MEDICAL SOCIETIES IN CLEVELAND FROM 1890
TO 1945
by CLYDE
L. CUMMER, M.D.
Part I
THE REVOLUTIONARY NINETIES
Since 1810 when Dr. David Long moved to
Cleveland from
Hebron, New York, and became Cleveland's
first physician, there
was no decade in its medical history so
fraught with change as that
extending from 1893 to 1903. This
development in medicine was
but a part of the times. Although
preparing to celebrate its cen-
tennial in 1896, Cleveland as a city had
really only started its
adolescence and was suffering severe
growing pains. Cleveland had
prospered since 1827 as the lake
terminus of the Ohio Canal and
later as the principal harbor to receive
the ungainly freight vessels
bringing iron ore from the rich deposits
in the Lake Superior district.
However, it was like many of the New
England villages from which
most of its founders had come and to
whose conservative ways of
life and thinking their descendants
adhered. To be sure, its popula-
tion in 1890 was over 260,000, but it
was still the country village in
its provincial outlook and its
deficiency in most of the cultural ad-
vantages marking a large city. Less than
10 years previously (1882)
Western Reserve University had been
moved from Hudson and
Case School of Applied Science had been
founded. Museums of
art and natural history and a symphony
orchestra were far in
the future. Certainly in cultural
development and regional im-
portance Cleveland was outclassed by
Cincinnati, its rival to the
south.
However, the period was destined to see
developments which
would mean much to Cleveland, with the
result that in the twenty
years from 1890 to 1910 the population
would almost double.
Electric railroads were to push out in
the nineties to the surround-
ing country and make northeastern Ohio
definitely tributary to
344
MEDICAL SOCIETIES IN CLEVELAND 345
Cleveland, which was becoming more and
more a manufacturing
center.
During the nineties the impact of
invention was beginning to
affect the doctor's daily life. Electric
current was used more and
more for office, hospital, and domestic
lighting. Communication
between doctor and patient was
accelerated by the increasing use
of the telephone, and personal
transportation for the doctor was
revolutionized-probably more than for
any other class or occu-
pation-by the "horseless
carriage." In 1890 all doctors, urban or
rural, were dependent on the horse for
transportation; in 1900
many were making their calls in
electric, gasoline, or steam powered
vehicles. In 1915 the doctor who did not
drive his own car was
indeed an exceptional specimen.
Since Cleveland was an early center for
automobile manufac-
turing-Winton, Stearns, Peerless, White,
Baker, Rauch and Lang,
and other motor cars were made here-it
was inevitable that its
industrial life would be profoundly
altered by this tremendous
industry. Even though Cleveland later lost its leadership in
automobile manufacture, it has continued
to this day a large volume
of production in automobile parts. A
growing industrial popula-
tion required increased medical service.
In the nineties the city had indeed
become an industrial leader,
and its industrialists felt an urge to
influence national legislation,
especially in favor of the high tariff
to protect "infant industry."
The activities of Mark Hanna, which led
to the seating of William
McKinley in the White House, with Hanna
himself as the real
power behind the throne, were part of
the Cleveland scene in this
period. And in this decade came the
Spanish-American War and
the appearance of the United States as a
major world power.
The year 1890 found Cleveland with four
medical schools:
the medical department of Western
Reserve University, the medical
department of the University of
Wooster,the Cleveland Homeopathic
Medical College, and the Cleveland
Medical College. The first
two were regular; the latter two
homeopathic. The most popular
hospital was St. Vincent's Charity,
built in 1865, then as now at
the corner of Central Avenue and East
22nd Street (then called
Perry Street). Lakeside Hospital in the
early nineties was rela.
346
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
tively small and located in a building
belonging to the federal
government on Lakeside Avenue east of
Ninth Street (then called
Erie Street). However, during the
nineties Lakeside Hospital was
to build a large new hospital on the
adjoining property to the
east and to be completely modernized in
its organization, a devel-
opment of profound significance to
Cleveland medicine.
Western Reserve University had control
of the clinical facili-
ties of these two hospitals for teaching
purposes. The Wooster
school had the Cleveland General
Hospital which occupied two
remodeled dwellings on Woodland Avenue,
while the two homeop-
athic schools used for teaching purposes
the adjoining Huron Road
Hospital, located on the south side of
Huron Road west of East
Ninth Street, the site now occupied by
the Ohio Bell Telephone
building. St. Alexis Hospital on
Boardway Avenue at McBride
Street was then very small, and St.
John's had not been built. The
Cleveland City Hospital was used for
teaching purposes by regulars
and homeopaths.
In large part the revolutionary changes
in Cleveland medicine
in this period were stimulated by the
advances in medical knowl-
edge which preceded and accompanied this
period. The movement
of events was so rapid that it can
hardly be appreciated by the
younger reader of today, for medicine
was emerging from the era
of dogmatism into one of scientific
inquiry. Remember that of
the practicing physicians of that day,
few owned a microscope and
still fewer could use one. Modern
pharmacology was in its
embryonic stage; the recognition of
disease-producing bacteria was
still going on, and there were many
doctors even after the turn
of the century who proclaimed openly
that they did not believe
in germs and acted accordingly in the
operating and sick rooms.
There were encouraging signs evidenced
by restlessness in regard
to medical education which already had
improved in some of the
leading schools, but there were still
too many schools, especially
those of the proprietary type conducted
for the financial gain of their
faculties. Though the proprietors may
not have realized it, their
schools, many of them diploma mills,
were destined for early death.
Encouraging developments were in
progress, for the Johns Hopkins
Hospital was opened in 1889 and the
Medical School in 1893.
MEDICAL SOCIETIES IN CLEVELAND 347
In the session 1888-89 a three-year
graded course had been started
at the medical school of Western
Reserve.1 This marked a great
step in medical education. Changes in
the methods of licensure
were in the immediate future.
Higher standards for entrance to medical
schools and lengthen-
ing of the courses were being insisted
upon, and soon the American
Medical Association and nonmedical
foundations were to take up
the fight for higher educational standards.
These steps were to be
reflected in coming years in a reduction
in the number of schools in
Cleveland.
For many years the medical population of
Cleveland was com-
posed largely, although by no means
exclusively, of the graduates
of local schools. In the nineties there
began to filter into the
city graduates of eastern schools, some
to fill important posts in
the Western Reserve school, like Carl A.
Hamann (University of
Pennsylvania, a pupil of Deaver), Hunter
Robb (University of
Pennsylvania, trained by Howard Kelley),
William T. Howard,
Jr. (University of Maryland, from
William H. Welch's service at
Johns Hopkins), Charles S. Hoover
(trained in Germany and at
Harvard), and George Neil Stewart
(universities of Cambridge and
Edinburgh). Also in this epoch came
other younger men including
William Evans Bruner and P. Maxwell
Foshay, roomates in medical
school and both destined to play
important roles in the rebuilding
period to come, Oscar Thomas, and Walter
and William Lincoln,
all five from the University of
Pennsylvania.
During the nineties the new Lakeside
Hospital affected the
medical life of the city, for it
increased the clinical and scientific
facilities and introduced a type of
house-officer staff arrangement
then new to Cleveland with services
definitely divided as medical,
surgical, gynecological, and
"private ward," the latter set up to
serve physicians not on the visiting
staff. Each service had a
chief resident, internes, and externes,
and the larger ones an
assistant resident. This permitted a
prolonged service for prom-
ising men who desired to have thorough
training. Of course such
a plan is almost universal now, but then
it was new in the Midwest
1 Frederick C. Waite, Western Reserve
University. Centennial History of the
School of Medicine (Cleveland, 1946), 186.
348
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
and served to attract men from the
eastern or Canadian schools,
many of whom stayed in Cleveland after
the completion of their
services and became junior visitants.
Among some of those who
came in the nineties and years
immediately following and remained
to have a potent influence on medical
affairs were Edward Carter,
Louis W. Ladd, Russell H. Birge, William
H. Weir, Howard Dit-
trick, Roger G. Perkins, and Henry L.
Sanford.
In 1890 there were two medical
organizations in the city: the
Cuyahoga County Medical Society and the
Society of the Medical
Sciences of Cleveland. The latter had
been organized in 1887 by
some of the city's older and more
prominent physicians for the
cultivation of medical science and for
the purpose of promoting a
medical library. It met at the homes of
its members and elected
as first president the aloof and
dignified H. Kirke Cushing, who
held office until 1895. This group was
definitely exclusive and
conservative and not for the new and
unknown man who came into
a new city without influence. The
programs of the society do not
seem to have been better or worse than
the average of the times,
but it may be said to the eternal credit
of the society that it charged
dues of twenty dollars a year to build
up a fund, eventually amount-
ing to $2,000, for a library.
