Gilbertus Anglicus, by Henry Ebenezer Handerson potx

with this eBook or online atwww.gutenberg.net Title: Gilbertus Anglicus Medicine of the Thirteenth Century Author: Henry Ebenezer Handerson Release Date: June 30, 2005 [eBook #16155] Lan

with this eBook or online at

www.gutenberg.net

Title: Gilbertus Anglicus

Medicine of the Thirteenth Century

Author: Henry Ebenezer Handerson

Release Date: June 30, 2005 [eBook

#16155]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1

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GILBERTUS ANGLICUS

Medicine of the Thirteenth Century

FOR PRIVATE DISTRIBUTION

by

The Cleveland Medical Library AssociationCLEVELAND, OHIO

1918

PageFrontispiece 5

Explanatory Foreword 7

Biography 9-14

Resolutions of the Cleveland Medical

Library Ass'n 15

Gilbertus Anglicus—A Study of

Medicine in the ThirteenthCentury 17-78

HENRY E HANDERSON

appear since he was unable then to readthe proof, and because he felt that thematerial present might not be suitable forpublication in a clinical journal Tothose who knew him, this painstakingattention to detail and desire foraccuracy presents itself as a familiarcharacteristic Though actual publicationwas postponed, the type forms wereheld, and when the Cleveland MedicalJournal suspended publication, itseditorial board informed the Council ofthe Cleveland Medical LibraryAssociation of the valuable materialwhich it had been unable to give to themedical world In the meantime Dr.Handerson's death had occurred, but theCouncil obtained the generous consent of

the author's family to make thisposthumous publication It is hoped thatthose who read will bear this fact inmind and will be lenient in theconsideration of typographical errors, ofwhich the author was so fearful.

The Cleveland Medical LibraryAssociation feels that it is fortunate inbeing enabled to present to its membersand to others of the profession this work

of Dr Handerson's and to create fromhis own labors a memorial to him whowas once its president

SAMUEL W KELLEY.CLYDE L CUMMER.Committee on Publication

HENRY EBENEZER HANDERSON

Owing to Dr Handerson's modesty, even

we who were for years associated withhim in medical college, in organization,and professional work, knew but little ofhim He would much rather discuss somefact or theory of medical science orsome ancient worthy of the professionthan his own life Seeing this tallvenerable gentleman, sedate in mannerand philosophical in mind, presiding

over the Cuyahoga County MedicalSociety or the Cleveland MedicalLibrary Association, few of the membersever pictured him as a fiery, youthfulConfederate officer, leading a charge at

a run up-hill over fallen logs and brush,sounding the "Rebel yell," leaping ahedge and alighting in a ten-foot ditchamong Federal troopers whosurrendered to him and his comrades.Yet this is history We could perhapsmore easily have recognized him eventhough in a military prison-pen, onfinding him dispelling the tedium byteaching his fellow prisoners Latin andGreek, or perusing a precious volume ofHerodotus

Henry Ebenezer Handerson was born onMarch 21, 1837, here in Cuyahogacounty, in the township of Orange, nearthe point now known as "Handerson'sCross-Roads," on the Chagrin river Hismother's maiden name was CatharinePotts His father was ThomasHanderson, son of Ira Handerson Thefamily immigrated to Ohio fromColumbia county, New York, in 1834.Thos Handerson died as the result of anaccident in 1839, leaving the widowwith five children, the eldest thirteenyears of age, to support Henry and asister were adopted by an uncle, LewisHanderson, a druggist, of Cleveland Inspite of a sickly childhood the boy went

to school a part of the time and at the age

of fourteen was sent to a boardingschool, Sanger Hall, at New-Hartford,Oneida county, New York Henry's poorhealth compelled him to withdraw fromschool No one at that time would havepredicted that the delicate youth wouldlive to be the sage of four score yearsand one With his foster father andfamily he moved to Beersheba Springs,Grundy county, Tennessee.

