Kansas Physician Confirms Howard Report

[TradeName]

Greer Harrison and "The Observer"; Kipling at the Bohemian Club

The Call's Dr Howard article includes the phrase "amiable wife". Searching for that phrase I found it used in a gossip column signed "The Observer". Checking that column in other editions of the Call, I found that "The Observer" devoted considerable space to touting the Lurline Baths, an enterprise with which William Greer Harrison was associated.

The Morning Call (San Francisco), August 19, 1894, Page 6, Column 4, Paragraph 3

GOSSIP

BY THE OBSERVER.

"amiable wife"

"The Observer" devoted an entire column to the electric lights at the Lurline Baths, with quotes from WGH:

The Morning Call (San Francisco), September 02, 1894, Page 6, Column 3

GOSSIP

BY THE OBSERVER.

--begin excerpt

In conversation with William Greer Harrison
last week I ascertained that the Salt
Water Company had experimented as
above stated and it found that in order to
arrive at satisfactory results it became
necessary to consult the Edison Light and
Power Company. Mr. Harrison, in speaking
of the matter, said: "We started to
light the place ourselves, but it was not
long before we found it defective. There
was a great glare under the roof, but below
was shadow, and then the light was flickering
and it frequently went out. We
could not afford to take the risk of darkness
owing to the hundreds who are so
fond of diving in the water. Water, you
know, absorbs light, so we applied to the
Edison company to help us out.

"It, of course, is scientifically acquainted
with the subject and as the Salt Water
Company had decided to get the best
light under the most economical arrangement
possible we made up our minds to
be right on a question wherein ourselves
failed. After a few experiments by the
Edison people they succeeded in turning
the vast space into perpetual day and the
management is entirely pleased with the
light and the comparatively low price at
which it is provided."

--end excerpt

"The Observer" on more fun times at the Lurline Baths and WGH's reaction:

The Morning Call (San Francisco), September 23, 1894, Page 6, Column 4, Paragraph 2

GOSSIP

BY THE OBSERVER.


--begin excerpt

All subjects were shelved yesterday except
that of the weather. Hot Democrats
and perspiring Republicans combined for
once and there was no amendment to the
motion that It was "warm." The crowd
that swarmed to the Lurline baths was a
sight in itself, and no less than 3400 people
passed the gates. Judges, ministers of the
gospel, physicians, merchants, bankers
and their friends were there. No theater
scene could compare with the kaleidoscopic
picture furnished by the baths. Bold and
daring divers, strong and powerful swimmers,
timid young beginners and hosts of
lookers-on eclipsed anything in the bathing
line that we have ever seen in this city.
Splash after splash, mingled with a murmur
of a thousand voices, caused a busy
hum which gladdened the heart of Greer
Harrison, and even the anxiety of handling
such an enormous number could not
remove the smiles which rippled over his
face like the briny over the bathers' backs.
No one who patronized the baths last night
could doubt the efficiency of the machinery
employed and the gigantic scale on which
the natatorium Is worked, for when the
hour of closing came the water appeared
as fresh as the Pacific Ocean itself.
Reluctantly the dippers donned their daily
clothes and went their way, to "come
again." The spectators, too, had lots of
fun, and the ventilation is so admirably
adjusted that the temperature of the atmosphere
is actually cooler than it is outside
the building. The Lurline baths are
deservedly popular and it shows the good
sense of our society leaders that they have
unanimously made them a fashionable resort.

--end excerpt

An account of Kipling's 1889 visit to San Francisco, which includes a photo of the Bohemian Club.

The Bookman, Volume 26, January, 1908, page 483

How Kipling Discovered America
by Bailey Millard

Kipling's own rather churlish account of his visit to the Bohemian Club:

American Notes (Brown, 1899), pages 28-34, pages 50-54
By Rudyard Kipling

[TradeName]

Dr. Howard in England in November, 1894?

This account mentions a Dr. Howard as being a judge at a railway company ambulance corps competition. If this is Benjamin Howard, I'm not sure how this affects the possibility that he was the Dr. Howard said by William Greer Harrison to have been in San Francisco "several months" prior to April, 1895.

