DR. SAMUEL P. HILDRETH, 1783-1863 1
By A.
E. WALLER
Medical science in the nineteenth
century engaged in its main
task of healing in full consciousness of
its professional obligations.
Methodically and with enthusiasm it
likewise cradled and kept
alive the spark of curiosity in all the
natural sciences. Botany and
zoology profited most, followed closely
by geology, chemistry.
physics and meteorology. Many of these
medical men, not spe-
cialists themselves, established firm
foundations of special tech-
niques and procedures. The doctors were
trained in laboratory
methods not then in fashion in other
college studies. Through
medical practice they were constantly in
touch with people in all
walks of life, in a day when social
lines of cleavage were more
marked than they are at present. Practical application of scien-
titic principle became routine attitude
for those young men trained
in medical college.
It is easy to see how the doctors could
become collectors of
specimens as well as the facts of
natural history as they made
their rounds of calls. They often had
grateful patients who,
guided by their interest, turned
collectors and correspondents for
them. Every successful doctor could
readily become the head of
a small community of disciples if he
chose. The more learned
the man, either from good training in
the colleges of the day or
from his own studious habits, the less
he might be inclined toward
cultisms and the more inclined toward
adding observations to the
growing body of natural science facts.
Such a man was Dr. Hildreth, whose story
is deeply inter-
twined with Marietta and with the
growing Ohio Commonwealth.
He arrived four years after its
admission to Statehood and re-
mained in medical practice for over a
half-century. These were
the important years of the expansion
from pioneering to modern
commercial, agricultural and industrial
living. He arrived on
1 Papers
from the Department of Botany, the
Ohio State University, No. 469.
313
314 OHOI
ARCHLEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
horseback from Massachusetts and lived to see the
succession of
river transportation
to canal and steamboat and the traverse of
the State by numerous
railroad lines. He
kept the longest con-
tinuous weather
records of the period. He
started publication
with an account of the
great epidemic of fever at Belpre in 1807.
In 1863, the year of his death, the Smithsonian published
his
report on shells
collected from the Little Muskingum River. No
year in between, but
that his ready mind and tireless industry
recorded some of his
observations. As one looks backward 160
years to his birth, it
is almost to another world.
He wrote with a grace
and style that would be pleasing to
the most hypercritical
today. His contemporaries on the first
Ohio Geological Survey
constantly refer to the lucidity of his
descriptive writing.
His personal letters are too widely dispersed,
if they remain in
existence, to be of help in this study.
Fortu-
nately, the letters he
received provide a clue to the subject matter
of his own letters.
More fortunately still, these letters along with
much else of the
memorabilia of Dr. Hildreth have been preserved
at Marietta
College. It is with the greatest of
pleasure that the
writer acknowledges
the help and courtesy of the Librarian of
that institution, Mr.
George Blazier, and his capable assistants in
placing the collection
of Hildreth materials at his disposal.
* *
*
Hildreth himself
relates:
At the time of my
birth (Sept. 31, 1783) I was of a feeble, weakly
constitution in part
occasioned by a large abscess directly over the right
parietal bone, or near
the top of the head.. . My father made a free
incision into the
abscess a day or two after my birth, which discharged
considerable matter
and so large a quantity of blood as nearly occasioned
my death; and leaving
me a poor pale sickly child whom no one thought
would arrive to
manhood. A scar three inches long and nearly an inch
wide remains to this
day over which no hair has ever grown.2
This amazingly graphic
account of his birth occurs at the
beginning of Dr.
Hildreth's autobiography. It is an example of
the "present at
the scene" realism which courses through all of
2 brief Autobiography of S. P. Hildreth written in 1840. Privately
printed for
B. B. Putnam. Date
and publisher not indicated. It also contains the Journal of a
visit to Boston and the genealogies of various members
of the Hildreth family. It has
been indispensable for
this paper.
OHIO MEDICAL HISTORY--PRE-CIVLI WAR 315
his records. This realism imbues his
writing with a calm detach-
ment, yet it challenges the reader to
break away from such a
recital of exciting fact. Through the
autobiography the reader
is introduced to his parents. His mother
was a "woman of strong
powers of mind, very charitable and
piously disposed." She was
reported never to have kissed one of her
children when infants,
or rocked them in a cradle; holding the
latter to be a useless
appendage to the nursery and the
former a mark of childish weak-
ness. To her. however, the children
always turned, for they
had been brought up in tenderness and
affection. The father
was of a more demonstrative nature and
Dr. Hildreth recollected
sitting on his father's lap by the
morning fire, snugly enveloped
in his ample worsted morning goon.
The father had been at various times ship's surgeon,
army
surgeon, farmer, inn keeper, small store
merchant, prisoner of
the French and Indians in Quebec, but
seemed to find time to be
a companion to his children--especially
to young Sam who had
five sisters and was fifteen years old
before his brother Charles
was born.
Though Hildreth's mother never left
Massachusetts, the
father, in the spring of 1823, after
having become a widower the
previous
November, did come out to see his son in
Marietta. He
also came to see the lands of the (Ohio
Company as he had pur-
chased shares of this land through the
agency of Rev. Manassah
Cutler in 1787. During August the elder
Hlildreth
died and was
buried while on a visit to Belpre, where
he had become a victim
of a violent fever epidemic. Two years
later, a second grave
and a monument were prepared for him in
Mound Cemetery in
Marietta.
To return to the early days in
Massachusetts, in the autumn
of 1800. the family moved to Haverhill,
Sam's father having
decided to change his farm in Methuen
for a house and some
town lots. Sam, then in his eighteenth
year, engaged to teach
school at New Salem. This money,
forty-eight dollars for the
term's pay, was given by Sam to his
father who applied it to the
cost of Sam's education at the Phillips
Academy, "a celebrated
Seminary in the town of Andover."
as the autobiography phrases
316 OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL
QUARTERLY
it. where Sam had attended since his
fifteenth year. "Our prin-
cipal amusements were plays at ball and
every Saturday there
was a military traning of the boys who
had neat wooden guns,
and made quite a respectable appearance
under the Command of
some of the young men. Cockades came
into fashion this year
and those who called themselves
Federalists, wore one made of
a black ribbon folded into the form of a
rose and fastened at the
side of the hat. Anyone without this
mark of party was called a
Republican."
Young Sam Hildreth must have seen the
desirability at this
time of other modes of living. The farm
could not support the
family--especially with Sam as
school-boy farmer. His father,
who had added several occupations to his
medical practice, could
not spend time farming. Above all other
influences, one of his
most impressive teachers. Dr. Thomas
Kittredge who taught Latin
at Phillip's Academy, was also a
prominent physician. These
facts are all to be found in the
autobiography.
Young Sam would probably have attended
Franklin Academy
in the north parish of Andover, the
establishment of which was
largely Kittredge's responsibility.
