Macoupin County, Illinois - Chapter 15: The Healing Art, 1911

Chapter 15: The Healing Art

The pioneers of the healing art in Carlinville and Macoupin county were the guardians of a widely dispersed population. Aside from their professional duties they contributed their full share to the material development of a newly opened country. Some were men of culture who had gained their medical education in college ; the great number were of limited educational attainment, whose professional knowledge had been acquired in the offices of established practitioners of more or less ability in the sections from which they emigrated. Of either class almost without exception they were practical men of great force of character who gave cheerful and efficacious assistance to the suffering, daily journeying on horseback scores of miles over a country almost destitute of roads and encountering swollen, unbridged streams, without waterproof garments or other now common protection against the elements. Out of necessity the pioneer physician developed rare quickness of perception and self reliance. A specialist was then unknown and he was called upon to treat every phase of bodily ailment, serving as physician, surgeon, oculist and dentist. His books were few and there were no practitioners of more ability than himself with whom he might consult. His medicines were simple and carried on his person, and every preparation of pill or solution was the work of his own hands.

Pioneers In The Profession

Dr. William King was here as early as 1832. He was married November 5, 1835, to Mrs. Matilda Holland, widowed sister of Oliver W. Hall. In the early years of the settlement there were no physicians and recourse was had to Madison county. "Chills and fever" and other malarious maladies were the chief complaints, especially in the summer and fall. Pneumonia made its appearance to some extent in the winter. In 1833 Dr. John W. Goode was practicing his profession in Carlinville and the same year Dr. W. H. Palmer was in at- tendance on the afflicted, having located in the vicinity of Scottville, although that thriving village was not in existence at the time. Drs. Thomas and Joseph Conduitte, Frenchmen, and graduates of a Paris university, arrived in Carlinville in 1834, but the place did not meet their anticipations and ambitions, and in about a year thereafter they moved to another field of activity.

A regular graduate of one of Massachusetts' medical institutions and possessed of considerable natural ability, Dr. John R. Lewis determined to make his way in his chosen profession and in 1834 settled in the then embryo city of Carlinville.

Dr. John R. Smith came to Carlinville in 1835. He was a Virginian by birth, a man of erudition and skilled in his profession. He associated himself with Dr. Zopher Jayne, who had preceded him the same year in his residence here. Dr. Jayne was a graduate of the Louisville Medical College and the preceptor of Dr. John Logan at their former home.

In 1848 Dr. John A. Halderman came to Macoupin county and located at the county seat. He was a skillful surgeon, a good physician of the "old school" and noted for his liberality when prescribing the size of a dose of medicine. Doubtless, there are patients of his still living who have a lively remembrance of him on that account. He was the first one to represent Macoupin county in the State Medical Society, was one of its charter members and its first treasurer - in 1850.

Dr. John Logan was born in Hamilton county, Ohio, in 1809, and by his own efforts acquired a fairly good education. At the outbreak of the Black Hawk war, in 1832, he was elected major of the Ninth Illinois Militia and saw some service at the front. He settled in Carlinville in 1833. In 1836 he became colonel of the Forty-fourth Regiment of Militia. John Logan had learned carpentry and worked at his trade while reading medicine. He began the practice of medicine in 1838 with Dr. James, remaining with the latter until 1841. He attended lectures at Kemper College in the winter of 1840 and at St. Louis Hospital in 1841. His clientele grew to a large and lucrative one and so continued until the outbreak of the Civil war. when, in 1861, he was made colonel of the Thirtysecond Illinois Regiment. He served with honor and distinction until December 30, 1864. From 1866 until 1870 Dr. Logan held the office of United States marshal of southern Illinois, after which he resumed his practice at Carlinville. He was a skilled and successful physician and surgeon and as a citizen was universally esteemed. He was married January 2, 1834, to Miss Sophia Hall, sister of Oliver W. Hall. Dr. Logan's death occurred August 20. 1885.

