Ohio History Journal

THE BELMONT MEDICAL SOCIETY, 1847-1860

AN EARLY COUNTY MEDICAL SOCIETY IN OHIO

By ROBERT G. PATERSON, PH. D.

At the Centennial Exposition held in Philadelphia in 1876,

Dr. John S. Billings presented a review of Medical Literature and

Institutions1 for the hundred years, 1776 to 1876. In the course

of his review he took occasion to refer to the publications of the

Belmont County Medical Society in the following language:

A rare medical periodical and curiosity in its way is "The Belmont

Medical Journal," published at Bridgeport, Ohio, under the auspices of

the Belmont County Medical Society, 1858-60. With this belongs the

transactions of the same Society from 1847 to 1857, forming in all, three

small volumes in 12 mo. These publications are unique in their way, and

illustrate what can be done by a county medical society, composed entirely

of county practitioners.  They contain some amusing flights of rhetoric,

and some well-recorded cases, and many papers are interesting because it

is evident that they were written precisely as the authors talked.²

Such a statement coming from Dr. Billings upon such an

auspicious occasion raised these volumes from a local to a na-

tional plane and so this contribution to medical history in Ohio

by a county medical society becomes important and needs to be

recorded as fully as it is possible to do so.

The Ohio Committee on Medical History and Archives is

deeply indebted to Homer S. West, M. D.,³ St. Clairsville, Ohio,

for the gift of several volumes relating to this particular episode.

His donations were made in memory of his father, Henry West,

M. D., St. Clairsville, a charter member of the Belmont Medical

Society.

1 John S. Billings, A Century of American Medicine 1776-1876 (Philadelphia, 1876),

chapter on "Literature and Institutions."

2 Ibid., 335.

3 Homer S. West, M.D., was born February 18, 1874, at St. Clairsville, Ohio.

He graduated from Franklin College, New Athens, Ohio, in 1894 and received his

M.D. degree from New York City University Medical College in 1897. He is the

son of Dr. Henry West who had nine sons; five of whom were pharmacists and four

of whom were physicians. At the present writing, Homer S. West, M.D., is the

Health Commissioner of Belmont County.

310

OHIO MEDICAL HISTORY, 1835-58                 311

A close examination of the volumes reveals guiding minds

and spirits quite unusual for the times. Volume 1 covers the

Transactions of the Society for the years from 1847 to 1854-5

inclusive. It contains the Preamble, Constitution and By-Laws of

the Belmont Medical Society Together with a Code of Medical

Ethics and a Bill of Rates Adopted by Said Society. These were

signed by Ephraim Gaston, M.D., President, and Henry West,

M. D., Secretary, and dated at St. Clairsville, Ohio, April 7, 1847.

This pamphlet of sixteen pages was printed at St. Clairsville, Ohio,

by Heaton and Gressinger in 1847.

There follows a pamphlet of twenty-two pages entitled, Code

of Ethics of the American Medical Association Adopted by the

Belmont Medical Society, and ordered to be printed For the Use

of the Members and For Private Distribution. This was printed

by Dunham and Gressinger at St. Clairsville, Ohio, in 1849. Then

follow the Transactions for 1847 covering sixty-six pages; fifty-

nine pages for 1848, printed by Horton J. Howard, St. Clairs-

ville, Ohio; seventy-six pages for 1849-1850, printed by J. S.

Affleck, Brideport, Ohio, who continues to be the printer there-

after; for 1850-1851, there are ninety pages together with a gen-

eral index of the Transactions from 1847 through 1851; sixty-five

pages for 1851-1852; fifty-five pages for 1853-1854, and one hun-

dred and seventy-two pages for 1854-1855. This makes a grand

total of six hundred and twenty-two pages.⁴

Reception of the Transactions in the medical world was

cordial. An example of the current comment follows:

Dr. Smith, the Editor of the Boston Medical and Surgical Journal,

who has just made a tour of Europe, Asia and Africa and is withal one

of the most accomplished Physicians of the Age, thus speaks of the Belmont

Medical Society:

"For a small unpretending association, there is not one in the country

that accomplishes more for the advancement and respectability of the pro-

fession than the Belmont Medical Society of Ohio. From 1847 to 1851,

the transactions already published, would do honor to a much older and

more prominent body."⁵

4 J. G. Affleck, ed, Transactions of the Belmont Medical Society from 1847-55:

with Which is Bound the Constitution and By-Laws . . . Together with a Code of

Medical Ethics and a Bill of Rates Adopted by Said Society. 2-vols. (Bridgeport,

Ohio), cited in Index-Catalogue of the Library of the Surgeon-General's Office,

United States Army (1st series). I, 863.

