OHIO MEDICAL HISTORY OF THE PERIOD,
1835-1858*
CONTRIBUTIONS OF OHIO PHYSICIANS TO THE
INVENTIONS OF THE PERIOD, 1835-1858
By DONALD D. SHIRA, M. D.
When the chairman of this section
suggested the title of this
paper it seemed to be a relatively easy
assignment. Offhand one
would naturally assume that many Ohio
physicians must have
conceived and perfected inventions outside
the field of medicine.
However, such does not seem to be the
case. Evidently most
physicians were too deeply absorbed in
developing and improving
instruments and equipment of use to
their own profession to stray
very far away into less familiar fields.
Many physicians "rode
hobbies," or made original
discoveries in the realms of art and
the natural sciences, but those who
possessed real inventive genius
deserted, in part or completely, the
practice of medicine.
The deeper one delves into this subject
the more limited
appear to be its possibilities. No
originality whatever is claimed
for this brief paper; it consists merely
of an assembly of facts
already known. It is hoped, however,
that it may serve as an
humble beginning to which factual
material may be added from
time to time.
John Locke, M.D. (1792-1856)1
Dr. John Locke was an eccentric genius.
In him was com-
bined the accurate, calculating mind of
a scientist, with the
aesthetic, sensitive nature of a poet.
He was born February 19,
1792, in Fryeburg, Maine, the son of
Samuel Barron and Hannah
Pussell Locke.
* The eight papers under this heading
were read before the second annual meet-
ing of the Committee on Archives and
Medical History of the Ohio State Archaeological
and Historical Society, at the Ohio
History Conference, in the Society's Library,
April 5, 1940.
1 References: Otto Juettner, Daniel
Drake and His Followers (Cincinnati, 1909),
155-62; Howard Atwood Kelly and W. L.
Burrage, American Medical Biographies
(Baltimore, Md., 1920), 710.
(315)
316 OHIO
ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
At an early age young Locke manifested
his mechanical tastes,
his ingenuity and his love for books.
Botany was his favorite
study, although books on that subject
were at that time extremely
scarce. In 1816 he met Dr. Solon Smith
of Hanover and spent
two years with him in the further study
of botany, studying medi-
cine at the same time. Later he became
interested in chemistry
and, although he had never seen a piece
of chemical apparatus,
his genius was such that he was able to
construct his own para-
phernalia.
Although he had studied medicine as an
apprentice, and had
served as an assistant surgeon in the
United States Navy, he did
not receive his medical degree from Yale
College until 1819.
After his graduation he started to
practice medicine but soon
abandoned it, not for lack of patients,
but because most of them
did not have any money with which to pay
him. From that time
until 1837, when he became professor of
chemistry at the Medical
College of Ohio, Cincinnati, he
experienced a checkered career,
having delivered lectures in Portland,
Maine, at Boston, Salem
and at Dartmouth College. In June, 1821, he went to Lexington,
Kentucky, and founded a school for
girls. The year 1822 finds
him in Cincinnati where he founded a
similar school which became
famous.
While professor of chemistry at the
Medical College of Ohio,
largely with self-manufactured
equipment, he experimented ex-
tensively in the field of electricity.
As a result he invented a
number of scientific instruments such
as, a thermoscopic galva-
nometer described in the American
Journal of Science (XXXIII);
and a microscopic compass, a description
of which also appeared
in the American Journal of Science (XXIII).
However, the crowning glory of his
inventive genius was his
"Electric Chronograph" or
"Magnetic Clock," which was adopted
by the United States Navy. A letter from
Lieutenant Charles
Maury, announcing officially the
invention of Dr. Locke to Hon.
John Y. Mason, Secretary of the Navy,
dated at the National
Observatory, Washington, January 5,
1849, and quoted in the
National Intelligencer (June 8, 1849), reads thus:
OHIO
MEDICAL HISTORY, 1835-1858 317
I have the honor of making known to you
a most important discovery
for astronomy, which has been made by
Dr. Locke, of Ohio, and asking
authority from you to avail myself of
it, for the use and purposes of this
observatory. The discovery consists in
the invention of a magnetic clock by
means of which seconds of time may be
divided into hundredths with as
much accuracy and precision as the machinist,
with rule and compass, can
subdivide an inch of space. Nor do its
powers end here. They are such
that the astronomer in New Orleans, St.
Louis, Boston and any other place
to which the magnetic telegraph reaches,
may make his observations, and at
the same moment cause this clock, here
in Washington, to record the instant
with wonderful precision. Thus, the
astronomer in Boston observes the
transit of a star as it flits through
the field of his instrument, and crosses the
meridian at that place. Instead of
looking at a clock before him, and noting
the time in the usual way, he touches a
key, and the clock here subdivides
his seconds to the minutest fraction,
and records the time with unerring
accuracy. The astronomer in Washington
waits for the same star to cross
his meridian, and, as it does, Dr.
Locke's magnetic clock is again touched;
it divides the seconds, and records the
time for him with equal precision.
