History of Davenport and Scott Co.

CHAPTER XVII.

THE MEDICAL PROFESSION.

THE PIONEER PHYSICIANS OF SCOTT COUNTY - THEIR HARDSHIPS AND SELF-RELIANCE - MANY OF THEM PRACTICAL MEN OF GREAT FORCE OF CHARACTER - MINUTES OF THE BYGONE MEETINGS - THE SOCIETY HAS TAKEN ADVANCED GROUND WHILE CONSERVATIVE IN CHARACTER - DR. PRESTON WRITES.

(Pictures included with this chapter are: James Thorington, Mayor, Congressman, First District School Teacher, Harvey Leonard, Mayor and Long Time Sheriff, Dr. E. S. Barrows - When he began to practice medicine in Scott County, the nearest physician on the south was at Burlington, on the north at Dubuque, Judge W. L. Cook, Judge of the County Court in early days.)

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

DR. E. S. BARROWS WRITES.

"In compliance with your reqest as the first and oldest physician of Scott county, Iowa, I will proceed to say something of the medical profession from the early part of 1836 to an indefinite period, traveling toward 1860. If I say too much relating ot self, it will be from a matter of necessity, for I alone, the first year and a half, represented the profession west of the Mississippi for 100 miles north and south and 3,000 miles west. Therefore be it observed I should not have anything to talk about but territory, without people or doctors, and nothing at all, leaving out myself as one person answering to make up my quota of the social aggregate forming the early history of that domain now enclosed by lines giving bounds to Scott county.

"Whoever esseys to narrate past events of the world will find that no nation can be found which was so rude that it was neither blessed nor cursed, as the case might be, with a profession proposing to deal with the ailings of the body, originally emanating directly from that other class of pretenders who assume to care more particularly for ailments of the soul. All through the course of human destiny both professions seem to have formed an essential element of the cultivated and the uncultivated, the civilized and the uncivilized, going to make up the human aggregate. Health and duration of life may be considered the result of intelligent action, and as there is a general desire to preserve the one and prolong the other beyond the accidents of time and place, it seems but reasonable that the early settlers of Scott county should have encouraged a profession which assumes to give the community the benefits of the accumulated medical skill of all the preceding ages. And who should have been the first to demonstrate the fact that such wisdom was at hand, and ready for business?

"With becoming modesty (if not becoming it is at least consistent with the pretentions of that class of professional men who deal mostly with the hidden secrets of human ills), that first doctor, the first between Dubuque and Burlington, located at Rockingham early in 1836, is the writer of this article.

"In the autumn of 1836 the first physician who drew a lancet on a prostrate patient was located at Rockingham, and the patient was Antoine LeClaire, of Davenport, who was seriously ill with inflammatory rheumatism. His physician was Dr. Bardwell, of Stephenson, now Rock Island, a reputable physician and politician from Indiana, who subsequently located and successfully pursued the practice of medicine in the northeast corner of Buffalo township. After two years' residence he sought more room and a better field for work, at Marion, Linn county, Iowa, where, after a few years, he died lamented. I was called in council with Dr. Bardwell, November 15, 1836, and hastened to Mr. LeClaire's residence, located where the freight depot now stands. Found the doctor present, waiting a little impatiently, and received a formal introduction. Dr. Bardwell expressed a desire to proceed to business, for he had engagements elsewhere, 'not however, professional,' he said, 'as you may see by these articles' (simultaneously raising with each hand a light shoe from both side pockets of his coat); 'there is going to be a dance tonight and I have the honor of being a manager.'

"The engagement referred to was a formal celebration of the opening of the first hotel which Davenport was ever favored with, or perhaps that other word, cursed, would be as appropriate, since the locality soon became known as 'Brimstone-Corner.' Old settlers whose dates go back to that period, when that name is mentioned do not become comfused as to the whereabouts of the locality. If the mind of a patriot of the Missouri war loses its serenity when he communes with himself, and perhaps fights over the battles of that day, when the first and last drill of the Scott county volunteers paraded on the commons, between the new hotel and the river, the glory achieved then and there will fade into a conviction that this was a new country and the less said by way of apology for that peculiar manner by which we formed new friendships out of very raw material the better it will be, even for 'Brimstone-Corner.' The building is occupied at present as Steffen's headquarters for lime, cement, sewer pipe, etc.

ANTOINE LE CLAIRE A PATIENT.

"To return to the subject of my first patient, Dr. Bardwell asked me to give Mr. LeClaire my attention, by a system of prognosis best know to the trade. To quote his language, 'I have been examining him for about a week and have come to the conclusion that it is a plain case of abdominal dropsy, and, thinking it expedient to be in time, I have brought along my box of instruments with the intent of relieving him of a gallon or two of water by tapping.' I proceeded to the examination of the case and asked if I might see Mrs. LeClaire. She came into the room and gave me the history of the case. Then the council commenced, by my saying, to my mind it was an unmistakable case of inflammatory rheumatism, and the tapping had better be done in the arm. The difference of my opinion so far as related in the diagnosis did not seem to create any surprise, but my suggestion of bleeding astonished greatly. He asked if I was candid in my view of the subject. 'Most certainly I am,' was my reply. Dr. Bardwell then spoke thusly: 'Mr. LeClaire, here are two doctors, one may be taken and the other left, which will you have?' Mr. LeClaire's reply was, 'Dr. Burrows may bleed me.' I did bleed him and Dr. Bardwell was kind enough to hold the bowl, and then hurried off to the ball. From that day forward to the day of his death, twenty-six years later, the patient was mine.

"I made twelve visits, in as many days. The sequel was most satisfactory, for within ten days from my last visit Mr. LeClaire rode on horseback from Davenport to Rockingham, and without asking for my bill, handed me a handful of silver, interspersed with gold pieces, saying, 'I will pay you the balance some other time,' then bade me good-by, for he had not dismounted, and rode off. The sum given me was $1.50. He did pay the balance, besides contributing annual payments for small service. On my removal to Davenport, in the spring of 1843, he presented me with a deed of out lot No. 31, then called four-acre lots, saying to me: 'If you don't want that lot, sell it; I felt that I had never paid you for your services.' I attempted an acknowledgment, but he said, 'Don't say anything, for I owed it to you.' I did sell the lot subsequently for $1,000. It was the one upon which Sargent's row is built. The population on January 1, 1837, of the domain now known as Scott county, was below 200, after which immigration set in with great rapidity.

"During this summer Dr. A. C. Donaldson, from Wilkesbarre, Pennsylvania, located in Davenport as the first resident physician. He was well qualified for a successful practice of the profession; was eminently upright in thought and act and deserved a better recompense for his medical ability and his moral worth than the world afforded him. He remained in Davenport but two years, or perhaps three, removed to St. Louis, and subsequently to California, where death overtook him.