The Railway News, Volume 62, November 17, 1894, Page 682, Columns 1-2

The Great Eastern Railway Ambulance Corps. — In one of the wagon shops at the Great Eastern Railway works at Stratford on Saturday there was a large company assembled to an interesting competition between five teams representing different divisions of the railway company's ambulance corps. Lord Claud Hamilton presided, and there were also present Lady Alexandra Hamilton, Mr. W. Birt, general manager of the company. Nineteen divisions of the corps entered for the competition and five of the larger entered two teams, but the Lowestoft team was unavoidably prevented from taking part. Sectional competitions were held in different centres, and as a result teams were sent from Parkeston, Peterborough, Norwich Thorpe, Stratford and Liverpool Street for the final competition. The judges were Chief Superintendent Church-Brasier and Dr. Howard, of the St. John Ambulance Society, each of whom expressed his appreciation of the high character of the "first aid to the injured" which they had witnessed. In the course of a few observations Lord Claud Hamilton said that during the past year the Great Eastern Railway Ambulance Corps had largely increased their number, and, what was more important, had added to their efficiency. Of the present membership of 856,544 had been examined by the St. John Ambulance Society and 520 of them had passed. The silver cup to be presented to the winning team that day was last year won by Norwich Thorpe. There would be special prizes to the second and third, and each member of the whole of the teams would receive a certificate. The total number of marks obtainable was 380, and he was pleased to be able to say that in the sectional competitions the average number of marks gained was 273, figures giving 72 per cent., as against 66 per cent., the average of last year's marks. The report of the judges was been announced. The team from Liverpool Street, with 353 marks, was awarded the silver cup; the team from Parkeston, with 331 marks, the second prize; the team from Norwich Thorpe, with 32S points, receiving third prize. The Stratford team was awarded 317 marks, and the Peterborough team 309. Lady Alexandra Hamilton distributed the prizes. Lady Alexandra Hamilton, on behalf of the members of the Great Eastern Railway corps, then presented a medal to Mr. George Aston, who has been in the employment of the company for thirty-eight and a half years, and who has worked untiringly for the success of the ambulance corps.

[TradeName]

Heaton C. Howard

The account of the following year's ambulance competition gives the full name of the Howard involved as the "Hon. Surgeon Heaton C. Howard", which puts me back in the position of not having any definite information about the whereabouts of Benjamin Howard in 1894-1895.

The Railway News, Volume 63, May 25, 1895, Page 807, Column 1

The annual public competitions between the various divisions of the Great Eastern Railway Ambulance Corps were held at the Town Hall, Stratford, on Saturday afternoon, in the presence of a large assemblage. [...] Votes of thanks were then accorded to the judges (Chief Superintendent W. J. Church-Brasier and Hon. Surgeon Heaton C. Howard, both of the Metropolitan Corps), proposed by Mr. James Holden and seconded by Archdeacon Stevens. A vote of thanks to Sir John Commerell was proposed by Lord Knutsford, seconded by Mr. W. Birt, and Sir Alfred Jephson proposed and Mr. C. Glaze, president of the Norwich team, seconded the vote of thanks to the chairman.

[TradeName]

A list of London Dr. Howards from the 1884 directory:

The Medical Directory for 1884 (London:Churchill), Page 163

[in Google books with title as "NEW WORKS AND NEW EDITIONS"]

-

[Phil Carter]

Hello TradeName,

I have been following this thread with interest. Thank you for producing these things. Most interesting indeed.

best wishes

Phil

[TradeName]

Thank you, Mr. Carter.

Here's another list of medical Howards:

Calendar of the Royal College of Surgeons of England 1888, page 160

1877. Howard, Benjamin, New York.
1854. Howard, C. Aldcroft, Escrick.
1880. Howard, H. Clark, Devonshire-road.
1879. Howard, Henry, Cambridge.
1807. Howard, James, Dukinfield.
1853. Howard, J. Fielden, Shaw.
1822. Howard, J. Walker.
1883. Howard, Wilfred, Litileport.

