A HISTORY of the WORCESTER DISTRICT MEDICAL SOCIETY and the WORCESTER MEDICAL SOCIETY 1794 - 1954
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A HISTORY of the WORCESTER DISTRICT MEDICAL SOCIETY and the WORCESTER MEDICAL SOCIETY 1794 - 1954 PAUL F. BERGIN, M.D. Secretary Worcester District Medical Society 1952-1954 WORCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS WORCESTER DISTRICT MEDICAL SOCIETY DEDICATED TO PHILIP H. COOK. M.D. THE INSPIRATION AND GUIDANCE OF THIS WORK Copyright 1994 by the Worcester District Medical Society All rights reserved. All or part of this book may be reproduced only with permission of the Worcester District Medical Society. Printed in the United States of America ISBN PBS Designs Printed by Deerfield Press Worcester, MA CONTENTS List of Illustrations iv Foreword v Preface vii IN THE BEGINNING 1. The Worcester Medical Society, 1794 1 2. The Founders 8 3. The Worcester Medical Society and The Massachusetts Medical Society 13 4. The Worcester District Medical Society 20 THE WORCESTER MEDICAL LIBRARY 5. The Worcester Medical Library 24 6. Dr. S. Foster Haven, Librarian 29 7. Middle Years of the Worcester Medical Library 34 8. Renaissance of the Library 42 THE NINETEENTH CENTURY 9. Medicine in the Early Years of the Society 51 10. Quackery in the Nineteenth Century 54 11. Formation of the Worcester North District 64 12. The Late Nineteenth Century 68 13. The Annual Orations 73 THE TWENTIETH CENTURY 14. Some Doctors of the Turn of the Century 82 15. The Early Twentieth Century through the First World War 90 16. The Society through the Second World War 95 17. The Post-War Years 104 APPENDICES 1. Meeting Places 110 2. Members who Served their Country in Time of War 115 3. Presidents of the Worcester District Medical Society116 4. Presidents of the State Society from Worcester 118 5. Donors to the Medical Library and Society 120 6. History of Property Holdings of the Library 134 7. Contributors to the Cook Historical Room 137 8. Property at the American Antiquarian Society 138 Ë ILLUSTRATIONS Old Seal, ca. 1820 viii New Logo 1991- viii U.S. Arms Hotel 2 Minutes of the First Meeting 3 Manuscript Copy of Minutes of First Meeting 4 Worcester 1795 9 Charter of the Worcester District Medical Society 22 Medicine Box of Dr. John Green III 25 Bookplate of Dr. John Green III 25 Dr. John Green III - Lithograph, 1846 26 Bank and Waldo Mansion 28 Worcester Public Library 35 Drs. Woodward, Sargeant, Gage, 1880 39 Dr. Leonard Wheeler 46 Worcester Medical Library, 1947 48 Library Hall, 1951 49 Worcester Medical College, 1850 56 Worcester Journal of Medicine, 1856 57 Dr. John Green III 68 MMS Fellowship Certificate 69 Menu of the Annual Dinner, 1863 74 Dr. Samuel B. Woodward 75 Dr. Dean Ellis - Winter, circa 1900 84 Dr. Dean Ellis - Summer, circa 1990 84 Dr. Homer Gage, ca 1913 88 Dr. Michael Fallon, 1917 89 Operating in 1901 89 Dr. Howard Beal 93 Announcement for Mrs. Roosevelt, 1939 95 Worcester Auditorium, 1949 105 iv Ë FOREWORD The Worcester Medical Society was founded in 1794, when the United States of America was five years old. Seventeen ninety-four was clearly an important year in the federal experiment. During that year the new country endured important tests of its checks and balances system, and succesfully exercised both military and diplomatic options to implement foreign policy. The 11th amendment to the Constitution was passed, diminishing the power of the Supreme Court, by removing from its jurisdiction suits against a state by an individual from another state. President Washington established the power of his position when he called up the militia and led troops from four states against the Whiskey Rebellion in western Pennsylvania. The U.S. Navy was re- established to put down the Barbary pirates. The U.S. Army under "Mad Anthony" Wayne defeated several Indian tribes which were supplied and partly staffed by Canada, thereby, avoiding the loss of a portion of the Northwest Territory, and opening it to expansion. Impending war with England over freedom of the high seas was averted through the Jay treaty. The leading citizen of Massachusetts was the Vice-President of the United States, John Adams. Coastal Massachusetts was then enjoying the fruits of the already fabulous new China trade. The farmers of the central and western parts of the commonwealth shared only to a small extent in this prosperity, and the long-standing resentments which had led to Shay's Rebellion a few years earlier continued to smoulder. When the county in the heart of the commonwealth had been formed in 1731, Worcester was chosen as county seat, although several nearby towns were larger. The various sessions of court held annually attracted multitudes to Worcester in search of justice, business, and entertainment, and, inevitably, the permanent population grew. There were 2,000 residents by 1794. On December 18 of that year, forty-one