far this prevalence of the complaint is to be attributed to the effect



EMINENT ALUMNI 723

of climate, and how far to accidental or predisposing causes ; or whether
the last year has been in this respect peculiarly unhealthy, can of course
be known only by the inquiries, observations and reports of the sur-
geons stationed there. But it is much to be regretted that one of the
most important duties of an army surgeon, that of investigating the
causes of diseases at the different posts in order to remove them when
possible, or obviate their noxious effects when practicable, should not
be required by our regulations ; and of course not attended to by the
surgeon. Nor has the order requiring every surgeon to keep a record
of the cases under his care been attended to as its importance demands.
A strict attention to these points would not only be of the greatest
benelit in preventing disease, but necessarily render the surgeon better
acquainted with the nature of the complaints that occur, and at the same
time ensure a degree of industry and attention to duty which is sus-
pected to be much required.

" As connected with this subject may be also mentioned the want of i
proper system of Medical Police, and of due attention to existing regula-
tions in relation to it. This is one of the most important duties of the
Medical Staff, is most carefully attended to in other services; and can
only be introduced into ours by long practice. Like many minute duties
of officers of the line, particularly those connected with police and the
interior economy of a camp, they are only to be gradually acquired:
and so incorporated into the regular routine of duty as to be considered
as indespensable as the mere prescription of medicine. An officer of the
line may soon learn the duties of the field, and a surgeon be amply quali-
fied for his profession, and both of them be worse than useless to an
army. It is from a knowledge of minutiae which depend neither upon
General Regulations, nor specific orders, that the experienced officer
and surgeon becomes so much superior to the undisciplined recruit. It
is almost entirely in order to acquire this kind of knowledge, that a
military establishment is kept up in time of peace, and it is an undoubted
fact that in no department of the army is it so slowly acquired and
therefore so deficient as the medical. How severely this was felt during
a great part of the last war is too well and too publickly known to need
comment.

" It is therefore suggested whether such alterations be not required
in the regulations, as are calculated to produce a system of medical
police, which will not only ensure attention to every point of duty at
present, but also in case of war enable the newly appointed surgeon to
learn what he ought to do, without the necessity of trusting to his own
ingenuity and suggestions; and after all his industry finding himself
disbanded just as he begins to understand the most important duties of
his station. Not to mention the many serious disadvantages of bdng
obliged to allow each to adopt his own imperfect system ; or the waste



724 HARVARD MEDICAL SCHOOL

of time and men and money while he is making his experiments. For
there can be little doubt that where one man has died from improper
medical treatment, ten have been destroyed from want of a knowledge
of the many duties peculiar to an army surgeon.

" To effect this purpose it should be made the duty of every surgeon
and mate having the charge of a hospital, together with his quarterly
report to the head-quarters of the division, to transmit an account of the
local situation of his station, of the climate, the diseases most prevalent
in the vicinity, and their probable causes, the state of the weather during
the time reported with respect to temperature ; wind, rain, etc. ; to
state at large the general symptoms of the complaints among the troops,
as well as every peculiarity of disease; to investigate and as far as
possible report their causes; the means employed to obviate them with
the success ; as well as the practice adopted and the result.

" To this end he should not only keep a prescription book containing
a daily account of the symptoms and circumstances of each patient in
every important case; ihe medicines prescribed and the result of his
practice; but also one in which should be stated everything directed to
the diet and regimen ; as the quality and quantity of food allowed, the
mode in which it is prepared, etc. By the former the mate or apothecary
should prepare the medicines ; and it would also be a correct voucher for
their proper expenditure; and by the latter the steward deliver the allow-
ance of hospital store, etc. ; and this would be a voucher for what he had
expended. The surgeon should also keep a diary of the weather ; noting
in it whatever may be supposed to produce or vary the forms of disease.
By a reference to these, the surgeon in his quarterly reports, instead of
a mere list of names usually made out by the steward, would be enabled
to give such an account of the diseases that had occurred, their causes
and hi-: treatment, as would be the best possible criterion not only of
his medical abilities, but also of his industry and attention to duty. And
besides this, an abstract of these reports would soon enable the surgeon
at head-quarters to furnish what is much wanted at present, and what
can only be effectually supplied in this way, viz. : a system of med-
ical police and army practice suited to the deseases incident to the
troops at the several posts in the division ; and at the same time of
suggesting such means of preventing these complaints as the experience
of the different surgeons may have found most beneficial, under different
circumstances of time and place. It is in this way that the most useful
practical works have been produced.