Dr. William A. Robertson was born in Liberty, Bedford county, Virginia, October 27, 1803. He removed with his parents to Knoxville, Tennessee, when four years of age and shortly thereafter the family removed to Lexington, Kentucky. His father commenced the practice of medicine in Lexington and shortly thereafter removed to Harrodsburg, Kentucky, where he died. William A. attained his literary education at New London Academy in Virginia. He studied medicine with his father and then entered the medical college at Lexington, where he took a course of lectures. He married Miss Ellen Clark in 1829, a Kentuckian. In 1830 the young couple came to Edwardsville, in Madison -county, afterwards removing to Alton. There he practiced his profession but subsequently abandoned it and engaged in farming. The year 1835 found him in Carlinville, where he engaged in general merchandising for some years. A short time after his arrival here his wife died and in 1844 the Doctor married Nancy H., daughter of Rev. Charles Holliday.

Nathan Duncan, one of the pioneer physicians of the county, settled in Cahokia township in the early '305, where he entered land from the government. He was not a graduate physician but won his title on account of his home practice, doctoring with herbs which he gathered from the woods.

Dr. Levi J. Woods came to Macoupin county, from Morgan county, about 1842, and gave every promise of becoming eminent in the practice of medicine. He married Martha McClure, daughter of James McClure, by whom there were two children : William M., who became a physician ; and Fannie, who married Judge Whitlock, of Jacksonville. Dr. Woods died of cholera in 1851. He was stricken with the terrible scourge and was a corpse within twelve hours. The nature of the disease was not known at the time either by his physician, Dr. John A. Halclerman, or others, and probably three hundred people attended the funeral, many of whom contracted the disease there and then and soon followed the young physician to the grave. He was the first one to be stricken and die in that scourge of cholera in 1851. Three or four of the McClure family fell victims to its ravages and the Anderson family, it was feared, would, by the number of deaths it sustained, become extinct. Death was on every hand, and the terror of the visitation became so intense and paralyzing in its effects, that it was with the greatest difficulty help could be obtained to take care of the sick and dying. In many instances the male members of the community were compelled to nurse women on their beds of sickness, their frail sisters being too overcome with fear and dread to go near them. After death the bodies were buried as quickly as a grave could be dug.

Later Physicians

Dr. John A. Delano was born in New Braintree, Massachusetts, April 5, 1816. He acquired a common-school education and was graduated from Amherst College in the class of 1836, one of his schoolmates being Rev. Henry Ward Beecher. He then entered the medical college of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, from which he was graduated. Soon thereafter he came west. - He located in Bunker Hill in 1841 and in a very short time had all the practice to which he could attend. Dr. Delano was married in Bunker Hill to Mrs. Anna Williams Ring, a native of New York. His death occurred April 14, 1887.

Dr. J. P. Binney was born in Yorkshire, England, in 1819, and began the study of medicine in Lancaster, England, at the early age of fifteen. He came to the United States in 1842 and the same year found him in Macoupin county. Soon after his arrival he began practice at Staunton, in which he was successful both professionally and materially. He retired in 1888.

Dr. John W. Hankins was a native of New Jersey and emigrated to Illinois in 1846, locating in Carlinville. He married Elizabeth McKee, a native of Pennsylvania. They were the parents of Robert A. Hankins, who received his education in the common schools of his native town and at the age of eighteen years entered Blackburn University, remaining there two years studying anatomy and physiology preparatory to entering the profession of medicine. He attended a course of lectures at the Eclectic Medical College at Philadelphia in 1869 and then returned home. In 1871 he attended another course of lectures in the same college and graduated from the institution in 1872, with the degree of M. D. He at once took up the practice of his profession in Carlinville, in which he has become more than ordinarily successful. A complete sketch of Dr. Hankins will be found in the biographical volume of this work.

Dr. Edward C. Ellet practiced medicine at Bunker Hill for thirty years and then retired. He was born near Bristol, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, September 25, 1819. Dr. Ellet became a resident of Bunker Hill township in 1839, locating ten miles north of Bunker Hill, where he and his brother Alfred founded the village called Plainview. As soon as he had accumulated sufficient funds he entered Jefferson Medical College at Philadelphia, from which he was graduated in 1849. He immediately thereafter opened an office in Bunker Hill and associated with himself Dr. E. Howell. This partnership continued for twenty years, proving mutually profitable and pleasant. Dr. Howell lived to a ripe old age, eventually removing to McLean county. Dr. Ellet was married in Bunker Hill to Miss Lydia Miller in 1850.