physicians met at Daniel Heywood's tavern in Worcester, and agreed to form themselves "into a fraternity by the title of the Worcester Medical Society". They came from 24 towns, from as far west as Amherst, and even from Greenwich, R.I. A history of that society, which continues to the present as the Worcester District Medical Society, was completed in May, 1954 by Dr. Paul Bergin. His book has never been published and only three typewritten copies were known to exist in early 1993. Dr. Bergin (1908-1970) had a large obstetrics practice (he delivered all five of my children who were born in Worcester), was Chief of Obstetrics v FOREW ORD at the St. Vincent Hospital and the Worcester City Hospital, was active in the Worcester District Medical Society (Secretary for two years and President in 1957), and was a devoted family man. All the members of the Society are indebted to him for finding time to write this excellent, well- researched work. The Massachusetts Medical Society had come into being in 1781; it claims to be the oldest American medical society in continuous existence. (The Medical Society of New Jersey had been founded in 1766 but, apparently, held no meetings during two periods of six and twelve years respectively, before 1808.) The Worcester Medical Society, as we have seen, began in 1794 and is one of the oldest medical societies in this country. We will read in Dr. Bergin's work how the original Worcester Medical Society became the Worcester District Medical Society in 1804 when it became affiliated with the Massachusetts Medical Society. The Worcester Medical Library came into being and at times seemed to be the mortar which held together the bricks of the Medical Society. The Society and Library flourished through the years. Fitchburg, Leomister, and neighboring towns spun off into the Worcester North District Medical Society in 1858. The city of Worcester matured into the second largest city in New England with parallel growth in the medical profession and the Medical Society. This book is as written by Dr. Bergin with only minor editing, the division into chapters, and the correction of typographical errors. In the appendices there are a few additions made after 1954, presumably, by Dr. Bergin himself. The book retains Dr. Bergin's classical, often orotund, style, his fondness for the semicolon, his interminable quotations of documents, his fear of socialized medicine, and his admittedly biased attitude toward doctors who did not serve in the Armed Forces during World War II. Let us now go back to the beginning with Dr. Bergin. John J. Massarelli, M.D. Worcester, Massachusetts October, 1993 vi Ë PREFACE The Worcester District Medical Society and its predecessor, the Worcester Medical Society, have had a continued existence for one hundred and sixty years. From the time that forty-one physicians of Worcester County met and formed themselves into a fraternity on December 18, 1794, we have grown into a robust and active Medical Society with many famous figures through the long years. The history through the periods of development always revolves around the Medical Library, which dates its origin to 1798, making it one of the three oldest medical libraries in the country. "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to fulfill it." It is the author's earnest desire that, by the perusal of the basis of our organization and reading through its growing pains, we can avoid the errors of the past and be stimulated to make the future more glorious. Today our democratic form of government has definite socialistic tendencies and it is only by demonstrating a solid medical front and alerting ourselves to take the initiative, that we can avert and direct the changes that are on the way. We must preserve for our country and its people the best in medical practice. Worcester County has made many notable direct or indirect contributions to the field of medicine. It was here that Dorothea Dix taught the world compassion for the insane, and it was here that the first state controlled hospital in the country was established for the mentally ill. The first state sanatorium for tuberculosis was erected in Rutland. Dr. William T.G. Morton, a dentist, who was born in Charlton, was the discoverer of surgical anesthesia and gave the first public demonstration in the amphitheatre of the Massachusetts General Hospital. From Oxford came Clara Barton, the founder of the American Red Cross, and Dr. Elliott P. Joslin with his contributions to the treatment of diabetes. Our Society was among the first to raise the standards of medical education; it forced the Massachusetts Medical Society from restricted membership to state-wide eligibility with the formation of District Societies; it was the first in the state to publish a medical bulletin; it established a blood bank during World War II to supply the needs of both civilians and the Armed Forces.