"During the summer and autumn of 1837 a few cases of bilious remitting fever occurred, but yielded readily to treatment. The winter following several cases of bilious pneumonia demanded prompt attendance and special vigilance in the observance of changes indicative of greater danger. These were the diseases, and the principal ones, which called for medical help up to the year 1849. Since that year, or from that period, the summer and autumnal fevers ceased to be epidemical and pneumonia became less frequent. It may be well to mention here that the fevers of 1849, after the third of fourth day, assumed a typhoid character, the remission hardly observable, and the nervous depression occasioning great anxiety. Old citizens well remember that year, for in it occurred the death of David Hoge and Miss Sophia Fisher.

"I think it was Dr. Rush, of Philadelphia,-a great name up to about 1825-who said the lancet was a 'sheet-anchor' in all inflammatory diseases. So it might have been said of quinine, as used in remittent and intermittent fevers, in both the Mississippi and Missouri valleys from 1830 up to 1850. During that period 120,000 square miles west of the Mississippi and north of St. Louis became populated, and all of it more or less malarious. In some of these years the demand for quinine was so great that the supply in the American market became exhausted. 'Sappinton's pills' were indirectly the power which worked steamboats up the river from 1835 to 1843. They were, verily, the 'sheet-anchor,' not only aboard but in many households. Dr. Sappington was a regular allopathic aboard boats but in many households. Dr. Sappington was a regular allopathic physician of considerable ability, residing up the Missouri rive, who thought it would be a benefaction to the new civilization of the west to prepare quinine, ready to be taken, in the form of pills. The boxes contained four dozen each, and the pills two grains each. The direction on the box was to take from two to twenty, as the urgency of the case seemed to require, without reference to the stage of the paroxysm.

EARLY PHYSICIANS.

"Dr. Thomas J. Saunders, recognized by the profession as a scholarly M. D., graduated at the Pennsylvania university in 1843, to please his father. The law was his choice as a profession; but as that did not accord with the moral sentiments of a highly worthy disciple of George Fox, he acceded to his father's wishes and became an M. D., practiced medicine for a while in New Jersey, and traveled for a time in Europe. After his return, in connection with his practice in New Jersey, he was prominently engaged as a politician, serving several terms as secretary of the senate. In 1855 Dr. Saunders came to Davenoport and practiced his profession successfully. His ability for public service has for the last twenty years kept him engaged in its employ. He was secretary of the constitutional convention of 1857; was member of the senate from Scott county; served four years as paymaster in the army which handled the rebellion. For the last few years has been engaged for the war department in assessing damages, or taking evidence to that effect, caused by Sherman's army in east Tennessee. But with all these diversitities of engagements he has never ceased to entertain a respect, together with an interest kept up, for the medical profession.

"Dr. E. Fountain and Dr. J. M. Adler came to Davenport in 1854, from Aspinwall, on the isthmus, where they had been engaged for two or three years as surgeons of the Panama Railroad Company.

"Dr. Fountain was from West Chester county, New York, a graduate of the College of Physicians & Surgeons, New York, in 1851; was most estimable for his many moral virtues and fully competent, and master of his profession for his term of experience. In 1861 he became infatuated with the supposed medical virtues of an article called chlorate of potash, which he claimed to have used with great success, and to confirm his own conscientious opinions of its action on the system experimented upon himself rather than his patients, took an overdose on March 27th, and died from its effects within forty-eight hours.

"Dr. Adler, as partner of Dr. Fountain, continued the practice until 1865, then removed to Philadelphia, where he continues at present in a large and successful practice.

"Dr. C. C. Perry, from Sandy Hill, New York, came in 1852 or 1853, practiced for a few years, then devoted his attention wholly to a scientific branch of the profession which he has made a specialty, and at present is engaged in exploring southern California. As a botanist Dr. Perry possesses a celebrity to which he is worthily entitled, and second to very few.

"Dr. ______ McCarn came to Davenport about 1860, remained a year or two, went to Memphis, Tennessee, and died with yellow fever in 1867."

In the north part of the county there settled the following practitioners, as furnished by Drs. Gamble and Knox:

Dr. Zebulon Metcalf, regular, from New York, came here in 1841, practiced three years, and removed to Clinton county.

Dr. Zachariah Grant practiced here in 1835, died about 1844. Dr. Nelson Plummer, irregular, came here in 1842, and removed to Farmington in 1848, and now resides there. Dr. Philander Chamberlin, irregular, commenced practice here in 1844; he removed from here in 1848 and now resides in Oregon. Dr. James Gamble, regular, graduate of Missouri Medical college in 1847, came to LeClaire in July of the same year, and has been and is now in active practice here. He is the oldest practicing physician in the county. Dr. Sylvenus Rowe, irrgular, commenced pactice here in 1846. He removed to Michigan where he now resides. Dr. Austin, irregular, came here from New Jersey in 1848, and practiced two years, then returned to New Jersey. Dr. William P. Hills, regular, came here in 1850 from Pennsylvania, practiced about five years and now resides in Clinton county, Iowa. Dr. James Van Horne, regular, came here in 1853, from Pennsylvania, practiced about two years and now resides on a farm near Cordova, Illinois. Dr. S. W. Tret, irregular, came here in 1856, practiced until 1863, now resides in Denver, Colorado. Dr. W. F. Hays, homeopathist, came here in 1857, practiced about five years, and now resides on a farm in Clinton county, Iowa. Dr. T. S. Smith, regular, came to Pleasant Valley in 1860, practiced several years, and now resides on a farm in Pleasant Valley. Dr. F. W. Bellfield, regular, located in Valley City in 1861, and practiced there until his death in 1873. Dr. E. D. Allen, regular, located in Pleasant Valley in 1879, practiced two years and now resides in Madison county, Iowa. Dr. Barnes, irregular, located here in 1867, and remained about one year. He now resides in Henry county, Illinois. Dr. Bradway, irregular, came here in 1855, practiced two years and now resides in Cass county, Iowa. Dr. Taylor, irregular, came here in 1870, practiced two years, and died in 1875. Dr. Brown, irregular, came here in 1869, practiced four years and now resides in Guthrie county, Iowa. Dr. Barkalow, regular, located here in 1880, practiced one year and now resides in Muscatine county, Iowa. Dr. J. A. DeArmand, regular, located here in 1876, and is now practicing here; graduated at Pennsylvania university. Dr. T. C. McClery located here in 1875, in partnership with Dr. Gamble, and now resides at Exeter, Nebraska. In 1853 Dr. Joseph P. Hoover, a graduate of Pennsylvania Medical college, located in Princeton and practiced medicine three years. Dr. J. T. Tate moved to Princeton in 1854 and practiced one year. In 1856 Dr. Thomas Gault, a graduate of Berkshire Medical college, Massachusetts, located in Princeton, and practiced in partnership with Dr. Samuel Knox for six years, and now resides in Rock Island, Illinois. In 1856 Dr. Samuel Knox, a graduate of Pennsylvania university, located in Princeton and practiced in partnership with Dr. Gault for six years; after Dr. Gault left he still continued in practice there and is still in active practice. In 1855 Dr. C. G. Martin, a graduate of Jefferson Medical college, Philadelphia, came to Princeton and practiced one year. Dr. S. Semple, a graduate of Jefferson Medical college, came to Princeton in 1858, and stayed two years. In 1858 Dr. G. L. Bell came to Princeton and practiced ten years; he is now in Chicago. In 1859 Dr. Bowman came to Princton and practiced one year. Dr. Logan came to Princeton in 1860 and practiced one year. In 1869 Dr. S. Gast, cancer, commenced practice in Princeton and is still there. In 1869 Dr. Blackburn located in Princeton and practiced until his death, in 1880. In 1875 Dr. D. A. Kettle located for practice in Princeton and is still there. In 1878 Dr. C. W. Knott located in Princeton and practiced medicine three years; now resides in Benton county, Iowa. In 1878 Dr. John Knox, a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, located in Princeton and is still practicing there.