[TradeName]

W. Greer Harrison and The Air and Water Sterilizing Company - Part 1

In October of 1894 William Greer Harrison became a director of a newly-formed corporation created to market an invention intended to provide pure drinking water. The inventor and some of the other directors were local doctors, some with ties to the British Isles.

The Morning Call (San Francisco), October 25, 1894, Page 3, Columns 3-4

Articles of Incorporation

The following articles of incorporation
have been filed in the office of the Secretary
of State:

[...]

The Air and Water Sterilizing Company.
Principal place of business, San
Francisco. Capital stock, $1,000,000, with
C. F. Buckley, Luke Robinson, William
Greer Harrison, Winslow Anderson, W.
F. McNutt, F. A. Orr and M. Herzstein
of San Francisco and Timothy Hopkins
of Menlo Park as directors.

---end excerpt

Longer article:

The Morning Call (San Francisco), November 07, 1894, Page 8, Column 6

DEATH TO BACILLI.

Dangers in Water Can Be Easily Avoided.

Drs. Buckley, McNutt, Anderson and Robinson Unite in Bringing It Into Practice.

(Note that while Winslow Anderson is referred to in the headline of the second article he is not mentioned in the text)

The Pacific Medical editorial mentioned in the second Call article:

Pacific Medical Journal, Volume 37, October, 1894, Page 652

Editorial.

PURE DRINKING WATER


Page 650 shows the editor as:

"WINSLOW ANDERSON, A.M., M.D., M.R.C.P.Lond., Etc."

who was one of the incorporators.

Patent info:

Patent number: 511995
Issue date: Jan 2, 1894

AIR AND WATER PURIFIER
CORNELIUS F. BUCKLEY et al.

Directory entry for Buckley:

Medical and Surgical Directory of the United States (Detroit:Polk, 1886), page 171

Buckley C F(R), R C P's. Ed, Scot, 1864: Queen's Univ, Ireland. 1865, 715 Larkin.

A brief review of book by Buckley:

Pacific Medical Journal, Volume 25, October, 1882, Page 233

Cerebral Hyperemia: Does It Exist? A consideration of some views of Dr. Wm. A. Hammond. By C. F. Buckley, B.A., M.D., formerly Superintendent of Haydock's Lodge Asvlum, England. New York, G. P. Putnam's Sons. 1882." San Francisco, A. L. Bancroft & Co. Price, $1.00. Dr. Buckley, the writer of this little book, is an old-established practitioner of San Francisco. He holds a steady and vigorous pen, and handles Prof. Hammond without gloves. We are not prepared, after the brief examination to which time has restricted us, to pronounce confidently on the merits of the work. And though we are not inclined to deny the existence of cerebral hyperemia, we are disposed to side with Dr. Buckley in his general current of criticism on the statements and arguments adduced by the author under notice. It has always appeared to us that much of the writing of Dr. Hammond is hasty and ill-digested, and full of assumption; and that he is open to severe criticism, such as is visited on him in the present instance.

--end

Link to the book:

Cerebral Hyperaemia ; Does It Exist? (NY: Putnam, 1882), link

by C. F. BUCKLEY, B.A., M.D.

FORMERLY

Superintendent Of Haydock Lodge Asylum, England.


The Medical Register (London: 1871), Page 64

1866 June 7 Buckley Cornelius Fitzgerald Castletownsend, Co. Cork

Lic. R. Coll. Surg. Edin. 1864.
Lic. R. Coll. Phys. Edin. 1864.
M.D. Q. Univ. Irel. 1865.

--end

A brief entry with some incorrect dates:

Annual Report of the President of the University on Behalf of the Regents 1881-1882, Page 121
By the University California Regents

CORNELIUS FITZGERALD BUCKLEY. Professor of Anatomy, 1870-71. Medical Examiner, 1871-2. Born, Ireland, 1 March, 1843. Licentiate, Colleges of Physicians and Surgeons, Edinburgh, 1884 [1864]. AD., Queen's University, Dublin, 1885[1864]. M.D., Queen's University, Dublin, 1885[1865].

List of writings:

Medical papers in Pacific Medical Journal, 1870-75.

Cerebral Hyperemia: Does it Exist? New York: Putnam's Sons, 1882.

