antiperiodics, as quinine, nitric acid, etc.; although, in some cases, tincture of bark was continued during the interval. DYSENTERY prevailed in a mild and manageable form during August and September, with few deaths resulting from it. RHEUMATISM, both acute and chronic, continues to be a constant visitor in our midst; but although many cases have come under my observation during the past year, not a single case of translation or a dangerous complication has been encountered. The ordinary treatment, including veratrum viride and gelseminum in exacerbations of fever, was employed. SCARLATINA. We have been unusually exempt from the ravages of this dreadful disease, there being but few cases within my knowledge of any great severity. One exception, however, might be mentioned, not remarkable particularly on any other account than that of its complications. Varicella attacked all the children in a large family, and, soon after its appearance, parotitis, then prevalent in the neighborhood, also attacked the same children. In a day or two something resembling scarlatina made its appearance on a little boy five years old. On the succeeding day an older brother was attacked with scarlatina anginosa, well marked in every symptom, in an aggravated form, and thus the three distinct diseases ran their course simultaneously and terminated favorably under treatment, of course, exclusively for the scarlatina, which consisted of chlorinated tincture of iron, chlorate of potassa, and quinine internally, and tincture of iron, in full strength, applied to the sloughing tonsils and fauces. MEASLES made its usual annual visitation with a small mortality, considering the number attacked. One case is deserving of mention, as the treatment employed was novel, if it had not the merit of being successful. An adult female was the patient, and an Eclectic the first physician in attendance; a Homœopath was subsequently called to his assistance, but still, not successful and not satisfied, the spirit of some departed Homœopathic luminary was added to the consultation. The spirit insisted on a cold bath being administered, which was finally acceded to, with reluctance, it is charitable to suppose, by the material part of the consultation, with what result it is unnecessary to mention. DIPHTHERIA still lingers amongst us, as though unwilling to separate from acquaintances of eight years' continuous duration. But the few sporadic cases that occur now have but few of the severe symptoms and none of the horrors of its namesake of 1861, when it was first epidemic in our county. We treat it now with as much confidence in a satisfactory result, as though it were a mild tertian ague or a tic douloureux. CONSUMPTION, beyond comparison the most fatal of our endemics, has claimed during the last year more than an average number of victims, which will be seen by the following table, compiled from the records of Greendale Cemetery at Meadville. There are no other mortuary records in the county, of which I am aware, not even of the two smaller cemeteries at Meadville. There is a popu lation in Meadville of about ten thousand, and outside of the city there are probably two thousand more from which interments are made. From paralysis, brain fever, diabetes, scarlatina, teething, cholera infantum, dysentery, scalded, senile gangrene, and convulsions, each 1 It will be observed that the mortality from consumption is nearly 32 per cent. of the whole. This has been so remarkable as to warrant adding a table, showing the rate per cent. of mortality from this disease for the last twelve years, as shown by the books of the same cemetery, intimating, however, that the superintendent who registers these deaths, though an intelligent man, makes no pretentions to professional knowledge of disease, and may be led into some errors; but they are near enough correct to approximate the truth. This is an average in the twelve years of nearly 21 per cent. Of the ages of those interred during the last year from consumption, two were from 15 to 20, nine from 20 to 30, six from 30 to 40, one from 40 to 50, two from 50 to 60, and five not reported. In conclusion, and as addenda to this report, I might say, in the language of Dr. Matthews, of Berks, in his report for 1867, "in the way of humbug we encounter much." We have the "fast doctor," who substitutes gilded trappings for brains, bravado for medical knowledge, and self-conceit for true experience; the "accommodating doctor," who understands all systems, and can suit every taste with calomel, leptandrin or pulsatilla; the villainous doctor, who, not brave enough himself, sends emissaries and hirelings to assault a physician on the streets and take by violence a patient he is conducting to his office; the contemptible doctor, who approaches the friends of other men's patients, offering to give invaluable services gratuitously if the attending physician be dismissed; and the abandoned doctor, who disgraces the civilization of the age by boasting in public that he has produced abortion but defies detection. But the regular profession, pursuing the even tenor of its way, adheres strictly to the great embodiment of medical as of moral ethics, "do to others as you would they might do to you," not unmindful that to be a true physician requires to be a true gentleman as well. MEADVILLE, June 8, 1869. J. C. COTTON. NECROLOGICAL NOTICE OF DR. WM. M. JENNINGS. 