SCOTT COUNTY MEDICAL SOCIETY.

On the 18th of October, 1858, pursuant to a published notice that a meeting would be held for the purpose of organizing a medical society for Scott county, nine physicians met at the office of Drs. Witherwax and Carter, then on Third street west of Brady. Dr. James Thistle presided and Dr. Tomson was secretary. Committees were appointed to report upon the several subjects of constitution and by-laws, code of ethics and fee bill, and then the meeting adjourned. Thirteen physicians met at the adjourned meeting on the 28th of October, at the office of Drs. Fountain and Adler, on Second street, between Brady and Main, and the reports of the respective committees were received and adopted. Under that report a constitution and by-laws, as well as the code of ethics recommended by the American Medical association, was also adopted and the following permanent officers to serve one year were elected: president, Dr. E. S. Barrows; vice president, Dr. Lyman Carpenter; secretary, Dr. J. J. Tomson; treasurer, Dr. James Thistle; and censors, Drs. T. J. Saunders, John Adler and John W. H. Baker. It had been agreed upon that the regular meetings of the society should be held four times in the year, yet the necessity seemed to exist for a special meeting and the members agreed to meet again in two weeks. Consequently the society convened in the Young Men's Literary association room on the 11th of November, the vice president occupying the chair. At this meeting the fee bill was adopted and the constitution was signed by the members then initiated. The first regular quarterly meeting took place January 27, 1857, at the office of Drs. Fountian and Adler, President Barrows in the chair. At that meeting a resolution was adopted and a committee appointed relative to forming a union with the Rock Island County Medical society. Drs. Barrows and Saunders were elected delegates to the American Medical association to convene in Nashville, Tennesee, the succeeding May. The second quarterly meeting was held in the council chamber at the corner of Brady and Third streets, April 28th. Members of the Rock Island County Medical society were admitted as honorary members, which entitled them to all privileges save that of voting. Dr. Patrick Gregg, first president of that association, read an eloquent and instructive address. Dr. Baker was appointed to deliver an essay at the next meeting. Drs. Fountain, Thistle, Carter, Pelton and Barrows were appointed delegates to the state association to meet at Iowa City the following June. At the meeting held October 27th, resolutions were adopted making the annual meeting to occur the last Tuesday in January. This society has now been in existence over a half century and has had a most honorable career.

The original members of the society were as follows: T. J. Saunders, Horace Carpenter, W. M. Line, John T. O'Reardon, George W. Carter, William Keith, John M. Adler, Lyman Carptenter, John W. H. Baker, Lewis F. Pelton, Johnson J. Tomson, J. M. Witherwax, J. Thistle, E. J. Fountain, C. C. Parry, E. S. Barrows, and A. S. Maxwell. These were the original signers of the constitution and by-laws of the society. Then shortly afterward the following were taken in as members: George E. McCosh, William H. Saunders, George B. Harrison, H. P. Hitchcock, Alfred H. Ames, James McCortney, Ignatius Langer, Charles S. Shelton, James Gamble, James S. D. Wallis, Thomas Gault, Samuel Knox, W. A. Hosford, Thomas J. Iles, J. A. Church, W. F. Peck, James Irwin, S. D. Richardson, D. W. Stewart, and L. French. The honorary members of the society from Rock Island County Medical society were as follows: William A. Knox, Samuel C. Plummer, W. F. Cady, Calvin Trusdale, Samuel K. Sharpe, P. Gregg, and J. R. Hayes. The following extracts from the minutes of the society practically give a history of the medical fraternity of Scott county:

EXTRACTS FROM MINUTES.

At the meeting, July 28, 1857, the desirableness of a city register of mortality was presented by Dr. Ames; and Drs. Ames, Baker and Adler were appointed a committee to prepare a memorial to the city authorities upon the subject. This seems to have been the first inception of what has grown into an active and important part of the city's work, viz: that of the board of health. Action was slow, however, and three years later, July 31, 1860, a committee was again appointed to wait on the city council with reference to the passage of an act requiring the registration of births and deaths, and in April, 1886, steps were taken to present the matter of registration of births and deaths before the state society, with a view to general action urging the enactment of a state law to that effect. At the same meeting, the approach of cholera being anticipated, the city council was requested to act immediately in cleansing the streets and sewers.

During the cholera season of 1873 the society cooperated actively with the city board of health to improve sanitary conditions. These sultry, depressing days of late July, August and September, when citizens, well at one setting of the sun, had been stricken down and buried before the next, are still a gruesome memory to those who passed through them. The record from July 14th to September 28th, as presented to the society by Dr. Maxwell, was: cases, 258; deaths, eighty to eighty-five. A mortality of one in three was bad enough, but even this was far exceeded druing the first half of the epidemic, when scarcely one of those stricken recovered. At its meeting of the following May the society expressed by resolution its strong disapproval of the action of the city council in constituting a health board without a representative of the medical profession to insure its intelligent action; also setting forth strongly the danger inherent in cesspools and the need of efficient sewerage. That our city is today almost free from cesspools, latrines and surface wells, while its excellent sewer system is at last being extended to the neglected north slope, is largely due to the persistent efforts of Drs. Cantwell, Peck and others of the Scott ocunty society, who have had preventive medicine most strongly at heart.

