 
 Among us we have raised the subscription list of the Jnunial In about $.S0. 
 Cannot you raise some subscribers around you ? 
 
 I can think of nothing further of interest or importance. 
 
 Make my kindest regards to Mrs. McLean, and believe me. 
 Ever truly your friend. 
 
 I\MI> \'. /.. Bl..\.\KV. 
 
 John McUan, M. U. & Prof. 
 Jackson, Mich. 
 
 Logansport. Oct. Utb, 1847 
 Dear Sir: — Yours of the 11th ult. is before me. Soon after its receipt I 
 started on a tour through some of the N. E. Counties of the State. These 
 counties are sparsely settled, and there arc but few students in them, but 
 quite a number of licentiate physicians, who design attending lectures sometime 
 within one to four years. Our school stands high with them. But few of them 
 will go to LaPorte. although it is much the nearest of any School. 
 
 We shall have a i)ood class this winter — one 1 think worth lecturing to. 
 Moor will go into the southern counties of your state and call upon those 
 you gave me the names of. He starts in a day or two. I shall go to Fort 
 Wayne and visit this week. 
 
 The Journal does much for our school. Its e.Ntended circulation will help us 
 more than any other thing, more than one individual eflPort can. Moor has 
 increased its circulation in \. E. Indiana some sixty or more this summer. 
 Kisp. Yours. 
 
 G. X. Em H. 
 John McLean. M. D. 
 
 Logansport, Dec. 20th. 1847 
 Dear Sir: — .\ week from toilay I shall start for Chicago. I shall stop a short 
 time — a day perhaps — in LaPorte to see Doct. Rose. 
 
 I have boxed up quite a number of Indian skulls (17) which were to have 
 gone yesterday by a team going to Chicago after a load of stoves. From some 
 cause the team has not gone — probably deferred starting a few days for the 
 roads to become smoother. 
 
 Respectfully yours, 
 
 G. N. Fitch. 
 Jno. McLean, M. D. 
 
 Chicago. April 24th. 1848 
 
 Dear Doelnr: — Dr. Brainard requests me to acknowledge the receipt of your 
 
 letter of the 20th inst.. enclosing $5.00. You can receipt to those who sent the 
 
 money as it has been credited as you directed as will appear in the list of 
 
 credits in the next number.
 
 114 
 
 We have not the numbers to send tn Drs. Mansfield and Lockwood as 
 requested, the three first numbers being out of print. We have charged them 
 with those sent, that is for y^ of Vol. 2. 
 
 I shall start East this evening and will, therefore, probably arrive in Jackson 
 with this letter but unless the cars stop I shall not be able to see you. 
 Nothing is yet done with regard to the establishment of our Hospital. 
 Respectfully yours, 
 
 \V. B. Herrick. 
 
 Chicago, Aug. 19th, 1848 
 
 Dear Doctor: — Yours of the 16th inst. containing Ten Dollars came duly to 
 hand. You merit our thanks for the trouble you take in our behalf. 
 
 I have sent Dr. Acres of Barry the last number as directed. 
 
 Upon consulting with Brainard, we came to the conclusion that it would 
 not be advisable to send out any more of the Catalogues and circulars printed 
 this spring because they promise more witli regard to a Hospital than we can 
 now offer. We shall as soon as possible get out a new circular, of wliich you 
 shall have a supply. 
 
 We wish Air. .Stewart to make reports as often as possible in order that 
 we :nay be able to ptililish receipts of amounts received by him. 
 Yours, etc., 
 
 W. B. Herrick. 
 lohn McLean, D. 
 
 Chicago, Jan. 29, 1849 
 
 Drar Sir: — Yours of 22nd inst. is before me. Mrs. Nicholson received your 
 letter with its enclosure. 
 
 I shall finish my course tomorrow and start then or the next day for home. 
 I have notified the other Professors that I shall not return. In fact it is a small 
 potato business of which I am most heartily tired. I have been ashamed tn 
 spend my tiine in this unprofitable maimer for two or three years past — 
 but have constantly been in hopes it would improve. 
 
 The money is not divided and will not be. In truth I fear me there is 
 "something rotten in Denmark''. — The resident faculty make all the money which 
 is made — make no division of funds on hand until we are gone, and then 
 decide to suit themselves. They say they pay debts and the interest on 
 debts with the matriculation and graduation fees — but the debts are usually 
 going to themselves. 
 
 I suppose I shall see nothing of my sliare of the money in Blaney's hands 
 ($30) or of the notes due on demand yet unpaid ($20). — It will either be 
 divided among them or appropriated for the future benefit of the College. 
 Well, well, it is not worth quarrelling about. Let them have it — only I will 
 not be fool enough to put more of my earnings in their hands. 
 
 Doct. Brainard has said nothing more of the $5.00 from Knott. I shall 
 mention it to him tomorrow and if he hands me the money enclose it in this. 
 If he does not, I suppose he will give it to you next winter, or enclose it before. 
 At all events the note which you received from him was worth but half of its 
 face, so it will he better to wait a year for the whole than to take half now. 
 
 The enclosed letter was taken from the office — remailed, and put in our box. 
 and consequently sent here the second time. I now envelope it and trust it will 
 at length reach you. 
 
 I shall be happy to hear from you often. 
 
 Respectfully yours, 
 
 G. N. Fitch.
 
 115 
 
 Doct. John McLean 
 
 Kboric, Ind., Mch. I. 1*49 
 
 Rt'sf'ccli-d Sir: — Vou will probably recognise in my name that of one of the 
 Graduates of Rush Medical College, Session '47-8. For the last few years 
 my health has been rather poor : and all the time 1 was attending Lectures 
 at Chicago 1 was more feeble than usual. — The necessary continemcnt pertaining 
 thereto greatly disagreeing with me. .\fter being dismissed it was with dithculty 
 that I reached here (home) as I had to encounter sickness on the way. By 
 persevering, temperance and care. I have, however, been able to pursue the 
 practice and have had a tolerably liberal share allotted to me. My liealtli now, 
 however, is far from being robust, and 1 believe, that I am subject of the 
 disease of the central organs of circulation, though my friends presume not. 
 But my object in writing you is not to tell yon about my health alone, but to 
 express to you, personally, a share of that friendship and abiding regard which 
 I have for yourself and your worthy Colleagues in Rush NIedical College, and 
 to give you some account of the state of Medical Science here in Indiana. 
 Long shall I cherish those alTcetionate feelings for the Professors of the 
 College, contracted in the course of a few weeks' intercourse nor can I ever 
 repay them for a moiety of the benefits which by application and diligence I was 
 enabled to acquire from their course of instruction. I will never-the-less, 
 promise yi>M to do all the good that I can in my humble way for the advance- 
 ment and promotion of our noble science. But here I tind little to encourage 
 me to persevere in the investigation or any literary undertakings here, (and 
 I presume it is the case everywhere). 1 have to contend with Quacks, both in 
 and out of the profession. It does appear to me that the people love to honor 
 quacks and reward them for their ignoble qualities. Here, it is not uncommon 
 for a lazy, worthless, and it may be, dishonest drunken boy. destitute not only 
 of education, but even of common sense, to loiter about someone's office, — 
 a quack, too, it may be. — for a few months, and then to leave "for parts 
 unknown." and the next account we have of him he is a great doctor away out 
 West. -■Xnd it is curious how much consequence, even sensible people will 
 attach to such a fellow. .\ well qualified physician frequently cannot succeed 
 in obtaining a practice, where one of these fellows will be rodi diKcii! 
 
