Chicago City (part 25 of 57)

Next followed the inquest and the arrest on a mittimus from Coronor Hertz of Alexander Sullivan, shortly afterward, however, released by an order of Judge Tooley, and the indictment by the grand jury of Daniel Coughlin, Patrick O'Sullivan, Martin Burke, John F. Beggs, Patrick Cooney, Frank Woodruff and John P. Kunze.

The discovery at the Carlson cottage of all the evidences of a brave struggle and a brutal murder was the next incident that aroused public feeling. The broken furniture, the blood stains on walls and floor, proved that Dr. Cronin had not surrendered his life without a heroic struggle to preserve it. But the odds were too many, and the end of his mission of healing was the forfeit of his generous life.

His custom had been to carry a revolver, believing that his life was menaced by enemies in the Clan-na-Gael, but in his hurry to relieve suffering that night he had forgotten to take it with him. Had he done so, he being an active and muscular man, the probability is that other lives would have ended with his. The explanation of the Carlsons as to how the cottage was hired furnished another link in the chain of criminating circumstances, and the description of the tenants by the Carlsons satisfied the friends of Cronin that the Williams brothers who had hired the cottage were Martin Burke and Patrick Cooney. Burke escaped to Winnipeg, from whence he was afterward extradited, and Cooney escaped to parts unknown. The latter was familiarly known as " Cooney the Fox " on account of a song with that title which he was in the habit of singing on convivial occasions.

As the facts and incidents connected with the murder became known public abhorrence of the crime increased until it demanded expression in a monster demonstration in Central Music Hall on the night of June 28, 1889. It was a cosmopolitan gathering and judges and congressmen in burning words denounced the crime which had placed a stain on the city and humanity.

The great trial opened August 30, 1889, a few days less than four months after the luring of the physician to his death. It lasted about three months, and was watched with keen interest all over the civilized world. On both sides the ablest of counsel were arrayed, and their contentions and oratory made the trial a noted one in a purely legal sense.

The proceedings in court were twice interrupted by sensational incidents. One was the discovery in another Lake View catch basin of the murdered doctor's clothes and his case of surgical instruments, and the other was an attempt on the part of friends of defendants to bribe the jury, in which bailiffs and certain prominent citizens were alleged to have been implicated.

The outcome of this most senational trial was the acquittal of Beggs and the conviction of all the other defendants. Coughlin, Burke and O'Sullivan were sentenced to imprisonment for life, and Kunze for three years. Judge McGonnell granted Kunze a new trial, but he has never since been brought into court.

An appeal was taken to the supreme court in the case of the other prisoners. O'Sullivan died in Joliet prison, as did also Burke. In the case of Dan Coughlin the appeal was granted and a new trial ordered, chiefly for errors in impaneling the jury.

History Of Cuigaoo

on before Judge Tuthill on the 27th of November, 1893. Nearly five weeks were occupied in obtaining a jury. The prosecution was conducted by Eickham Scanlan and Elisha S. Bottum, assistant State's Attorney. For the defence, Judge K. M. Wing and D. Donahoe.

The same testimony that was given in the first trial was again repeated, together with some items that have been discovered since that time. Mrs. Andrew Poy, the wife of one of the alleged conspirators was put on the witness stand and detailed some incriminating meetings at her house about the time of the murder.

In respect to the motive for the crime Mr. Scanlan stated to the jury that, " Dr. Cronin and Dan Coughlin, in days gone by, belonged to an Irish organization, an organization that has flourished in this country for years and perhaps flourishes now - the Clanna-Gael; that in 1884 and 1885 Dr. Cronin and others saw fit to criticise the actions of the executive body of the organization to which he and Coughlin belonged, and that sometime afterward Dr. Cronin was charged with treason and assailing the executive, and Daniel Coughlin was one of the jurors who tried him and found him guilty of treason. As to whether the executive body or Dr. Cronin was right the State didn't know and didn't care for the purpose of this trial.

home from the World s Columbian Exposition - where he had for months extended with unwonted grace and acceptance the city's hospitality to its distinguished guests from all nations - tired with the labors of the day. He had partaken of dinner with his family, and was reclining in his easy chair when he was summoned to meet a caller, to an adjoining room. Hardly had he entered when some unknown words passed, and he was assassinated, five shots be ing fired into his falling and prostrate body. He lingered for a short time in a partially conscious state, lisping the name of a beloved one, when he passed into unconsciousness, and soon expired. The assassin was Patrick Eugene Joseph Prendergast, a young Irishman, who had grown from childhood to the age of twenty-six years in Chicago, and had been engaged as a newspaper distributor. He fled to a police station, and gave himself into custody, avowing that he had killed the mayor. He alleged that the mayor had refused to appoint him corporation counsel, an appointment which he desired, to elevate the tracks and put a stop to the slaughter of citizens. A few days afterwards he was indicted for murder, and the trial come on before Judge Theodore Brentano of the superior court on the 6th day of December following.

The prosecution was conducted by James Todd, assistant prosecuting attorney, and A. S. Trude, Esq., who was appointed by the court as special attorney; and the defense was undertaken by Richard A. Wade, Robert Essex, John P. McGoorty, and John Heron.

The only defense made was insanity. More than two hundred talesmen were examined before a jury was obtained. The taking of testimony commenced on the 14th day of December, and continued until December 26th. The proceedings attracted great interest, and were attended by some dramatic incidents, especially as the prisoner often interrupted the course of the trial, and interjected spirited and not irrelevant exclamations and remarks.

It was shown by the defense, while the prisoner protested that lie was not insane, that his grandfather had been an inmate of a mad house in Ireland. That Prendergast had received a fall while a child that seriously deranged his physical health. That as he grew up he had an acute mind, received a fair education, and was much addicted to reading, and fond of displaying bis acquisitions. He was devoutly religious, and imbibed certain vagaries, chief of which was espousing single tax theories of Henry George, and more recently had become excited upon the subject of elevating the street car tracks of the city. He wrote many letters to high prelates of the church, members of Congress and other dignitaries, filled with incoherent reasonings uppn his hobbies. He had read and studied some books like those which profess to make every man his own lawyer, and fancied himself qualified and aspired to be appointed corporation counsel. Many reputable physicians testified that he was insane, his disease taking the form of paranoia.

On the other hand, many of those ^ho had known him, and particularly those who had come into business relations with him, though acknowledging his vagaries, considered him sane. Other reputable physicians and experts who had examined him during his confinement and observed his conduct during the trial, coincided in this opinion.

Trude, Judge Brentano in a carefully prepared and most impartial charge, instructed the jury upon the law of the case. The leading points of the charge were that all men are presumed to be sane, and possessed of the power of discrimination between right and wrong; that when this presumption had been overcome by evidence tending to prove insanity, amounting to aprima facie case, the burden rested with the prosecution to overcome it, by proving that the prisoner was sane at the time of the assassination, beyond a reasonable doubt. That in case of a reasonable doubt remaining in the minds of the jury after considering all the testimony as to his mental condition, the prisoner should have the benefit of the doubt, and be acquitted. On December 29th the jury retired, and after deliberating not more than an hour, returned into court with a verdict of guilty, and adjudging the death penalty as his punishment.

It is needless to say, that in the community which greatly loved its murdered Mayor, and had been shocked by the atrocity of his murder, the verdict met a general approval.

The Allopathic School

AtlSTORY of the medical profession and medical institutions of Chicago could not be considered complete without including such facts of medical inter'est as may be found connected with the location prior to its organization into a distinct municipality, and while it was known only as a military and Indian trading post under the name of Fort Dearborn.

In July, 1803, a company of United States soldiers, under the command of Captain John Whistler, built the original Fort Dearborn on the south side of the Chicago river, near its entrance into Lake Michigan. The company consisted of sixty-eight men besides the captain, and among them is mentioned one surgeon's mate, but his name is not given in the army returns for that year, and his personal history cannot be given.

In 1810, Captain Nathan Heald succeeded Captain Whistler in command of the garrison in Fort Dearborn, and with him came Dr. John Cooper as surgeon's mate. He was a native of Fishkill, N. Y., a young man of good education and fair promise for usefulness. He remained at Fort Dearborn but a few months, however, and soon after resigned his commission and retired from the army. The vacancy caused by the retirement of Dr. Cooper was filled early iii the year 1811 by Dr. Isaac Van Voorhis, who was also a native of Fishkill, N. Y., where he was born February 22, 1790. He received his general education in the Academy at Newberg, Orange county,

N. Y., and subsequently completed a course of medical study, and was commissioned as assistant surgeon in the United States Army and sgnt directly to Fort Dearborn.

His professional career and army service proved to be as brief as its end was tragical. In August, 1812, four or five thousand hostile Indians encamped in the vicinity of the fort, which was little more than a blockhouse of hewn logs. On the 15th of the month, the garrison, consisting of only 54 privates and three or four officers, evacuated the fort and commenced a retreat towards Fort Wayne.

They had proceeded only one or two miles when they were surrounded by the Indians and twenty nine of their number speedily slain, including Captain Wells, Ensign Eonan a7id Surgeon Van Voorhis, 12 children and all the white male residents in the place except Mr. John Kinzie and his two sons.

This cruel massacre and destruction of the fort left the place without either military protection or the presence of a physician for the succeeding four years.

In 1816 the fort was re-built and occupied by a company of United States soldiers, among whose officers appear the names of Dr. John Gale and Dr. McMahon.

