Happy New Year!

 Happy New Year!

Happy Holidays!

 From Everyone at MedChi and
 the Center for a Healthy Maryland

Laying Flowers

Wednesday, November 24, 2021 was a blustery sunny day, but we don't have a record of what the weather was like on the day that Marcia Noyes was buried at Baltimore's historic Green Mount Cemetery 75 years ago. 

M.J. Tooey, past winner of the Noyes Award at the Medical Library Association, and current head of the Health Sciences and Human Services Library at the University of Maryland, and I met at Green Mount Cemetery to lay flowers on Marcia's grave on the 75th Anniversary of her death. 

We know that the members of the Faculty frequently gave Marcia bouquets of flowers for small favors that she did for them. There are cards from Sir William Osler and others in her files noting flowers that they'd sent to her. 

It's only fitting that bouquets of flowers are the way we memorialize Marcia Crocker Noyes today, both by giving a bouquet of flowers to the winner of the Noyes Award, and commemorating the date of her death. 

Happy Thanksgiving!

 The staff at MedChi, along with Marcia Noyes, 
wish you a very Happy Thanksgiving. 

We all know that Marcia is a "sturdy girl" and here she is, leading her Thanksgiving dinner right to the table. And afterwards, she'll make a pumpkin pie from her carriage!

Marcia's Anniversary Updated

In my last post, I mentioned that we will be meeting at Baltimore's historic Green Mount Cemetery to commemorate the 75th Anniversary of the death of Marcia C. Noyes. 

In anticipation of this, I made a reconnaissance mission to the Cemetery this morning, so I could be sure where her grave is located. 

To enter the cemetery, you must either call them (the number is conveniently located on the front gate) or buzz them. The gates will open and you can drive in. The gates are not as narrow as they look!

The easiest thing is for everyone to meet just inside the cemetery a little before 11:00, and then we can all drive over together. Her grave is located in the north-east quadrant of the property. 

If you come in after we've left to drive over to the grave-site, the staff will give you directions to her grave. Once you get close, you should see cars parked near-by. 

The instructions I got were to drive up the drive about 100+ feet, take a left and then follow the stone wall around until you come to a long stretch of the wall along your left. It's just beyond that. There is a tall angel and two huge yew (or similar) bushes. 

Marcia's family's graves are to the left of the big bushes. Once you find it once, it's easy to find again. But having cars parked close by will be a big clue.

I will be leaving my office at about 10:45, so email me before then if you have any questions. 

We will look forward to seeing you at 11:00 on November 24 to celebrate the life of Marcia Noyes!

Marcia's Anniversary

I recently realized that the 75th Anniversary of the death of our beloved Marcia Crocker Noyes is fast approaching. She died on Sunday, November 24, 1946 at Eudowood Sanatorium in Towson.

She had been ill for several months, and the 50th anniversary party the members wanted to throw for her had to be moved from November to April. 

On Wednesday, November 24, 2021, weather permitting, we will be gathering at her grave at Baltimore's Greenmount Cemetery at 11:00 a.m. to leave flowers on her grave and pay our respects to her. Much of what MedChi is today is as a result of Marcia's work over 50 years, from 1896 to 1946. 

If you would like to join us for this commemoration and celebration, please email me here for more specific details. 

After all of these years, Marcia is still a part of MedChi!

A Brief Tour

On October 31, MedChi participated in the annual Doors Open Baltimore as the final event. If you think for a second, there was a reason for that... it was Halloween and we have a ghost!

Most of the events for this year's Doors Open were virtual, with only a very few being live, with the caveats of a limited audience and vaccine cards being presented at the venue. Sixteen people snatched up the limited spaces and met at the headquarters of MedChi in Mount Vernon. 

As I gave the tour, I talked about the history of the organization, our buildings and how we acquired them,  key players in medicine, the portraits, and much more. 

But since it was Halloween, I also talked about our ghost, Marcia Crocker Noyes, an accomplished woman who worked at the Faculty for 50 years, from 1896 to her death in 1946. 

Most of the stories are told with a hint of laughter and the feeling that this can't possibly be real, but after hearing story after story over the 75 years since Marcia's death, we can't help but think that her ghost does indeed inhabit our building.

