EARLY INTERNSHIPS IN ST. FRANCIS
HOSPITAL--
A REMINISCENCE
by H. M. PLATTER, M.D.
In September 1889 I enrolled in Starling
Medical College
with Dr. Thomas C. Hoover as my
preceptor. I had already
completed three years of preliminary
education at Ohio Wesleyan
University. Dr. Hoover was professor of
surgery at the college
and the visiting surgeon to St. Francis
Hospital. At the con-
clusion of my freshman year, the first
house physician or intern
was appointed for St. Francis, and the
college announced that
succeeding house physicians would be
chosen from among the
students who had finished their courses
in the upper third of their
classes.
Living quarters for the house physician
were provided in
the hospital, but entrance thereto was
through the medical college
up three flights of winding stairs and
past the dissection room to
the back of the building. Dr. Hoover's
student--myself--and
Dr. Loving's student--Edgar M.
Hatton--also were required to
share the two rooms provided for the
house physician. The quar-
ters were comfortable, quiet, and gave
every opportunity for study.
Here for a period of three years, I
resided, and then I received
the appointment as house physician and
served in that capacity
during the year of 1892-93.
The announcement in the annual report of
the hospital each
year stated that the ordinary time for
daily visits of the physicians
and surgeons was between 9 and 11
o'clock each morning. In
case of emergency they would be called
immediately, day or night.
The house physician, the announcement
read further, was in con-
stant attendance during the day and
night. This latter statement
was only too true! Either the house
physician or the two students
who occupied his quarters were subject
to call at all times. If they
did not report they were severely
reprimanded.
At that time the hospital was known as a
"closed" institution,
399
400
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
i.e., no one but staff members were
permitted to practice therein.
The staff was composed of the following
visiting physicians: Dr.
Starling Loving, Dr. A. M. Bleile, and
Dr. Otto Frankenberg.
The visiting surgeon was Dr. Thomas C.
Hoover; the visiting
gynecologist, Dr. D. Tod Gilliam; the
visiting ophthalmologist,
Dr. Charles Franklin Clark.
Occasionally, Dr. Arthur H. Bowen,
dermatologist, was called in a
particular case. No other physicians
practiced in the hospital.
Fully 98 per cent of the patients were
charity cases. There
were perhaps six or eight beds where
private patients could be
treated by members of the visiting staff
only. The house phy-
sician was required to have a complete
case history of each patient
admitted available for review by the
visiting staff member. These
histories were criticized when
necessary, the patient was examined
carefully by the visitant, and the
remedies for cure or relief pre-
scribed.
In the medical division the large
percentage of cases were
visited by Dr. Starling Loving, dean of
the medical school, who
was extremely punctual. He demanded that
the history of the
patient should be complete. At that time
we had few instruments
of precision save the stethoscope and
thermometer and only lim-
ited laboratory facilities for
microscopic work. In great measure
the diagnosis depended upon a complete
history and the use of
the "five senses." With this
meager equipment, Dr. Loving's
wizardry in diagnosis as well as in his
prescription of the proper
remedies was, to say the least, well
known. His powers of obser-
vation of the individual patient,
including the facial expression
and posture in bed, I believe were
described in a brochure which
I hope has been preserved.
Dr. Thomas C. Hoover, professor of
surgery and the surgeon
for the Pennsylvania lines, was prompt
in his services to the hos-
pital. The hospital received many cases
of serious accidents--
crushed arms, legs, fractures, and dislocations.
Dr. Hoover was
particularly expert in the performance
of amputations and the
treatment of fractures. Were he living
in this age, I believe he
could easily qualify as an exceptional
orthopedic surgeon. He
attempted no abdominal operations during
my service with him.
ST. FRANCIS HOSPITAL 401
These were the days of antiseptic
surgery. He operated with
bare hands under antiseptic spray and
fully expected "laudable
pus"--a union by "first
intention" after the operation was rare and
the cause for comment!
Among the many duties of the house
physician was the
preparation of antiseptic solutions for
surgery, the bleaching of
sponges to be used in surgery, and the
preparation of plaster
bandages. Not until approximately 1900
was aseptic surgery
practiced.
The reputation of Dr. Charles Franklin
Clark as an ophthal-
mologist is well known. It needs no
comment from me.
The department of gynecology was
presided over by Dr. D.