In 1820 Dr. Alexander Wolcott was appointed by the general government as Indian agent, and commenced his residence in or near Fort Dearborn. He was born in Windsor, Connecticut, February 14, 1790; educated in Yale College, from which he graduated in 1809; studied medicine during the three following years, and was commissioned surgeon's mate in the United States Army in 1812. He accompanied General Cass and Henry Schoolcraft in their noted voyages between May and August,

1820, and was mentioned by them as having rendered valuable aid in the accomplishment of their purposes. It was in the latter part of the same year that he entered upon his duties as Indian agent, and occupied a log house on the northside of the river near the residence of Mr. John Kinzie, who had been a resident since 1804, and the first white man to occupy the place not connected with the army. The government concluded an important treaty with the neighboring Indian tribes, which was signed August 29,

During the two following years, other military posts were established further North and West, by which a garrison of soldiers in Fort Dearborn was rendered unnecessary.

Consequently the garrison was withdrawn in May, 1823, and the post and property belonging to the government left in charge of Dr. Wolcott, who occupied it for the business of his agency and residence until 1828, when it was again occupied by United States troops, and he returned to his previous residence, which had now become popularly known as "Cobweb Castle."

There, however, he continued to discharge the important duties of his office until his death in 1830. Though thus cut off in the vigorous period of adult life, his services of ten years as Indian agent had been of great value, both to the United States government and the few civilized people living at this comparatively isolated and dangerous locality.

All his official duties were discharged with the utmost fidelity ; and his correspondence with the government shows that it was chiefly through his influence and that of John Kinzie, that the fort was not wholly abandoned as a military post when the garrison was withdrawn in 1823. The wisdom of their advice was demonstrated when it was found necessary to re-occupy the fort with United States troops in 1828 and 1832.

Dr. Wolcott was married to Eleanor Marion Kinzie, the oldest daughter of his neighbor John Kinzie in July 1823. She was born in 1805, the next year after her parents commenced their residence here, and was the first white child known to have been born in the locality now occupied by Chicago. She survived her husband many years and was highly esteemed by all who knew her. At his death Dr. Wolcott left but one child, an infant daughter who survived him only a few months.

Thus far, all the medical men whose names have been associated with Fort Dearborn and its vicinity had been sent hither in the government employ, either as assistant surgeons in the army or as Indian agents. But in May, 1830, a few months before the death of Dr. Wolcott, there came the first independent pioneer physician seeking a new home and field for practice, in the person of Dr. Elijah D. Harmon. He was born in Bennington, Vt., Aug. 20, 1782; acquired a knowledge of medicine under the direction of Benjamin Swift of Manchester, and commenced his professional practice in Burlington, Vt., in 1806. Two years later he was married to Miss Welthyan Loomis. In 1812 he served as volunteer surgeon on the "Saratoga," Commodore McDonough's flag-ship,and was on board during the important naval battle near Plattsburg, in 1814. The next year he returned to Burlington and resumed the practice of his profession, and in 1816 was appointed postmaster for that place.

After some pecuniary losses in 1829 he turned his attention toward the western frontier for a new field of labor. He came to Fort Dearborn in May, 1830, and his family followed him the next year and settled themselves in a log-cabin, while he tendered his services to the limited number of settlers in the place, as a general practitioner of medicine. In the absence of the assistant surgeon, Dr. Harmon also served as medical officer for the garrison. On account of the hostile attitude of the neighboring Indian tribes under the leadership of the noted chief, Blackhawk, the government, early in 1832 ordered additional military companies to reinforce the small garrison in the fort. Companies G and I of the Second Infantry, under the command of Major William Whistler, arrived on the 17th of June, 1832, accompanied by Samuel G. I. DeCamp as assistant surgeon. On the 10th of July, Gen. Winfield Scott, with a detachment of United States troops, arrived on board the steamer Sheldon Thompson, accompanied by Assistant Surgeon Macomb. The day before their arrival, epidemic cholera manifested itself by attacking the soldiers on the steamer with much severity. The two companies of infantry under command of Major Whistler were isolated from the new comers by removal to a camp two miles from the fort, and remained under the care of Dr.Harmon. The troops under General Scott, numbering about 1,000 men, took possession of the fort, but the cholera spread so rapidly that it soon became little else than a crowded cholera hospital, under the medical care of assistant surgeons DeCamp and Macomb. In one of Surgeon DeCamp's reports he says that within one week after the arrival of the troops on the steamer,one-fifth of their number had been attacked with the disease. Its prevalence, however, was of short duration, and the military forces in a few weeks resumed their active campaign against the Indians, taking Surgeon Macomb with them, while DeCamp remained as medical officer of the garrison until November.

The limited number of civilians who were not driven or frightened away by the fear of both hostile Indians and epidemic cholera, received faithful and efficient medical service from Dr. Harmon, who gave his professional services to citizens and soldiers alike.

Green Bay to Chicago, had his feet so badly frozen that Dr. Harmon found it necessary to amputate the whole of one foot and a part of the other. The patient recovered.

The doctor secured, by pre-emption, 140 acres of land located in what is now a central part of the South Division of Chicago. He retained enough of it to subsequently place himself and family in prosperous circumstances and to prominently identify him with the business interests of the city. Harmon court was so na'med in his honor, and some of his immediate descendants are still to be found in the ranks of our most respected citizens. In 1834, he became interested in some enterprise in the State of Texas, and spent a part of his time there almost every year until his death in 1869.

During the year 1832, three more pioneer medical men took up their residence in the vicinity of Fort Dearborn and became permanently identified with the interests of the place. These were Drs. Valentine A. Boyer, Edmund Stoughton Kimberly, and John Taylor Temple. In February, 1833, Assistant Surgeon Philip Maxwell arrived at Fort Dearborn, as the successor of Dr. De Camp who had left the garrison two or three months previously.

Prior to August, 1833, the place had remained simply a military and Indian trading post, without civil or municipal organization except as it was included within the territorial limits of Peoria county. At the date last mentioned, the civil population is represented to have been between 150 and 200, included among whom were four educated medical practitioners, namely, Drs. Harmon, Boyer, Kimberly, and Temple, Dr. Maxwell being the medical officer of the garrison. In this connection it is proper to state that the first drug store established in the place was by Philo Carpenter in the latter part of 1832. A complete biography of Mr, Carpenter appears in another place.

Medical Profession And Institutions

Kimberly, in company with Peter Pruyne. Dr. Kimberly also took an active part in the political affairs of the community, as the records show that he was present and served as clerk of the town meeting held in August, 1833, to decide whether the place should become legally incorporated. The question having been decided in the affirmative, he was elected a member of the first board of trustees, and for many years continued to exert more or less influence in municipal affairs. He filled several public official positions with honor to himself and the community. Although Dr. Kimberly maintained a strictly honorable position as a physician for thirty years, he did not attain eminence as a practitioner, yet commanded the respect of all. As he approached old age, his health became impaired and he removed to a country residence in Lake county, 111., where he. died October 25, 1874, aged 72 years.

Dr. John Taylor Temple, who came in 1832 was a graduate from the Middlebury Med ical College, Castleton, Vt. class of 1830. He opened an office for medical practice, and is credited with having made the first post mortem examination and given medico-legal evidence in relation thereto in court. For extended sketch of Dr. Temple, see biographical chapter.

Dr. Philip Maxwell was a native of Guilford, Vt., where he was born April 3d, 1799. After receiving a good general education, he studied medicine with a Dr. Knott, in New York city, and graduated in one of the medical colleges of Vermont. He first commenced practice in Sackett's Harbor, New York, and was soon after elected a member of the State legislature. After completing his service in the legislature, he received appointment as assistant surgeon in the TJ. 8. A., and was sent to Fort Dearborn, where he arrived February 3, 1833, and entered directly upon the discharge of his- duties as medical officer of the garrison, and continued the same until the fort was finally abandoned as a military post, in 183G. He was promoted to the rank of surgeon in 1838 and served in the division of the army under the command of Gen. Zachary Taylor in the campaign against the Indians in Florida. Soon after the close of that campaign he resigned his commission as member of the medical corps of the U. S. A., and in 1844 returned to Chicago and entered upon the general practice of the profession. He soon acquired a good practice, a high social position, and became fully identified with all important public interests of the city. In 1848 he formed a partnership in practice with Dr. Brockholst McVickar, and was elected as a member of the State legislature. He served one legislative term with distinction, but continued his general medical practice until 1855, when he retired to a beautiful country residence on the border of Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, where he died November 5, 1859, aged sixty years. He was a man of strong mental qualities, tempered with great geniality and benevolence, with a magnificent physical development, being erect, six feet two inches in height, and weighing 275 pounds. He was deservedly one of the most popular men in the early days of the city.

At the time of the adoption of a legal incorporation, in August, 1833, the number of actual residents was less than 200, and with them were the five regularly educated physicians already noted, making one physician for every forty of population.

