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Editor: Johanna Peter

FILSON CLUB PUBLICATIONS No. 20

THE HISTORY OF The Medical Department OF Transylvania University

BY DOCTOR ROBERT PETER

Prepared for Publication by his Daughter, MISS JOHANNA PETER Member of The Filson Club

Illustrated

LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY JOHN P. MORTON & COMPANY PRINTERS TO THE FILSON CLUB 1905

COPYRIGHTED BY THE FILSON CLUB and All Rights Reserved 1905

PREFACE In preparing for publication the following sketch of the famous Transylvania Medical Department and its professors, I have placed in foot-notes, as far as practicable, my own additions to the text, so as to avoid making any radical change in my father's manuscript.

JOHANNA PETER.

INTRODUCTION

The late Doctor Robert Peter, one of the most distinguished analytical chemists of his times, was a member of the Medical Faculty of Transylvania University from 1833 to the time of the dissolution of that institution, and afterward occupied chairs in the different colleges into which Transylvania was merged. He was one of the most active of the professors, and did as much as any one else to raise the university to the lofty heights it attained as a school of literature, law, and medicine. It occurred to him after the merger of the Transylvania into the Kentucky University that an institution which had led the way and done so much for literature, law, and medicine should not be permitted to vanish and leave nothing but a name and memory behind. He, therefore, went to work, after the weight of years was gathering fast upon him, to write the history of Transylvania University, and got his work almost finished in 1894, when death, which alone could have arrested him in his undertaking, relieved him of the task at the age of eighty-nine. His daughter, Miss Johanna Peter, with filial affection worthy of so excellent a father, and public spirit equal to the occasion, rightly estimating so good a work if it should be published and put into the hands of the public, undertook to prepare his manuscripts for publication. One of these manuscripts prepared by her embraced the literary department of Transylvania, and was published by The Filson Club in 1896 as its eleventh publication. When this publication was made, it was intimated, if not promised, that it would be followed in the near future by one of the medical department. Miss Peter, therefore, prepared this second manuscript of her father for publication, and The Filson Club now presents it in the pages which follow as the twentieth number in its regular annual series.

The medical department of the Transylvania University no longer exists. Indeed, nothing of the Transylvania University exists except its name. Its learned professors have gone the way of all flesh. The last one of them recently went down to his grave. Its buildings have been swept away by fire or have passed to other institutions with its library and apparatus. Yet all of this renowned University has not passed away. Its fame yet lives, and will not perish while the memory of the living holds sacred the good deeds of predecessors. The distinguished professors made Transylvania University famous, and made history at the same time, and they themselves are now entitled to a place in history. It is the purpose of The Filson Club, by this publication, to assist in securing for them the place they deserve in the memory of mankind. Doctor Peter, the author, was the fittest of men to sketch these professors and to present life pictures of them. His work, however, if it had remained in manuscript, as he left it, would have been seen but by few, and could have done but little good. In this twentieth publication of The Filson Club, the manuscript will make its way to many and present them with likenesses of those who devoted their lives to instructing the young of our land in the art of administering to the sick and afflicted. The author knew all of his contemporary professors, and the likeness which he has given of some of them will be the ones by which they will be known in after years. Pen pictures are sometimes as efficient as likenesses in oil, and the characteristic of Doctor Peter's pictures is fidelity so executed that they seem to be the originals standing in life before us. In a work like this the essence of its history is biographic, and Doctor Peter has made his work to consist chiefly of biographical sketches of those who made Transylvania University what it was. He gives the leading facts in the life of each of the professors he sketches, and enumerates the other colleges in which they occupied chairs, and gives the titles of the works they published either in book form or magazine articles. He omits nothing in the sketch that is necessary in forming a just idea of the character portrayed.

In the long career of Transylvania University she did not fail to make enemies, but she made more friends than enemies to remember her. A few of the living students and the many descendants of the deceased professors and graduates now scattered broadcast over the land will be glad to read what is here said of old Transylvania, and the work will thus be widely known and read. All who see it will be thankful to Doctor Peter for his manuscript, and to Miss Johanna Peter for preparing it for the press, and to The Filson Club for publishing it.

