England, particularly valuable, which follows, letting "some twenty of these people blood," and it would be doing good service for the in hot weather. He writes of those who had profession if he will continue his contributions: then recently arrived, and were "resolved to sit down at the head of Charles River." He Two Fullers came over in the Mayflower, says of the Governor: "The Governor is a Samuel and Edward. Samuel was the doc- godly, wise, and humble gentleman, and very tor, of whom very little is known; but that discreet, and of a fine and good temper." An little is entirely in his favor, as a respectable admirable combination of qualities, certainly, physician and surgeon, and a pious Christian. in a chief magistrate! A good letter this; Samuel Fuller was one of those, who, " for the and you may read it at your leisure in Massapresent," left their wives behind them. He chusetts Historical Collections, vol. 3, p. 74. is said by Dr. Thacher to have been the first Backus-not the profane divinity, but the regularly educated physician that ever came Rev. Isaac-in his account of Middleborough, to New England, and was the co-deacon, with says "the first planters of Middleborough, Carver, of Mr. Robinson's church. He was came mainly from Plymouth; and they returna great lay preacher, and physicked the ed here after the war; and Mr. Samuel Fuller soul, as well as the bodies, of his fellow crea- preached to them until a church was constitut tures. He was in great request in both capa- ed among them; and he was ordained their cities. Prince, writing, in 1628, says " This pastor in 1694." This I take to be the son year, the Massachusetts Patentees at London of Dr. Fuller, the same, who, with his mother, send several Servants to Naumkeak-but for Bridget, the doctor's widow, gave the land to want of wholesome Diet and convenient Lodg- the first Church in Plymouth, cn which lot the ngs, many Die of Scurvys and other Distem-" precinct mansion house" now stands. He, pers. Upon which Mr. Endicott hearing we at Plymouth have a very skilful Doctor, viz., Mr. Fuller, Deacon of Mr. Robinson's Church, skill'd in the Diseases of the Country, which the People at Naumkeak are fill'd with, sends to our Governor for Him, who forthwith sends Him to their Assistance." of Middleborough, died Aug. 24, 1695, the year after his ordination, aged 66. He was therefore born, in 1629, which was four years before the decease of Dr. Samuel Fuller. Kingston was, of yore, a part of Plymouth, and, in that quarter, Dr. Fuller had his residence. In June, July, and August, 1633, says Prince, Dr. Fuller's practice appears to have been extensive. He wrote to Gov. Bradford, June 28, "It pleases God to visit us, at Plimouth, 1630, thus: "I have been to Matapan (Dor- with an infectious fever, of which many fall chester) and let some twenty of those people very sick, and upwards of 20 die, men and blood." Dr. Thacher seems to be not a little women, besides children, and of them sundry, pazzled, as to the cause of so much bleeding who were our ancient friends, in Holland, as in hot weather. Dr. Rush bled rather freely, Thomas Blosom with others; and in the end which caused that scoundrel, Cobbett, to cari- Samuel Fuller, our surgeon and physician; cature him in his yellow chariot, looking out of who was a great help and comfort to us; as in the window, with a label in his mouth, bearing his faculty, so otherwise, being a deacon of the the words- "Bleed and purge all Kensing-church, godly, and forward to do good, much ton." Ee prosecuted Cobbett; and, on the miss'd after his death; all which cause much trial, swore that the slander had done him a sadness among us." heavy pecuniary injury. I have an impression that Dr. Fuller was Mr. Endicott wrote a letter of thanks to not inattentive to the matter of fees. There Governor Bradford, for Dr. Fuller's good ser- was little coin; and his Indian patients paid, vices, at Naumkeak. In Cotton's "Relation most probably, in suckatash and wampum. of the Church," at Plymouth, Fuller is called My impression is derived from the following "an eminent surgeon and man of great piety." passage in Prince: "When this (exhortation, In Governor Bradford's letter-book may be &c.,) is ended, the Deacon, Mr. Fuller, puts found the letter from Dr. Fuller, dated June the congregation in mind of their duty of con28, 1630, to which I have referred. In this tribution; whereupon the Governor and all letter, he says of the people of Matapan: "I the rest go down to the Deacon's seat, and had conference with them, till I was weary. put it in a bag, and then return." This shows Mr. Warkam holds, that the invisible church a may consist of a mixed people, godly, and openly ungodly." "This may account for his just regard for the main chance. It also exhibits the primitive practice here of using the bag, instead of the contribution box, as 43 45 70 73 147 90 134 27 240 466 237 458 70 46 .49 March. August. Very little remains to be said of this worthy June.. pilgrim. A physician, of the present day, who July. has been long in the practice, and escaped an September.......... 174 action, from some quarter, for mala prakis, is November a fortunate man. He, who has escaped the venom of a disgruntled nurse; the envy, hatred, and malice of his competitors; and the December. Total.. 