The disappearance of the cholera in 1832 and the conclusion of a treaty with the Indians in the autumn of 1833, by which they were to peaceably remove west of the Mississippi river, prepared the way for a rapid influx of new settlers, not only in the new city, but over all the fertile and beautiful prairie lands of northern Illinois. So rapid was this influx during the next four years that the census of 1837 gave Chicago a population of 4,179; and during the same period there had been recognized the names of not less than forty medical men, which would still make the ratio equal to one for every 100 of the population. More than half of these doctors, however, retained their residences here so short a time that they left no impress, either professional or social, except their names in the newspaper or city directory. But among the remaining half were a considerable number who took a prominent part in developing and guiding the medical, sanitary and business interests of the city. First among these in the order of time was Dr. William Bradshaw Egan, who arrived in Chicago in the autumn of 1833. He was a native of Ireland, born September 28, 1808. At the age of fifteen he commenced the study of medicine with Surgeon McGuire, of Lancashire, England. Subsequently he prosecuted his studies in the Medical School in Dublin, also served a term in the Dublin Lying-in Hospital, and soon after emigrated to Canada. On his arrival in Canada he engaged in school teaching, first in Quebec, then successively in Montreal, New York, and finally in the grammar school of the University of Virginia.

While in the University he attended the lectures in the medical department two terms, obtained a license to practice medicine and surgery from the censors of the New Jersey State Medical Society, and commenced the practice of the profession in Newark, New Jersey, in 1830. Two years later he was married to Miss Emeline Mabbatt, who the next year accompanied him to Chicago, where they formed a permanent and prosperous home. He entered with zeal and success upon the practice of the profession for which he had been well educated, and in August, 1834, he was appointed a member of the health committee, to represent the South Division of the city. But the constant opportunities for real estate speculation and his aptitude for public business soon enticed him from the more toilsome and less attractive field of medical practice, and eventually made him one of the boldest and most successful real estate dealers in the city. He delivered the oration on the occation of breaking ground in the construction of the Illinois and Michigan canal, July 4, 1836; rendered important service in adjusting the canal claims by the legislature in 1841-42; was recorder of the city and county in 1844, and representative in the State legislature in 1853-54. Like Dr. Maxwell, he was a man of stately physical proportions, and excelled him in social conviviality, wit and sarcasm. He acquired a fair fortune, and fitted for himself and family an elegant residence on the southern border of the city, where he died October 27, 1860, aged only 52 years.

The first physician to open an office here for practicing the special department of dentistry was Dr. William Kennicott, who came in 1834, and he continued to be the leading dental practitioner for many years.

During the same year, Dr. John W. Eldridge came to Chicago from Pittsfield, Pennsylvania, and commenced an active professional career that he prosecuted successfully for a quarter of a century or more. He was born in Hamilton, Washington county, New York, October 2, 1808, and graduated in medicine from the College of Physicians and Surgeons of the Western District of New York, at Fairfield. He possessed an active intellect, persevering industry, coupled with a roughness of manner and speech, that quickly attracted the attention and gained the confidence of the working classes. He acquired a fair fortune and retired from active practice in 1868, but continued his residence until his death, January 1, 1884.

Dr. Charles Volney Dyer, born in Clarendon, Vermont, June 12, 1808, after receiving a good general academic education, studied medicine and graduated from the medical department of Middlebury College, Vermont, December 29, 1830; and first commenced practice in Newark, New Jersey, from which place he came to Chicago in August, 1835. He entered directly into the practice of medicine, and in 1837 married Miss Louise M. Gifford, of Elgin, and together they soon attained a leading position in society. In 1839 he held the office of city physician. In a very few years he became so much interested in real estate and business enterprises of importance, that his medical practice became a matter of secondary interest and was early abandoned altogether. He was one of the most active and persistent opponents of slavery, and has the credit of having been an efficient officer of the "underground railroad," for the escape of fugitive slaves from the Southern states to Canada. He accumulated a fair fortune, and spent his later years in an elegant residence on the northern border of the city, where he died April 24, 1878.

Dr. Josiah C. Goodhue and Daniel Brainard are represented as arriving in Chicago on the 1st of September, 1835; the first direct from Canada and the second from Oneida county, New York. Dr. Goodhue, though coming from Canada, was the son of a pro. minent physician of Pittsfield, Massachusetts; had received a good education, both literary and medical, and was a man of superior mental endowments. He gave his attention more exclusively to the duties of his profession and soon acquired a good practice. Two years after his arrival he united with Dr. Brainard in framing an act of incorporation for establishing a medical college in the city to be called "Rush Medical College." The act was presented to the State legislature then in session, adopted by it, and approved by the governor March 2, 1837. Owing to the extreme financial embarrassment then prevailing throughout the country, a teaching faculty was not organized until 1843, but Dr. Goodhue was one of the trustees named in the act of incorporation. A few years later he changed his residence to Eockford, Winnebago county, Illinois, where he soon established a large and remunerative practice and en joyed a high reputation as a general practitioner for many years. His death, a few years since, was the result of an accident.

a well-to-do farmer, and gave his son a good academic education, on the completion of which he commenced the study of medicine under the direction of Dr. R. S. Sykes of Whitesboro, but later prosecuted the same in the office of Dr. Harold H. Pope, a prominent surgeon in Rome, New York. He completed the usual course of medical studies in the Jefferson Medical College of Philadelphia, from which he graduated in 1834. He commenced practice with his first preceptor, Dr. Sykes, in Whitesboro, but his stay there was brief, for the Hon. J. D. Caton has chronicled his arrival in Chicago, mounted on a small Indian pony, "about the first of September 1835." Dr. Brainard entered directly upon the general practice of medicine, though with predominating ambition for the department of surgery. His first surgical case of more than usual importance presented itself in 1838, in the person of a laborer on the Illinois and Michigan canal with a fracture of one femur, several miles from the city. The limb was dressed and progressed favorably, but before time enough had elapsed for complete bony union, the patient walked the whole distance into the city. The inflammation that followed was so severe, that at a consultation participated in by Drs. Brainard, Goodhue, Maxwell and Egan, an amputation was unanimously declared necessary. Dr. Brainard advised the amputation at the hip-joint, but the other three preferred having it done below the trochanter. Accordingly, the young surgeon dexterously removed the limb at the place designated by his counsellors, but the bone marrow being plainly diseased higher up he proceeded at once to amputate at the hip, while Dr. Goodhue performed the important work of compressing the femoral artery. The case progressed favorably for four or five weeks, the wounds having nearly healed, when secondary hemorrhage suddenly occurred and quickly proved fatal. A post mortem examination revealed an extensive bony neoplasm attached to the pelvic bones and interfering with the femoral artery. The case had attracted much atten- tiou, especially from the more benevolent part of the community, and hence served as an excellent introduction for the surgical operator. The following year he first crossed the Atlantic and spent nearly two years in the medical colleges and hospitals of Paris, evidently preparing himself for the duties of a professorship of anatomy and surgery in the college for which he and Dr. Goodhue had already obtained a charter. He returned in the latter part of 1841, gave one course of medical lectures in St. Louis, then resumed his practice in Chicago, and succeeded in organizing a faculty and opening the first course of lectures in Hush Medical College in December, 1843. He rapidly acquired a high reputation as a teacher, and during the succeeding twenty years did a large surgical practice both in the city and surrounding country.

In 1852, he again visited Paris, where he presented some original investigations in regard to the action of iodine on the poison of serpents, was elected an honorary member of the Surgical Society of Paris, and returned in the autumn with some valuable specimens for the museum of the medical college here. He visited Europe a third time in the spring of 1866, but returned just in time to commence his lectures on the opening of the annual term of Hush Medical College, the first week of October. During that same week the epidemic cholera that had been prevalent in this and most of the cities in this country during the first half of the summer, but which had nearly ceased during August, suddenly reappeared with severity. Dr. Brainard lectured at his usual hour in the afternoon of October 9th, during which he alluded to the unexpected return of the cholera, with some suggestions regarding the best means of avoiding an attack. The same evening he was attacked with the disease so violently that he died in less than twenty-four hours, October 10, 1866. He had been a firm believer in the direct contagiousness of the disease, and during the preceding epidemics, from 1849 to 1854, avoided coming in contact with cases of it as much as possible. Dr. Brainard was an industrious student, with good literary and scientific attainments, and had an active disposition for prosecuting original investigations.

From 1849 to 1852, he industriously tested the effects of injections of aqueous solutions of iodine in cases of serous effusions, whether in the peritonteal, pleural or synovial sacs, or the areolar tissues. He applied the treatment also to some cases of congenital hydrocephalus and spinal-bifida. During the same period of time he tested the effects of solutions of various substances on the structure of cancerous growth, and finding the tissue rapidly destroyed by a solution of lactate of iron, he followed several operations for the removal of cancerous tumors, by injection of a small quantity of the solution directly into the blood through the vein in the arm. In a few patients he repeated the injection several times, at intervals of three or four days, hoping to thereby prevent the renewal of the malignant disease, but without success.

The two most important series of original investigations prosecuted by him, were in relation to the efficacy of iodine as an antidote for the poison of serpents, and the treatment of ununited fractures by drilling anu boring the ends of the bones. His essay, embodying the results of the lastmentioned series, was awarded a prize by the American Medical Association in 3854.

It is thus seen that during the fifteen years from 1840 to 1855, he was not only doing a large surgical practice, and filling his annual courses of medical college instruction, but was also most actively engaged in promoting the scientific interests of his department of the profession. And it was at the end of this time that we find him at the zenith of his professional reputation and influence, while during the remaining decade of his life he gave more attention to dealing in real estate and less to the practical interests of the profession, and thereby accumulated an ample fortune. Physically,

Dr. Brainard was tall, well proportioned, and dignified in manner. As a lecturer and teacher he was clear, forcible and effective, retaining a high degree of popularity and influence in the medical college he had been largely instrumental in establishing, until his death.