--end

[TradeName]

W. Greer Harrison and The Air and Water Sterilizing Company - Part 2

Some background on the non-doctor directors.

Timothy Hopkins was the adopted heir of railroad magnate Mark Hopkins.

Palo Alto Weekly, Apr 28, 1999, link

Timothy Hopkins: The ironic journey of Palo Alto's founder

F. Alleyne Orr was an Irish lawyer who moved to SF in 1888 and who had been active in support of Gladstone. He was an associate of T.P. O'Connor.
According to this sketch:

The Bay of San Francisco: the Metropolis of the Pacific Coast and Its Suburban Cities (1892), Volume 2, Page 675
By Lewis Publishing Company

FRED ALLEYNE ORR

[TradeName]

W. Greer Harrison and The Air and Water Sterilizing Company - Part 3

Luke Robinson joined the Obstetrical Society of London in 1884. Also joining at that time was Thomas Horrocks Openshaw, who later examined the kidney sent with the Lusk letter.

Transactions of the Obstetrical Society of London (London: Longmans, 1885), Volume 26

Page XL lists Openshaw as a Fellow:

1884 Openshaw, Thomas Horrocks, M.B., London Hospital, E.

Page XLIV lists Robinson as a Fellow:

1884 Robinson, Luke, M.R.C.P. Lond., San Francisco, California.

Page 147 has the minutes of the June 4th, 1884, meeting at which both Openshaw and Robinson were "proposed for election."

Page 181 has the minutes of the July 2nd, 1884 meeting at which Openshaw and Robinson were elected Fellows.

Page 227 has the minutes of the October 8th, 1884, meeting at which Robinson and Openshaw were "declared admitted."

[TradeName]

W. Greer Harrison and The Air and Water Sterilizing Company - Part 4

Dr. William Fletcher McNutt was a (*gasp*) Mason who had a way cool custom book plate.

Remarks on Some Masonic Book Plates in America and Their Owners (Boston: 1911), Volume 2, page 44
By Alexander Winthrop Pope

A longer sketch. McNutt continued his medical studies in Edinburgh and London after serving as a surgeon in the U.S. Navy during the Civil War.

A History of the New California: Its Resources and People (New York: Lewis, 1905), Page 334
By Leigh Hadley Irvine

A sketch which describes McNutt's "virle traits."

The National Cyclopedia of American Biography (New York: White, 1897), Volume 7, Page 276
By George Derby, James Terry White

[TradeName]

W. Greer Harrison and The Air and Water Sterilizing Company - Part 5

According to the Call, Dr. Winslow Anderson aced the Royal College exams in 1891.

The Morning Call (San Francisco), August 09, 1891, Page 2, Column 6

ONE HUNDRED PER CENT.

A San Francisco Physician Astonishes London Surgeons.

Dr, Winslow Anderson of San Francisco,
who has been studying in London for the
past eighteen months, has just received the
following degrees: Member of Royal College
of Surgeons, Licentiate of Royal College of
Physicians and Licentiate of Society of
Apothecaries, of London. The President
of the faculty of the Royal College of Surgeons
states that Dr. Anderson is the first
student who has ever been marked 100 per
cent in the final examination, He seemed
surprised, too, that such should have been
the case and that the successful candidate
was a physician who graduated from a California
medical college. The President has
no doubt awakened to the fact that California
colleges can turn out bright graduates.

--end

An article about the return of Dr & Mrs Anderson to California after his studies in London and other travels.

Pacific Medical Journal, Volume 35, May 1892, Page 301

The Pilgrims

(I haven't found Volume 34 (1891) of the PMJ in Google books. There might be more about Anderson's time in London there.)

An article with a section about Anderson as Surgeon General of the California National Guard, with a picture.

