“DIPLOMA.
“We, the President and other officers of the Incorporated Medical Society of Dutchess County, in the State of New York, having received from our censors full assurance of the competent knowledge of Columbus Bierce in the theory and practice of medicine, and from Doctor John Cooper and others, his former preceptors, the like assurance of his standing and moral deportment, do by the powers vested in us confer upon him, the said Columbus Bierce, license to practice physic and surgery and midwifery in any part of this state, and recommend him to the confidence of our fellow-citizens, and the friendly attention of our brethren, as a person of good morals and liberal attainments.
SEAL
“In testimony whereof we have subscribed these presents with our names and caused our seal of incorporation to be annexed.
“Done at Poughkeepsie, this, the 15th May, A. D. 1816.
“John Thomas, President.
“Attest: John Barnes, Secretary.
“I certify the above to be a true copy from the original.
“C. Bierce,
Secretary Third Medical District, Ohio.”
The censors and society of the third district met semi-annually, alternately at Athens and Marietta, and the place of meeting was generally at the residence of some citizen, who volunteered in advance to entertain the doctors. An applicant for a certificate or license to practice medicine was required by law, to file with the Board of Censors a certificate of good moral character and a fee of ten dollars.
A diploma from the censors, approved by the court in the county where the practitioner resided, entitled the holder to a membership of the medical society in his district, auxiliary to the state society. Any member failing to attend a semi-annual meeting subjected himself to a fine, notwithstanding many were obliged to ride horseback more than two hundred miles to make the round trip. The attendance of these meetings, as the records show, was good, and the proceedings compare favorably with those of the present day.
Among the standing resolutions, members were “requested to exhibit specimens of indigenous medicinal plants for inspection,” and “Dr. S. B. Hildreth to procure and keep on hand at all times genuine vaccine matter, and to furnish the same to members of the society on their application and payment therefor.”
At one of these semi-annual meetings the following met unanimous favor, viz:
“Resolved, That each individual member of this society, at the next meeting, furnish in writing an account of such remedies as are known and used by the people in their several vicinities, not hitherto generally employed by the faculty.”
The import of this resolution was of much more significance than it would seem at the present time. Then, domestic medicine, or use of indigenous plants, by a poor and sparsely inhabited country, was general for diseases incident to locality. And to receive written statements on the subject from various parts, covering a large portion of a great state, by men of science, constituted an instructive record in diseases, remedies and results.
Another resolution seems to have been adopted as the rule of the society, “to report all accidents requiring surgical interference.” This may have been from the fact there has always remained a suspicion of the dual character of things coming under the law of accidents, and from which probably originated the saying that “trouble never comes singly.” This dual character of odd occurrences has been noticed, and noted more frequently by physicians and surgeons, perhaps, than by those of any other calling.
This may not have been uppermost in the mind of the Doctor when he announced to the society that he wished to report two unusual cases of “stuck balls” that came under his notice at the same time, happening to two squirrel hunters in the same neighborhood. A young man after squirrels, became confused in regard to the order in which the loading materials should be used, and put the ball down first. The ramrod, however, was provided with a remedy for such loss of memory, and the screw in the end of the rod was firmly fixed in the body of the ball; but no adequate force seemed at hand to withdraw the ramrod, as the end projecting beyond the muzzle was so short the operator was obliged to apply force by means of the teeth. After making many unsuccessful efforts a happy thought seemed born with the necessity, and he felt assured if he had the ball once started it could be withdrawn. On this theory he worked just enough powder in at the “touch-hole” of the “priming-pan,” as he judged, to give the ball a slight impetus in the right direction. And with the end of the ramrod between the teeth, and great toe upon the trigger, applied full force, adding that of the powder by means of the toe, which, to his surprise, lost the ramrod and left an ugly looking hole in the neck at the base of the skull. Treatment for gunshot wound—recovered.
The other “stuck ball” was caused by a lad of German extraction failing to close the “priming pan” to his flint-lock before loading, and consequently the powder nearly all went out at the “touch hole” as the ball was pushed down the barrel. Enough, however, remained with the “priming” to drive the ball about half way out. At this point it remained fixed, and the amateur gunner could neither get it out nor push it down.