By ELMO SCOTT WATSON
♦Released by Western Newspaper Union. 1
THE 100th anniversary
celebration of the Illi
nois State Medical so
ciety, which is being held in
Peoria May 21 to 23, has more
than a local significance. Not
only does it pay tribute to the
founders of one of the first
state medical associations in
this country but it also serves
to recall the heroic services
of the pioneer physicians and
surgeons during the frontier
era of American history.
For whether that frontier
was along the Atlantic sea
board, in the Ohio and Missis
sippi valleys, on the Great
Plains of the trans-Missouri
West or in Rocky mountains,
one of the most important fig
ures in the pioneer commu
nity was the “man with the
little black bag.” It was he,
who, undaunted by the perils
of attack by savage Indians
or wild animals, heedless of
the danger from floods and
prairie or forest fires, and
indifferent to the discomforts
of blazing summer heat or
raging blizzards in winter,
cheerfully climbed into his
saddle, or into a “one-hoss
shay,” ancl set forth to allevi
ate human suffering.
And this heroic preserver of
health and life had precious few
aids in his work. Mostly he de
pended upon his unaided senses
to diagnose the case and decide
upon the treatment. He was with
out the help of a thermometer,
which did not come into general
use until about 1870 and then was
ten inches long and required five
minutes to register temperature!
He had no stethoscope, no instru
ment for measuring blood pres
sure, no blood count or blood
chemistry determinations, no
X-ray—no way, in fact, of exam
ining the interior of any organ.
In the light of modern medical
practice, the miracle is that he
saved as many lives as he did.
It was such men as these who
mounted their horses one morn
ing in the early part of June and
rode over the uncharted prairie
and forest trails toward Spring
field. the struggling little village
on the banks of the Sangamon
river. History has preserved the
names of a few of them—Eastern
ers who had “come West to grow
up with the country,” such men
as M. Helm, a graduate of the
Baltimore Medical college; Wil
liam S. Wallace of the Jefferson
Medical college; and John Todd,
who had been graduated from the
University of Pennsylvania in
1810.
Associated With Lincoln.
The latter had another distinc
tion, for he was the uncle of Mary
Todd who had recently become
engaged to a rising young law
yer in Springfield named Abra
ham Lincoln. Evidently Todd
was a leader among the fellow
physicians for when, on June 8,
1840, these doctors launched the
Illinois State Medical society,
they chose him as their first pres
ident.
The name of William S. Wal
lace, previously mentioned, is
also associated with the name of
Abraham Lincoln. He had come
to Springfield in 1836 and three
years later married Mary Todd’s
sister, Frances. So in the course
of time he became Lincoln’s
brother-in-law and in 1861 when
Lincoln spoke his famous words
of farewell to his fellow citizens
of Springfield from the rear of a
railroad train, Doctor Wallace
stood beside him. More than that
he accompanied the Presidential
party to Washington to accept an
appointment as paymaster in the
Union army. Exposure in mili
tary service caused his death in
1867.
Dr. Charles F. Hughes, who
acted as secretary of the organi
zation meeting of the Illinois so
ciety, had a prior history as stir
ring as the times in which he
lived. Born in Maryland in 1807,
he was graduated from St. Mary’s
college in Emmettsburg, Md.,
and later from the Maryland
Medical college in Baltimore.
Because his health was impaired
he took a sea voyage to Latin
America.
When the ship on which he was
a passenger arrived in Guate
mala, the negro natives, who had
started an insurrection, captured
the ship and killed all of the offi
cers, crew and passengers except
Doctor Hughes r nd another physi
cian. These two were spared by
the superstitious natives because
they were “medicine men.”
Hughes practiced his profession
among them for seven years be
fore he had an opportunity to
escape. One day, seeing an
The pioneer doctor's horse waits patiently in the storm while
his master Is busy on his errand of mercy.
American vessel nearing the
shore, he secreted himself among
some barrels, reached the ship
safely and returned to America.
He arrived in Sangamon county
in 1836 and was practicing in the
little village of Rochester, near
Springfield, when the organiza
tion meeting was held.
Almost as adventurous a career
as Doctor Hughes’ was that of
Dr. Charles H. Webb of Living
ston county. In 1822, with his
brother, he took passage at Pitts
burgh on a fiatboat bound for St.
