Willoughby University of Lake Erie, c. 1834
Willoughby University of Lake Erie, 1834-1846
1834: Dr. George W. Card and Dr. John M. Henderson found Willoughby University of Lake Erie in honor of their friend Dr. Westel Willoughby. Drs. Card and Henderson believed Willoughby’s name would give prestige to the university and would aid in securing teachers and students.
Willoughby University operated in Willoughby, Ohio until 1846. Willoughby University of Lake Erie had approximately 618 graduates.
Vesalius Portrait
Author: Andreas Vesalius
Title: De Humani Corporis Fabrica Libri Septem (On the Fabri of the Human Body in Seven Books)
Publication Information: Basileae: Per I. Oporinum, 1555
Published when he was only 29 years old, Vesalius revolutionized not only the science of anatomy but how it was taught through this work. Vesalius provided a fuller and more detailed description of human anatomy than any of his predecessors in this book. He corrected errors in the traditional anatomical teachings of Galen which had been obtained from primate rather than human dissection. Vesalius’s most lasting contribution to the teaching of anatomy was the principle that only through human dissection could the physician learn human anatomy in sufficient detail to be able to teach it accurately.
The title page and the series of more than 200 anatomical woodcuts spread throughout the book, which is written in Latin, remain the most famous series of anatomical illustrations ever published. Vesalius never named the artist, but Jan Stephen van Calcar is the only named artist definitely known to have worked with Vesalius, so the illustrations are often attributed to him.
The 1555 version in the Medical Heritage Center collection is a copy of the second printing of the book. The first version was done in 1543. Each book is covered in a different material including silk and human skin. The MHC volume is covered in pigskin.
For more information about Vesalius and his famous work, please visit the links below.
http://vesalius.northwestern.edu/
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/exhibition/historicalanatomies/vesalius_home.html
OSU Homeopathic Hospital, 1914-1917
Homeopathy is a form of what is now called alternative medicine that attempts to treat patients with heavily diluted preparations. Dr. John Franklin Gray was the first practitioner of homeopathy in the United States in 1828. The first homeopathic schools in the United States opened in 1830.
Some believe that homeopathic medical schools were more open to accepting women, but that was not the case. The two largest homeopathic medical colleges, Hahnemann Medical College of Philadelphia and New York Homeopathic Medical College, refused to accept women throughout the nineteenth century. By 1900, there were 22 homeopathic colleges and 15,000 practitioners in the United States. From its inception, however, homeopathy was criticized by mainstream science and the last school in the U.S. exclusively teaching homeopathy closed in 1920.
The Ohio State University had a College of Homeopathic Medicine. It was in operation from 1914 to 1922. The Homeopathic Hospital, stood on the corner of 10th and Neil Avenues (the present location of Newton Hall), originally served as a dormitory and was converted to clinical use as the Hospital in 1914. This was the first hospital on campus which after the addition of a double-story porch on its south side in 1915 had a capacity of 35 beds. By 1921, there had been a total of 20,000 bed days and over 3,800 outpatients and 1,800 inpatients served by this facility. The Hospital was staffed by nurses with Jessie Harrod as chief nurse and a staff consisting of an assistant at night, a teacher of surgical nursing, a house physician, and eight student nurses. Ohio State rented a house on Neil Avenue across the street from the Hospital to provide a home for 14 graduate and student nurses.
Starling-Loving University Hospital (now known as Starling Loving Hall) was built in 1917 to replace the Homeopathic Hospital on 10th and Neil. In 1922, after the University Board of Trustees voted to stop operating two colleges of medicine and the college of homeopathic medicine was discontinued, Starling-Loving University Hospital served as the main hospital on campus. The Homeopathic Hospital on the corner of 10th and Neil served as Children’s Hospital.
During the College of Homeopathic Medicine’s operation, there were three female graduates: Carrie Inez Hyatt and May Schimkola in 1915 and Margaret J. Rupert in 1919. The only female faculty member was Margaret J. Rupert who in 1920 served as an assistant of Materia Medica and Clinical Therapeutics.
Florence Nightingale (12 May 1820 – 13 August 1910)
Nightingale is the founder of modern nursing. She transformed nursing into a respectable profession and set the standards for clean, safe hospitals worldwide. Nightingale was also a writer and statistician. She is credited with inventing the pie chart, to dramatize the needless deaths caused by unsanitary conditions during the Crimean war.
Nightingale’s Calling
When Nightingale was 24 years old, she had a calling from God. She decided her calling was to help the sick and the poor by becoming a nurse. Nightingale came from a wealthy family and was not expected to work. It was especially unacceptable for her to work as a nurse because nursing was not a respectable profession at the time.
Nightingale went to the Institute of Deaconesses in Kaiserswerth, Germany, to learn about nursing. At this time, nurses learned through experience, not through training. She treated sick people, distributed medicine, and assisted during operations.
Crimean War
In 1854, England entered the Crimean War. Nightingale and a team of 38 nurses went to Crimea to help the wounded soldiers. The military hospitals were dirty and run down. Nightingale made sanitary improvements which helped bring the death rate down from 40% to 2%.
Nightingale was kind and gentle with the soldiers. She would talk with them and comfort them as she made her rounds. When Nightingale made her rounds at night, she carried a lamp with her to light her way and became known as “The Lady with the Lamp.”
Hospital Improvements
During Nightingale’s time, the hospitals were overcrowded, poorly run, and disease infested. They were doing more harm than good. She thought hospitals should help patients, not hurt them. This was a revolutionary idea at the time. Nightingale became an advocate for the improvement of care and conditions in the military and civilian hospitals in Britain.
One of her books, Notes on Hospitals, deals with the correlation of sanitary techniques to medical facilities. She believed hospitals needed better ventilation, more windows, improved drainage, and less cramped conditions. With Nightingale’s guidance, hospitals became clean and sanitary places where lives were saved, not lost. Nightingale also became an expert on designing hospitals. Foreign rulers sought her advice when building their hospitals. Soon, hospitals throughout the world were being built according to her ideas.
Nightingale Training School for Nurses
Nightingale thought nurses should learn through both experience and training. With a fund raised in tribute to her services during the war, she founded the Nightingale School and Home for Nurses at Saint Thomas’s Hospital in London (today known as the Florence Nightingale School of Nursing and Midwifery at King’s College London) in 1860. The opening of this school marked the beginning of professional nursing education. Prior to her reforms, nurses were largely untrained personnel whose job was considered a menial chore. Through Nightingale’s efforts, the stature of nursing improved dramatically with the establishment of high standards of education and important responsibilities. The mission of the school was to train nurses to work in hospitals, to work with the poor, and to teach. The nurses were called Nightingale Nurses.
Nursing becomes a Respectable Profession
Nightingale created high standards for the nursing profession. These standards helped transform nursing into the respectable profession it is today. Her book, Notes on Nursing, spells out the principles of nursing and served as the cornerstone of the curriculum at the Nightingale School. Nightingale’s writings continue to provide excellent resources for nurses and health care providers today.
The Medical Heritage Center holds several editions of Notes on Nursing.
More information about Florence Nightingale can be found online at the Florence Nightingale Museum website: http://www.florence-nightingale.co.uk/cms/
The Medical Heritage Center has started this blog as a way to highlight our collections and activities. We would also like to hear from all of you as well!. If you have a question about anything discussed in a blog post, about health sciences history, or about what we do, please feel free to contact us at mhcmail@osumc.edu or 614-292-9966. We look forward to hearing from you and highlighting the collections, programs, and services in the new year!
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