The Overland Monthly, Volume 38, August, 1901, pages 132-4

Maneuvers of the National Guard
by James F. Archibald

A bio sketch:

A Cyclopedia of American Medical Biography (Baltimore: Remington, 1920), Page 28

Anderson, Winslow (1860-1917)

An obit:

JAMA.: The Journal of the American Medical Association, Volume 68, May 26, 1917, Page 1569
By American Medical Association

Winslow Anderson, M.D., San Francisco; University of San Francisco, 1884; M. R. C. P. London, M. R. C. S. Eng., and L. S. A. London, 1891; aged 56; a Fellow of the American Medical Association, and since 1896 a member of the General Medical Council of Great Britain; founder of St. Winifred's Hospital, San Francisco; assistant to the chair of materia medica and medical chemistry and later adjunct professor of theory and practice of medicine in his alma mater; since 1896, professor of abdominal surgery and gynecology in and president of the College of Physicians and Surgeons, San Francisco; editor of the Pacific Medical Journal for many years; colonel and surgeon general of the National Guard of California from 1900 to 1911; died in New York, May 7.

--end

A book Anderson wrote.

A Description of the Desiccated Human Remains in the California State Mining Bureau (Sacramento: 1888), link
By Winslow Anderson MD

[TradeName]

W. G. Harrison and the Beaconsfield (Disraeli) Testimonial

The Annual Register of World Events: A Review of the Year, Volume 120, December, 1878, Page 122
edited by Edmund Burke

Presentation To Lord Beaconsfield.—An address, enclosed in a silver casket, ornamented with gold, was presented to-day to the Earl of Beaconsfield, at Downing Street, by a deputation on behalf of 400 British residents in California. Mr. W. G. Harrison, of San Francisco, the delegate of the subscribers, read the address, which was an expression of the subscribers' "high appreciation of the brilliant statesmanship " evinced by Lord Beaconsfield in the late European crisis, by which he had "secured to Europe an honourable peace, assured civil and religious liberty to oppressed races, and inaugurated a reign of order and tranquility where anarchy and oppression were rife." The casket was presented by a son of Mr. Alexander Forbes, chairman of the San Francisco Committee.

--end

New York Times, August 1, 1878, link

TESTIMONIAL TO LORD BEACONSFIELD

New York Times, January 20, 1879, link

The Beaconsfield Casket



The Graphic (London, England), Saturday, December 21, 1878; Issue 473, from here

Our Illustrations

CALIFORNIAN TESTIMONIAL TO LORD BEACONSFIELD

[TradeName]

Doctors & The Bohemian Club

The 1895 by-laws of the Bohemian Club describe the conditions under which a visitor to San Francisco could be issued a time-limited pass to the club. It also contains a listing of members.

Constitution and By-Laws of the Bohemian Club of San Francisco (1895), link
By Bohemian Club (San Francisco, Calif.)

Pages 26-7

Sec. 29.—At the request of a member, non-residents
of the city may be admitted to the privileges of the Club
for a period of two weeks, two members of the Directory
consenting. A card shall be issued to each visitor, signed
by the President and Secretary. Members introducing
visitors shall be held responsible for any indebtedness such
visitors may contract. The time of visitors' cards may be
extended by the Directory, in their discretion, for a term
not to exceed two weeks, and to non-residents, eminent in
literature, art, music or science, indefinitely. A card
shall not be issued to the same person twice within the
same year.

--end excerpt

Here are some members I've identified as doctors, plus the entry for Harrison, with the dates of admittance.


page 28

ANDERSON, WINSLOW. . . . . . . . . . . Oct. 10, 1894
ARNOLD, J. DENNIS. . . . . . . . . . . Nov. 11, 1889


page 32

COLE, R. BEVERLY . . . . . . . . . . . Dec. 28, 1893

Page 37

HARRISON, WILLIAM GREER. . . . . . . . April 25, 1889

page 40

ROSENSTIRN, JULIUS . . . . . . . . . . June 20, 1881

The 1894 convention of the American Medical Association was held in San Francisco. An attendee from St. Louis wrote a long article about SF, which mentions the doctors listed above.

Medical Mirror, Volume 5, September, 1894, Pages 407-431
By Isaac Newton Love

Snap Shots
from San Francisco
by I.N. Love

page 413

Dr. Winslow Anderson, the editor and owner of the Pacific Medical Journal, the largest and most thrifty medical magazine published on the Pacific Coast, is one of the leading physicians of San Francisco. He has a chair in the Medical Department of the University of California and an enormous practice among the wealthiest classes of the community. Though evidently but little over thirty years of age, he is on the topmost round of the ladder.

[Anderson was also one of the incorporators of the Air and Water Sterilizer Company with William Greer Harrison.]

Dr. Beverly Cole, a portrait of whom was presented in our June number, is the President of the medical department of the University of California, and though well along in years, is one of the youngest men in the State. He walks nobody's chalk line but his own, and no member of the "old guard" ever saw him attempt to carry water on both shoulders. He is a splendid teacher, having been engaged in the work for well on to forty years. He has been around the world several times, crossed the Atlantic and back sixteen times, has done one of the largest and most lucrative practices in San Francisco all these years, and in addition has been the wheel horse politically in his party, as well as one of the most prominent Knight Templars on the Pacific Coast. Take him all in all he is one of the most versatile men one would meet in a year's journey.

page 414

Dr. Julius Rosenstern [Rosenstirn]is one of the most successful surgeons in California. In his private surgical sanitarium and upon the outside he is one of the most busily engaged surgeons. He is not only eminently scientific and artistic as a surgeon but, together with his delightful family he is a pronounced social success.

page 415

Dr. J. Dennis Arnold made a pronounced impress [sic] upon the visiting doctors not only as an artist and scientist, but as a delightful, cultured, clubable man.

--end excerpts

The article lists the doctors who registered for the first day of the 1894 convention. I don't see Dr. Howard's name listed.

The Morning Call (San Francisco), June 05, 1894, Page 8

MEDICOS FEAST.

Doctors Gather From All Quarters.

IN ANNUAL SESSION HERE.

They Will Get Down to Work This Morning.

A BANQUET IN MAPLE HALL.

Nearly Two Hundred of the Medical
Editors Enjoy Themselves at
the Mahogany.



Interestingly, the 1871 AMA convention was also held in San Francisco. Dr. R. Beverly Cole, later a member of the Bohemian club, served on a committee which picked a paper written by Dr. Benjamin Howard as one of two winners in the annual essay contest.

Transactions of the American Medical Association (Philadelphia: 1871), Volume 22, Pages 25-26

Dr. T. M. Logan, of California, Chairman of the Committee on Prize Essays, presented the following report:—

The Committee on Prize Essays respectfully report, that five papers have been submitted to their decision, in the following order of their reception:—

1. "An Essay on the Chemical Constitution of the Bile," bearing the motto, "Divide et impera."

2. "The Direct Method of Artificial Respiration for the Treatment of Persons Apparently Dead from Suffocation by Drowning, or from other Causes." Motto, "Festina lente."

3. "Intussusception and its Treatment: illustrated by the History of a Typical and Successfully Treated Case."

4. "Experiments in Reproduction."

5. "Researches on the Physiology of the Nervous Ganglionic System and their Application to Pathology."

This last paper did not reach the hands of the Committee until 30th April. Consequently, it could not be read critically by all the members of the Committee in time for the present session. The Committee, however, recommend that it be referred to the Section on Physiology to make such disposition of it as may seem fit in their judgment.

The first mentioned essay, although making no pretensions to originality, nevertheless bears evidence of much research and diligence on the part of the author, and affords a valuable summary of all that is now known on the subject of which it treats. The Committee deem it worthy of one of the prizes.

The second paper contains an analytical Digest of all the known procedures hitherto resorted to in the treatment of the accidents to which it refers, and suggests a direct method, capable of prompt and easy application, illustrated by drawings, and confirmed by cases of great practical value. To this paper the Committee also adjudge the other prize.

Signed, THOS. M. LOGAN, Chairman.
H. GIBBONS,
H. H. TOLAND,
R. BEVERLY COLE,
L. C. LANE.

The Permanent Secretary then broke the seals of the accompanying envelopes, and announced that Drs. Edward R. Taylor, of California, and Benj. Howard, of New York, were the successful essayists.

--end excerpt

Howard's essay is on pages 311-352.

I get the impression that the judges were not supposed to know the names of the essay authors before picking the winners. However the Pacific Medical Journal had earlier reprinted a much briefer piece on Howard's method.