At the annual meeting in 1881 the desirablility of having especially educated and licensed plumbers and a sanitary engineer was urged, and in May of the same year the board of health was strongly recommended to take action forbidding burials within the city limits.

The state board of health also owes much to this society, whose members have been firm supporters of that beneficent organization form its inception. Dr. Cantwell, in his presidential valedictory, January, 1878, recommended that delegates to the state society be instructed to favor the movement for a state board of health with powers similar to those of the state board of Illinois; Dr. Peck, through his position as surgeon of the Rock Island road, succeeded in making operative the recommendations of the newly organized board with reference to the transportation of dead bodies; and the kindly and erudite Dr. Robert J. Farquharson, who planned our contagious disease hospital, now called St. Robert's in his memory, was the efficient secretary of the board from 1880 until his death.

In March, 1861, the society makes feeling record of the first death among its members, that of the young and cultured Dr. Ezra James Fountain who, through an overdose of chlorate of potassa, fell a martyr to his zeal in professional investigation. Two years later, April, 1863, another honored member, Dr. James Thistle, one of those who called the first meeting, head finished his earthly labors.

In April, 1865, smallpox was reported as existing in the city, and Dr. Peck was made chairman of a committee to confer with the city authorities with a view to securing compulsory vaccination.

As bearing on the present move for the introduction of kindergartens into the public schools, it is interesting to note that as early as 1867 Dr. A. S. Maxwell brought before the society, at its annual meeting, the desirablility of less crowding and shorter hours for the primary pupils; and the society, through its committee reporting in May, declared that: "The Scott County Medical society as a body, looking to the physical and mental welfare of the younger school children of our community, do most heartily approve and recommend the plan of requiring children to attend but one session of three hours each day in the primary department of our city schools," and pledged itself to cooperate with the board of directors and teachers to effect the change. On numerous subsequent occasions the Scott county society has shown its interest in the schools by offering sanitary inspection, and urging prevention of disease by the vaccination of pupils and by quarantine of those affected with scarlet fever or other contagion.

At the November meeting, 1872, Dr. J. W. H. Baker presented an appreciative letter from President Thatcher of the state university, acknowledging the donation to the medical department of that institution of "The Thistle collection of medical books." The founder of this department, one of the foremost medical schools of the west, and many other active workers, were contributed to it by the Scott County Medical society.

THE RIGHTS OF MEDICAL EXPERTS.

In December, 1872, initial steps were taken, through a resolution introduced by Dr. Peck, toward the securing of a statute defining and recognizing "the rights of the medical and surgical expert in courts of justice in Iowa."

Among the matters in which the society has always taken an active interest is the commitment and care of the insane, those most helpless and most unfortunate wars of the state. In February, 1884, through a committee consisting of Drs. Middleton, McCowen and Tomson, it memorialized the legislature in an admirable address urging state care of all the insane, whether supposedly incurable or not; holding that economy should not be considered before humanity, but that both could be secured in the cottage or "Kankakee" system. This is favored as being at once economical, sanitary and safe, and adapted to growing needs. The desirability of providing a large tract of cultivatable land in connection with each main institution, and the undesirability of remanding supposed incurables either to the county poorhouse or to separate state hospitals devoted to this class alone, were especially dwelt upon. It was a concise and convincing argument which might well be presented anew today in view of apparent backward tendencies in certain quarters.

Beside the members of the above committee Dr. Margaret A. Cleaves, a former member of this society, who now ranks with the foremost medical electricians of New York city, and Dr. J. H. Kulp, formerly physician in the Mount Pleasant asylum, and who was for more than thirty years in successful practice here, were especially interested in questions pertaining to the right care of the insane.

The regulation of the practice of medicine by state law was early furthered by the Scott County society, a petition to this end, signed by thirty-six physicians, having been forwarded to the legislature in 1878 through Representative Seaman. Again in 1885 delegates to the state society were instructed to urge that body to make this important measure an issue.

In January, 1876, the society, through a committee consisting of Drs. Farquharson, Middleton and Preston, contributed its share toward the Philadelphia exposition by forwarding, on request, various statistics, with a history of hospitals, societies, etc., and a list of the medicinal plants of Scott county, prepared by Dr. Preston.

On the subject of homeopathy and other restricted schools in the broad field of medicine, the following carefully considered resolutions expressing the convictions of the society a quarter of a century ago, will not be without interest today. They were prepared by a specially appointed committee in view of the then recent recognition of homeopathy in the universities of Michigan and Iowa, and of the move toward affiliation in New York, being adopted, after free discussion, at the regular meeting, May 5, 1881:

THE RESTRICTED SCHOOLS.

"Your committee appointed to consider the desirability of so changing the code as to admit into the membership of our societies those of known and acknowledged ability without regard to previous habits of thought or modes of practice, would respectfully report as follows: We do not think it advisable to make the change specified: first, because the code as it is, which we consider to be a most excellent professional standard and guide, requires no alteration to admit to membership homeopaths or others who may have abandoned their special practice. Second, because without such reform on their part we must approach the problems of disease in ways so radically different that there coud be no harmonious and beneficient cooperation.

"Supplemental to, and in further explanation of this report, we beg leave to present the following statement: In view of recent accusations emanating from more or less prominent sources and made public through the press both of England and the United States, charging the regular profession with bigotry and illiberality in their attitude toward the homeopathic and other special schools, your committee deem it expedient and right that this society should at this time clearly define its position, which is also, we believe, that of the regular porfession the world over.

"We hold that the practice of the healing art should be based on no dogma or article of faith, but on knowledge the most exact that scientific research and unbiased observation can obtain. The terms 'Allopathist' and 'Old School,' as applied to members of the regular profession, are today obsolete, imapplicable and disclaimed. Rational medicine, which we endeavor to practice, is a growing science to whose development all sciences contribute and whose votaries ackowledge the restrictions of no 'pathy' nor 'school.' Because this is so there can be no common ground for efficient counsel between us and those who are controlled by any fixed medical creed, even though the elements of such creed are not in themselves irrational and absurd; nor can we trust or take counsel with those whose integrity is not such as to prevent them from assuming a name and professing principles with which their practice does not accord.