The Cuyahoga County Medical Society was
of rather ancient
lineage and was actually the heir to the
traditions of the earliest
medical societies in the Western
Reserve. It does not seem to
have been exclusive, because a young
doctor, P. Maxwell Foshay,
came to Cleveland a comparative stranger
in September 1892 and
was admitted to membership on November
28, 1892, contributing
an essay in the following February and
reporting a case of "inter-
mittent fever" in April.
Contemporary recollections are valuable
in giving some of the
color of the times. Frank E. Bunts came
into the society in its
later years as a relatively young man,
becoming one of its last
presidents. In 1926 he wrote:
I wish that I had known the Cuyahoga
County Society earlier, for if
one may judge of it as I knew it, its
earlier history must have been full of
excitement and interest. Scientific
discussions were often interspersed with
bitter personal discussions which
sometimes seemed destined to result in per-
MEDICAL SOCIETIES IN CLEVELAND 349
sonal encounters. The relation of one
interesting case was too often countered
by one still more interesting and when
they became too interesting the veracity
of the narrator was apt to be called to
account and one brilliant debater
usually took refuge in quotations from
ancient literature, which few had read
and therefore could not dispute, except
by doubt and innuendo. There were
giants in those days, however, men whose
dictum we younger men were prone
to accept without question, except as
they themselves disputed about it. There
was the dignified and handsome G. C. E.
Weber, Professor of Surgery, and
formerly Surgeon General of Ohio during
the Civil War, whom we looked up
to as embracing all that was worthwhile
in the art of surgery; whose word
was law in the College; and whose great
learning preserved him from the
too heavy assaults of those of lesser
attainments. There was Vance, with his
ever ready battery of knowledge gained
from familiarity with the writings of
the old masters of medicine and surgery.
There was the fiery little curly
grey haired Thayer, Professor of
Surgery, medical expert, anatomist, geologist,
controversialist and implacable,
unappeasable foe of homeopathy, somewhat
profane, skeptical of the germ theory
and ready to fight at the drop of the
hat. One cannot but remember with
affection and lasting appreciation that
Nestor of medicine, W. J. Scott,
Professor of Medicine, whose vast clinical
experience and sly humor added much to
the value and piquancy of the
medical discussions. There came
occasionally to the meetings Dr. H. W.
Kitchen, Apollo of the medical
profession, Professor of Anatomy, County
Clerk, suave, courteous, respected and
admired and equally feared by those
who came under his instruction.
Further description follows, but enough
has been given here to
convey some idea of the caliber of the
men in an age of strong
individualism.
In the early nineties meetings were held
twice a month in the
afternoons at a variety of places,
moving in about two years from
20 Euclid Avenue to the Engineers Club
rooms in Case Library,
then to the Hollenden Hotel and next to
the Y.M.C.A., then at
Prospect Avenue and Erie Street. The
rules provided that the
president should appoint an essayist and
two leading speakers for
the next meeting. This method was not
very productive of results
for many of the essayists did not appear
at the next meeting, or
even in fact in many instances at any
subsequent meeting. The
attendance for the years 1890 and 1891
averaged 25, with a peak
of 37.
This general state of affairs was very
irksome for the younger
men. As the eminent medical historian
Henry E. Handerson, him-
self president in 1895-96, wrote:
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OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
In the last decennium of the nineteenth
century the Cuyahoga County
Medical Society, now more than thirty
years old, began to exhibit the ordinary
signs of senescence, e. g.,
inordinate respect for precedent, lack of initiative
and a tendency to drift behind the rapid
current of medical progress which
characterized this period. Again the
younger members of the profession com-
plained (probably with some justice)
that the exaggerated conservatism of
the older society was a hindrance to the
advancement of local medicine, and
that the older members of the society
were unwilling to do anything them-
selves, and still more unwilling to
entrust the administration of affairs to
younger and more energetic hands. And
again the experience of the '60s
was repeated. A new society was
organized on February 3, 1893, under the
old name of "The Cleveland Medical
Society," and under the presidency of
Dr. W. J. Scott, now seventy-one years
"young," whose scientific zeal and
energy were absolutely impregnable to
the assaults of age and infirmity, and
whose popularity was equally general and
well merited.2
The new man in Cleveland whom we have
been watching, P.
Maxwell Foshay, was one of a group of
thirteen designated in the
printed roster of 1895 of the Cleveland
Medical Society as "Incor-
porators and Committee which made the
original call for the meet-
ing to organize." The others were
William F. Brokaw, Harold T.
Clapp, Joseph E. Cook, Etienne P. Crow,
William H. Humiston,
E. Preble, N. Stone Scott, William J. M.
Scott, George Stoskopf,
Frederick C. Taylor, Oscar T. Thomas,
and William E. Wirt. Note
that Foshay had been in Cleveland only
about a year and was
already one of the organizers of a new
society.
The new society was virile, supercharged
with youthful vitality.
Enthusiastic young men were in the
saddle, and the organization
promptly swung into action not only as a
scientific body in pro-
viding its members with top-flight
meetings but as a crusader in
public affairs when health was involved.
It took the lead also in
efforts for local medical
organization. As an example of its
vigorous method of attack, we will take
the medical library which
long had been cherished as a dream by
Cleveland doctors. Fre-
quent references to this dream are found
in the minutes of both
older societies. The Cuyahoga County
Medical Society had made
periodic additions to its library fund
and had even set up a small
2 Samuel
P. Orth, A History of Cleveland, Ohio (3 vols., Chicago and Cleveland,
1910), I, 202. Some time after 1895 the
erudite Handerson joined the Cleveland
Medical Society although he retained his
membership in the older society until the
merger in 1902. He was very active in
the new Academy of Medicine and also in
the Cleveland Medical Library
Association, of which he was president from 1896 to
1902, inclusive.
MEDICAL SOCIETIES IN CLEVELAND 351
collection of books in Case Library,
while the Society of the Medical
Sciences of Cleveland had taxed its
members twenty dollars a year
for dues to build up a fund. The new
Cleveland Medical Society
had met in the Royal League Hall of the
Case Block and the rooms
of the Chamber of Commerce in the
Arcade. Its members were
irritated by the lack of suitable
quarters and they wanted a library
in the present, not the future.
Early in 1894 the president, Dr. William
H. Humiston, in an
address to the society, urged the
appointment of a special com-
mittee to have in hand the project for a
permanent medical build-
ing and library. The society started
what were termed quarterly
meetings with distinguished guest
speakers. At the very first one
Dr. Howard Kelley of Baltimore appeared
before an attendance of
nearly 300. Preceding his scientific
address with a short talk on the
library question, he presented two old
and valuable books, one a
copy of the second edition of Vesalius'
work on anatomy, published
in 1514, and the Century of
Observations, published in 1716 by
Tulp of Amsterdam. The bibliophile's
enthusiasm was contagious,
and taking advantage of the spirit of
the occasion Dr. Humiston
proposed that the three societies unite
on the library question.
Upon motion of Dr. Joseph E. Cook, a
committee of three, with
the president as one member, was
authorized to confer with
similar committees from the other two
societies. The president
designated Dr. P. Maxwell Foshay and Dr.
Cook to act with him.
At the December 14 meeting he announced
that the Cleveland
Medical Library Association had been
organized as an independent
society and moved that the Cleveland
Medical Society turn over to
it all books, pamphlets, and money then
in charge of the library
committee, which was agreed to
unanimously. And so was born
the Cleveland Medical Library
Association which at the celebration
of its semicentennial in 1944 was able
to report the ownership of
a building costing over $600,000, a
library of more than 63,000
volumes of books and bound journals, an
outstanding museum of
cultural and historical medicine,
endowment funds amounting to
almost $400,000, and a membership of
1,228. And in that
semicentennial year over 10,000 visitors
registered in the library.
They were divided approximately as
follows, viz., members, 33
352
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
per cent, medical and dental students,
29 per cent, other students
and nonmembers, 38 per cent. This
indicated a wide service to
the public, one of which its founders
could well be proud.
The quarterly meetings of the Cleveland
Medical Society, at
which distinguished authorities from
other cities spoke, and a
clinic, held at one of the local
hospitals, served to attract local men
and also to focus public attention
because the sessions were usually
well covered by the local newspapers.
Indeed the new society had
a good press from the start. The Howard
Kelley meeting was well
publicized. Also any internal
differences were equally well aired.
