JOHN MILTON SCUDDER, M. D.

John Milton Scudder was born September eight, eighteen hundred and twenty-nine, in the little village of Harrison, Hamilton County, Ohio. His father, John Scudder, cabinet-maker, died in 1838 when young Scudder was between eight and nine years of age, and the little family of mother and three children, left in but moderate circumstances, had to figure closely for the wherewithal to live. While still very young, John went to work in a button factory at Reading, Ohio, receiving the munificent wage of fifty cents a week. There he acquired that habit of work which became a dominant trait all through his fruitful life. Even at his tender age he had two prime objects in view-to aid his mother in the support of the little family and to acquire a sound collegiate education. The first he fulfilled to the letter; and he grasped the latter, when, at twelve years of age, he had accumulated a sufficient store of money to enter the Miami University at Oxford, Ohio. After leaving college he perfected himself in the arts of cabinetmaking and painting, pursuing the former occupation during the winter and the latter during the summer. One of our engravings shows him a sturdy, handsome young man in the artisan's garb, a master of the brush, bucket, and putty knife. He was a laborer worthy of his hire. Idleness was no part of his creed, nor could he ever tolerate sloth and shiftlessness in others. His next move was to open a general store in his native town. Then, on his twentieth birthday, he married Jane Hannah. Of this union came five children, but two of whom survived infancy. The deaths of the three babies, due as Scudder firmly believed to improper treatment, hanged the life-work of the latter from the pursuits of arts and

crafts and from the mercantile hustle to a career of medicine. Placing himself under the preceptorial guidance of Dr. Milton L. Thomas*, a pioneer and enthusiastic Eclectic and father of Prof. Rolla L. Thomas, M. D., he entered the Eclectic Medical Institute at Cincinnati, and in 1856 graduated with honor as valedictorian of his class. So well had he applied himself to study and so proficient had he shown himself that the Faculty at once selected him for the position of Professor of General, Special, and Pathological Anatomy. From that time onward his professional career as practitioner, teacher, and author made him one of the most conspicuous men in the annals of American medicine.

In conjunction with his college duties Dr. Scudder at once entered into practice in that old portion of Cincinnati known as Fulton. His success, both as a practitioner and money-maker, was phenomenal. He formed partnerships in order to handle the immense business; Dr. O. E. Newton being the most noteworthy of his partners. At one time his office was crowded with patients and the income from practice ran into the three tens, but love of his school overreached his love of riches, and he relinquished this lucrative practice with its golden opportunities for the perilous task of leadership in a hazardous effort to strengthen a tottering institution. His whole attention was now given to his alma mater, the Eclectic Medical Institute, which he meant to save and place upon a par with the best medical colleges of the world. How well he succeeded is now a part of history.

Dr. Scudder's whole strength and soul was now thrown into his chosen work. With the shrewd and discerning eye of the business man and with unsefish devotion to his profession he quickly saw in the financial mismanagement of the college and the internecine strife in the Faculty a wreck ahead for Eclecticism. He threw himself into the breach, took charge of the college and the Journal, and though the Civil War was coming on and decimating

* Milton L. Thomas, M. D., father of Professor Rolla L. Thomas, M. D., (Dean of the Eclectic Medical College of Cincinnati) and preceptor of Professor John M. Scudder, M. D., was born in Warren County, Ohio, September 11, 1821. His early years were passed chiefly at Madison, Indiana. At the age of fifteen he learned the silversmith's trade at Booneville, Missouri. He began the study of medicine at Madison, Indiana, in 1844, and then entered the Louisville Medical College of Kentucky, from which he graduated. He subsequently embraced Eclecticism and graduated from the Eclectic Medical Institute. Settling in Morgan County, Indiana, he began practice in 1847. In 1849 he removed to New Haven, Ohio, from whence he went to Cincinnati, and finally to Harrison, Ohio, where for years he practiced successfully and was accounted one of the most skillful of practitioners. His wife was Susan J. Rybolt. Dr. Thomas survived his distinguished pupil one year, dying at Harrison, Ohio, April 24, 1895.

the ranks of the students he successfully guided the well-nigh sinking craft through perilous waters and brought her ashore unscathed and without dishonor. From the time he grasped the helm she has steadily ridden forth, spreading the gospel of Eclecticism in medicine; and from that day until the hour of his death John M. Scudder was, without question, the foremost Eclectic physician of his time.

From 1858 to 1860 Dr. Scudder filled the chair of Obstetrics and Diseases of Women and Children, and in 1860 was transferred to the chair of Pathology and Principles and Practice of Medicine, a position he held until 1887, when, failing in health, Dr. Thomas was given that chair and Dr. Jeancon Pathology, while Professor Scudder lectured upon the allied topics of Hygiene, Physical Diagnosis, and Specific Diagnosis until his death in 1894.