Young Hildreth, however, fell
sick of a fever--the only illness he
mentions in his boyhood, and
instead he attended the winter session
in the public school in
Methuen. It was also the last winter
that tile
family spent there
and as his father had been undecided for
a while about the move
the family made to Haverhill, and spent
a great many years after-
ward regretting, there may have been
some sentimental reason for
his attending Methuen school, though
Hildreth's strong-minded
mother would have concealed any weakness
of this sort. In
spring, he returned to Phillips. Whether
Dr. Kittredge still taught
there or taught at Franklin Academy, is
not clear. Hildreth
leaves this interesting picture of
Franklin Academy in which he
seems to have enrolled the following
year. The Preceptor's name
was Micajah Stone. There was also a
Preceptress whose name
was not recalled. "who kept under
the same roof." There were
two sets of school rooms and the number
of students, about go
in all, seems to have been equally
divided as to sex. They had a
large hall for the opening exercises and
any other common ob-
OHIO MEDICAL HISTORY--PRE-CIVIL WAR 317
servance, but their classes were
separate. It was the habit of
Mr. Stone to pull the chair back from
under the desk on the
platform in order to allow the
Preceptress to be seated. This
amused the girls who, one day tied the
chairs together. For this
the mischief-making students were
severly scolded. The auto-
biography tells of young Hildreth's
advances with these words,
"This summer I made considerable
progress in Latin and entered
upon the study of Virgil and Greek
grammar." Joseph Kittredge.
the son of Dr. Thomas Kittredge, was one
of his classmates, as
were the two Osgood boys, George and
Joseph, in whose parents'
home Sam boarded.
"We passed the summer very
pleasantly," the autobiography
continues. The boys ran and wrestled and
held jumping con-
tests. In the evenings there were dances
with the girls who also
attended the school. Young Sam learned
to draw and to paint in
water color. He amused himself with
making a number of copies
of the coat of arms of the Hildreth
family, "three roses and a
dove under a chevron, a very pacific
emblem, or probably my
ancestor was a quiet man and a
cultivator of a garden or a grower
of nice fowls." Among his
classmates to enter college at the end
of the term were G. Washington Frye,
Joseph Adam and I. O.
Osgood.
He and his father had talked over his own college
preparation and concluded that his
knowledge of Latin and Greek
was sufficient for him to begin medical
studies. But the college
training seemed a long period before an
impatient 18-year-old
could begin medical practise, so he
began the study of medicine
under the care of his father. At this
point the autobiography
does not state how extensive the elder
Hildreth's medical practise
was. During the year 1802, he read Kiel's Anatomy. "It was
an old dry treatise," he says,
"but gave me a correct view of the
human frame. After that. Cheselden,
which was a little better."
He also read the whole of Boerhave with
Van Swietens Com-
mentaries, making in all about 24 volumes. In 1804 a work just
published by C. Bell, "gave me new
views of the subject and from
frequent exhibition of comparative
anatomy and physiology made
it as interesting as a novel."
It was Dr. Thomas Kittredge after all
who was largely to
318
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
influence and train young Hildreth, and he again boarded at
Andover in the Osgood's home, which
stood about a quarter of
a mile north of Dr. Kittredge's on the
Haverhill road. Young
Hildreth was placed under Dr.
Kittredge's care by his father the
first of May, 1803. "I
recollect," the autobiography says, "that
the apple trees were in full bloom on
the 4th of the month and
there fell a snow of 3 or 4 inches deep
while they were in this
state. It was the more remarkable, as I
learnt some years after
when living in Ohio that the same storm
came into the Muskingum
Country and at Marietta on the morning
of the 3rd of May, a
hard frost destroyed all the fruit,
apples being then as large as
musket balls. It extended from Ohio
across Pennsylvania and
New York."
There is a comment included about Dr.
Kittredge, his man-
ner, his skill as a surgeon, his success
in "curing insanity." The
patients were boarded at certain houses
whose owners were fitted
for managing such cases. This sounds
extremely modern and
humanitarian. It should be recalled that
there were no public
measures provided for the care of the
insane at this time. Fur-
thermore, a New England farm home
offered what would now
be styled "therapeutic
occupations," but which were then simply
called "chores." Dr. Kittredge
was doubtless ahead of his time in
recognizing this. All of these
activities contributed to Dr. Kitt-
redge's popularity as a physician and
made it necessary for him
to travel around the country a great
deal. Other young men,
pupils of the Doctor were Lemuel Le
Baron, William McFerson,
N. H. Brown from Rye, N. H., Gideon
Barstow and William
Gordon. A quarter century later, after
his establishment in Mari-
etta, Dr. Hildreth returned to his
boyhood scenes and there con-
versed with some of this group of
doctors. The young men read
medical books, they saw the cases that
daily presented themselves
in the office and they wrote out the
prescriptions and directions for
the patients, and often made the pills
and tinctures and ointments
as well. "I generally read about
ten hours every day. The last year
of the pupilage we were allowed to ride
with the Doctor in his
practise, our journeys extending into
all the neighboring towns,
especially in surgical operations."
(OHIO
MEDICAL HISTORY--PRE-CIVIL WAR 319
In the winter of 1803-1804, he taught
school for several
months at Bradford. He was the only
teacher and there were
60-80 in daily attendance. He also had one of the Doctor's
patients under his care--a victim of a
mill accident whose flesh
was ripped from knee to ankle. He felt
that teaching and keep-
ing up in his medical studies to the
extent of reading several
hours each day was severe. "I had
to rise at four o'clock and
read by candle light, besides what I
could do in the evening. This
severe application reduced my flesh and
strength very much and
I became quite nervous before the school
closed, with twitching
in the muscles of my limbs and a lack of
sleep at night for which
I had to take opium and
asafoetida."
In 1804, a brief period of lectures
"at Cambridge College in
company with George Osgood, Gideon
Barstow and William
Gordon" brought his formal
education to a climax and he was
granted a diploma by the Censors of the
Massachusetts Medical
Society.
Probably it was not until after he had
received his license to
practise Physics and Surgery that he
suddenly considered making
a living. He spent the following winter
at Dr. Kittredge's, after
which, "I was to leave dear Andover
where I had spent so many
years of pleasure and happiness and to
cast my lot among
strangers, I knew not where. It was a
most distressing thought
for I supposed I could be happy nowhere
else and that my days
of comfort on earth were ended."
There were several convergent
circumstances to bring Hil-
dreth to the Muskingum Country. His
father had been one of
the original subscribers for shares when
Manassah Cutler had
founded the Ohio Company in 1787. He was
fond of repeating
the enthusiastic tales of the fertility
of the Ohio Valley and
except for the opposition of his wife
may have moved away from
Massachusetts. There is no doubt but
that young Sam was con-
vinced that if he left Andover he might
go further. At Hamp-
stead, N. H., six miles north of
Haverhill, with a population of
"about six hundred," he
decided to try his chance of acquiring a
practise. Here humor clothed the
barrenness of his profession.