The papers grasped at the sensational
value of Dr. Xenephon C.
Scott's fight against the society's
relaxation of the rule against
consulting with the homeopaths, and gave
apparently verbatim
accounts of the remarks of the speakers,
some embarrassingly per-
sonal. Later rounds in the fight were
printed in the papers under
such headlines as
KNIVES OUT
The Doctors Draw Their Scalpels
and Go At It
WAR PAINT
It Is Donned by Many Cleveland
Doctors
THE COLUMBUS MEETING
A Chance That It Will Be the
Scene of a Fierce Conflict
However, the sense of publicity value
was turned to good use
in promoting public health measures. In
1893 George M. Stern-
burg, surgeon general of the United
States Army, was brought to
address the society on what should be
done in case of an invasion
of Asiatic cholera-at considerable
expense to the society, we are
informed in one of its notices.
The Cleveland Medical Society also
arranged a large public
meeting in the Y.M.C.A. hall, holding
afternoon and evening ses-
sions to discuss the water supply,
sewage, and garbage questions
in Cleveland. Distinguished speakers
included Dr. William A.
MEDICAL SOCIETIES IN CLEVELAND 353
Knowlton, the orator of the profession;
Dr. David H. Beckwith;
Dr. Cady Staley, president of the Case
School of Applied Science;
Dr. Charles O. Probst, secretary of the
Ohio State Board of Health;
Dr. J. L. Hess, the city health officer;
Col. George A. Waring of
New York City, nationally known sanitary
engineer; Mayor Rob-
ert E. McKisson; Dr. George C. Ashmun, a
former health officer;
and the Hon. Liberty E. Holden. Mr.
Holden opposed carrying
the intake pipes further out but
strongly advocated a system of
intercepting sewers with a sewage farm
to the east of the city.
In the course of the discussion Dr. Hess
stated that a garbage
furnace was expected within the year.
Garbage was dumped in the
lake and sewage was emptied into the
Cuyahoga River and by
fourteen sewers into the lake, Lakeside
Hospital being located
directly between two of them.
At the conclusion of the meeting, Mr.
Holden, a public-spirited
citizen and the proprietor of the Cleveland
Plain Dealer, moved a
vote of thanks to Col. Waring, and to
the society for arranging the
meeting. This was seconded by Wilson M.
Day, president of the
chamber of commerce. All of this was
evidence of the place
which the youthful Cleveland Medical
Society was making for
itself as a public body.
The Cleveland Medical Society was an
immediate success.
The local membership grew rapidly, and
leading physicians from
the surrounding cities, such as Akron,
Massillon, Elyria, Marion,
and points between, affiliated as
nonresident members. Business
was divorced from the scientific
programs by entrusting most of
the routine to the council. In 1894 the
quarterly meetings attracted
from 300 to 400, and the regular
meetings ordinarily held twice
weekly averaged 93-quite a contrast to
the attendance of the
older society. Its vigor was shown in
the record of the committee
on legislation headed by Dr. Louis B.
Tuckerman, an able and
learned practitioner with a flair for
civic affairs. He kept the
society and the public stirred up with
his constant activities for
public health improvement, making
frequent trips to Columbus
on legislative matters. The society
showed a much more tolerant
attitude toward homeopaths than was then
generally prevalent and
thereby found itself in trouble with the
national organization, the
354
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND
HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
American Medical Association. This
episode could be given a
chapter by itself.
Definitely it was a young man's
organization in a rapidly
changing medical world. This does not
mean that the older men
were excluded; on the contrary, they
were attracted to it, but the
impetus came from the alert and
ambitious younger members. It
might be difficult to select any one of
them as the leader, because
the evidence indicates unanimity of
purpose and great teamwork,
but the one who stands out for his
energy and accomplishments is
P. Maxwell Foshay whom we have
mentioned before. He signed
the first call for the new society and
was an incorporator in 1893;
he was elected its first librarian; he
became secretary in 1897,
leaving minutes which are today a joy to
the historian and could
well serve as a model for secretaries;
and he was the last president
in 1902 helping to effect the merger.3
After droning along in its dull way for
most of the nineties,
the old Cuyahoga County Medical Society
made efforts toward
rejuvenation. Younger men were elected
to office in 1898. Frank
E. Bunts was elected as its president.
After serving two years he
was followed successively by Charles J.
Aldrich, Carl A. Hamann,
and John P. Sawyer. Under the leadership
of these younger men
there were distinct signs of new life.
The programs were better
organized and much more ambitious in
scope.
3 This reflects only part of his
activities, for in 1896 Dr. Foshay with Henry S.
Upson started the Cleveland Journal
of Medicine which was designated as the official
organ of the new society. It was a
sprightly periodical, excellently edited and far ahead
of its time in its stand about clean
advertising. The Cleveland Journal of Medicine was
combined with the Cleveland Medical
Gazette to form the Cleveland Medical Journal
with Dr. Foshay as the editor-in-chief.
No man in Cleveland medicine has
accomplished so many and so important pro-
gressive changes in as short a time. He
was the first secretary of the Cleveland Medical
Library Association in 1895. He was
secretary of the Ohio State Medical Society from
May 1901 to May 1904 and edited its
transactions from 1899 to 1904. His efforts
in the American Medical Association
entitled him to a place in its hall of fame, for in
1900 with J. N. McCormack of Bowling
Green, Kentucky, and George H. Simmons
of Chicago, he was appointed by Charles
A. L. Reed of Cincinnati, then president, to
report on reorganization. The revised
constitution and by-laws submitted by this com-
mittee and adopted in June 1901 brought
about a complete reorganization of both
state and county societies as directly
subsidiary to the association, so that it became a
confederation of the state societies of
the country which in turn were made con-
federations of the local societies in
the states. Much of the credit for this scheme of
reorganization, which has resulted in
the present strength of the American Medical
Association, should be given to Dr.
Foshay who had had his organizational training
in the business of the Cleveland Medical
Society. In 1904-7 he served as a member
of the judicial council of the American
Medical Association. It was a great loss to
Cleveland and to American medicine when
he left practice in Cleveland in 1904 to
assume an executive position in Chicago
with the Mutual Life Insurance Company of
New York. In 1906 he went to the home
office in New York and was vice president
and manager of selection at the time of
his death in 1939.
MEDICAL SOCIETIES IN CLEVELAND 355
The Cleveland Medical Society started
off with meetings twice
a month, omitting the summer months. As
in the older society,
absenteeism on the part of the scheduled
speakers was not uncom-
mon, and casual excuses were sometimes
given. However, an at-
tempt was made at better organization,
and a time limit was set
on case reports. Case reporting as a
means of self-expression
seems to have been greatly abused, and
practically all cases were
described by the secretaries as
"interesting." The new
society
made a departure from the beaten path in
what were termed
"quarterly meetings" at which
out-of-town speakers were feature
attractions. According to contemporary
medical journals this was
a national innovation and was rapidly
copied by societies in other
cities. These meetings were extremely
effectual in bringing out
the crowds, especially when the program
was followed by a
"smoker." The list of speakers
included such famous men as
Howard Kelley, M. Allen Starr, George
Henry Fox, William S.
Thayer, T. M. Rotch, Alfred Stengel,
Nicholas Senn, Robert Mor-
ris, L. Emmett Holt, and William Pepper.
The programs of the societies were in
step with the times. For
example, Albert P. Ohlmacher, the
professor of pathology and
bacteriology in the Wooster school, on
February 22, 1895, told of
the first horse immunized in the United
States and the preparation
of antitoxin. Dr. Samuel Webster of
Cleveland informs me that,
as a student, he helped Ohlmacher in
this work, having secured a
culture of the bacillus from a sick
child. The horse was donated
by Dr. Charles B. Parker. Ohlmacher
missed by a very short time
being the first to carry out this work
in this country. At this same
medical meeting Louis B. Tuckerman, who
was always ready with
the apt resolution on public health
matters, promptly introduced one
to the effect that the members of the
society felt that "antitoxins such
as those used in the treatment of
diphtheria, tetanus, etc., should
be manufactured under the supervision of
the health authorities
of the city, State and Nation and
distributed for use free of cost."
This motion was carried.
On April 3, 1896, Prof. Dayton C.
Miller, professor of
physics at the Case School of Applied
Science, read an illustrated
address on "Roentgen X-rays,"
showing apparatus and stereopticon
356
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL
QUARTERLY
views of the work which had been done.