All of the stories are benign, none are malicious, and mostly, they are of glimpses of a person, who on second glance, is not there, or of things being moved, or of footsteps on the stairs up to the apartment where Marcia lived from 1909 when the building was constructed until her death in 1946. 

According to an article in the Brickbuilder Magazine, circa 1912, the apartment had a living room, dining room, kitchen, two bedrooms and a bath, and a servant's room and bath. The apartment was also home to Marcia's two chow-chow dogs, including this one called LiLi. 

Several months before her death in November of 1946, a reception was held in Marcia's honor at the Faculty's building on Cathedral Street. 

As Dr. Albert Chatard said at Marcia's retirement about the building they'd created, "Miss Noyes created a reality of the hopes and dreams Dr. Osler formulated while he was at Hopkins… On this foundation, she worked constantly, before and after he left Baltimore, as his understudy to create an atmosphere both effective and genial, so that people would like to come to the building… and would feel that interesting and important things were going on under its roof."

But she was very important and interesting in her own right. For more on the many accomplishments of Marcia Noyes, please click here. 

Happy Halloween!

Marcia and the Staff at MedChi wish everyone a 

Happy Halloween!

Call for Nominations: Margret Zassenhaus Award

H. Margret Zassenhaus was was born in Hamburg, Germany in 1916.  She moved to Baltimore in 1952. She is best known for her work against the Nazis prior to and during World War II.  Her first act of defiance was as a schoolgirl when she refused to salute Hitler as ordered.   

During the years that followed the war, she earned a degree in Scandinavian languages while taking medical classes at the same time. After completing her studies, she was hired by the German Department of Justice to censor mail written by Jews in Polish ghettos to friends and relatives in Scandinavia.  She used this opportunity to pursue her work against the Nazis. Instead of deleting passages from the letters, she wrote messages in the margins asking for help and offering hope.

In 1952, Dr. Zassenhaus immigrated to Baltimore, where she served her internship and residency at City Hospital. She opened a medical office in 1954, practicing for many years before retiring.

She received the A. H. Robins Award for outstanding community service in 1986 from the Medical and Chirurgical Faculty of Maryland, and honorary degrees from Western Maryland College (now McDaniel College), Goucher College, the College of Notre Dame of Maryland, Washington College, Towson State University (now Towson University) and the University of Maryland, College Park.*

There is a plaque in her honor at the historic Zion Lutheran Church just across from City Hall in downtown Baltimore. 

On the occasion of Dr. Zassenhaus's death in 2004, MedChi and many of her friends created the Margret Zassenhaus Profile in Courage Award. MedChi is now soliciting nominations for this award, and the criteria are as follows:

1. To recognize actions related to exemplary conduct and improvement in health care delivery.
2. To recognize actions involving some risk to the physician’s professional or personal status for the good of patient care.
3. To recognize actions of social significance in keeping with the MedChi and AMA Principles of Medical Ethics.
4. The award should be given to a Maryland physician.

The nomination should meet the following requirements:

1. The nomination be made by a MedChi member.
2. The nomination should be accompanied by a letter of nomination stating how the actions of the nominee meet the criteria.
3. There be at least one additional letter of support from a Maryland physician stating how the nominee exemplifies the intent of the award.

In evaluating nominees, preference will be given to nominees who are MedChi members, nominees who were not compensated for the recognized activities, and for actions done in the state of Maryland. 

We ask that you keep in mind, especially at this time when people in medicine have been so heroic taking care of COVID patients, anyone who you would think would be worthy of the Zassenhaus Award. Please send nominations here.

*Maryland Women's Hall of Fame Biography

Annual Ethics Lecture at House of Delegates Meeting

Just when we thought it was safe to have in-person meetings again, the Delta variant raised its ugly head and put a stop to all of that. So, the 434th House of Delegates meeting has moved from being in-person to a Zoom meeting. 

As part of the House meeting, the Ethics and Judicial Affairs Committee is presenting the Annual Ethics Lecture, To Mandate or Not to Mandate: The Ethics of Vaccinations, generously supported by Dr. & Mrs. Thomas E. Allen. The lecture will take place from 9:00 to 10:00 a.m. on Saturday, November 6, 2021.

Click to enlarge

Please click here to register. 