In 1854, in good health, the boy returned

to Cleveland, prepared for college, andentered Hobart College, Geneva, NewYork, where he graduated as A.B in

1858 Returning to Tennessee, heoccupied himself for about a year withsurveying land and in other work and

then became private tutor in the family of

Mr Washington Compton on a cottonplantation near Alexandria, Louisiana.There he remained a year or more, then

in the autumn of 1860 matriculated in theMedical Department of the University ofLouisiana (now Tulane University),where he studied through the winter, andalso heard much of the political oratory

of that exciting period

The bombardment of Fort Sumter, April

12, 1861, followed by the call ofPresident Lincoln for 75,000 troops tosuppress the rebellion, found youngHanderson again employed as tutor, thistime in the family of General G MasonGraham, a veteran of the Mexican war

With his friends and acquaintances,Handerson joined a company of

"homeguards" consisting mostly ofplanters and their sons, formed for thepurpose of maintaining "order among thenegroes and other suspicious characters

of the vicinity."

Many years afterward Dr Handersonwrote, in a narrative for his family,concerning this period of his life:

"Without any disposition to violentpartisanship, I had favored the party ofwhich the standard-bearers were Belland Everett and the battle cry 'TheConstitution and the Union,' and I hadgrieved sincerely over the defeat by theRadicals of the North, aided by the 'fire-

eaters' of the South."

And again: "Born and educated in theNorth, I did not share in any degree thefears of the Southerners over the election

to the Presidency of Mr Lincoln I couldnot but think the action of the secedingStates unwise and dangerous to theirfuture prosperity On the other hand, thisaction had already been taken, andwithout any prospect of its revocation.Indeed, in the present frame of mind ofthe North, any steps toward recessionseemed likely to precipitate the veryevils which the secession of the stateshad been designed to anticipate Ibelieved slavery a disadvantage to theSouth, but no sin, and, in any event, an

institution for which the Southerners ofthe present day were not responsible Aninheritance from their fore-fathers,properly administered, it was by nomeans an unmitigated evil, and it wasone, moreover, in which the North but afew years before had shared All myinterests, present and future, apparentlylay in the South and with Southerners,and if the seceding States, in one ofwhich I resided, chose deliberately totry the experiment of self-government, Ifelt quite willing to give them such aid

as lay in my feeble power When I add

to this that I was 24 years of age, andnaturally affected largely by the ideas,the enthusiasm and the excitement of mysurroundings, it is easy to understand to

what conclusions I was led."

So on June 17, 1861, he volunteered inthe Stafford Guards under Capt.(afterward Brigadier General) L.A.Stafford The Guards became company

B of the 9th Regiment of LouisianaVolunteers, Confederate States ofAmerica, Colonel (later BrigadierGeneral) "Dick" Taylor (son of "OldZach," the President of the U.S.), incommand During the year that followeduntil the close of the war, Handersonexperienced the adventures and trials of

a soldier's life He knew picket,scouting, and skirmishing duty, thebivouac, the attack and defense in battleformation, the charge, the retreat, hunger

and thirst, the wearisome march in heatand dust, in cold, in rain, throughswamps and stony wildernesses He wasshot through the hat and clothing andonce through the muscles of the shoulderand neck within half inch of the carotidartery, lay in a hospital, and hadsecondary hemorrhage At another time

he survived weeks of typhoid fever

He was successively private soldier andaccountant for his company, quarter-master, 2nd Lieutenant of the line,Captain of the line, and finally AdjutantGeneral of the 2nd Louisiana Brigade,

A N Va., under Lee and Jackson, withrank of Major On May 4, 1864,Adjutant General Handerson was taken

prisoner, and from May 17th untilAugust 20th he was imprisoned at FortDelaware in the Delaware river He wasthen confined in a stockade enclosure onthe beach between Forts Wagner andGregg on Morris Island, until about theend of October, when he was transferred

to Fort Pulaski at the mouth of theSavannah river, and in March, 1865,back to Fort Delaware In April, afterLee's surrender, many of the prisonerswere liberated on taking the oath ofallegiance to the Federal Government.But Handerson did not consider hisallegiance to the Southern Confederacyended until after the capture of PresidentDavis, and it was not until June 17,

1865, that he signed the oath of

allegiance and was liberated inPhiladelphia.