At about the same time
(March 1896) the Cleveland Journal of
Medicine referred to X-ray
work as "Skotography,"
meaning, from its Greek derivation, dark
writing. It showed a skotograph by
Roentgen. (The discovery of
X-rays had been announced to the world
by Roentgen on January
6, 1896.) On November 13, 1896, there
was an X-ray exhibit with
use of fluoroscope by Mr. Krebs and Mr.
Rupert, and a report
was made by Dr. Ralph J. Wenner on a
series of lumbar punctures
which he had performed. (Quincke had
introduced lumbar punc-
tures in 1891.) Two weeks later Dr.
Ohlmacher read a paper on the
newly discovered specific serum reaction
for the diagnosis of typhoid
fever, showing slides under the
microscope. (Bacterial agglutina-
tion had been described that year.) In
September 1897 Dr. George
W. Crile read portions of his Cartwright
prize essay on "Experi-
mental Research into Causes of Shock."
These researches on shock
will go down in medical history. On
February 23, 1900, Dr.
William E. Lower reported a case of
amputation at the middle
third of the leg under cocaine
anaesthesia of the spinal cord.
(Intraspinal anaesthesia with cocaine
had been introduced by Bier
the preceding year.)
Part II
ORGANIZATION OF THE ACADEMY OF MEDICINE
OF CLEVELAND
The inevitable merger of the two
societies came in 1902, ac-
complished by the exercise of
considerable statesmanship on both
sides. Doubtless it was accelerated by a
letter read on November
7, 1901, to the Cuyahoga County Medical
Society. Coming from
Dr. P. Maxwell Foshay, who in the
preceding May had been
elected secretary of the Ohio State
Medical Society, it called at-
tention to the closer organization of
the state medical society and
the establishment of county societies in
the several counties of Ohio.
The adoption of the federation plan by
the American Medical
Association and the state societies
would have forced such a merger
eventually.
The committees on merger were composed
of the following:
from the Cuyahoga County Medical
Society, Drs. Frank E. Bunts,
Charles J. Aldrich, George W.
Moorehouse, Benjamin L. Millikin,
MEDICAL SOCIETIES IN CLEVELAND 357
and John B. McGee; and from the
Cleveland Medical Society, Drs.
Marcus Rosenwasser, William T. Howard,
Jr., Thomas C. Martin,
William E. Bruner, and Henry W. Rogers.
Dr. Bunts served as
chairman of the joint committee. John P.
Sawyer was then presi-
dent of the older society and Dr. P.
Maxwell Foshay of the
younger.
No record of debate or discussion about
the merger was found
in the minutes of the Cleveland Medical
Society, perhaps because its
members had favored it strongly from the
start, but fortunately
there is a stenographic record in the
minutes of the Cuyahoga
County Society which reveals much of
character, foresight, and
breadth of vision of some of the men of
that day. They envisioned
a strong society and a strong
independent medical library. Those
whose discussions were of this general
character included Drs.
Bunts, Millikin, and Sawyer. In reply to
a question, Hamann
stated that the younger society had
about 400 members, while the
older one had only 125. All but about 25
men belonged to both
societies; of course there were many
doctors in Cleveland who
belonged to neither.
The merger was accomplished by having
each society adjourn
at the call of its president after
having agreed upon the constitution
and by-laws for the new society with the
understanding that all
members of either society would be
eligible to join the new one.
Both organizations turned over all money
on hand to the new one
and deposited their records with the
Cleveland Medical Library
Association, fortunately for the
historians of today and tomorrow.
And so it came about that the Academy of
Medicine of Cleve-
land was organized on May 28, 1902, in
the Chamber of Commerce
Building (a structure on the northwest
corner of the Public Square
now occupied by Cleveland College of
Western Reserve University).
At this meeting Dr. Hart of Elyria
reported a case of fracture of
the femur in a child treated by vertical
suspension, and Dr. Wil-
liam T. Corlett presented a case of
epithelioma of the right cheek
much improved by the use of X-ray. The
latter is worthy of
passing note since it is the first
reference found in the minutes
of any society regarding the use of this
agent in the treatment of
malignant disease.
358
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
A nominating committee was appointed
consisting of Drs
Sawyer, Foshay, N. Stone Scott, William
E. Wirt, and Corlett.
Two names were nominated for each
office, and the following were
elected:
President ............Dr. Frank E. Bunts
Vice President........Dr. William T.
Howard
Secretary .........Dr. Walter H. Merriam
Treasurer .............Dr. John M.
Ingersoll
Trustees ................Drs. Joseph E.
Cook, John B. McGee,
Carl A. Hamann, Henry E. Handerson,
Marcus Rosenwasser and William H.
Humiston.
These officers and the men who served on
the important com-
mittees should be remembered for their
great service to medical
organization and the profession. All
were outstanding in that
era; the only survivors today are Dr.
William T. Howard, Jr., and
Dr. William E. Bruner.
In its form of organization the new
society profited by the
experiences of its members with
preceding societies. Business was
entrusted to a council which assumed
more and more the duties
of management and even direction of
policy, bringing business
only occasionally to the floor of the
academy. This effected great
saving of time and allowed for
concentration on scientific affairs,
thus permitting more careful study and
calmer deliberation than
was possible in a professional
"town meeting." Another great
forward step was the provision in the
constitution and by-laws for
sections. These had existed in the
Cuyahoga County Medical So-
ciety to a limited extent, but strangely
enough, a proposal to
establish them had been voted down by
its younger and usually
much more progressive rival. At the
first meeting of the council
of the academy on May 28, the president
appointed Drs. Foshay,
Howard, and McGee as a committee to
organize the clinical-
pathological section, which was
accomplished on October 3, 1902,
by the selection of Dr. Bunts as
chairman, Dr. Walter H. Merriam
as secretary, and Dr. Roger G. Perkins
as councillor. This section
became the forum for the presentation
and reports of patients and
pathological specimens. It has been very
popular over the years
MEDICAL SOCIETIES IN CLEVELAND 359
and has had a continuous existence to
this day. Later in the month
a second section was organized, that on
experimental medicine,
with George Neil Stewart as chairman and
Torald Sollman as sec-
retary.
The opthalmological and otolarynological
section held its first
meeting on February 27, 1903, with Dr.
Benjamin L. Millikin as
chairman and John Lenker as secretary. A
medico-legal section
was not authorized by the council until
November 10, 1908.
At the very first meeting the academy
showed its interest in
public health by designating a public
health committee. The mem-
bers chosen were Henry E. Handerson, who
had long experience
in sanitation; George C. Ashmun, a
former health officer; William
O. Osborn; William T. Howard, Jr.,
professor of pathology and
bacteriology in the medical school of
Western Reserve University,
and Dr. Martin Friedrich, the incumbent
health officer. For some
time there had been great difference of
opinion between the health
officer and the medical profession
regarding the best means of
controlling smallpox, the profession
advocating compulsory vac-
cination and Dr. Friedrich,
house-to-house disinfection. At this
meeting the academy adopted resolutions
favoring general vaccina-
tion and issuance of vaccination
certificates signed by the health
officer and countersigned by an
authorized deputy. Later in the
year the Cleveland Medical Journal was
able to state that over
200,000 of vaccine points had been
distributed by the health office
(with of course admitted waste) and that
private physicians had
vaccinated another 100,000. Evidently
much trouble had previously
been encountered with impure vaccine,
but this year the quality had
improved, and only 3 cases of tetanus
were reported. At an early
meeting resolutions were adopted
regarding the place the city
health department would occupy in the
municipal government ac-
cording to the new code being drawn up
in Columbus, the academy
demanding that the health department be
made independent of any
other department and subject only to the
legislative and executive
authorities of the municipality.
An important campaign for public safety
was waged by the
academy to bring about the "sane
Fourth of July," in other words,
to abolish the use of fireworks. Even
the middle-aged doctor of
360
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
today has no idea of the carnage,
maiming, and loss of life which
resulted in former days from the
promiscuous and unrestrained
use of firecrackers, pistols, cannons,
and other explosives. An
opthalmologist, Dr. W. B. Shackleton,
told me that in the nineties
he was obliged to remain in his office
all day on each Fourth of
July to be in readiness to care for eye
injuries, many of which led
to permanent or total blindness.
Hospital emergency wards could
not keep up with the influx of the
injured, and general practitioners
too were kept busy on this holiday. The
number of fatal injuries
and cases of tetanus are matters of
record. To Cleveland's phys-
icians this seemed a terrifying and
unnecessary tragedy. The first
academy action was a resolution offered
by Dr. William E. Lower
asking for an ordinance forbidding the
use of toy pistols (July
20, 1903). On May 27, 1904, Dr. Lower
was able to report that
an ordinance had been introduced. On
June 29, 1906, the council
instructed its legislative committee to
publish the fireworks ordi-
nance with appropriate suggestions in
the daily papers immediately
preceding the Fourth of July.
