SALIVATION ARMY—HOT WATER AND BLEEDING—A LEARNED PROFESSION—MEDICAL SOCIETIES— FIRST PHYSICIANS—LIST OF REGISTERED PHYSICIANS—COUNTY MEDICAL SOCIETIES—ETC.
MEDICINE is considered one of the learned professions, in its purposes, certainly, where broadly understood and pursued, it approaches something higher. Just now as it branches into specialties, as is everything in life, it is probably on the road to the accomplishment of the high purpose for which it came into existence. Surgery and medicine are rapidly becoming as distinct as if entirely different professions. Then here, as in religion, new "faiths" arise and doubters can now begin to gain a hearing. A dissenter may himself always be a bad man, but generally the results from the life of one that is strong and bold, are for the good of mankind. What do we care now whether, personally, Luther was a good or bad man, what we are chiefly concerned in are the results following his life and work. It is pitiful to hear of the brutalities, or at least mistaken cruelties, of the practice of medicine a short half century ago. There was one barbarism that was so definite in its wanton cruelty that it deserves a place in history. It was the physician's art of "salivating" the patient. This torture was caused by broken doses of calomel and then giving acids. All "to see if the secretions were still going on." Sometimes a patient would have a great blister applied, if it acted, then that would indicate to the man of science that the patient was not "too dead to skin." These things would indicate that if the ancient men of pills know little they had great curiosity as to how the patient was getting along. Another ancient diabolism was the thumb lancet that every doctor, among many others, had always on hand to bleed every patient; no matter what the symptoms—bleed. These little points in the history of medicine should be duly impressed upon professional fledgelings, who know so much at the start as they come fresh from the books. Precedent in medicine, as in all professions, should be cautiously received. In lawmaking it only hits the purse, or makes slaves of the people, but in medicine a mistake of that kind brings death. The highest type of good to one's follow-man is one of the possibilities in the practice of medicine. It may never go beyond its present stage of being largely experimenting in each given case. It is possible it can not in the nature of things, become an exact science. But the day will come when the physician will surely be the man of all men, when his presence at the bedside will be like angels' visits in its good cheer and real help toward a cure. Nature must always be the real doctor, the physician the friend and helpful nurse. As it is, now the physician is looked to to care; much of this is his own fault; then again, sometimes ignorance can only be doctored by a little sleight-of -hand or humbug. The one fact that confronts the man of medicine is that it is a law of nature that no two things can be exactly alike. We can simply take them as approaching a likeness and proceed accordingly.
It is a remarkable story now to tell there was a physician who made a professional visit here in 1755. In that year Christian Fredrick Post, the Indian missionary while here had his leg so severely hurt by accident that an Indian runner was dispatched to Bethlehem and brought Dr. J. M. Otto. The medical man remained a week with his patient. There is probably little doubt but that this was the first medical visit ever paid in this part of the State.
[p.419] Dr. William Hooker Smith, Dr. Joseph Sprague and Dr. Gustin were the earliest physicians in the valley. They were all in the battle of 1778, and the last-named gentleman received a bullet through his hat.
Dr. Nathaniel Giddings located in Pittston township in 1783, and pursued his profession for more than half a century. Dr. Matthew Covell, previous to the present century, located permanently in Wilkes-Barre. Dr. Samuel Baldwin resided part of the time in Wilkes-Barre, and afterward in Kingston. Dr. Oliver Bigelow was located at Forty Fort, and left Wyoming eighty years ago. Dr. Crissey, one of the early physicians, was located at Plymouth. Dr. Samuel Hayden lived in Huntington township, and afterward in Braintrim. He was a very successful practitioner, and a very eccentric man. Between 1800 and 1810 Drs. Covell and George W. Trott were practicing, in Wilkes-Barre, Drs. Baldwin and Eleazar Parker in Kingston, and Drs. Gaylord and Crissey in Plymouth.
