Dr. Mutter's Marvels
Page 29
“Early in the spring he had a slight attack . . . considerably grown”: Carter Papers
“His general health has been better than it was . . . attacked by bilious colic”: Ibid.
“I wrote to Aunt to send me two pairs of shoes . . . as I am in want of them”: Ibid.
“As the warm weather is coming very fast . . . at Fredericksburg and are spoilt in the making.”: Ibid.
“I am in great want of shirts as I have but two . . . nor nice enough to wear in town”: Ibid.
The bill shows that Thomas—who was just sixteen . . . and even several dozen cigars: Clothing Bill as found in the Carter Papers
distinguished in scholarship, industry, and behavior . . . chapel without an excuse: Carter Papers
praised for his natural gifts as a captivating presenter . . . its range and amplitude: Slatten, “Thomas Dent Mütter”
borrowing enough money to make it to his desired destination . . . the funds to get back home: Ibid.
spend a semester at Yale, a college . . . in the northern city of New Haven, Connecticut: Ibid.
sent home when none of the Connecticut doctors could stop him from coughing up blood: Ibid.
outstanding bills with a tailor and a shoemaker, which . . . contacted to pay: Ibid.
spend time in Fredericksburg and Alexandria, places . . . without Colonel Carter’s permission: Ibid.
the grandson of their long-dead friend, Dr. James Gillies: Ibid.
too ill to return to college anytime soon, they advised, and this . . . for the rest of his life: Ibid.
Thomas took the news with fortitude and equanimity: Ibid.
what he wanted to do with his life: to study medicine: Ibid.
“My dear Sir, Owing to your short stay in the District . . . Thomas D. Mutter”: Carter Papers
the guardian grew more and more impressed with the actions of his young ward: Slatten, “Thomas Dent Mütter”
officially “come of age,” Colonel Carter felt . . . Thomas to stand on his own: Ibid.
success would have to depend on his own efforts alone: Levis, “Memoir of Thomas Dent Mütter”
found himself in feeble health: Slatten, “Thomas Dent Mütter”
make an extended visit to one of Virginia’s famed health spas: Ibid.
to develop a sizable practice among the spa’s clientele: Ibid.
collect material for what he hoped would be . . . article on “watering spas” . . . properties: Ibid.
excellent prospects of success: Levis, “Memoir of Thomas Dent Mütter”
English or American physician actively working: Ibid.
had formed such associations and acquired such favorable . . . residence in Paris: Ibid.
proficient in both French and German: Ibid.
anticipate receiving the patronage of the English, American, and German tourist: Ibid.
Jackson was an assistant to one of the medical college’s best-known professors: Ibid.
(the subject of Mütter’s doctoral thesis was “Chronic Inflammation of the Testis”): Ibid.
“If at the end of that time the prospect should then seem . . . permanent residence in Paris”: Ibid.
an assistant to the popular, and increasingly sickly, Dr. Thomas Harris. . . . Medical Institute: Ibid.
——CHAPTER FOUR——
“The Physician Should Possess Self-Respect. . . . disgraceful herd”: Mütter, Charge to the Graduates, 1851
the first and only medical school in the thirteen American colonies in the fall of 1765: “Penn in the 18th Century: School of Medicine Historical Development, 1765–1800,” University of Pennsylvania Archives; http://www.archives.upenn.edu/histy/features/1700s/medsch.html
all serious American aspirants toward the medical profession were compelled . . . their education: James F. Gayley, M.D, A History of the Jefferson Medical College of Philadelphia (Philadelphia: Joseph M. Wilson, 1858)
“anatomical lectures” and “the theory and practice of physik”: “Penn in the 18th Century”; http://www.archives.upenn.edu/histy/features/1700s/medsch.html
a student had to: attend at least one course of lectures . . . (the art of healing, or medicine): Ibid.
attend at least one course of clinical lectures: Ibid.
study for one year under the doctors working at the Pennsylvania Hospital: Ibid.
be examined privately by medical trustees and professors: Ibid.
be examined publicly: Ibid.
at least twenty-four years of age: Ibid.
was regarded as “something extra among the people”: Gayley, History of the Jefferson
“some of the eccentricities of genius”: Ibid.
first male public figure who ventured to carry a silk umbrella . . . (then “a scouted effeminacy”): Ibid.
first doctor to send his patients to an apothecary . . . herbs, tinctures, and salves himself: Ibid.