To its responsibilities in regard to
public health the academy
was just as alert as its predecessors
had been. We can merely
enumerate some of the more significant
actions for 1902 to 1908
inclusive. On March 15, 1904, it
approved of making Ohio a
registration state for the collection of
vital statistics. On the same
day it endorsed the appointment of
William T. Howard, Jr., as city
bacteriologist, a post that the
preceding Cleveland Medical Society
had striven for years to have
established. The choice was an
especially fortunate one, for Dr. Howard
with the aid of Roger G.
Perkins carried on this work effectively
for many years and ac-
complished great good for the city.
(Later Dr. Howard became
health commissioner of the city of
Baltimore.) At this same meet-
ing resolutions were passed regarding
the water and sewage supply,
and three days later the academy devoted
an entire meeting to the
problem of typhoid fever.
The physicians had been agitating for a
pure milk supply for
years. In fact the minutes of the Cleveland
Medical Society show
that resolutions were introduced by Dr.
Louis B. Tuckerman on June
8, 1894, asking for dispensatories for
distributing pasteurized
MEDICAL SOCIETIES IN CLEVELAND 361
milk at cost, but it was not until
October 10, 1904, that a milk
commission was established by the action
of the academy under
the leadership of some of its members.
The heroic efforts of this
commission, often struggling against
apparently insuperable diffi-
culties, established a new epoch in
Cleveland's public health situa-
tion. From the first the leader was John
J. Thomas, later a presi-
dent of the academy, aided by Hunter H.
Powell and Edward F.
Cushing.
At the instigation of Dr. John H.
Lowman, on December 7,
1904, it voted to participate in the
formation of the Antitubercu-
losis League. Dr. Lowman was one of the
national leaders in this
movement.
On April 11, 1905, the academy gave its
hearty approval to the
creation of the council on pharmacy and
chemistry of the Ameri-
can Medical Association, to its general
policy, and to the ten rules
governing admission of articles. This
council, which has done so
much to guard the public against fraud
and deception in the sale
of drugs, included from the start to the
present day Torald Soll-
man, a member of the academy and an
officer of its section on
experimental medicine. His participation in the work of the
council on pharmacy and chemistry and
his original investiga-
tions, had profound influence on the
progress of medical science.
On April 3, 1906, resolutions were
passed declaring that hydro-
phobia was a definite disease, that it
was then prevalent in Cleve-
land, that all dogs should be muzzled,
and that stray dogs should
be picked up and, if not claimed,
disposed of in a humane manner.
The pronouncement that hydrophobia was a
definite disease seems
odd to us today, but skepticism as to
the reality of hydrophobia
had been expressed in a meeting of the
Cleveland Medical Society
as late as 1901.4
The prevalence of goiter in the Great
Lakes region was the
subject of study in this period-on the
clinical side by Crile and
Sawyer, and experimentally by David
Marine, whose classic re-
search was started here while he was
connected with Lakeside Hos-
pital as resident pathologist. On
November 13, 1906, a committee
was appointed by the academy to study
the goiter problem in the
lake region.
4 Cleveland Journal of Medicine, VI (1901), 527 et seq.
362
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
The old societies had been vigorous in
securing amendments
to the state medical practice act to
require higher educational
qualifications before matriculation in
medical schools and also in
asking for reciprocity with various
states. Constant watchfulness
was required then as now, and there were
frequent demands for
the detection and prosecution of illegal
practitioners. The first
reference found in the minutes to a
local investigator for the board
of medical registration and examination
was a suggestion by the
council on January 16, 1907, that the
medical board together with
the state board of pharmacy jointly
employ an investigator to
work in this vicinity.
A watchdog over many matters involving
public health, the
council of the academy called upon its
members to comply with
the law in reporting births, deaths, and
other vital statistics. It
demanded action from the municipal
authorities in stopping the
sale of vital statistics to proprietary
medicine concerns and house-
furnishing establishments; called for
the reopening of the case
against a famous abortionist;
investigated conditions in the con-
tagious ward of the City Hospital; and
recommended that members
of the council on the staff of the
hospital endeavor to improve
hygienic and other conditions at the
hospital. Ambulance service
was investigated and recommendations
were made for one which
would not be a mere subsidiary to the
undertaking business, a goal
not yet fully accomplished. Frequent
attempts were made through
the years to study the conditions in the
coroner's office and to
substitute modern methods suited to
large urban counties for the
antiquated procedures designed for rural
counties. This is another
goal still to be reached.
The active participation in community
life inaugurated by
the Cleveland Medical Society and
carried forward so vigorously
by the academy in its early days has
been continued. Because of
the number and complexity of the
problems it has been necessary
to assign them to numerous committees
subordinate to the council.
In its programs the academy of medicine
held-and has con-
tinued to hold-its general meetings on
the third Friday of the
month except during the summer. On those
occasions there was
usually although not invariably an
invited speaker. On some of
MEDICAL SOCIETIES IN CLEVELAND 363
the other Fridays came the section
meetings. During the first decade
of the new organization the usual
attendance at the general meetings
was about 100, although a famous speaker
like B. G. A. Moynihan
of Leeds, England, attracted 250. Other
notables to address the
academy in those days included J. C.
Bloodgood, J. H. Anders,
Harvey Cushing (a native son), and Homer
F. Swift.
Through the years the medical profession
had frequently ex-
pressed its hopes for a home of its own.
This finally was accom-
plished in 1897 by the purchase of the
Childs property, a substantial
stone residence at 2318 Prospect Avenue
(new numbering), by the
recently organized Cleveland Medical
Library Association. For a
time this furnished a meeting place for
the Cuyahoga County society
during its last years and also for the
sections of the academy of
medicine, but a brief trial showed that
its rooms were inadequate
for the Cleveland Medical Society, which
proceeded to hold its
meetings in the chamber of commerce
quarters in the Arcade until
the chamber's new building was completed
on the public square,
when the medical society became a
tenant.
Due to the active leadership of Dr.
Dudley P. Allen a two-story
brick building was erected in 1906
behind the stone residence occu-
pied by the library. There was a side
entrance from the driveway
which served to connect the two
buildings. On the ground floor of
this annex were stacks for the library's
books, while on the second
floor was an auditorium seating about
300 which was used by the
academy for its meetings. The residence
in front was occupied at
first solely by the library association,
the owner of the entire prop-
erty. Here were cheerfully furnished
club-rooms, reading rooms,
and a librarian's office. The academy
was permitted to use the
building, contributing voluntarily to
the library association one
quarter of the amount received by it
from membership dues, with
$300 as a stated annual minimum.
In these quarters the two sister
organizations continued to
function until 1926. The auditorium
furnished a setting for a real
forum in medicine. Here met the
profession at large including the
faculties of the two regular medical
schools. The meetings were
stimulating for young men, indeed, in
the opinion of at least one
who was then young, definitely more so
than today because dis-
364 OHIO
ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
cussion was open and free and had
intimacy and the spirit of give
and take. It would be a dull or
inconsequential subject which
failed to bring the erudite Charles F.
Hoover to his feet with bluntly
outspoken and critical remarks. Waiting
like a hunter stalking his
prey was George Neil Stewart, that
sturdy Scot, learned, suave, and
always ready to disagree with Hoover on
some point, but in such
courteous and charming manner and with
so much wit that his
opponent was invariably disarmed. There
was the ever enthusiastic
and magnetic Crile; the dignified,
scholarly, and gentle Bunts; the
charming John James Rickard Macleod, a
Scotsman from Aberdeen,
then engaged in the fundamental
researches on diabetes without
which we Clevelanders of that day will
always feel that Banting's
work would have been impossible; the
quiet and modest but precise
and informed Marine; and Hamann, truly
the king, such was the
respect in which he was held by his
former students and associates.
These men and others like them by their
contributions really
conducted an informal graduate extension
course in medicine.
In the period from 1902 to 1912 the
academy increased its
membership from 459 to 610, but in the
six succeeding years it
seemed to reach that static point so
often attained in the life of
organizations. This may be explained in
some part by the disrup-
tion caused by World War I with many men
in service and those
left at home struggling with the
increased burdens the medical pro-
fession always bears in times of war. In
part it may have been
due to the reaction from the accelerated
pace of the preceding
years.
Unfortunately also the Cleveland
Medical Journal stopped publi-
cation in 1918, for the members of its
board of directors could no
longer afford to meet, out of their own
pockets, a perennial deficit.