Dr. Levi D. Boone, was another member of the profession who exerted much influence during the early years of our city's progress. He was born in December, 1808, near Lexington, Ky., a descendant of the celebrated traveler, Daniel Boone. He received a fair academic education, studied medicine, and received the degree of Doctor of Medicine from the Transylvania University, and commenced practice at Edwardsville, 111., but later moved to Hillsboro. At the commencement of the "Black-Hawk war," he entered the military service as captain of a cavalry company, and afterwards served as surgeon to the Second Regiment, under Col. Jacob Fry. His military services being no longer required, he came to Chicago in 1836, with his family, and directly engaged in the insurance business. The following year, however, he was compelled to resume the practice of his profession. He soon became fully occupied with general practice, and during the cholera epidemic of 1849-50-51, he held the office of city physician and rendered valuable service to the public. He was a member of the city board of aldermen three terms, and was elected mayor in 1855 by a combination of what was then known as the temperance and know-nothing parties.

Dr. Boone had acquired a strong position as a religious and temperance man, while a considerable party had been quietly organized in opposition to an apparently dominating influence of foreign-born citizens in political affairs, under the name of "know-nothings." It was the members of this organization, acting in harmony with the friends of temperance, that elected not only Dr. Boone to the mayoralty, but also a majority of the board of aldermen. As a result, the new

A large number of the saloon keepers refused to pay the higher fee and yet continued to sell, until nearly two hundred of their number had been arrested and held in confinement. This led to an organized attempt forcibly to liberate those under arrest, which was met with such promptness by the mayor and police, that the rioters were effectually dispersed, with only one killed and a number wounded. At the close of his term of office, Dr. Boone again resumed his professional practice, and continued it until after the close of the war for suppressing the great southern rebellion. After this he gave his attention altogether to real estate and insurance business. He was a leading member of the Baptist church and one of the founders of the first Chicago University; and though neither possessed of brilliant intellectual qualities nor high scientific attainments, he nevertheless discharged all his duties, public and private, with fidelity, and exerted a widely beneficial influence until he died, at the ripe age of seventy-four years, in February, 1882.

During the thirteen years from 1837 to 1850, the population of the city had increased from 4,179 to nearly 30,000, with a proportionate increase in the number of medical men. Among the latter may be found the names of Drs. John Brinkerhoff, H. Clarke, J. Jay Stuart, John H. Foster, D. S. Smith, S. Z. Haven, J. V. Z. Blaney, W. B. Herrick, George W. Wentw orth, Eriel McArthur, Brockholst McVickar, John Evans and Nathan S. Davis.

Of these, Drs. Blaney, Herrick, Evans and Davis, will be sufficiently noticed in connection with the colleges, hospitals and societies with which they were connected.

Dr. J. Jay Stuart came prior to 1839 and devoted his time to the practice of his profession. He was well educated and rather noted for the neatness of his dress, enjoyed a good position in society, but died, I think,

Hist Or T Of Chicago

Dr. John Brinkerhoff also came prior to 1839, and though engaging somewhat in the practice of medicine, he became interested in the retail drug business, with which his name was familiarly associated for many years.

George W. Wentworth was a native of New Hampshire, born November 2, 1820, a brother of the late Hon. John Wentworth, of this city. He received a collegiate education in Dartmouth College and graduated in medicine from one of the medical colleges of Philadelphia in 1847. He came directly to Chicago and opened an office for general practice on Randolph street a few rods west of the river, it being probably the first physician's office opened, in what is now so well known as the west division of Chicago. He acquired practice and reputation rapidly, but during the prevalence of cholera, during the summer of 1850, he was attacked with that disease and died August 14, 1850.

During the active part of his career he was president of the Hahnemann Medical College of Chicago from its organization until 1871, when he was succeeded by Dr. A. E. Small. He was not an active teacher in any department of medicine, but a man of good moral and social standing, and after the death of Dr. Small he was again made president of the college, and continued in that position until his own death, in 1891, aged seventy-five years.

In the foregoing pages is given a concise history of the origin and progress of the medical profession of Chicago prior to 1850, with brief biographical notices of the more prominent and influential members. Thus far the development had been chiefly that of individual accretion numerically, with a very strong temptation to hasten the acquisition of wealth by attention to real-estate dealing and other non-professional enterprises, while medical literature, science, education and society organization received attention from only a] very few. As the school and the church are the first institutions to be organized by combination of individuals in all civilized communities, so the first institutions that lead to united action by medical men in all densely populated towns or cities are hospitals and dispensaries for the sick and disabled, and medical schools for the education of medical men. Consequently the history of such institutions, and of society organizations for mutual improvement, affords the best index of the condition and progress of the profession in this or any other great city.

In the growth of all cities and densely populated districts, the first institutions or Medical institutions organizations of a medical character are the offspring of necessity. The occurrence of epidemics and contagious diseases and the presence of a greater or less number of persons unable to care for themselves present two conditions, one directly suggesting the necessity for -some concerted action for preventing the spread of epidemics, and the other equally demanding provision for alleviating the suffering of those unable to help themselves- Self -protection and sympathy with the suffering are two of the strongest impulses that influence enlightened minds. The severe prevalence of epidemic cholera, in 1832, by which Port Dearborn became, temporarily, a cholera hospital, undoubtedly increased the disposition of the inhabitants to effect a township organization the following- year. For among the earliest ordinances adopted by the board of trustees were some for the protection of the public health. A fine of $3 was imposed upon any one who should throw refuse into the river, and the town supervisor or street commissioner was required to remove all nuisances recognized as detrimental to the health of the community. In 1835, fearing another outbreak of cholera, the trustees appointed a permanent board of health, consisting of seven prominent citizens, including only one physician, Dr. John T. Temple. No cholera, however, appeared, and after one or two meetings the board ceased to have an active existence. In March, 1837, the original town organization was superseded by an act of city incorporation, one section of which required the common council to appoint annually three commissioners to constitute a board of health and also a health officer, who should visit and care for persons suffering from contagious and infectious diseases. The first board appointed under these provisions was organized in May, 1837, and consisted of Dr. J. W. Eldriclge, A. N. Fullertonand D. Cox; while Dr. Daniel Brainard was made health officer; the mayor was also ex-officio memberof the board of health. From that period to the present time the sanitary interests of the city have been under the control of a regular health department, the executive officer of which has been variously designated as city physician, city marshall, sanitary superintendent, but more generally health officer, except as hereinafter mentioned.

In 1838 Dr. Brainard was superseded as health officer by Dr. E. S. Kimberly, who served until 1841. It was during the first year of his service that a severe epidemic form of sickness prevailed among the laborers engaged in excavating for the Illinois and Michigan canal, requiring much attention. la May, 1841, Dr. J. W. Eldridge was made health officer, and an ordinance was passed requiring the attending physician to give a certificate of death and the causes thereof, which constituted the first step towards a record of vital statistics. In 1842 the duties of the health officer were divided between a city physician and a city marshall, and Dr. W. B. Egan was elected as the first and Mr. Orson Smith as the second.

March 27, 1860, when the whole health department was vacated by an ordinance of the common council. The city remained without sanitary or health officers until December 1, 1861, when Dr. Lucien P. Cheney was appointed city physician with a salary of $600 per annum, from which he was to furnish the medicines required for such poor patients as were entitled to his assistance. When it is remembered that the city's population then numbered 138,186 and included a large proportion of poor people, the salary mentioned will be regarded as one of the most remarkable specimens of municipal provision for the sick poor on record. Yet Dr. Cheney held the office until his death, in 1874, and performed its duties with as much fidelity as if the salary had been $6,000. Soon after the appointment of Dr. Cheney as city physician, Charles S. Perry, a policeman, was detailed to act as health officer, and continued to act in that capacity until May, 1865, when T. B. Bridges was elected health officer and Dr. S. C. Blake, city physician. They continued in office until March 31, 1867, when the health department was separated from - that of the police, and placed entirely under the control of a board of health, with a sanitary superintendent as its executive officer. The new board was composed of Drs. William Wagner, II. A. Johnson, and J. II. Rauch, and citizens William Giles, A.B. Reynolds, Samuel Hoard, and the Mayor, J. B. Rice, ex-officio. Dr. John H. Rauch was made sanitary superintendent and Dr. H. S. Hahn city physician. In 1869 Dr. George Schloetzer superseded Dr. Wagner as member of the board, which otherwise remained the same until after the great fire of 1871.

It is worthy of note here, that after the disappearance of the epidemic cholera of 1854 to 1860 the city continued quite free from severe sickness, and, as usual under such circumstances,the municipal authorities gave less and less attention to sanitary conditions, until, as has already been stated, in 1860 they formally abolished the health department and transferred its duties to the mayor and police. This was done in opposition to the earnest protests and faithful warnings of the leading medical men of the city, acting both as individuals and as members of the Chicago Medical Society. From 1858 to 1862, Dr. N. S. Davis made frequent efforts to have a competent medical health officer placed in charge of the sanitary interests of the city. His efforts were actively sustained by Drs. J. H. Rauch, H. A. Johnson and others, and in 1865 a public meeting of the medical profession appointed a committee consisting of Drs. N. S. Davis, J. W. Freer, J. P. Ross, H.Hitchcock, R. N. Isham and B. McVickar to formulate and present specific recommendations to the municipal authorities for improving the sanitary conditions of the city and the preservation of reliable records of vital statistics. The committee faithfully discharged the duties imposed upon it, and was largely instrumental in having a distinct board of health re-established, in 1867, with an educated medical man as sanitary superintendent. In the meantime, however, while sanitary matters were being neglected and the city substantially without a health department, the population was rapidly increasing and the business of slaughtering and meat-packing near the south branch of the river was begun and actively prosecuted, and enough of the blood and offal allowed to enter the river to contaminate both air and water. So great did this contamination become that during the years 1863-64 the whole river was tinged with blood, fish ceased to live in it, and the odor was perceptible over a large part of the city.