From 1810 to 1820 Drs. Covell, Baldwin, W. B. Giddings, Gaylord, Parker, Asa C. Whitney, and Dr. John Smith, were practicing in Wyoming valley.
Dr. Silas Robinson, who died in Providence, was the oldest physician in the Lackawanna valley. He commenced practice in 1811.
Dr. Crystell came to Huntington about 1800. He married Miss Stookey, of Salem. Dr. Griswold located near where is Town Hill and practiced twenty years. Dr. John Weston succeeded Dr. Gaylord, but eventually went to New York. The other early physicians in Huntington were Drs. Pickering, Jones, Davenport, Crawford and Hayden. Dr. Sideney H. Warner located in Huntington in 1833, and for nearly fifty years was in the practice. One of his daughters became the wife of Dr. Clinton H. Bacon, of Huntington.
Dr. William Barrett practiced sevon years at Cambra. He came from Gettysburg and was one of the first to go there in 1863 after the battle to attend the wounded.
Dr. Mason Carey was one of the first physicians in Salem township.
In 1846 Dr. L. C. White located in Shickshinny. The next year he was joined by his brother-in law, Dr. Charles Parker. The latter practiced until his death—aged eighty. Dr. White removed to Mississippi. One of the old Practitioners in Shickshinny is Dr. William D. Hamilton. later arrivals are Drs. Kammerly, Dodson, Chapin, Rogers, Harrison, Kingsbury, Betterly, Sutliff, Sautere, Harvey, Bonham, Bacon, Hice, Boston, Lockhart and Davidson.
Dr. Charles E. Gaylord, whose brother, Lient. Asher Gaylord, fell in the Wyoming battle, settled in Huntington soon after the cessation of Indian hostilities. His only child and son, Henderson Gaylord, became one of the county's prominent and wealthy men.
Dr. Anna Moore, formerly Mrs. Heath, was an early settler in Plymouth. Col. Wright in his history says he remembers her as a "fat, waddling old lady." She successfully practiced until 1814, when Dr. Moreland came and established himself, and then Dr. Ebenezer Chamberlain settled in Plymouth in 1816 and was in the practice until his death, 1866.
Luzerne County Medical Society.—On March 4, 1861, pursuant to call, a convention of physicians was held at the courthouse in Wilkes-Barre for the purpose of forming a medical society. At this convention there were present Drs. P. C. H. Rooney, of Hazleton; N. P. Moody, Lehman; H. Ladd, C. Marr, William Green, B. H. Throop, Scranton; G. Urquhart, W. F. Dennis, E. R. Mayer, C. Wagner, E. B. Miner, Wilkes-Barre; R. H. Tubbs, Kingston; S. Lawton, Pittston;, A. L. Cressler and J. R. Casselbery, Conyngham.
The following were chosen officers: B. H. Throop, president; E. R. Mayer and A. Cressler, vice-presidents; G. Urquhart, secretary, and R. H, Tubbs, treasurer.
The following gentlemen have served the society as president in the order named: Drs. N. F. Dennis, S. Lawton, Jr., R. H. Tubbs, John Smith, A. L. Cressler, J. B. [p.420] Crawford, Horace Ladd, S. Lawton, Jr., Edward R. Mayer, James B. Lewis, Horace Ladd, E. Bulkely, C. Underwood, Charles Burr, E. R. Mayer, J. B. Crawford, J. E. Ross, J. A. Murphy, Frank Corss, A. D. Tewksbury, C. A. Spencer, J. B. Crawford, R. Davis, Lewis H. Taylor, S. W. Trimmer, W. G. Weaver, C. P. Knapp, J. L. Miner, G. W. Guthrie, W. H. Faulds.
Officers: President, J. T. Howell; vice-presidents, L. L. Rogers and Charles Long; secretary and treasurer, Maris Gibson; executive committee: Drs. A. G. Fell, T. A. James, L. I. Shoemaker, G. T. Matlack and J. S. Hileman; censors: G. W. Guthrie, H. Taylor and W. R. Longshore; has sixty-five members.