"The Homeopathic society of Northern New York, having formally discarded the doctrine of infinitesimal doses, the regular profession of that state have sanctioned the recognition of some who have thus advanced to more tenable grounds. When the homeopathists of Iowa shall take a like rational course and can establish the claim to a scientific medical education, we stand ready to welcome them under our ethical code as it exists, as co-laborers for the good of man. But we see little prospect that even so much of a reform as that in New York like Iowa and Michigan continue to support in their state universities, side by side, departments for instruction in broad medical science and for the maintenance of a special medical creed. (Signed)

J. W. H. Baker,

A. S. Maxwell,

C. H. Preston."

Sunday, October 22, 1905, was issued from the Democrat office an illustrated souvenir number of that widely and most favorably known journal, and the many pages, beautifully designed and printed, were devoted to description and reminiscent articles pertinent to the affairs of the county and its people and growth of the preceding fifty years. To be more exact, many of the contributors to this special edition, which took the title of the "Half Century Democrat," permitted their memories to take a wide range in the matter of time, and consequently a great part of the very early history of Scott county has been preserved in these well-turned pages of the Democrat. An article on the Scott County Medical society fell to the lot of Dr. C. H. Preston, of Davenport, and the author of this work has felt free to copy most of the salient features of the article as it appeared in the "Half Century Democrat." Dr. Preston goes on to say:

"One of the most interesting discussions of the society seems to have been had in October, 1881, at the residence of Dr. Peck, on a paper by Dr. Middleton summing up the President Garfield case. The remarks, while charitable in the main, were not all complimentary to Dr. Bliss; and it was considered that the daily bulletin would better have given simple facts without optimistic deductions, while the patient was losing weight at the rate of a pound a day.

"Another case of scarcely less interest locally was that of the protracted illness from cerebral rheumatism of Dr. W. W. Grant, now of Denver, Colorado, at that time a successful and highly esteemed physician and surgeon of this city. The case was reported by Dr. Preston, March, 1878.

"In December, 1894, the question of license for the control of the social evil being under discussion, it was recorded as the unanimous sense of the society 'that the licensing of prostitution does not prevent or limit the spread of venereal disease-that on the contrary a false sense of security is the result, and an increase of disease.'

"In February, 1898, the following resolutions expressing the convictions of the society on the subject of vivisection were unanimously adopted:

"Resolved, That we strongly protest against the enactment into law of the so-called "antivivisection bill" now pending, for these among other reasons: I. We believe that vivisection, by giving information as to the nature of disease, information not otherwise to be obtained, is a means of preventing infinitely more suffering than it can possibly cause; that both medical and agricultural science are incalculably indebted to it, and that instead of in any way hampering biological research, to which vivisection is an essential aid, an enlightened govenment should rather give it every possible encouragement. II. The proposed bill puts arbitrary powers of control over matters vital to the health and happiness of the whole people in the hands of the commissioners of the District of Columbia, men who are not likely to be scientists, or possessed of expert knowledge on the subjects involved. It makes illegal much useful experimentation, confirmatory and other, and provides for untimely reports and vexatious inspections such as must often injuriously interrupt important studies, many of which would be by it wholly prevented. III. There is already in operation in the District of Columbia a comprehensive and all sufficient law against cruelty to animals, which law prohibits vivisection except as properly conducted and in the inteest of science. IV. A law similar to the one proposed has operated in England to restrict biolotical research, driving such men as the world-benefactor, Lister, to set up their laboratories abroad. V. The unanimous protest of all the important scientific bodies of the country, including the American association for the Advancement of Science, the American Medical association, the American Public Helath association and the United States Veterinary Medical association, is presumptive evidence that the legislation proposed is unwise and uncalled for.'

"On motion copies of the resolution were ordered sent to Senators Allison and Gear and Representatives Curtis and Henderson.

"The unanimous voice of the society on another matter of national importance was expressed in the following resolution adopted at meeting of March, 1898, favoring the establishing of a national department of health:

"Whereas, The conservation of the public health is a matter of primary importance, second neither to industrial, financial nor military considerations, and

"Whereas, The United States, although severally provided, for the most part, with efficient state boards of health, are as yet without a co-ordination sanitary head, save as inadequately represented by a branch of the treasury department, and further

" 'Whereas, The so-called "Caffrey bill" would clothe the Marine Hospital service with extreme quarantine powers without enlarging its sphere as to other health matters, and without removing its dependent status, while the other, known as the "Spooner bill," formulated by the American Medical association and endorsed by the American Public Health association, aims to establish a national department, or commission of health, subservient to health interests only, with full control over all national sanitary matters and advisory with the several states, therefore

" 'Resolved, That while deprecating the former of "Caffrey bill," as a partial and ill-advised measure, we strongly endorse the association or "Spooner bill" and bespeak for it the active support of our senators and representatives in congress.'

FIRST TELEPHONE.

"It may be recalled as of some interest, now that the telephone has become a necessity for the physician, as for all business men, that one of the first instruments, if not the first to be installed in this city, connected the office and residence of Dr. W. F. Peck; it being recorded that, on the evening of May 2, 1878, there being no further business, 'The society adjourned in part to the residence and in part to the office of Dr. Peck and spent a pleasant hour in testing the wonders of the new invention.' This antedates Davenport's first exchange by about two years.

"The very interesting social life of the society, whether meeting in the council chamber, where some of the earlier sessions were held, in the Academy of Sciences, whose doors were open to it for a time, or in the offices or hospitable homes of its members, can be no more than alluded to in this hurried retrospect. Also the many valuable papers and reports discussed and the occasional cases of discipline which, happily, were less frequent as the years went on, must be left to the fading pages where they stand recorded. It may be well, however, to bring together at this time a few notes of the early members, chiefly those who are no longer with us, those who were porminent in the pioneer work of the association which was and is one of the leading county societies of the state.

EARLY MEMBERS.

"Of the seventeen original signers of the consitution the two Drs. Carpenter and Dr. Pelton removed from the city within a few years; Drs. Keith, O'Reardon and Line drop out of the records before 1865, and Dr. Carter in 1867.

1. "Dr. James Thistle was born an even century ago (August 4, 1805) at Cumberland, Maryland, to which place his father, when a lad, had been brought by the doctor's grandfather from Ireland. James graduated from the University of Maryland, in 1829, and practiced briefly in his native state, at Allegheny City, Pennsylvania, and at Vincennes, Indiana (where he married); then settled at Natchez, Mississippi, where, officing with his distinguished brother-in-law, Dr. Samuel A. Carwright, he acquired a competency. Having invested somewhat unfortunately in a cotton plantation, and wishing to find a more healthful sociality for his family, he came north and to Davenport in 1850. Dr. Tomson, the writer of the memoir from which these notes are chiefly taken, found him here in 1856, enjoying perhaps the largest practice of any physician in the city. Erect and pleasing in figure, courteous, modest and unassuming, he was universally loved and respected. "To him, more than to any other man,' says Dr. Tomson, 'are we indebted for our organization. It was through him that the first step was taken. He called the first meeting and acted as the first president of our organization as a medical society.' Dr. Thistle, while chairman of the preliminary meeting, and elected president later, was not, however, the first elected president of the society, that honor having fallen to Dr. E. S. Barrows. Dr. Thistle died of pneumonia in 1863; his grave in Oakdale in near that of Dr. Fountain.