 A few years ago a fellow destitute of education (a blacksmith residing a 
 few miles west of Indianapolis) quitting his trade without further tcdiousness. 
 became a "Regular Physician" and began to practice. He had presently to dis- 
 pute the field with a Graduate, a gentleman of fine acquirements and in every 
 way worthy; and although he never studied to improve himself after entering 
 up<in a practice, a few years found him retired in possession of a handsome 
 fortune — for he charged heavily — while his gentlemanly and very competent 
 competitor had to seek other employment for means of support. \or could 
 this man, although he affected to be very learned, spell sugar or grain or medi- 
 cine! the day he took in his shingle. Ought not such men to be driven from 
 the profession? Ought they to receive, as the one referred to did. the caresses 
 of educated physicians? 
 
 I hold it to be a fact, that almost any young man may become, at least, a 
 respectable physician by dint of application, even though he never were to .see 
 a Medical College. I myself went to study medicine less than eight years 
 ago without either education, knowleilge of the world, a faithful preceptor, good 
 books, any advantages from practical anatomy, without money or influential 
 friends, yet in less than two years I had a more correct theory than half of 
 the physicians with whom I wa.s acquainted. .-\nd I am very sure that nature 
 did nil more, nay nut as much for me as she does fur the generality of persons.
 
 116 
 
 I have gained all the knowledge I possess in Scientific or literary subjects by 
 diligence and untiring application, and I intend to try to progress while I live. 
 I have lately published a small volume on "Domestic Medicine," and design 
 carrying my publication still further. But I must not run into egotism. Every 
 man has it in his power — if he have ordinary mind — in this free country of 
 ours, to rise up — even from the sledge hammer to the dignified station assigned 
 to a Buritt. Then, should we not labor to impress our friends with the 
 importance of a fact so glorious? 
 
 Wm. Matthkws, P.m. 
 Dr. John McLean, 
 Jackson, Michigan 
 
 I shall be pleased to have a letter from you. My address is 
 Most truly, 
 
 Wm. M.\tthews, 
 Post Master, 
 
 Eberle, Putnam Co., 
 Indiana 
 
 Chicago, May 17, 1849 
 My dear Doctor: — Enclosed I send you the $5 for which you gave me a 
 receipt for Knott. I would have sent it sooner, but I forgot it. We have 
 a little Cholera here, about two cases, and one death a day so far. 
 
 What do you think of Thos. Spencer of Geneva for Prof, of Practice here? 
 I think you know him. 
 
 How is your own health ? We feared you would not be able to return from 
 ill health. 
 
 Please write me. 
 
 Respectfully yours, 
 
 D. Br.^inard. 
 
 Chicago, June 16th, 1849 
 Prof. McLean. 
 
 Dear Sir: — I passed through your place on my way to Boston but had no 
 time to stop. We had a very pleasant time in Boston. An account of the pro- 
 ceedings of the Convention will be out in about two weeks in the first or next 
 No. of our Journal. 
 
 I suppose you feel anxious to hear how we get on filling the other chairs 
 in Rush Med. College. Well, quite a number of applications have been put 
 in, in reference to two of which I would like your opinion by return of mail 
 or at your earliest convenience. You know the applications are to be considered 
 confidential with us. Dr. Spencer, the old man, founder of Geneva College, 
 etc., etc., is applicant for the Chair of Practice. How will he do? They talk 
 of his being wild in reference to the old Geneva concern — but I guess he 
 is the strong man of it, as it has been going down ever since he left. You 
 know more about him than any of the rest of us — will he do well? Please 
 give at length your opinion of him. He proposes, if elected, to go to 
 Milwaukee. 
 
 Dr. N. S. Davis of New York — Editor of the Annualist, etc.^ — will probably 
 be the Prof of Physiology and Pathology unless something adverse turns up. 
 Don't you think these are the kind of men we want? 
 
 Dr. Blaney has been offered the Chair of Chemistry in a new school to be 
 started in New Orleans, in which Dr. Cartwright of Natches, Dowler of 
 N. O. and other big fish are in the faculty. He will not probably accept 
 the invitation. But bis Brother-in-law, Alajor Eaton, resides there and will
 
 117 
 
 probably try and induce him to go. So— Dr. Herrick says the influence may 
 be the reverse. It would be a great loss to us if Dr. Blancy should leave. 
 What think you of allowing him to go to New Orleans to try his hand and 
 still hold on here? Perhaps give his course the fore-part of the Session here 
 and the latter part there. We must when our circular comes out have our 
 Catalogues in it and send to every Doctor in the whole county and to every 
 student that will be at all likely to come. Have you a young man that could 
 be got to travel as agent in Michigan? If so, let us hear of him. Dr. Meek 
 and I have become the sole proprietors of the Medical Journal. Dr., you 
 promised me an article for its pages — please send it along as we must make 
 a bold push now for distinction in writing and lecturing. 
 
 Please say when we may expect an article. If possible, let us have it in 
 the course of two or three weeks that it may come out in the Sept. Xo. 
 
 Hoping to hear of your prosperity and good health, I dose. 
 
 Dr. Fitch is going it for Congress on the free soil hook. 
 
 P. S. Mrs. E. is at Indianap<Mis and better. 
 
 Chicago. Ills.. July 11th. 1849 
 
 Dear Sir: — With the aid of your alphabet I can read your "fonography" 
 well. I am glad to hear from you and of your health. Mrs. Evans is in 
 Indianapolis, so I am bachelor or rather Grass Widower. She is better. 
 
 Your penitentiary physician never sent us his reports as agreed, so we shall 
 expect him to pay for the Journal. 
 
 The appointment of Dr. Davis & Spencer took place on the 2nd of July, 
 of course before yours was written. They will add much to our strength I 
 find from report. 
 
 As to the young man Lowey we will allow him to travel out two weeks or 
 three if he will go at $2.50 per dium he finding himself and taking it all in 
 college tickets. 
 
 Young Loftin I expect in the south eastern part of Michigan, Indiana and 
 Ohio in the neighborhood. 
 
 We shall probably have the catalogue and circulars out in a few days, a 
 week or two at the out side. Our terms will probably be 10 dols a ticket 
 when credit is given or $9 cash, making 7 dols difterence and charge interest 
 on notes into the bargain. 
 
 If the young man does well we may let him travel the whole amount of 
 his tickets out. The tickets to him shall be at cash price. 
 
 Let us know by return of mail what to expect and we will forward the 
 papers or get some one else. 
 
 We may not get boys to travel out all the tickets we are allowed on those 
 terms but think we have made arrangements for most or quite all. 
 
 Phipps takes two sets. Woodbury one and a half, Gregory one and perhaps 
 Loftin one, 5!S. Our allowance is 6. 
 
 Sorry it did not look best for the interest of our school to appoint your 
 friend but so it was. 
 
 Yours truly. j^^ ^^.^^^ 
 
 Chicago, Oct. 6, 1849 
 Dr. McLean. 
 
 Dear Sir: — Since \ wrote you last, circumstances have occurred which will 
 probably make necessary considerable changes in our college arrangements. 
 We have ascertained that Knapp, Richards and Co. have arranged matters to
 
 118 
 
 transport their school to Chicago and make their attempt here. They organize 
 and get the students matriculated at Davenport and then fetch them here. 
 Their ticket fees are lower than ours and they take students, of course, at 
 any price. 
 
 In order to compete successfully with them at once and put a stop to 
 any chance of success they may have, the members of the faculty here think 
 it advisable to put down the tickets at once to $40.00 or in cash $36.00. As 
 we cannot communicate with Dr. Spencer, his ticket will have to stand as it 
 is this year unless he comes voluntarily inti> the arrangement. This will leave 
 the others $5 each. 
 
 We intend this as only a preliminary step to abolishing the lecture fees and 
 putting such graduation fee cash (say $25) as we may think advisable in 
 place of them. 
 