A "New" Book for Our Collection

I am a massive fan of auctions, having started to attend them while I lived in England and Wales. I could find china and silver there for so much less than in the US, that I attended every auction I could. When I returned to the US, much sooner than anticipated, I needed to furnish a house, so it was off to the auctions I went.

I get regular updates from the local and regional auction houses, and when two small books came up, and mentioned that they were related to early Maryland medicine, I had to check them out. 

The first book is by MedChi Founder Gustavus Richard Brown. But the question is, which Gustavus Richard Brown. We have two founders with the same name, born three years apart, attending medical school in Edinburgh, and from adjoining counties. One's grandfather was the father of the other. I have a suspicion that this is the Charles County GRB. 

Brown's book is titled "Disputatio Physica Inauguralis de Ortu Animalium Caloris" and it's written in Latin. The title translates as "A Physical Essay on the Rising Heat of Animals." It was published in Edinburgh in M,DCC,LXVIII. Honestly, I probably won't be reading this one. 

This one of what look to be acknowledgement pages.

On the title page, there is a small poem which reads:

E tenebris tentis tam clarum extollere lumen. Qui primus potuifli, artifque arcana retesti. Te, Cullene, fequir, nostrum decus, inque uis nunc, Fixa pedum pono primis vesligia signis 

Which translates as: 

From the darkness, you are temped to lift up so bright a light, Who was the first to discover the secrets, I ask you? Cullene, our beauty, and now you want to. I am laying my footsteps, fixed on my feet with the first signs.  

This Dr. Brown was said to have been at the bedside of George Washington when he died.  

The second book was by George Fordyce, titled "Fordyce on the Digestion of Food," which, luckily, was published in English in M,DCC,XCI, so I can do a little light reading. It's about 5x8 inches and 203 pages. Both books have been re-bound. 

George Fordyce was a distinguished Scottish physician, lecturer on medicine and chemist who was a Fellow of the Royal Society and the Royal College of Physicians. He was a dining eccentric, eating one meal of meat everyday at 4:00 p.m. at Dolly's Chophouse in London. 

From the Epicure's Almanac (1815):

"At this house the ingenious anatomist and chemical lecturer, Dr. George Fordyce, dined every day for more than twenty years. His research in comparative anatomy had led him to conclude that man, through custom, eats oftener than nature requires, one meal a day being sufficient for that noble animal, the lion. He made the experiment on himself at this, his favorite house, and finding it succeeded, he continued the following regimen for the term above mentioned.

At four o'clock, his accustomed hour of dining, he entered, and took his seat at a table always reserved for him, on which were instantly placed a silver tankard full of strong ale; a bottle of port wine, and a measure containing a quarter pint of brandy. The moment the waiter announced him, the cook put a pound and a half of rump steak on the gridiron, and on the table a delicate trifle as a bon bouche, to serve until the steak was ready. This morsel was sometimes half a broiled chicken, sometimes a plate of fish: when he had eaten this, he took one glass of his brandy, and then proceeded to devour his steak. We say devour, because he always ate so rapidly that one might imagine that he was hurrying away to a patient, to deprive death of a dinner.

When he had finished his meat, he took the remainder of his brandy, having, during his dinner, drunk the tankard of ale, and afterwards the bottle of port. He thus daily spent an hour and a half of his time, and then returned to his house in Essex Street, to give his six-o'clock lecture on chemistry. He made no other meal until his return next day at four o'clock to Dolly's."

It is fascinating to find these relics of our earliest days. 

Mount Vernon Interiors Show at the Garrett-Jacobs Mansion

Baltimore's Mount Vernon Place is famous for the beauty of its exterior architecture, but the interiors in the area are also stunning. This fall, the Garrett-Jacobs Mansion Endowment Fund, Baltimore Heritage, the Mount Vernon Place Conservancy and the Engineers Club invite you to virtually view - and bid on - artwork featuring some of the area's most beautiful interiors. 

But you might ask, what does this have to do with MedChi? Well, Dr. Henry Barton Jacobs was very active at the Faculty in the years before and after the new century. Before he married the wealthy Mary Frick Garrett, Dr. Jacobs was one of the "latch-keyers" who lived in the house adjacent to Dr. Osler, under whom Dr. Jacobs studied. Both men married later in life. 