In the autumn some cases of small pox were introduced into the city, and the disease spread with such persistency that more than 2,000 cases were reported during the years 1862-63-64. During the two latter years a severe epidemic of erysipelas also prevailed, much the larger number of cases being located in proximity to the river. Immediately following these scourges came the epidemic cholera in Europe in 1665, and in this country in 1866, which finally compelled the people to heed the persistent warnings of their medical men, sufficiently, at least, to create the efficient and intelligent board of health of 1867.

The board as then organized remained under the leadership of Drs. J. H. Rauch and H. A. Johnson, the first as sanitary superintendent and the second as president of the board until 1873-74, three years after the great fire of 1871.

And during these last mentioned years, when so many thousands of the population had been driven into temporary and crowded quarters, there were no more faithful and efficient public servants than those in charge of the health department; and they were aided with equal zeal and fidelity by every practicing physician in the city.

In August, 1873, Dr. Rauch resigned and Dr. Benjamin C. Miller was appointed to the place, and in January, 1874, Dr. Johnson resigned and was succeeded by Dr. J. A. Halm. In October, 1875, Dr. Hahn died, and the vacancy was filled by the appointment of Dr. B. McVickar.

In July, 1876, the city council passed an ordinance abolishing the board of health and devolving all its powers and duties upon a chief officer called the commissioner of health, with provision for a corps of sanitary inspectors, and a registrar of vital statistics.

The following January, 1877, Dr. Mc- Vickar resigned his office and Dr. Oscar C. DeWolf was appointed commissioner of health, with Dr. J. S. Knox as assistant. Dr. H. P. Wright, registrar of vital statistics, and a corps of three medical inspectors.

During the same year an ordinance was passed giving the commissioner of health more control over slaughtering, packing, rendering, fertilizing and other establishments liable to affect the public health. By an act of the legislature, passed in May, 1881, manufactories, work-shops, tenement and lodging houses, etc., were also brought uu-

Dr. DeWolf continued in the office ten years, during which time the practical working of the city health department was systematized, much extended, and administered with more than ordinary efficiency. He resigned in 1887, and was succeeded by Dr. Swayne Wickersham, who, after a service of three years, gave place to the present commissioner of health, Dr. John D. Ware, whose health corps now embraces Dr. F. 0. Caldwell, registrar of vital statistics; Dr. Erasmus Garrott, chief medical inspector, and Drs. Frank Gary, E. H. Smith, L. H. Montgomery, E. F. Wells, 0. 1ST. Huff, Heman Spalding and J. K. Winer, medical inspectors.

Among the names of those who have held official positions in the health department of this city as given in the forgoing pages, we recognize many who were faithful and efficient officers, but only three who have obtained a general reputation throughout the profession as well trained in sanitary science. Those three were Drs. Hosmer A. Johnson, John H. Rauch and Oscar C. De- Wolf.

The next medical institution organized in this city after the formation of an incipient health department of the municipality, was the Rush Medical College; named thus in honor of Dr. Benjamin Rush, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence and one of the most eminent medical writers and teachers of the last half of the eighteenth century. The initial steps for establishing a medical college were taken in the autumn of 1836, by Drs. Daniel Brainard and Josiah C. Goodhue, who had settled in Chicago simultaneously, in September of the previous year, though coming from different quarters. Together they framed an act of incorporation, which was submitted to the State legislature assembled in Vandalia during the succeeding winter. The act was passed and signed by the governor, March 2, 1837, but a state of extreme financial depression and embarrassment had by that time ensued over the whole country, and in consequence no teaching faculty or professorship was established until 1843. The board of trustees named in the act of incorporation was composed of Hon. T. W. Smith, Dr. J. C. Goodhue, Rev. I. T1. Hinton, Dr. John T. Temple, James H. Collins, Dr. E. S. Kimberly, Justin Butterfield, Ebenezer Peck, John H. Kinzie, John Wright, Henry Moore, Wm. B. Ogden, John D. Caton, Grant Goodrich, E. D. Taylor, of Chicago; and Rev. Seth S. Whitman, of Belvidere, and Thomas Ford, of Oregon City, 111. The name was Rush Medical College. The teaching faculty as organized in the autumn of 1843, consisted of four professors, as follows: Dr. Daniel Brainard, professor of anatomy and surgery; Dr. James V. Z. Blaney, professor of chemistry and materia medica; Dr. John McLean, professor of theory and practice of medicine, and Dr. M. L. Knapp, professor of obstetrics. The college provided for an annual term of instruction of sixteen weeks, and required attendance on two such terms and three years of medical study before graduation. But persons who had studied three years and been engaged in practice one year could graduate after attending one annual college term. The only evidence of general education required of the student was the writing of a thesis on some medical topic. Absurdly inadequate as those provisions appear at this day, they were then in strict harmony with the requirements of the medical colleges in all the States of this country.

The first course of instruction was commenced December 4, 1843, with a class of twenty-two students, and continued sixteen weeks, at the close of which the ordinary degree of M. D. was conferred upon William Butterfield, son of one of the trustees of the college, and honorary degrees were conferred upon Thos. P. Whipple and John McLean This course was given in rooms on Clark street temporarily provided for that purpose.

Ui8Tor7 Of Chicago

During the following summer, however, Wm. B. Ogden donated a lot on the southeast corner of Dearborn and Indiana streets, and a small college building of brick was built thereon, at a cost of between $3,000 and $4,000. The second annual college term was commenced December 13, 1844, in the new building, with the same faculty and was attended by forty-six students, of whom eleven graduated at its close.

In April of the same year was issued the first number of a medical journal called the Illinois and Indiana Medical and Surgical Journal, under the patronage of the college and edited by Professor James V. Z. Blaney, with Ellis & Fergus, 37 Clark street, as printers. This journal was continued and exerted an important influence for thirty years, though its name was first changed to that of Northwestern Medical and Surgical Journal and later to that of Chicago Medical Journal, but all the time regarded as the organ of the Rush Medical College. In 1874 it was transferred to the Chicago Medical Press Association and united with the Chicago Medical Examiner under the name of "Chicago Medical Journal and Examiner," under which title it continued to be published monthly as an independent medical periodical for ten or twelve years, when it was discontinued.

In 1845, after the close of the second annual college term, important changes and in additions to the faculty were made. Dr. M. L. Knapp resigned the chair of obstetrics, a chair of anatomy and physiology, rnd a chair of materia medica and therapeutics were created, and Drs. Austin Flint, of Buffalo, N. Y.; Graham N. Fitch, of Indiana, and William B. Herrick were added to the faculty. Consequently the third annual course of college instruction was given by Daniel Brainard, professor of principles and practice of surgery; Jas. V. Z. Blaney, professor of chemistry and pharmacy; John McLean, professor of materia medica and therapeutics; Austin Flint, professor of principles and practice of medicine; Graham N. Fitch, professor of obstetrics and diseases of women; and William B. Herrick, professor of anatomy and physiology. At the close of the college term Dr. Flint resigned his chair and returned to New York; Dr. Fitch was transferred to the chair of practice of medicine, and Dr. John Evans, of Indiana, was appointed to the chair of obstetrics and diseases of women. As thus constituted, the college continued its regular annual courses of instruction to steadily increasing classes until 1848-49, when the class of matriculates numbered little more than one hundred, and the graduates thirty-three.

At the close of that college term Dr. Graham N. Fitch resigned the chair of principles and practice of medicine, and during the summer of 1849 Dr. Thomas Spencer of Geneva, N. Y., -was chosen to fill the vacancy. At the same time a new chair of physiology and general pathology was created and filled by the appointment of Dr. Nathan Smith Davis, of New York.

At the close of his first course of lectures in this college, Dr. Spencer resigned his chair on account of ill health and returned to Geneva, and Dr. N. S. Davis, was transferred to the chair of practice of medicine retaining with it general pathology, while physiology was again attached to the chair of anatomy. Four years of fair prosperity followed without changes in the faculty, but with the important addition of regular hospital clinical instruction commencing in the autumn of 1850. At the close of the college term of 1854-55, the college building was found inadequate for the accommodation of the annually increasing classes and it was resolved to enlarge and rearrange the building by an expenditure of about $15,000; the same to be advanced in equal ratio by the members of the faculty as a loan to the institution, to be paid out of the income of the college from lecture fees, and secured to each by a lien on the property, executed by the board of trustees.

sors in educational institutions joint stock owners of the same, yet they cheerfully acquiesced in the decision of the majority, and the enlargement of the building was completed in time for the opening of the college term of 1855-56.

