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History of medical practice in Illinois - Bushnell Historical Society

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456 <strong>History</strong> <strong>of</strong> Medical Practice <strong>in</strong> Ill<strong>in</strong>oisand historians may utter can never express <strong>in</strong> fullthose orig<strong>in</strong>al collectors.the debt they owe toPublication <strong>of</strong> <strong>medical</strong> textbooks <strong>in</strong> the United States by Americanauthors hardly began before 1800. Imported European works or Americaneditions <strong>of</strong> them comprised the sole <strong>medical</strong> literature at that time. Whenconsider<strong>in</strong>g the <strong>medical</strong> books that may have been <strong>in</strong> circulation <strong>in</strong> Ill<strong>in</strong>oisdur<strong>in</strong>g the early part <strong>of</strong> the 19th century, one cannot ignore the "domesticmedic<strong>in</strong>e books" which were widely used, especially <strong>in</strong> the rural districtswhere a doctor was called only <strong>in</strong> case <strong>of</strong> dire need.Private Medical Libraries In Ill<strong>in</strong>ois Prior To 1850.When pecuniary reverses <strong>in</strong>1829 caused Dr. Elijah Deiuey Harmon atthe age <strong>of</strong> 47 to leave Vermont for the West, no thought would have seemedmore preposterous to him than that some day he would be called the"Father <strong>of</strong> Medic<strong>in</strong>e <strong>in</strong> Chicago." 3 However, dur<strong>in</strong>g that year he spentseveral months <strong>in</strong> Jacksonville, Ill<strong>in</strong>ois,seek<strong>in</strong>g a suitable locality <strong>in</strong> thestate <strong>in</strong> which to beg<strong>in</strong> <strong>practice</strong> anew. In 1830, he was <strong>in</strong>stalled at FortDearborn to look after the health <strong>of</strong> the two companies <strong>of</strong> soldiers whoconstituted the garrison, and <strong>in</strong> June 1831, his family jo<strong>in</strong>ed him, br<strong>in</strong>g<strong>in</strong>gwith them from Vermont his stock <strong>of</strong> medic<strong>in</strong>es and his cherished <strong>medical</strong>library <strong>of</strong> more than 100 volumes. In 1833 he gave up entirely his militarycareer to devote himself to private <strong>practice</strong>. He had secured the famousK<strong>in</strong>zie House as a residence for his family and himself and as a place for his<strong>of</strong>fice, library and store <strong>of</strong> medic<strong>in</strong>es. It may never be known just what bookscomprised Dr. Harmon's library because <strong>of</strong> the likelihood that itwas entirelylost <strong>in</strong> the Chicago fire soon after his death <strong>in</strong>1869, especially s<strong>in</strong>cethere is the statement <strong>of</strong> one <strong>of</strong> his sons that most <strong>of</strong> the family documentswere destroyed dur<strong>in</strong>g that conflagration, among them "the diploma<strong>of</strong> the University which conferred upon the doctor his degree <strong>of</strong>medic<strong>in</strong>e."When Dr. Thomas Hall at the age <strong>of</strong> 32 settled <strong>in</strong> what is now StarkCounty, Ill<strong>in</strong>ois, <strong>in</strong> 1837, "he brought with him a library <strong>of</strong> choice <strong>medical</strong>works and surgical <strong>in</strong>struments <strong>of</strong> the most approved pattern then knownto meet every emergency." 4Dr. Alfred Castle, a contemporary <strong>of</strong> Dr. Hall <strong>in</strong> Stark County, arrived<strong>in</strong> Stark County <strong>in</strong>well-selected <strong>medical</strong> library. 41842. Like Dr. Hall, Dr. Castle brought with him aDr. Joseph C. Frye was a familiar figure on the streets and <strong>in</strong> the homes<strong>of</strong> Peoria from 1834 to 1887. Though he did not contribute to <strong>medical</strong>literature, no new work <strong>of</strong> value came to his attention but it must be added3Hyde, James Nev<strong>in</strong>s: Early Medical Chicago. Fergus Pr<strong>in</strong>t<strong>in</strong>g Co., Chicago, 1879.4Stark County, Ill<strong>in</strong>ois: Documents and Biography perta<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g to its Settlement andProgress. M. A. Leeson & Co., Chicago, 1887.

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