350 - HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA. before he became religious, Dr. Postlethwaite sometimes deviated into a common custom of gentlemen of the old school and interpolated a few oaths into his conversation. His profession of religion and moral convictions led him to abandon this habit, and yet an instance is drawn where his irascible temperament and his hatred of Gen. Jackson led him to relapse into a slight paroxysm of profanity. "About the years 1838 and 1839"—so a gentleman relates from his personal remembrance—" I sometimes consulted him as a physician. One day in conversation Webster became the subject, and the doctor lauded him as the greatest of living statesmen. I repeated a sarcastic remark, attributed to John Randolph, Daniel Webster is highly talented, but utterly corrupt ; like a rotten mackerel in moonlight, or putrid meat in the dark, he shines and stinks, and stinks and shines.' The sarcasm excited the indignation of the doctor. He pronounced Randolph `an accursed caitiff, incapable of any great and good action.' He defended Webster from the charge of being corrupt ; and asserted that ' Andrew Jackson was the author of that d—d infamous falsehood.' Jackson feared and hated Webster, and wished to counteract the influence of his talents by falsehoods about his moral character. He then denounced Jackson as the worst man of the age, —a compound of cunning and ferocity. ' His flatterers call him "the old Roman,"—the noblest Roman of them all.' Of all the Romans, remarked the doctor, ' he most closely resembles Caius Marius after he had imbued his hands in the blood of his fellow-citizens and trampled upon the liberties of his country.' " Of the force and severity of Dr. Postlethwaite's satirical talents some idea may be conveyed by the following piece of information, obtained from a gentleman of unimpeachable veracity. An attempt was made to establish in Washington County, Pa., a newspaper with the name of The Democratic Eagle and Banner of the Cross. It was intended to promulgate and defend the principles of the most intense Democracy and the most liberal Christianity. Of both these Dr. Postlethwaite was the uncompromising enemy, and so he assailed the scheme in the Pittsburgh Gazette with such sarcasm and humor that at one blow he entirely annihilated it. In one of his figures he made the eagle go flying away with the cross in his beak. One day, while discussing politics in a group of men, an impudent Democratic lawyer remarked to Postlethwaite in a sneering manner, " Obscurity is said to be an element in sublimity. Your arguments, doctor, should be sublime, for they are above my comprehension." " Sir," said Postlethwaite, " I have given you my arguments, but I cannot furnish you with intellect enough to understand them." After the Federal party ceased to exist as a political organization, Postlethwaite became an anti-Mason, and used his pen against secret societies. The Democrats had identified their party with Masonry, and so anti-Masonry was opposition to Democracy. For a time the Masonic brotherhood dwindled into insignificance, and the anti-Masons abandoned their party association. Dr. Postlethwaite became a Whig, and as he had given his first, so he gave his last vote against the Democratic party. Had the Federals continued to exist as a party, he never would have voted with any other political organization. Dr. Postlethwaite was never an open and avowed skeptic, but, on the other hand, he was not a merely traditional Christian. His mind was too inquisitive and his disposition too bold to accept religion by prescription. The full vigor of his remarkable intellect was put forth to examine the internal and external evidences of Christianity, and the conclusions were faith in the Christian system, and reliance upon it for salvation. In the conviction of such a mind virtue gained a brilliant advantage, for on the side of religion there were henceforth arrayed good character, industrious habits, an acute and active intellect, and extensive information. His parents were Episcopalians, and Postlethwaite by education and baptism had been a nominal member of the Church of England, but after his marriage and location in Westmoreland County he left the Episcopalian denomination and connected himself with the Presbyterians. He was admitted to membership during the pastorship of the Rev. William Speer, who for twenty years had charge of the churches of Unity and Greensburg. The conversion of Dr. Postlethwaite was produced by the study of the Bible, the Westminster Catechism, and ecclesiastical history. With minds of the liberal kind change in politics and religion is not astonishing. They are accustomed to reason and open to conviction. There is a common habit with the mass of the pepple to denounce those who change their opinions under the names of " apostate" and " turncoat." In good truth mankind are indebted for many benefits and blessings to turn-coats. But for a change of opinion Paul would have died a Pharisee, Martin Luther a Roman Catholic, and John Wesley a zealous member of the Church of England. But for change of opinion Adams and Jefferson, Franklin and Washington would have died loyal subjects to the king of England. Dr. Postlethwaite was so well acquainted with ecclesiastical history and polemical literature that there were few clergymen equal and none superior to him in this kind of information. It appears that from his arrival at his majority his mind had been much occupied with theological metaphysics. Two old letters, written to him by a brother, one in 1813, and the other in 1821, in both of which religion