Louis. At that time a grotto,
called Cave-in-Rock, situated on
the banks of the Ohio river near
Shawneetown was a rendezvous
for a band of river pirates who
enticed river boats to stop and
passengers to disembark with an
attractive sign, “Liquor Vault
and House for Entertainment.’’
Captured by Outlaws.
When the flatboat on which
Doctor Webb was a passenger
reached Cave-in-Rock, the cap
tain and three of the passengers,
one of whom was the doctor’s
brother, were decoyed into land
ing at that place. When they
failed to return, Doctor Webb
went ashore to find them. He was
promptly seized by three of the
outlaws, blindfolded, his hands
tied behind him and placed in a
skiff which was rowed out into
the river and then set adrift.
In the middle of the night Webb
succeeded in freeing his hands
ana witn nis
shoes began
bailing out the
water that was
threatening to
swamp the frail
craft. At day
break he man
aged to reach
a small inhabit
ed island where
he was provid
ed with a pad
dle and advised
“ Pf;?ce.ecLt0 Dr. John Todd
Srruthland, Ky.
Anxious to learn the fate of his
brother, Doctor Webb set out afoot
but sprained his ankle and was
barely able to hobble along. He
was discovered by a girl mounted
on a horse. She told him that her
name was Cassandra Ford and
persuaded him to mount her horse
and accompany her to her home.
When he arrived there he found
that the girl's father, James
Ford, had the flute with which
the doctor had entertained the
other passengers on the flatboat
and which had been taken from
him when he was overpowered by
the outlaws.
Despite this evidence that Ford
was one of the outlaw gang, Doc
tor Webb proceeded to fall in love
with Cassandra. Eventually he
returned to that vicinity, mar
ried her and with his bride set
tled in Livingston county to prac
tice his profession. In the mean
time his brother had been re
leased by the outlaws and made
his way safely to St. Louis.
Still another pioneer doctor who
had an adventurous career was
Dr. Charles Chandler, whose
name is perpetuated in the town
of Chandlerville, 111. A native
of Rhode Island, he was prac
ticing in that state when the spirit
of adventure influenced him to
migrate tc the western country.
Chandler arrived in Illinois at
the time of the Black Hawk war
and started up the Illinois river
with the intention of settling at
Fort Clark (Peoria). But when
the captain of the boat on which
he was traveling declined to go
farther because of fear of the In
dians, Chandler disembarked at
Beardstown. He was so impressed
with the beauty of the country
around what is now Chandlerville
that he entered 160 acres at the
land office and built a cabin on his
tract.
A Versatile Doctor.
Chandler soon built up a big
practice in the new country and
often traveled 100 miles in 24
hours over a territory which now
includes seven counties in Illinois.
He was also active in many other
ways. He erected stores and
small shops so that farmers
might obtain their necessary sup
plies without traveling to distant
Beardstown over the worst kind
of roads. With his brother he
established a general store,
slaughtered and packed for mar
ket as many as 3,000 hogs in a
year. He acted as postmaster in
184!) and donated sites for parks
and cemeteries.
Nor was Chandler the only one
of these pioneer doctors who en
gaged in activities outside of their
profession. They helped lay out
townsites; start industries and
businesses; install systems of
education; provide churches;
print newspapers; serve in public
offices and, when need be, they
went to war and fought shoulder
to shoulder with their fellow pio
neers.
Typical of these public-spirited
physicians was Dr. Benjamin
Kirtland Hart of Alton, one of the
founders of the Illinois State Med
ical society, who had served as
president of his town board and
who, three years later, fathered
a movement which resulted in
the purchase of a site, later the
erection of a building, for Alton’s
first schoolhouse. At the rear of
the Peoria home of Dr. Rudolphus
Rouse was a fine opera hall which
Rouse had caused to be built. The
result was that pioneer Peoria
witnessed some of the finest
drama of the day, since Peoria
became a stopping point for road
companies traveling from one
large city to another.