In his first public address about his vision for the school . . . institutions of a similar nature: Ibid.
By 1825, Philadelphia’s population had exploded . . . medical students: Slatten, “Thomas Dent Mütter”
medical school population of closer to 500 . . . classrooms and lecture halls: Ibid.
Every physician had private students who apprenticed . . . other schools opened: Ibid.
nor could they be assured that the doctor under whom . . . or even correct: Gayley, History of the Jefferson
accusations of favoritism in filling its department chairs and teaching positions: Ibid.
criticism of the faculty’s recent duplicitous practice . . . fees for teaching their classes: Edward Louis Bauer, M.D., Doctors: Made in America (Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott, 1963)
“for Philadelphia to retain her position as the medical Athens of America”: Gayley, History of the Jefferson
Several physicians in the city were popular enough . . . connected to their offices: Bauer, Doctors
the University of Pennsylvania would use its political power to thwart: Ibid.
would ostracize any doctor who didn’t share its belief . . . medical school in Philadelphia: Ibid.
Several efforts to establish a second medical . . . unsuccessful: Gayley, History of the Jefferson
in 1824, when the irascible Dr. George McClellan’s . . . Medical College: Slatten, “Thomas Dent Mütter”
“duly-qualified alumni [who] may give . . . institutions of a similar nature”: Gayley, History of the Jefferson
saved a man’s life before he even entered the . . . skin to make flaps for the stump: Bauer, Doctors
speaker with “a resounding voice that bespoke authority.” . . . practitioners, and laymen: Ibid.
one of those Philadelphia doctors who needed their own lecture hall: Ibid.
“Some of his best friends . . . inconsiderate and imprudent”: W. Darrach, M.D., Memoir of George McClellan, M.D. (King & Baird, Printers; Philadelphia, 1847).
an excellent judge of character: Bauer, Doctors
known to heckle other surgeons while they . . . surgical lectures: Slatten, “Thomas Dent Mütter”
simply the “sans ceremonie and en avant spirit” of his “sleepless genius”: Darrach, Memoir of George McClellan, M.D.
“In public, he was inconsiderate” . . . “alone, he was the grave, profound Philosopher”: Ibid.
attempts to obtain a charter for a second school failed: Bauer, Doctors
coordinated with Jefferson College in Canonsburg . . . department of that college in Philadelphia: Slatten, “Thomas Dent Mütter”
prominent place as a literary institution: Gayley, History of the Jefferson
“a respectable contingent of educated intellect to our country . . . other seminaries of learning”: Ibid.
which prided itself “in extending the benign influences . . .
and an elevating morality”: Ibid.
rented the Tivoli Theater on the south side of Prune Street: Ibid.
the merits of the new school: Ibid.
The first class numbered an impressive 107, with 20 graduating at the end: Ibid.
which they had considered to be only “an experiment”: Ibid.
instituted from year one: that all students must . . . in the care of patients: Bauer, Doctors
important factor in the training of medical students: Ibid.
by having them observe . . . treated patients: “George McClellan, MD,” Thomas Jefferson University online historical profiles; http://www.jefferson.edu/university/jmc/departments/surgery/history/mcclellan.html
an idea that had never been tried before: Ibid.
to be McClellan’s most important contribution to medical education: Bauer, Doctors
reshaping the way medicine would be taught throughout the world: “George McClellan, MD”; http://www.jefferson.edu/university/jmc/departments/surgery/history/mcclellan.html
——CHAPTER FIVE——
“The Physician Must Also Be a Thinking, Observing . . . the road yourself”: Mütter, Charge to the Graduates, 1851
well devised, amply demonstrated, and outstandingly delivered: Slatten, “Thomas Dent Mütter”
natural energy and enthusiasm, combined with his . . . complicated subjects: Pancoast, A Discourse Commemorative
those around him would say his ability seemed “almost intuitive”: Ibid.