5 St. Clairsville Gazette and Citizen, Sept. 19, 1851.

OHIO MEDICAL HISTORY, 1835-58                   313

Volume 2 embraces The Belmont Medical Journal--A

Monthly Periodical Published under the Patronage of the Belmont

Medical Society.⁶ Drs. James M. McConahey and John G. Af-

fleck were selected as editors for the first year and Drs. William

Estep and Ephraim     Gaston for the second year.      The publisher

was J. G. Affleck at Bridgeport, Ohio. The period covers June,

1858, to May, 1860. An "Explanation" at the beginning of the

volume is as follows:

The Belmont Medical Journal was commenced in June 1858, termining

in July 1860--being a substitute for the "Belmont Medical Transactions,"

a yearly issue published also by the Society, from 1847 to 1858.

According to this statement Volume 1, which ends in 1855

should have had three more transactions in it; one for 1855-1856;

one for 1856-1857; and one for 1857-1858. Either these are miss-

ing or there was a break in the continuous publication. Again

Volume 2, which contains the Journal, begins with June, 1858,

and the last number is dated May, not July, 1860. It must have

been the last number because it contains the Valedictory. The

motto placed at its mast-head was "Rerum Cognoscere Causas--

To Know the Causes of Things." The editors stated that the

purpose in establishing a Journal to replace the Transactions was

"to diffuse the experience of the Society still more extensively--

to lay before the people the subject of Health."   Again the printer

was J. G. Affleck, Bridgeport, Ohio.

Current comment on the "Journal" in the medical press

throughout the country was laudatory in the extreme. Dr. J. W.

Hamilton, editor of the Ohio Medical and Surgical Journal, had

this to say:

Belmont Medical Journal.--This is the organ of the Belmont Medical

Society. Just think of it, Belmont County not only sustains a Medical

Society, but a Medical Journal also. This we consider decidedly plucky.

6 Belmont Medical Journal: A Monthly Periodical Published under the Patron-

age of the Belmont Medical Society.  Edited by James M. McConahey, John G.

Affleck, W. M. Estep and Ephraim Gaston, I-II (June 1858-May 1860), cited in

loc. cit.

The Ohio Committee on Medical History and Archives also received from Dr.

Homer S. West the "Record Book of the Belmont Medical Society" beginning

February 30, 1847, and continuing to January 20, 1859, in the handwritings of the

various secretaries. As will be noted the minutes record the first meeting as being

held on February 30, 1847, whereas the public notice of the first meeting is for

January 30, 1847, and the report of the meeting is found in the Belmont Chronicle for

February 12, 1847.

OHIO MEDICAL HISTORY, 1835-58                      315

It is a monthly of 16 pages, the fourteenth number of which is before us.

Nor is this all. Belmont County gives this Journal a large subscription

list, almost all of which are promptly paying subscribers. Belmont does

but little by way of contribution to the wind work of the profession but

in a quiet way is doing a good work worthy not only of commendation but

of imitation.7

A public call for a meeting of the medical men in Belmont

County⁸ to be held in St. Clairsville, Ohio, was published in the

public press9 on January 29, 1847. The meeting was held on

January 30, 1847, at the National Hotel, St. Clairsville, Ohio.¹⁰ Dr.

Clarkson Schooly, of Loydsville, was selected as chairman and Dr.

Smith Holloway, St. Clairsville, as secretary of the meeting.          Sev-

eral committees were appointed. On Constitution--Drs. Hewet-

son, Holloway and Walker. On a Code of Ethics--Drs. West,

Alexander and McConahey. On a Fee Bill--Drs. Estep, C.