The Luzerne County Homoeopathic society was organized about 1866 and was in existence about two years. Dr. A. C. Stevens was president, Dr. William Brisbin secretary and treasurer.
The law requiring physicians and accoucheurs to register went into effect in 1881, and the records show the following:
Henry C. Ames, John Andrews, Franklin F. Arndt, Charles A. Ayers, George R. Andreas, Alfred Atkinson, Daniel Andrews, Rosanna Appleton, William Allcut.
Jonathan E. Bulkley, A. A. Barton, Emanuel L. Betterly, John J. Breese, Oliver H. Brown, Elmer E. Barton, Frank M. Brundage, Henry C. Bacon, Robert B. Brown, Jeremiah K. Bowers, Boordman P. Backus, P. S. Brewster, William Brown, S. L. Brown, William Barton Brader, Walter A. Brooks, Charles Seidler Beck, Charles J. Barrett, Augustus A. Bancroft, Thomas G. Barrett, Thomas Brace, Lucinda Barnes, John W. Beck, Herman Bloch, Horace Edward Brayton, John H. Bowman, Julius A. Bullard, James Brooks, Jacob F. Briggs, Augustus P. Bissell, George W. Bennett, Charles W. Bawer, Emerson K. Brundage, Ephraim N. Banks, Robert Blakeslee, Edgar F. Bonham, Jefferson Biehl, Joseph L. Bower, Clarence L. Boston, James F. Beckwith, William J. Butler, Frampton H. Brown, Dilbert Barney, Elliott T. Brady, George E. Bush, Peter M. Barber, Lemon P. Boston, Martin J. Backinstoe, Benjamin Beran, John Adams Burlington, George C. Brown, Ernest W. Buckman.
Thomas H. Christian, John M. Cressler, D. Wilmot Conner, Fredrick Corss, Lloyd S. Creasy, Chauncey S. Carey, James W. Cole, Charles N. Cox, Thomas H. Carey, Harvey Croskey, John Campbell, Charles Lee Codding, Charles B. Constable, Charles W. Carle, Michael A. Carroll, Edwin A. Cuney, Peter J. Connell Joseph H. Cloud, Sarah J. Coe, Sidney A. Campbell, Philip B. Cook, Horace G. Calley, Jesse R. Casselberry, John B. Crawford, Mercur B. Croll, Bennett Cobleigh, Thomas O. Clingman, George A. Clark, Thomas P. Casselberry, H. B. Casselberry, Willard Cyrus, Alonzo L. Cussler, Minnie Cohen, Daniel W. Collins, Henry G. Cease.
Alfred G. Davison, James W. Davenport, Benjamin H. R. Davenport, Ciciro H. Drake, Jacob Doetsch, E. L. Dieffenderfer, George W. Dreher, Theodore A. Dobson, Catharine A. Downing, J. F. Dively, William W. Dyson, Edward M. Davis, Daniel W. Dodson, Oliver L. Delancy, Reese Davis, Adolph E. Dobienz, David H. Davis, William G. Dietz, John T. J. Dazle, Robert G. Davis, F. S. Douglass, Edgar B. Doolittle, Fletcher B. Dodson, William Deepench, Moses D. DeWitt, Boyd Dodson, Ann Davis, William F. Danzer, Rueben O. Davis, Ira J. Dunn, Anthony F. Dougherty, William O. Davies, Mary Ann Davis, Willard O. Dalton, Thomas E. Davis, W. J. Devoe, Maria R. De Madend.
David E. Evans, Edgar J. Engleman, Mary Everett, John R. Espy, Lewis Edwards, Dan Evans, Philip Eckman, Evan M. Evans, Evan Evans, Oscar V. Everett.
William H. Faulds, Edward C. Fletcher, Ellen Fitzpatrick, Alexander G. Fell, Benjamin F. French, Richard B. Fruit, John Fruit, Henry C. Fuller, William G. Fulton.