Dr. and Mrs. Jacobs were very close friends of Dr. and Mrs. William Osler. They traveled together many times, and lots of notes between the two couples still exist. Dr. Jacobs is mentioned dozens of times in Harvey Cushing's "Life of William Osler" and Cushing relates many anecdotes from Osler and Jacob's friendship.  In fact, many of Dr. Jacobs' letters were used in the second of Cushing's two books on Osler. 

Dr. Osler and Dr. Jacobs in Paris with a group of physicians.

In one passage, Dr. Osler says how much he is looking forward to meeting up with his friend while Jacobs is in London for the coronation of King George V, as well as for an important auction. At another time, Cushing writes about the two men, along with Revere Osler, on a fishing adventure in Scotland. 

On the occasion of Dr. Osler's death in 1919, Dr. Jacobs commissioned a bronze in the likeness of Dr. Osler, to be cast by one of the leading foundries in Paris. 

Our good friend, Dr. Charley Bryan wrote a great article about the friendship of these two powerful and influential men for the National Institutes of Health. 

For more information on the art show and sale, please click here. 

A Little MedChi Sketch

I have a friend whose hobby is to do quick ink and watercolor sketches of buildings around Baltimore, among other cities. Recently, this little sketch popped up on his Instagram account, so I thought I'd share it with you. 

Here are some of Jerome's other Baltimore sketches.

To follow Jerome on Instagram, please click here. 

The Many Faces of Thomas H. Buckler

Thomas Hepburn Buckler was a renaissance man in the mid-1860's. Although he was a physician, his biography in the Medical Annals of Maryland (1799-1899) doesn't have the requisite date of achieving membership at the Faculty. 

Possibly, this is because he was living abroad for a significant amount of time, especially the years of the Civil War. Dr. Buckler was the second husband of Eliza "Didy" Ridgely White (1828-1894), a member of the Ridgely family who owned more than 10,000 acres of land just north of Baltimore, as well as the spectacular Hampton Mansion. 

Dr. Buckler was said to be a man of "striking personal appearance and much sought after on account of his brilliant conversational powers and wit." He and Didy had one son, William Hepburn Buckler, who is remembered as a scholar, lawyer and diplomat. He was born while the Bucklers lived in Paris. 

Over the weekend, I was visiting old churches in Baltimore County with a friend who is researching them and literally stumbled across this tomb-stone. Both father and son are buried at the cemetery at the historic St. Thomas Church in Garrison, Maryland.

Anyway... for all of the time he spent away from Baltimore, and for the fact that he probably wasn't actually a member of the Faculty, we have at least three depictions of him - two oil portraits and one marble bust. 

The most well-known portrait is Julius LeBlanc Stewart's portrait of Buckler. You can read all about the subject and the artist here. This portrait was painted when Buckler lived in Paris between 1866-1890. 

The second portrait is by Louis Dieterich, a Baltimore-based painter. This was probably painted upon Buckler's return to Baltimore, after 1890.

The marble bust is by William Henry Rinehart, a noted sculptor from Baltimore who lived in Rome during the 1870's. The bust is signed and dated 1868, which is handy. 

Additionally, there is a notation in the 1958 catalogue of Rinehart's works of the provenance of this bust, which traces it from TH Buckler to his son, to the Faculty. 

So, I guess my next bit of sleuthing is to search the old medical journals and see when and why we acquired these pieces.

MedChi's Founding Fathers

In his Medical Annals of Maryland (1799-1899), Eugene Cordell  paints a descriptive picture of the first official meeting of the Medical & Chirurgical Faculty, which took place on June 3, 1799: 

Of the meeting for organization held at Annapolis in accordance with the provisions of the charter June 3, 1799, we have but a bare recital of results - the names of officers elected, and members of the Boards of Examiners of the two Shores, constitution and by-laws, and resolutions. These meagre details but whet our appetites for further knowledge, but there is no means of obtaining it, unless some at-present unknown letter or manuscript can be found to supply it.

Considering the circumstances, it is altogether likely that the meeting was held in one or other of the legislative halls at the Capitol. It may be in the historic Senate Chamber where Congress had sat so recently, and Washington resigned his commission and read his ever-memorable farewell address. 