At the close of the preceding term, Professor John McLean, who had been connected with the faculty since its organization in 1843, resigned the chair of materia medica and therapeutics, and Dr. Hosmer A. Johnson, an alumnus of the college, was chosen his successor. During the same year Dr. Herrick was compelled by ill health to resign the chair of anatomy and was succeeded by J. W. Freer. Consequently the men composing the faculty in 1855, and who furnished the $15,000 to enlarge the college building, were Professors Daniel Brainard, James V. Z. Blaney, Joseph W. Freer, John Evans, Nathan S. Davis, and Hosmer A. Johnson. *

After two years, Dr. Johnson, who had given the lectures on materia medica and therapeutics with unusual ability, was transferred to the chair of physiology, and Dr. John H. Rauch, of Burlington, Iowa, was chosen to fill the vacancy. Both were young men of talent and were rapidly acquiring popularity as medical teachers, but, neither being financially well able to carry their share of the indebtedness incurred in enlarging the college building, both resigned their places in the faculty at the close of the college term of 1858-59.

During the summer of 1856, Dr. John Evans, having become more interested in real estate than in medicine, resigned his professorship of obstetrics and diseases of women, and Dr. Wm. H. Byford, of Evansville, Ind., was chosen to fill the vacancy. In the spring

*Ina volume entitled "Early Medical Chicago," by James Nevins Hyde, A. M., M. D., published by Fergus Printmy Company, 1879, pige 34, the names of Austin Flint, M. D., G. N. Fitch, M D., and John McLean, M. D., are given as members of the faculty at this time and as participating in the work of enlarging the college building, when in fact. Dr. Flint had ceased to be a member of the faculty in 1£46, Dr. Fitch in 1849, and Dr. McLean at the close of the college term of 1854-55. Moreover, the author does not mention the fact that Drs. Davis and Johnson ever held professorships in the Hush Medical College.

of 1859, while the chairs of materia medica and therapeutics, and of physiology and general pathology were vacant, the Lind University* then being organized under a liberal charter, took initial steps for establishing a medical department on the basis of longer annual college terms, and a more systematic grading of the medical studies, as had been prominently advocated by Dr. N. S. Davis several years before he became a member of the faculty of Rush Medical College.

As the latter school, under the leadership of its chief founder, Dr. Daniel Brainard, persistently adhered to two annual college terms of sixteen weeks each without grading, Dr. Davis resigned his position in that college, and he was accompanied by Dr. Wm. H. Byford.

Daniel Brainard, professor of surgery and clinical surgery; James V. Z. Blaney, professor of chemistry and pharmacy; J. Adams Allen, professor of practice of medicine and clinical medicine; DeLaskie Miller, professor of obstetrics and diseases of women; Ephraim Ingals, professer of materia medica and therapeutics; R. L. Rea, professor of anatomy; A. S. Hudson, professor of physiology and pathology; Joseph W. Freer, professor of surgical anatomy and surgical pathology, and Edwin Powell, demonstrator of anatomy. Of the new men thus introduced into the faculty, only two had previously acquired reputation as teachers. Dr. J. Adams Allen had filled a chair in the medical department of the university of Michigan for several years with marked ability, and Dr. R. L. Rea had equally proved his rare skill as a teacher of anatomy in connection with the Ohio Medical College at Cincinnati. The remaining ones, though previously untried, proved good workers, except Dr. A. S. Hudson who resigned after one or two years. With this exception the faculty remained unchanged until 1866, during which time the number of students annually increased, until the last named year the number was between three and four hundred. But, as stated in the biographical sketch given in preceding pages, it was just after the opening of the college term in October, 1866, that Dr. Daniel Brainard, president, and one of the founders of the college, was suddenly stricken with a fatal attack of epidemic cholera. His chair was soon filled by the appointment of Dr. Moses Gunn, of Detroit, who had already acquired an enviable reputation as a teacher and practitioner of surgery in connection with the medical department of the University of Michigan. The number of students had again made a more capacious college edifice necessary, and during the summer a new building was erected on the same lot, at a cost of about $70,000, on the same financial plan as that on which the original structure had been enlarged in 1855.

In 1868, a chair of ophthalmology and otology and one of clinical medicine and diseases of the chest were added to the faculty. Dr. Edward L. Holmes was elected to the first and Dr. Joseph P. Ross to the second. Two years later, Dr. Ephraim Ingals resigned the chair of materia medicaand medical jurisprudence, and Dr. James H. Etheridge was selected to fill the vacancy. On the ninth day of October, 1871, only a few days after the commencement of the annual college term with a large class of students, the great Chicago fire occurred, in which the college building, erected only four years previously, with most of its contents, was entirely destroyed. Undaunted by so great a catastrophe, the faculty soon found lecture room in the old county hospital building on Eighteenth street, and the Chicago Medical College tendered them the use of its ample dissecting room part of each day. They were thus enabled to gather together the greater part of their class with only a brief interruption. The same year, Dr. James V. Z. Blaney was compelled by failing health to resign the chair of chemistry and pharmacy which he had held since the first organization of the faculty in 1843, and the vacancy was filled by the appointment of Dr. Henry M. Lyman.

During the following summer temporary lecture rooms were fitted up on a part of the hospital grounds, and continued to be occupied each college term until 1876, when the Cook county hospital buildings had been located in the west division on West Harrison and "Wood streets. In 1875, when it had been decided to locate the permanent county hospital in the west division, the faculty of the college at once took measures to erect a new college building in the immediate vicinity of the proposed hospital, on the supposition that they would be able to control a liberal amount of clinical instruction therein. Owing to dissatisfaction with some of the business arrangements, Dr. R. L. Rea resigned the chair of anatomy, and was succeeded by Dr. Charles T. Parkes, who had been demonstrator of anatomy during the seven preceding years. The new college building was completed, at a cost of about $54,000, and occupied in 1876 and not only afforded all the ordinary accommodations for college pur-" poses, but also room in the basement for the Central Free Dispensary, while the coincident completion and opening of the large county hospital with an able clinical staif, marked a new era of prosperity for the college.

The number of students in attendance increased each year, and a separate faculty for a short spring term of instruction was organized. Attendance upon it was not made obligatory as a part of the college curriculum, nor was it allowed to count as a college course in the requirements for graduation, but it afforded valuable aid to such students as could afford to spend more time in the city. In 1877, Dr. H. M. Lyman was transferred from the chair of chemistry to the chair of physiology and diseases of the nervous system, and Dr. Walter S. Haines was elected to the chair of chemistry and toxicology. Iu 1879 two additional professorships were created, viz. : A professorship of skin and venereal diseases, and a professorship of gynecology. The first was filled by Dr. James Nevins Hyde, and the second by Dr. William H. Byford, both having already acquired good reputations as medical teachers.

Owing to some impairment of health on the part of Dr. J. Adams Allen, the professor of principles and practice of medicine, a professorship of pathology and adjunct professorship of principles and practice of medicine were instituted and filled by the appointment of Dr. Norman Bridge, in 1885. Two years later the professor of surgery, Dr. Moses Gu nn, was attacked with malignant disease of the stomach and died. The vacancy was filled by the transfer of Dr. Charles T. Parkes from thft chair of anatomy to that of surgery, and Dr. Arthur Dean Bevan was appointed professor of anatomy. In 1888 Dr. DeLaskie Miller resigned the chair of obstetrics and diseases of children, and was succeeded by Dr. J. Suydam Knox, and the same year Dr. Nicholas Senn, of Milwaukee, was appointed to a chair of principles of surgery and surgical pathology, Dr. E. Fletcher Ingals to a chair of laryngology, and Dr. Freeman Brophy to a chair of dental pathology and surgery, thereby adding three more chairs to the curriculum.

Before this time the faculty had learned, much to their disappointment, that they could not control the ample facilities for clinical instruction in the county hospital, as they had anticipated. The hospital being wholly under the control of the board of Cook county commissioners, a body subject to more or less change with every recurring political election, not only proved unstable in the membership of its medical and surgical staff, but the clinical instruction was limited entirely to such cases as could be taken into the amphitheatre.

locate that institution on a part of their college lot, and so connected with the college as to render its clinical advantages much more stable, and it became also, at least nominally, a department of the Lake Forest University.

During the years 1890-91-92, the Rush Medical College had the unusual experience of losing by death, in quick succession, five of its most prominent and influential professors. Dr. J. Adams Allen, who had ably filled the chair of principles and practice of medicine thirty-one, and the office of president of the college thirteen years, died early in the year 1890. On the 21st day of May of the same year followed the sudden death of Dr. William H. Byford, who had been occupying the chair of gynecology during the preceding eleven years. Less than one month later, on the 15th of June, 1890, Dr. Joseph P. Ross, who had held the chair of clinical medicine and diseases of the chest twentytwo years, died from protracted disease of the brain. On the 28th of March, 1891, Dr. Charles T. Parkes, who had most efficiently served the college for twelve years as professor of anatomy, and equally so during the three last years as professor of surgery, died after a very brief illness from pneumonia, while the prevailing epidemic .of influenza was at its climax in this city. And on the 29th of June, 1892, Dr. J. Suydam Knox, professor of obstetrics and diseases of children, succumbed to a sharp attack of acute peritonitis.

In filling the vacancies occasioned by these deaths, Dr. Henry M. Lyman was made professor of the principles and practice of medicine, and Dr. E. L. Holmes became president of the faculty; Dr. James H. Etheridge succeeded to the chair of gynecology; Dr. Norman Bridge to the chair of clinical medicine and physical diagnosis; Dr. Nicholas Senn to the chair of practice of surgery and clinical surgery; and Dr. John B. Hamilton to the chair of principles of surgery and clinical surgery.

