History of medical practice in Illinois - Bushnell Historical Society

72 History of Medical Practice in Illinois"Persons professing to practice medicine or who shall append to his name theletters, M.D., to be considered physicians. Students prescribing under supervisionof preceptors, or persons prescribing gratuitously in cases of emergency, exempt.Not applicable to commissioned officers of the U.S. army or navy."Itinerant practitioners to pay a license of $100.00 a month."Practitioners to be registered in county or counties where practicing. Whenremoving to another county, certificate to be indorsed to that effect by countyclerk; said certificate to be recorded as before provided for."Practitioners to file certificate of births and deaths within 30 days. Penalty,§10.00. Failure to register, fine, not less than $50.00 nor more than $500.00, or byimprisonment of not less than 30 nor more than 365 days, or by both fine andimprisonment, for each and every offense; and any person filing or attemptingto file,as his own, the diploma or certificate of another, or a forged affidavit ofidentification, shall be guilty of a felony, and upon conviction shall be subject tosuch fine and imprisonment as are made and provided for by the statutes of thisstate for the crime of forgery."Board a mixed one, three regular physicians, one homeopath or eclectic andtwo laymen."1882 — QUINCYThe President of the Society in 1882 was Dr. Robert Boal of Peoria, oneof the two men then still living who had met in Springfield in1850 to reorganizethe Illinois State Medical Society. Dr. Boal had practiced his professionfor over a half a century, and his President's Address was preparedto "contrast the past with the present, the then and now." The Society wasin its 32nd year, and Dr. Boal commented that "A generation of humanlife has almost passed away since the few earnest and active members ofthe profession—twelve in number—in the library room of the old capitolin Springfield, organized our present association. To one who has livedthrough and witnessed it, the marvelous progress that has been made duringthe past fifty years in population, wealth, in science and the arts, inliberty, law and human rights, in a degree never before known in history,is a subject of unceasing interest and admiration. . . . History contains norecord of a people whose progress has been so rapid and marvelous as ourown. Then the practice of medicine in all its departments was pursued bythe same individual. Now we have specialists in every branch of the scienceand art of medicine. . . . The amenities of professional intercourse and theobligations of medical men toward each other and the public, were thenperhaps better observed than now. . . . Then the doctor, next to the minister,was the trusted friend and counselor of every family to whom he ministered.He shared their joys, soothed their sorrows, and every passingyear added to and cemented the attachment and affection between them.Now the doctor is regarded more in the light of a tradesman or mechanic,and is employed from the same considerations that a grocer,tailor, or shoemaker is. The strong ties of gratitude and affection havealmost ceased to exist. Relationship is now placed upon a mere commer-