54 75 121 103 104 122 1335 836 1649 1206 3829 1970 1950 It will be noticed that the number of deaths abusive slander of his enemies, outside of in 1855 exceed those in 1856 by twenty while the "professional pale, furnishes a memorable the population of the city is over 25,000 more exception from the common course of things, in 1856 than it was in 1855. Penin. Jour. corvo quoque rarior albo. Dear, good Dr. of Med. Fuller came not within this category. "New English Canaan," published in 1632, it is insinuated that he killed Mrs. Endicott, the Governor's wife, with his quackery. In the MORTALITY OF CHICAGO FOR REPORTS OF IMPORTANT POINTS BY J. M. WINN, M. D., L. R. C. P., Senior Physician to the Metropolitan Dispensary, etc. It will be readily admitted by every practical man, that selections of important cases, The nativities of those who died in 1856 concisely and judiciously narrated, have thrown were: United States, 998; Ireland, 191; more light on the treatment of disease than all Germany, 94; England, 22; Canada, 2; the combined labors of the chemist and miother countries, 42; not stated, 598. Total, 1950. The greater portion of those whose croscopist. It would be folly to deny the great advantages which Medicine has derived from nativity does not appear on the record, were the cultivation of the collateral sciences; nevforeigners. ertheless, there is at the present period a great The following is a classification of the ages tendency, on the part of many junior practiof those who died in 1856: - Under 5 years, tioners, to mistake the means for the end, and 500; over 5 years and not over 10 years, 144; to devote too large a share of their attention years and not over 20 years, 62; to the study of sciences which are merely handover 20 years and not over 30 years, 273; maids to the philosophy of Medicine. To such over 30 years and not over 40 years, 133; as these the words of Pope convey a wholesome over 40 years and not over 50 years, 51; over lesson: "More good will accrue to mankind by 50 years and not over 60 years, 27; over 60 attending to the large, open, and perceptible years and not over 70 years, 19; over 70 over 10 years and not over 80 years, 14; aged 84 parts, than by studying too much such fine years, 2; not stated, 360. Total, 1950. Of nerves and vessels, the conformation and uses of which will for ever escape our observation." the number whose ages are not stated 50 were With regard to the province of practical midstill-born, and a very large portion of the bal-wifery, these arguments might be advanced Turning as a Substitute for Craniotomy.The following case proves that this method may sometimes be safely and advantageously employed. Mrs., a well-grown and healthy woman, having a narrow but not deformed pelvis, was seized with strong labor on the 23d of July last. After twelve hours of severe and incessant pains, the head, which presented, lay completely above the brim of the pelvis; the os uteri had become swollen, and had not expanded beyond the circumfer ence of a crown-piece. Under these circum stances, as her strength was beginning to flag, strangulated condition of the os uteri, the di I gradually dilated the os uteri, and having introduced my hand into the uterus, I turned the child and extracted it without much difficulty. The infant, a girl, was slightly asphyxiated at birth, but is now alive and in good health. latation of the mouth of the womb had been for several hours arrested. Mr. Roper had made several attempts, using as much force as was justifiable, to reduce the tumor. As these efforts had been found ineffectual, I suggested free scarification of the engorged vessels. By Although in this and similar cases, turning this means the lip of the womb was greatly remay be advantageously had recourse to, it must duced in volume, its removal to a safe position not be forgotten that when the pelvis is greatly above the brim of the pelvis was easily effectdeformed the following reasons are opposed to ed, and the labor terminated safely in half an its adoption: 1. The powerful traction required hour after the completion of the operation. might separate the neck from the trunk of the Enormous Distension of the Bladder from child. 2. If the head be too large to pass neglect of Catheterism.— About twelve months after the shoulders are born, craniotomy must since, I was summoned in haste by Mr. be performed at a disadvantage, and nothing to see a most distressing case. is gained. 3. The pressure on the funis dur- middle-aged woman, had been in labor for a The patient, a ing the inevitably protracted delivery by turn: week with her second child. I found her in a ing, in a narrow pelvis, must be equally fatal semi-comatose and exhausted condition, with a to the child as craniotomy. It must be also It must be also putrid child resting on the perinæum. The understood that version ought not be practised bladder had not been evacuated for a long in the event of the child being dead, as the period. On introducing the catheter, I drew operation of craniotomy is, for the most part, off very nearly a gallon of ammoniacal urine. attended with less inconvenience to the mother, I do not exaggerate the quantity; it comand does not harass her so much as the opera pletely filled one chamber utensil and more tion of turning. In the above case, there were a few points a slight extent; some brandy was administerin the previous history of the woman's two pre-ed, and I delivered her by craniotomy. ceding labors which determined the proper ultimately sank. Meddlesome midwifery is, course to be pursued. The points I refer to no doubt, bad, but do-nothing midwifery is were briefly these: In her first confinement craniotomy had to be performed, after an inef fectual effort to deliver by the forceps. In her second confinement she was delivered of a than half of another. After this she rallied to She much worse; and I must confess that the greater part of the fatal cases I have been summoned to attend have been those in which timely interference would, in all probability, have obviated the disastrous results.