The absence of any local medical
periodical was bound to have
effects.
MEDICAL SOCIETIES IN CLEVELAND 365
Part III
RECONSTRUCTION PERIOD
1919-1926
In that cool analysis which is possible
only in retrospect, it seems
that the earlier growth had been too
much for the machinery. The
administration of an organization with a
membership of 600 and
holding three or four meetings monthly
calls for endless work,
much thought and correspondence in the
arranging of programs,
and much mechanical labor in sending out
notices, collecting dues,
attending to the routine of securing and
electing new members, to
say nothing of the necessity for the
constant readiness for action in
situations where medicine is involved
with public health or welfare.
Many of the members of all ages felt
that the situation was acute,
and in 1919 the president, Dr. Frank
Oakley, proposed a plan for
reorganizing the academy. This included
the employment of a
layman as a full-time executive
secretary and involved raising the
dues from ten to forty dollars per year.
After considerable dis-
cussion the proposal was accepted, and a
committee consisting of
George Edward Follansbee, Clyde L.
Cummer, and Ralph K. Upde-
graff was charged with the
responsibility for perfecting the details,
suggesting necessary changes in the
constitution and by-laws, and
putting the plan in operation. By this
action the academy became
the first county medical society in this
country to employ a full-
time executive secretary.
The original appointee was Guy M. Wells.
After a brief tenure
of about a year he was succeeded by H.
Van Y. Caldwell, a graduate
of Amherst College who had served on the
faculty of Ohio Wesleyan
University in the English department and
had had experience on
the staff of the Cleveland Plain
Dealer.
The two front rooms on the second floor
in the Cleveland
Medical Library Association's building
were assigned to the acad-
emy for office space, and some furniture
and modern office equip-
ment was purchased. Miss Hazel
Sintzenich (who later became
Mrs. Elmer Dearborn) was employed as
stenographer and book-
keeper. Mr. Caldwell and Mrs. Dearborn
are both still in the
service of the academy. Mrs. Dearborn
has handled the detailed
366
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
work, especially in connection with
finances and membership
records.
The faint-hearted had been fearful that
the increase in dues
would drive out members. Unquestionably
some withdrew, but
nevertheless the membership grew from
584 in 1919 to 665 in 1920
and to 714 in 1921. Meanwhile the
treasury balance increased
from $4,453.99 in 1919 to $11,087.11 in
1920 and to $14,176.70
in 1921.
The radical reorganization marked a
turning point in the life
of the academy. A monthly bulletin was
started in 1920. Designed
to be an organizational affair of the
"house organ" type, it carried
news notes of interest to the members,
the elections of new mem-
bers, obituaries, academy activities,
timely editorial comments on
current affairs, and reports of officers
and committees. It has been
utilized also for publishing notices of
coming meetings.
In 1923 the officers and trustees were
instructed to take the
necessary steps to incorporate the
academy. At this time Clyde L.
Cummer was president, and working with
H. Van Y. Caldwell and
Howard Barkdull of the law firm of
Messrs. Squires, Sanders, and
Dempsey, he reported a new constitution
and by-laws which were
ratified at a special meeting of academy
members on August 8,
1924. The articles of incorporation were
signed by members of
the council as incorporators on August
8, 1924.5
In the early twenties many of the same
men who had agitated
for a reorganization of the academy and
had been instrumental in
effecting it became restless about the
library building situation.
The quarters were dingy and the stack
space entirely inadequate.
Some of this group had strong reason to
believe that influential
friends would come to its aid in a new
building program for the
Cleveland Medical Library Association
although this was discounted
by the president of the library. With
the exercise of some political
finesse a sympathetic president, William
E. Bruner, was elected in
1921. One of his first official acts was
to appoint a building com-
5 The
incorporators were the following: Jacob E. Tuckerman, Edward P.
Monaghan,
Frederick J. Wood, Frank S. Gibson, John
J. Thomas, C. W. Stone, Samuel S. Berger,
Lawrence A. Pomeroy, Harry V.
Paryzek, Arthur J. Skeel, Samuel J. Webster, John
D. Osmond,
Clyde L. Cummer, Roy B. Metz, Vernon C. Rowland, Harry D. Piercy,
Marion A. Blankenhorn, and Roger G.
Perkins.
MEDICAL SOCIETIES IN CLEVELAND 367
mittee consisting largely of some of the
agitators, namely, George
E. Follansbee, Carl H. Lenhart, and
Clyde L. Cummer, with the
addition of John Stephan and, later
still, John Phillips. Dr. Fol-
lansbee was chairman and Dr. Cummer
secretary of this committee.
Messrs. Walker and Weeks were retained
as architects, eastern
libraries were studied, plans were
drawn, and a campaign for funds
was conducted, at first quietly among
potential large givers. Mrs.
Francis F. Prentiss, whose first husband
had been Dr. Dudley P.
Allen, the most active of the founders
of the library, signified her
willingness to give the Cleveland
Medical Library Association
$400,000 if the new building were
erected near the campus of
Western Reserve University on land
donated by the university. The
university met this condition. About
$100,000 was raised from lay
friends by the almost single-handed
efforts of John Phillips, and
somewhat less than that sum from the
medical profession. Enough
to bring up the total to almost $650,000
was taken from a building
fund which the association had been
accumulating from the income
of a bequest of Dr. Dudley P. Allen.
Before the plans were drawn and
contracts let it was necessary
that the library association know
whether the academy desired to
be housed in the same building. It was
estimated at the time that
to make the necessary provisions for
double occupancy would re-
quire about $75,000 more than to build a
structure to accommodate
the library alone.
The arrangement for joint use of the
proposed building was
worked out by two committees, Marion A.
Blankenhorn being chair-
man of the one representing the academy
and Clyde L. Cummer of
that representing the library. The
arrangement for joint use was
approved by post card ballot vote of the
academy members on
February 5, 1924.
In the fall of 1926 the two
organizations moved to their perma-
nent new home which provides ample space
for both with an audito-
rium seating about 600, a lecture room
seating about 100, offices for
the academy, supper room, reading rooms,
museum, private studies,
and fireproof stacks. This was an almost
perfect realization of the
dream expressed by Dr. Marcus Rosenwasser
in his inaugural ad-
dress as president of the Cleveland
Medical Society in 1897 when
368
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL
QUARTERLY
he said: "The ideal medical society
is housed within its own walls,
beneath its own roof. The plain yet
classic building contains the
assembly room, the library and reading
rooms, the refectory and the
museum. The medical home constitutes the
center for the social
amenities of life. It is the Mecca of
the resident and the stranger.
It is the resort of the author and the
student. It is the meeting
place of congenial groups engaged in
special work. The library is
open to all students of medicine and of
the collateral sciences."6
The good doctor backed up his hopes and
faith by leaving the
Cleveland Medical Library Association
$10,000, its first bequest.
When this move was made the academy was
24 years old. Its
membership had more than doubled, 459 to
1,070.
Part IV
THE MODERN ERA
1926-1945
The effect of the academy's new location
on its development
cannot be overemphasized. On a
university campus in the cultural
center of the city, sharing an
impressive building with a medical
library open to the general public and
much consulted by scholars
and holding its meetings in a dignified
and commodious auditorium
with permanent offices and executive
staff, the academy has gained
in dignity and prestige. In turn its
position in the community has
enhanced its standing with the
profession. Since the students in
the medical school and internes in the
university hospital, both in
the immediate neighborhood, have
utilized the library's facilities
freely and attended the meetings of the
academy, they usually look
both to the academy and the library as
organizations with which
they will affiliate themselves. The
academy is in a position to
attract prospective members young, treat
them well, and develop in
them an appreciation of its ideals and
purposes. This has been
furthered by special memberships at
minimal dues for internes and
residents. At the time of the move to
the present location in 1926
the membership was 1,070; in 1945, it
was 2,035, almost double.
6 Inaugural address read before the
Cleveland Medical Society, January 22, 1897.
Cleveland Journal of Medicine,
II (1897), 1180.
MEDICAL SOCIETIES IN CLEVELAND 369
The latter years have marked a gradual
change in the relation-
ship to the public. It was difficult for
a body of 300 to 400 men
to carry much weight with the average
elected public officials, espe-
cially when the organization was felt to
be a class group and was
often known to be far from unanimous
about some of the policies
it advocated. In the early days it had
very little prestige, meeting
as it did in rented quarters and moving
frequently from one place
to another. It had had no permanent
office and no full-time rep-
resentatives, and the officers were
ever-changing. Some were active
and alert; others took their
responsibilities lightly. The move in
1926 marked the climax of internal
organizational changes resulting
in a compact, unified, well organized,
and efficiently managed body.