is the main subject, are still extant. The letters give evidence of thought, reading, and correct scholarship. It appears that Dr. Postlethwaite had a brother Samuel, who had gone to THE MEDICAL PROFESSION - 351 the South and located himself at Natchez, Miss., where he was engaged, with other persons, in the manufacture of salt and the raising and shipping of cotton. He held slaves, and says that he will en;: deavor to increase his stock. " You seem," he writes to James, " to entertain terrible ideas of our situation here. I think that it is the finest country in the world, and that there is nothing to apprehend from the kind of property we hold. I am endeavoring to increase my force from eighty to one hundred." Samuel was a decided Federalist in politics, and opposed the war of 1812 and the administration of Madison. In his letter of 1821 he excuses himself to his brother for not openly connecting himself with a Christian Church and making a profession of religion. In his letter of 1813 he discusses, in answer to James, the profound metaphysical doctrine of the mode in which God rules the universe. James Postlethwaite (as appears in a quotation in Samuel's letter) maintained the opinion that " nothing happens, nationally or individually, without the express knowledge, permission, and direction of the Supreme Governor of the universe." His brother Samuel, on the contrary, was "inclined to believe that the universe is governed by not partial and particular but general laws ; that man is endowed with reason and free will, and that this belief is perfectly consistent with the dignity and wisdom of an omnipotent and omniscient Deity." 1 In this metaphysical dispute, carried on between two brothers in 1813 flagrante bello, during the last war with England, James Postlethwaite occupied the orthodox Christian position, while Samuel leaned towards the philosophers. Alas for the vanity of this world, its wealth and wisdom, both Postlethwaites, like Harry Percy, are long ago food for worms. James Postlethwaite was tall in stature, straight, and well formed. He was about six feet in height, and in his prime of life weighed over two hundred pounds. His address was polished and dignified, and his countenance was noble and commanding. His nose was as Roman as that of Cato, the Censor. His eye was hazel in color. It was small, but keen and penetrating, and when excited in conversation it often kindled until it shot a fiery radiance. The Yankees or New England men compared Webster to a Deity. He was called " the God-like Daniel." When he was in England the ladies pronounced him to be a " very handsome man." One who saw Dr. Postlethwaite and Daniel Webster walking and talking together on the Main Street of Greensburg, felt 1 The ideas of Samuel Postlethwaite are beautifully versified in Pope's " Essay on Man :" "Remember, Man, the universal cause Acts not by partial but by general laws: He sees with equal eye, as God of all, A hero perish or a sparrow fall, Atoms or systems into ruin hurled, And now a bubble bursts and now a world." confident that Postlethwaite was superior to him in all the qualities that constitute manly beauty or personal perfection. If a painter had been solicited to depict upon canvas a beau ideal of the grave, pious, most respectable, and eloquent citizen whom Virgil has so beautifully described, he might have painted the likeness of James Postlethwaite. 2 Dr. Postlethwaite had a number of brothers, several of whom emigrated to and lived in the South He had four daughters and three sons. The oldetn, daughter married the distinguished lawyer and politician, Charles Ogle, of Somerset. The second, Emily, died unmarried. The third, Matilda, married the Rev. W. W. Woodend, pastor of the Presbyterian Church of Saltsburg, Indiana Co., and the fourth, Sydney, married Dr. Alfred T. King, of Greensburg. His oldest son. Williaen, settled in Somerset ; his second, Alexander, went to Natchez, and died there ; and Samuel, the youngest, died a bachelor in the State of Illinois. The Postlethwaites are all gone from Westmoreland. James Postlethwaite died in Greensburg, Westmoreland Co., on the 17th of November, 1842, in the sixty-seventh year of his age. In his last years he received consolation from his religion, for, notwithstanding his high-toned temper and pride of character, he became a Christian of the most simple, humble, and child-like faith. He always listened to his spiritual instructor with the deepest deference, both from the pulpit and his own fireside. He was buried in the Presbyterian graveyard, now the St. Clair Cemetery. 'They who know personally or otherwise his qualities and his virtues may well wonder why there is no memorial over the grave of James Postlethwaite. JOHN ORMSBY, M.D.—As we have just finished a sketch of the life of a learned, virtuous, and useful physician, an ornament of society, and an honor to his profession, it seems in accordance with the laws of nature and the rules of custom to give an account of a mountebank, who in every quality and attribute presented a contrast. Our object is not to make a great man appear to be greater by forcing him into juxtaposition with an obscure ignoramus, but to show how shamefully the people of Pennsylvania have been imposed upon by the pretensions of medical charlatans and the impudence of empiricism. Some time about 1839 or 1840 there came to Greensburg a man who called himself John Ormsby, and who represented himself to be a physician by profession. His age was about thirty years. He was of medium size. His countenance was not handsome, but open and pleasant, and his deportment was grave 2 " Ac, veluti magno in populo stepe courts est, Seditio, stevitque emirate ignobile vulgus- Jamque faces et saxa volant; furor arms, ministrat; Tum, pietate graven, ac mends si forte virum quem Conspexere, silent, arrectsque aribus adstant, Ille regit dictis auimos, et pectore mulcet." 