“At his first essay from this perch . . . he seems to have taken a falcon flight”: Ibid.
“In orators, this early perfection is not often seen”: Ibid.
“great generals, who learn to fight by fighting, and whose only real school is war”: Ibid.
Two long-simmering crises were coming to a head . . . course of American medicine: Slatten, “Thomas Dent Mütter”
The first crisis grew out of a challenge to the old private . . . lectures to as many students: Ibid.
he would undergo an examination for an MD degree: Ibid.
Lecturers worked in isolation: Ibid.
“purely private enterprise[s] whose standards derived . . . the individuals involved”: Ibid.
to standardize medical teaching by bringing it more . . . of the admininstration: Ibid.
detractors called “rather unwholesome tactics”: Ibid.
The university was accused of conspiring to monopolize . . . university’s favor: Ibid.
that no man could look for success as a private teacher . . . with the university: Ibid.
“period of accommodation” between the university and its . . . public confrontations: Ibid.
“It is said that one should not speak ill of the dead. . . . the lecture-room”: Autobiography of Samuel D. Gross
Gibson had rightfully earned his reputation as an “impressive lecturer”: Ibid.
never failed to command the attention of his classes with “clearness, accuracy and earnestness”: Ibid.
Gibson, like McClellan, often indulged in offensive language against . . . their mutual disdain: Ibid.
Gibson openly accused McClellan of falsehood for . . . this subject between the rival schools: Ibid.
to bear witness to Gibson’s performing the surgery . . . in front of Gibson’s own class: Ibid.
“who had come to see the fun”: Ibid.
the operation was over, Gibson turned . . . “a tumor . . . not the gland itself”: Ibid.
“my distinguished friend has extirpated the parotid gland . . . doesn’t know it”: Ibid.
The remark caused “convulsions of laughter” in the large assembly: Ibid.
period second to none in America’s medical history. . . . “rivalry marked with jealousy and unfairness”: Slatten, “Thomas Dent Mütter”
Medical lore and literature would record abundant evidence . . . especially that of treatment: Ibid.
It still possessed two great schools, and its doctors were still revered . . . any serious career : Da Costa, “Then and Now”
gaining rivals in places like New York, Baltimore, and Chicago: Ibid.
“one of the best of good fellows”: Pancoast, A Discourse Commemorative
“He possessed spontaneously, as it were, the art . . . to do what he could to please others”: Ibid.
habit of sending Mütter to make house calls: Slatten, “Thomas Dent Mütter”
Mütter began to develop a healthy private practice: Ibid.
defiantly occupied “the difficult domain of reparative and reconstructive surgery”: Ibid.
“strangers from various parts of this wide domain . . . sufferings demanded”: Pancoast, A Discourse Commemorative
“He succeeded with patients for the same reason as with students . . . and liked”: Ibid.
distinguished Philadelphia doctors—Randolph, Norris, and Anderson: Robert Liston, Lectures on the Operations of Surgery and on Diseases and Accidents Requiring Operations, with Numerous Additions by Thomas D. Mütter, M.D. (Philadelphia: Lea & Blanchard, 1846), 193–203
match the color of his expensive suit to the carriage in which he was riding: Autobiography of Samuel D. Gross
Nathaniel Dickey . . . intelligent, funny, and in perfectly good health: Liston, Lectures on the Operations of Surgery
against the chest of a seated Dr. Norris, and his arms held down . . . a tight white sheet: Ibid.
Mütter had already explained the surgery to Nathaniel in detail: Ibid.
thrice daily massage Nathaniel’s face: Ibid.
inviting dangerous infection to nest in his already beleaguered mouth: Ibid.
a knife, a hook, a pair of long forceps, needles . . . leeches, opiates, and a sharp lancet: Ibid.
to obstruct the entrance of light into the mouth as little as possible: Ibid.
the insertion of a sharp hook into the roof of Nathaniel’s mouth . . . muscle and skin back: Ibid.
the silk thread straining at the incision sites: Ibid.