The difference between these two times
is the longitude of Boston from the
meridian of Washington. The astronomer
in New Orleans, and St. Louis,
and every other place within the reach
of the magnetic wires, may wait for
the same star, and as it comes to their
meridian, they have but to touch the
key, and straightway this central
magnetic clock tells their longitude. And
thus this problem, which has vexed
astronomers and navigators, and per-
plexed the world for ages, is reduced at
once, by American ingenuity, to a
form and method the most simple and
accurate. While the process is
simplified, the results are greatly
refined. In one night the longitude may
now be determined with far more accuracy
by means of a magnetic telegraph
or clock than it can by years of
observation according to any other method
that has ever been tried. It is,
therefore, well entitled to be called a most
important discovery. It is a national
triumph and it belongs to that class of
achievements by which the most beautiful
and enduring monuments are
erected to national honor and greatness.
To quote Dr. Otto Juettner, "John
Locke, a giant in intellect,
was a child at heart, tender, naive,
lovable, sincere and full of
youthful enthusiasm."
Dr. Locke died in Cincinnati, July 1O,
1856.
318
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND
HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
Thomas Wood, M.D. (1813-1880)2
Here was another physician who was a
versatile genius.
Thomas Wood was born in Smithfield,
Jefferson County,
Ohio, August 22, 1813, the son of Nathan and Margaret Wood.
In 1835 he began to study medicine with
Dr. W. S. Bates of
Smithfield. He received his medical
degree in 1839 from the
University of Pennsylvania.
Even before he was graduated from
medical college he in-
vented an instrument called the
"Arealite," which was designed
to facilitate the calculation of areas.
About the same time he
invented a fountain pen. Both these
inventions received the
highest praise from the Franklin
Institute of Philadelphia.
On July 22, 1839, he was granted a patent
for an instrument
known as the "Linear
Mensurator." Its function was to deter-
mine the length of lines and to find the
horizontal of a line when
it ascends or descends a hill.
Wood settled in Cincinnati in 1845. Time
will not permit
giving in detail the many medical honors
which came to him
during his life. Suffice to say that he
was at various times pro-
fessor of anatomy and physiology, Ohio
College of Dental Sur-
gery; demonstrator of anatomy, professor
of anatomy, and pro-
fessor of surgical anatomy, at the
Medical College of Ohio; and,
in connection with Dr. L. M. Lawson, was
editor and owner of
the Western Lancet.
Dr. Wood died in Cincinnati, October 20, 1880.
Richard Jordan Gatling, M.D. (1818-1903)3
Richard Jordan Gatling was born
September 12, 1818, to
Jordan and Mary (Barnes) Gatling in
Hertford County, North
Carolina. His father, a well-to-do
planter, possessed considerable
mechanical ability and inventive talent,
because he invented a
cotton-seed sowing machine and a machine
for thinning cotton
2 References: Juettner, Daniel Drake, 223-4; Kelly
and Burrage, American Med-
ical Biographies, 1258-9.
3 References: Who's Who in America (Chicago,
1899), I, (1899-1900), 263; Dic-
tionary of American Biography (New York, 1928-1937), VII, 191-2; Encyclopaedia
Britannica. 14th ed. (London; New
York, 1929), X, 71.
OHIO
MEDICAL HISTORY, 1835-1858 319
plants. Young Gatling, still in his
teens, is said to have helped
his father in perfecting them.
Gatling, after completing the course in
the county schools,
at the age of nineteen began to teach
school. After one year of
teaching he gave it up and opened up a
little country store. Evi-
dently the business was none too
prosperous for he closed it in a
few months. Being of an inventive turn
of mind he began to
brood over various inventions. During
the year 1838 he devised
a screw propeller, but when he applied
for a patent discovered
that John Ericsson had anticipated him.
The little set-back by
no means dampened his ardor, for he
immediately turned his at-
tention to the improvement of
agricultural implements, and one
year later (1839) perfected and patented
a rice-sowing machine,
and a wheat drill operated on the same
principle. In 1844 he
went to St. Louis to have his machines
manufactured.
Here enters a side light on the
indomitable perseverence and
determination which made his name known
throughout the civil-
ized world. In the winter of 1845, while
on a business trip by
river steamer from St. Louis to
Pittsburgh he contracted smallpox.
For two weeks the steamer was ice-locked
and he could get no
medical attention. Right then and there
he decided to take time
out of a busy, business career to study
medicine so that ever after,
if an emergency arose, he could give to
himself and his family
proper medical care. Eventually his
determination was rewarded,
for he entered the Medical College of
Ohio from which he re-
ceived his M.D. in 1850. It was not his
intention to practice
medicine, nor did he ever.
His business of manufacturing
agricultural implements be-
came so prosperous that he established
factories in St. Louis,
Springfield, Ohio, and Indianapolis. He
continued with his in-
ventions, having secured patents for a
hemp-breaking machine,
and for a steam plow.
