History of medical practice in Illinois - Bushnell Historical Society

364 History of Medical Practice in Illinoising the French possession of the country, prior to1763. As described byJudge Caton, of Ottawa, at the laying of the cornerstone of the thirdcapitol at Springfield in 1868, it was a rough building in the center of asquare in the village of Kaskaskia; its body was built of uncut limestone,its gambril gable and roof of unpainted boards and shingles with dormerwindows, and it contained a large cheerless room on its ground floor fittedup for the sessions of the House, while the Council sat in the smallerchamber above. At the time of Judge Caton's description there was probablyno stone left to mark the spot where it stood, for already thirty yearsearlier it was a mass of ruins. Kaskaskia itself tragically came to an endin the 'nineties,' when the Mississippi changed its course and swirled overit leaving its site under deep water ever since. Today the traveller wholoiters near the place will find only a relic of Kaskaskia on an adjoiningbluff, the old Pierre Menard mansion in which La Fayette was entertainedin 1825.The laws drafted in the capitol of Kaskaskia reflectthe character andthe spirit of the pioneer days. In 1813 the territorial government enacteda law to elect commissioners authorized to lay out the streets of the "Townof Kaskaskia." In the following year we find laws concerning "ShawanoeTown," a tax on billiard tables, punishment for giving intoxicating drinksto Kaskaskia Indians, the establishment of towns, killing of wolves andthe promotion of retaliation upon hostile Indians.Only three years later, that is, in 1817, the territorial government ofIllinois wrote a remarkable document: 'An Act to incorporate medicalsocieties for the purpose of regulating the practice of Physic and Surgery,"perhaps the earliest of its kind in the United States. 5 Though it wouldseem that little heed was given to this law by the medical profession, itreveals a high level of conscience on the part of the lawmakers in tryingto protect the people of Illinois territory from the charlatans, quacks, andill-prepared doctors who were streaming into thisfrontier land with thecolonists. The Act was approved and signed on December 31, 1817, byNinian Edwards, the territorial governor.5 Section 3 of the Acts reads: "Be it further enacted, that the Medical Societies establishedas aforesaid, are hereby respectively empowered to examine all students who shallor may present themselves for that purpose, and give diplomas under the hand of thepresident and seal of the society, before whom such student shall be examined; whichdiploma shall be sufficient to empower the person so obtaining the same to practice physicor surgery, or both, as shall be set forth in the said diploma, in any part of the territory."It was further enacted in Section 5, "that from and after the organization of the saidmedical societies in the respective districts, no person shall commence the practiceof physic or surgery in either of the aforesaid districts until he shall have passedan examination and received a diploma, or license as aforesaid; and if any person shallso practice without having obtained a diploma or license for that purpose, he shall foreverthereafter be disqualified from collecting any debt or debts incurred by such practicein any court, or before any magistrate in the territory."