Schooly and L. Schooly. A resolution was adopted to publish

the proceedings of the Society in "The Belmont Chronicle" and

the "St. Clairsville Gazette." Those present at this meeting were:

Drs. Ephraim Gaston, Joseph Hewetson, John Alexander, Jo-

sephus Walker, Smith Holloway, Henry West, John Campbell,

Thomas Irwin, James D. Coleman, Harvey, J. Bailey, P. R. Chap-

man, David Tidball, William Estep, C. Schooly, L. J. Dallas and

R. M. Andrews. Thirteen additional physicians signed the Con-

stitution on December 6, 1847, making in all a total membership

of thirty-nine.

The origin of this county society was bound up intimately

7 Ohio Medical and Surgical Journal (Columbus), XII (1859-60), 79.

8 Colonel C. L. Poorman says, About the year 1835 the first attempt to organize a

county medical society was made. Dr. Evans of Morristown was its secretary and its

meetings were held in St. Clairsville. A second organization of the medical practi-

tioners of Belmont County, took place February 30 (sic) 1847 at St. Clairsville. The

last election of officers occurred at Belmont April 16, 1867 (sic). The last meeting was

held at Barnesville, January 20, 1859 (sic). C. L. Poorman, "History of Belmont

County," in Brant & Fuller, pub., History of the Upper Ohio Valley . . . (Madison,

1890), II, 795-9.

The subsequent history of the medical organization in Belmont reveals that

in 1870, Belmont County joined in the "Medical and Chirurgical Society of Eastern

Ohio," and finally on December 5, 1885, the organization of the Belmont County

Medical Society was initiated and continues to date.

9 Belmont Chronicle, Friday, January 29, 1847, p. 3.

"Medical Notice

"The physicians of Belmont County are respectfully requested to meet in St.

Clairsville on Saturday, January 30, 1817, at the House of Thomas Johnson, for

the purpose of organizing themselves into a Society for their mutual benefit, and

for the advancement of the Medical Science. It is hoped that every physician in

the County will be in attendance. January 18, 1847."

10 Belmont Chronicle, February 12, 1847. p. 3, reports the results of this meeting.

316    OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

with two factors--the medical developments in the State of Ohio

as a whole and the sources of influence connected with the medical

centers at Cincinnati, Lexington, Kentucky and Columbus, where

medical faculties exerted a wide influence. A few of the physicians

in Belmont County were connected with the development of the

Medical Convention of Ohio which flourished from 1835 to 1851.

Here they came in contact with such notable leaders of medical

thought in Ohio as Daniel Drake, Samuel P. Hildreth, Peter Al-

len, William Awl and Robert Thompson. Also a number of the

Belmont physicians received their medical degrees from the Medi-

cal College of Ohio at Cincinnati; the Transylvania Medical Col-

lege at Lexington, Kentucky; and the Starling Medical College,

at Columbus.

Convening on March 1, 1847, the Belmont Medical Society

was formed by the adoption of the Constitution. A corrected

roll of members was drawn up containing a total of fifty-three

physicians in the county. Examination of the "Preamble, Con-

stitution and By-Laws," reveals that the Preamble stated:

We, the undersigned, Practitioners of Physic and Surgery in the

County of Belmont, and its vicinity, as well as for the purpose of promot-

ing harmony and good fellowship, as of elevating the cause of Medical

Science, and its collateral branches, associate ourselves under the following

Constitution.

The Constitution provided: "That, the Association shall be

denominated the Belmont Medical Society"; for the usual officers;