Martin H. Head became one of the leading physicians of Macoupin county, practicing his profession with honor and distinction for many years at Carlinville, where he was held in honor and esteem by a large circle of friends and acquaintances. Dr. Head was born May 3, 1827, near Louisville, Kentucky. He was raised on a farm and assisted his widowed mother until the age of twenty-one, in the meantime attending school. Upon reaching his majority he commenced the study of medicine with Dr. J. M. Bemis, of Middleton, Kentucky, after which he attended medical lectures at Louisville, graduating from the Louisville Medical College in 1851. The same year he came to Carlinville. opened an office and at once entered upon practice. In 1861, at the outbreak of the Civil war, he offered his professional services to the government and became assistant surgeon of the Fourteenth Illinois Infantry. In 1862 he was on duty as a physician in the hospital at Memphis, Tennessee, and in 1865 was transferred to Crittenden Hospital at St. Louis, where he was stationed until the following October and then honorably discharged. Taking up his practice at Carlinville, he continued therein with success and distinction. In 1853 Dr. Head married Margaret I. Blackburn, a native of Versailles, Kentucky, a daugh-

Dr. John Ash was a native of Pennsylvania and began the practice of his profession in Brighton in 1853. He acquired his education in the public schools and graduated from Pennsylvania Medical College at Philadelphia in 1851. He came at once to Delhi, Jersey county, Illinois, but in the same year removed to Piasa, coming to Brighton in 1853.

Charles Edward Smith was born in New York and received his early education in Ohio. He then taught school in Mississippi, where he read medicine and in 1854 began the practice of his profession at Cummington, now a part of Palmyra. Here he remained until 1857, when he removed to Nilwood, making that place his permanent home. He is now deceased.

M. W. Seaman was born at Glens Falls, New York, on the i3th of January, 1830. His parents dying early, young Seaman was adopted by Jabez Biggs, with whom he remained until his twenty-second year. In the meantime he received an education in the common schools of his native village and the Glens Falls Academy, where he took an academical course. After remaining at the academy four years he entered the office of Dr. Peck and commenced the study of medicine. Shortly thereafter he placed himself under the guidance of Dr. Thomas Hun, professor of physiology in Albany Medical College. Attending three courses of lectures in the above named institution, his graduation occurred with the degree of M. D. in 1853. He then began the practice of his profession in Glens Falls and in 1854 emigrated west, settling in Lawrence, Kansas. In the latter part of that year he located at Shipman, where he taught school the following winter and on the ist of March, 1855, commenced the practice of medicine and became successful. During the Civil war Dr. Seaman was appointed assistant surgeon to the One Hundred and Twenty-second Regiment, Colonel John I. Rinaker commanding. This was in 1862. In 1863 he was promoted to the position of surgeon of a regiment. During a portion of the time he was brigade surgeon and in 1864 was post surgeon at Cairo, Illinois. He remained in the service until the close of the war, when he returned to Shipman and resumed his practice. In the practice of medicine Dr Seaman stood in the foremost rank of his profession. He was the first president of the first medical society organized in the county, also a member of the State Medical Society. He is now deceased.

Dr. John Pitt Matthews was born at Hampton Court, Herfordshire, England, September 2, 1835, and died January 7, 1909. He spent the first eighteen years of his life as a farmer boy, giving his winters to study and his summers to his labors on the farm. He had migrated to this country with his parents m 1864. When eighteen years of age young Matthews entered Duff's Mercantile College at Pittsburg and took a mathematical course. He then entered Allegheny College at Meadville, Pennsylvania, remaining there two years, on the expiration of which period he pointed his face westward and arrived in Greene county, Illinois, where he taught school one winter term, one term at Kane, and a year and a half at Greenfield Academy. While at Kane he commenced reading medicine under Dr. P. Finnerty, and afterward took a course in the medical department of Iowa University at Keokuk and then commenced the practice of his profession in Scottville, Macoupin county, continuing until 1862, when he entered the United States service as assistant surgeon of the One Hundred and Twenty-second Illinois Volunteers. After one year he came home on account of sickness and in the fall of 1863 resumed practice in Carlinville in connection with Dr. E. E. Webster. In 1865 he attended a course of lectures and graduated at Long Island College Hospital, New York. Dr. Matthews belonged to the progressive school of physicians as may be readily known by his connection with the different county, state and national medical associations. He took first rank in his profession. Personally and socially Dr. Matthews possessed rare qualities and by his upright and manly life won an honorable name in the community. He was married to Miss Betty, daughter of John M. Palmer, in 1865, and to them were born four children; but only three are living: John Palmer, now a practicing physician in Carlinville; Lucy Myra; and Frederick Webster Matthews. His widow is still a resident of Carlinville.