 We have not come to this conclusion without much deliberation and considera- 
 tion of all the circumstances which surround us, but we are convinced the 
 system pursued at Cleveland and LaPorte and tlie one about to be pursued 
 at Ann Arbor will force us into it. 
 
 If you do not think best to accede to tlie terms so far as your ticket is 
 concerned, they will still be the same, as we shall make it up on tlie others. 
 If you do, we will so arrange that you can remain but 8 weeks. 
 
 I think in any case it will be best for you to remain in Michigan about 
 one or two weeks after the ISth inst. in order to see and communicate with 
 students as this arrangement ought to enable us to compete w'ith Cleveland 
 in that region. You may employ as an agent a student if you choose and give 
 him his tickets or a part of them for his services. 
 
 The prospects of the class seem good, but we are determined to meet that 
 opposition at once. Dr. Davis is here and seems pleased and doing well. 
 Very respectfully yours, 
 
 D. Br.\in.\rd. 
 
 Oct. 19, 1849 
 Dr. McLean. 
 
 Dear Sir: — I received yours yesterday. The class is larger this last year 
 at the commencement which I think pretty well for there are fewer students 
 in the country. Dr. Spencer wishes to lecture three times a week e.xtra so as 
 to finish his course early, and have your course at the last half of the session. 
 If it would be agreeable to you I think we might as well adopt that course. It 
 would help you to circulate documents and work for the school. 
 In haste. 
 
 Yours very sincerely. 
 
 D. Br.\in'.\rd. 
 
 Chicago, Oct. 25, 1846 
 LElTl'KES OX M.\TEKI.\ MEDIC.\ 
 
 Mv Dear Hard: — I start this night week for LaPorte to be there Deo volenti, 
 on Monday Evening 2nd Nov. and to give my introductory on Tuedsay. 
 
 Expect to stay 2 or 3 weeks, and return and go over again 11th of Feb. 
 I think it important that a full team be there to open. 
 
 I hear nothing from you or Richards, what your arrangetnents are. This is 
 not as it should be. 
 
 Do be active among the disciples in your region to have them off in due time. 
 
 This is going to be a far more important session to test the comparative 
 strength of the two schools tlian any previous one.
 
 119 
 
 Simdry stu(lciu> liavi- already arrived lure. ( liii- trmn C'harlotnii. I Uliv 
 County. 111., who reports .5 more from that region eoniiiiK here. We mu.st 
 attend to the W'ahash Counties next year and send several full pledged pupils 
 in that direction. 
 
 The student from Coles reports Hlaney sick and i5rainard gone to Juliet. 
 I understand from him that he is prepared to pay up hut wishes to sell his 
 horse and get hooks. 1 mean to propose to take his horse for tickets if he 
 will go to LaPortc, after he has looked ahout lierc a while, lie saw Truesdail 
 at Blue Island who put I.al'orte pretty strongly into his head. He saw our 
 circular but says they think down there that hecanse Chicago is the greater 
 place it must have the greater school. He is advised now to the contrary and 
 wishes to go to the best. 
 
 The fact is Richards and you ought to make a dcmonslralion this week of 
 loads of students going through Chicago to I.al'orte. 
 
 I am doing all 1 can in the papers here just now. The Journal noticed the 
 institute of its own accord. I have replied thanking the editors in behalf of 
 it, which, if they insert, will show well. I will send you the announcements if 
 they appear 
 
 Do go it right just now and let jjractice go to the for a week. 
 
 Ever truly vours. 
 
 M. I.. Kn.mt. 
 
 St. Charles. 111., .March 10. 1850 
 To all whom it may concern 
 GrccliiHi: — 
 Be it known that I have had the pleasure of an intimate acquaintance 
 with the bearer, Moses L. Knapp, M. D. of Chicago, for the last eight years; 
 both in private and public; in his capacity as a gentleman, citizen, practitioner 
 of medicine; and professionally as a teacher of the various branches of science. 
 .•\nd it affords me unfeigned satisfaction and delight to attest from personal 
 knowledge his claim, in every one of these capacities, to the highest com- 
 mendation. 
 
 As a gentleman he bears his own crcdoiilials. As a practitioner of the 
 healing art of which he is "one of the Masters," try liim ! As a teacher and 
 especially of the "Materia Medica" his success above all other teachers to 
 whom I have had the pleasure of listening has been the universal admiration 
 and subject of unqualilied appropriation of every class of students before whom 
 he has appeared in such capacity. May his career of usefulness extend frnm 
 the past to the future and his full honors will be fairly won! 
 
 Orpiikus Evi-rts, M. D. 
 
 Professor of Chemistry & Pharmacy 
 
 Coll. of Phy. & .Surg. 
 
 Iowa University 
 
 Professor M. I,. Knapp of the chairs of Materia Medica and TheraiH-utics. 
 having intimated his intention to pass some time away from his hoine, and 
 as he will, during such time visit remote parts of the country, I take pleasure 
 in bearing testimony to his professional standing in the Xorth West, and to 
 his readiness to make the most liberal sacrifices for the advancement of the 
 profession to which he is so devotedly attached. Any facilities that may be 
 afforded him during his absence will be duly appreciated by his associates in 
 the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Iowa University. 
 
 Medical Department of Iowa University 
 
 Davenport, March 19th, 18.^0 C. R. Ciim'MW. Pres. of the f:icult>
 
 120 
 
 The bearer of this, Dr. M. L. Knapp, who has long been a resident of 
 Illinois at Springfield and Chicago, having intimated to the undersigned that 
 he contemplates seeking a more genial climate in some of the southern States, 
 we take pleasure in stating, that we have, most of us, enjoyed for a long series 
 of years the intimate acquaintance and friendship of the Doctor, and his very 
 interesting and accomplished family. 
 
 With some of us the Doctor has been our family physician on whom we 
 have relied in the e.xtremest emergencies. We recommend him, wherever he 
 may go, or wherever he may choose his residence, to the clemency, confidence, 
 and friendship of the community; as a Gentleman of high moral worth and 
 integrity, and an eminent, scientific, and successful practitioner and teacher of 
 medicine. 
 
 State of Illinois, October 25, 1850. 
 
 Though regretting exceedingly that 
 Dr. Knapp's health compels him to 
 leave our city, with his amiable 
 family, I willingly join with those 
 whose names are hereunto annexed, 
 in recommending him to any com- 
 munity in which he may determine 
 to fix his residence. 
 
 J. V.«,N De Velde, S. J. 
 
 Bishop of Chicago 
 John Moore Treas. of 111. 
 
 Thomas Ford Ex. Gov. of 111. 
 
 David L. Gregg Sec. of State. 
 
 Thos. H. Campbell Auditor P. A. 
 S. H. Tre.\t Chief Justice of Sup. Ct. 
 
 Tames Shield.'; r- ^ ■ ,- 
 
 "S. A. Douglas ^^"^^"'^ '" Congress. 
 
 James Curtiss Mayor of Chicago, 
 
 Smithsonian Institution, 
 Washington, Oct. 17, 1854 
 
 Dear Sir: — Your communication entitled "Discovery of the Cause, Nature, Cure 
 and Prevention of Epidemic Cholera," was duly received and I have perused it 
 with much interest and instruction. I am sorry, however, to inform you that I 
 do not think it is properly adapted for publication in the Smithsonian Contribu- 
 tions to Knowledge. It is purely professional, and the truth of the propositions 
 you advance, can only be fully established in the mind of the age, by the extended 
 observations and experiments of physicians. Before it could be published accord- 
 ing to the rules adopted by the Institution it would be necessary that a com- 
 mission of eminent physicians should declare it to be an important positive 
 addition to the sum of human knowledge, but in the present condition of the 
 whole subject, I doubt whether a commission would so consider it. New truths, 
 even of a palpable kind, make slow progress when opposed by old errors, but 
 though their progress be slow, they finally prevail independently of authority. 
 I think the better cause would be to publish your essay in some medical journal, 
 where it will meet the eye of your professional brothers and the discussion with 
 regard to it be at first confined to them. 
 