that for membership, "any regular Practitioner of Medicine, in

good standing, may become a member of this Society by signing

this Constitution, paying into the Treasury Fifty-cents, and com-

plying with such other regulations as may be hereafter provided

by the By-Laws of this Society"; that, the Society should "have

the power to form a Library and a Cabinet of Specimens in the

varying departments of natural science, both from the donations

of individuals and other Associations and by levying of fines and

taxes, agreeable to the regulations which may be provided by

the By-Laws of this Society"; that, "the Society shall hold at least

four meetings a year"; that, "the annual meeting shall be holden

on the 1st Monday in March, and the others on the 1st Mondays

OHIO MEDICAL HISTORY, 1835-58                   317

of June, September and December"; that, "there shall be two

standing committees--1st on Quackery; 2nd on Improvements in

the Science of Medicine and such other committees as the interests

of the Society may require.^"11

The original Constitution was adopted March 1, 1847, and

was signed by twenty-six physicians.12 It was amended December

6, 1847, to change the meetings from the first Monday to the first

Thursday in the months of March, June, September and Decem-

ber. It was amended again on March 7, 1850, to provide for

meetings on the first Thursday in April, July, October and January.

The first "Code of Ethics" adopted by the Society on April

7, 1847, came beyond doubt from the Medical Convention of

Ohio which was organized in 1835. The two codes are exact

duplicates of each other. Furthermore, there were three Belmont

County physicians in attendance at the second meeting of the

Medical Convention of Ohio held in Columbus, Ohio, January

1-3, 1838. They were Thomas Carroll, Ephraim Gaston and Isaac

Hoover. Of these, Ephraim Gaston was the only charter member

of the Belmont Medical Society. Dr. Hoover joined the Society

at a later date and Dr. Carroll never joined since he had moved to

Cincinnati in 1841. Following the organization of the American

Medical Association13 on May 5, 1847, at Philadelphia, the Belmont

Medical Society adopted the "Code of Ethics" of the national body.

By inference, therefore, it must have been Dr. Gaston who

had the copy of the "Code of Ethics" of the Medical Convention

of Ohio. He was an active member of the Medical Convention

of Ohio from 1838 to 1851. He was elected president of the

Convention at its meeting in Columbus May 20-22, 1845, which

11 The Constitution and By-Laws of the Belmont Medical Society Together

With a Code of Medical Ethics and a Bill of Rates Adopted by Said Society (St. Clairs-

ville, 1847), 3, 4, 5.

12 The signers of the Constitution who became charter members were in the order

of signature: Ephraim Gaston, Morristown; Lindley Schooly, Belmont; Josephus

Walker, St. Clairsville; P. R. Chapman, Hendrysburg; Wm. Estep, Loydsville; Clark-

son Schooly, Loydsville; Henry West, St. Clairsville; David Tidball, Hendrysburg;

E. P. Birdsong, Bellaire; George W. Lyle,------------ Smith Holloway,

St. Clairsville; Jesse Bailey, Flushing; R. M. Andrews, Bellaire; Benajah P. Steele.

St. Clairsville; John Campbell, Uniontown; Wm. Schooly, Somerton; John A.

Weyer,----------; Thomas Irwin, Uniontown; William Milligan, ------------; James

D. Coleman, Centerville; Simon B. West, Martinsville; Harrison Wilson, Center-

ville; James M. McConahey, Bridgeport; Joseph Hewetson, St. Clairsville; L. J.

Dallas, Sewellsville; and John Alexander, Flushing.

13 N. S. Davis, History of the American Medical Association, from Its Organ-

ization up to January, 1855. Edited by S. W. Butler, M. D. (Philadelphia, 1855).

318     OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

was two years before the organization of the Belmont Medical

Society.

The Bill of Rates adopted by the Society14 covers almost

every conceivable contingency arising from general practice. The

main headings are: Practice of Physic, Obstetrics; Shop Fee Bill;

and Surgical Operations.

Under the heading of Practice of Physic are found the fol-

lowing:

For  each  visit  in  town ...........................   .50

For visit in the country for the first mile.......... 1.00

Venesection and extracting teeth ..................                                                            .25

Vaccination .....................................                                                                                .50

Gonorrhoea, fee in advance ........................ 5.00 to 20.00

Syphilis,  fee  in  advance ...........................  20.00  to  50.00

Under Obstetrics are found the following items:

Natural  case            of     delivery..........................                                                      4.00  to   5.00

Preternatural            cases...............................                                                               8.00

Forceps used.....................................                                                                               10.00

The Shop Fee Bill provides for the prices of dispensing

medicines as the following items will illustrate:

Emetics          and      cathartics, each ....................... .25

Tinctures,     per       oz..................................                                                                  .25

Anti-spasmodics,    per   oz .........................                                                                 .25  to  .50

Febrifuge  powders,per  oz.........................                                                                  .50

Tonic compound, sufficient for pint of liquor ........                                               .50

Vessicating & strengthening plasters, each ..........                                                 .25 to  .50

Under Surgical Operations, an extended list of operations are

provided, among which are to be found:

For capital operations: Amputations, Lythotomy, Hernia, Tre-

phinning,  etc.,  from .................................   50.00  to                                                        100.00

For adjusting fractures (each detailed) ........... 5.00 to                                          20.00

Operations Important on the Eye................. 25.00 to                                            50.00

For Dressing Recent Wounds .................... 1.00 to                                                 5.00

Tying large arteries in cases of recent wounds...... 15.00 to                               25.00

Operations  on  Hair  Lips.........................  10.00  to                                               20.00

There follows a series of general statements touching upon

14 The Constitution and By-Laws of the Belmont Medical Society, . . . 1847,

pp. 12-15.

OHIO MEDICAL HISTORY, 1835-58          319

payments in cash, discounts, collections and the general business

conduct of the physician.

Throughout the life of the Society the reports of the two

standing committees--on Quackery and on Improvements in the

Science of Medicine--were made each year. All of these reports

afford an excellent measure of the alertness of the members as

to what was transpiring in the medical world. One cannot read

these reports without a full consciousness of how much in earnest

these country practitioners were in the pursuit of their profession.

Both the Transactions and the Journal contain numerous

case reports prepared and presented by the members. These re-

ports reflect the problems confronting the profession in its at-

tempts to solve the various afflictions which they were called upon

to treat.  They also reflect the bias of the members in their

therapeutic measures.

At a meeting held at St. Clairsville on March 2, 1848, the

Belmont Medical Society resolved to have itself incorporated ac-

cording to law. The entry of incorporation on the county records

is as follows:

State of Ohio, Belmont Co. S. S.

Recorder's office at St. Clairsville

Entered for Recording March 15, 1848 and recorded 16th do.

H. M. Ward, Recorder Bel. Co. O.

It will be recalled that the Medical Convention of Ohio was

organized in 1835 and that in 1846 the Ohio State Medical Society

was organized. Between 1846 and 1851 these two bodies held

their respective meetings concurrently. In 1851 the Convention

merged with the State Society.15  At the annual meeting of the

Ohio State Medical Society held in Columbus on June 3-5, 1851,

the Belmont Medical Society was admitted as the fourteenth

auxiliary of the state body through the presentations made by

Dr. Robert Thompson of Columbus.16      The Belmont Medical

Society continued in this relation until its demise on April 19,

1860.

15 Robert G. Paterson, "The First Medical Convention in Ohio," Ohio State

Medical Journal, XXXIV (May, 1938), 560-1.

16 Minutes  of  the  Ohio  State  Medical  Society  held  in  Columbus, June,  1851

(Columbus, Ohio, 1851).

320     OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

The final number of the Belmont Medical Journal, May, 1860,

says:

Valedictory

With this number closes not only our editorial charge of the Journal,

but the existence of the Journal also; the latter we regret. Believing that

soon after the Journal ceases to be, the Society will also cease to exist.

The cause of this failure may properly be attributed to bad Financiering,

a part of the members being permitted to have the privileges and benefits

of the Society for years without paying a farthing, while the working few

who labored for the good of the Society have had to bear a pretty heavy

tax. . . . There seems to have been a general lethargy without a remedy

to meet it, and we suppose will continue till the Society ceases to exist, then

a reaction will take place, and the members wake up.17

The Belmont Medical Society did cease to exist in 1860.

It is generally supposed the approach of the Civil War and con-

ditions of unrest connected with it were responsible for the

suspension, but another opinion attributed the suspension to an

attack made upon Dr. Henry West for his recognition of a young

practitioner by a consultation with him and the excitement in-

cident to the controversy.