352 - HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA. and dignified. His head was very large, and as he was inclined to baldness he possessed quite an intellectual appearance. He always wore clean linen, dressed well in dark-colored clothes, and carried a handsome silver-mounted cane. His habits were apparently good, and he had all the exterior decencies of a respectable man. He was a native of the United States, but of what part it is not known. He had resided for some years in Michigan, but came to Westmoreland directly from Butler County, where he had practiced medicine, and where he had married. Ormsby did not pretend to have received any regular medical education, or to have graduated at any regular medical institution. He alleged that he studied his profession with a celebrated German doctor, Dellenbach, who resided in Ohio, and practiced entirely on the uroscopic system of medicine, wherein the symptoms of disease are ascertained by an examination of the urine of the patient. He exhibited a certificate from Dellenbach, stating that John Ormsby had studied medicine under his instruction, and that he was fully qualified to practice in that particular mode of the medical profession. By the way, it may be stated for the information of those who were not cotemporaneous with Ormsby's epoch in Greensburg, that before and after 1840 there lived and practiced medicine in Ohio a certain Dr. Dellenbach, who had a great reputation for curing disease, and who was considered infallible in diagnosis. Every quack has his nostrum, and as Sangrado cured all diseases by warm water, so Dellenbach knew all diseases by the same element in a condition at secondhand. Dellenbach had as great a reputation for the discovery of disease as Dr. Braddee, of Uniontown, had for its cure until he grew tired of the petty larceny plunder of patients and entered upon the wholesale robbery of the United States. Like all empirics, Ormsby made a great use of advertising. His bills, with " UROSCOPIA" at the top in flaming letters, were found in nearly all bar-rooms and public places. They represented him to be a favorite pupil of the great Dellenbach, and stated that he had performed a number of wonderful cures, which were certified to by reputable people, including ladies afflicted with sterility, and clergymen troubled with dyspepsia and derangement of the kidneys. Ormsby opened an office in Main Street, in the centre of the town, for he was resolved not to hide his light under a bushel, and, besides, he was troubled with none of that mauvaise honte, that unlucky modesty or bashfulness which is often a stumbling-block in the road to fame and fortune. He had as much "modest assurance" as if he had been born in Dublin, lived .in London, and served for seven years as a runner for a New York house. It is well known that every quack has his nostrum, specific, panacea, or peculiar mode of treatment. The hobby of Ormsby was the discovery of disease by the urine. This has been a diagnostic since the days of Hippocrates, and is used by all regular practitioners. But while the orthodox doctors use the urine only in certain cases, such as liver complaint, Ormsby and his school regarded it as the infallible symptom in all cases,—in itch, scrofula, sore eyes, corns, and rheumatism, as well as affections of the liver and kidneys. The diagnosis of disease by the urine has always been favorably regarded by the Germans and persons of German descent. Ormsby had located himself where there was a large number of substantial citizens of German origin. In addition, it may be said that when people are sick their judgment is unsettled ; they run for relief to any quarter, and thus become the prey of bold charlatans and impudent impostors. In despite, therefore, of the denunciations of the regular doctors, and the sneers and jeers of wags and blackguards, Ormsby gained notoriety, and began to get business and make money. He had some knowledge of the world, but very little book-learning. He could write a legible scrawl, and could read and spell about as well as many a member of the Legislature. Of the learned languages he knew nothing. Of ancient and modern history he knew so little that he would have been puzzled to determine whether Alexander the Great was the ruler of Macedon or Muscovy. All that he knew of American history and politics was through the newspapers, and of these he knew just enough to have made a Fourth of July oration that would have passed current at a country cross-roads. Yet still to sustain his professional dignity he pretended to all kinds of knowledge. A singular celestial body made its appearance, and invited the curiosity of the gazing multitude. The learned world unmuzzled its wisdom, and tried to explain the nature o the appearance in the heavens. Some said that it was a comet, others pronounced it to be a comated meteor, while a few of the philosophers held it to be nothing but an "irradiated nimbus." Ormsby was resolved not to be outdone in this display of learning, and so he wrote a learned article for the newspapers, in which he described the heavenly apparition and said that it was well known to the scientific world by the designation of " The Gray Mare's Tail." The learned laughed, but Ormsby was undaunted, and persisted so strGngly in his asservations that many believed that in this case