History of medical practice in Illinois - Bushnell Historical Society

Internal Medicine 129relieve paroxysms was suggested, to which there was serious objection byDr. N. S. Davis.A lengthy report on croup was presented, as well as one on exophthalmicgoiter in which the cause was attributed to a preponderance of alterationsin ganglia of sympathetic nerves. It was stated that "almost every drugknown has been used." Rest, sedation, ergot, nutrition, tonics and galvanismwere suggested as treatment.A famous case report was published by Dr. H. Hammer of St. Louis on"A Case of Thrombosis of One Coronary Artery Diagnosed Antemortemand Proved at Autopsy."Chicago reported an epidemic of whooping cough, with 53.8 deaths per10,000 population—an unprecedented high.An article under the heading "Medical News and Items" appeared in theChicago Medical Join mil and Examiner which read:"The Phonograph opens up a vista of medical possibilities delightful to contemplate.Who can fail to make the nice distinction between every form of bronchialand pulm rale, percussion, succusion and friction sounds, surgical crepitus,foetal and placental murmurs, and arterial and aneurismal bruit, when each canbe produced at will, amplified to any desired extent, in the study, the amphitheatre,the office and hospital. The lecturers of the future will teach more effectuallywith this instrument than by mouth. The phonograph will record thefrequency and characteristics of respiratory and muscular movements, decide asto the age and sex of the foetus in utero and differentiate pneumonia fromphthisis. It will reproduce the sob of hysteria, the sigh of melancholia, the singultusof collapse, the cry of the puerperal woman in the different stages of labor. Itwill interpret for the speechless infant, the moans and cries of tubercular meningitis,earache and intestinal colic. It will furnish the ring of whooping cough andthe hack of the consumptive. It will be an expert in insanity, distinguishing betweenthe laugh of the maniac and the drivel of the idiot. It will classify dysphagicderangements, such as ataxic, amnesic, paraphasic akataphasic aphasia."It will recount, in die voice and words of the patient, the agonies of neuralgiaand renal calculus, and the horrors of delirium tremens. It will give the burdenof the story of the old lady who recounts all the ills of her ancestors before proceedingto the era of her own. More than this, it will accomplish this feat in theante room, while the physician is supposed to be busying himself with his lastpatient."1879The annual address by Dr. E. P. Cook of Mendota was a short history ofthe State Society. Dr. Cook made a plea for complete membership on thebasis diat "in union there is strength." He urged a longer period of trainingfor medical students with needed clinical experience added, the adoptionof the metric system, the control of pharmacists, and regulation of laws. Healso reported that a National Board of Health had been organized, andmade the following recommendations: that Illinois organize county boardsof health, have fewer medical schools, adopt the highest attainable stand-