Pacific Medical Journal, Volume 3 (new series); Volume 12, January, 1870, pages 371-373

New Method of Restoration from Drowning.

"Dr. Benjamin Howard of New York recommends a method, which is novel in some respects and appears to be worthy of trial."

Henry Gibbons, presumably identical to the "H. Gibbons" of the prize essay committee, was then listed as editor of the PMJ.

Howard was NOT listed as a delegate to the 1871 convention. According to the following notice it was possible for a doctor to attend without being a delegate.

New York Medical Journal, Volume 13, April 1871, page 494

The twenty-second annual session of the American Medical Association will be held in San Francisco, Cal., May 2, 1871, at 11 A. M. Secretaries of all medical organizations are requested to forward lists of their delegates as soon as elected, to the permanent secretary. Any respectable physician who may desire to attend, but cannot do so as a delegate, may be made a member by invitation, upon the recommendation of the Committee of Arrangements.

---end excerpt

Someone in New York sent the Lancet an account of the convention.

The Lancet, June 10, 1871, Pages 801-802

NEW YORK.

(from OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

meeting

The meeting of the American Medical Association at San Francisco was not only the great medical event of the year, but equally of the quarter of a century of the Association's existence. As Professor Still.', the president, very aptly remarked, when the Association was organised, in 1847, California was a wilderness and San Francisco was almost unknown. A journey to this terra incognita was an undertaking full of adventure, which only the most daring frontiersman was willing to attempt. Now the trip across the continent is but a holiday excursion, which the old and young, rich and poor, daily enjoy. California has become one of the most important states in the Union, and San Francisco a populous city. The Association met in Pacific Hall, May 2nd, and on the roll of the Convention were the names of 200 members in attendance, representing twenty-three different states, two territories, the United States army and navy, and several foreign states. Dr. Stout, on the part of the profession of California, made an address of welcome, and the President delivered the annual address before the Association. His theme was that which forms the staple of our annual discourses—medical education. He strongly recommended a union of schools in their efforts to secure reform. Two prize essays were announced—viz. (1) "On the Chemical Construction of Bile," by Dr. E. R. Taylor, of Sacramento, California; and (2) "The Direct Method of Artificial Respiration of persons apparently dead from Suffocation by Drowning or from other causes," by Dr. B. Howard, of New York. The sections on Surgery, Medicine, Obstetrics, and Physiology, were organised, and discussed the various papers referred to them. The reports of committees were few in number, and of little importance. Dr. Gibbons presented a valuable paper "On the Medical Botany of California," embracing specimens, with descriptions of 180 indigenous plants. The Association heartily adopted the proposition of Dr. Storer, to aid in the formation of a memorial fund in honour of the late Professor Simpson. A resolution in favour of the establishment of professorships of hygiene in medical schools was adopted, and also one recommending the formation of State Boards of Health. The " apple of discord" was the woman question. This was introduced in the form of a proposed amendment to the constitution of the Association, as follows :—" Nothing in this constitution shall be so construed as to prevent delegates from colleges in which women are taught and graduated in medicine, and hospitals in which medical womengraduates attend, from being received into this Association." After a long and most exciting debate, the resolution was indefinitely postponed. Subsequently the subject was brought up in another form, a resolution being presented " that the American Medical Association acknowledges the right of its members to meet in consultation the graduates and teachers of Women's Medical Colleges, provided the code of ethics of the Association is observed." This resolution also met violent opposition, and was indefinitely postponed. The scientific discussions of the session were very meagre, both in the sections and in the Association. The members were most hospitably entertained by the profession and citizens of San Francisco, and though this, like other annual gatherings of the profession in this country, did little to advance the science of medicine, it did much to promote good feeling and strengthen the ties of professional fellowship.

New York, May, 1871.