2. "Dr. Egbert S. Barrows, a Vermont graduate of 1824, came to Davenport, or rather to Rockingham, in 1836, having been a surgeon in the Seminole Indian war. Rugged, decided and resolute, he was a typical pioneer physician, able and active. As illustrative of the man it is related of him that he once charged and collected a fee of one hundred dollars for one dose of Epsom salts, that being all that was needed to relieve the patient, an old patron, who had returned to him after vainly consulting an irregular practitioner! Retiring from active practice about 1860 he was made examining surgeon of recruits, and subsequently examiner for pensions, and died here March 8, 1892, at the ripe age of ninety-three years. In obituary resolutions read before the society Dr. Saunders says of Dr. Barrows: 'He was a man of mark of whose memory the city of Davenport and the state of Iowa may well be proud.'

3. "Dr. John Mercer Adler, an able physician, graduate of the National Medical college, Washington, who later became 'prominent in medical and literary circles,' came to Davenport in 1852 or 1853. With his partner, Dr. Fountain, he had been connected with the construction of the railroad across the isthmus of Panama. At the outbreak of the Civil war he was made chief physician of the military hospital of Camp McClellan, Dr. J. W. H. Baker being associated with him, and the brother-in-law of the latter, Dr. Richardson, succeeding in charge of the hospital when, in March, 1865, Dr. Adler removed to Philadelphia. There he married the daughter of a prominent physician, and died as recently as February, 1904, at Devon, Chester county, Pennsylvania.

4. Dr. Ezra James Fountain, one of the original members of the society, died here in March, 1861, from an overdose of chlorate of potassa, self-administered in a study of the drug. From a memorial sketch delivered before the society by his associate, Dr. Keith, we gather that Dr. Fountain, a successful and esteemed young physician, was a graduate of Nassau hall, Princeton, and of the College of Physicians & Surgeons, New York. He came from the Hudson to the Mississippi about 1853, with high anticipations and found a warm welcome here. 'An enthusiastic devotee of medical secience, kind-hearted and sympathizing among his patients, attracive in person, agreeable in manners, cultivated and refined in tastes-well and bravely did he wage battle in the cause of human suffering.'

5. "Dr. J. M. Witherwax was surgeon of an Iowa regiment of volunteers (Twenty-fourth or Twenty-sixth). Returning after the war he engaged again in practice here until about 1870, when he died from lead poisoning. He was at one time president of the Iowa State Medical society and was president of the county society in 1866 when the state society met in this city.

6. "Dr. Archibald Stevens Maxwell long enjoyed a large practice here. Of Scotch desent, a native of Ohio, graduated from Hudson college, Cleveland, he came to Davenport in 1855, invested and lost considerable money, and then went actively to work in his profession. Sent to the front by Governor Kirkwood, who had been a boyhood friend, he served with credit at the siege of Vicksburg and elsewhere, returning here in 1864 for twenty years more of hard work. Then with broken health he went to California where, near Los Angeles, he died in 1884.

7. "Dr. Joshua Johnson Tomson, the first secretary of the Scott County society, was born in Massachusetts in 1831. He graduated at Berkshire Medical college, came west and to Davenport in 1856, and spent an honored and successful life here until his death from grippe in 1901. He was president of the Mercy Hospital Medical board during the last ten years of his life, being deeply interested in the unfortunate and dependent of all classes, but especially solicitous for the rights and welfare of the insane. As the writer knew him he was serious, careful and kind, commanding the affection as well as the confidence of his patrons.

8. "Dr. Charles Christopher Parry was born in Gloucestershire, England, in 1823, came to American in 1832, graduated in medicine at Columbia college and came to Davenport in 1849. He practiced medicine only a few months before drifting into the more congenial work of a botanical collector. He identified himself, however, with the Scott County Medical society at its organization, being one of the original signers and its third president in 1859. He made extensive and repeated explorations of the Rocky mountains, Rio Grande, Mexican and Pacific coast regions during many years, returning to Washinton and to his Davenport home occasonally, and died here in 1890. He was intimately connected with the Davenport Academy of Sciences, was its second president, and contributed much by his valuable papers, to the flattering recognition of its proceedings abroad.

9. "Dr. Thomas J. Saunders, one of the seventeen original signers, while spending most of his life in governmental and journalistic pursuits, was always interested in the profession of his early choice, and retained his membership in the society until his death. He was born at Woodbury. New Jersey, in 1819, his parents being members of the Society of Friends. Graduated from the medical department of the University of Pennsylvania in 1843, he practiced for a time in his native village, was made a member of the constitutional convention of New Jersey in 1848, and later, having come to this city in 1855, was a member of the contitutional convention of Iowa during the revision of the code on 1860. He was commissioned paymaster and was with the army two years in the field, being with Sherman on his memorable march to the sea. Remaining in government employ until about 1889, he returned to Davenport much broken in health and remained here until his death in 1897.

10. "Dr. John Waterman Harris Baker, one of those who attended the called meeting preliminary to the organization of the Scott County Medical society, was born in Chesterfield, New Hampshire, August 21, 1821. He graduated from Dartmouth Medical college, in 1842, Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes being one of the professors whose lectures he attended. Practicing successfully in New England until 1853, he contracted the gold fever and migrated to California, opening an office at Moquelumne Hill, Calaveras county. Being burnt out in 1855, he returned to his eastern home; but soon turned west again, exploring for a location. Pleased with Davenport he opened an office here in November, 1855, and from that time on to his death, on April 7th of the present year (1905), he was an active and successful physician here, one especially loved and trusted. Dr. Baker was commissioned assistant surgeon and served for a time in the military hospital at Camp McClellan. He was prominent in the state as well as in the county society, serving as president of the former in 1866. He was in actual practice for over sixty years, and was ever the friend of the upright and the foe of the fraudulent, to the extent of his ability.

11. "Dr. William A. Hosford was born in Litchfield, Connecticut, May 15, 1819, and died here September 8, 1874. He graduated at the Albany Medical college in 1846 and came to Davenport in 1857. Kindly and retiring, he had yet built up a large practice when, in 1870, his health failing, he engaged in the hardware trade, being associated with his son-in-law, James R. Nutting.

12. "Dr. Thomas John Iles was born at Covington, Kentucky, March 17, 1811. He was a graduate of Transylvania college, Louisville, and came to Davenport in April, 1862, having practiced previously at Midway, Woodford county, Kentucky. Dr. Iles had owned slaves but, being a republican and opposed to secession, he freed them and came north. In the fall of 1862 he was appointed by President Lincoln head surgeon on the island, with Dr. Farquharson as his assistant. His membership in the Scott County society dates from 1864. He was a thirty-second degree Mason and was universally esteemed and respected among his fellow citizens for more than a quarter of a century when he died here October 27, 1888.