Dr. Reuben J. Allmond was born in Wilmington, Delaware, in 1818 and commenced the study of medicine when he was sixteen years old. being matriculated at Jefferson Medical College at Philadelphia, taking his diploma there in the spring of 1839. After practicing in various places he removed to Piasa, Macoupin county, in 1858, where he practiced until 1861, when he made his permanent home in Palmyra.

Dr. T. Warren Floyd was one of the early physicians at Gillespie, locating there in 1859. His death occurred in 1876. He was a native of Kentucky and obtained his early education in the common schools, afterward attending Mc- Kendree College at Lebanon in his native state. His preparatory medical studies were made in the office of Dr. Drake of Greenville and his graduation followed from a medical college at Chicago. He married Anna E. Caudry. in 1860, a daughter of John L. Caudry, who settled in Cahokia township in 1859. Dr. Floyd secured a well deserved reputation as a physician and was highly esteemed both for his professional skill and his many qualities as a citizen and as a gentleman.

Dr. Jacob T. Dickerson, a native of Delaware, graduated from the Philadelphia Eclectic College in 1860. In the summer of the same year he located in Brighton and began the practice of medicine, in which he became successful. He finally abandoned the labors of a physician and established a drug store to which he gave his whole attention.

Dr. George Bley was born at Dettingen, Wittenburg, Germany, January 12, 1821. He came to this country with his father in 1832. Leaving home at the age of twelve, he was apprenticed when fifteen to the drug busness in Philadelphia. There he opened a drug store on his own account at the age of twentyone. Determining to became a physician, young Bley attended lectures at Jefferson Medical College in 1845 and in the years 1848, 1849 ar>d 1850 was a student at Philadelphia College of Medicine, from which he graduated in 1850. He began the practice of his profession in Philadelphia, removing to Scott county, Iowa, in 1855, to Rock Island, Illinois, in 1858, Monroe county, . nois, in 1859, and to Staunton. Macoupin county, in October, 1861, where in 1869 he opened a drug store. Dr. Bley was known as a skilled physician and a good citizen. He married Elizabeth W. Lav:s in 1846, by whom he had six children.

Methodist Episcopal Church. Chesterfield University Of Illinois

David L. Bley and Robert E. Bley, the two sons, graduated at Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, the former in 1875 and the latter in 1877, and began practicing medicine at Staunton.

Dr. Robert J. Hornsby was born in Shelby county, Kentucky, in 1819. His father sent him to school in Jefferson county, Kentucky, and then to Danville College, from which he entered the college at Shelbyville, Shelby county. Leaving college, he entered the office of Dr. Benjamin W. Dudley, of Lexington, Kentucky, one of the prominent physicians of that city, with a wide reputation as a surgeon. Here he studied for two years, and graduating, began the practice of medicine in Kentucky, where he remained for three years. He then came to Illinois and entered land in Madison county. From November, 1849, until 1862 Dr. Hornsby practiced medicine near Jefferson Barracks, St. Louis. In 1854 he laid out and founded the town of Clyde, Macoupin county, and four years later, in connection with L. L. Dorsey laid out the village of Prairie City. Dr. Hornsby married Frances Cordelia Dorsey, a native of Kentucky, born in 1825. Dr. Hornsby located in Gillespie in 1862, where he became quite successful and then removed to Bunker Hill.

Robert S. Cowan, a native of Tennessee, was born March 9, 1833. He arrived in Macoupin county in 1865 and began the practice of medicine at Nil wood, where he remained until 1869, when he removed to Girard and practiced there for many years. Dr. Cowan was a member of the Macoupin County Medical Society and also of the State Medical Society.