Dr. Scudder's wife having died, he married her sister, Miss Mary Hannah, on February 4, 1861, by whom he had five boys, of whom three graduated in medicine at the Eclectic Medical Institute. Dr. John King Scudder (born May 16, 1865) is the present secretary of Faculty of the Eclectic Medical College, editor of the Eclectic Medical Journal, and ex-president of the National Eclectic Medical Association; Dr. William Byrd Scudder (born December 12, 1869) was Professor of Diseases of Eye, Ear, Nose, and Throat. He died at Redlands, California, April 19, 1905. Dr. Paul Scudder (born June 18, 1868) is a practicing dentist in Cincinnati, and Dr. Harry Ford Scudder (born December 29, 1871), formerly Demonstrator of Anatomy in the Eclectic Medical Institute, is now a practicing physician in Redlands, California. The only surviving child of the first marriage is Mrs. Mattie Twachtman, widow of the impressionist artist, John H. Twachtman. Both Mrs. Twachtman and her son are also artists of repute.

HIS LEADERSHIP.-The rôle of leader is but poorly adapted to the majority of men. Tact, aggression, and an intricate knowledge of human nature are absolutely necessary to success if one would aspire to that position. Dr. Scudder was by nature fitted for leadership. When placed at the head of the Institute he found much to be done. He did not wait for others to take up the burden. Bending under the load he aimed his steps directly toward a sure footing and a sound foundation. Financial obligations were to be met, the Journal must be rejuvenated, and text-books were sorely needed. All these tasks were cheerfully undertaken and

rapidly and faithfully executed. The wary, who had felt the neglect of the careless and incompetent on the one hand and the sting of the designing and dishonest on the other, now looked with confidence and hope to the new leader. He never betrayed the trust. All that he asked for was work and co-operation; work and plenty of it for himself that should bring resulting good to Eclecticism. He demanded of others that they also should work. He believed in the gospel of work; for the idler he had no pity and no alms. The result was that discordant elements dropped their petty differences, trust displaced distrust, and the business of teaching medicine went on with renewed vigor. Around him he gathered a Faculty of workers, with not a drone among them,such a Faculty as few medical institutions anywhere had ever known and one that dwelt together harmoniously for more than a quarter of a century.

THE AUTHOR AND JOURNALIST.-As an author and journalist Dr. Scudder was prolific and untiring, and his efforts were crowned with extraordinary success and his influence was far-reaching. He took over the Eclectic Medical Journal when, almost moribund, that publication through loss of subscriptions and lack of collections came near to extinction. Assuming the editorial pen and the financial management he soon snatched it from the brink of the grave of oblivion and into the editorial columns he threw his powerful personality. Physicians who had lost hope again rallied to its support and the "dark days of Eclecticism" passed. This publication he edited from 1861 to his death in 1894.

With equal vigor he shouldered the task of preparing textbooks which should embody living, up-to-date matter. In doing this he shattered some of the cherished idols of the earlier Eclectics who were less progressive and who rested content upon the pioneer methods and publications. His first book came out in 1858 and bore the title of "A Practical Treatise on Diseases of Women." In 1860 followed, (in conjunctive authorship with Dr. L. E. Jones), "Materia Medica and Therapeutics." This work at once became popular and in repeated editions and revisions was, until a very recent date, the standard Eclectic work upon the subject. His splendid "Eclectic Practice of Medicine," still a classic, was issued in 1864 and has undergone many revisions which kept it up to date, until it was entirely rewritten and superseded by Thomas' "Eclectic Practice of Medicine," issued in 1906. “Prin

ciples of Medicine" appeared in 1866; "Diseases of Children" in 1867; and "Specific Medication" in 1871. "The Reproductive Organs and Venereal Diseases" came from the press in 1874, and lastly his greatest work in our estimation, outside of many of the valuable Journal articles and editorials, "Specific Diagnosis" came out in 1874. Many of these books have undergone repeated revisions and numerous editions were required to fulfill the great demand for them. For elegance of diction, clearness of statement, and practicability they stand unsurpassed among American textbooks of medicine. The Eclectic physician who has not a copy each of his Practice, Specific Medication, and Specific Diagnosis is the loser, for no works are so valuable in revealing the unfolding of modern Eclecticism. Besides these professional works Dr. Scudder also published a work on "Domestic Medicine" which was widely popular, and for a short period he issued a Journal of Health for the laity and a literary magazine titled The Eclectic.

It was in the journalistic field, however, that Dr. Scudder exerted his greatest influence and displayed his versatile talents, and few similar publications have made so marked an impression on medical thought and progress as did the Eclectic Medical Journal during his editorship. Though wielding a sharp pen there was no gall in his messages. He was a valiant antagonist, attacking methods rather than men. His adversary, though often hard hit by his ready wit and pungent humor, seldom felt that a personal thrust had been given, and therefore did not bitterly resent. Occasionally, which was rarely, when attacked personally, Dr. Scudder did not deign to reply; to him, then, "silence was golden." But most antagonists, and he had many, antagonized his views: seldom the writer. When personally attacked business or professional jealousy usually goaded his adversary and the cause of the attack was plainly apparent. No man ever more ably advocated and defended a beloved cause than did Dr. Scudder labor for Eclecticism; and no rival schools of medicine ever had a more fair adversary and critic.

HIS "MAGNUM OPUS."-When Professor Scudder entered the field of Eclectic Medicine he found a heterogeneous conglomeration of crude medication inherited from the fathers. Even though so extremely crude, yet was this primitive medicine a marked improvement, in point of safety at least, over that which it was in