The whole number of names now enrolled on the list of teachers, connected with the college, embraces two emeritus professors, sixteen active professors, five adjunct professors, three clinical professors, ten lecturers, two demonstrators, and ten assistants, making a total of forty-six engaged, more or less actively, in the work of teaching a class, which, for the college year of 1891-92, contained 637 names. This latter number embraces all those attending the regular obligaatory six months course and the optional two month spring term.

Thus, the college that commenced its active existence fifty years since with four professors, twenty-two students, an annual college term of sixteen weeks, and the requirement of attendance on only two such terms for graduation, now presents sixteen professors aided by thirty adjuncts, lecturers, etc., over 600 students, an annual college term of six months, and attendance on three such annual courses for graduation. This is certainly gratifying progress, and yet there is room for further advance in some directions.

In examining the roll of the present faculty, I find the name of no one who was connected therewith during the first fifteen years after the organization of the college; and I think only two of those belonging to that early period are now living, namely, John Evans, ex-governor of Colorado, and the writer of this chapter of history.

Of those who were connected with the college long enough during this early period to render important aid in giving it reputation and growth, but who are now dead, were Drs. Daniel Brainard, James V. Z. Blaney, G. N. Fitch, William B. Herrick, and Joseph W. Freer. Of Dr. Brainard a biographical sketch has already been given in the preceding pages. Next to him, not only as one of the four constituting the first faculty, but of equal scientific attainments, popularity as a teacher, high social standing, and length of efficient service should be mentioned Dr. James V. Z. Blaney. He was born in New Castle, Delaware, May 1, 1820; graduated at Princeton college, Ne'w Jersey, when only eighteen years of age, and immediately entered upon the study of medicine in Philadelphia. He received the degree of M. D. from the Jefferson Medical College in 1841. During his medical studies he acquired a special interest in chemistry, and for a time was an assistant in the laboratory of Professor Henry. In 1842 he visited the Mississippi valley for the purpose of selecting a suitable field in which to commence his professional career. He spent the following winter in St. Louis, doing some work for the medical department at Jefferson Barracks, and the next summer went as far north as St. Paul, Minn., but returned to Chicago while the trustees of the Eush Medical College were actively engaged in organizing a faculty. Being offered a chair of chemistry and materia medica, he accepted the same, and entered directly upon, not only the discharge of his college duties, but also those of a general practitioner of medicine. With a well disciplined mind, active nervous temperament and untiring industry, he so rapidly advanced in public estimation that in less than ten years he was the most popular lecturer on scientific subjects in thecit; was doing the most lucrative medical practice, and, with his young wife, was ever most welcome in the best circles of society. As already stated, he edited the first medical journal published in this part of the country in 1844; took an active part in organizing the Chicago Medical Society and the Illinois State Medical Society in 1850, and was elected president of the latter in 1870. Soon after the commencement of the civil war of 1861, he entered the medical department of the volunteer army and served through the war. For nearly two years he was medical director and inspector at Fortress Monroe, and at the close of the war was made medical purveyor at Chicago, with rank of Lieut. Colonel. He soon, however, resigned his connection with the army and resumed the duties of his professorship of chemistry in the college. But his health, both mental and physical, had become impaired, and in 1871 he found it necessary to resign his chair in the college, and to relinquish all professional duties. Three years later, December 11, 1874, he died in his home in Chicago and was buried with Masonic honors, he having enjoyed the highest official positions in that order. After the death of Dr. Brainard in 1866, Dr. Blaney became president of the college and continued so until his final resignation in 1871.

Dr. Graham N. Pitch, although holding a professorship in the Rush Medical College only four years and at no time becoming a resident of this city, nevertheless brought to the discharge of his college duties talents of a high order, and aided his colleagues much in giving character to the young institution. He was born in Le Roy, N. Y., in 1808; educated at Middlebury and Geneva Colleges, and graduated in medicine at the College of Physicians and Surgeons of New York in 1832. After practicing two years in his native town, he removed with the prevailing tide westward and found a home at Logansport, Ind., in July, 1834. He soon acquired a large practice and a prominent influence in the social, educational and political interests of the people of his State.

He served four terms in the Indiana State legislature prior to 1841; the same year he resigned his chair in the Rush Medical College; 1849, he served as representative in Congress from his district and continued in that capacity until 1852, and was elected United States Senator in 1856, serving until 1861. After the commencement of the civil war he organized and commanded the 46th regiment of Indiana volunteers, and performed most active and efficient military service until disabled by an accident while on duty.

He then returned to his old professional field of labor, and was afterwards professor of principles and practice of surgery in the Medical College of Indiana four years . He was a aember of the medical society of his own

State, and of the American Medical Associa. tion,and throughout his long and varied career he never lost interest in the practical duties of his profession, but maintained to the last the reputation of a successful physician and skillful surgeon. He performed every duty, public and private, with unyielding integrity and in accordance with his convictions of right. He died in his own home, surrounded by his family, November 28, 1892, aged 84 years.

Dr. William B. Herrick was born in Maine and received both his general and medical education in the schools and colleges of the East. About 1844 he became a resident of Chicago and the following year was elected professor of anatomy and physiology, a position he continued to fill with ability and faithfulness nearly ten years, when he was compelled to relinquish it on account of failing health. He was an excellent teacher of anatomy, a skillful surgeon, and not only acquired a lucrative practice, but exerted as much influence in giving reputation to the college, and in elevating the character of the profession as any one during the years of his activity. He was a frequent contributor, and, for two or three years, one of the editors, of the local medical journal. He assisted actively in the organization of the Chicago Medical Society and the Illinois State Medical Society in 1850, and was chosen the first president of the latter. He served with distinction as surgeon to one of the Illinois regiments of volunteers during the military campaign in Mexico in 1846-7; and it was, doubtless, the exposures and fatigues of that service that caused the spinal paresis that, a few years later, rendered his lower extremities useless. When he could do longer discharge his professional duties, he resigned his professorship, in 1854, and returned to his native State where, after lingering several years, he died.

Dr. Joseph W. Freer was born at Fort Ann, N. Y., July 10, 1816, and after receiving a common school education in his native town, he commenced reading medicine in the office of Dr. Lemuel C. Paine, of Clyde, N. Y., at the age of 18 years. Without completing any regular course of medical study he removed, in 1836, to Chicago, and the next year joined his parents in occupying some farm land claims on Forked Creek near Wilmington, 111. In 1844 he was married to Emeline Holden, of Hickory Creek, an adjoining town. In less than two years she was taken sick and died, leaving one child, and the following year, July, 1846, he abandoned his farming and returned to the study of medicine in the office of Dr. Daniel Brainard, of Chicago, and in the Itush Medical College, from which he graduated at the close of the session of 1848-49. He commenced practice with Dr. John A. Kennicott, of Wheeling, Cook county, 111., and in June following married Miss Catherine Gatter,a native of Germany. In 1850 he was appointed demonstrator of anatomy in the medical college, and soon after became a resident of the city.

On the retirement of Professor Herrick, Dr. Freer succeeded him, filling the chair of anatomy until 1859, when he was transferred to that of physiology and microscopic anatomy, the duties of which he contimied to discharge until his death. Soon after the commencement of the civil war he was appointed brigade surgeon, but after a few months' service ill-health compelled him to resign and return to his college and ordinary professional duties. In 1867, with his family he visited Europe, they remaining there, chiefly in Munich, for three or four years, while he himself returned home each year long enough to discharge the duties of his professorship in the college. He finally came back, bringing his family with him, in September, 1871, just in time to see most of his own property, that of the college, and the greater part of Chicago consumed in the great fire of Oct. 9, 1871. With characteristic firmness and industry, however, he commenced anew to repair his pecuniary losses and further still to increase his professional reputation and influence. He was a good surgeon as well as general practitioner, and, though not brilliant as a lecturer, he was a thorough teacher of anatomy and physiology and an earnest supporter of the honor and influence of the profession. After a severe illness he died at his own home April 12, 1877, leaving his family a fair competence.

Of those who became members of the faculty of Rush Medical College in 1859 and subsequently, and contributed largely to the prosperity of the school, but who have recently died while occupying their respective official positions, should be mentioned the names of Drs. J. Adams Allen, Moses Gunn, Joseph P. Eoss, William H. Byford and Charles T. Parkes.

Jonathan Adams Allen was born in Vermont in 1825, received a classical education in the schools and colleges of that State, and graduated in medicine in 1846. His father was an eminent general practitioner, and the son, in addition to excellent educational advantages, possessed natural mental endowments of a high order. On the organization of a medical department of the university of Michigan, he was elected to the chair of physiology and pathology and soon became one of the most popular lecturers, but, owing to some adverse circumstances, after a few years he was induced to resign his professorship and restrict himself to ordinary practice. He had, however, won a substantial reputation both as a teacher and writer, and when the chair of principles and practice of medicine in the Rush Medical College became vacant, in the spring of 1859, Dr. Allen was elected to that position. Immediately thereafter he became a resident of this city, and soon added to his previous reputation by becoming one of the most popular and influential members of the faculty. He contributed but few papers to the current medical literature and manifested only a limited interest in the support of medical society organizations, although he was one of the editors of the Chicago Medical Journal several years. His professional reputation rests mostly on his ability as a lecturer, as his early classical education coupled with a rare talent for wit and sarcasm, enabled him to embellish or illustrate almost any subject, in a way to interest his classes. A few years previous to the final failure of his health, feeling the need of relaxation from the professional routine of duty, he made an extensive trip abroad visiting most of the countries of Europe, Palestine and Egypt, which he enjoyed with all the zest of an amateur traveler.