Dr. William A. Shriver was a native of Ohio and began the study of medicine with Dr. Pitzer of St. Louis. He attended lectures at the Eclectic Medical Institute at Cincinnati, Ohio, and received a diploma. He began practice at Virden in 1866 and soon gained a reputation as a successful physician.

Dr. Albert Campbell Corr specialized on diseases of the eye, ear and throat and associated with him his wife, Dr. L. H. Corr, both of whom became prominent in the profession. Dr. Albert Corr was a native of Macoupin county, his birth occurring in Honey Point township, February 10, 1840. He received his early education in the pioneer schools and in 1863 entered Blackburn University. In 1864 he enlisted in Company F, One Hundred and Thirty-third Illinois Volunteers, in which he served four months. He then returned to the farm and at intervals began the study of medicine. The year 1865 found him at Chicago Medical College, where he remained a student two years. During the vacation of his last year he studied in the office of Drs. J. P. and L. Matthews, of Carlinville. March 4, 1868, was the date of his graduation, soon after which he began the practice of his profession in Chesterfield, remaining there seven years, when he took up the practice in Carlinville. He was one of the charter members of the Macoupin County Medical Society, which was organzed in 1873. He became its president in 1880. In 1886 Dr. Corr relinquished his general practice to devote himself to specializing on diseases of the eye, ear and throat. April 20, 1865, the marriage of Dr. Corr and Miss Lucinda Hall occurred. She also become his associate professionally. Dr. Corr was the first delegate from the County Medical Society to the State Medical Society and the third physician in Macoupin county admitted to membership in that organization, Dr. John A. Halderman, one of its charter members, being the first and Dr. J. P. Matthews the second. He was also a charter member and surgeon of Dan Messick Post, No. 339, G. A. R. A complete sketch of the Doctor will be found in the biographical volume of this work.

Dr. C. T. Buffington was born in Jersey county, Illinois, in 1856. He was the son of a physician, one of the oldest in Jersey county. Dr. Buffington being a natural student and of an investigating mind, gave his early attention to the study of his profession. After reading medicine with his father he took up the study under the direction of Drs. Hadway and Lyon of Jerseyville, and afterward practiced with them until he located in Shaw's Point township in 1869, soon acquiring a lucrative and extensive clientele. Dr. Buffington married Miss Jennie Masters, daughter of John B. Masters, in 1875.

Dr. William Dwight Graham was a son of Milo and Hannah (Dugger) Graham, natives of Pennsylvania. Dr. Graham was an early physician of Carlinville and for forty-two years engaged in the drug business in this city. He was a veteran of the Civil war and died in 1906, at the age of fifty-eight years. His widow survives him and is a resident of Carlinville. A more extended sketch will be found in Volume II.

Dr. A. R. Sawyer was one of the early physicians of Bunker Hill. In 1867 he became proprietor of the Union Gazette at that place. He died in 1868.

Dr. Isaac R. Lane located for practice in Chesterfield in 1868 and there remained until 1883, when he removed to Mountain Grove, Missouri, and there died May 19, 1911.

Robert J. Mitchell became one of the leading physicians of Girard. He was a native of Pennsylvania. In the fall of 1869 he entered Rush Medical College at Chicago and graduated with the class of 1871. A few weeks thereafter Dr. Mitchell located in Girard, where he soon gained the esteem of a large clientele for his professional knowledge and practical ability.

Dr. Joseph Hunter was born in Virginia, September 2, 1837. He was raised and obtained his education at Bath and began the study of medicine under Dr. Joseph Brown, later attending medical college in Cincinnati. In 1858 he was a resident of Greenfield, Illinois. Dr. Hunter became a surgeon in the Civil war and had charge of the refugee hospital at Jackson under General R. J. Oglesby. By reason of disability he left the service and returned to Illinois, settling in Medora in the spring of 1872. Here he established a drug store, which he carried on in connection with his practice.