" In order to insure attention to these things and also to the manner
in which the inferior but not less important offices of the hospital are
performed, it is also proposed that the surgeon attached to the head-
quarters of the division be made ' Inspector of Hospitals.' It has long
been observed that none but one of the medical staff can be competent



EMINENT ALUMNI 725

to this duty. The Inspector General and commanding officer can only
determine whether the hospital and its furniture appear neat and clean,
and the surgeon make his regular visits. But in every thing relating
to the duties peculiar to his station, the surgeon is at present left entirely
to his own sense of propriety. He is the only officer who is not in
some way or other responsible for the mode in which his various duties
are performed, and strictly accountable for the public property entrusted
to. his care. To this cause is no doubt to be attributed the many com-
plaints continually, and too often justly, made against the medical
department, particularly in active service, both on account of neglect of
duty and waste of property.

' In addition therefore to the duties assigned a Medical Director, the
surgeon attached to the head-quarters of a division should be authorized
to call for and receive from the respective surgeons and mates such
returns and reports relative to the situation, climate, weather, etc., at the
different posts, as may be calculated to ascertain the causes of disease,
and the best practical means of preventing it. And also such an account
of the symptoms in every important case, the remedies prescribed, and
regimen observed as may be requisite to elucidate the nature of the
prevailing complaints, and the most efficient mode of treating them.

"He should consolidate the quarterly reports; and make such remarks
and suggest such improvements both in practice and police, as may appear
to be required for the benefit and comfort of the sick. He should from
time to time inspect the hospital; examine the books and accounts of
the steward and zuardmaster; enquire into the manner in which every
duty is performed ; and see that all the regulations, both professional and
those relating to police are properly attended to ; by a strict examina-
tion of the prescription book, judge of the medical abilities of the attend-
ing surgeon, and ascertain that there has been a proper expenditure of
medicine; from the diet book which should contain the quantity and
quality of the food and liquor daily allowed to each patient, see that
there has been a proper application of the hospital stores; and make
such communications to the Apothecary General on the subject as may
appear necessary and proper. And finally from his own observations,
and from the reports and the accompanying remarks of the surgeon,
to form a manual of medical police and practice suited to the circum-
stances of the soldier; and to make such reports to the commanding
general of the medical abilities, industry, fidelity, etc., of the respect ive
surgeons, as his information from all these sources might warrant.

" Were some plan of this nature adopted, and the above-mentioned
duties faithfully attended to, it is believed the good effects would soon
be apparent ; and that they would be as permanent as they were obvious,

"Joseph Lovell,
"Hospital Surgeon. U. S. Army.'



726 HARVARD MEDICAL SCHOOL

Congress spent a great part of the session of 18 17-18 in
discussing the provisions of a Bill for regulating the General
Staff of the Army. This bill was passed finally, May 14, 18 18.
Section II reads "And be it further enacted, That there shall
be one Surgeon General with a salary of two thousand five
hundred dollars per annum, one assistant surgeon general with
the emoluments of a hospital surgeon * * * and that the
number of post surgeons be increased not to exceed eight
to each division."

For the position of Surgeon General thus created, Joseph
Lovell was selected, his appointment being dated April 18th,
1 8 18. He was not then thirty years old, but "the ability he
had shown in charge of the general hospital at Burlington,
and when serving with Generals Scott and Brown on the
northern frontier, and his appreciation of the wants of the
army, evinced by his able reports on various subjects con-
nected therewith, designated him as the fittest person to as-
sume the organization of the new department, and his appoint-
ment gave great satisfaction both to the army at large and to
the Medical Staff."* Surgeon General Lovell immediately
set about his work, and the following order was issued by the

War Department :

"Adjutant and Inspector General's Office,
"General Orders. A P ril 21, 1818.