320 OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL QUARTERLY
It was a very healthy
location and I could not expect to do a
great deal." He boarded at the home of John True, whose
late
father Parson True had
for the motto on his tombstone, "He
made Revelation his
guide and Reason his companion." The elder
son of Parson True
lived in Marietta. Hearing from New Hamp-
shire of young
Hildreth, who remained over a year in Hamp-
stead. "He
finally invited me to come out there and he would
assist me in getting
into business." So with a horse
and as many
clothes as he could
pack into his portmanteau, he left Haverhill,
Sept. 9, 1806. He kept
a journal3 which blends into the Auto-
biography. It is interesting to trace his route and to compare the
style of these field
notes with the remainder of the Autobiography
written in 1840 and
after,4 and with notes of the Journey to
Boston in 1839. He
started with a friend who accompanied hill
to Connecticut. By the
26th he crossed the Allegheny Ridge and
the next day after
crossing Laurel Mountain he met Nathaniel
Smith a native of
Maryland, who had fought in the Revolution
and who now lived in
Kentucky opposite the mouth of the Big
Miami River. "He
was one of the most cheerful, amusing com-
panions I ever met
with, and setting aside his profanity, a very
desirable companion on
the road," Hildreth records. The longest
entries in the journal
deal with Hildreth's new found friend with
whom he visited for
two days at the home of another Maryland
man, Nels Coombs. It
broke the monotony of the journey. He
had his first taste of
whiskey from Major Smith's flask. It aston-
ished him to see how
much Mr. Coombs and the Major could
drink "without
being intoxicated." Hildreth had with him a large
phial of
"Tincture of bark," which he says, "I had procured in
Carlisle, to guard
against ague. My friend Smith liked it very
well for a morning
dram mingled with his whiskey and used to
pursuade me to take
some with him." He admired Mr. Coombs'
fine farm, his cattle
and horses, "and the nicest orchards of apples
and peaches" he
had ever seen. The fruit was delicious, and
though rather late
there still were peaches. All the memories of
his 'teen age and the
first peach he recollected seeing in Deacon
Simon Williams'
garden, when "the most desirable of all eatables
3 Journal on the Way toOhio. Ibid.,
162.
4 The autobiography frequently contains dates or notes added later
than 1840.
OHIO MEDICAL HlSTORY--PRE-CIVIL WAR 321
and Eve's unholy longing for the
forbidden fruit of Eden was
not more intense than ours- for these
peaches," must have come
back to him at this moment. But he was a
man now, out for
Ohio to make his own way. It would be
some years before his
interest with that of Dr. Jared Kirtland
would rank high in the
horticultural annals of the day.
The next day's entry reads,
"Tuesday, Sept. 30. This was
my birthday, being twenty three years
old." They took leave of
Mr. Coombs. Major Smith and he rode to
Washington 18 miles
away to breakfast. During the day the
Major recited his adven-
tures in the war. He was in the battle
of Camden, N. C., in which
Gen. Gates was defeated by Cornwallis,
yet "the regiment of
Marylanders to which Smith belonged
drove all before them with
the bayonet." Clearly the Major was
having a good time with
his young medical companion. Hildreth
must also have liked the
Major so unlike the sober-minded
kin-folk and neighbors in
Methuen. Haverhill, even in dear
Andover. "He was very
urgent for me to go home with him to
settle in Kentucky," Hil-
dreth wrote of Major Smith. At evening
they reached a "little
straggling village called 'Hardscrabble'
from the up and down
difficulties of the hills surrounding
it." They were given a supper
of venison steaks and hot short biscuit.
"It was the first venison
I ever tasted, and I thought the best
supper I ever made," he
comments.
Dr. Hart and Dr. True both welcomed
young Hildreth to
Marietta and introduced him. He saw six
ships being built in
the stocks on the Fort Harmer side of
the Muskingum. Captain
Howe of Belpre invited him to settle in
that community where
there was no physician. Even though both
Doctors Hart and
True were in "the wane of
life," Hildreth's year of waiting in
Hampstead, New Hampshire, was still too
poignant a memory
In December, after several other
invitations from Belpre, he
moved, "having previously engaged boarding
at the widow Rhoda
Cook's, a New England lady with a small
family who had recently
moved to Ohio."
With this move his apprenticeship ended
and he became at
once the established physician. For in
the spring and summer of
322
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND
HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
1807, the Ohio Valley had an unusually heavy epidemic of
fever.
There were probably the usual number of
births and accidents
furnishing calls upon the doctor, but he
had to look after "over
a hundred cases" of fever. He must
have established a favorable.
reputation at once, because in Marietta
there were fifty or sixty
who died "where the same fever
prevailed." In Belpre there were
but three deaths. His charges for the
year were over fourteen
hundred dollars and as the patients were
"in substantial farmers
families," the collections were
realizable. In August he was
married "to Miss Rhoda Cook, the
second daughter of my
hostess."
If he had not considered himself as
identified with Ohio
previously and still had regrets for
leaving his native place, a
visit from June to October from Samuel Frye, an old friend
affianced to his sister Mary, may have
lightened his loneliness.
He wrote a history of the epidemic,5
his first scientific contribu-
tion, and sent it to Dr. Sam L.
Mitchell.
Dr. Hildreth was probably inspired to
write the account of
the epidemic and forward it to the
editor of the Medical Reposi-
tory from the circumstance that he had "purchased six
volumes
of the Medical Repository at a sale of
Blennerhassett's library in
July 1807."
Several months earlier he had met the
charming Mrs. Blen-
nerhassett and danced with her.
"She was quite the most at-
tractive figure and active dancer on the
floor," he recorded, and
wrote a glowing account of her in his
pioneer's history. On the
same day that the unfortunate and
misguided Blennerhassett had
to flee from his "fairy
island" as he was fond of describing it,
Hildreth had arrived in Belpre. So these
books became the young
doctor's first purchase of items for his
medical library. Several
months later, in November, he was
attacked by a hip inflamma-
tion from so many hours spent in the
saddle. He put the Medical
Repository to good use, treating his ailment from a plan described
in the journal with good effect. Having
two good reasons to
think well of the Medical Repository,
he sent his article to its
5 "History of the Epidemic of
1807," Medical Repository (New York), 2d ser., XI
(1808), 345-9.
OHIO MEDICAL
HISTORY--PRE-CIVIL WAR 323
editor. And from Dr.
Sam L. Mitchell, who was in Washington
at the time he
received the following letter in reply:
Washington, 24th
March 1808.