-Lanc. living child, after a severe and protracted labor. No one remedy is suitable for every va riety of difficult labor dependent on insufficient pelvic room. The success of an accoucher is owing to the skill and decision with which he MEDICAL PROSPECTS IN LOUISIANA. wields the various resources that science and art have placed at his disposal. His duty is to adopt the right means at the proper time, with out reference to the dogmata of any particular school of midwifery, and irrespective of any theory, however ingenious or plausible. MESSRS. EDITORS: Upon the same principle that Paris is France, New Orleans is Louisiana. When the wind, the weather, commerce, art, science and cotton move in a way to give prosperity to the citizens of this great mart of activity, then the regions round about participate in whatever is for the advantage of this city. Obstructed Labor from Engorgement of the Anterior Lip of the Os Uteri. On the 21st of March last, Mr. Roper requested me to see a patient with him, who was then in labor with But instead of, giving a dissertation on her eighth child. The outlet of the pelvis was mercantile affairs, my purpose is simply to capacious, but the brim was smaller than natu- speak of the medical and surgical condition of ral. During labor, from the pressure of the men devoted to those professions. We have head, the anterior lip of the os uteri had be- not become so Londonfied, however, as to sepcome enormously swollen, forming a large tu- arate the two into distinct branches unconnectmor, which presented at the os externum in ed with each other. Precisely as you do at the shape of a round livid mass, nearly the the North, we practise every thing and any size of a pigeon's egg. Owing to this thing in the line of legitimate business, from bleeding and making ordinary visits in a mixed practice, to amputating limbs. sional. New Orleans. There are State Secrets, out of a State, and consequently I must proceed An impression is abroad that we are always to the consideration of other things profesthinking of yellow fever; and that New Orleans is death to every one who sets foot with- New Orleans is an expensive city for a phyin its boundaries. Nothing is more untrue. sician. He must keep up certain artificial apYellow fever sweeps off many persons, in pearances, to be respectable, which make deep seasons of its prevalence; but if you knew pre- inroads into a pocket-book. In the country, cisely what sort of habits those who fall vic- up the river, here and there and almost anytims to it, had established, the marvel would where in Louisiana, medical practitioners are be, how they lived before any epidemic numerous, too much so. Some of them condition existed. Yet very many have died have been so fortunate as to secure moderate of yellow fever, who were temperate, orderly properties by matrimony, and consequently persons; but if the broken-down, dissipated, they have no further anxieties in reference to irregular lives of a large majority of those who the future. fell by some of the destructive visitations of Those established once in the State, who that awful malady were known, it would mod- came from the North, have no disposition to reify northern views in regard to the hygienic turn, because of the horrible climate from which character of New Orleans. Let all this pass, they escaped, where it is either freezing, snowhowever, since it has been discussed and re-ing, raining, blowing or scorching perpetualdiscussed in journals and newspapers till we ly. This is the climate for weak lungs ; feeble who have resided in the midst of matters, are organizations and those poorly developed indiweary of the subject. viduals who break down prematurely between Washington and the Canada line. New Orleans is a capital place for practice, if one has reputation enough to obtain the right class of patrons. There are several excellent practitioners, and, as every where else, those who without a single qualification, find that ignorance has a ready market among the masses. I cannot explain how so many of them subsist, if it is exclusively through an income from their professional services. Perhaps, chamelion-like, they imbibe vitality from the atmosphere. This may be carrying coals to New-Castle, since Dr. Fenner and other commanding mediical writers have explained the value of this climate, long ago, for that kind of valitudinarians. Please send the weekly numbers of The Medical World, instead of the monthly series. We are too impatient to wait a whole month for that spirited messenger of universal medical intelligence, longer than one week. With sentiments of respect, I am sir, yours, K. R. D., M. D. New Orleans, Jan. 9th, 1857. P. S. Don't recommend any of the thousands of your medical starvelings to seck their fortunes this way, unless you wish us to kill each other like spiders in a bottle. ILLINOIS STATE HOSPITAL FOR When this communication was commenced, some biographical sketches of prominent medical gentlemen were contemplated; but on reflection the question came up-With whom shall I begin? Then again the charity hospital, the medical school, and the new one in progress, would each afford topics of interest, if it were convenient to dwell sufficiently long on them to have your New England and Western folk fairly understand how they are rated and estimated. Of course, there are feuds here, as there always are where there are two of a The institution is located in Jacksonville, trade. If any belligerent manifestations are and placed under the medical supervision of exhibited by rival talents in the two institutions, Andrew McFarland, M. D., a gentleman adit will probably be noised abroad. mirably