1832-1869. Crawford County Medical Society has been called upon for the first time in its history to mourn the loss by a sudden and painful death of one of its members, Dr. WM. M. JENNINGS, of Titusville. The subject of this notice was born in Venango County, Pa., November 19th, 1832. His father, Morgan Jennings, was of English, his mother of Irish, descent. The relatives of both are highly respectable, and rank among the best families of the county in which they reside. William was raised on a farm, actively engaged in agricultural pursuits, and attending the school of his district until the age of eighteen, at which time he left home to attend a select school in Titusville. He next attended an academy in Cooperstown, where he showed to his teacher and classmates that he possessed more than ordinary intellectual abilities. He occasionally taught school about this time "to replenish his wardrobe and to procure means for further improvement," in the language of his preceptor, Dr. Crawford, of Cooperstown, to whom I am indebted for most of the facts concerning his early life. From Cooperstown he went to Waterford, Erie County, where he attended school about three terms. He commenced the study of medicine with Dr. Crawford in the spring of 1854, and continued in his office until the fall of 1856, when he left to attend a course of medical lectures in Cleveland, Ohio. His preceptor writes: "He was a close student, spending little time on the streets or seeking recreation in any way. He loved the study of medicine, and was an uncompromising enemy of quackery." After returning from Cleveland, he commenced the practice of medicine in Titusville in the spring of 1857, and continued actively engaged there till the fall of 1859, when he left to attend a second course of lectures in Philadelphia. He graduated with honor at the University of Pennsylvania in the spring of 1860, and then resumed the practice in his former place, Titusville, where he continued in an active and lucrative practice until 1864. About this time he made a large amount of money speculating in oil lands, relinquished the practice for a year and a half, and devoted his whole energies to business that demanded all his time. But, like many others, he ventured beyond his depth in unknown waters, and his fortune was submerged in stock speculation. After his reverses he resumed the practice of medicine in Titusville, poor, but with a good will and energy that showed the greatness of the man. From that time up to his tragic death he was an active and honorable member of the profession, at all times taking a deep interest in everything pertaining to the advancement of the science of medicine, and applying diligently and effectively its discoveries to the amelioration of the sufferings of humanity. Soon after the formation of our County Society, he became an active and useful member, and contributed much to its interest by the acuteness of his perception in discriminating between the false and the true in experience, by his originality of thought and expression, and by the cheerfulness of his disposition under all circumstances. His professional career was short, and though interrupted by the mania for speculation that affected all classes in Western Pennsylvania, yet it was one rich in promise of honor and fame to himself, and of usefulness to science and humanity. On the morning of the 10th of February last, feeling some slight indisposition, he called, on his way to breakfast, at a drug store, in which he had an interest, intending to take some medicine in tincture of orange-peel. He reached, as he thought, for the tincture, his attention being engaged at the moment by a patient, and took instead, a bottle containing tincture of aconite root, and pouring about an ounce in a tumbler, replaced the bottle without observing the mistake. After making the mixture, the whole was swallowed at a draught, and although the fatal mistake was soon discovered, and all possible assistance rendered promptly by his brother practitioners, death terminated his sufferings in three hours after taking the poison. Thus passed away, in the fulness of the noon of life, one of the brightest ornaments to the profession in our county, deeply lamented by his fellow-members of the Society, and by the entire community, in which he was an honored citizen. At the time of his death he was a member of the Board of State Censors for the 6th district. MEADVILLE, June 4, 1869. J. C. COTTON, M. D. |