Sir:
I take an early
opportunity of acknowledging the receipt
of your valuable
memoir on the soils, climate and diseases of
Belpre. It shall be
speedily transmitted to New York for inser-
tion in the
Medical Repository, of which the third quarterly num-
ber of the eleventh
volume is almost ready for publication.
You will comprehend
my feelings for Ohio when you recol-
lect that I assisted
in elevating it from a territory to a state while
I was member of the
house of representatives, and that I con-
sider it a land of
freemen.
Every new fact and
event is important in history. From
what you have done, I
am led to expect more from your vigilance
and industry, and I
feel a confidence you will not bury your
talent in the earth.
May you long enjoy
health and comfort
Sam. L. Mitchell.6
What sensitive young
man would not be fired with enthusiasm
to have his first
effort meet with such a response? He was a
newly added citizen
to this land of freemen. Vigilance and in-
dustry had been his
all his life. Besides he was now Dr. Samuel
P. Hildreth with a
wife to provide for and soon they expected
an increase in the
family. For more than fifty years this
letter
was to inspire Dr.
Hildreth to write and to publish his record-
ings. He followed Dr.
Mitchell into the legislature. He followed
his advice and put
his talents to work.
In the autumn of 1810 he became a
member of the House
of Representative in
the State Legislature. He was its
youngest
member, being at the
time twenty-seven years of age. His
prin-
cipal accomplishment
was memorable and important. He
drafted
and aided in the
passage of an act regulating the practise of
medicine in Ohio. The
State was districted and a central Medical
Society was formed
with "censors" or examiners of applicants
6 Hildreth Letters, Vol. 9, No. 1
(Marietta Library).
324
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
for the license to practise in each
district. These were to meet
with the Society twice each year. The
original act was modified
but remained until 1820 when a whole new
body of laws replaced
it.
"It was of great service to the medical profession, making
them acquainted with each other and
their modes of practice."7
He also introduced the use of kine pox
with which he inoculated
150 children at Waterford, but he does
not claim this to be its
earliest use in Ohio. About this period
there was formed a local
scientific club at Marietta, which
continued for two winters two
evenings a week. "David Wallace,
who kept an apothecary, was
our principal lecturer, or operator,
although we all did more or
less of it."8 This may have been
the first scientific society to be
formed in the State of Ohio. The
membership included: "Dr.
Regnier, old Dr. Hart, Dr. Wallace, Col.
Davidson of Newark,
Robert Harrison, a goldsmith who made
our seal, Dr. Jonas
Moore." Other names were not
recalled.
* * *
Besides being a founder of the earliest,
or certainly one of
the earliest scientific societies in
Ohio, the significance to Hildreth
of meeting with a group of kindred
spirits of inquiring mind is
not to be passed over too lightly. As it
will be recalled his formal
schooling was sketchy. Dr. Kittredge was his inspiration. In
the main, Dr. Hildreth was self-taught,
his own observations and
his reading were his main sources. Thus
this small club meeting
in candlelight in the apothecary shop
takes an important place in
the ripening views of the young doctor.
It also prepared him to
rate highly the value of meetings for
the members of the medical
profession. Unfortunately, no record of
the meetings exists and
there is no measure of the value of the
discussions. Out of these
informal talks may have grown the two
papers cited below.
The gentian family in the plant kingdom
has long been used
to furnish medical materials. Dr.
Hildreth became interested in
a form native to Ohio and contributed a
paper to the Medical
Repository in 1811.9 This paper also exhibits the
result of study
of drawing and contains a sketch of the
plant. Two years pre-
7 Autobiography, 193.
8 Ibid., 198.
9 Information concerning the Frasera Caroliniensis
otherwise called the American
Columbo plant. With 1 fig. Medical Repository, 15,
26.
OHIO MEDICAL HISTORY--PRE-CIVIL WAR 325
viously he had written a description of
Marietta with an enumera-
tion of some vegetable and mineral
productions.10
As soon as Dr. Hildreth was successfully
established in prac-
tice he became a personality in his
adopted home. He made a
short journey to visit his parents in
Haverhill in 1815, however,
and brought his young brother, Charles
T., seventeen years of
age, to study medicine with him for
three years. Samuel was
fifteen years older than this brother
and had at that time a
daughter, Mary Ann, aged seven years and
two sons, Charles and
George, the former being named for the
visiting brother Later
another son was born and all three of
these boys in due time
became physicians. The autobiography11
tells of Dr. Hildreth's
interest in his writings. "About the year 1817 I commenced
collecting materials connected with the
early history and climate
of Ohio, which were published in the
Journal of Science from
time to tine."
This is the most important and
interesting period of Hil-
dreth's life, and the time during which
he developed his scholarly
powers. It must have been a time when he
read a great deal--
for how otherwise could he have acquired
his geological and
meteorological background? Once he began scientific observa-
tions, he found time for study and
writing in the middle of his
busy practice. His success as a medical practitioner was un-
qualified, yet his writing was more
important.
In 1825 was built the three story brick
house which he con-
tinued to occupy until his death in
1863. It stands, rather de-
jectedly plastered with signs today,
beside the courthouse in
Marietta. At the time this house was
built, five of the six children
born to Dr. and Mrs. Hildreth were
demanding living space and
the sixth was to arrive the following
year. This was the period
in which the meteorological journal
which Hildreth began in 1824,
first became his daily care.
There have been a number of comments on
the length of
continuous records of our climate and
weather. Marietta has
apparently some of the least interrupted
data of the United States.
The best single summary is to be found
in the work of Charles A.
10 Medical Repository, n. s., I (1809), 358.
11 Ibid., 207.
326
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
Schott12 in the Smithsonian
Contributions. Both the earlier data
collected by Mr. Wood between 1817 and
1823 and that collected
by Dr. Hildreth are published in this
summary.
Recently, Edward Hewett, in an
autobiographical memoir
entitled "Those Were the
Days," indicates that the earliest pri-
vately kept records were begun at the
Peter Cooper glue factory
in New York. It is also interesting to
recall that another Ohio
physician, born in Worthington and who
practiced in Baltimore
in Fairfield County for a time, later
became in Des Moines an
important student of meteorology and a
founder of the early sys-
tem of weather observation and
prediction.
Dr. Hildreth's solicitous desire to
obtain weather and cli-
matological data was not purely from the
standpoint of accumu-
lating meteorological records. He, in
common with the medical
men of his day, accepted paludism literally.
Malaria was the
consequence of bad air. He wanted a
record of drouths, floods,
dampness, extremes of temperature to
correlate with epidemics
of fever. An organic theory of epidemics
was still to be pro-
posed. The work of Jacob Henle and of
Louis Pasteur had not
even begun. Henle, around 1840,
formulated a principle on the
assumption that "parasites"
caused diseases. Neither Henle nor
Pasteur later were able safely to
isolate microorganisms in pure
cultures and establish all the points of
evidence modern medical
science now has at its command.