Of course all of this could have been
true and still the organization
might have been a mere trades-union or
employers' association,
interested only in the economic welfare
of its own members. To in-
crease its usefulness it possessed
educational and scientific features,
but above all it constantly evinced an
interest in public welfare
through the prevention of disease and
the improvement of public
health procedures. The development of
this phase of its activities
had always been in the minds of the
early members, but in what
we have called the modern era it became
readily possible to convert
aspirations into effective action.
For many years the relations between the
division of health of
the city of Cleveland and the academy of
medicine have been
friendly and cooperative. A factor which
has helped has been the
long tenure of the last two
commissioners, Dr. Harry L. Rockwood
serving from 1918 to 1930 and Dr. Harold
J. Knapp from 1930 to
date, the office having been removed
from partisan politics. Both
incumbents were invited to serve on
important committees of the
academy and attended the meetings of
council until its duties were
taken over by the board of directors.
Changes of policy procedure
in the health department have been
referred to appropriate academy
committees by the commissioner of health
before being put into
operation. On the other hand the academy
has always been rep-
resented on the advisory board of the
division of health by several
members, usually the president and the
chairman of the public
health committee. When the community has
been faced with any
370
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
epidemic it has been routine procedure
for the commissioner of
health to call upon these academy
representatives for cooperation
and participation in any activities
undertaken.
In the late twenties the academy took
decided exception to the
operation of tonsil clinics in the
public schools of the county by
one of the county (not city) health
officers. Children were exam-
ined in the schools and, if regarded as
in need of tonsillectomy,
were herded together at certain
appointed times with the coopera-
tion of groups enlisted for the purpose
in what were frankly termed
"round ups." Operations were done in school buildings or
other
unsuitable places with utterly
inadequate facilities, particularly
inappropriate in case of complications.
This was done at a low
cost, without study by social agencies
of the ability of the families
to pay reasonable fees of private
doctors. After long continued
pressure by the academy this practice
was finally stopped and the
clinics were removed to hospitals.
In the field of public education
academy-sponsored radio pro-
grams were started in 1925. The longest
series continued for two
years prior to the depression with H.
Van Y. Caldwell, the acad-
emy's executive secretary, acting as
WGAR's health reporter and
interviewing 200 members of the academy
in weekly programs. In
latter years radio talks have been given
by academy members under
the aegis'of the Cleveland Health
Museum.
A committee on health education was
established in 1927 with
Adam B. Denison as chairman. On its
recommendation a speaker's
bureau was established under its
auspices to provide machinery for
supplying civic groups with speakers
from the academy member.
ship with proper introduction for them
to the audiences and
appropriate newspaper releases.
The committee was an able one and
included those who had
had long experience in organization work
or public health work
or both. It was composed of Adam B.
Denison, Roger G. Perkins,
Richard Dexter, Samuel C. Lind, Charles
G. LaRocco, Harry L.
Rockwood, Wallace J. Benner, Robert
Lockhart, and George W.
Stober.7
7The chairmen have been Adam B.
Denison, 1927-29; Lester Taylor, 1930-33;
Hubert C. King, 1933-35; Ralph M.
Watkins, 1936-38; M. Paul Motto, 1938-43;
Fred
W. Dixon, 1943-45; Chauncey W.
Wyckoff, 1945-47; Spencer A. Wahl, 1947-48.
MEDICAL SOCIETIES IN CLEVELAND 371
In March 1931 upon the recommendation of
this same com-
mittee the board of directors created an
academy trust fund of
$10,000 as the nucleus of a "Health
Education Foundation." The
slender income from this fund has
sufficed to cover only a portion
of the academy's expenditures annually
for public health education.
In the same year upon the initiative of
this committee a series
of public health lectures was started in
the medical library audi-
torium with T. Wingate Todd as the first
speaker. Hundreds were
turned away for lack of seating space.
The second lecture of that
year's series, given by George W. Crile,
was moved to Severance
Hall which was filled to capacity.
The practice of having three public
lectures each year was
continued through 1936. Decreasing
interest in the last two years
indicated that the novelty was gone, and
the lectures were discon-
tinued. They will be resumed, however,
in 1948.
The committee on health education and
also individual mem-
bers of the academy in lecturing to the
laity found themselves
greatly handicapped by a dearth of
visual material to display to
audiences. Discussion of this deficiency
led the committee to rec-
ommend to the academy the calling of a
community council to
establish a museum of health equipped
with shops and manned by
technicians so that permanent or
temporary displays could be made
of objective material in the field of
public health and exhibits
might be manufactured for sale or loan.
In March 1936 the
academy called together representatives
of influential public groups
and the local newspapers. Upon
recommendation of this conference
trustees were chosen to assure broad
public and lay representation
and the Cleveland Museum of Health was
started. Financing was
accomplished originally by a campaign
among the members of the
academy with the aid of a generous gift
from Mrs. Francis F.
Prentiss.
Among the leaders of this movement were
Dr. Lester Taylor,
during whose term as president it had
had its incipiency, H. Van
372
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
Y. Caldwell, and Dr. T. Wingate Todd.
Since the incorporation
the academy's only relationship has been
of an advisory nature.8
Unquestionably the feeling between the
academy and the daily
newspapers has improved with the passing
of the years. In no small
part this is due to the fact that the
executive secretary had had
newspaper experience and had developed a
sense of news value
which helped him furnish the reportorial
staffs with suitable mate-
rial. In latter years the papers have
not been as ardent in digging
up and presenting the purely sensational
as they had been in the
first part of the century. For reporting
informative and factual
medical news, particularly that with
scientific bearing, we became
indebted to such representatives of the
press as David Dietz of the
Cleveland Press (one of the pioneer local science writers), Joseph-
ine Robertson of the Cleveland Plain
Dealer, and Severino Severino
of the Cleveland News.
Early in 1925 the council of the academy
began discussing
with the Ohio Bell Telephone Company the
inadequacy of the
classified section heading
"Physicians & Surgeons." Since in Ohio
the words "physicians" and
"surgeons" are construed as common
nouns applying to anyone who treats the
ill, this list contained, by
error or otherwise, dentists,
chiropractors, Christian Science healers,
and others in the list with doctors of
medicine.
The council proposed to the telephone
company that it adopt
the heading, "Physicians &
Surgeons, M.D.," thus confining the
listing to doctors of medicine; and
placing other practitioners or
healers under their own respective
headings.
The telephone company thought well of
the suggestion but in-
formed the academy that since the
listings in the classified section
were established nationally for all
subsidiaries of the American
Telephone and Telegraph Company, it
could not adopt the new
heading locally. Instead, the company
suggested that the academy
8 The
Cleveland Museum of Health was incorporated on December 28, 1936, by
Dr. Lester Taylor, Dr. Hubert C. King,
Dr. James A. Doull, Howard W. Green, and
H. Van Y. Caldwell. The first officers
were Lester Taylor, M.D., president; Napoleon
H. Boynton, vice president; Howard W.
Green, secretary; Warner Seely, treasurer.
The first trustees were Kenneth L.
Allen, Paul J. Aufderheide, D.D.S., Carl W. Blossom,
James A. Bohannon, H. Van Y. Caldwell,
James A. Doull, M.D., John A. Hadden,
Rt. Rev. Msgr. John Hagan, E. R.
Hankins, William C. Keough, Hubert C. King,
M.D., Mrs. Francis F. Prentiss, Robert
M. Stecher, M.D., Abraham Strauss, M.D.,
Mrs. Herman L. Vail, and Frederick E.
Watkins.
MEDICAL SOCIETIES IN CLEVELAND 373
buy as much space in the classified
section as it needed and list its
members under an academy heading.
Negotiations on this plan
soon broke down when the telephone
company withdrew its offer.
The academy countered with its original
proposal, and arrange-
ments were made for a conference in New
York between Mr. Cald-
well and the vice president of the
American Telephone and Tele-
graph Company in charge of the
commercial division.
The conference was entirely successful,
the American Tele-
phone and Telegraph officials agreeing
that the suggestion had
merit. They conferred by phone with the
Ohio Bell officials, and
as a result the next Cleveland directory
appeared with the heading
"Physicians & Surgeons,
M.D."
The academy office submits to the Ohio
State Medical Board
each new list as it appears. If persons
are listed under this heading
improperly, either by design or
accident, the state medical board
notifies them officially that unless
their names are removed in the
next directory, action will be taken
against them under the provi-
sions of the medical practice act. As a
result of this three-way
cooperation, lists are now free from all
except excusable errors.