There, we may fancy the 101 founders preparing to sit in council, grave and reverend seigniors, deliberate in act and speech, still clad in the antique-style wig, queue, frilled shirt, high-necked coat with large brass buttons, knee breeches, stockings, shoe buckles, and not least, the gold-headed cane.

The first to enter, we will suppose, is the Baltimore delegation who arrived by the morning coach. The Eastern Shore doubtless furnished its full quota coming by sailboat across the Bay. Having alighted from coach and stage, having disembarked from vessels which lay moored in the Severn, and having dismounted from their horses, we can imagine them assembling for the business before them. 

These appear to have been the leaders in this remarkable assemblage of eminent and representative physicians and surgeons of Maryland.

A short time is doubtless spent in greetings and congratulation upon the success of their long efforts to obtain legislation and the prospect of usefulness which now unfolds before them. A temporary chairman is chosen and the convention then proceeds to the election of permanent officers... 

The Founders were a diverse bunch, and over the last few months, I've taken time to research them all. For some of them, there are volumes of information, but for others, just a sentence. 

I began my search by looking at their biographies in the Medical Annals of Maryland, and for subsequent biographical information the Annals or the Maryland Medical Journals provided. From there, I went to Google and searched on the name and the county which they represented. That led me to places as varied as Find-A-Grave, family histories, the Maryland Historical Society, the Maryland State Archives, and my personal favorite, MEDUSA, Maryland's Cultural Resource Information System. 

Each site helped me glean tidbits of information which, when added together, gave me a fuller picture of the Founders than the Annals could provide. I read about who they married, their families, and where they lived. I laughed at humorous incidents, was saddened by hard lives, and befuddled by the two founders whose familial relationship was so confusing I had to graph it out. 

As I worked, I decided to organize the Founders by the county they represented in 1799. At that time, there were fewer counties than there are now, and two cities, Annapolis and Baltimore City, each had their own delegations. The delegations comprised three to five members. 

Now that the research has been completed, it has been added to this blog. Just below the header image, you will find a section entitled "The Founders" and when you click on that, it will take you to a page with each of the counties listed. When you click on the county's name, you will see the biographies of that its delegates.

I hope that you will take a few minutes now and then to read about our Founding Members and think of the time in which they lived and what they accomplished in establishing an organization that lives more than 200 years later.

MedChi has a long history, and we need to look at our earliest members in the context of their time, and not ours. We believe that these biographies should be read as historical summaries of lives in the early years of both our country and our organization. 

In Memory of Julian (Jack) Lapides

The History of Medicine in Maryland Committee, and the city of Baltimore, have lost a great friend, Julian (Jack) Lapides. He died of cancer early on the morning of July 14, 2021. 

Jack, whom I have personally known for the bulk of my life, was invited onto the History of Medicine in Maryland (HMM) Committee by his old friends, Dr. Thomas E. Hunt, Jr. and Dr. Allan Jensen They both had offices in Baltimore's historic Mt. Vernon neighborhood and were both deeply interested in the history of Baltimore. 

Jack always brought a lot to our meetings, with great ideas for lectures, and obscure pieces of Baltimore history that none of us had previously known. 

Jack was a renaissance man, and a true gentleman. He served in the military, including a year in Iceland, was an attorney, and also a member of the Maryland State Senate. 

Our thoughts are with his wife, Linda, at this time. May his memory be a blessing.

For an obituary by our friend, Jacques Kelly, please click here. 

Happy Birthday, Sir William Osler

Former Faculty President and medical luminary, Sir William Osler, MD, was born on this day, 172 years ago in rural Bond Head, Ontario, Canada. 

In 1916, at a lecture on his birthday in Oxford, England, given to that year's contingent of Rhodes Scholars, Sir William reflected on a toss of the coin which changed the course of his life in several ways.

In Philadelphia, he met the woman who would eventually become his wife, Grace Linzac Revere Gross, who was the widow of Dr. Samuel Gross, a professor of surgery at Jefferson Medical College, his alma mater. Lady Grace was a descendant of Paul Revere, American silversmith and patriot. 

Celebrating the Fourth!

 Marcia and Everyone at 
MedChi and the Center for a Healthy Maryland 

Hope That Your Independence Day

Is Fun and Safe!