Dr. Hildreth's first paper on epidemics,
published in 1808,
touched on the climatic and topographic
conditions. His presi-
dential address13 in the third session
of the Medical Convention
of Ohio in 1839 dealt more fully with
inter-relations between
climate and disease. There is little
reason to think that he changed
his attitude throughout his long medical
career. In 1856 a short
article of Dr. Hildreth's, entitled
"Recollections of Early Epi-
demics in Ohio--Especially That of 1807."14 restates his
weather
observations after fifty years of
medical practice. "The spring
12 Charles A. Schott,
"Results of meteorological observations made at Marietta,
Ohio, between 1826 and 1859, inclusive by
S. P. Hildreth . . . To which are added
results of
observations taken at Marietta by Mr. Joseph Wood between 1817 and
1823, "in Smithsonian
Contributions to Knowledge, XVI (1870).
13 Journal of the Proceedings
of the Medical Convention of Ohio, Many 14, 1839
(Cleveland, 1839?).
14 In the Medical Counselor (Columbus)
II, No. 5 (Jan. 5, 1856).
OHIO MEDICAL HISTORY--PRE-CIVIL WAR
of 1807 was more backward than usual and
uncommonly wet.
The summer was not less so; and every
fair day preceded and
followed by two or three wet ones. The
heat was not greater
than usual; the mercury seldom rising to
ninety degrees. Books
and furniture were covered with mould
and every farmer lost
more or less of his grain and hay from
lack of sunshine to dry
it. There were no less than three
freshets in the Ohio River
covering the low grounds with water,
destroying a portion of the
crops. The inhabitants of Belpre, where
the writer then resided,
from their location on the bottoms, were
generally living in the
vicinity of stagnant water and of course
the larger number of
them were attacked with disease."
He likewise remarks that ophthalmia in
children resulted
probably "from a peculiar condition
of the atmosphere." At
Marietta the epidemic of fever "was
very fatal, more than fifty
persons dying in the course of the
summer while at Belpre, prob-
ably from a less virulent type, but few
deaths occurred. It ap-
peared in various grades of intensity
from that of a mild inter-
mittent to the worst form of billions remittent; in some cases
resembling very nearly the yellow fever
of the Atlantic cities.
The duration of the remitting type was
from five to seventeen
days, unless interrupted by treatment.
It ceased with the first
heavy frosts."
It was not until the year after the
above was published, that
is 1857, that the child who was to grow
up and become known as
Sir Ronald Ross was born in India. When
Hildreth remarks
about stagnant water, it is because the
"miasma" arose from stag-
nant water: in his mind stagnant water
as a breeding place for
mosquitoes was not to be connected with
fever. When Sir Ron-
ald Ross published his discoveries on
the alternation between man
and mosquitoes of the organism producing
malarial fever, the
public was in a receptive mood toward
such studies. Many in-
vestigators had painstakingly compared,
weighed and eliminated
facts to obtain a firmer grip on the
problem of causes of human
ills. It is not important that Hildreth
fell in with prevailing
opinion. With reference to his weather
data, it is important that
328 OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
he started his studies and accumulated
faithfully his notes and
observations.
The use of sulphate of quinine was
unknown in Ohio before
1823. Previously bark decoctions of
unknown and variable po-
tency had made the treatment of malaria
an uncertain procedure.
Dr. Hildreth was among the first to use
the sulphate of quinine.
He also experienced success in
prescribing a mixture of charcoal
and yeast in certain cases. Whatever
these cases were, he was a
pioneer in the field of dietary regimen
and amendments.
The topics discussed in his presidential
address at the Medi-
cal Convention of Ohio at Cleveland in
1839 are as follows:
The topography and primitive aspect of
the country on the Ohio River.
The climate and its changes from the
effects of cultivation. Diseases of
the aborigines. Diseases of the first
white settlers and early epidemics.
Treatment of diseases thirty years
since. Recent epidemics. Disases com-
mon to this climate, with the modifications
which have taken place from
changes in diet, fashions, habits, etc.
Closing remarks on the privations
and pleasures of physicians.
What is of great interest is the
deduction he attempts from
the destruction of forests and its
possible effects on the climate.
While one may not agree with his
conclusions, he at least set
people thinking about forestry.
* * *
Dr. Hildreth has been called, by some
geologists today, the
best informed man on the geology of Ohio
in his time. The justi-
fication of this claim is not difficult
to establish. In his "Notes
on Ohio."15
in which he answered some questions from Caleb At-
water, he started a series of
publications, to last for a little more
than a decade in which he demonstrated
his understanding of
geological problems. The following year
he wrote of certain
plants of the past found in the vicinity
of Gallipolis.16 The same
volume17 carries his
"Observations on the Climate and Produc-
tions of Washington County, Ohio."
From personal field obser-
vations and letters from correspondents,
he prepared his "Obser-
vations on the Saliferous Rock Formation
in the Valley of the
15 American Journal of Science (New Haven), X, No. 1, 2 (1826).
16 Ibid., XII, No.
2 (1827).
17 Ibid., 206-12.
OHIO MEDICAL HISTORY--PRE-CIVIL WAR 329
Ohio.18 As salt is such an important commodity to health and
food preservation and since it was
difficult for the pioneers to
obtain this commodity, he enlarges his
remarks on this subject
to a monograph of twenty-three pages.
The publication which was bringing him
admiration from
British as well as American scholars was
on coal. More than a
century has passed since it was
published, but modern geologists
do not have to apologize for it.19 In
this publication, Dr. Hildreth
has broad enough knowledge of his
subject to carry him to his
full powers of description and
deduction. He produces a mono-
graph of 148 pages with a number of line
drawings. Professor
Silliman, the editor of the American
Journal of Science was de-
lighted. The British geologists regarded
it as the most significant
publication on geology to come out of
North America. The coal
deposits of Ohio, West Virginia and
western Pennsylvania are
all discussed and their value shrewdly
estimated. The illustra-
tions are of sections of rock formations
and of fossil specimens.
One wonders how an active medical
practitioner was able to ac-
cumulate all the first hand information
he uses in his discussions.
The map of those portions of the three
states included in the
coal producing districts seems also to
be original. Its accuracy
is astonishing.
The success of this monograph led him to
publish some of
the field notes and the diary he kept
while collecting some of the
data for the coal monograph.20 He
discourses in a leisurely way
his journey up the Ohio from Marietta to
Wheeling and Steuben-
ville. He remarks about the first
steamboat on the Ohio built about
twenty years previously: "The
upward commerce on the Ohio
and Mississippi even at that period very
considerable was carried
on wholly in barges and keel boats
propelled by human strength
applied through the cordelle, oar and
pole. The voyage then oc-
cupied from three to four months: it is
now performed in ten
or twelve days." He tells of a disaster when the boiler of
the
S. S. Washington exploded and twelve men
lost their lives and
18 Ibid., XXIV, No. 1 (1833).
19 "Observations on the Bituminous Coal Deposits of the Valley of
the Ohio, and
the Accompanying Rock Strata," illus. Ibid., XXIX, No. 1
(1836), 1-148.