Like many of tho pioneer physi
cians, Dr. Edward Reynolds Roe
turned from medicine to devote
his natural talents to the less
strenuous pursuits of writing and
became so much in demand as a
writer while practicing medicine
in Shawneetown in 1850 that the
Illinois Journal at Springfield em
ployed him as a regular corre
spondent. Then he turned his hand
to fiction and produced “Virginia
Rose; a Tale of Illinois in Early
Days” (which had for its back
ground the lawlessness centering
around Cave-in-Rock); which ran
as a prize serial in the Alton
Courier in 1852; “The Gray and
the Blue”; “Brought to Bay”;
“From the Beaten Path”; “G. A.
R.; or. She Married His Double”;
“Dr. Caldwell; or, The Trail of I
the Serpent”; and “Prairie Land
and Other Poems.” Later he be
came editor of the Jacksonville
Journal, then the Constitution
alist.
At the outbreak of the Civil war
Roe, who was then the first pro
fessor of natural science at Illi
nois State Normal university near
Bloomington, raised three com
panies, composed mainly of his
students, for service in the Union
army. He was captain, major,
and then lieutenant-colonel of the
Thirty-third Illinois regiment and
was dangerously wounded at
Vicksburg in 1863. Later he be
came editor of the Bloomington
Pantagraph, was appointed mar
shal of the Southern district of
Illinois, and served in the state
legislature. His varied career
ended in 1893 when he died in Chi
cago at the age of eighty.
Another literary doctor was
Benjamin Franklin Allen, a na
tive of Watertown, N. Y., who be
gan practicing medicine in Kane
county, 111., in 1844. In 1860 he
settled in Joliet, 111., and began
to devote his time to writing.
Among his writings were “The
Uncles Legacy,” which ran as a
serial in the Will County Courier
for six months; “Irene; or, The
Life and Fortunes of a Yankee
Girl”; and a series of humorous
sketches under the title of "Ex
periences, Advice, Comments and
Suggestions of Barney O’Toole,”
who seems to have been an
earlier “Mr. Dooley."
“The Name
Is Familiar—
BY
FELIX B. STREYCKMANS
and ELMO SCOTT WATSON
Watt
I AMES WATT, who devoted most
of his life to the invention and
improvement of the modern steam
engine, has his name commemorat
ed in the field of electricity instead
of steam. The unit of electrical
measurement called the watt was
! named after him, and designates the
amount of electricity used in doing
| work
He was a Scottish engineer who
was Dorn in 1738
and died at the
age of 83. In his
| later years he ex
' perimented with
: an apparatus for
copying sculpture
; Not many months
before his death
he presented cop
ies of busts to
friends as the
work “of a younn
artist just enter
ing (us eignty- — ,
7„ , ■■ James Watt
third year.
The first use of Watt's steam en
gine was in pumping water from
mines. Later, when others suggest
ed making a wheeled cart of it and
using it on rails to pull carriages,
Watt would not listen to the plans.
And so it is that the man who
made the steam engine practical
died believing that the steam rail
road was impracticable.
Maybe, after all, it's just as well
that a word in the electrical field
instead of steam has been coined to
commemorate him.
♦ * *
Galvanism
ONE day in the latter part of the
Eighteenth century, while Luigi
Galvani, eminent professor of anato
my at Bologna, Italy, was at work
in his laboratory, an accident oc
curred that startled the entire sci
entific world.
Galvani had placed a dissected
frog on a table near an electrical
machine. His assistant accidentally
touched a nerve
of the dead frog
while the ma
chine was turning
and sending out
sparks. Immedi
ately the dead frog
jumped into ac
tion and went
through all sorts
of physical con
tortions. .
Galvan) was a
great professor.
an aumoruy on
anatomy — he Luigi Galvani
must explain this phenomenon! If
electricity could make a dead frog's
muscles move, then it must be elec
tricity that made its muscles move
when it was alive, he reasoned. Was
there such a force as animal elec
tricity? Was electricity the force
that made all animals—and men—
move? Wasn't electricity life itself?
Galvani thought so—and he told
the world what he thought. The
world believed him—even the medi
cal world—and a new word, galva
nism, was added to every European
language. It meant the force in a
living body that gives it the ability
to move and remain alive.
And today we still say persons
are "galvanized into action” when
we mean they have had life put into
them suddenly like Galvani’s dead
frog.