" All reports, returns and communications connected with the Medical
Department will hereafter be made to the Surgeon General's Office at
Washington.

" All orders and instructions relative to the duties of the several
officers of the Medical Staff, will be issued through the Surgeon General,
who will be obeyed and respected accordingly.

" The Assistant Surgeons General will forthwith commence the inspec-
tion of the Medical Department in their respective divisions agreeable to
the instructions they may receive from the Surgeon General.

"By order " D. Parker

"Adjutant and Inspector General."

*"The Medical Department of the United States Army," 1775-1873.
by Harvey E. Brown, Assistant Surgeon, U. S. Army.



EMINENT ALUMNI 727

The revision of the Medical Regulations was the first sub-
ject undertaken by the new Surgeon General. In carrying
out this revision, Lovell determined to incorporate the views
expressed in his letter to General Jacob Brown. These regu-
lations have since served as the model for all changes made
in our army regulations. The system of placing responsibility
upon the individual surgeon for the property of the govern-
ment intrusted to his care was the principal reason for the
reduction of the per capita appropriation from $7 per annum
to $3 for each man in the service.

In 1818 Lovell made a report to Congress, and in it he
urged many recommendations for the further improvement
of the Medical Department. This he did at the request of
J. C. Calhoun, then Secretary of War. In consequence of
further urging by Lovell, Congress passed an Act, May 8th,
1820, in which the Apothecary General and his assistant were
required to give bonds to the United States for the faithful
performance of their duties. These duties had in part been
performed by the Commissary General of Purchases, and had
been the object of severe criticism.

An Act of Congress reducing the size of the army was
passed March 2, 182 1. In the reorganization which ensued,
the Medical Department fared badly. Lovell made many
efforts to raise the medical standard by instituting examina-
tions for all applicants for appointments as assistant surgeons.
He also tried to have the emoluments for the different grades
increased and graduated. Nothing resulted from these efforts
until June, 1834, when a bill "Increasing and regulating the
pay of the Surgeons and Assistant Surgeons of the Army"
was passed. The correction of the abuses and deficiencies in
the old organization was necessarily slow, but Lovell kept
memorializing the Congress, and his quarterly reports never
failed to express strongly the necessity for further changes.
The medical officers found in him a sincere and persistent



728 HARVARD MEDICAL SCHOOL

advocate of justice in the increased duties which the changing
conditions brought with them. In the discussion in Congress,
during 1829 and 1830, upon the reduction of expenses of the
army, Lovell not only protested against any reduction of the
number of medical officers, but advocated an increase in their
number. Here is his letter upon the subject :

" Surgeon General's Office,
" Hon. J. H. Eaton, 9 January, 1830.

" Secretary of War :
"Sir: In reply to your letter of the seventh inst., enclosing the copy of
a resolution of the Committee on Retrenchments, I beg leave to state that
any reduction of the number or compensation of the surgeons and
assistant surgeons of the army is deemed inexpedient, as the necessity
of an increase of their number, and the equity of an increase of their
compensation, has been fully stated in reports heretofore made to the
Department ; and it is understood that a bill for these purposes has
been recently reported to the House of Representatives. . . . "

Six months later Lovell sent a second communication to
the Secretary of War, showing "that notwithstanding a very
considerable increase in the number of military posts and sta-
tions, the number of medical officers is less than it has been
at any period within the last ten years." A long investiga-
tion resulted in the Secretary of War reporting that 'The
Surgeon General of the Army might be dispensed with," and
making further recommendations, which Lovell was able to
demonstrate in a rejoinder were all founded upon wrong in-
formation or upon inaccurate data. As a result of this state-
ment by Lovell, the Military Committee of the House decided
that the circumstances demanded an increase rather than a
reduction of the Medical Staff. This resulted in the passage,
June 28th, 1832, of an Act, "That the President be, and he
is hereby authorized by and with the advice and consent of
the Senate, to appoint four additional surgeons and ten addi-
tional surgeon's mates in the army of the United States."

