Medicine in Kansas 1850-1900.

Abstract

A medical education in Kansas, in 1850, was largely the result of study under another practicing physician, namely the preceptor. As the increasing need for formal college education became recognized, medical colleges began to spring up on the prairie. Most were short-lived, but by 1889, Kansas had two strong medical colleges, one at Kansas State University and the other at Kansas medical College of Topeka. Kansas offered fertile soil for the growth of three major nineteenth-century medical sects, the Thomsonians, Homoeopaths, and Eclectics. Homoeopathy founded in 1870, by S. C. F. Hahnemann, was based on the theory that certain diseases could be cured by giving very small doses of drugs which in a healthy person and in very large doses produced symptoms similar to those of the disease. It was Hahnemann who gave regular physicians the title allopath. Considered the opposite of homoeopathy, allopathy meant the treatment of disease by remedies that produce effects different from or opposite to those produced by the disease. Wooster Beach, also critical of the heroic therapeutics of the regulars, formed the eclectic practice of medicine in the 1820's. Because of his acceptance of the botannical practice of Thomsonians, Indian doctors, and other sources, he called his practice eclectic. Taken as a whole, these three sects supplied approximately 30 percent of the practicing physicians in the state. In certain rural areas, the majority of the physicians were classified as "irregulars." Eclectics, largest of the three, and homoeopaths had strong medical associations which frequently came into violent conflict with the regular school of medicine. It was one of these conflicts that forced the repeal of the 1879 act to regulate the practice of medicine in the state. Realizing that there was no effective legislation to regulate medical practice, attempts were made towards reconciliation. Superficial shows of comradery hid an undercrust of prejudice and suspicion. The need for regulatory legislation was apparent to all. In the drafting of such legislation, no one seemed to be able to agree on the details. Yearly proposals were made to the legislature, but a combination of Populist opposition and sectarian disagreements doomed each to failure. It was 1901 before Kansas gained effective legislation. The use of proprietary therapeutics grew steadily throughout the late nineteenth century. Although the advertising was misleading and ingredients often dangerous, their use continued. Kansas firms, such as W. W. Gavitt Medical Company joined the bandwagon and made a good deal of money for their effort. Again, regulation would have to wait for the twentieth century. The nineteenth century was a period of rapid growth and change in the area of therapeutics. Instead of simply a cathartic and emetic, the physician found his bag full of a vast array of narcotics, analgesics, and antipyretics. The same year Roentgen published his report on x-radiation, Kansas physicians were adopting its use in a wide variety of applications.