There is in our nature something like the love of the relic which makes us revere the memory of Transylvania University. Early in the year 1799 a medical department was attached to this University which was the first medical college in the great Mississippi Valley and the second in the whole United States. The medical department of the University of Pennsylvania antedated it, but it antedated all others afterward established in any part of our vast domain. We can not, like our English cousins, go back along the pathway of centuries to the colleges of Oxford and Cambridge and revere them for their age; we have nothing in our new country that partakes of such age. We are a young people in a young country, and our Transylvania Medical College was old enough from our standpoint to be crowned with hoary years. We revere it as the first medical college on this side of the Alleghanies. We revere it for the efforts it made to prepare our young physicians to cope with the diseases that afflicted our people. We revere it for the good name it gave our State in the fame it acquired. We revere it for the success of Professor Brown in introducing vaccination in advance of its discoverer, for the brilliant and numerous operations in lithotomy by Professor Dudley, and for the noble efforts of others of its professors in prolonging human life and mitigating its pains. What it did in the day of its glory is set forth in the pages which follow, and he who reads them will hardly doubt that the medical department of Transylvania University is worthy of the record here made for it.

R. T. DURRETT,

PAGE

Doctor Samuel Brown 8

Doctor Benjamin W. Dudley 16

Doctor James Overton 28

Doctor William H. Richardson 32

Daniel Drake, M. D. 40

Charles Caldwell, M. D. 48

Doctor John Esten Cooke 64

Doctor Charles Wilkins Short 80

Doctor Lunsford P. Yandell, Senior 84

Doctor James M. Bush 116

Doctor Ethelbert L. Dudley 132

Doctor Henry Martyn Skillman 144

Transylvania University--Medical Hall 156

Absolom Driver 162

MEDICAL DEPARTMENT

TRANSYLVANIA UNIVERSITY

The history of medicine and of the earliest medical men in Kentucky clusters around the name of TRANSYLVANIA UNIVERSITY.

The State of Virginia, in 1780--when "Kan-tuck-ee" or "Kentuckee," as this country English more than it does Chinese.

In religious matters the Koreans are peculiar in that they may be said to be without a religion, properly speaking. Prior to the advent of the present dynasty, Buddhism reigned, but for 498 years it has been in such disfavor that no priest dare enter a walled city. They still maintain temples in the mountains, but exert but little if any influence. In morals the people are Confucianists, and their reverent devotion to their ancestors may serve in part as a religion. In times of distress they "pray to Heaven," and seem really to be very devoutly inclined.

Christianity came into disfavor through the indiscretion of its early teachers. The distrust is slowly passing away now, and missionaries are openly employed in doing the educational work that must precede any successful attempt to secure the adoption of beliefs so radically different from all existing ideas.

"The nature of Korea's relations with China has for the last thirty years been a puzzle for Western nations. Were they--with the ambiguous utterance of the Chinese Government before them that 'Korea, though a vassal and tributary state of China, was entirely independent so far as her government, religion, and intercourse with foreign States were concerned'--to consider it as an integral part of the Chinese Empire, or should they treat it as a sovereign state, enjoying absolute international rights?

"The problem was practically solved by the conclusion of the treaty between Japan, and later on the United States, and Korea, but this has not materially altered the nature of the relations existing for the last four centuries, at least between China and its so-called vassal. That China has, however, derived profit from the opening of Korea to the commerce of nations, there can be no doubt, for she, too, being at liberty to conclude treaties with Korea and open this new market to her merchants, has done so, like other nations, though she has chosen to call her treaty by the euphonious name of 'commercial and trade regulations for the subjects of China and Korea', and her diplomatic representative in Seoul, 'Minister Resident for political and commercial affairs.' What China's relations with Korea were prior to the opening of the latter kingdom by the treaty of 1883, I propose to show in the following pages, taking as my authorities official Chinese publications and writings of men in official position."

KOREAN TALES.

DESCRIPTIVE.

SEOUL--THE CAPITAL.

