The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-10-10

PCAAibOHOOASys AAOAti July Il 1919, " Jan -
1887, period of seven and one-half years.
The city resumed occupancy at the close
of the war, the hospital board of the City
Council, DR.. John M. Kitchen, president,
electing DR.. Green V. Wooden (still mem
Der of the staff in the nose and throat de-
partmenD the first superintendent, June 29,
1866. DR.. Woolens surgical staff comprised
DR.. John S. Bobbs, DR.. j. s. Athon, DR.. L.
D. Waterman and DIR. John A. Comingor,
the latter resigning after continuous SER
vice of a quarter Of a century. The medical
consultants were DR.. James H. WOODBURY.
and DR.. J. M. CASTOR still residents of IN
dianapolis, and DR.. Robert N. Todd and
DIR. T. B. Harvey, who served the hospital
up to the days Of their untimely deaths
Dr. Woolen's house physicians were Drs
w. w. Foley and E. Hadley.
The first civic patient treated in the City
Hospital was a man who fell from a hotel
window in Indianapolis, and was taken to
the hospital when it was used a United
States military hospital, with DR.. j. Kitch-
the post and DR.. Milton NJ. Wishard med
zeal officer in charge. The man died, and
rumor has it that the $50 found en- his per
son was expended Gas he had no nelrs) IN
planting the sixty soft naples which now
embellish the hospital grounds.
RATES WE'RE HIGH.
DR. Wooden was succeeded by DIR. r.
Hadley, Aug. /, 1870. The salary was then
$1,000. The governing board was composed
of Drs. p. III. Jameson, r. N. Todd and
Theophius Parvin. There was an average
of fifty patients in the hospital about four
hundred different ones in the year; the ex-
penses were 70 to 80 cents per diem for each
patient. These were evidently war prices,
for, with all the conveniences and even
luxury of the present the cost is now but
45 to so cents daily, with the average num-
ber of patients varying from 100 to 40.
DR.. Hadley's surgical staff included Drs.
W. B. Fletcher, l.. d. Waterman and j:
A. ComingOr, all military surgeons, and all
now living in, Indianapolis. The medical
staff comprised Drs, T. b. Harvey, T. B.
Newcomer, D: H. Oliver and Thad. M.
Stevens, all of whom have passed away.
The names Of DR.. Mears and DR.. Funk
houser, since deceased also appear as SUR
gical and medical consultant, respectively.
months in rotation During DR.. Hadleys
term DR.. j. M. Dunlap (he first to devote
himself to the diseases of the nose, throat
and lungs in Indianapolis, and still practis-
ing his speciality was elected as patholo-
gist to the hospital, making autopsies and
collecting the beginnings of a pathological
DR.. Andrew H. Davis succeeded DR..
Marsee July l, 1878. He served year and
two. months, dying in the hospital. A beau
tiful memorial to DR.. Davis appears on the
old record book of the hospital, apparently
prepared by DR.. Parvin, then the secretary
OF the board. Dr. w. B. Mcdonald now
of DR.. Davis. May 90 1876, DR.. F. J. Van
Vorhis, now an attorney of Indianapolis,
became superintendent. Drs. r. N. Todd,
Waterman, Kitchen and Newcomer were on
the staff consulting physicians, and Drs
Bigelow and Comingor as surgeons. Drs. T.
=. Harvey and T. Parvin were consultants.
Or. Harvey served up to the time of his
death from an apoplectic stroke while teach
ing in the amphitheater of the Medical Col
lege of Indiana. DR.. Parvin served until
elected professor of obstetrics in Jefferson
College. Neither of these accomplished sur
geons had private hospitals, nor did they
do as much operating as the merest gyne-
coioglcal tyroS of the present. They were,
however, pioneeTs-great teachers and stu
dents, well versed in general medicine. Their
influence upon the medical profession of the
city and State is without precedent and
their names and memories are precious ira
ditions in the history the City Hospital.
July /, 1877, DR.. William H. Davis, now
of Denver, Col, was elected superintendent
1t was in March, 1874. that the hospital
board ordered course of clinical lectures
from Oct. Is to March Is; two lectures. on
Wednesday and Saturday, by the staff dur
ing their term of service. DR.. Daviss term
expired July ], 1879. He was succeeded by
DR.. w N. Wishard, who remained as super
intendent until Jan. l. 1887, a period of seven
and one-half years
ANTISEPTICS INTRODUCED.
1t was during his service that the anti
septic methods were introduced. mainly
through the instrumentality of DIR. John
Chambers. OF DR.. Chambers's relation to
this innovation, DR.. Wishard has furnished
the writer the following note:
To DR.. John Chambers belongs the credit
or nrst introducing antiseptic methods in
apolis and in the City Hospital. In the
spring of 1884 DR.. Chambers made an ampu-
, raet9n at the hospital, using antiseptic
other operations in which antiseptic dress
ings We're used. In the beginning Dr.
Chambers used carbolized gauze and APP
and also used a carbolic acid spray during
the time of the operation, following the gem
Gates of antiseptic surgery. DIR. Chambers
soon modified his technique, but continued
from that time to follow antiseptic methods
About this time Dr. w. n. Wishard who
was then superintendent of the hospital
gency Lying2in Hospital of New York. to
adopt antiseptic methods in the obstetric
ward, with the result that deaths from
with. DR.. w. N. Wishard subsequently re-
the Marion County Medical Society. and
great skepticism was shown by some Of the
members; it was claimed that the new
bullying and clearing away. of the old
building, accounted for the disappearance
Upon DR.. Wishard's retirement banquet
was given him at the Denison House and a
Thompson acted as POSTMASTER. DR.. J. NJ
Dunlap responded to the toast, The Old
City Hospital; Dunlap's Folly" and DR..
T. B. Harvey to the antithetical sentiment,
The New City Hospital; Wishard's Wis
DOM" DR.. Harvey reviewed the work of
DIR. Wishard and his colaborers. the hos
pital boards, and the press and the profess
sion, in substituting commodious brick
hospital with sixteen wards and a hundred
and fifty beds, and a well-equipped training
school for nurses. in place of the old gcv-
eminent barracks of 1861.
Mr.. Peter Bryce. responding to the toast,
THE Hospital Boards of the Past" ac-
cused Dr.. Wishard of being "schemer :"
but SAID tnat al his schemes were ror the
preparation of 1900 was the entering wedge
for ten times that amount. Tie reverend
physical and spiritual athlete, DR.. r. v.
| Hunter, Of the Seventh Presbyterian
Church. Indianapolis reviewed the trials
and struggles Dr. Wishard had met he
spoke OF his legal ability. and declared he
should have been a lawyer. for, said he.
"Dr. Wishard socked it to Socrates fipred