Dr. Charles H. Black began the practice of medicine at Dorchester in 1873. He had read medicine in 1870 in the office of Dr. William A. Allen, of Greenville, and in the fall of 1871 entered the Chicago Medical College, from which he graduated in the spring of 1873. He soon thereafter began his medical career at Woodburn, in Macoupin county, and in November of the same year established himself as a physician at Dorchester. He made a good professional record.

Dr. William A. Allen was born in Green county, Illinois, October 28, 1848. He received his elementary schooling at his native place and then entered Blackburn College in Carlinville, where he remained two years, after which he taught two terms and at the same time read medicine. He entered the office of Dr. R. M. Wilson, at Palmyra, at the age of twenty-three as a student, where he remained a year and a half. He then entered Rush Medical College of Chicago, graduating from that institution in the spring of 1874. Immediately thereafter Dr. Wilson began practice in Palmyra, where he remained until the following spring. Dr. Allen bought the practice of Dr. Wilson in 1876 and located permanently in Palmyra, at once entering upon a lucrative practice. He was married to Anna Corn, daughter of A. M. Corn, near Decatur.

Dr. George Herbert Gilson was born in the village of Brighton, Macoupin county, September 15, 1853, and is a son of James W. Gilson. The young man attended the common schools until his seventeenth year, when he entered Blackburn University, at Carlinville, and took a scientific course. After remaining there three years he commenced reading medicine and in 1874 entered the St. Louis Medical College, graduating therefrom in the spring of 1876. He immediately commenced the practice of his profession at Shipman, this county where he succeeded in building up a lucrative and extensive practice.

Dr. Charles J. C. Fischer is a native of Illinois, born in Madison county, January 28, 1854. When sixteen years old he began the study of Latin and German under a private tutor. Soon after completing these branches he began reading medicine under the' guidance of Dr. A. M. Powell, after which he attended lectures in St. Louis Medical College, graduating therefrom in 1877. He was married in 1879 to Sofie Schuricht, whose birth place was St. Louis, Missouri. The Doctor is a member of the Macoupin County Medical Society, Illinois Medical Society and Mississippi Valley Medical Association.

Dr. Marvel Thomas is a native of Macoupin county, born in Gillespie township, October 8, 1855. He entered Blackburn University in the fall of 1873, graduating with the degree of B. S. He then entered Missouri Medical College at St. Louis, from which he was graduated in 1884. He at once entered upon the practice of his profession in Palmyra, where he remained until 1890.

Medical Societies

The first effort toward organizing a medical society in Macoupin county was the result of a resolution offered before the State Medical Society, by Dr. John A. Halderman, in 1856. But when the society came into being cannot now be determined definitely. The year here mentioned must suffice for the purposes of this article. There is still extant a pamphlet, published in that year, in which is given the constitution and by-laws of the society, the names of its members and officers ; also a code of ethics governing the profession and an established fee bill. This pamphlet was printed at the office of the Spectator.

President, John A. Halderman ; vice president, John Logan ; secretary, Alexander P. Bettersworth ; treasurer, John W. Hankins; board of censors, John A. Halderman, John Logan, M. Morton; publishing committee, Alexander P.

Among other things mentioned in the "code" were paragraphs relating to "the duties of the profession to the public, and the obligations of the public to the profession," which are deemed worthy of reproduction and follow below :

Duties Of The Profession To The Public

Section i. As good citizens, it is the duty of physicians to be ever vigilant for the welfare of the community, and to bear their part in sustaining its institutions and burdens ; they should also be ever ready to give counsel to the public in relation to matters especially appertaining to their profession, as on subjects of medical police, public hygiene and legal medicine. It is their province to enlighten the public in regard to quarantine regulations, the location, anangement and dietaries of hospitals, asylums, schools, prisons and similar institutions; in relation to the medical police of towns, as drainage, ventilation, etc. and in regard to measures for the prevention of epidemic and contagious diseases ; and when pestilence prevails, it is their duty to face the danger, and to continue their labors for the alleviation of the suffering, even at the jeopardy of their own lives.

Section 2. Medical men should also be always ready when called upon by the legally constituted authorities, to enlighten coroners' inquests and courts of justice, on subjects strictly medical, such as involve questions relating to sanity, legitimacy, murder by poisons or other violent means ; and in regard to the other various subjects embraced in the science of medical jurisprudence. But in these cases, and especially where they are required to make postmortem examination, it is just, in consequence of the time, labor and skill required, and the responsibility and the risk they incur, that the public should award them a proper honorarium.