--end excerpt

Beverly Cole's 1901 obituary:

The Transactions of the Medical Society of the State of California, Volume 31, April, 1901, pages 349-51
By Medical Society of the State of California

A biographic entry for Benjamin Howard which indicates an early interest in gynecology or pediatrics:

The Physicians and Surgeons of the United States (1878), page 675
edited by William Biddle Atkinson

HOWARD, BENJAMIN, New York city, graduated from the coll. of phys. and surg., New York, in 1858. He is a member of the N. Y. acad. of med., of the section of obstet. and diseases of women and children of the N. Y. acad. of med.; of the med. soc. of the co. of N. Y. He is now (Feb., 1878) in Europe. In 1870 he look the Am. med. asso. prize for an essay entitled "On the Treatment of Aneurism, with experiments for the Closure of Arteries by a New Method."

--end excerpt

Plate from Howard's 1871 winning essay. Apparently in 1871 lifeguards dressed in the style popularized by Abraham Lincoln.
-

[TradeName]

LC Lane. Cooper Medical College, Theodore Durrant

One of the members of the Prize Essay committee at the 1871 San Francsico American Medical Association convention which awarded a prize to Dr. Benjamin Howard was L. C. Lane. Dr Levi Cooper Lane was the founder of the Cooper Medical College in San Francisco. In April, 1895, a Cooper student, Theodore Durrant was arrested and charged with the murders of Blanche Lamont and Minnie Williams at the Emanuel Baptist Church. It was undoubtedly the intense interest in the Durrant case that made the Call's "Dr. Howard" story timely and resonant.


The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography Supplement I (New York: White, 1910), Page 341

LANE, Levi Cooper, surgeon, was born on a farm near Cincinnati, O., May 9, 1830, son of Ira and Hannah (Cooper) Lane, and grandson of Jesse and Hannah (Huddeston) Lane. His early education was chiefly acquired in private. At the age of sixteen he taught in the district schools of Butler county, and later he attended Farmer's College, and Union College and, although he did not take a full course, he subsequently received the degree of A.M. and the honorary degree of LL.D. from the latter. He studied medicine with his uncles, Drs. Esaias and Elias S. Cooper, and was graduated at the Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, Pa., in 1851. In the same year he was appointed an interne at the New York state hospital, and four years later became assistant surgeon in the United States navy. He pursued his studies in medicine and surgery with unremitting vigor while in the navy, and on one of his voyages to Europe he obtained a furlough and took a course at the university of Gottingen. In 1861, having resigned from the navy, he joined his uncle, Dr. Elias S. Cooper, who had organized the first medical school on the Pacific coast, in San Francisco, Cal. Dr. Lane taught in this school and became thoroughly identified in spirit and action with his uncle's work until the latter's death in 1862. Early m 1875, to further increase his medical knowledge, he visited London, Edinburgh, Paris, Vienna, and Berlin, and after two years study received the degrees of M.R.C.S., England, and M.D. summa aim honore, Berlin. On his return to San Francisco he resuscitated the institution organized by his uncle, and in 1888 he founded its successor, Cooper Medical College. The buildings he erected from his earnings in his practice which with subsequent endowments approximated $500,000. He built as an addition Lane Hall, a large auditorium with laboratories and class rooms, and also the Lane hospital, the latter building being opened to the public in 1894. He also founded a yearly course of instruction, the Lane course of medical lectures, to be given by some eminent authority annually selected for his ability in some department of medical science. His last years were devoted to the work of Lane hospital and Cooper Medical College. His methods were simple and direct with clear-cut precision in everything. He devised many original operations in surgery, always seeking the best ways of perfecting the surgeon's art. In 1870 he was married to Pauline C. Sampson, of Massachusetts, and died childless at San Francisco, Feb. 18, 1902.

Account of the Durrant case, with pic.

Celebrated Criminal Cases of America (San Francisco: Barry, 1910), Pages 114-122
By Thomas Samuel Duke, Captain of Police, San Francisco

HISTORY OF WM. HENRY THEODORE DURRANT, MURDERER OF BLANCHE LAMONT AND MINNIE WILLIAMS

[TradeName]

Brief Follow-Up to Call Article

The San Francisco Call, April 27, 1895, Page 7, Column 1

CITY NEWS IN BRIEF

[...]

The CALL's article in regard to the identity of
London's "Jack the Ripper" was telegraphed
to New York and thence to London and to all
parts of Europe. A hint of this matter was
published in an English paper a few months
ago, but the full facts did not come out until
published in the CALL.

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