• * *
Boycott
'T'HE word "boycott” is a com
mon one and is known to almost
every modern language. Original
ly it was the name of a man and
that was only 60 years ago.
In 1880 Capt. Charles Cunningham
Boycott, who lived at Lough Mask
in County Mayo, Ireland, and who
was land agent for a British lord,
was so severe and unreasonable
with his tenants
that they banded
together and re
fused to buy any
thing from him
or work for him
Their economic
strike reached a
climax at harvest
time when no one
would help him
with his crops. A
gang of Orange
men were sent
down from Ulster
to aid in the har- CaPl B°yc0“
vest but they went under the protec
tion of a military force from Cavan
and elsewhere.
Captain Boycott’s troubles attract
ed wide attention and the Irish Land
league successfully used the same
tactics to force their demands in
other localities, repeating the “Boy
cott incident.” By the time of his
death in 1897 a boycott had come to
mean the same thing throughout the
world. The French word is "boy
cotter”; the Dutch, "boycotten”; the
German, “boycottiren.” and the Rus
sian, “boikottirovat.”
(Released by Western Newspaper Union.)
World’s Smallest Nations
The three smallest nations in the
world in area are the Principality
j of Monaco, which has an area of
eight square miles; the Republic of
San Marino, with 38 square miles,
and the Principality of Liechtenstein
with 65 square miles.
More Trim, Trig Slack Suits
Being Worn Than Ever Before
By CHERIE NICHOLAS
•
AT FIRST popularized by
women at swank sum
mer and winter playgrounds,
then spreading like a banyan
tree to include women every
where, the vogue for slacks
has been growing until this
summer more trim, trig and
versatile trouser suits are be
ing worn than ever before
in fashion history.
it is no wonder mat women tne
country over have adopted slacks
as the most sensible costume ever
invented. For housework they are
a sheer delight, likewise for driving,
for long cross-country trips, for golf,
tennis, picnicking, marketing and
for informal dining, slacks have be
come an enthusiasm that knows no
bounds.
Designers who have always had
their ears to the ground to catch
the trend of women’s likes and dis
likes have caught this sweeping ap
proval of slacks and have set about
creating new and fascinating styles.
This has added to the growing de
mand for American designers—de
signers who understand the psychol
ogy of the American woman. It is
interesting to note that Ruth Wade
Ray, director of the Vogue School of
Fashion Design in Chicago, says
that the greatest number of calls
they have for graduate designers
comes from manufacturers of sports
wear. This, of course, includes
slacks and shows the nation-wide
trend toward simplified smart at
tire.
The three-piece style we are il
lustrating is becoming almost a uni
versal favorite in that it is so emi
nently practical, including, as it
does, both skirt and slacks. Yvonne
Andersen, a Vogue school pupil, de
signs this utilitarian threesome of
soft yet firm gabardine in a lovely
shade of desert green (gabardine
comes in a whole list of other de
lectable colors). The smart lumber
jacket shirt blouse can be worn out
side with the slacks (shown to the
left) or tucked in and worn with a
narrow belt when a more tailored
appearance is desired. A multiple
duty feature is added with the skirt
(centered in illustration) which,
worn with the blouse, becomes a
costume for shopping, bridge or al
most any place you desire to wear it.
An idea gaining popularity this
season is a new version of the loung
ing pajama. But they’re slacks just
the same! The trousers are very
wide looking, almost like a skirt un
til the wearer moves about. These
are made in soft materials, often
with contrasting blouses as shown
to the right in the group. In this
instance the trousers are in a most
attractive clay red and the blouse is
of sun-yellow crepe, a coloring in
keeping with the environs of a Cali
fornia living room, the theme of
which includes a gay sombrero on
the wall, a basket to match and
candelabra of glittering tin, some
thing very new in household decora
tion.
So completely have women be
come converted to the trouser-cos
tume idea, slacks in more or less
colorful and designful mood are con
sidered quite proper, have, in fact,
become very popular as an informal
dinner costume. Certainly they are.
vastly becoming and have lots of
appeal in their accents of gay color.
Some of the slack suits have cunning
little jackets to be worn with a sheer
blouse and they are smart enough
for informal dining or dropping !n
on your neighbor for an evening of
bridge.
(Released by Western Newspaper Union.)