20 Ibid.
330
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
a number were injured. He notes the
landscape around Sun-fish
Creek and the blossoming dogwoods and
redbuds. He tells of
the Indian attacks on Wheeling and the
defense measures of the
Zane family. At Steubenville, he sees a
friend, designated only
as "Judge T." (Benjamin
Tappan?) and examines his "Cabinet of
Natural History." The Judge had a
fine library not only of law
hooks but of the European botanists and
zoologists. He notes
a mass of cinnabar said to have been
collected near Point Creek
and brought there from the northern
Great Lakes region by the
Indians. He shows his interest in
fossils by remarking, "the
study of fossil vegetable and animal
remains, of which the valley
of the Mississippi is one vast cemetery,
yet remains an almost
entirely unexplored field."
He also speaks of an "Ancient
Indian Sepulchre" and pro-
duces some sketches of beautiful
pottery:
A number of the vases still contained
relics of the food, consisting of
the bones of turkies [sic], opposum,
etc. left for their departed friends
while on their journey to the land of
spirits. Stone pipes, more numerous
than the vases, were also found; some of
them displayed much ingenuity;
one of them which I saw, was carved with
a fine head of the bald eagle,
done with great force and truth: others
were plain made of light and colored
steatite or soap stone. A few were of
red clay, and some of hard sand-
stone. Flint arrowheads were very
numerous.
A visit was paid to "the spring
garden owned by Mr. Slack."
This garden was irrigated from a
hillside spring and captured
Dr. Hildreth's fancy. He admires the
greenhouse, "containing
many rare and rich exotics." One
wishes here that a list of the
plants of this greenhouse of more than a
century ago were avail-
able, but Dr. Hildreth had to hurry to
embark for Beaver forty
miles away departing on the steamboat Hero. The journey took
from
four in the afternoon until midnight.
From
Beaver, the journey is continued by mail coach, the
principal object being a visit to
Poland, Ohio, in the southwest
corner of Trumbull County, the home of
his friend, Dr. Jared
Potter Kirtland.21 Hildreth's opening
sentences concerning the
21 George
M. Curtis, "Jared Potter Kirtland, M. D., 'The Sage of Rockport,'
No-
Member 10, 1793-December 18,
1877," Ohio State Arch. & Hist. Quart.,
L (1941),
326-37, is an illuminating account.
OHIO MEDICAL HISTORY--PRE-CIVIL WAR 331
meeting of these two outstanding
naturalists causes a ripple of
pleasure in the minds of all of those
interested in biology:
I called this morning on my friend, Dr.
Kirtland, with whom I shall
spend a few days. He lives on a farm
adjoining the village of Poland.
Everything about it is in good taste and
under excellent cultivation. He is
a lover of fine fruits, and in person
attends to the various operations nec-
essary to the successful growth of all
the good fruits that can be raised
in this climate. His selection of plums,
pears, cherries, peaches, and apples
is equal in variety and excellence to
any in the western country.
He goes on to tell of Dr. Kirtland's
interests in botany,
conchology and mineralogy. He describes
the shell collections and
Dr. Kirtland's observations. "He
[Kirtland] was the first to dis-
cover the distinction of the sexes in
these animals from the differ-
ences in the outlines of their shelly
coverings, as noticed in the
twenty-sixth volume of this
journal." Hildreth discusses the rock
sections exposed in Yellow Creek, a
branch of the Mahoning and
at Mariner's Mill the fossil plants,
five of which he illustrates
with line drawings.
Best of all, when he ended his visit on
May 12, Dr. Kirtland
went with him to Cuyahoga Falls. They
crossed Portage County
passing through Ravenna. What they
talked about while driving
along is quite probably indicated from
the extracts from the diary.
Hildreth ventures the remark that the
road passing for one hun-
dred sixty miles in an east and west
course with one hundred
twenty-eight of it through the centre of
the southern range of
townships in "The Reserve" is
probably "the longest road pursuing
an undeviating course in the United
States." He has a remark of
great significance to the water
conservationists. "At the period
of the first settlement of this portion
of Ohio in the year 1798 the
soil was very wet over many extensive
tracts, which it was feared
would never be fit for cultivation; but
as the forests are opened,
and the rays of the sun and the winds
admitted, the soil becomes
sufficiently dry for all the purposes of
agriculture, and the roads
which were once all mire are now firm
and hard."
They talked of the fruit trees, of the
original patent by which
Connecticut obtained the Reserve, of
shells with a list of the uni-
valve shells known to Dr. Kirtland, of
the birch and other trees and
shrubs found in the northern and eastern
states. They altered
332 OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL
QUARTERLY
their discourses with the changes of
scenery and the course of
the Ohio furnished much delighted
speculation when they talked
of the commerce it would hear, linking
the Potomac and the
Delaware, with the Ohio River and Lake
Erie. Legends of Capt.
Samuel Brady, "the Daniel Boone of
the northeast part of the
valley of the Ohio," brought them
at six p. m. on the thirteenth
to Cuyahoga Falls village.
The next day was spent in examining
Cuyahoga Falls and
the coal mine at Tallmadge "in
company with Mr. Newberry, the
very intelligent owner of a large tract
of land, embracing the
upper half of this valuable site, and
who afforded" Hildreth "great
assistance in taking a section of the
order of stratification." The
rock formations included in this section
which he studied that day
in the field with Dr. Kirtland and Mr.
Newberry amounted to
three hundred and nineteen feet, and the
indefatigable Hildreth
describes them foot by foot. He also
adds for good measure a
story of a large buck killed by leaping
the cliffs and a comparison
with Niagara gorge. He is impressed with
the numerous "trunks
of arborescent ferns" on the roofs
of the coal beds. "I was unable
to remove them without injuring the
roof, but Mr. Newberry, the
owner of the mine, received a few fine
specimens, collected by the
workmen."
This is, of course, Henry Newberry, who
eleven years pre-
viously, had moved with his family from
Windsor, Connecticut,
and had established the town of Cuyahoga
Falls. He was a lawyer
but he was interested in industrial
development and made use of
the water power of the Cuyahoga Falls.
He also became Ohio's
first coal mine operator. Dr. Hildreth
and Dr. Kirtland were not
the first ones to admire the fossil
plants displayed in this mine.
One of the nine children of Henry
Newberry, his son John S., at
the time of Hildreth's visit, thirteen
years of age, is known to have
become interested in these plants of the
past, two years earlier.