Tod Gilliam. Medical history is replete
with reports of his con-
tributions, including his standard
textbook and particularly his
description of the Gilliam operation for
ventrosuspension which
is still used by surgeons the world
over. I might observe that
in 1911, while in Vienna, when I
registered as from Columbus,
Ohio, I was immediately asked, "Do
you know Dr. Gilliam?"
While we had many good men in the field
of medicine and surgery
at that time, it was Dr. Gilliam's name
that put Columbus on the
medical map.
In reviewing the annual reports of St.
Francis Hospital, I
should state that the monthly reports of
that institution show at-
tendance of approximately 100 patients
daily. They were suffer-
ing in general from the diseases and
illnesses which affected the
community at that time. Particular
mention should be made of
typhoid fever, the malaries, pneumonia,
heart diseases, and influ-
enza; the census varied somewhat in
epidemic times. As already
indicated, the surgical report was to a
considerable extent the
result of accidental injuries,
fractures, amputations, hernias, etc.
The hospital was operated with a closed
staff for a period of
ten years or more. The first addition or
change in the medical
staff occurred in 1905 when the name of
I. B. Harris, M. D.,
appeared in the annual report for that
year as an assistant visiting
physician. The report for 1908 announced
a change and enlarge-
ment of the staff as follows:
402 OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL
QUARTERLY
Chief of Staff, Thos. C. Hoover, M.D.;
Physicians, Starling Loving,
M.D., J. H. J. Upham, M.D., Frank
Winders, M.D.; Surgeons, Thos.
C. Hoover, M.D., C. S. Hamilton, M.D.,
W. J. Means, M.D.; Assistant
Surgeon, I. B. Harris, M.D.;
Ophthalmologist, C. F. Clark, M.D.;
Otologist, W. K. Rogers, M.D.;
Genito-Urinary Surgeon, Starling S.
Wilcox, M.D.; Orthopedist, A. M.
Steinfeld, M.D.; Neurologist, W.
D. Deuschle, M.D.; Dermatologist, Chas.
J. Shepard, M.D.; Radiog-
rapher, C. F. Bowen, M.D.; Pathologist,
Ernest Scott, M.D.; Resident
Physicians, Floyd Kramer, M.D. and E. M.
Freese, M.D.
I suppose the elaboration to have been
the result of the merger of
the medical colleges then existent in
Columbus, stimulated by the
Flexner report on medical colleges and
their deficiencies. The
history of the institution in the period
from 1900 should be the
subject of further treatment by a
historian.
In retrospect, what value do I place on
my early medical
education and service in St. Francis
Hospital? I am sure that the
ten men who served as house physicians
during that ten-year
period would answer the question in
unison thus: "All of us
were stimulated to be punctual, careful,
observant, and impressed
daily with the thought that our medical
education had just begun
and that only by means of keeping
abreast of the literature and
with postgraduate work, could we hope to
succeed." All of us
were stimulated by association with
these medical leaders of the
time who composed the visiting staff,
particularly Dr. Loving who
was always ready to give much of his
time and effort to the
medical college and to the hospital.
There he was a familiar
figure over a period of years,
administering to the poor as will-
ingly as to his fashionable patients. At
all times he gave his
best and never refused to respond to the
call of the sick. One
historian has stated that "at the
bedside he was as one trans-
formed, illumined with an intensity of
purpose and softened by
the deepest sympathy." His life was
one of devotion to his pro-
fession. His interns hold in grateful
remembrance his demand
that we respond to duty and his
insistence that we keep abreast
of medical advances. To say the least,
the staff labored to make
us good family doctors, leaving the
finishing processes to future
medical clinics and postgraduate
courses.
ST. FRANCIS
HOSPITAL 403
HOUSE
PHYSICIANS, ST. FRANCIS HOSPITAL
Edwin F. Clark
(Deceased) ........................1890-1891
G. E.
Gardner ................................... 1891-1892
H. M . Platter ....................................
1892-1893
John E. Wood
(Deceased) ........................ 1893-1894
C. H. Clark (Deceased)
........................... 1894-1895
E. W. Schueller
(Deceased) ....................... 1895-1896
G. W. Heffner ...................................
1895-1896
Howard Black ................................... 1896-1897
Eli S. Holm
es .................................. 1897-1898
J. S. Jones
(Deceased) ............................ 1898-1899