Ceramic Jewelry
Something new in the jewelry
realm! Authentic copies of genuine
old china for necklaces, bracelets,
lapel pins and gadgets. Marion Wee
ber, American artist, is the cera
mist that is modeling and enamel
ing ceramic charms that bear ev
ery resemblance to their originals.
In this most attractive ceramic mo
tif, authentic copies of fine old
American, English and French
pieces are achieved such as one sees
in collections at private and public
museums. These, interspersed with
miniature gold cups, spoons, knives
and forks, are suspended from a
gold chain or otherwise cleverly as
sembled to form stunning necklaces
and bracelets in the manner pic
tured.
Shawls for Sports
New Fashion Trend
The fashion for wearing shawls
has advanced from suits and eve
ning gowns to dresses for spectator
sports wear. A gray linen outfit that
buttons up the front has a matching
gray and white linen shawl with a
deeply fringed border.
White Accessories
On Style Program
White hats, white shoes, foamy
white neckwear, white gloves, bou
tonnieres, and loads of white jewel
ry, such is the program for the com
ing weeks.
For flattery try one of the new
white chenille dotted white veils.
Glorify your navy straw hat with an
exquisite realistic huge white rose.
Trim your new gray felt hat with
white violets repeating the violets
on your lapel.
Be sure your white handbag is im
mense (the larger the smarter) and
see to it that your white gloves go
elbow length—and so on and so on,
for the story of “white” is too
lengthy and rife with brilliant high
spots to condense in a few para
graphs.
Jeweled Ear-Hooks
New Paris Fashion
Newest Parisian earrings hook
over the top of the ears and drip
chains of diamonds or other pre
cious stones. The hooks are designed
of fine gold wire shaped like spec
tacle frames. They hold a large
round diamond against the lobe of
the ear, and pendants of pear-shaped
jewels over the top of the ear, close
to the hairline.
Jersey Slack Suit
Has Strong Appeal
Brown and white jersey, in a half
and-half arrangement, is used for
an attractive slack suit that may
also be worn for lounging. The back
of the suit and one sleeve and shoul
der are brown, while the rest of the
suit is white. The jersey jacket is
long and very fitted and has two
! patch pockets that ex*c~.d all the
way across the front
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REMEDIES
HAY-FEVER, ASTHMA patients why suf
fer? New discovery gives relief without
morphine or cocaine. Medicine prepaid.
Give particulars, 1112 Ogden, Denver, Colo.
Fur-Clad Island
Its name is Possession, and it
can be found on the charts of
South-West Africa. Seen from the
sea it almost blinds you, because
of the white guano which covers
it, but a hundred years ago a Cap
tain Morrell, who wrote a book,
“Narrative of Four Voyages,”
said that when he arrived off Pos
session he found it clad in fur. The
whole island was covered with the
bodies of fur-seals, their skins still
on them. He believed the seals
had been overwhelmed and suf
focated by one of the terrifically
hot whirlwinds which sweep out ta
the ocean from the desert coast.
Captain Morrell may have been
right in his theory, but the same
hot winds blow from the land
today and yet the seals do not
meet a similar fate. Another of
the sea’s mysteries,
1 .■■■■■—■■■. j,
Mixed Defense
The indiscriminate defense of
right and wrong contracts the
understanding, while it hardens
the heart.—Junius.
THE AWFUL PRICE YOU PAY
Read These Important Facts!
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Pity Forget
In extreme danger, fear turns
a deaf ear to every feeling of pity.
—Caesar.
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WNU—U 21—40
Early Fear
Early and provident fear is the
mother of safety.—Burke.
Help Them Cleanse the Blood
of Harmful Body Waste
Your kidneys are constantly filtering
waste matter from the blood stream. But
kidneys sometimes lag in their work—do
not act as Nature intended—fail to re
J move impurities that, if retained, may
It poison the system and upset the whole
Dody machinery.
Symptoms may be nagging backache,
i persistent headache, attacks of dizziness,
getting up nights, swelling, puffincss
under the eyes—a feeling of nervous
• anxiety and loss of pep and strength. f
Other signs of kidney or bladder dis
; order are sometimes burning, scanty or
too frequent urination.
There should be no doubt that prompt
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