In the Black Hawk war, or "Cholera campaign," as that



EMINENT ALUMNI 729

affair came to be called, the demand for surgeons proved the
wisdom of Lovell's course, and in response to his appeal Con-
gress passed an Act (July 4th, 1836) adding three surgeons
and five assistant surgeons to the roster of the Medical Staff
of the Army.

One of the last official acts of Surgeon General Lovell was
to submit a report on June 4th, 1836, in which he pointed out
the necessity for an increase in the Medical Corps. The ex-
acting duties of his office had already affected seriously his
constitution, and he survived the death of his wife but a short
time. He died October 17th, 1836. The "National Intelli-
gencer" of Washington said of him : "It rarely falls to our
lot to record the death of one whose loss to the community
and the profession, both military and civil, of which he was
a distinguished member, is so deeply and widely spread as the
untimely exit of Doctor Joseph Lovell, late Surgeon General
of the Army." Brown says of him : "The greatness of the
loss to the army, and especially to the corps which he may
almost be said to have brought into being, can hardly be exag-
gerated. Throughout his official career he had gained the
universal respect, admiration and affection of all with whom
he was associated. His predominant characteristics were a
strong sense of the dignity of his position and of the profes-
sion to which he belonged, and a gentleness of demeanor in
all his relations both official and personal with the subordi-
nate officers of the Medical Staff. * * * In his corre-
spondence with the officers of his Department, no one could
be more gentle and even tender ; * * * his good service
extended to every branch and department of the army. It
was through his efforts that the whiskey ration was finally
abolished ; by his representations that Congress passed the
bill by which obnoxious officers were weeded out through the
agency of a board of examination; that the rations and the
clothing of the soldiers were improved, post hospitals built on



730 HARVARD MEDICAL SCHOOL

a rational principle, and officers held to a strict accountability
for their treatment of the sick and the expenditure of supplies.
In all his relations, whether as Christian philanthropist, pro-
found scholar, skilful surgeon, experienced officer or true-
hearted gentleman, he was one of whom the Medical Staff
may always be proud and the memory of whose good life is
written on every page of its history."

In 1842 the officers of the Medical Corps testified their
appreciation of his services by the erection of a handsome
monument over his grave in the Congressional Cemetery at
Washington.

WALTER CHANNING.

Walter Channing was born in Newport, Rhode Island.
April 15th, 1786. He was a brother of the famous William
Ellery Channing, and of Professor Edward T. Channing.*

Walter Channing entered Harvard College in 1804. Dur-
ing his junior year he was concerned in the Students' Rebel-
lion, and had to leave college. He received his A. B. in 1867.
He studied medicine in Boston, Philadelphia, Edinburgh and
London; and in the last two places paid special attention to
Obstetrics. His M. D. (ad eun.) was received from Harvard
in 1812. Fie was M. D. of the University of Pennsylvania
in 1809. Upon bis return to this country, Channing began
the practice of medicine in Boston. This was in 1812. and
on May loth, 1815, he was elected Lecturer in Midwifery,
entering the Medical Faculty with Jacob Bigelow, at the same
meeting at which John C. Warren was appointed to succeed
his father as Professor of Anatomy and Surgery. Chan-
ning's lectureship was made a full Professorship of Obstetrics



* William Ellery Channing, A. B., 1798, A. M., 1802; S. T. D., 1820.
Fellow, Dexter Lecturer.

Edward T. Channing, LL. D., 1847 ; Boylston Professor Rhetoric and
Elocution, Harvard, 1S10-1851.



EMINENT ALUMNI 731

and Medical Jurisprudence three years later, and was held by
him until 1854. He was Dean of the Medical School from
1819 to 1847. In 1821 he became assistant to James Jackson
as visiting physician to the Massachusetts General Hospital.
He served twenty years on the staff of that hospital. When
the Boston Lying-in Hospital was founded (1832) Channing,
with Storer and Charles G. Putnam, were the physicians to
whom its care was entrusted.

When Channing entered practice, midwifery was in a low
state of development compared with what we now see it, but
he had the best knowledge then obtainable abroad, and so
became very valuable to American obstetrics. On account
of his special training, as well as from his personal charm, he
was soon a great favorite both professionally and socially.
He had a mind brilliant, apt, forceful and discursive. This
last quality was a not infrequent cause of an underestimation
of his power of concentration. New things appealed forcibly
to him. He was a true Bostonian : one of those men for whom
some have called Boston the " Modern Athens."