 I am much in favor of well conditioned hypotheses as the precursors of 
 truth. They serve to direct attention in definite lines and when properly used 
 as antecedent probabilities finally lead to the establishment of the most valuable 
 general principles. But there are so many crude and undigested speculations
 
 121 
 
 offered to the Smithsonian Institution that it would be overwhelmed with articles 
 of this class were it not extremely cautious in admitting any thing however 
 valuable which is not fully established as a positive truth. I think it a duty 
 you owe to yourself and the cause of humanity, to publish your article in some 
 Medical Journal ; to have extra copies struck off and distributed to the principal 
 physicians in the country. We shall be happy though the medium of the Smith- 
 sonian Institution to transmit copies to the principal scientific as.sociations of 
 the old world. 
 
 We retain the article until we hear from you again. 
 
 I am very respectfully. Your obedient servant 
 Jo-SEPH Hf.nrv. 
 
 Sec. Smithsonian Inst. 
 M. L. Knapp. Esq. 
 Cincinnati. Ohio 
 
 Philadelphia. Oct. 13th, 1855 
 
 .U_v di-ar Sir: — During a temporary absence from home, your brochure on 
 the Cholera came. Permit me before ever I have read it as 1 ought to thank 
 you most kindly for your attention in recollecting me. This instant 1 have laid 
 it down after reading it with locomotive speed determining from the interest it 
 has excited to give it a study. The boldness amazed and gratified me. I hate 
 droning and delight always in the mind that can soar. It is well written and 
 that is a great deal for without a good style much is lost of good thoughts. I 
 knew your mind well before, but not your style so well as now. But remember, 
 no medical man writes with originality on such views who is not beset. This 
 you must e.xpect. 1 wish I had the right, by previous study of your pages, to 
 speak more to the purpose, hut I was anxious to acknowledge the receipt of 
 those welcome pages. 
 
 Believe me as ever. 
 
 With the kindest wishes for your professional success. 
 
 Yours truly and respectfully. 
 
 Wll.I.I.\M P. C. R.\RTON. 
 
 Dr. M. L. Knapp 
 
 Philadelphia. Oct. 21, 1855 
 Dear Doctor: — In the miilst of carpentering your letter was handed to me 
 this morning. I stopped my saw a moment to tind whether it was anything 
 requiring an immediate answer and then went on the faster, that I had some- 
 thing awaiting the finis. I am induced to reply immediately on the perusal of 
 your letter because of the concern I feel lest your experience, less than mine 
 on the point I have in view, might, without caution betray your pocket. If I 
 therefore offer a few words of caution the otTering will be. I trust, received, as 
 I feel it to be. one of friendliness : and not with any view of creating luke- 
 warnmess in your very laudable desire to bring your views before the public. 
 You know me well enough to know I never hesitate to speak or write especially 
 what I think. 1 have never yet seen the occasion fitting to call forth my 
 thoughts that has not met those thoughts promptly, and it is quite likely too 
 often impulsively. Xo conventionality or consideration for self-interest ever 
 distorted sentiments coming from me. This is nothing to boast but it is the 
 simple truth, it may be a weakness of character but I can't help that. Do 
 me therefore the justice to believe I venture in kindness to offer some sugges- 
 tions which may save your pocket and future regrets. If you had told me 
 anything else than that booksellers (Lea and Ulanehard especially) had declined 
 publishing for you on their own account, I should have set you down not only 
 as a rare avis amongst authors, but as a verv lucky man indeed. Booksellers as
 
 122 
 
 a tribe are sui generis emphatically so. Tliey have arcana unknown generally 
 and utterly at variance with their boastings of fostering learning and science 
 and literature. 
 
 During ten years nearly that I was publisliing various works with M. 
 Carey tlien Carey and Son (the son a shrewd man and an able bookseller) I 
 learned these arcana. Among the most liberal of the tribe was that extraordi- 
 nary man M. Carey, the father. He did become my friend as much as it is 
 possible for a bookseller to be the friend of the author for whom he is publisher 
 and even (for he was a fine open hearted Irish man) a little more. But such 
 men are scarce. I did certainly make money by him, but what to him was of 
 more importance ; though he liked to see me do this, he made a vast deal more 
 by me. This is the pivot over which the whole machinery turns. What they 
 can make of money by your labor ! Even Ballantyne and Constable received 
 Sir Walter Scott as a merchant views the quality of a bale or piece of goods 
 at auction — how much will it yield me? Will it certainly all sell quickly if not 
 at a great profit ; at least at an advance compensating me for my time and trouble 
 in buying it. Murray it is true sent large sums to Byron which at least 
 he once returned and several times reduced that patron of poetry's own offers. 
 Both could afford this. Murray's liberality because Byron had enriched him 
 and Byron's moderation because Murray had shown him the powers of appreciat- 
 ing his muse and generous reward of him. But these things never occur in 
 medical literature. If you were to offer works as important as Harvey's or 
 Haller's — Booksellers would be coy, coquettish and grinding. They will risk 
 nothing — be assured of that. They will liberally proffer you the aid of their 
 craft to sell your books and push their own, but they will not keep their 
 professed friendship if it should cost a small bit of postage even. Make it 
 certain beyond the possibility of miscalculation that they can clear their cost 
 in producing anything you write together with 10, 15, or 20 per cent over their 
 expenses and then they will publish for }-ou on Ihcir ozi'ii accoiini! their 
 own truly ! ! ! But even then they will not give you $100.00 for the copyright. 
 Be assured of this. Trust them not for anything they may promise. If your 
 copyright is agreed to be paid by a given number of the work for you to sell 
 — they will give them . . . . ( not legible ) unless you wearily stipulate in 
 writing otherwise and they will give them to you not at all until they feel assured 
 your sale will not retard the sale of a single copy, "just then" of their own for they 
 will magnify their expenses and trouble to attain this end or have the face to 
 propose it. How to fix the cure for these Jesuitical bibliopoles is a desideratum. 
 Let me suggest, that you approacli them like a police officer does a refactory 
 set of rowdies — with your badge of office which presupposes in the minds of all 
 beholders, that you are armed for assault or defence as the case may be. because 
 the law is well knowm to advice and enjoin this arming. Go on with your 
 subscription as if on your own account eschew all booksellers or their advice, 
 which to an author is never to be trusted. When you have for your own safety, 
 as if determined to publish on your own account, calculated the whole cost and 
 the cost of all incidental expenses and the aggregate of your indubitable and 
 accessible subscriptions and find you can certainly clear yourself and realize a 
 handsome per cent beyond. — Then go with a bold and knowing front to Book- 
 sellers ; one after another and make the best terms you can for their publishing 
 on their own account solely, whatever you have ready. Stipulate for small edi- 
 tions, 500 is a good edition, and if the booksellers see their interest in asking 
 for a second edition they will be cap in hand to you instead of you to them. 
 The first book I ever published in 1814 after my thesis was on Naval Hospitals 
 and reforms in the medical department of the Navy — all refused it. I published
 
 I2i 
 
 it at a cost bi'twci-ii tlirci- ;iiiil lHur huiidrt-d dollars, on my own linoU ami 
 suffered in consec|nence lor two years, thon^h eventually the Navy and War 
 Department purchased it as a vaile mccuni and 1 even made money. I never 
 published anything on my own account alter—and resisted the trades' offers of 
 goings half in expense and profits. That is worse than all. Never do it. You, 
 nor any other professional man is a match for the craft of booksellers. Xobody 
 would publish Luther's tracts promotive of that great reformation that pervaded 
 the Christian world. They had to be multiplied by scrivners and then loaned 
 about. .Xfter the Diet of \\'orms, that vacillatory monarch of nermany. Charles, 
 issued an edict to have his works which Booksellers by this time would and did 
 publish, burned, seized, etc. Yet still they would publish— because they then 
 made money out of the poor, patient, unselfish monk. Tline lunulred years 
 have not made booksellers any different. 
 
