Jefferson Medical College - Clinic Yearbook (Philadelphia, PA)

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other surgeons of equal celebrity. He has the credit of having been the first to introduce into this country the Edinburgh qnizzing system. He was elected Professor of Surgery at twenty-nine years of age, and at once displayed extraordinary talent as a teacher, eloquent, polished and much beloved by his classes. He was equally successful as a clinical lecturer and operator. The surgical clinic, by the associated zeal and efiiciency of Miitter and Pancoast, became so famous that the amphi- theatre was crowded with practitioners from all parts of the country. Always lacking in physical vigor, though abounding in nervous energy, Dr. Miitter was forced by increasing infirmities to bring his labors to a close. His death ensued within a year, at the early age of forty-eight. The extensive Mutter Museum and its liberal endowment under the administration of the College of Physicians, serve to keep his na-me in the grateful minds of the new generations. His place was taken by S. D. Gross, M.D., recently professor in the University of Louisville, a graduate of the Jefferson Medical Col- lege off the class of 1828, who had :made a great reputation as a surgeon, writer and lecturer. The following year Dr. Huston resigned, was made IH'0fl'SNfH' 1'Illl'I'NlI8 and was succeeded by T. D. Mitchell. M.D., professor in the Medical School of Transylvania University, Lexington, Ky. In 1858 the faculty was bereft of one of its most valued members by the death, in harness, of Dr. J. K. Mitchell. Beginning his scientific career as Professor of Chemistry in the Franklin Institute, he published original researches on osmosis, the solvents for India rubber and the tests for arsenic. Later he was the author of important papers on medical topics such as the spinal origin of rheumatism. His most notable contribution was his persistent advocacy of the view then en- tirely new, but which is now universally accepted. that malarial fevers, yellow fever and cholera are produced by the presence of low vegetable organisms in the body. On his death the professorship of Practice of Medicine was conferred on Samuel H. Dickson. M.D., recently of the University of South Caro-lina. When the Civil War broke out, as two- iifths of the class usually came from the Southern States, it is not surprising that in two years the roll of students shrank from 630 fthe largest class which up to that time had attended any medical college in this eountryj, to only 275. The last course of lectures delivered by Dr. C. D. Meigs was in the session of 1861-62. As 1H'UfffNNOI' f'HIf'l'i1NS for that year he took the place of the new appointee, Professor Keating, whose health would not permit him to take the chair. In the following year the chair of obstetrics was permanently filled by Dr. Ellerslie Wallace, some time demonstrator of anatomy. For twenty years Dr. Meigs had been eminent among the 25

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poverty and domestic contention, like a child that has been delivered painfully and survived dentition, the eruptive fevers and the dangers of puberty, the school had reached the maturity of its powers. VVith the faculty of 1841 came the reign of peace. order and good fortune. There were no changes in tl1e faculty for fifteen years. The confidence of the public and of the profession was given in full measure to the friendly body of talented men, and as a result the school was prosperous to a degree surpassing any other medical school of its time. Prominent among tl1e features contributing to its usefulness and popularity must he ranked its clinic. The virtual founder of the Col- lege, Dr. McClellan, whose name is intimately associated with every phase of its early history, was also the chief agent in creating its clinic. Having cultivated a' charity practice at his ohice he easily supplied the infirmary at the College building, and on May 9th, 1825, before the first session, he performed the first operation in its amphitheatre. NVhen the new building was erected in 1828 a small room in front, with an entrance under the staircase, was used by hin1 as a dispensary for his patients. He would draw upon these for illustrating his lectures. From such small beginnings the clinic grew, under the new faculty, to such dimensions that in a single year, 1856, no less than 802 medical and 813 surgical cases were treated, and capital operations of the rarest kind were performed before the class by such adroit operators as Pancoast and Miitter. The accomimodations at the College l1ad been so poor that as late as 1841 even those who had undergone serious operations were sent to their homes in carriages. In 1844 two rooms were rented over a shop at the southwest corner of Tenth and Sansom streets and grave cases were treated here after operations. The anesthetic power of ether was first exhibited in Phila- delphia by Dr. Miitter at the clinic, December 23Ci. 1846. About 1849 the surgical clinic used two floors of a building adjoining the College on the north. Later this was remodeled to accommodate hfteen patients. In these narrow quarters the clinic was maintained until the hospital was built in 1877. To accommodate the larger classes, in 1846 more ground on the north side was purchased for a new entrance and stairway, the lecture rooms were enlarged and the old gable front altered by the erection of a classic portico and pediment. On the death of the President, Rev. Ashbel Green, in 1848. the Rev. C. C. Cuyler served for one year and tl1en was succeeded by Hon. Edward King, LL.D., who officiated until 1873. 1 The failing health of Prof. Miitter in 1856 caused him to resign. He was elected IH'0fi'8S0 f'l'll'I'ifN-'- He had been assistant to Du Puytren in the Paris hospitals, and while abroad had worked for months under 24

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associates who had given so much lustre to the history of the College. Famous as a scholar, eloquent lecturer and writer on obstetrical sub- jects, he was at home in the arts of painting and modeling, which he used with great dexterity to illustrate his lectures. At his resignation the faculty made a minute which said in part that they parted from him with intense and enduring regret. Never could anyone have more closely applied himself to the execution of the responsible duties that have devolved upon him. In 1864 the chair of chemistry lost its occupant, Dr. Franklin Bache, the great-grandson of Benjamin Franklin, best known as one of the authors of VVood and Bache's United States Dispensatoryf' His eulogist, Dr. George B. Wood, considered him an extraordinary man, who worked diligently and thus did much for tl1e public good- -presenting to the young n1en an example of all that is morally excellent, lovely and of good report in mankind. He was succeeded by B. Howard Rand, M.D., a practiced lecturer 011 chemistry in different medical institutions. After eight years of his connection with the College Dr. Thomas D. Mitchell died in 1865. In his endeavors for the well-being and the instruction of the students he acted conscientiously and harmoniously with his colleagues, who held him in high esteem. His successor in the chair of materia medica was John B. Biddle, M.D., an accomplished lecturer who had won popularity as professor of that branch in the Pennsylvania Medical College. In the session of 1866-67 the clinical opportunities were much en- larged by the establishment of a daily clinic, the medical cases being allotted to the skillful consideration' of Dr. J. M. DaiCosta as lecturer on clinical medicine. In tl1e same year more extended facilities for learning the specialties of medicine and surgery were provided in a summer course. The work of the faculty was supplemented by Drs. W. H. Pancoast, S. W. Gross, J. Aitken Meigs, R. J. Levis and F. F. Maury. Ill the following year this list was augmented by the names of Drs. J, H. Brinton and W. VV. Keen. ' After filling for twenty-tive years the chair of institutes of medicine and for fourteen the ollice of Dean, in 1868 Dr. Robley Dunglison was compelled to resign by the ill-health wl1icl1 in the next year caused his death. The Trustees accepted his resignation with expressions of re- gret and elected him 0lllf.'l'il'lls prufe.wn'. In him was a rare combina- tio11 of varied culture and vast erudition, made useful by an industry which produced the best medical dictionary of its day, copious con- tributions to journalism and text-books on physiology, hygiene, materia medica and the 'practice of medicine. The honors awarded him at home and abroad gave him a prestige that lent impressiveness to the 26