When the Civil War broke out he promptly
turned his at-
tention to the instruments of warfare,
and in 1862 patented a
steam marine battering ram. On November
4, 1862, he obtained
patent no. 36,836 for a rapid-fire gun
known as the Gatling gun
320
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
which brought him world-wide fame. To
this day yeggs speak
of their automatic pistols as
"gats". His first gun, although crude,
had a firing capacity of 250 shots a
minute. He labored incessantly
to improve his gun and at last perfected
it to the point where it
would fire 1,200 shots a
minute. Records reveal that in several
instances it fired as many as 500 shots
in two and one-half seconds.
It was officially adopted by the United
States Army in 1866.
Briefly described the Gatling gun
consisted of a group of rifle barrels
arranged lengthwise around a central
shaft and the whole revolved by suit-
able gears and by a hand crank.
Cartridges were automatically and suc-
cessively fed into the barrels, the
hammers of which were so arranged in
connection with the barrels that they
were kept in continuous revolving
movement by turning the hand crank.
Ordinarily, the gun had ten barrels
with ten corresponding locks which
revolved together.
In 1886 Gatling invented a new gun-metal
composed of an
alloy of steel and aluminum. In 1897 he
persuaded Congress to
grant a subsidy of $40,000 for the
construction of an 8-inch gun,
which was built at Cleveland, Ohio,
under his direction. In the
trials at Sandy Hook (1899) the gun
burst and Gatling always
contended that sabotage during the
process of manufacture was
responsible for its failure.
Despite the fact that Gatling was now
eighty years old he
again turned his attention to
agricultural implements, and invented
(1900) a motor-driven plow, but before
arrangements for its
manufacture could be completed he died,
February 26, 1903, at
Hartford, Conn.
The time alloted to this paper having
nearly run its course,
one might mention a few other Ohio
physicians who made dis-
coveries or inventions in the
non-medical field--Dr. Rives Landon
Longworth (1846-1879), Cincinnati, who
invented (1878) an
electric candle;4 Dr. Theodatus Garlick
(1805-1884), Cleveland,
who was commissioned to make a medallion
likeness in bas-relief,
after his own process, of President
Andrew Jackson, who con-
structed a daguerreotype camera, and who
was the first person
4 Kelly and Burrage, American
Medical Biographies, 716; Juettner, Daniel Drake,
282.
OHIO MEDICAL HISTORY, 1835-1858 321
in the country to essay the artificial
culture of fish;5 Dr. Daniel S.
Young (1827-1902), Cincinnati, who was the
first to discover
that zinc plates could be used for
engraving;6 Dr. Walter Shield
Christopher (1859-1905), Cincinnati, who
as research chemist
developed some of the exquisitely
beautiful glazes that have made
Rockwood ware famous the world over;7 and Dr. James
Cogswell
Fisher (1825-1893), Dayton, who assisted
Morse in perfecting
the telegraph instrument.8
No doubt many other physicians in Ohio
have made inven-
tions of practical utility, or which
have enhanced our pleasure and
ease of living. As was stated at the
outset, this is intended to be
a beginning only, and it is sincerely
hoped that the names of other
physicians together with their
achievements may be added from
time to time in order to complete our
records.
5 Kelly and Burrage, American
Medical Biographies, 426; see Joseph T. Smith
in Pioneer Medicine in the Western Reserve (Cleveland,
1932), 71.
6 Kelly and Burrage, American
Medical Biographies, 1282.
7 Ibid., 220.
8 Ibid., 386.
OHIO MEDICAL HISTORY OF THE PERIOD,
1835-1858*
CONTRIBUTIONS OF OHIO PHYSICIANS TO THE
INVENTIONS OF THE PERIOD, 1835-1858
By DONALD D. SHIRA, M. D.
When the chairman of this section
suggested the title of this
paper it seemed to be a relatively easy
assignment. Offhand one
would naturally assume that many Ohio
physicians must have
conceived and perfected inventions outside
the field of medicine.
However, such does not seem to be the
case. Evidently most
physicians were too deeply absorbed in
developing and improving
instruments and equipment of use to
their own profession to stray
very far away into less familiar fields.
Many physicians "rode
hobbies," or made original
discoveries in the realms of art and
the natural sciences, but those who
possessed real inventive genius
deserted, in part or completely, the
practice of medicine.
The deeper one delves into this subject
the more limited
appear to be its possibilities. No
originality whatever is claimed
for this brief paper; it consists merely
of an assembly of facts
already known. It is hoped, however,
that it may serve as an
humble beginning to which factual
material may be added from
time to time.
John Locke, M.D. (1792-1856)1
Dr. John Locke was an eccentric genius.
In him was com-
bined the accurate, calculating mind of
a scientist, with the
aesthetic, sensitive nature of a poet.
He was born February 19,
1792, in Fryeburg, Maine, the son of
Samuel Barron and Hannah
Pussell Locke.
* The eight papers under this heading
were read before the second annual meet-
ing of the Committee on Archives and
Medical History of the Ohio State Archaeological
and Historical Society, at the Ohio
History Conference, in the Society's Library,
April 5, 1940.
1 References: Otto Juettner, Daniel
Drake and His Followers (Cincinnati, 1909),
155-62; Howard Atwood Kelly and W. L.
Burrage, American Medical Biographies
(Baltimore, Md., 1920), 710.
(315)