 ICxcuse the freedom of my suggestions and believe me 
 Truly .\(inrs, 
 
 W'li.i.iAM r. C. Barton 
 
 rhilad<l|.liia. Xnv. 1'). 1S55 
 Dr. M. L. Knapp 
 
 Di-ar Sir: — I believe that I have to thank you lor your pamphlet mi "Epi- 
 demic Cholera." Your views are certainly ingenious, and the facts, which you 
 have brought together are interesting. 1 am curious to see how you will carry 
 out the doctrine you have originated, in its application to other diseases than 
 cholera. Be so good therefore as to add my name to the list of your subscribers, 
 and believe me 
 
 \'ery truly and respectfully 
 
 ■S'liur (iliedieiit servant 
 
 .\l.KKi;ii STII.l.li. 
 
 Dr. M. I.. Knapp. 
 
 Dear Doctor: — 1 have looked into this work somewhat carefully, and w-hile 
 it is apparent that the author has assumed some points as lixed that may be 
 regarded by not a few, as far from being fully decided, it seems to me that 
 he is entitled to the thanks of the profession for his bold and able attempt to 
 undermine some of the ancient foundations. This main position, viz. that Scor- 
 btilus underlies nearly, perlial's all the forms of morbid aclion, is probably as 
 well sustained by facts, as any pathological doctrine broached during the last 
 century. Of one thing there can be no doubt, viz, that no retlecting student 
 can read the book without finding himself the wiser for his pains. .-Xs a comi)end 
 of all that is worth knowing on the subject of scurvy, these researches in 
 primary pathology commend themselves to every candid investigator of the deep 
 things of the human economy. 
 
 May, 1858 Thom.\.s D. Mitchku., M. D. 
 
 Prof. Mat. Med. and Therap. 
 in Jefferson Med. College. 
 
 St. Charles, Oct. 12, 1&48 
 Dear Sir: — I received yours of a late date and as yn\i have requested 1 send 
 you one of the circulars. 
 
 As there is much I want to see you and Harvey about and many things 
 oncoming of some importance to us all 1 must request you to ccime out as 
 soon as you receive this and bring Harvey with you. 
 Don't disappoint me. 
 
 Yours ever truly 
 
 G. W. KlCIIAKf). 
 
 n , Rock ford, Mav, 1849 
 
 (jcorge Bunker. 
 
 My dear Doctor:— On my return to this place last evening, from a tour 
 through f)gle and Lee counties, 1 foun<l a line from my old and esteemed friend 
 Dr. Bunker, and I need not say to you that I was much gratified to hear from
 
 124 
 
 you. I shall at all times be gratified to hear of your prosperity and professional 
 renoun. To effect this you have only to continue as you have begun. Permit 
 me to advise. Well, in the first place take to yourself a v/iie. It will add to 
 your professional reputation — give you dignity of character, and I would hope 
 increased happiness. Now don't let poverty or any other excuse deter you one 
 moment from doing your duty. 
 
 In the second place, devote much of your time to the study of your pro- 
 fession. It will perhaps be the occupation of your life, and it will certainly be 
 a satisfaction to you, at all times to know that you are posted up in the literature 
 and practice of our profession. You don't want a large library. Be sure to 
 have in your library Watson and Williams Principles of Medicine. Read the 
 first twenty-five or thirty lectures in Watson, every twenty-five or thirty days 
 for the first and second years of your practice. And review Williams care- 
 fully three or four times a year, or read him in connection with Watson. Do 
 this and you need not be ashamed of your medical literature in any crowd. I 
 want to see you well grounded in General Principles. They are the alphabet — 
 the Alpha and Omega of Medical Science. 
 
 I shall leave in a few days for the East, expect to be gone some four months. 
 I shall see Dr. Richards and Knapp in Chicago. Dr. Sanford is at Boston 
 tending the National Medical Convention, and giving our School a name among 
 the Medical Colleges of the Union. I feel proud of our representative there. 
 
 I shall be very glad to see you next fall on my return. Hope }'0U will be 
 with us at least part of the winter at Davenport. Hope if we cannot that some 
 of Nature's fair and lovely ones will attract you to the "Island City." How 
 were those lender matters left? Ha! ha! 
 
 If you should be in Rockford at any time call to see Dr. Clark. You will 
 find him a gentleman and a Medical Scholar. 
 
 Wishing you all the health and prosperity which you deser\e, which is 
 wishing you much, I remain 
 
 Very truly 
 
 Your friend 
 
 S. G. .'Vrmor. 
 
 Davenport. Sundav .\fternoon, 
 
 June 4th. 1849 
 Dr. Geo. A. Bunker. 
 
 My dear Bunker: — I have just returned from Church and having been most 
 unmercifully bored with a long, prosy sermon, you will naturally conclude that 
 I am not in a very fit mood to answer your letter. So seldom is it that I ever 
 hear from any of the B' Hoys (you know to whom I allude) that a letter from 
 any of this is always a source of pleasure, especially does one from you always 
 afford material for many agreeable if not profitable reflections. Yours reminded 
 me of the time that we first met in the Methodist Church of Rock Island to 
 hear Knapp's Introductory of our daily assembly at the "Pork House of Col. 
 Buford" (Goudy) — of the hours of delightful converse we have held at your 
 room in the American, and in ours at Calkins — and last though by no means 
 least, of our not very infrequent visits to Water Street. Do these and many 
 other events of the past winter ever come up in review before your memory? 
 Or have their impression, like the passage of a shadow, been so faint that 
 they have left no trace of their existence? 
 
 No, I flatter myself that I sufficiently understand your mental organization, 
 to be safe in asserting that they are embalmed in Memory's Sacred Urn, and 
 that each passing day will but leave tliem the brighter and more consecrated.
 
 125 
 
 By the way, Zimnieriiianlikc, you appear from your comiminication. tti prefer 
 a life -of solitiule aiul ease, to one of hustle and activity. I-or my part I think 
 that I sliould choose the latter in our cases and Pope says : 
 "Some place their hliss in action, some in ease 
 Those call it pleasure and contentment these." — Essay on Man. 
 I can picture to myself the place of your location. Yes, Fancy or Imagination 
 has presented to my mind's eye a perfect Daguerreotype of Hicks Mill. Can 
 I convey you an idea of my conception of it? Well, it is UeKall) county. 
 Hicks Mill is situated on a small stream, and collected around it are a number 
 of houses, of various shapes and dimensions, but in general anything but impos- 
 ing in appearance. .\t or near the door of one of them in letters sutliciently 
 large to attract attention is the sign. Dr. G. A. Bunker. — With Cowper, I'm 
 tempted to e.xclaim : 
 
 "Oh Solitude! where are the charms that sages have seen in thy face. 
 Better dwell in the midst of alarms, than reign in this horrible place." 
 Vet it is as good as any if it will aflford sufficient practice to keep Body and 
 Soul together. 
 