The chances are that the specimens
referred to by Dr. Hildreth
as collected by the workmen were in
reality some of J. S. New-
berry's22 spcimens. It was an
interesting meeting. Ohio's
22 For an account of Newberry,
see A. E. Waller, "The Breadth of Vision of Dr.
John Strong Newberry," Ohio
Arch. & Hist.
Quart., LII (1943), 324-46.
OHIO MEDICAL HISTORY--PRE-CIVIL WAR 333
foremost geologist and the boy who, in
later years, was to be a
pupil of Dr. Kirtland, to practice
medicine for five years and later
to become one of the world's most
distinguished geologists and
the first American to receive the
(British) Murchison medal.
Neither could recognize the worth of the
other in this chance
meeting. In the following year both
Kirtland and Hildreth be-
came employed on the first Ohio
Geological Survey. About thirty
years later, J. S. Newberry was to be
the director of the second
one. The torch of medicine and of
natural history passed from
the older to the younger generation
sometime after this visit in
May, 1835.
In the long list of firsts included in
the previous paragraphs
there is one more to be abstracted from
this report of Hildreth's
journey. He comes around to the Licking
Valley and to the
"black hand narrows." He gives
the legend which later serves
as the basis for the name of the
familiar sandstone of our Hocking
Hills terrain; "In one of these
spots the aborigines chose to dis-
play their ingenuity at pictorial
writing by figuring on the smooth
face of the cliff at an elevation eight
or ten feet above the water
the outlines of wild animals and amongst
the rest the figure of a
huge black human hand."
Under Governor Robert Lucas the Ohio
legislature appointed
a committee in March, 1836, to report on
the best method of ob-
taining a complete geological survey of
the State. Dr. Hildreth
was made the chairman of this committee.
Dr. John L. Riddell,
Increase A. Lapham and Dr. John Locke
were also members of
the committee who reported.23
Dr. Hildreth's part of the report
was quickly prepared from his first-hand
familiarity with the coal
and iron and salt deposits of
southeastern Ohio. He adds a little
on the sandstones for building stone, on
gypsum and the calcareous
rocks. As to the Survey he suggested
that a Geological Board of
three members should be
"constituted." The board should have the
power to direct the manner of
proceeding, to employ suitable
geologists and to draw on the Treasurer
for the annual appropria-
tions.
Failing to appoint such a Board, "the present Board of
23 Report of the Special Committee on the Geological Surrey (Columbus, 1836).
334
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
Public Works might perform this
duty." He then further sug-
gests a head geologist and hive
assistants, a draughtsman and a
naturalist.
Dr. Hildreth, however, does not stop at
this point. Instead
he advocates the study of "the
topography, the botany, so far as
include a list of the plants found in
the State, forest trees, river
and land shells, fishes, birds,
quadruped, reptiles, and last, not
least, a regular survey and description
of all the remnants of
ancient works yet spared by the hand of
the destroyer within the
state." These collections were to be placed in a cabinet in the
State Library Hall.
How was all of this to be done? Hildreth
suggested, "From
a correspondence held by the chairman with
several distinguished
and practical men in geology your
committee are led to believe
that the sum of $12,000 for four
years would cover the cost of a
regular scientific survey." He
added:
Your committee trust and believe that
they have pointed out sufficient
motives to render a survey of the state
an object of deep importance to
the welfare of the citizens of Ohio. The
increased value of real estate, or
the additional revenues derived from the
canals and railroads from new
articles of transport brought to light
by the survey would in a single year
probably more than repay the cost of
accomplishing it.
Alas, for the forthright Doctor!
Accustomed to dealing with
the afflicted, his words were listened
to by his patients. The Gov-
ernor and the members of the Legislative
Assembly, however,
though they may have listened
respectfully, were not so susceptible
to his persuasions. It does not matter
now if one thinks of him
ahead of his time or the legislature
behind the time. The result
attained is about the same. They agreed
to do something but they
did not understand any of his geological
words. It is probably
true that it meant little to them to
know that this or that valuable
substance lay in the soil and that the
State as well as the private
citizen, whether owner or not, still had some responsibility to
face
because of its presence in the State.
Hildreth's report contains a
figure which the writer has not
attempted to check, that the prod-
tuct of thirteen furnaces smelting iron ore in Scioto and
Lawrence
counties was worth the sum of $650,000
annually. This was the
year 1835.
OHIO MEDICAL HISTORY--PRE-CIVIL
WAR 335
Whatever was the difficulty, the point about
the geological
survey as a permanent institution was
not broached. Perhaps
it all seemed too simple to the
legislators. If this were going to
be so valuable, private means would take
care of it. Actually,
a century later, all that Hildreth
visualized has not yet been ac-
complished. Ohio has a natural history
collection in which some
animals and plants are displayed, it has
a geological museum,
it has a State herharium and an
archaeological museum. Yet ask
any worker in these and he will soon
convince you that his favorite
collections are far from complete and
that much work is required
to make them so. Did Hildreth really
think that all the collections
he mentioned could be conveniently
acquired for a Cabinet in the
State Library Hall? (The writer does not
suggest reading the
word cabinet in its current meaning, but
as it was intended.) Ob-
viously he was speaking as an amateur
thinking of his own private
collections. He missed altogether the
modern idea of a museum
as an educational center, and the
thought that a collection not used
is dead. Or did he speak with his tongue
in his cheek?
Whatever the situation, W. W. Mather, a
man inferior to
Dr. Hildreth was appointed the principal
geologist of the survey.
The original members of the committee
were all retained, Dr.
Hildreth, Dr. Riddell, Increase Lapham,
Dr. Locke. Dr. Kirtland
was added. Charles Whittlesey was made
topographer. Caleb
Briggs and J. W. Foster were detailed to
survey the area between
the Scioto and the Hocking Rivers. Here
were the nine men, with
W. W. Mather appointed as the principal geologist, but it was not
what Dr. Hildreth had originally
suggested and he foresaw that it
was not likely to last as a team.
W.
W. Mather appointed Dr. Hildreth "first assistant geolo-
gist and paleontologist." Mather in
his report for 1837 makes the
following statement: "Dr. Hildreth,
in consequence of his infirm
health rendering it impossible to
discharge the laborious duties of
his department of the survey, is about
to resign." Mather at the
time of his appointment was teaching at
Ohio University. He had
previously taught at West Point. He had
published a textbook
outline of geology, but he had not
contributed original work in this.
He had done little field work. certainly
was not as experienced as
336
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL
QUARTERLY
Dr. Hildreth. It is not known how he was
chosen. It is possible
that a political shift had occurred as
Governor Robert Lucas had
been succeeded by Governor Joseph Vance.
