History of medical practice in Illinois - Bushnell Historical Society

1 18 History of Medical Practice in Illinois1861No meetings of the Illinois State Medical Society were held in the years1861 and 1862 because of the large number of members engaged in theVolunteer Army of the United States. It might be assumed that a goodmany were assigned to duty within the state, as 35,000 soldiers were stationedat Camp Douglas in Chicago.Although there was no meeting of the State Society, the Chicago MedicalJournal published a Symposium on the treatment of diptheria by severalauthors. They also published an excellent exposition of exophthalmicgoiter by Dr. R. C. Hamill of Chicago.1862Many copies of "Camp News" were received from the battle areas.During this year, the alcohol question was discussed by Dr. DanielHooper; Dr. Ware lectured on "Value of Poor Sleep and Profuse Perspiration"and "Variations of Animal Heat as a Cause of Diseases," and Dr.Austin Flint of Bellevue Hospital in New York made a plea for conservativemedicine.1863The annual meetings of the State Society were resumed this year, atwhich the address was a long dissertation by Dr. A. McFarland of Jacksonvilleon "Insanity and Intemperance in Relation to Some Notable CourtTrials." Dr. H. Noble of Heyworth made a special report on typhoidfever.The material presented at this meeting seems a little thin as comparedto previous meetings, but undoubtedly many practitioners were still inmilitary service or adjusting to their former civilian practice. One thereforelooks to other sources for information concerning the problems of medicineat this time, and in the Northwestern Medical and Surgical Journal are severalimportant items:1. An editorial on epidemic cerebrospinal meningitis in the Northwest,asking the question whether the cause was atmospheric or due to too muchrain and wet weather; and a discussion of typhoid fever as the creation of"ochlesis," (bad ventilation, filth and improper food).2. A special article by Dr. Thomas N. Chambers of St. Mary's Hospital inLondon, in which he said that "rheumatic fever is a pleasant disease—mean for the doctor to treat though not for the patient to bear. It is pleasantfor him to treat it,because he then feels himself strong and useful. He can,by the judicious exercise of his art, insure the sufferers against severalperils to which the nature of their complaint normally subjects them—againhe can save them much pain—he can shorten the normal duration both of