An examination of the phrase, "the working few          who

labored for the good of the Society," reveals the following indi-

viduals:

Ephraim   Gaston   (1799-1868), Morristown, was the first

president of the Society in 1847 and the last in 1860. He began

the practice of medicine at Morristown in 1825. He attended the

second meeting of the Medical Convention in 1838. He was ad-

mitted to membership in the Ohio State Medical Society June 6,

1849. That same year he was elected second vice-president of the

State Society and in 1851 to the third vice-presidency. In 1858

he was appointed one of the editors of the Belmont Medical Jour-

nal. The evidence seems to indicate that he was the moving spirit

in the Society. Throughout the Transactions and the Journal he

made contributions in the way of case reports, committee reports

on Quackery and the Improvement of Medical Science.

17 Belmont Medical Journal, May, 1860, p. 177.

322    OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

lican ticket. He was elected Mayor of St. Clairsville seven times.

Dr. West had nine sons, five of whom were druggists and four

physicians.  His steadfast support of the Society is attested

through the Transactions and the Journal.18

John Gladstone Affleck (1799-1877), Bridgeport, served as

vice-president of the Society in 1849; secretary in 1851-1852;

treasurer from 1855-1860. He acted as publisher of the Transac-

tions from 1854 to 1858 and publisher as well as one of the editors

of the Journal from 1858 to 1860. He was born in Drummelzier,

Scotland, and emigrated to America in 1819. About 1825 he

settled at Barnesville, then moved to Somerton and finally about

1840 to Bridgeport where he died. He is described as "by far the

most learned physician that ever resided in Barnesville, but having

a large fortune and being a perfect cormorant after knowledge,

the dry, monotonous drudgery of the profession could not be en-

dured by him and he soon abandoned it."¹⁹ So he entered the

printing and publishing business. He edited The National His-

torian in St. Clairsville from July 16, 1831, to June, 1833; then

True Blue at Bridgeport from   1840-1846; then The Belmont

Farmer; The Dog and The Cocoanut; all containing a series of

reflections on the follies of mankind, taking his characters from

well-known Bridgeporters   His mother was first cousin to

Premier Gladstone. In all his contributions to the work of the

Society, Dr. Affleck was ever courageous and pungent in his

opinions.

William Estep (1815-1880), Loydsville, was elected secretary

of the Society in 1850-1851; vice-president in 1856-1858; and was

one of the editors of the Journal. He settled at Loydsville in 1840

and received his M. D. degree from Starling Medical College in

1850. He was admitted to membership in the Ohio State Medical

Society in 1852. His contributions to the Transactions and the

Journal were constant and in many cases pointed.

James M. McConahey (1809-1870), Bridgeport, was elected

vice-president of the Society in 1850-1851; president in 1855-

18 Committee of the Belmont County Medical Society,  Memoir of Dr. Henry West

(St. Clairsville, O., 1891), 19.

19 J. A. Caldwell, History of Belmont and Jefferson Counties, Ohio (Wheeling, W.

Va., 1880), 317.

OHIO MEDICAL HISTORY, 1835-58          323

1856 and was one of the editors of the Journal. He studied medi-

cine with Dr. William Hamilton of Mt. Pleasant and graduated

M. D. from the Medical College of Ohio. He was appointed one

of the editors of the Journal and his contributions of case reports

were always interesting.

These men then appear to be the stalwarts in the organization

and maintenance of the Belmont Medical Society. Their zeal for

the work never flagged. When it is recalled that the population

of the county in 1850 was only 35,378, the achievement of these

physicians becomes remarkable. One thing in their favor was

the strategic location of the county. It bordered on the Ohio

River which provided the first means of transportation from the

East to the "Ohio Country"; then on Zane's Trace, the first road

through Ohio from the East; and finally, on the National Road.

This meant that it became one of the natural areas for the rise

of settlements and that it received the stimulus of ideas from

the outside world.

That the organized activity of the Belmont Medical Society

was unique in the United States at the time is attested by the

attention paid to it by Dr. Billings before the International Medical

Congress at Philadelphia in 1876 as well as the printed record of

its proceedings in the Transactions and the Journal.