Section 3. There is no profession, by the members of which eleemosynary services are more liberally dispensed than the medical ; but justice requires that some limits should be placed to the performance of such good offices. Poverty, professional brotherhood, and certain public duties referred to in section one of this chapter, should always be recognized as presenting claims for gratuitous services ; but neither institutions endowed by the public, or by rich individuals, societies for mutual benefit, for the insurance of lives, or for analogous purposes, nor any profession or occupation, can be admitted to possess such privilege. Nor can it be justly expected of physicians to furnish certificates of inability to serve on juries, to perform militia duty, or to testify to the state of health of persons wishing to insure their lives, obtain pensions, or the like, without a pecuniary acknowledgement. But to individuals in indigent circumstances, such professional services should always be cheerfully and freely accorded.

Section 4. It is the duty of physicians, who are frequent witnesses of the enormities committed by quackery, and the injury to health and even destruction of life, caused by the use of quack medicines, to enlighten the public on these subiects, to expose the injuries sustained by the unwary from the devices and pretentions of artful empirics and impostors. Physicians ought to use all the influence which they possess, as professors in colleges of pharmacy, and by exercising their option in regard to the shops to which their prescriptions shall be sent, to discourage druggists and apothecaries from vending quack or secret medicines, or from being in any way engaged in their manufacture or sale.

Obligations Of The Public To Physicians

Section i. The benefits accruing to the public directly and indirectly from the active and unwearied beneficence of the profession, are so numerous and important that physicians are justly entitled to the utmost consideration and respect from the community. The public ought likewise to entertain a just appreciation of medical qualifications, to make a proper discrimination between true science and the assumption of ignorance and empiricism ; to afford every encouragement and facility for the acquisition of medical education.

This society lived how long? Xo one exactly knows. But its life was a short one and several years elapsed before its successor came into being.

In the summer of 1873, through the efforts of Drs. R. M. Wilson and A. C. Corr, then of Chesterfield, after securing the endorsement of Drs. J. P. Matthews, John Logan and E. H. Head, the society was reorganized. The first preliminary meeting was held in July, of which Dr. Corr was chosen as chairman. But a small number of the fraternity was present. Those now recalled were R. M. Wilson, Reuben J. Allmond, W. C. Day, R. S. W. Cowan, R. J. Mitchell, J. R. Lane and C. E. Smith.

For reasons then important, an adjournment was taken to September 16, 1873, and on that day another meeting was held, at Shipman. There were present then Drs. Seaman, chairman ; Trabue, Butler, Penniman, Black and Dickerson. The organization was perfected by the election of M. W. Seaman, president ; F. Brother, vice president ; R. M. Wilson and W. C. Day, secretaries ; A. C. Corr. treasurer.

Carlinville was chosen as the first meeting place, but owing to the non-appearance of any physicians of the county seat at the organization meeting, the place was changed to Girard. Drs. Wilson, Mitchell, Corr and Day were appointed a committee to draft a constitution and by-laws ; Penniman, Cowan and Brother were appointed as a board of censors.

At the Girard meeting, on the third Tuesday in October, 1873, the committee on constitution and by-laws reported and this important measure, chiefly the work of Dr. Corr, was adopted.

From this time up to the present the society has held its regular meetings, where papers pertinent to medicine and surgery have been read by men from various sections of the country, eminent in the profession, and discussed by members of the society.

There were thirteen charter members, to wit: M. W. Seaman, A. B. Penniman, Ferd Brother, R. S. Cowan, J. R. Lane, R. M. Wilson, A. C. Corr, W. C. Day, R. J. Mitchell, C. H. Black, J. W. Trabue, C. E. Smith, J. P. Matthews. This number grew to forty-seven within a short time and below is given the present membership, as it appears by the records of the secretary, J. P. Matthews.

The present officers are: President, C. D. King, Gillespie; vice president, T. W. Morgan, Virden; secretary-treasurer, John Palmer Matthews, Carlinville.