From pward at osteo.wvsom.edu Mon Aug 19 10:59:10 2019 From: pward at osteo.wvsom.edu (Ward, Peter) Date: Mon, 19 Aug 2019 14:59:10 +0000 Subject: [AAHM_Clio_Project] FW: Looking for assistance In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Hi all, I received this request and do not have any insight into the person he is researching. If you have any resources for him, I?m sure they would be appreciated. Thank you all and good luck with (I presume) and new semester! Peter J. Ward, Ph.D. Professor of Anatomy West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine P. (304) 647.6371 F. (304) 645.4859 pward at osteo.wvsom.edu www.wvsom.edu From: Jodi L Koste Sent: Thursday, August 15, 2019 5:50 PM Subject: Looking for assistance WVSOM External Email Alert: Please do not click links or open attachments unless you recognize the source of this email and know the content is safe. Please reply directly to m.peter.buske at icloud.com Hi, I?m hoping you can point me in the right direction (a book, a website or an expert who is willing to field questions from complete strangers), or otherwise give some general guidance, about an aspect of American medicine in the late 1800s. I?m quite ignorant on this subject and am seeking some pointers for clarification. I?m writing a biography of a man whose father was a doctor. This physician was named William Porter Webb and he graduated from the Medical College of Ohio in 1881. After attending a few winter subjects at the New York Bellevue Hospital in 1881/82, he returned to his hometown of Eaton, Ohio, and took over a pharmacy with a partner (who had no medical background). As appears to be common, apart from concocting prescriptions, the druggist also plied books, gifts, photo-lithographs and other sundry items. The partner pulled out about 18 months into the concern, and the business almost immediately collapsed. Porter Webb then plied his trade purely as a physician until he died in 1898. My confusion stems from the fact that Porter moved straight into running a pharmacy after graduating, rather than putting up a shingle and pursuing a more clinical/consultative role. I?d like to know if this was at all common and/or if it indicated something about the person (did it reflect their confidence or skill level perhaps)? Was being a druggist less work than working as a doctor? There were about 10 doctors practicing in Eaton at this time, and there were a few pharmacies as well. So, he had competition whichever path he pursued. Porter Webb was intelligent but was lazy, lacked business acumen and also drank heavily. The latter was why his wife divorced him in 1887. He later spent all his money and was jailed more than once, including a period of six months when he was found guilty of a criminal abortion (this was later the subject of a nolle prosequi and he was released). An obituary suggested he could have risen much higher in the world if he had controlled his drinking. Cheers, Peter Adelaide, South Australia, Australia -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From schalick at wisc.edu Mon Aug 19 13:05:56 2019 From: schalick at wisc.edu (WALTON O SCHALICK) Date: Mon, 19 Aug 2019 17:05:56 +0000 Subject: [AAHM_Clio_Project] FW: Looking for assistance In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <0647DC71-EDDE-4F3F-A324-56F7E9E2EDF8@wisc.edu> Dear Folks, I forwarded this to Greg Higby who said he?d be able to help. Yours, Walt On Aug 19, 2019, at 9:59 AM, Ward, Peter > wrote: Hi all, I received this request and do not have any insight into the person he is researching. If you have any resources for him, I?m sure they would be appreciated. Thank you all and good luck with (I presume) and new semester! Peter J. Ward, Ph.D. Professor of Anatomy West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine P. (304) 647.6371 F. (304) 645.4859 pward at osteo.wvsom.edu www.wvsom.edu From: Jodi L Koste > Sent: Thursday, August 15, 2019 5:50 PM Subject: Looking for assistance WVSOM External Email Alert: Please do not click links or open attachments unless you recognize the source of this email and know the content is safe. Please reply directly to m.peter.buske at icloud.com Hi, I?m hoping you can point me in the right direction (a book, a website or an expert who is willing to field questions from complete strangers), or otherwise give some general guidance, about an aspect of American medicine in the late 1800s. I?m quite ignorant on this subject and am seeking some pointers for clarification. I?m writing a biography of a man whose father was a doctor. This physician was named William Porter Webb and he graduated from the Medical College of Ohio in 1881. After attending a few winter subjects at the New York Bellevue Hospital in 1881/82, he returned to his hometown of Eaton, Ohio, and took over a pharmacy with a partner (who had no medical background). As appears to be common, apart from concocting prescriptions, the druggist also plied books, gifts, photo-lithographs and other sundry items. The partner pulled out about 18 months into the concern, and the business almost immediately collapsed. Porter Webb then plied his trade purely as a physician until he died in 1898. My confusion stems from the fact that Porter moved straight into running a pharmacy after graduating, rather than putting up a shingle and pursuing a more clinical/consultative role. I?d like to know if this was at all common and/or if it indicated something about the person (did it reflect their confidence or skill level perhaps)? Was being a druggist less work than working as a doctor? There were about 10 doctors practicing in Eaton at this time, and there were a few pharmacies as well. So, he had competition whichever path he pursued. Porter Webb was intelligent but was lazy, lacked business acumen and also drank heavily. The latter was why his wife divorced him in 1887. He later spent all his money and was jailed more than once, including a period of six months when he was found guilty of a criminal abortion (this was later the subject of a nolle prosequi and he was released). An obituary suggested he could have risen much higher in the world if he had controlled his drinking. Cheers, Peter Adelaide, South Australia, Australia _______________________________________________ AAHM_Clio_Project mailing list AAHM_Clio_Project at histmed.org http://histmed.org/mailman/listinfo/aahm_clio_project_histmed.org -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: