Ohio History Journal

EARLY INTERNSHIPS IN ST. FRANCIS HOSPITAL--

A REMINISCENCE

by H. M. PLATTER, M.D.

In September 1889 I enrolled in Starling Medical College

with Dr. Thomas C. Hoover as my preceptor. I had already

completed three years of preliminary education at Ohio Wesleyan

University. Dr. Hoover was professor of surgery at the college

and the visiting surgeon to St. Francis Hospital. At the con-

clusion of my freshman year, the first house physician or intern

was appointed for St. Francis, and the college announced that

succeeding house physicians would be chosen from among the

students who had finished their courses in the upper third of their

classes.

Living quarters for the house physician were provided in

the hospital, but entrance thereto was through the medical college

up three flights of winding stairs and past the dissection room to

the back of the building. Dr. Hoover's student--myself--and

Dr. Loving's student--Edgar M. Hatton--also were required to

share the two rooms provided for the house physician. The quar-

ters were comfortable, quiet, and gave every opportunity for study.

Here for a period of three years, I resided, and then I received

the appointment as house physician and served in that capacity

during the year of 1892-93.

The announcement in the annual report of the hospital each

year stated that the ordinary time for daily visits of the physicians

and surgeons was between 9 and 11 o'clock each morning. In

case of emergency they would be called immediately, day or night.

The house physician, the announcement read further, was in con-

stant attendance during the day and night. This latter statement

was only too true! Either the house physician or the two students

who occupied his quarters were subject to call at all times. If they

did not report they were severely reprimanded.

At that time the hospital was known as a "closed" institution,

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400  OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

 

i.e., no one but staff members were permitted to practice therein.

The staff was composed of the following visiting physicians: Dr.

Starling Loving, Dr. A. M. Bleile, and Dr. Otto Frankenberg.

The visiting surgeon was Dr. Thomas C. Hoover; the visiting

gynecologist, Dr. D. Tod Gilliam; the visiting ophthalmologist,

Dr. Charles Franklin Clark. Occasionally, Dr. Arthur H. Bowen,

dermatologist, was called in a particular case. No other physicians

practiced in the hospital.

Fully 98 per cent of the patients were charity cases. There

were perhaps six or eight beds where private patients could be

treated by members of the visiting staff only. The house phy-

sician was required to have a complete case history of each patient

admitted available for review by the visiting staff member. These

histories were criticized when necessary, the patient was examined

carefully by the visitant, and the remedies for cure or relief pre-

scribed.

In the medical division the large percentage of cases were

visited by Dr. Starling Loving, dean of the medical school, who

was extremely punctual. He demanded that the history of the

patient should be complete. At that time we had few instruments

of precision save the stethoscope and thermometer and only lim-

ited laboratory facilities for microscopic work. In great measure

the diagnosis depended upon a complete history and the use of

the "five senses." With this meager equipment, Dr. Loving's

wizardry in diagnosis as well as in his prescription of the proper

remedies was, to say the least, well known. His powers of obser-

vation of the individual patient, including the facial expression

and posture in bed, I believe were described in a brochure which

I hope has been preserved.

Dr. Thomas C. Hoover, professor of surgery and the surgeon

for the Pennsylvania lines, was prompt in his services to the hos-

pital. The hospital received many cases of serious accidents--

crushed arms, legs, fractures, and dislocations. Dr. Hoover was

particularly expert in the performance of amputations and the

treatment of fractures. Were he living in this age, I believe he

could easily qualify as an exceptional orthopedic surgeon. He

attempted no abdominal operations during my service with him.

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ST. FRANCIS HOSPITAL                 401

 

These were the days of antiseptic surgery.  He operated with

bare hands under antiseptic spray and fully expected "laudable

pus"--a union by "first intention" after the operation was rare and

the cause for comment!

Among the many duties of the house physician was the

preparation of antiseptic solutions for surgery, the bleaching of

sponges to be used in surgery, and the preparation of plaster

bandages. Not until approximately 1900 was aseptic surgery

practiced.

The reputation of Dr. Charles Franklin Clark as an ophthal-

mologist is well known. It needs no comment from me.

The department of gynecology was presided over by Dr. D.