As "Paris is France," so Seoul may be said to be Korea, for it is the centre from which nearly every thing for the country either originates or is disseminated. Officers ruling over country districts usually have their "house in town," and expect to spend a portion, at least, of their time within the walls of the capital. While some of the provincial capitals are said to contain more people and to be more celebrated for certain reasons, Seoul is the home of the King and the Mecca of his faithful subjects. A description of this city may, therefore, answer for all. The capital is a city of some 300,000 inhabitants, half of whom, perhaps, live in the extensive suburbs without the walls. It lies in a basin of granite sand, surrounded by high mountains and their projecting ridges, over which climbs the high, thick, encircling wall of masonry; pierced at convenient points by massive, pagoda-roofed gates, amply strong enough for defense against the weapons of war in use at the time of building this great relic of seclusion.

The city is traversed by broad avenues from which runs a perfect labyrinth of narrow streets. Originally none of these streets were less than twenty feet wide, and some of the avenues leading up to the imposing gates of the palaces are even now a good two hundred feet in width. But the streets have all been encroached upon by the little temporary thatched booths of the petty retail dealers, so that, with the exception of the approaches to the palaces, the line is broken, the streets made tortuous, and only here and there a broad open spot indicates the original width of the thoroughfare. Originally every street was furnished with its sewer--open in the smaller streets, while the avenues were drained by great covered sewers of stonework. Occasionally the proprietor of one of the little temporary booths would put a foundation under his structure, bridging over the sewer, until now the streets have in many cases become mere crooked alleys, and but for the bountiful rains, the excellent natural drainage, and the character of the soil, the mortality would be very great instead of being less than in ordinary American cities. No attempt is made towards street decoration, as that would attract the attention of thieves. The magnificent grounds of a nobleman, with their artificial lakes, flower gardens, water-worn pillars of ancient rock and quaintly twisted trees, may be enclosed by a row of tumble-down, smoke-begrimed servant-quarters that would never indicate the beauty to be found hidden within its forbidding exterior.

Travellers never seem to realize that a street in the East is apt to be but a "way" between two points, and as the usual Oriental odors greet their nostrils and their eyes rest on the dirty servants and their dirtier hovels, they at once denounce the whole town.

There is attraction enough, however, in a Korean street for any one who is in search of strange sights. Looking down one of the broad thoroughfares of Seoul from a point on the city wall, the sun's rays, falling on the light-colored gowns of the pedestrians as they saunter along amid the bulls and ponies, produce a kaleidoscopic effect that is certainly charming. Passing down into the throng it will be seen to be made up mostly of men, with here and there a group of common women, each closely veiled with a bright green gown, made like the long outer garment of the men, and possessing little sleeves of crimson. This strange garment is never worn, but is always used as a covering for the fair face. Tradition teaches that in ancient times, when wars were frequent, veils were discarded and these gowns were worn by the wives and sisters, that, in case of sudden call to arms, they could be given to their husbands and brothers to be worn to battle--hence the red sleeves, upon which the gory sword was to be wiped.

The peculiar gauze "stove-pipe" hat of the men, about which so much has been said, also has its origin in tradition, as follows: In ancient days conspiracies were common; to prevent these an edict was issued compelling all men to wear great earthenware hats, the size of an umbrella . This law became very odious, for in addition to the weight of the hats, not more than a very few men could come close enough together to converse, and even then spies could hear their necessarily loud whispering. Little by little, therefore, the law began to be infringed upon till the people got down to the present airy structure of horsehair, silk, and bamboo.

Another story is, that petty wars being too frequent between rival sections, all men were compelled to wear these umbrella hats of clay. In case one became broken the possessor was punished by decapitation--naturally they stopped their fighting and took good care of their hats till the law was repealed.

The custom of wearing white so extensively as they do is also accounted for by tradition. Mourning is a serious business in Korea, for on the death of a father the son must lay aside his gay robes and clothe himself in unbleached cotton of a very coarse texture. He wraps his waist with a rope girdle, and puts on the umbrella hat, which conceals the whole upper portion of his person. For further protection against intrusion he carries a white fan, and, should he smoke, his pipe must be wrapped with white. For three years he must wear this guise and must do no work, so that the resources of even a large and prosperous family may be thus exhausted.

Should a king die, the whole nation would be compelled to don this mourning garb, or rather they would be compelled to dress in white--the mourning color. Once, during a period of ten years, three kings died, necessitating a constant change of dress on the part of the people and a great outlay of money, for a Korean wardrobe is extensive and costly. Tradition has it, therefore, that, to be ready for the caprice of their kings in the future, the people adopted white as the national color.

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