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. 

112 Years Young!

In the 1890's, the Faculty, as it was then known, bought a building on Hamilton Terrace, a small block off of Eutaw Street. After bouncing from place to place for the past 100 years, the Faculty finally thought they had their forever home. 

But they didn't count on the combined forces of Marcia Noyes and Dr. William Osler. Marcia was a former librarian at Baltimore's Enoch Pratt Free Library, and Dr. Osler was a bibliophile of the highest order. Together, they built one of the leading medical libraries of its time. 

When the Faculty moved into Hamilton Terrace, the books had been randomly boxed up for the move, so they were completely disordered when they were unboxed. Marcia quickly put them into order, and Osler began acquiring additional and up-to-date medical volumes. 

Within a year or so, they realized that they were running out of room for a permanent library at Hamilton Terrace, and began searching for a property to build their permanent permanent home!

In 1905, Osler left Baltimore for the position of Regius Professor of Medicine at Oxford, but he continued to advocate for a new building. Finally, a property was located just a few blocks away, the architects Ellicott & Emmart were engaged and in 1908, construction began. 

Architecturally, the building is very similar to the Medical Society of the County of Kings' building in New York. Marcia, in her role as a founder of the Medical Library Association, had traveled around the country visiting other medical societies, hospitals and universities, and had the opportunity to see what worked in a building with a library, and what didn't.

When the building was constructed, the stacks were added to the original plans. Four floors on interconnected cast iron formed the skeleton of that section of the building. 

The dedication of the building was coordinated with Dr. Osler's scheduled visit to the US and indeed, to Baltimore. Although he was living in Oxford, he continued to fundraise for the building, and after it was finished, he helped erase the debt, both by fundraising and donating. The great and the good assembled to help with the dedication, and Dr. Osler made one of his seminal speeches, "The Old and New." 

From Dr. Harvey Cushing's Pulitzer Prize-winning book, "The Life of Sir William Osler" comes this first-hand account of the event:

With COVID-19 protocols still in place, we haven't really used the building for the past 14+ months. No committee meetings, no lectures, no busy staff getting things done, no tours, nothing. Six of us rattle around here, along with Marcia, the resident ghost. Things will change again, and we'll still have our building.

Happy 280th Birthday to John Archer

I am working on a huge project writing the biographies of all 101 of our founders, and as I was beginning to write the one for John Archer, I realized that today's the 280th anniversary of his birth. Dr. Archer is notable in that he was the first person in the United States to receive a medical diploma. 

John Archer was born in Churchville on May 5, 1741, and was the only one of five siblings who survived childhood. He was educated at Nottingham Academy and Princeton College. After graduation, he briefly considered opening a grammar school in Baltimore, but instead attended Princeton’s School of Theology, after which he became a Presbyterian minister. Although he mastered the prayers and the order of service, he did not find theology satisfying, and his first sermon was a serious bomb, so he began medical school.

Archer, one in a class of ten students, studied medicine with Professor John Morgan at the College of Medicine in Philadelphia, which later became the University of Pennsylvania. Archer graduated in 1768, the first person in the New World to receive a medical degree. There was some contention as to who would be the first, but by virtue of his last name, Archer was it. 

There was a dispute as to whether Archer actually received a medical degree, as there was really no such thing at the time. During the first years of the College of Medicine, there were two degrees awarded. First was a MB or Medical Bachelor, and three years later an MD was awarded. However, Archer never applied for the second degree, and officially, only a very few actually received the MD degree. The rule was discontinued in 1792.   

In those days, physicians still relied on what we now call “folk medicine.” Among Archer’s papers are notations prescribing juice of several millipedes, and other physicians at that time were suggesting a goat’s blood julep, powdered bees and viper’s flesh, all washed down with frog-spawn water. I guess that proved that what didn’t kill you, would cure you.

In 1769, Archer returned to Harford County to begin his medical practice, which continued for 40 years, with only two interruptions: The American Revolution and his service in the US Congress.

When the Revolutionary War broke out, Archer was already a seasoned physician, and he and former classmates created the “Medical Corps of the American Revolution.” He attained the rank of Major and was commended by General Washington upon leaving military service.

Between 1779 and 1800, he trained more than 50 students at “Medical Hall”, a substantial stone building on 450 acres which Archer had built.   There were between six and twelve students at a time, and while it was not a formal medical school, students were trained through a preceptorship. 

Medically, a preceptor is a practicing physician who gives personal instruction, training, and supervision to a medical student or young physician. This was the way most medical students learned their craft until the mid-1800’s when medical schools became more common.  

A story has it, that when a stranger asked Mrs. Archer if the doctor lived at Medical Hall, she responded, “He has his laundry done here.” So it is rather incredible that over the years, Archer and his wife had nine or ten children, six of whom, all boys, survived. Of the six, five chose to enter the field of medicine, the other became a lawyer.

In addition to Dr. Archer’s lectures, friends from his Philadelphia days coming through the area, stopped to lecture the students. These included notables including Dr. John Morgan, who was Dr. Archer’s mentor; Dr. Benjamin Rush, who was a classmate at Princeton; and Benjamin Franklin who talked about his recollections of the French medical system.

In 1808, Archer had a stroke, and was also suffering from rheumatism. In preparation for his death, he granted freedom to his slaves and left a prophecy that abolition of slavery would be coming, despite his understanding that the economy of the South was dependent on it.

Archer had a second stroke in 1810, which lead to his death a few weeks later. At 69 years old, he’d lived a long and full life, and left a lasting legacy.

Happy 275th Birthday to John Crawford!

Thanks to our friends at the University of Maryland's Health Sciences & Human Services Library for letting us know that today is the birthday of our mutual friend, John Crawford. 

John Crawford was born in the north of Ireland on May 3, 1746. He was educated at the College of Dublin and received his MD from the University of Leyden. He became a Surgeon with the Dutch East India Company and was a Physician to a hospital in Barbados. Dr. Crawford was also the Physician to Dutch Colony in Demerara, which is now part of Guyana.

In 1790, while residing in Dutch Guiana, he conceived the germ theory of infectious diseases, and in 1807, he wrote a series of striking articles on its advocacy, being probably the first in English-speaking countries to do so .He also carried his theory into practice.

He returned to England 1794 and then emigrated to America in 1796. Although - and it seems strange – Dr. Crawford did not enjoy the honor of being an incorporator or founder of the Medical and Chirurgical Faculty of Maryland, he held high rank in its early councils, being censor, examiner, orator, and member of the committee appointed to publish its Transactions. He was also Chairman of the Medical Faculty of Baltimore and as such, made a report on the health of the city to the City Council February 10, 1800.

Dr. Crawford was one of the Founders and Manager of the Baltimore General Dispensary. In 1801, Dr. Crawford founded the Bible Society of Baltimore and was the Penitentiary Lecturer on Natural History at the College of Medicine of Maryland. He was one of the founders, and most active members of the Society for Promoting Useful Knowledge.

Dr. Crawford was one of the most enlightened physicians and noblest characters that has ever adorned the profession of this State. Dr. Crawford died at his residence corner of Hanover and German (now Redwood) Streets on the morning of the ninth of May 1813. Of the nature of his illness we are not informed, but it was brief and violent in character.  

Source: Medical Annals of Maryland (1899)