History of Fairfield County, Connecticut

" No dotlbt much had been effected by individual assiduity pievious to the establishment of mei'.i( al associati )ns. Rut such detai hod and limited (sflorts had been proved manifestly inadequate to effect a reform of an entire system, defective not only in its geiicial scientific qualiticatious but alsodepvcs.-cd ill its mural . bani. trr by the long cstaldi>bed unsocial and unprofti-ional hal its and i-raciiccs of ;i large poition i.f it- members. It is manifest tliat to remedy tlic foimcr an elevat<-d and unilorm staii- fiard of education was required by which the qualifications ..f ;i>piiaiits to membership were to iie tested, and their claims dr^ i^ tribunal delegated with adequate authority to ilcny m Competent; while to effei't the latter, such cud.s am mulgated by a no less potent aiithoi ity. wcie demand' restiaints on tho piopensities of such tif its meiid>ers ; le.l by acnmpctciit lnii>.'iou to tlic iri- I regulations, pro- ■d as might provo IS Were then, as at the ]>rcscut time, unfiutiinately endowed with a ptelondiiancy uf the sidfish impulses over their honorable sentiments. » "With tln' laudable idije. t of efleitiug a profes.-ional reform ami im- jtrovement. the pbysi-ians of several towns and counties emltraced the plan of society as.s<iciation as the most effective means for its ai'coniplish- mint. Kxpeiience soon manifested the happy eflects of the system, and thiit its greatest itossilde good might be attained, the plan of a general State association was conceived and ultimately adopted by the vaiious county societies. This recciveil ini-oiiioiation by act of Legislature ill "The design of organization was not siinultau'-uusly embraced by the various sections of the State, but each witli zeal successively adopteil a measure, the liappy effects of which w<*ie plainly mauifestetl upon the medical society of the sections which had expeiienced its benefits. Tho city of Norwich and LitchfieM County ajpear to have taken the initia- tive in medical organization; the fn>t in ITtJ'i ur 170:*, the hist in IVCo. \\"iiidham and New Haven Counties, a few yeai-s later, followi-<l the ex- ample set by the first mentioned, and instituted their societies. Fail field County appears to have been moie tardy in the formation of her society, whii h was organized in 1T!>'J. being a b-w mouths subsequent to the in- coiporation, by the Legislature, of the State Medical Society, which was granted in the spring of that year. " .\lthougli Fairfield was later in the luovement of organization than its sist(-r ciiunties, yet I am led to infer that a no less active .sentiment for refurm exist^-'i in the minds of her physicians than that already jnaiii- feste«l in the other sections of the State. This is shown from the fad that the society records exhibit, appended to theoiiginal articles of the associati(jn, the namesof foi ty of her most respectable coiitenipoTary physi- cians, being probably about the number of regular practitioners in tho county at the period of itd orgauizati ui. "In view uf this ready concurrence and sujipoi tolitained for her s. >< iefy from so large a poition of the physicians of the county, it is with regret that I am cunipellcii to the admission, that subsequently, au<l even at the present time, a large number of respectable practitioners of the county questiuu its utility and withhold their inlluenie and tho pecuniary aiil requisite to sustain its action for the attainment of the greatest gixjd for which it might be made susceptible. I am happy, however, in being able to state tliat most of its repmliators virtually admit the salutary infiuenco which it has effected, by their practi.'e of a professional dejiot tmeiit ac- cordant with its jiidico establi-slied for the regulation of iirofe^siomil iu- tercoursft bi-tween its members. "I learn from its records that the F;iirficld ( 'Mimty Society united witli a cunimendabb- z.eal with those of tho other counties in an ajiidicatiou to the Legislature for the charter of the State Society. At its fii>t meet- ing at Kedding, March, 17rii». the following vote appears, — ' Voted, that I)rs. James Potter, John Lester, and Pavid Rogers, be delegates to meet didegates from other counties in tho State, at Hartford, in May next, in order to form a jdan of general inc u j)oration, to lay before the Ibui. Ceiieral Assembly at their next session," The first delegates (so termed) of the society to meet at convention in !VIidtlleto\vn wt-re Hi)poiuted in September, lTi)2. ami consisted of I>rs. James Totter, Th:iddi-iis ISetts, Ilosea Ilurlbut. James Clark, and Amos Mea.l. That the ofiico uf fel- low at that time was one remunerated by love and pati iotism only, wouM appear fri>m a vote of the society, preceding the apptdntment of the gen- tlemen above named, as follows :—' Voted, that this meeting will make n<' compensation to the delegates to the Jliddletown Convention.' " It also appeals that the somewhat dmracleriitic rejiwjnamf to taxa- tion, at present oxisting with a ]»oitiou of the physicians i>f Faiifteld County, instead of being an infection of rf.vent origin, is but the