13. "Dr. James McCortney, a graduate of the Western Reserve Medical college in 1853, was admitted to membership in the Scott County Medical society early in 1857, having come to Davenport the preceding fall. Born in Pennsylvania, September 8, 1825, he died in Chicago on the anniversary of his birth, 1904. Dr. McCortney was for many years the principal Catholic physician of the city and enjoyed an extensive practice, which he relinquished, owing to failing health, only a few months before his death. He was one of the surgeons attending the prisoners on the island during the war and later held the office of coroner for an extended period.

14. "Dr. Delia S. Irish, a native of the state of New York, was the first lady member of the Scott County, as also of the Iowa State Medical Society. She was a graduate of the Woman's Medical College of Philadelphia and joined the county society here in 1873, remaining an honored and active member until her death from consumption in 1878, at the age of thirty-six. Quiet, industrious and determined, 'she was a woman of culture and refinement who commanded the admiration and esteem of all who knew her.'

15. "Dr. Robert James Farquharson was born in Nashville, Tennessee, and was a graduate both of the University of Nashville and of the University of Pennsylavania. After two years of practice in New Orleans he became assistant surgeon in the United States navy, thus being privileged to see much of the world, but acquiring also an unfortunate deafness while cruising on the coast of Africa. This greatly hampered his professional activiety, but under President Johnson, who was an intimate friend, he held important hospital positions during the war. Coming to this city in 1868 he officed with his warm friend and fellow Scotchman by descent, Dr. W. D. Middleton, doing almost exclusively a consulting practice. He died in Des Moines in 1864, at the age of sixty, the last four years of his life, as has been stated, being given to the state board of health as its efficient secretary. Dr. Farquharson, as the writer knew him, was a man of the most kindly and lovable personality. Devoted to natural science and to preventive medicine, he was brimful of accurate information on any topic that might come up. He had read and experienced much and his memory was wonderful. His little mannerism of a short, hacking cough, which always preceded speech, only helped the full gaze of his mild blue eye to capture one's heart; he made friends of all who knew him.

16. "Dr. Washington Freeman Peck. - In July, 1864, Dr. Adler presented for membership in the Scott County Medical Society a name than which none shines brighter in the medical annals of the state - that of W. F. Peck. Born in Wayne county, New York, of Scotch descent on his father;s side, he had graduated at Bellevue, and served as house surgeon at Bellevue and Blackwell's island hospitals and as United States surgeon in the Lincoln general hospital, Washington, before coming to this city in 1864, at the age of twenty-three. From that time until his death here in 1891 Dr. Peck was identified with the history and interests of Davenport and of Iowa. Brave, skillful and cool, he soon took front rank as a surgeon, his fame reaching even across the Atlantic and placing him in the estimation of his fellows as 'one of the six most successful surgeons of the United States.' With the cooperation of warm friends, such as Judge John F. Dillon and Colonel J. P. Irish, he founded, and with loyal helpers such as Dr. W. D. Middleton, D. N. Richardson and others, he built up the medical department of the Iowa State University, of which he was made dean, and which stands as his monument today. He was also a prime mover and the medical father, as it were, of Mercy hospital of this city, of the surgical department of the Rock Island road, and of the Iowa Orphans' Home in its extension to more general usefulness. Dr. Peck possessed, in a wonderful degree, the faculty of inspiring absolute confidence in his patients; they felt that he knew his ground. The writer who, soon after graduating, spent some months in Dr. Peck's office, was as much impressed by his conscientious care in determining the question of operating as by the fearless skill of his hand when the decision was reched for action.

17. "Dr. William Drummond Middleton. - In June, 1868, Dr. French presented the name of Dr. W. D. Middleton for membership in the Scott County Medical Society, and he was unanimously elected at the July meeting. Probably no citizen of Davenport, before or since, has been so universally loved, honored and mourned, as the young physician then starting in practice at the age of twenty-four, came to be at the time of his death from blood poisoning in 1902. Coming with his parents from Scotland to America in 1856, and soon after to Davenport, he grew up here, studied medicine with Dr. Peck, graduated at Bellevue, was one of the first faculty of the State University of Iowa medical department, and at Dr. Peck's death took his place as its dean, and also as surgeon-in-chief of the Rock Island road. The writer knew him as the embodiment of kindness and the most perfect honor, these with industry won deserved success.

18. "Dr. Alonzo W. Cantwell, born at Mansfield, Ohio, and a medical graduate of the University of Michigan, came to Davenport in 1869 and died here in 1899, having been an active and greatly esteemed citizen for thirty years. Especially interested in sanitation, he was connected with the Davenport board of helath continuously from its inception until his death. He was at the front during the epidemic of cholera in 1873 and the epidemics of smallpox in 1872 and 1882, bravely withstanding the unreasoning opposition to needed restrictive measures. Dr. Cantwell was kindly and popular in the extreme. To be with him on the street it would seem that almost every citizen, high and low, knew him and was quick to return his cheery greeting in kind.

19. "Dr. Lucius French, the oldest surviving member at this writing (1905), was born near Binghamton, New York, 1832, graduated at Berkshire Medical college, Pittsfield, Massachusetts, in 1853, and after a few years' practice in the east, located at Anamosa, Iowa, in 1862. Enlisting as a surgeon in the Thirty-first Iowa Infantry, he served through the war, locatd in Davenport in March, 1865, and was elected to membership in the county society the following month. From that time on Dr. French has been among our foremost physicians and most honored citizens.

20. "Dr. Jennie McCowen. - Though still living and still active in the society, as she has been ever since joining it in 1880, Dr. McCowen's work for Davenport has been such that it must not be passed wholly without mention. Eminently practical in her humanitarian views, she has found time, in the midst of a busy practice, to embody them in a strong organization of far-reaching beneficence base on E. E. Hale's admonition to 'lend a hand.' Allusion has before been made to her active interest in the welfare of the insane, and she is prominent in various humanitarian societies.

OTHER MEMBERS.

"It is not the purpose of this retrospect to speak of those who may speak for themselves. Of the active members of the society there are not a few who are making for themselves a worthy record which, when another half century shall have gone, will cause them to be remembered with affectionate pride. But there are some, not among the earlier members, who have come and gone, either to other fields or to their final rest, after winning an honored place among the successful physicians of Davenport. Of these there is only space for brief mention of a few.

