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CHAPTER XVI.

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MEDICAL PROFESSION.

By J. D. Hamilton, M. D.

PHYSICIANS OF THIS GENERATION — QUALIFICATIONS — EXPERIENCES — PIONEER PHYSICIANS — ADVANCE OF THE SCIENCE — SURGERY — HOSPITALS.

I have been requested to write what I know of the medical profession of this county for the last generation, that being the period of my association with it. I came to this county in April, 1883, and my experience has been extensively with the profession. The men who were active in the professions, mercantile and agricultural pursuits, were the men who have made this county the commonwealth that is equal to any in the State.

The physicians who represented the profession were not mediocre nor insignificant; being graduates of the best schools in the Nation, confirmed by experience, were able to cope with the diseases of the county and served their times well. They kept abreast of the times until they responded to their last call; and they loved their profession for its sake. They made their diagnosis and applied their remedies from the clinical aspects of their patients, by close observation and thorough reasoning. They answered their calls on horseback and in buggy. They went, they stayed and determined to fight the divine fiat that all must die; and when the heart ceased to beat and the breath went and came no more, they closed the eyes of their patients and with regret left them with the dear ones. None but a physician knows how he feels. They also have their times for rejoicing and appreciation. When the raging fever subsided, the pulse became regular, the patient was found sleeping and awoke with a little smile and on the road to recovery.

Many are the incidents we could relate as we passed on our way, in and out with our fellow men, women and children. I have in mind a number of older physicians. Dr. J. O. Bugher located on the Whitewater in the early sixties, south of Towanda. Dr. John Homer, who lives in the city of Whitewater, located in Milton township about 1870. Dr. J. A. McGinnis located in Hickory township; Dr. Ensley in Clay township; Dr. Cunningham also located in Clay township, and also practiced in Cowley county. Dr. J. A. McKenzie was perhaps the first man to locate in El Dorado, and for many years was one of the leading physi-

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HISTORY OF BUTLER COUNTY

263

cians of the county. Dr. Gordon, Dr. White, the father of the noted William Allen White; Dr. Hunt, Dr. Fullinwider, Dr. Koogler, Dr. Kuhn and Dr. Miller were El Dorado's earliest physicians. The oldest physicians of Augusta were Drs. Hill, Shirley, Buck, Marshall, Hall and Polk. Those of Leon were Doctors Carlisle, Kline and McKinzie. Dr. Benepe Knote and McGowen, Tucker, Thomas, McCluggage and myself represented the medical profession of Douglass for many years. Dr. Barklow has been in Rose Hill for twenty-five years and perhaps will be there for twenty years more. Dr. Phillips is now located in Beaumont. I am sorry to say that most of them have answered their last call. They represented the medical fraternity and did it well. Doctors Carlisle, Barklow, Hall and Marshall and myself are left and it has fallen on me to tell the story. Why I should be so blest I cannot tell, but I am thankful for the same. Abe Martin said, "What a boy eats between meals is what keeps him from starving to death," and perhaps it is what I eat that has something to do with my being here. Many are the times that we have spared our swords, singly and together, with death, over our patients and have won out at times. We have also been with life and action. We have been with the mother when she breathed for the first time her first born's breath. May the good Providence deal gently with the mothers of the past and the mothers-to-be of Butler county. Mothers are the highest type of womanhood, next to the angels. But what of the present medical faculty of the county? I know all of them personally, and some of them well. I know them to be good and true men, who have the profession at heart and who have profited by our experience and have opportunities and helps that we did not have —Xray, microscope, physological chemistry, morbid anatomy and the hospital. I cannot say too much for the hospital, the strong and steady surgeon, the anesthetic, the antiseptic, the house physician and the nurse, the angel who comes to the sick and suffering with knowledge and skill and their angelic touch and pleasant smile. God bless them and their wrist watch as they remain with you through the long vigils of the night. I am no medical nihilist. I believe in medicine. There is truth in medicines, facts in surgery, and relief to be had in true medicine that is to be had in no other avenue.

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