devel- opment of a predisposition, derived fmm their professional progimituis; as appears from the following vote passed at the county meeting in May, 17'K1,—' Voted, that wdiereius tho Ibui. General Ccuiveutioii uf the Fel- low.s of the Medical Society of Connecticut, at their session nt Middle- t<(wn in Ochjber last, voted, that they have iHiwer to levy and collect taxes for their own supjtort and expenses while in Convention ; it is tho opinion of this meeting that ^aid Convention uf Fellows have nut *iid powoi-s, agreeable to the act uf incurponitiou of tho Medical Si^tiety ; 34 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD COUNTY, CONNECTICUT. an<l tliat the (K-Iogatca of (liiH county give infurniAtiou of lliitt vote to t!»e ailjouriK-0 convention to be holilen nt Ilartfonl on the IGth day of 3Iny.' "A rollt'ctivo jwnuc^i, liowevor, seems BjK'edily to linve eiipprcssed tlio tendency to a duvelopntcnt of the affectiun in the minds of those oiigi- nally nfTucted, while that of inliuritance has, in some eases, proved ob- dnrato and irromcdiablu. It wouhl appear from the following vote that the above wiw dictated nither by a constructive view of the act of in- cor|>oration a^ reganis taxation, than of hostility to t\w principle. At a meeting of tlio County Society in IT'JO, it wna voted, 'That the President and Fellows of the Connecticut Medical Society in legal convention, shnll have full |>ower to levy taxes on themselves, not cxceciling one dollar on each niembor per annum.* Also it was voted, ' That the Presi- dent and Fellows of said Society, in convention, shall have ample i»ower to ini]Xj6e such |>ecnniHQ' penalties on the mcntbei'M of ^lid society, for a traiiMgresj«ion of their By-Latcn, as mny bo deemed nccessarj' for the well unleiiiiK of sjiid stniety, not exceeding the sum of SJO.' It wan also Voted, 'That it is the wish of this meeting that the General ARwnibly Im solicited by General Convenlion to al«8ulve the members of the Medical Society of the Slate of Connecticut, from paying the moneys taxed for the support of the civil list ; provided the like sum be ycaily taxed, and collected, and ajipropriatcd for the bqIq purpose of difTusing medical knowledge, — voted, that the above vote be transmitted to the medical convention/ A vote riimilar to the al>ovo was repeated in ITits ; but what action resultrd, if any, does not appear. "The followinij: Preamble and Resolution, passed in 3794, exhibit a zeal in Fairfield tVuiity Society, fur the cultivation and diffusion of meilical knowledge, among its members, worthy of imitation by the present members of all medical societies, — viz., * Whereas the material end, use, and design of the ^Icdical Society of Connecticut was to diffuse and cultivate medical knowledge among thu faculty ; and as this noble puri>4)«e cannot ho answered in any way 80 well as by the members mutually di.scl>i8ing anything that occurs to their minds that may be in anyway useful, either in the theory or practice >>( medicine — Itesolved, that it »hall bo the duty of overj' member of this Medical Society to ex- hibit, at lea«t once in two years, to the society, u dissertation on some medical subject, or relate an account of some coses in the coui-sc of his pnu:ticc that may bo nnirked with most peculiariticj<, together with his remarks (heroun. Kesolved, That if any member shall refuse to comply with the furoguing resoluliou, he shall be considered 08 guilty of neglect of duly to this society and to mankind in general.' Though the requiie- ment« of the altuve resolutiun wei-e probably not realized to its full ex- tent, yet the reconls of the society and present experience piwe that, through wrlttiMi and onil communiuilion, elicited by the asck>ciation, much ha« Ifoeii effected in the dissemiQation of individual experionco and obdor^ation among its meuibcrs. **By means of ade<|uate police regulatii:>n8, originally adopted and occattiunally mudltled to meet existing emergencies, a salutary' reformation has been effected of the unsocial habits formerly characterizing profcs- fcionnl intercourse. Intleed, at the present time, such Is the degree of pnifefisional comity generally observed by the physicians of Fairfield County, that even private complaints are rarely heai-d of its breach in the onlinary jtitorcourso of neighboring physicians. "It will probably W claimed by ropudiators of medical societies that tlio Improved cornlitlon of medical science is a necetwary sequence of the advanced state of general literature chametori/.ing the periiKl; and that the Impruve«l moral and social habits of the profession liavo been the natural ntjull of the su[>orior refinement of modern society compared with that of prece<ling eras. While it is concede<l that the cultivation of Hcience tends tn refine (he taste, and to strengthen the honorable feelings of t!ie few who ore its devotees, yet it may admit of (pie.tliipn whether, an n-gnnls the * utilr in iHo</n,' In the present age of activity of the selfish pniuions and prup^-nsilieti, society can Justly l>oost a marke<l su|>eriority of the social and honurubic accomplishments over those of the past cen- tury.