"Dr. Edward H. Hazen, who becme a member of the society in 1868, was the first to make a specialty of the eye and ear in this city. He was also one of the first faculty of the State University of Iowa medical department, and was prominent in the activities of the community a score of years ago. Removing to Des Moines he became one of the medical faculty of Drake University, and continues the practice of his specialty there.

"Dr. Margaret A. Cleaves, who, as before stated, has won for herself a prominent place in the profession of New York City, was an early graduate of the State University of Iowa and became a member of the Scott County Medical Society in 1876. She engaged for a time in general practice here, was connected professionally with the hospital for the insane at Mount Pleasant, Iowa, and later with that of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and has attained national prominence in the application of electricity to medical practice.

"Dr. Richard Winter Hill, whose boyhood and all too short professional life were passed in this city, graduated in medicine in 1883, under the instruction of his warm friends, Drs. Middleton and Peck, with whom, and Dr. Grant, he had come to rank as one of the four best surgeons Davenport has produced when, in January, 1902, alone in his office, he met death's sudden, untimely summons. Reticent and of a strongly individual character, he was not very active in the councils of the society. Though admitted to membership in 1888, and always loyal to its interests and those of the regular profession, he but seldom attended its meetings. To exceptional talents as a surgeon there were joined in Dr. Hill a warm heart and the noblest instincts of the courteous gentleman.

"Dr. William West Grant, son of an Alabama physician and nephew of Judge James Grant, who was prominent in the early history of this city, graduated at Long Island College Hospital in 1869, at the age of twenty-three, and began at once became a member of the county society and soon took rank as one of our most progressive and successful physicians, also filling the place of post surgeon at Rock Island arsenal for several years. On January 4, 1885, he performed the first recorded laparotomy for appendicitis, the writer hereof administering the anaesthetic. In 1889 Dr. Grant removed to Colorado and is today one of the foremost surgeons of Denver.

"Dr. Charles M. Robertson, who graduated in 1888 from the State University of Iowa medical department, of which his father was one of the honored founders, practiced in this city for a time, being very successful in his specialty fo the eye and ear, but removed to Chicago some years ago, leaving many warm friends in Davenport.

"Were it within the scope of this article to recall, not the members of the county society only, but all doctors who have been active in the life of the community, much more space must have been allotted than is at the writer's disposal. Older citizens will remember distinctly, and many of them with feelings of kindly regret, Drs. Emeis, Olshausen and Hoepfner (the latter but recently deceased), Drs. R. F. Baker, Worley, Wessel and many others more or less prominent though not connected with the regular profession. These, together with the dentists and druggists of the early days, might well be made the subject of a separate chronicle.

ALTERED CONDITIONS.

"The conditions of practice when the Scott County Medical Society was organized were very different from those of today. Even so late as 1873, when the writer, just graduated from the State University of Iowa, began practice here with cholera victims for his first patients, Davenport, with less than half its present population, was scarcely more than a village. Its buildings, though scattered over much ground, were few of them more than two stories in height. Where the Masonic temple now stands was a cottage in which dooryard (on the immediate corner) was the one-story brick office of Dr. Emeis. Another oldtime cottage home, set back in its green yard, occupied the present site of the United States express office on the northeast corner of Third and Brady; while Main street, almost from Second to Fifth, presented a beautiful colonnade of tall, spreading elms. The old brick court house, with its high-columned porch and its surmounting wooden ball (now a relic in the Academy museum) still stood in the midst of its shady grove; the city council had its modest assembly room on the corner of Brady and the alley above Fifth; the postoffice rented quarters on Perry and Third streets, in the same building with the Gazette, which was gotten out with no assistance from linotype machine or Hoe press; the Academy of Sciences had not found a settled home; and the dream of a free public library had yet long to wait for its realization. There were no granitoid walks in the city then, and no paved streets; the business regions, indeed, and some others had the so-called 'macadam,' soft and uncurbed, but it sank out of sight often faster than it could be renewed. There were no telephones, electric lights or electric cars, tri-city or interurban. Little 'bob-tail' horse-cars, indeed, jogged along Third and what is now East River streets, or climbed Brady hill with much urging of the over-worked power, especially on those days when the masses were attracted by the then popular county fair to the site of our Central park. There was but one railroad and one important productive industry - lumber; this beside caring for the money and supplying the wants of the prosperous farmers of the county. The passing of the sawmills, with their array of improvident winter idlers, has been gladly welcomed by the long suffering doctor! The physician's office has had several distinct stages of evolution from its simple estate in those days; and his then rather honorable mud-covered buggy and horse have mostly given place, if not to the shining closed carriage or automobile, at least to rubber tires and the convenient 'wheel.' Then he had no X-ray to confirm his diagnosis, and no anti-toxin for prevention or treatment; but he did his best then as now to save life and limb, and to win the gratitude of such of his patients as were capable of appreciating the value of his services and the extent of his self-sacrifice."

The following physicians are members of the Scott County Medical Society at this time, with the officers: President, Dr. G. F. Harkness; vice president, Dr. E. S. Bowman; secretary-treasurer, Dr. J. V. Littig; delegate to the annual meeting of the Iowa State Medical Society, Dr. Edward Strohbehn; alternate delegate, Dr. G. M. Middleton; Drs. William L. Allen, George W. Banning, G. S. Bawden, P. A. Bendixen, J. D. Blything, E. S. Bpwman, H. U. Braunlich, J. F. Baker, J. D. Cantwell, O. S. Dahms, J. A. DeArmand, George E. Decker, A. P. Donohoe, Sadie C. Doran, A. W. Elmer, E. O. Ficke, Lucius French, C. E. Glynn, L. F. Guldner, A. L. Hageboeck, J. T. Haller, G. F. Harkness, C. C. Hetzel, C. F. Jappe, C. T. Kemmerer, T. W. Kemmerer, J. F. Kempker, O. W. Kulp, Ray R. Kulp, Frederick Lambach, J. W. Littig, D. J. McCarthy, Jennie McCowen, Carl Matthey, Henry Matthey, E. D. Middleton, G. M. Middleton, J. C. Murphy, Frank Neufeld, L. J. Porstmann, J. R. Porter, C. H. Preston, William H. Rendleman, F. E. Rudolf, O. P. Sala, B. H. Schmidt, P. H. Schroeder, Anne M. Shuler, T. D. Starbuck, Edward Strohbehn, William A. Stoecks, K. H. Struck, William F. Skelley, Anton Sauer, Karl Vollmer, J. S. Weber and Lee Weber, of Davenport; William W. Bailey and F. C. Skinner, of LeClaire; W. F. Bowser, of Blue Grass; William S. Binford, of Dixon; J. B. Crouch, of Eldridge; E. T. Kegel, of Walcott; and J. C. Teufel, of Buffalo.