"Drs. Jonathan Swezy, Chairman (pro tem), Thomas Wickham, Clerk (pro tem), Elijah Randall, William Elmer, William Elliott, Samuel S. Seward, Benjamin S. Hoyt, Nathaniel Elmer, Elisha Du Bois, Charles Fowler, David R. Arnell, Samuel Warner, William McCoppin, Aaron M. Smith, William Gourley, Elihu Hedges, Eleazer Gedney, Ethan Watson, Cornelius Roosa, James Bradner, Henry I. Hornbeck and Elijah Welch were present and produced their several licenses to practice physic. The Society then proceeded to organize and elect officers when the following gentlemen were elected for the ensuing year: Dr. Jonathan Swezy, President; Dr. Samuel S. Seward, Vice-President; Dr. Nathaniel Elmer, Secretary; and Dr. Thomas Wickham, Treasurer.
"Drs. Anthony Davis, Joseph Houston, Joseph Whelan and Jonathan Hedges were, upon examination, licensed to practice physic and surgery in this State and admitted members to this Society. Dr. David R. Arnell was elected delegate to the Medical Society of the State of New York.
"Drs. Anthony Davis, Elisha Du Bois, Charles Fowler, Joseph Whelan and Cornelius Davis were appointed censors."
The minutes of the earlier meetings were admirably kept and are still in an excellent state of preservation.
The autographs of the founders and other members who signed the by-laws form an interesting and valuable collection. The by-laws were carefully drawn and consisted of twenty-six articles. Meetings were held semi-annually or quarterly, and, as indicated by the titles, the papers read and discussed were of a high order. Notwithstanding such evidences of proficiency I find that these physicians were very poorly paid. In a rate list adopted by the society in 1807, the charge for a visit of less than one mile was but twenty-five cents, with a corresponding low charge for medicines furnished, and, the largest fee asked for any operation was one hundred dollars.
Dr. Arnell, who may be called the father of the Orange County Medical Society, was elected president of the society eight times and was a charter member of the State Society. In 1818 he presented a library to the society. It contained fifty volumes, which, with five of the best medical periodicals, were circulated among the members throughout the county. This collection formed a nucleus for subsequent additions and a valuable and useful library was maintained for many years.
In 1830 the membership of the society numbered sixty, of whom twenty-five attended the annual meeting.
Among notable resolutions passed was one in 1830 endorsing the American Temperance Society and the tenets of temperance in general; in 1832 the formation of health boards in each town; and in 1839 a resolution recommending a change in the method of examining and licensing students of medicine, the whole to be placed in the hands of the Regents, was forwarded to the State Medical Society. Such efforts were highly creditable and progressive, as is shown by the fact that the law providing for the last named recommendation was not passed until 1893.
An important amendment to the by-laws adopted at a meeting in 1840 marks the beginning of a prolonged and troublesome epoch of controversy over medical ethics, especially in regard to sectarian forms of practice, including homeopathy, then being introduced in this vicinity.
The status of practice among the members of the society having always been regular (i. e., belonging to the general school of scientific medicine and not restricted by any sect or pathy), much criticism was aroused by the attempt of some of the local physicians to practice according to Hahnemann's Laws of "Like cures like." "Medicinal potency increased by dilution," etc.