Since that time, with that spirit oftolerance and openness to truth whichcharacterized the man, he has said, "inthe triumph of the Union, the war ended

as it should have ended."

Mr Handerson then resumed his medicalstudies, this time in the College ofPhysicians and Surgeons of New York,

M e d i c a l Department of ColumbiaUniversity, taking the degree of M.D in

1867 Hobart College conferred theA.M in 1868 On October 16, 1872, hemarried Juliet Alice Root, who diedleaving him a daughter

February 25, 1878, Dr Handerson readbefore the Medical Society of the County

of New York an article entitled, "TheSchool of Salernum, an HistoricalSketch of Mediæval Medicine." Thisessay attracted wide attention to hisscholarly attainments and love oflaborious research For example,Professor Edward Schaer of the chair ofPharmacology and PharmaceuticalChemistry, of Neumünster-Zürich,pronounces this pamphlet "a valuablegift a remarkable addition to otherhistorical materials in connection withthe history of pharmacy and ofpharmaceutical drugs"; that he found in it

"a great deal of information which will

be sought for in vain in many even

renowned literary works."

Dr Handerson practiced medicine inNew York City, from 1867 to 1885,removing to Cleveland in 1885

On June 12, 1888, he married ClaraCorlett of Cleveland

Then in 1889 appeared the Americanedition of the "History of Medicine andthe Medical Profession, by Joh.Hermann Baas, M.D.," which wastranslated, revised and enlarged by Dr.Handerson, to whom, in the words of Dr.Baas, "we are indebted for considerableamplification, particularly in the section

on English and American medicine, withwhich he was, of course, better

acquainted than the author, and fornumerous corrections." As a matter offact, the learning and judgment, and theconscientious industry of the translatorand American editor of this work areevident throughout the book.

Concerning Dr Handerson's writings,

Dr Fielding H Garrison writes(Medical Pickwick, March, 1915, P.118): "The earliest of Dr Handerson'spapers recorded in the Index Medicus is'An unusual case of intussusception'(1880) Most of his other medicalpapers, few in number, have dealt withthe sanitation, vital statistics, diseasesand medical history of Cleveland, andhave the accuracy which characterizes

slow and careful work This isespecially true of his historical essays ofwhich that on 'The School of Salernum'(1883) is a solid piece of originalinvestigation, worthy to be placedbeside such things as Holmes onhomoeopathy, Weir Mitchell oninstrumental precision, or Kelly onAmerican gynecology.

"To the cognoscenti, Dr Handerson'stranslation of 'Baas' History ofMedicine' (1889) is known as'Handerson's Book.' He modestlydescribes himself as its 'editor,' but he ismore than that As the witty and effectivetranslator of a witty and effective work,

he has added sections in brackets on

English and American history which arebased on original investigation and ofpermanent value to all future historians.Handerson's Baas is thus more completeand valuable than the Rhinelander'soriginal text."

As listed in the Index Medicus, thepublications and writings of Dr.Handerson appear as follows:

An unusual case of intussusception.Medical Record, 1880, xviii, 698

The School of Salernum Anhistorical sketch of mediævalmedicine 1883

Outlines of the history of medicine

(Baas) Translated, and inconjunction with the author, revisedand enlarged, 1887.

Clinical history of a case ofabdominal cancer ClevelandMedical Gazette, 1891-2, vii, 315-321

The Sanitary topography ofCleveland Cleveland MedicalGazette, 1895-6, xi, 651-659

Cleveland in the Census Reports.Cleveland Medical Gazette, 1896-

7, xii, 257-264

The earliest contribution to medicalliterature in the United States

Janus, 1899, p 540.