qualfied by education and experience Dr. Dowler's journal needs no better recom- for the position. His assistant is Charles C. mendation than a sight of its contents. He is Cornett, M. D. The expenditures for two an indefatigable man, and it is gratifying to years, ending November 30, 1856, were know how highly his intellectual powers are $73,730.37. estimated by those who can appreciate scien- December 1, 1856, there were two hundred tific industry and genius, throughout the coun- and fourteen patients. The whole number of try. inmates received since the hospital was Perhaps you may be furnished with some-opened, 705. The largest number from any thing further on the matter of journalizing, in foreign country was from Germany, and the CASES GROWING OUT OF A DEFECTIVE SOCIAL SYSTEM. "There is a class of cases, worth especially considering, which is at once the dread and the opprobrium of those who treat the insane in public institutions. A true impression of the class cannot better be presented than by taking a supposed case from the multitudes who throng this as well as other institutions in this country. fewest from any distant region stands thus completion. At this period there would also viz.: Russia, 1; Poland, 1; West Indies, 1; be observed an unusual impressibility in the Wisconsin, 1; Georgia, 1; Louisiana, 1. No mind to all subjects of an emotional nature. one can follow Dr. McFarland through the The individual is easily moved to tears, or is thirty-nine pages of this biennial report, with- ound pursuing, while the project is new, some out being struck with the just reasonings and impracticable or pseudo-philanthropic design practical good sense pervading the whole doc- which accident may float across his attention. ument. It was not written for medical Almost imperceptibly this state of mind gives men alone, but for the people of the State of way to one of alternating excitement and Illinois, and it something every resident of that depression. Periods of seclusion, taciturnity Commonwealth can understand. There are and peevishness are succeeded by unusual hilno flowery exhibitions of metaphysical jargon, arity; visions of approaching poverty, of apno technicalities which require a Greek lexicon prehended disgrace, or fearful views of eterto explain. Facts, as they occurred, and phil-nal perdition, are followed by the most buoyosophical reflections having their origin in a ant hopes, or by the extremity of recklessness. close observation of the phenomena of lunacy, In this stage the first absolute delusions take have authorized the accomplished medical Sup- form and shape. The individual has, in his erintendent to speak with confidence and au- opinion, secret or open enemies who wish to thority. Here is a specimen of Dr. McFar- thwart his designs, to ruin his reputation, or to land's good reasoning. take his life. This opinion he grounds on the most frivolous or absurd reasons. He sometimes arms himself to resist an anticipated attack, or deems his own safety to warrant an at tack on others. Some of the most fearful homi cides found in the annals of the jurisprudence of insanity were committed by such subjects, and under the spur of such delusions. These progressive changes in the case are sometimes the slow operation of months or years. At this stage of the evil an attack of acute mania is not unusual, which at once introduces the paThe subject whom we supposed, is a young tient to the physician of the lunatic hospital. man twenty years of age, whose parentage is The case as it thus presents itself is among from a middle class in society, and whose the most hopeless we are ever called upon to early education is after the strictest model. treat. Even if the commitment to the hospital Phrenologically speaking, his intellectual facul- is before the manifestation of the violent form ties decidedly preponderate the sensual. His of insanity, hardly a hope of cure can be entermuscular system is sparingly developed, his tained; and many altogether question whether skin fair and thin,-in short, he bears on an institution of such a character is ever the his person the marks of what the older proper resort save where public safety is comphysiologist were fond of styling the "nervo- promised. lymphatic" temperament. His mental and The physical evils which attend the undermoral traits correspond with these exterior in- lying cause of all this difficulty have in the dications. He is amiable in his disposition, re- mean time kept pace with the progress of menfined in his tastes, rather imaginative than prac-tal dilapidation. The hair becomes dry and tical in his aims and pursuits; and is altogether falls off; the eye becomes vacant and watery, such a one as parental partiality would destine and the lids are red and tumid; the counte from the family group for one of the learned nance is pale and expressionless; the flesh professions. Those who could be in a position to wastes; the limbs hang loosely to the trunk, watch the first inroad of the evil we contem- the muscles are flaccid, the skin loose and plate, in such a subject, would discover that scurfy; the hands are purple and cold, and the accomplishment of his designs bore small the palms exude a constant viscid sweat. Long comparison to the vividness of thir first concep- periods of utter inaction are sometimes sudtion-that his undertakings, whether literary, denly broken by spells of uncontrollable fury, mechanical, or commercial, broke down in the middle, simply because some newer scheme eclipsed the one in hand when half brought to spending themselves on the nearest object within reach. Finally the wretched object becomes motionless and inert. He rises and sits |