The academy's negotiations with the
American Telephone and
Telegraph Company bore more than local
fruit since the heading
"Physicians and Surgeons,
M.D." has now become a standard
heading in most telephone directories
throughout the entire country.
The year 1931 saw the establishment of
the call bureau. This
telephone "Call and Emergency
Service" operating 24 hours a day
is open to the public and makes it
possible for patients to reach
subscribing members not available when
called. Under the names
of subscribers in the telephone book
appears the condensed sentence
"IF NO ANSWER CALL ACADEMY OF
MEDICINE CEdar 3500."
In addition the bureau renders
invaluable aid to the public in
securing doctors during emergencies, a
service of vital importance
during the war years, and in answering
hundreds of inquiries each
month as to physicians, medical
products, and health activities. At
first this service was popularized as
"The Health Number-
CE 3500." 9
9 This service has grown to such an
extent that by 1948 a two-station switch-
board and six operators were required to
give service around the clock. It calls for
an annual budget of $23,000.
374
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
In the forties it became painfully
obvious that the machinery
of the academy was creaking badly. Since
the academy was incor-
porated under the laws of the state of
Ohio it was necessary to
provide for a board of directors and
vest it with the complete control
of the business affairs. To provide
representation of the commit-
tees and sections, a council had been
set up which included all of
the members of the board of directors
and all chairmen of standing
committees with representatives from
each section. In theory this
gave each section a voice in the
management of the academy's
affairs, and occasionally the voices
were much louder than the size
of the section justified; in other
words, there was a tendency to
minority rule. Also this gave some who
were interested in a certain
section or sections what really amounted
to double representation,
for they could reach the council through
the regular channels open
to all members and also through their
section representative. How-
ever, the main objection to the
board-and-council arrangement was
a practical one arising from the
cumbersome method of doing busi-
ness. The council met first and
thoroughly discussed all items of
business except those dealing with
finances which were reserved for
the board. This was in the presence of a
number of invited repre-
sentatives of other organizations who
often participated in the delib-
erations, usually long and exhausting
and often lasting until after
midnight. Then the council adjourned,
but the members of the
board of directors met to ratify the
actions taken. They might
have been outvoted in the council's
deliberations, but they had the
right to ratify or reject any action
taken by the council. As time
went on, this right was exercised more
and more frequently, leading
to much feeling and to endless
confusion.
In 1945 revision of the constitution and
by-laws was entrusted
to a committee consisting of Charles G.
LaRocco, chairman, Clyde
L. Cummer, Roscoe D. Leas, M. Paul
Motto, John E. Rauschkolb,
and H. Van Y. Caldwell. The major
changes recommended and
adopted by the academy provided for
abolishing the council and
vesting the entire control in the board
of directors which was in-
creased in size from 15 to 24 with a
provision for broad representa-
tion on hospital and geographic lines
and extremely democratic
methods for nomination and election.
Section representation was
MEDICAL SOCIETIES IN CLEVELAND 375
provided for on a committee on sections.
No member was eligible
to serve more than six consecutive years
on the board. These
changes have proved very helpful in
making the control more rep-
resentative and have accelerated the
conduct of the academy's
business.
Reference has been made to the
establishment of the first four
sections of the academy in its earlier
years. The reconstruction
period saw the establishment of the
obstetrical and gynecological
section, organized on April 10, 1923,
with Dr. John J. Thomas as
chairman and Dr. Paul M. Spurney as
secretary; the section on
industrial medicine and orthopedics,
organized on February 12,
1924, with Dr. Norman C. Yarian as
chairman and Dr. Albert G.
Cranch as secretary; and the pediatric
section, formed November
20, 1925, with Dr. Samuel W. Kelley as
chairman and Dr. Joseph
E. McClelland as secretary.
Later came the military section, started
on March 21, 1933,
with Dr. George W. Crile as chairman and
Dr. John C. Darby as
secretary. This section held no meetings
after 1942. The section
on internal medicine was organized on
October 11, 1933, with Dr.
Russell L. Haden as chairman and Dr.
Chester D. Christie as
secretary.
In addition there have been established
in Cleveland a number
of other medical organizations. Some are
of a semi-social char-
acter like the Pasteur Club, the Medical
Arts Club and the Clinical
Club. Then there are those of specialty
groups, including the
Cleveland Radiological Society, the
Cleveland Dermatological So-
ciety, the Cleveland Allergy Society,
and the Ophthalmological
Club. In the latter groups the
membership is restricted to those
limiting themselves to the respective
specialty, whereas the academy
sections are open to all members of the
academy. The special
societies are entirely independent of
the academy and usually meet
in a hospital or at a club or
restaurant. Some of them insist on
membership in the academy as a
prerequisite for membership.
All the hospitals have their own staff
societies which hold
meetings at stated intervals. These
meetings are usually of clinical
nature. Such organizations are
obligatory according to the stand-
ards of the American College of
Surgeons.
376
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
Reference to voluntary health insurance
proposals is to be
found frequently in the official minutes
of the academy, its council,
and its board of directors in the late
thirties and early forties. The
matter came to a head in 1941 with the
drafting of a volunteer
medical care plan to be operated by the
academy under an enabling
act which had been submitted to the
legislature by the Ohio State
Medical Association and passed in 1940.
The chief requirement of
this plan was that no medical care
corporation could operate with-
out approval of 51 per cent of the
physicians practicing in the
community in which the plan was to
become effective. The eco-
nomics committee of the academy, which
had been working with
legal assistance for several years on a
plan, submitted a proposal
which was balloted on in May 1942, the
vote resulting in Yes, 342;
No, 347. A group of academy members with
others proposed a
plan without the academy's approval.
This group was never able
to secure approval of 51 per cent of the
practicing physicians of
the community. Later the Cleveland
Hospital Service Association
turned down a proposal of the Ohio State
Medical Association to
handle its state plan. The Cleveland
association inaugurated a
surgical and maternity benefit plan of
its own, still in operation.
The sharp difference within the academy
over its own plan, and
the intervention of World War II, put an
end to the discussion of
medical care plans by the academy.
World War II found the academy well
organized and prepared
to assist the armed forces and other
branches of the government in
their local efforts. The Cleveland
Medical Library loaned the
use of the supper room to the army
recruiting board which met
here at stated periods for enrollment of
physicians in the medical
corps. The academy assisted under the
guidance of the procure-
ment officer of the county, Dr. James M.
Wychgel, loaning the use
of some of its office staff, records,
equipment, and telephone service.
Headquarters for procurement and
assignment for the Cleve-
land area were located in the executive
office where its records, inter-
views, committee meetings, etc. were
held.
Faced with the problem of deciding on
extra food points for
invalids, etc., the regional rationing
board felt the need of profes-
sional guidance in making its decisions.
Therefore an anonymous
MEDICAL SOCIETIES IN CLEVELAND 377
group of academy members was set up to
advise the rationing
board for or against extra points
written by doctors for their
patients.
With its accurate and up-to-date record
system, the academy
was able to maintain a nearly complete
file of addresses of its
members during their service with the
armed services. It advised
doctors' families and physicians
themselves on many problems
arising as collateral to their war
service.
During war service the dues of all
members were rebated by
the academy and the Ohio State Medical
Association. Upon their
return, the academy members who had
entered the service while
members were given a 25-dollar credit on
their future dues.
The executive office was able to help
greatly in securing office
locations for returned physicians by
keeping informed on vacancies
and by asking academy members to share
their own offices tempo-
rarily with returned servicemen unable
to secure a location.
Finally, from each returned serviceman
the office requested the
filling out of a war service blank
giving a history of engagements,
assignments, and citations. These
records are being completed on
especially prepared blanks and bound in
beautiful tooled leather
covers as a permanent war memorial.
We have referred to the building of the
Lakeside Hospital on
Lakeside Avenue in the nineties as
changing the course of medicine
in Cleveland by attracting young men to
the city to take posts on
its resident and interne staffs. This
tendency was seen to greater
extent in the twenties after the opening
of the Cleveland Clinic, the
removal of Lakeside Hospital to the
university campus with the
building of the affiliated Maternity and
Babies' and Children's hos-
pitals, and the expansion and
modernization of the Cleveland City
Hospital. Many of those who came here
for training or to accept
staff or faculty posts remained as
permanent additions to the local
profession and came to wield great
influence in its medical societies.
This had been a factor in overcoming the
tendency to provincialism.