 So you were not in the St. Charles .\flfray ! From all that I can learn from 
 various sources respecting the matter, I am strongly inclined to the opinion that 
 The Rock Island excitement is not for a moment to be compared to it. I am 
 apprehensive that the occurrence will injure Dr. Richard, pecuniarily, and per- 
 haps in other ways, i. e. in respect to practice and the collection of his debts, 
 however, I hope not. 
 
 Do you know anything about our college matters for ne.\t winter? Where 
 is to be located? Or will it then be i'm esscf Who is to make arrangements 
 for a building? I would like to know if Lectures will be given here if not I 
 must make preparations to go elsewhere. 
 
 Not having been at Rock Island, since my last, you will not e.xpect any- 
 thing from that quarter. 
 
 So our mutual Friend Phillips is now enjoying the sweets of what is termed 
 "double blcssidness." When you ne.xt see him, please "wish him much joy" for 
 me, and tell him that I say he is a sensible man. 
 
 Vou inquire about my writing poetry. I never pretended to write poetry, 
 though I have often in times past, essayed to write verses. That titne is now 
 past. I have dismounted my Pegasus, and he has been stolen or strayed, if 
 you see anything of him, just urge him on for I don't want to see him again. 
 He is a very unprofitable animal, don't you think so? 
 
 H our College should be holden in Davenport, won't you come and see 
 me? I think we could spend a few weeks together pleasantly. 
 
 Hoping to hear from you as often as your leisure will admit of 
 I remain, as ever. 
 
 ^[|>st truly yours. 
 
 John Dillon. 
 
 Rochester, Michigan. 
 July, 1849. 
 Dr. Geo. A. Bunker 
 
 Afy old Bunker: — I conclude you have come to the wise conclusion that you 
 do not wish to hear from me. Well notwithstanding all of that I ain going to 
 intrude upon your quiet a little just now. Though I am not sure you have 
 any quiet, with that little liunkcr of six months! ha! ha! ha! ha! Well, well 
 you will soon know what real hapl<iness is. Soon you will hear it saying
 
 126 
 
 "Papa, Papa, I want some cana.'' I have been a father most three years and 
 there is comfort in it. Our Httle girl is a great deal of company and comfort 
 to us and no doubt you ahnost worship the little fellow, that has been given you. 
 
 You may wish to know how I obtained my information of your where- 
 abouts and success in Young Bunker. Well, I sent a line to Kaneville to 
 inquire after my friend (or once was) G. A. Bunker. Well, I should like 
 to know how and what you are doing. Do you have much business and do you 
 get your pay for it ? 
 
 I am doing better than I ever was in Illinois, tho I am not doing a large 
 business. Last year and the first of my residence here I charged some over 
 $700. This year I shall charge from $700 to $1,000, and what is better there 
 are not as many poor debts here as tliere were about Batavia. Think by tlie 
 time I die I shall begin to get ready to live. You know the time of fozvders 
 has past and we must earn our living or we shan't get it. I wish you could 
 come and see us in our little house. I have a room that I call mine into which 
 I could invite you and maybe we could find some cigars. Then what a sit and 
 smoke we would have. 
 
 Well I have written enough till I hear from you. Then I shall be more sure 
 that you want to hear from me. May heaven rule all things to your best good. 
 
 E. H. Phillips. 
 
 Davenport, Oct. 5th, 1849 
 Dr. Geo. A. Bunker 
 
 My dear Doctor: — Your last has been lying on my table unanswered for the 
 last two or three weeks, owing to the pressing importance of many and multi- 
 farious engagements. Tired of study, — relinquishing awhile the converse I've 
 been holding with the ornaments of our noble profession through the medium 
 of their writings — I sit myself down to the pleasant task of writing to you — 
 yes to you — with whom I have passed so many happy and profitable hours. 
 In the "News Department," I must tell you that Daniel Curtis Roundy Medicinac 
 Doctor, on Monday last in the town of Rock Island, was united in the rosy bonds 
 of Matrimony to Miss Jane Young of that place. For one I wish the Dr. all the 
 happiness imaginable, and hope that his passage over the Sea of Life may be 
 pleasant with the one who is "to share his pleasures and divide his cares." He 
 and the Bride on the morning succeeding the Celebration of the Nuptials left 
 (so I have understood as the Doctor did not honor me with a call) for home. 
 Per this morning's mail I received the announcement of the College of Physi- 
 cians and Surgeons of the U. M. and was glad to see the name of our mutual 
 friend Everts, as the Prof, of Chemistry — Vice Goudy, removed, or resigned, 
 confident as I am that we shall have almost an infinitely better course of 
 Lectures on this important Branch of Physic. 
 
 By the way we have been favored with a visit from Prof. San ford. The 
 Doctor came up upon business connected with the College and remained some 
 two or three days. He possesses even more than his usual enthusiasm respect- 
 ing the success of our Infant Institution, and says that he has succeeded in 
 getting it recognized in all the Eastern Colleges, so that any of our Alumni 
 can obtain ad eundem degrees from them by complying with their requisitions. 
 The College edifice is in the process of completion indeed, it is nearly finished. 
 The brick work is done, the floors are laid, the windows being put in, and the 
 plastering about commencing, and when finished we will have a very comfortable 
 and respectable place. Much superior to the "Pork House" of Goudy Memory 
 
 We are in daily expectation of Prof. Richards to attend to the seating of the
 
 127 
 
 building. We anticipate and reasonably I think, a very fine time this session, 
 and I hope you will try and be with us, a while at least. Dr. Pierce, the Prof, 
 of Anatomy, has left Rock Island for the Kast. N'o further news from the 
 Island City. 
 
 Hoping shortly to hear from you. 
 Dr. Geo. A. Bunker. 
 
 Allow me to subscribe myself, as ever 
 
 Most truly yours. 
 
 JoH.N DllXON. 
 
 Belvidere, Oct. 10th. 1849 
 George A. Bunker. M. D. 
 
 My dear Sir: — 1 return tomorrow morning to St. Charles. 1 wish you to 
 meet me there immediately on the receipt of this. 1 leave on or about the 16th 
 for Davenport and must see you before 1 go. 
 
 You are informed undoubtedly that Everts has been appointed Prof, of 
 Chemistry in our school and that we were destitute of a chemical apparatus. 
 This has induced me for the good of the institution and the credit of the teacher 
 of Chemistry to order a new and complete set of instruments at the expense of 
 $250 which must be met by the 1st day of \ov. 
 
 This has put me in a situation that compels me to call upon all of the Boys 
 to raise me every dime in their power by every method that is just and honest. 
 
 .■\nd can I not expect something from you? I want you to report yourself 
 and bring along what you can. 
 
 Cordially yours. 
 
 G. W. RKH.\Rns. 
 
 Davenport, Xov. 14, 1849 
 Dr. Geo. .\. Bunker. 
 
 ^fy dear Punkcr: — Wearied by the perusal of medical lore. — at an advanced 
 hour of the night. I turn my attention from the volumes before me to indite a 
 few lines to you. in answer to your ever welcome communication, the last of 
 which was duly received per the last mail. 
 
 There is one thing, my dear Bunker, in which I can justly lay claim to 
 greater merit than yourself, and that is promptness in replying to the epistles 
 of friends. Indee<l. this to me always is an agreeable task — if such it can be 
 called, especially so under the circumstances by which I am now surrounded. 
 
 So extremely and distressingly seldom is it that I hear from any of the 
 students of the quondam R. I. Medical School, that I have come to regard a 
 favor from any of them in the light of a "{ii>d snid'' and would be willing to 
 pronounce eternal blessing upon the mail which brought them. In the room in 
 which I am sitting, and at the table on which I am writing, are Prof. Everts, 
 and several medical students anxiously and intently pouring over the noble 
 records of our noble science. This very sensibly reminds me of last winter, 
 though, to frankly confess the truth, there were many nights which were devoted 
 to anything else than the acquisition of medical knowledge — or to progress in 
 our professional studies. What think you of this? eh? Is it not true. Doctor? 
 
