History of medical practice in Illinois - Bushnell Historical Society

284 History of Medical Practice in Illinoisthose details which are to comprise his daily and hourly experience andremark in after life. His pathway is beset by briars and thorns which nonebut a skillful hand may teach him to shun. He isto be familiarized withdisease, to be brought face to face with its every lineament; and taught thebest method of averting itsfearful ravages." They did not, however, mentionotolaryngology other than tosay "that the success of these lectureswill be ample refutation of the libel upon Homeopathists so currentlycirculated in certain quarters— that there are no good surgeons in theHomeopathic School."In 1874 Chicago had a population of over 560,000. In that year theseventh annual announcement of the Bennett Medical College(that yearthey dropped Eclectic) had stated, "The ability of a physician to effectquick and permanent cures is his chief capital. Your success will determineyour patronage. Your income will therefore be largely increased by selectingthis system of practice, which, beyond all doubt, is the most rationaland successful of the age. Very ordinary physicians seldom make less than4 or 5 calls per day, while the better class average twice as many, even inhealthy times. In sickly seasons, the number of visits made in 24 hours sometimesexceeds 50, which, at $2.00 per visit, yield a revenue which ought tosatisfy the most ambitious." Dr. Henry Olin was then the Professor ofDiseases of the Eye and Ear and Dr. J.R. Duncan Professor of Diseases ofthe Heart, Throat and Lungs. The year before he was Professor of Diseasesof Children! Into 1897 the Eye and Ear were kept under one divisionusing books on the Ear by Roosa, Buck and Dench and the subjects ofRhinology and Laryngology separately using books by Sajous, Ingalls,Bosworth and Ivens.The Chicago Homeopathic Medical College (organized in 1896) wasin its 17th season in 1892 when Dr. J.H. Buffum was Professor of Eye andEar and Dr. W. M. Stearns held forth as Professor of Rhinology andLaryngology. The latter was listed as giving "a very thorough course ofclinical and didactic lectures upon the diseases and anomalies of the nose,pharynx and larynx, thoroughly demonstrating the local, internal andsurgical treatment of the same to small classes of senior students." Recommendedbooks for reading were Houghton, Winslow's "Otology," andSajous, and Lennox Brown in Laryngology and Rhinology. The collegemerged with Hahnemann Medical College in 1904.The first annual announcement of the College of Physicians and Surgeonsof Chicago heralded the session of 1882-3 to commence Tuesdayevening, September 26,1882, and to continue for 24 weeks. From the firstDr. John E. Harper was Professor of Ophthalmology and Clinical Diseasesof the Eye, with Dr. Boerne Bettman as Lecturer on Ophthalmology andOtology. However, in 1884 Harper's title was changed to Professor of