The publications of Hildreth between
1826 and 1837 are alone
sufficient to demonstrate his ability as
a geologist and his equal
in the State at that time was not to be
found. If his health sud-
denly became poor in 1837 it was poor in
only one direction. He
did not cease to carry on his active
medical practice. He continued
his meteorological observations. He
wrote a history of Ohio River
floods.24 He extended his
interests in horticulture and entomology.
He accepted the position as President of
the Medical Convention
of Ohio and presided at the meeting held
in Columbus, Monday,
January 1, 1838. Moreover, he delivered
the address of the
retiring president in May, 1839, in
Cleveland. This was followed
by an extended trip east lasting until
July 25; this was duly
reported day by day in his Journal of
a Visit to Boston. It seems
plain enough that one should not
consider too seriously Hildreth's
health as the reason for his resignation
from the geological corps
under W. W. Mather.
His autobiography deals with the subject
briefly: "In 1837,
the State of Ohio undertook a geological
survey of its territory
and I was employed in the work. The
reports on this subject
were published; but when the survey was
about half completed
the state abandoned it, being so deeply
involved in debt by the
canals, etc., that they thought they
could not afford the money.
Previous to this, however, I had
resigned my appointment as
interfering too much with my practice of
physic, and without
this aid I could not support my
family." This extract in his own
words does not mention poor health. It
implies just the opposite.
He must keep busy in his practice and
that demanded robust health.
He further states that he had enlarged
the number of flowering
shrubs, plants, and bulbs in his garden,
"so that my collection was
superior to any one in this part of
Ohio."
One may with confidence say that, at
this time, Dr. Hildreth
was not in poor health, and that he was
in fact enjoying life in
24 "A Brief
History of the Floods in the Ohio River from the Year 1772 to the
Year 1832 with Observations on the Events
Connected therewith," Journal of the His-
torical & Philosophical Society
of Ohio (Columbus, 0.), I, No.
1 (1838), 43-63.
OHIO MEDICAL HISTORY--PRE-CIVIL WAR 337
all but one respect. His feelings had
been wounded when he was
not chosen the head of the geological
survey. It is true, he had
a family of six children, but Mary Ann
had married in 1831 and
was living in Harmar; Charles, who had
married in 1836, was
a physician and lived in Zanesville. Dr.
Hildreth had probably
not been called upon to contribute to
the support of either of
these and, moreover, probably was not
deeply involved in support-
ing the other members of the family.
There is one final point. The
autobiography plainly states,
"Previous to this however, I had
resigned my appointment." The
financial difficulties of the State of
Ohio had not projected Dr.
Hildreth's resignation. By the same
token, after Dr. Hildreth
had resigned, the geological survey of
Ohio was not resumed until
J. S. Newberry was appointed Director of
the Second Geological
Survey in 1869.
* * *
When Dr. S. P. Hildreth presided January
1-3, 1838, at the
Second Medical Convention of Ohio he
appointed Daniel Peixotto,
of Cleveland, chairman of a committee to
report the following year
on smallpox and vaccination. The famous
Daniel Drake of Cin-
cinnati was asked to report on the
medical botany of the State
and a group of four, including President
Hildreth, reported on
medical topography, climate and
diseases. The other three were
Drs. Drake, Hempstead and Peixotto. In
appointing these com-
mittees, Hildreth was not only preparing
the way for a program
for the ensuing meeting: he was already
thinking of his address.25
This has been referred to in discussing
his interest in meteorology.
Discussing this address, Robert G.
Patterson26 called it
"the first
comprehensive written account of
epidemics in Ohio." This is
true, although Hildreth's account of the
epidemic of 1807 was
published the following year. For
Hildreth did not hesitate to
restate his views as his experience
grew. This paper became
widely discussed and as the files of the
Medical Convention show,
it furnished the basis of other papers
in this field for several years.
The committee on medical botany of which
Dr. Daniel Drake was
25 Proceedings of the Medical
Convention of Ohio, 1839 (Cleveland,
1839?).
26 Robert G. Patterson, "Local
Boards of Health in Ohio during the Period, 1835-
1858," Ohio Arch. &
Hist. Quart., L (1941),
380-3.
338 OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
chairman did not have much to report in
1839. Its existence,
however, probably inspired Dr. John M.
Bigelow27 to publish his
"Florula Lancastriensis" in
1841. This subject of medical botany
carried Bigelow on his exploring
expeditions and on to a career
of great interest. This address of
Hildreth's and his work with
the members of the Medical Convention
was Hildreth at his best.
Transferring his boundless enthusiasm to
others he started work
which would carry far beyond his own
powers and would last for
many years.
There remains but little to say about
the other works of
Samuel Prescott Hildreth. In the 1840 period he
published much
on the subject of archaeology and moved
on, during the 1850
period and up until his death in 1863,
toward describing for pos-
terity the pioneering period in Ohio. He
left history much in his
debt. However, it is not entirely just
to think only of his later
works. He was for a time a trustee of
Ohio University and was
a leading spirit in the founding and
establishment of Marietta
College. He did not long for a return to
his boyhood home, for a
visit to Marietta will show anyone that
Hildreth brought some-
thing, very fine, of New England and the
eighteenth and nine-
teenth centuries with him.
27 For an account
of Bigelow see A. E. Waller, Ohio Arch. & Hist. Quart., 11.
(1942), 313-31.
DR. SAMUEL P. HILDRETH, 1783-1863 1
By A.
E. WALLER
Medical science in the nineteenth
century engaged in its main
task of healing in full consciousness of
its professional obligations.
Methodically and with enthusiasm it
likewise cradled and kept
alive the spark of curiosity in all the
natural sciences. Botany and
zoology profited most, followed closely
by geology, chemistry.
physics and meteorology. Many of these
medical men, not spe-
cialists themselves, established firm
foundations of special tech-
niques and procedures. The doctors were
trained in laboratory
methods not then in fashion in other
college studies. Through
medical practice they were constantly in
touch with people in all
walks of life, in a day when social
lines of cleavage were more
marked than they are at present. Practical application of scien-
titic principle became routine attitude
for those young men trained
in medical college.
It is easy to see how the doctors could
become collectors of
specimens as well as the facts of
natural history as they made
their rounds of calls. They often had
grateful patients who,
guided by their interest, turned
collectors and correspondents for
them. Every successful doctor could
readily become the head of
a small community of disciples if he
chose. The more learned
the man, either from good training in
the colleges of the day or
from his own studious habits, the less
he might be inclined toward
cultisms and the more inclined toward
adding observations to the
growing body of natural science facts.
Such a man was Dr. Hildreth, whose story
is deeply inter-
twined with Marietta and with the
growing Ohio Commonwealth.
He arrived four years after its
admission to Statehood and re-
mained in medical practice for over a
half-century. These were
the important years of the expansion
from pioneering to modern
commercial, agricultural and industrial
living. He arrived on
1 Papers
from the Department of Botany, the
Ohio State University, No. 469.
313