Tod Gilliam. Medical history is replete with reports of his con-

tributions, including his standard textbook and particularly his

description of the Gilliam operation for ventrosuspension which

is still used by surgeons the world over. I might observe that

in 1911, while in Vienna, when I registered as from Columbus,

Ohio, I was immediately asked, "Do you know Dr. Gilliam?"

While we had many good men in the field of medicine and surgery

at that time, it was Dr. Gilliam's name that put Columbus on the

medical map.

In reviewing the annual reports of St. Francis Hospital, I

should state that the monthly reports of that institution show at-

tendance of approximately 100 patients daily. They were suffer-

ing in general from the diseases and illnesses which affected the

community at that time. Particular mention should be made of

typhoid fever, the malaries, pneumonia, heart diseases, and influ-

enza; the census varied somewhat in epidemic times. As already

indicated, the surgical report was to a considerable extent the

result of accidental injuries, fractures, amputations, hernias, etc.

The hospital was operated with a closed staff for a period of

ten years or more. The first addition or change in the medical

staff occurred in 1905 when the name of I. B. Harris, M. D.,

appeared in the annual report for that year as an assistant visiting

physician. The report for 1908 announced a change and enlarge-

ment of the staff as follows:

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402 OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

 

Chief of Staff, Thos. C. Hoover, M.D.; Physicians, Starling Loving,

M.D., J. H. J. Upham, M.D., Frank Winders, M.D.; Surgeons, Thos.

C. Hoover, M.D., C. S. Hamilton, M.D., W. J. Means, M.D.; Assistant

Surgeon, I. B. Harris, M.D.; Ophthalmologist, C. F. Clark, M.D.;

Otologist, W. K. Rogers, M.D.; Genito-Urinary Surgeon, Starling S.

Wilcox, M.D.; Orthopedist, A. M. Steinfeld, M.D.; Neurologist, W.

D. Deuschle, M.D.; Dermatologist, Chas. J. Shepard, M.D.; Radiog-

rapher, C. F. Bowen, M.D.; Pathologist, Ernest Scott, M.D.; Resident

Physicians, Floyd Kramer, M.D. and E. M. Freese, M.D.

I suppose the elaboration to have been the result of the merger of

the medical colleges then existent in Columbus, stimulated by the

Flexner report on medical colleges and their deficiencies.  The

history of the institution in the period from 1900 should be the

subject of further treatment by a historian.

In retrospect, what value do I place on my early medical

education and service in St. Francis Hospital? I am sure that the

ten men who served as house physicians during that ten-year

period would answer the question in unison thus: "All of us

were stimulated to be punctual, careful, observant, and impressed

daily with the thought that our medical education had just begun

and that only by means of keeping abreast of the literature and

with postgraduate work, could we hope to succeed." All of us

were stimulated by association with these medical leaders of the

time who composed the visiting staff, particularly Dr. Loving who

was always ready to give much of his time and effort to the

medical college and to the hospital. There he was a familiar

figure over a period of years, administering to the poor as will-

ingly as to his fashionable patients. At all times he gave his

best and never refused to respond to the call of the sick. One

historian has stated that "at the bedside he was as one trans-

formed, illumined with an intensity of purpose and softened by

the deepest sympathy." His life was one of devotion to his pro-

fession. His interns hold in grateful remembrance his demand

that we respond to duty and his insistence that we keep abreast

of medical advances. To say the least, the staff labored to make

us good family doctors, leaving the finishing processes to future

medical clinics and postgraduate courses.

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ST. FRANCIS HOSPITAL                 403

 

HOUSE PHYSICIANS, ST. FRANCIS HOSPITAL

Edwin F. Clark (Deceased) ........................1890-1891

G.  E.  Gardner       ...................................  1891-1892

H. M . Platter        .................................... 1892-1893

John E. Wood (Deceased) ........................ 1893-1894

C. H. Clark  (Deceased)  ........................... 1894-1895

E. W. Schueller (Deceased) ....................... 1895-1896

G. W. Heffner        ................................... 1895-1896

Howard   Black      ................................... 1896-1897

Eli  S.      Holm es  ..................................  1897-1898

J. S. Jones (Deceased) ............................ 1898-1899

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