Channing had a native wit which added to his success as a
teacher. He was extremely popular with younger physicians,
to whom he was always loyal and helpful. In public affairs
he was active, and there were few local movements of philan-
thropy, of reform, and of educational and social progress in-
augurated during his active life that do not bear witness to
his zeal and enthusiasm. His best known publications were
"Etherization in Childbirth," "Reform in Medical Science,"
and his addresses on "Prevention of Pauperism," and on the
necessity for introducing pure water into Boston.

When the "New England Medical Journal" was started,
Channing was one of its supporters. He was one of the com-
mittee of five (Jackson, Channing, Bigelow, Gorham and
Warren) who collected and edited the various articles. This
publication was a great aid to the medical school, as well as



732 HARVARD MEDICAL SCHOOL

a valuable vehicle for the conveyance of medical knowledge
to the profession. The editorship finally passed into the hands
of Channing and John Ware. These two were its sole editors
at the time of its expansion (1828) into the "Boston Medical
and Surgical Journal/' Channing furnished the reports of
medical cases at the Massachusetts General Hospital and at
the Boston Lying-in Hospital. In the Massachusetts Medical
Society, Channing was Librarian from 1822 to 1825, and
Treasurer 1828-1840. He gave the address of 1833, his sub-
ject being "Irritable Uterus.'' He also read an article on
"Cases of inflammation of the veins with remarks on the sup-
posed identity of phlebitis and phlegmasia dolens," before the
Society. He was a member of the American Academy of
Arts and Sciences. He died in Brookline, Massachusetts, July
27th, 1876, at the age of ninety.



JOHN WARE.

John Ware was born at Hingham, Massachusetts, Decem-
ber 18, 1795. His father was a minister there, and afterwards
Hollis Professor of Theology at Harvard. John Ware en-
tered Harvard when barely thirteen years old, and was gradu-
ated A. B. in 1813. He began the study of medicine with
John Gorham, and had as a fellow student John Homans
(A. B. 1812). Ware took his medical degree also at Har-
vard in 18 1 6, and immediately entered upon practice at Dux-
bury, Massachusetts. Later he moved to Boston, where he
practiced until his death. When James Jackson asked the
Corporation to give him an assistant in his duties as Hersey
Professor of Theory and Practice of Physic, they established
the position of Adjunct Professor in his department, and
elected Ware to it, January 19, 1832. Upon the resignation
of Jackson in 1836, Ware was elected (June 16, 1836) to the
professorship. He held it until July 31, 1858.



EMINENT ALUMNI 733

During this stewardship, Ware won the love, confidence
and esteem of the community. Beginning life under hard
circumstances, and forced for many years to struggle for a
start, he finally succeeded in building up a great reputation
and a great practice. He became a writer and a teacher, and
was a laborious practitioner. In 1828 he became editor of
the "Boston Medical and Surgical Journal," and for some
time, with Channing, conducted the journal. Both men had
previously been associated with Warren, Gorham, Bigelow,
Jackson, and Hayward in the "New England Medical Jour-
nal," and it was this connection no doubt which led to his
selection as Jackson's assistant and successor in the Medical
School. Ware's connection with the founding of the "Boston
Medical and Surgical Journal" is told by himself:

" In 1824 the editorship of the ' New England Journal ' passed into
the Hands of Dr. Channing and myself. The subscription was small,
and the work hardly paid its way. We thought of giving it up in 1827,
but the plan was then suggested of uniting its list with the ' Medical
Intelligencer,' then conducted by Dr. John G. Coffin. Dr. John C. War-
ren united with us in purchasing that journal; and the 'Boston Medical
and Surgical Journal ' was begun under our joint charge. I forget
how long we continued it, but we found it not only laborious, but a
losing concern, and we disposed of the whole to Mr. Cotton. I could
not at the time assume any pecuniary risk, and Dr. Warren accord-
ingly took two-thirds of it ; and, as an offset, I performed the quarter