George W. Guthrie, Edward Gumpert, William C. Gayley, Peter John Gibbons, [p.421] Anne Griffiths, P. J. Gillespie, Anne Griffiths, John B. Grover, Richard H. Gibbons, Samuel A. Gibson, Maris Gibson, Sigismund, Gruenberg, D. Gumpert, James W. Geis, DeWitt C. Guthrie, N. Gregorio.
Herman Hirschfield, Samuel L. Halley, Mason B. Hughes, Richard H. Hutchins, William L. Hortman, Patrick J. Higgins, Walter A. M. Huebner, May Hill, Harry Hakes, Olin F. Harvey, Reginald T. Hylton, John T. Howell, William G. Hamilton, Edward C. Hice, Eugene S. Hays, W. R. Hand, Willet E. Hughes, J. Willis Hill, I. C. Harter, Peter Hines, F. L. Hollister, Lloyd N. Horwitz, Philip F. Hubler, Mary Hutchinson, Charles H. Hare, Webber L. Hutchinson, William H. Hacker, John Hislop, E. H. S. Hutchinson, George E. Hill, Eliza J. Hamilton, Jacob F. Hill, D. A. W. Huebner, H. V. Hower, John S. Hileman, Jane Howell, Elmer S. Howell, Glennis E. Humphrey, Oscar E. Hoffman, Nelson D. Haskill, Jerre Hicks Hughes.
George Augustus Ingram.
Mary James, David T. Jones, F. W. Johnson, Thomas A. James, James A. Joy, Ann Jones, Jane Jones, Mary G. Jones, Rachel Jones, Jane Jones, Theodore M. Johnson, John H. Jones, Sylvester A. Jones, George L. Jolly, Fredrick C. Johnson, Mary Jones, Ellen James, Anna Jarvis, Barbara John, Emily James.
Edwin F. Kamerly, Avery Knapp, Effenger R. Kline, Dana W. Kingsbury, John Kaufman, John Stewart Kulp, Henry Kunkle, Catharine Kahl, Charles P. Knapp, Jacob C. Kisner, George H. Kirwan, William Pete Kenedy, Henry M. Kellar, Rosana Keller, Gere M. Kuhary, Edwin F. Kemerly, Patrick H. Kearny, Anna Gertrude Koehler.
William E. Lloyd, A. A. Lape, William R. Longshore, Harvey K. Leanord, James G. Loing, John W. Leckie, Charles Long, Henry M. Long, David H. Lake, Charles A. Long, Elizabeth Lewis, Bridge N. Lambert, Richard Lloyd, Walter Lathrop, Daniel H. Lockard, Austin J. Louder, John S. Lampman, James R. Lewis, Walter L. Lea, H. P. Lorman, Franklin M. Lanbach, Robert B. Lamont, Horace Lindsey, Frank P. Lenahan, Thomas F. Lynatt, Rachel B. Fain, Otto Loeb, William M. Lewis.
Samuel Marsden, G. W. McKee, Edward R. Mayer, Thomas J. Mays, William G. Morris, Miles F. McTaggart, William J. McCausland, Charles E. Moore, D. V. Mott, David C. Mebane, Ira W. Marstiller, John V. Mattison, William F. Mahon, Josiah J. Myers, Peter C. Manley, Robert Murdock, John P. McDonald, Joshua L. Miner, Joseph A. Murphy, Isaac H. Moore, John M. Mulholland, Frank L. McKee, John C. Morris, John C. Morgan, Franklin Monroe, John B. Mahan, Pearson A. Meck, Granville F. Matluck, Daniel W. Mears, John F. McWilliam, Jason H. Moore, Dennis G. McCarthy, Charles B. McClure, Thomas H. Messerole, Ann Mooney, Sarah McCartney, Fredrick M. Miller, Charles J. McFadden, Edward McGeehan, Martha Morgans, Bridgot McMahon, Aston Hugh Morgan, Adams McKnight, Maria Rosa Modena.
Henry M. Neale, John H. Nixon, William V. D. Nichols, Ellen Norris.