 The college is in full and successful operation. Owing to ridiculous coup 
 d'eat recently made by the Rush Medical College for the ignoble purpose of 
 crushing this new colaborer in the cause of medical science there are only at 
 this time about twenty-five students in attendance. Before the termination 
 of the session there will be many more probably who will come in and we will
 
 128 
 
 be able to show the Rush College that the blow, by which they sought to 
 destroy us will recoil with redoubled force upon themselves. I will fearlessly 
 venture this prognosis that this school, despite the opposition which has been 
 marshalled against it, notwithstanding the ably conceited and well-directed move- 
 ments in every quarter to crush it in its infancy, will continue, as it has done 
 to flourish amidst their vain endeavors to annihilate it and that though the 
 bantling of opposition reared in adversity it will yet attain the size and strength 
 to repay with Compound Interest the murderous efforts of those who vainly 
 endeavored to destroy it when they thought it too weak to protect itself, and 
 friendless, could not obtain the assistance of others. It would indeed form a 
 singular anomaly in the history of Colleges if an institution enjoying so many 
 advantages as this, and comprising such an amount of talent, and experience, 
 could be crushed by the puerile effusions of such men as compose the front and 
 rear of the opposition. 
 
 Among the students in attendance I recognize the familiar faces of Water- 
 man, Kerr, M. Dodson, Craig, Prof. "Haines" and I believe that is all. 
 
 You seem to think that something ought to be penned to perpetuate the 
 memory of your Alma Mater, alias Col. Buford's Pork House. I think so too, 
 but aside from the fact that my Pegasus has strayed or been stolen, as you are 
 more deeply interested than me, I think it will devolve on you to write it. When 
 I see your friend, & T. C. of R. I. I will catechise him and will probably be 
 able to elicit something decidedly rich. 
 
 No news from Rock Island. Craig and Dodson came over from the American 
 this morning, and said that "all's well." (This is cheering news?) Hoping that 
 you may write soon and trusting Providence that you will be permitted to visit 
 us ere the close of the session, I am, as ever 
 
 Very truly yours, 
 
 John Dillon. 
 
 P. S. Prof. Everts says he will never forgive me if I fail to present his 
 compliments to you. 
 
 Davenport, Iowa, Dec. 20, 1849. 
 G. A. Bunker, M.D. 
 
 My Dear Sir: — Your kind letter of the 4th inst. came duly to hand. But by 
 some means it was mislaid. In searching my papers today it turned up, and at 
 the earliest leisure moment I do myself the pleasure of replying. 
 
 I was glad to hear from you, and although the past season has been one of 
 alarming health, still it appears that you have been afflicted with an "obstetric 
 epidemic" in which you have practiced with success. 
 
 In regard to myself, I am enjoying good health and good spirits. When I 
 get a little lonely I visit Rock Island and when there I am always in town. I 
 love Rock Island, and with my esteemed correspondent, I am much attached 
 to some of its inhabitants. How is the Dr? — Ha! Ha! By the way I called 
 on the Miss Sterns and found them bright and beautiful as usual. Mr. Stern 
 is keeping the ".American" and doing good business. 
 
 In reply to your inquiry I have to say that the "College of Physicians and 
 Surgeons" is flourishing finely. We have a good building, fine lecture rooms, a 
 fair class, rather larger than last winter, the majority of them excellent students, 
 and we are delivering them a choice course of lectures. — myself excepted as a 
 matter of course. 
 
 Dr. Richards has not yet arrived ; expecting him every day. I have been 
 lecturing twice a day, occasionally deliver an extra at night, making three. Dr. 
 Knapp also. I will close my course early in January.
 
 129 
 
 The graduates of Kock Island will he furnished with a Diploma from the old 
 School, and at any snhsequent time an ad ciinduiii from the new, if they desire 
 it, by paying a small amount, say 50c for the parchment. That is as I under- 
 stand it. 
 
 For your kind wishes, my dear DiKtor. receive my grateful thanks, and 
 Believe me 
 
 Mver truly yours, 
 
 S. (i. .\r.\ior. 
 
 Davenport, May 20th, 1850 
 
 My Hear Doctor: — Truly grateful as I ever am, at the receipt of a communi- 
 cation from you. When your last reached me, I determined that time should not 
 toll the e.vit of many days ere I should otier you the congratulations of an 
 unfeigned and disinterested friendship upon your recovery from a disease always 
 to be feared,— and to express a hope that you may not soon be afflicted in the 
 same manner. The long delay of your answer, led me it is true, to apprehend 
 my worst fears. .\vn\ I am truly thankful that you have been restored to your 
 friends and to your profession, — and derive what consolation I can from the fact 
 that it has been no worse. 
 
 One of the less strongly tinctured, yet withal somewhat bitter cup of mis- 
 fortunes also has been mine to drink. Shortly anterior to the date of your 
 letter, we had the bad luck to lose our house in this place from the ravages of 
 the all-destroying element — tire. Our family had made every preparation for a 
 journey to the east, on a visit to the friends and home of my childhood, and 
 with this view we had rented a few days previously to the origination of the 
 fire the house for $420 per annum. The most I cared for this was, that it 
 blasted a long and cherished visit. .-Vnd in one short hour deprived my mother 
 and sister of an easy and comfortable competence. 
 
 These circumstances will render it necessary for me to go into practice 
 soon and I am now only awaiting the arrival of an uncle from the east in order 
 to complete my arrangement for the future. .-Knd by the way. My dear George, 
 if you know of any good locations in your vicinity, be so good as to apprise 
 me of it. 
 
 The college is in operation, Drs. Richards, Hudson and San ford are now- 
 lecturing. The "Commencement" will occur about the 15th of ne.xt month. 
 There will be about six candidates for the Doctorate. You inquire about the 
 prospects of the School : — My opinion is that they are very much mixed, border- 
 ing. I think, on the dubious. .As a small cloud "no bigger than a man's hand," 
 prognosticates the coming storm, there exist a few, and to my mind, by no 
 means insignificant premonitions, of an explosion in the Faculty. It is not 
 necessary to mention the data upon which I predicate this opinion, as I fondly 
 hope the storm may be averted, or if this as.sail may the institution be but more 
 firm from the shock. 
 
 Since the Commencement, I have occupied most of my leisure hours in the 
 study of the French language. 1 am highly delighted with its prosecution, and 
 I flatter myself that I read it with a good deal of facility considering the atten- 
 tion I have devoted to it. 
 
 There is not much in the world of News to communicate. Dr. Craiy (Mr. 
 
 Craig of your knowledge) was recently married. From Rock Island I have no 
 
 news. You will pardon me for not writing more now, as I will write you again 
 
 as soon as my plans for the future shall have been made. Write soon, and 
 
 meanwhile as ever i . i 
 
 I am truly yours, j^^^ p ^^^^^ 
 
 Geo. .\. Bunker, M. D. 
 Kaneville. 111.
 
 130 
 
 Keokuk, Lee Co., Iowa, Oct. 4, 1850 
 George A. Bunker, M. D. 
 
 My dear Sir: — Severely pressed for funds and deprived of (by the injustice 
 of my fellow men) the power of practicing the profession of my choice I am 
 compelled to call in all my dues and ask of those to whom I have been merciful 
 in time of need to remember me in affliction. Can I appeal to you and my many 
 young medical friends in vain? I think not. I am sure not. If I had an arm 
 on the right side of my body that was of the least use to me I know I never 
 should have been compelled to make this appeal to you. But circumstances open 
 up to us that which we never can see in the future. 
 
