History of medical practice in Illinois - Bushnell Historical Society

270 History of Medical Practice in IllinoisDr. Jones achieved wide fame as an accomplished surgeon. His hobby issaid to have been horses, and he was noted for his steeds and the splendorof his equipage. He never married. A year before his death in 1901, heretired and devoted his time to an anti-noise crusade.Dr. Ferdinand Carl Hotz, born in 1843 at Wertheim in Baden, was educatedat Heidelberg and Berlin where he was under such masters as Helmholz,Knapp, von Graefe, Virchow and Langenbeck. Arriving in Chicagoin1869, he began practice as a general surgeon with special attention tothe eye and ear, a rather general custom as the specialty was then evolvingin this area. His interest appears to have been primarily in ophthalmology,however, as it is for his work in plastic surgery of the eye(Hotz entropionoperation) that he is most noted. Dr. Hotz followed Dr. Hildreth as oculistand aurist to the Cook County Hospital (1870-75), and became associatedwith Dr. Holmes at the Presbyterian Hospital and Eye and Ear Infirmary(1875-92). He was at various times Professor of Ophthalmology at theWoman's Medical College, Chicago Policlinic and Rush Medical College(1898-1907). In 1888, he was Chairman of the Section on Ophthalmologyand Otology of the American Medical Association and, in 1892-93, he wasPresident of the Chicago Medical Society. Dr. Hotz is said to have been aversatile, contentious, and often hot-tempered man but an uncompromisinghater of sham and quackery.The first graduate of a local school to achieve eminence in the field ofophthalmology in Chicago was Dr. Henry Gradle. Born in Germany, hewas brought to Chicago in 1865 at the age of ten. Graduating from theChicago Medical College (Northwestern University) in 1874, he internedat Mercy Hospital and then spent three years in European study. A followerof Koch, he wrote the first treatise in English on the germ theory.From 1881 to 1885, Dr. Gradle taught physiology and hygiene at the ChicagoMedical College, and then limited his practice to eye, ear, nose andthroat. From 1897 to 1906, he was Professor and Head of the Departmentof Ophthalmology and Otology at his alma mater, and wrote a threevolumetext on "Diseases of the Nose, Throat and Ear." Dr. Gradle died in1911 at the age of fifty-five. His son, Dr. Harry Gradle, became one ofAmerica's best known ophthalmologists.Dr. Boerne Bettman, born in Cincinnati in 1856, received his degreefrom the Miami Medical College in 1877. After serving as assistant toWilliams of Cincinnati, Knapp of New York and Becker of Heidelberg,and following a considerable sojourn in Europe, Dr. Bettman came to Chicagoin 1881. He was a skillful surgeon. In 1882, he had the distinction ofbeing the first lecturer in ophthalmology at the College of Physicians andSurgeons (University of Illinois). He subsequently became professor there,succeeding Dr. John E. Harper. He also became associated with the Eye