Walter O'Neal, Edward G. O'Malley, James O'Malley, Mary Ann Owens, Alexander P. O'Malley, George S. Oldmixon, Anna R. O'Brien, Mary Orme.
John S. Pfouts, John H. Peacock, O. F. Person, Hubert F. Praeger, A. Parfrey, O. C. Payne, William Petty, Lemis W. Prevost, H. M. Parvin, James M. Peebles, Albert T. Paffenberger, Landon S. Pace, William F. Pier, Philip P. Pfeiffer, Weston F. Piatt, John H. Potter, Charles R. Parke, Charles S. Potts, John A. Person, Sarah Jane Phoenix, M. F. Pilgrim.
Paul Alexander Quick.
James C. Rippard, L. L. Rogers, Albert G. Rickard, William Green Robbins, Conrad S. Reynolds, John W. Root, David L. Ross, Herman S. Rooker, Jane Rees, Joel M. Rodgers, Isaac E. Ross, James N. Rice, Everett W. Rutter, Abner P. Beeher, Milton A. Robinson, W. A. L. Riegel, Orian S. Rhodes, Susan Rourke, Samuel A. Ruffner, Charles H. Richard, Nathaniel Ross. [p.422] Reuben M. Shobert, Calvin A. Spencer, Charles W. Spayde, Oscar E. Shultz, John Strand, Charles T. Steck, Jacob L. Sherman, William H. H. Sharp, Nelson Stiles, Dennis F. Smith, Thomas J. Salt, Walter S. Stewart, Lewis B. Smith, Wilbur I. Stevens, William D. Sharer, J. H. Sandel, John G. Schuller, Levi J. Shoemaker, William E. Stiles, W. R. Simmons, William O. Smith, Jacob A. Singer, Samuel B. Sturdevant, Albert C. Snyder, Peter C. Shire, John G. Sperling, G. B. Seamans, Frank Schilcher, Ephraim A. Santee. John G. Smythe, Lawrence H. Smith, F. H. Sinning, C. C. Smith, James Stevenson, Ezra J. Schlicher, Justus Sutliff, Albert W. Sovereen, Clarence M. Selfridge, C. H. Strong, Thomas Stroup, Warren W. Strange, L. M. Stoeckle, H. J. Sinclair.
Lewis H. Taylor, Edgar R. Troxell, George W. Trimble, Samuel W. Trimmer, William Taylor, Simeon D. Treible, George Seeley Thompson, John J. Timlin, Anderson D. Tewkesburry, Evan J. Thomas, Robert H. Tubbs, J. C. Thompson, Albert D. Thomas, William Theis, Thomas B. Thomas, Harry W. Trimmer, Owen E. Thomas, Rapheal Tita, Richard P. Taylor, George Urguhart, Mary Underwood, Thomas Theel, George V. Tobin, Augustus Tropold, Gideon Underwood.
J. P. Vought, William F. Vanloon, Milton D. Van Thorn, William T. Van Vredenburg, William Van Doren.
William C. Weaver, Charles H. Wilson, James J. Walsh, Walter Windson, John L. Wentz, David H. Wentz, Lorenz E. Weiss, John Wilbur, James H. Wilson, Evan Welnam, H. M. Wenner, C. E. Wagner, Harry L. Whitney, Chester A. Wilkinson, Silva White, Joel Whary, Richard J. Williams, Neri B. Williams, Francis T. R. Wagner, Marshall G. Whitney, George S. Wentz, E. M. C. Wallace, Manassah Whitebread, Henry C. Wheeler, Elias Wildman, Jerome B. Weida, E. L. Wilkinson, T. D. Worden, T. D. Worden, S. H., Wolf, William H. Wallace, Mary Watkins, Frances Wiedner, E. C. O. Wagner, Thomas N. Williams, George L. Wentz.
Alfred F. Yetter, Pearson William Yard, M. S. S. Yanny.
Robert H. Zanner, G. A. Zimmerman.