 Will you respond to this directed to this place. 
 
 In June last I resigned my connection with College of Physicians and 
 Surgeons expecting never again to meet a Medical Class — Yet by strong and 
 continued importunity I have consented to give one course more and where my 
 destiny may then fix me I know not. I think however it will be in the extreme 
 south. Prospects I think are good in view of a large class here and the 
 citizens of the city are finishing a fine building for a College and another for 
 a Hospital. I think they will be ready by term time. 
 
 Especially and very truly yours 
 
 G. W. RlCH.\RDS. 
 
 Libertyville, Nov. 10. 1850 
 Dr. Geo. A. Bunker. 
 
 My dear Doctor,- — I have inadvertently allowed your last and very welcome 
 letter, which I received the last of September to "lie on the table" until the 
 present for which I most humbly beg pardon and promise not to do so again. 
 I hope you have not crossed me from your books for my negligence, though I 
 must confess I think you have been very forbearing if you have not. I can 
 say nothing in justification of myself. All I can say is that some book says 
 "turn not away from the penitent." Which text I would most respectfully urge 
 upon your consideration. 
 
 Business has been so horrid dull that I am loth to write to any of my 
 friends. Still I like to hear from them, especially if they happen to be in the 
 same fix, for who is there that does not like to know that he has company 
 whatever may be his trouble. 
 
 There has been no epidemic nor endemic nor sporadic disease among us. 
 No, nor any babies or hardly an old snag of a tooth to pull for the last three 
 months ! ! Now, that's so, fact. — Do you want to know what we have had ? 
 Well, I'll tell you. We have had an Election. And we have numbered the 
 Old Hunker party in this county among the things that were. Now, Doctor, 
 I don't know whether you are a Free Soiler or Hunker or Whig, but I con- 
 clude you are a Free Soiler and I arrive at that conclusion from the fact that 
 you are a good fellow. If I am right I know you will rejoice to hear that the Old 
 Hunker party with its auxiliaries, the whisky band, and all the accompaniments 
 and variations, has been fairly and scientifically licked, and its most vehement 
 supporters now go about with their tails between their legs perfectly "mum" 
 and won't suffer a word to be said to them about election. I am no politician 
 and have always felt little or no interest in election matters till this fall, and 
 should not then probably had not one of my best and warmest friends been 
 nominated for the office of sheriff. And when I heard the lies that were told 
 and saw the low despicable means th&t were resorted to by the Hunkers to
 
 131 
 
 defeat liim it roused all the ^■allkl■e in my nature and I worked for him as 
 men will work when they are stimulated hy the consciousness that they are 
 doing right. He is elected, and 1 am satisfied and that is all the better otT that 
 1 am. Politics will do to spice life with and vary its monotony hut is loo stimulat- 
 ing for every-day use. 
 
 Last night I had a case of poiseuing hy Sulph. Zinc, which was taken in 
 solution for salts. It produced severe and continued vomiting with the symptoms 
 of severe irritation of the throat and stomach. Treatment: Warm diluents till 
 the stomach appeared to be tlioroughly washed out. then morphia, mucilages and 
 cold applications to the epigastrium. Today she is as eoiufortable as could be 
 expected. 1 have had one surgical case in the shai)e of fracture of the tibia. 
 Tomorrow I am going to apply the starch bandage to it. 1 shall not write you 
 anything about particular matters till ne.vt time, (live my love to Kate and tell 
 her that she owes me a kiss and that 1 am bound to have it if I don't get it 
 till she is a married woman. I should not send the message by you if 1 did 
 not think you would see her before I shall. Forgive me for sending a '/j sheet 
 of paper for I happened to have just such a piece. Write soon and tell me 
 something about the boys if you can, 
 
 Vours truly, 
 
 Geo. S. Whkeleh. 
 
 Oswego, March 7th, 1851 
 Geo. A. Bunker. 
 
 My dt'iir Sir: — Can you tell me any thing about Material. My boys have 
 returned from lectures and we are going to inake some preparations ; and sir, 
 if you can be instrumental in forwarding our plan 1 have no doubt you will do 
 so — Imnii-dialrly. 
 
 I may say in this connection, .Sir, that I received your last letter, and was 
 much pleased to find that all great minds run in the same channel. I am still 
 sanguine (not in the one idea) but in the belief that much good may result 
 from our discovery. 
 
 Prof. Richards is at Debuque, thinks of locating there. They had ten 
 graduates and fifty students at the College of Physicians and Surgeons of 
 The Iowa University. Old Doc is the sheet anchor and the strong man in 
 Peril and Distress, that he ever has been. He resigned again. 
 
 Sir. if you will say to me when and where I can find what we want I will 
 be there and no trouble shall follow. We want a Boy, age 12 to 14. Don't 
 disappoint us. Sir. 
 
 Vours truly, 
 
 Willis D.\nforth. 
 We shall e.xpect an answer by return mail. Business is moderate today. 
 But, sir, we are preparing for a heavy run this summer. We congratulate you. 
 Sir. and your progress in Practice. We expect brighter days for you. We have 
 an eye on you. Sir, and lake an honorrdile pride in witnessing your out- 
 goings, etc. 
 
 Most truly Sir. 
 
 ^'o^^r friend 
 
 W. Danforth. 
 
 Oswego, .■\ugusl 16, 185.1 
 Dr. G. A. Bimker. 
 
 Dear Sir: — It is a long time since I have received a line from you. I have 
 felt over anxious to learn your whereabouts and what you could reiKirt of your 
 long silence. I am induced to describe to you my late visit to Philadelphia and
 
 New York. You know that we talked of making the trip together and for 
 that purpose I wrote you last March signifying my intention of visiting Phil, 
 and desiring your company. 1 never received an answer to that letter. But 
 proceeded to Washington, D. C, and after spending four days there went to 
 Philadelphia and entered the Pa. Hospital (alone). I also attended College 
 Clinics at all the Colleges there. Dr. Meigs and Pancoast were my favorite 
 instructors. I remained here nearly two months and I can assure you that it 
 well repaid me for my trouble ; indeed. I saw more surgery there than I should 
 have seen here in two hundred years. I now passed up to New York, attended 
 the National Medical Convention and there entered the City Hospital where 
 I remained nearly one month, attending also the different College Clinics at 
 the several Colleges there. I made the acquaintance of most of the eminent 
 men there and obtained much valuable information. I believe New York 
 possesses decided advantages over Philadelphia or any other place in the Union. 
 Any one who has never seen N. Y. and Phil, cannot fully appreciate the immense 
 amount of clinical instruction that may be enjoyed there. Returning from N. Y. 
 I proceeded to visit Saint Louis and New Orleans and I spent most of my time 
 in St. Louis Hospitals with Dr. Pope. I am pleased with our Southern Insti- 
 tutions. They compare favorably with the Eastern. I found it sickly at New 
 Orleans. Yellow Fever principally which is uniformly fatal. 
 
 Such then in brief is a profile of my journey East and South. I am sorry 
 that you could not or did not acompany me. 1 often felt the want of some 
 intimate friend to converse with. 
 
 Will you say to me how you get on, whether you are growing in grace and 
 so on. How Mrs. B. gets on, etc. 
 
 Mrs. D. sends many regards. 
 
 Yours truly, 
 
 Willis Danforth. 
 To Dr. G. A. B., 
 
 Oregon Citv, Illinois, 
 1853.
 
 '^•i^-.v* • • r >-• * i-v»*-«»r -
 
 UNIVERSITY OF ILUNOIS-URBANA 
 
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