A Small Change

As of July 1, 2021, the service we use to send posts to you from this blog is being discontinued by Google. This means that when I post something, it will not automatically arrive in your email. 

If you would like to continue receiving emails from the MedChi Archives blog, please send me an email here. I will add you to the mailing list and email you a link to the posts when I publish them. 

Thank you for understanding, and for supporting the History of Medicine in Maryland.

Richard L. Duckett

I was looking for something else, when I came across this notice of the death of Founder, Richard L. Duckett, which was printed in the Herald & Eastern Shore Intelligencer in June 7 of 1802.

It seemed timely to share this.

Convention of the Medical and Chirurgical Faculty of Maryland, at Baltimore, June 7th, 1802.

Resolved unanimously,

That a committee be appointed to prepare a suitable testimonial of respect to the memory of the late doctor Richard L. Duckett, and the secretary be furnished with a copy thereof for publication.

June 8th. The committee to whom was yesterday referred to the commemoration of the late doctor Duckett report as follows:

Died, November 1802, of a long inflammatory fever, which he bore with the fortitude of a brave man, and the resignation of a Christian, Richard L. Duckett, M.D. of Prince George's county, a member of the medical board of examiners for the Western Shore. The faculty (now in session) have unanimously agreed, as a testimony of respect for his memory, to express on the minutes of the faculty, their regret for the loss of a man so eminently entitled to their regard, both as a distinguished member of the same profession, and as an officer of their appointment. 

NATHANIEL POTTER, Se'ry of the Medical and Chirurgical Faculty of Maryland.

Hunt Lecture Transcript

As you might remember, we hosted the annual Hunt History of Medicine in Maryland lecture last month.

While we did record it, there was a problem with the video, so we've transcribed the lecture. Please click here for the link to the transcript, which will open as a Google document.

June 3, 1799

On June 3, 1799, the original 101 founders of the Medical & Chirurgical Faculty of Maryland met for the first time. 

Although the charter had been signed in January, the first full meeting of the founding members did not take place until June 3 of 1799. Sadly, there are no notes that remain from this meeting in Annapolis, as stated in the Medical Annals of Maryland (1899). 

For many years after this, the summer semi-annual meeting and oration was held on June 3. 

Periodical Cicadas

Cue the creepy voice: They're heeeere! 

And by they, I am talking about the periodical cicadas which are just arriving in our area in the TRILLIONS. After a cool spring, it has taken a few extra weeks for the ground temperature to reach the required 68*F and emerge from the earth. 

However, you might be wondering why I am writing about them, and what they have to do with us! 

On a whim, I looked up "cicadas" in our Medical Annals of Maryland to see if anything came up. Nothing. But then I entered "locusts" and found a few references, including biography for Gideon B. Smith. 

Gideon Smith was born in Maryland in 1793 and received his MD from the University of Maryland in 1840 (an adult learner!). He was the Editor of the Journal of the American Silk Association in 1839-1940. He was also the editor of  the American Farmer and Turf Register. 

He became a well-known entomologist and was, at one time, engaged in the cultivation of silk worms. He was the originator of several ingenious inventions, and was, perhaps, the highest authority in the country on 17-year locusts [sic].

Dr. Smith worked with another Faculty member, Dr. Nathaniel Potter, who was also interested in cicadas. 

From American Entomologist: 

Smith, living in Baltimore, was well placed to make connections with other entomologists in the city, including the physician Dr. Nathaniel Potter (Lemmer 1957). Potter first noticed the periodical cicadas in 1783 during the emergence of what is now recognized as Brood X, and he decided to enter into cicada research “with all enthusiasm” during the Brood X emergence of 1817, as he was dismayed to find that scientific understanding of cicadas had not advanced in the 34 years following his first encounter with them (Potter 1839). Potter published an article on periodical cicadas in The American Farmer in 1829, which Smith would certainly have read, as he was working for the journal at that time.

Dr. Smith also worked with John James Audubon and helped him sell subscriptions to Birds of America, thereby ensuring its publication. Audubon named a lark-bunting in Smith's honor (even though it had been named a decade earlier).

For more information on cicadas and Dr. Gideon Smith, here is a recent article from the Winter 2020 issue of the
 American Entomologist.