——CHAPTER SIX——
“The Physician Should Also Be a Gentleman . . . should be made”: Mütter, Charge to the Graduates, 1851
“See this unobvious, apparently vile lump of animal texture?” . . . this subject sufficiently?: Charles D. Meigs, M.D., Woman: Her Diseases and Remedies: A Series of Letters to His Class (Philadelphia: Lea & Blanchard, 1851)
“Women possess a peculiar trait—it is modesty.” . . . one of their most charming attributes: Ibid.
“But scan her position in civilization, and it is easy to perceive . . . and it is true to say so”: Ibid.
“The great administrative faculties are not hers” . . . idea of a Hamlet, or a Macbeth? No”: Ibid.
“Such is not woman’s province, nature, power, nor mission. . . . of worship and service”: Ibid.
“She has a head too small for intellect” . . . “but it is just big enough for love”: Ibid.
nursed all the children herself, and was so faithful . . . during infancy and childhood: J. Forsyth Meigs, M.D., Memoir of Charles D. Meigs, M.D. (Philadelphia: Lindsay & Blakiston, 1876)
by the prejudices and false modesties: Bauer, Doctors
many religious leaders: Ibid.
an obstetrician could examine the abdomen of a pregnant woman only through blankets?: Ibid.
frightened patient told Meigs she’d “rather die”: Meigs, Memoir
“Ce que femme veut, Dieu le veut aussi!”: Ibid.
——CHAPTER SEVEN——
on January 1, 1841, the city was frozen solid: Weigley, Philadelphia
“It will, perhaps, long be remembered by the present . . . continued until the 15th of May”: Ibid.
warmly called him Mac: Frederick B. Wagner Jr. and J. Woodrow Savacool, eds., Jefferson Medical College: Legend and Lore (Philadelphia:
William T. Cooke, 1996)
lacked two important requisites of great surgeons and . . . judgment and patience: Ibid.
frequency with which he jumped to conclusions: Ibid.
years of the Jefferson Medical College were plagued with financial problems: Ibid.
harassment by the University of Pennsylvania: Ibid.
John Revere (the unruly son of patriot Paul Revere): Ibid.
Granville Sharp Pattison (whose nickname was the Turbulent Scot): Ibid.
William Barton . . . his legendary “Navy vocabulary”: Ibid.
“[Dr. Barton]’s favorite epithet, almost constantly applied . . . I shall not mention it”: Ibid.
“spirit of independent thinking”: Ibid.
“a parcel of politicians” and a “blackguard Board of Trustees”: Ibid.
that Jefferson was “rotten and going to the dogs”: Ibid.
failed to reckon with the power and stability of the board of trustees: Ibid.
to vacate all the chairs and to elect new professors: Ibid.
McClellan’s connection with the school he had fought so hard . . . unceremonious end: Ibid.
Dunglison had earned his nickname, the Great Peacemaker: Ibid.
Dunglison had come up with his list . . . ultimate vote on April 2: Jefferson Medical College Minutes, No. 1 (April 19, 1838, to November 26, 1873), Archive of Jefferson Medical College of Philadelphia
the dawn of a new era at Jefferson Medical College: Ibid.
For some chairs . . . the board unanimously agreed . . . there was serious competition: Ibid.
“Meigs possessed all the requisites for success upon the stage . . . to keep awake”: Autobiography of Samuel D. Gross
(Meigs described the labia of virgins as being plump . . . except with fat persons”): Charles D. Meigs, M.D., The Philadelphia Practice of Midwifery (Philadelphia: James Kay, Jun. & Brother, 1838)
(Meigs strongly recommended bleeding the woman . . . leeches directly onto her genitals): Ibid.
The British-born Dunglison made his name in the 1820s and 1830s . . . and James Madison: John H. Brinton, M.D., “Alumni Address: The Faculty of 1841,” delivered before the Alumni Association of the Jefferson Medical College of Philadelphia at its Tenth Anniversary, March 11, 1880, The College and Clinical Record I, no. 3 (March 15, 1880)