He returned to his post of professional duty, however, and held it until his death in 1890, having served the college as professor of the practice of medicine thirty-one, and as president thirteen years.

Dr. Moses Gunn was born in East Bloomfield, N. Y., April 20, 1822. He received his general education in the schools of his native town, and pursued his medical studies in the Geneva Medical College, from which he received the degree of Doctor of Medicine in 1846. He soon after entered upon the practice of his profession in Ann Arbor, Mich., and on the organization of the medical department of the State University he was appointed professor of anatomy and surgery, and taught both of these branches during the first three years. In 1853, anatomy having been made a separate chair, leaving him only the department of surgery, he changed his residence to Detroit, but traveled regularly to Ann Arbor for the delivery of his lectures. In 1857 he became one of the editors of a monthly medical journal called the Medical Independent, to which he contributed some valuable papers on surgical subjects, and he also took an active part in t the commencement of the civil war he entered the medical department of the U. S. army and was in active service during the Peninsular campaign under General McClellan, after which he resumed his surgical practice in Detroit and his college duties in the University at Ann Arbor.

surgery in Kush Medical College, which had been made vacant by the death of Dr. Daniel Brainard the preceding autumn. He accepted the same and soon changed his residence to Chicago, and entered actively upon the discharge of his professional duties in his new and larger field for work. During the next twenty years he maintained a high reputation as an oral teacher and skillful surgical operator. He became an active member of the American Medical Association, and one year chairman of the section on surgery; also a member of the American Surgical Association and of the American Association of Genito-Urinary Surgeons, also of the local and State societies in this State. He received the degree of Master of Arts from the Geneva College in 1856, and the degree of Doctor of Laws from the Chicago University in 1877.

Personally he presented an admirable physical development, was affable and kind, yet dignified and honorable, and hence enjoyed a deserved popularity until the close of his life, on the 4th of November, 1887, aged 65 years.

Dr. Joseph P. Ross was born in Clark county, 0., January 7, 1828, received the rudiments of education in the public school of his neighborhood, and afterwards pursued more scientific studies in the Piqua Academy. He then commenced the study of medicine in the office of Dr. G. V. Dorsey, attended two annual courses of medical instruction in the Starling Medical College at Columbus, and a third course in the Ohio Medical College of Cincinnati, from which he graduated in 1853. He first commenced practice in the town of St. Mary's, 0., but before the end of the year he removed to Chicago, where he formed a partnership with Dr. Lucius P. Cheney, and soon found himself occupied with a rapidly increasing practice. He made himself acquainted with the medical schools and charitable institutions of the city, and early became connected as physician with the Protestant Orphan Asylum and the State Reform School while the latter was located on the southern border of the city. In 1856 he married the daughter of Mr. Tu thill King, one of Chicago's wealthy and most influential citizens, and soon found himself occupying an elegant residence on Washington boulevard, where he resided with his family until his death.

He took an active part in all the efforts to establish and maintain a hospital on Eighteenth street from 1858 to the great fire in 1871 ; and in 1868 was appointed professor of clinical medicine and diseases of the chest in Rush Medical College, the duties of which he continued to discharge until disabled by ill-health in 1889. Dr. Eoss was a good, plain teacher; he gave active support to medical societies ; contributed little or nothing to medical literature ; but was a man of unusual business ability, and readily interested in the educational, moral and religious interests of the people. It was his business capacity, aided by his father-in-law, that enabled him to exert more influence than any other one man, in locating and rebuilding the Eush Medical College and in organizing the Cook County Hospital after the great fire of 1871, and at a later period in building the Presbyterian Hospital. He was an official member of the Presbyterian Church, and was much respected by all classes of citizens. He died after a protracted period of confinement, June 15, 1890.

Dr. Charles T. Parkes was born in Troy, N. Y., August 19, 1842. His father was an Englishman, and moved to Chicago with his family in 1860, while the son was being educated at the University of Michigan. In 1862 Charles T. Parkes enlisted in the army as a private and after serving three years with marked efficiency he was discharged with the rank of captain. At the close of the war he joined his father's family in Chicago and entered directly upon the study of medicine with Dr. E. L. Eea, professor of anatomy in Eush Medical College, and received the degree of Doctor of Medicine from the last named institution in 1868.

of that office with unusual skill until 1875, when he was unanimously elected professor of anatomy on the resignation of Professor Eea. His minute knowledge of anatomy, coupled with his clear, concise style and enthusiasm made him an unusually successful teacher of anatomy. In the meantime he rapidly acquired a lucrative surgical practice, became an active member of the local, State and national medical societies, and contributed some good papers, the most important of which was one on " Gun-shot Wounds in the Abdomen," founded on original experiments and demonstrations. On the death of Professor Moses Gunn, in 1887, Professor Parkes was transferred to the chair of surgery, in which he displayed the same readiness, skill and enthusiasm that had given him a high degree of popularity as a teacher of anatomy. He held prominent positions in the American Surgical Association, the Surgical Section of the American Medical Association, and on the surgical taff of the Presbyterian and several other shospitals in the city. His career, however, was suddenly terminated by an attack of pneumonia, March 28, 1891.

Biographical notes regarding Dr. William H. Byford will be more appropriate in connection with the Woman's Hospital Medical College of Chicago.

recently chartered by the legislature of the State, and embracing in its board of trustees several of the more wealthy and influential men of the city. In consequence of the financial reverses that subsequently overtook Mr. Sylvester Lind, for whom the university had been named, the name was changed to Lake Forest University, which it still retains.

The board of trustees, desiring to strengthen and extend the influence of their institution, indicated to Drs. Hosmer A. Johnson, David Entter, Ealph N. Isham, and Edmund Andrews, their willingness to establish a medical department of the university on such basis regarding qualifications for admission, period of medical study, length and arrangement of the annual courses and conditions for graduation, as the medical faculty, when completed, should recommend. On March 12, 1859, the four physicians just named held a meeting in the office of Drs. Rutter and Isham, at which it was agreed to accept the propositions of the board of trustees, and Drs. Johnson, Andrews and Isham were appointed a committee to recommend such additional members of the profession as were necessary to complete the organization of a teaching faculty. This committee, well knowing that Dr. Nathan S. Davis, professor of principles and practice of medicine, and secretary of the faculty of Rush Medical College, had for fifteen years persistently advocated the placing of medical schools on the basis of an adequate preliminary education for admission, longer annual courses of college instruction, a judicious grading of the curriculum or branches of study, making a limited ifumber for each of the three years; examinations on the branches studied at the close of each annual course, and the making of practical anatomy, by dissections and attendance on hospital clinical instruction, conditions for graduation, directly informed him that their agreement with the new university fairly presented an opportunity to establish a medical school in accordance with the principles he had so long advocated, and earnestly invited him to join with them in their proposed enterprise. The same invitation was given to Dr. Wm. H. Byford, professor of obstetrics and diseases of women in the Rush Medical College, who was known to coincide with the views of Dr. Davis. After conferring freely with the president of the Rush Medical College, Professor Brainard, and other influential members of that faculty concerning the proposition to establish another medical school in this city, and receiving no encouragement that the curriculum of that school would be materially

Reinforced thus by the addition of Drs. Davis and Byford to the original committee, it was decided to organize the new school in accordance with the following propositions:

2d. That the annual term of college instruction should be five months, and that each student should be required to attend at least two such courses before becoming eligible for the degree of Doctor of Medicine. 3d. That the several branches of medical science and practice should be so graded or grouped that the more elementary branches should occupy the attention of the student during the first half of his period of study, including his first annual course in the medical school ; and the more practical branches should occupy his attention during the last half of his period of study; thus dividing the students in attendance each year into junior and senior classes according to the period of their progress in medical studies.

4th. That full examinations should be required on all the branches taught at the close of each annual course. * 5th. That as soon as the patronage of the school afforded a reasonable guarantee of success, the curriculum should be further divided into three groups, one for each of the three years of study, and that attendance on three annual college terms be then required before graduation.

Thirteen professorships were created as follows, viz. : descriptive anatomy; physiology and histology; inorganic chemistry; materia medica and therapeutics; general pathology and public hygiene; surgical anatomy and operations of surgery; principles and practice of surgery; obstetrics and diseases of women; principles and practice of medicine; medical jurisprudence; organic chemistry and toxicology; clinical medicine; and clini-

On the recommendation of the committee, the trustees completed their first medical faculty by filling the several chairs as follows: Dr. Titus Deville, professor of descriptive anatomy; Dr. J. H. Hollister, professor of physiology and histology; Dr. F. Mahla, professor of inorganic chemistry; Dr. H. A. Johnson, professor of inateria medica and therapeutics; Dr. M. K. .Taylor, professor of general pathology and public hygiene; Dr. R. N. Isham, professor of surgical anatomy and operations of surgery; Dr. Edmund Andrews, professor of principles and practice of surgery and of clinical surgery; Dr. Win. H. Byford, professor of obstetrics and diseases of women; Dr. N. S. Davis, professor of principles and practice of medicine, and of clinical medicine; H. G. Spofford, professor of medical jurisprudence; Dr. F. Mahla, professor of organic chemistry and toxicology; Dr. David Rutter, emeritus professor of obstetrics, and Dr. Horace Wardner, demonstrator of anatomy.