A review of the Vital Statistics ofCleveland during the lastdecennium Cleveland MedicalJournal, 1902, i, 71-76

Epidemics of typhoid fever inCleveland Cleveland MedicalJournal, 1904, iii, 208-210

The mortality statistics of thetwelfth census Cleveland MedicalJournal, 1905, iv, 425-431

Co-operative sanitation OhioMedical Journal, 1905, i, 278-281.The medical code of Hammurabi,

King of Babylon ClevelandMedical Journal, 1908, vii, 72-75.

Carcinoma in high life ClevelandMedical Journal, 1908, vii, 472-476

Medical Cleveland in thenineteenth (19th) Century.Cleveland Medical Journal, 1909,viii, 59, 146, 208

Gilbert of England and his

"Compendium Medicine." MedicalPickwick, 1915, i, 118-120

Dr Handerson was Professor ofHygiene and Sanitary Science in theMedical Department of the University of

Wooster, 1894-96, and the same in theCleveland College of Physicians andSurgeons (Medical Department of OhioWesleyan University), 1896 to 1907,and filled that chair with eminent ability.Thus it came about that the ex-Confederate officer taught sanitaryscience in a college standing uponground donated by the survivors of anorganization of abolitionists.

Dr Handerson was a member of theCuyahoga County Medical Society, andits President in 1895; also a member ofthe Cleveland Academy of Medicine, ofthe Ohio State Medical Society, and ofthe American Medical Association Hewas one of the founders and an active

worker in the Cleveland MedicalLibrary Association and its Presidentfrom 1896 to 1902.

He was all his life devoted to theEpiscopal Church, was Warden ofGrace Episcopal Church, Cleveland, formany years, and Treasurer of theDiocese of Ohio during fourteen years

During his later years Dr Handersonwithdrew entirely from active practiceand spent a great deal of time in hislibrary His papers abound in carefullyprepared manuscripts, some of themrunning into hundreds of pages

Two years before his death Dr.Handerson became totally blind This

grievous affliction was borne withunvarying patience and cheerfulness Hestill loved to recite from memory theclassic authors, to relate and discussepisodes of world history and events ofthe present, to solve difficultmathematical problems, and to have hisdata on all subjects verified He retainedhis faculties perfectly until April 23,

1918, when he died from cerebralhemorrhage

He is survived by a daughter, two sons

by the second marriage, and his devotedwife

Among numerous letters received fromprominent physicians and authorsappreciative of Dr Handerson's medico-

historical labors, one from Dr OliverWendell Holmes expresses high praiseand requests to have sent to himeverything which Dr Handerson might

in future write

It seems eminently appropriate that theessay on "Gilbertus Anglicus." the lastfrom the pen of Dr Handerson, should

be put in book form, together with asketch, however brief, of its author'searnest life, his sterling character, hisgeniality and imperturbable equanimity,and thus preserved in testimony of thehigh esteem in which he was held by hiscontemporaries

SAMUEL WALTER KELLEY

At a meeting of the Council of theCleveland Medical Library Association,held on May 14, the followingresolutions were adopted:

Resolved, That in the death of Dr Henry

E Handerson the Cleveland MedicalLibrary Association has sustained theloss of one of its most honored anddevoted members His scholarlyacquirements were notable, and hiseminence as a medical historiangenerally recognized His deep interest

in the welfare of the Library and his

thorough attention to every detail of hisofficial duties were always evident,while his lovable personal qualitiesendeared him to all.

The Association desires to express itshigh appreciation of his long and valuedservices, and extends to his bereavedfamily its heartfelt and sincere sympathy

C.A HAMANN,

WM EVANS BRUNER,

J.B McGEE

Gilbertus Anglicus (Gilbert of England)