the gray mare was the better horse, and that Ormsby had the right end of the tale. A physician, of this county, as eminent for his ability as well known for his eccentricity and untimely death, went to Philadelphia, and brought back with him a beautiful wooden. instrument, named a stethoscope, used for the purpose of testing diseased lungs. Ormsby saw it and conceived a queer notion in his noddle. He went to a tinsmith and got a horn made about as long as that to be sounded by Gabriel. He rode into the country nearly every day with this engine strapped to the cantle of his saddle. On being THE MEDICAL PROFESSION - 353 asked the use, he replied that it was intended to test diseased lungs, that it was called a stethoscope, and was usually made of wood ; but Dr. Dellenbach held the opinion that tin was the better material, because metal conveys sound more strongly and clearly. He said that he had it made about four times the usual length, because the longer an instrument the greater is it,s potency, as may be understood by the working of the lever ! One may well ask, Would one so ignorant of the profession pretend to administer medicine, and how did he manage without danger to life? The following was his mode of 'procedure. He had procured several blank-books, and in them he, or others for him, had written down the general symptoms of, and remedies for, nearly all ordinary diseases. Many of the reci,pes he had obtained from the books of other empirics, others by inquiries from nurses and old wo-men, and some by the examination of some old dispensatories. It is certain that he had never read a medical book. In fact, he did not know even the names of the best medical authors. Of anatomy he knew nothing. He had never dissected a corpse nor seen one dissected. If asked upon which side the heart is situated, it is probable that he would have replied, with " The Mock Doctor" of Moliere, " On the right side, of course." If the ques-tioner had doubted this assertion, and urged that the left side was the proper location of the heart, Ormsby had enough of readiness and impudence to have replied, " Ah I that was the location of the heart at one time, but it is now transferred to the right side. Nature must keep pace with the progress of medical science !" The physicians of Westmoreland formed an association for the advancement of medical science. From the association were excluded all who did not practice on the old regular system, or who could not show a diploma from a medical college. As Ormsby was excluded from the association he assailed it with great vigor. He tried to make the public believe that the association was formed to injure his reputation and destroy his practice. He was the Napoleon of medicine, against whom the Legitimists had formed a combination. One of the regular doctors replied to him in several sarcastic articles in the newspapers, but that did Ormsby some benefit, for it gave him notoriety, and that was what he most eagerly desired. Some members of the medical association ascertained by inquiry in Ohio that Ormsby never had been a student of Dr. Dellenbach. Dellenbach gave them a letter to that effect, in which he stated that if Ormsby pretended to hold a certificate from him it must be a forgery. It was thought that this would silence and annihilate him, but instead of that it did him no harm. If Ormsby was nothing but a vile impostor and ignorant quack, why did these learned doctors take so much trouble to expose him ? If he cured his patients under a forged certificate, it was better than to kill them with a regular diploma. And so aided by the notoriety this affair gave him, and sheltered behind an Ajax-shield of sevenfold impudence, Ormsby pushed on to fatne and fortune. He actually got a respectable practice, and made some money. He bought property, and built himself a Swiss cottage upon Bunker Hill. Had he lived and practiced for ten years more in Westmoreland he might have retired upon a competence, and deserved his good luck about as well as other medical impos-ters, such as the Browns, Hooflands, Wolfes, and Hoofnaugles. He was industrious, and rather economical. Having been very poor, he had learned to appreciate money, and wa.s anxious to get rich. When the news of the discovery of gold in California arrived in the old States, the de.sire of wealth led Ormsby to rush to the El Dorado. While eagerly searching for the precious metal a bank of earth fell upon him, and Ormsby descended to Hades. " Extremes meet," and there is only " one step from the sublime to the ridiculous." Led by the association of ideas, and under shelter of these well-known sayings, we have passed per saltum from Dr. Postlethwaite to Dr. Ormsby. DR. ALFRED T. KING. Dr. Alfred Thomas King, born Oct. 22, 1813, in the town of Galway, Saratoga Co., N. Y., and died Saturday, Jan. 2, 1858. His people were Covenanters of a poor but respectable class. He got a substantial common schooling, and was put by his father with a doctor of the place as a boy of all-work. He attended about the office, keeping it in shape, and the doctor being the physician for some public works in the city, the boy was regularly employed in carry-ing out the medicine as mixed to the patients at the works. His attention was thus drawn to medicine, He got all the information he could from observation and close attention about the office. He remained in the employ of this doctor until he 'nad a quarrel with the doctor's wife, the mistress of the house. She, in addition t,o the work imposed on him as office-boy, wanted him to act as scullion about the house and kitchen, which he indignantly refused. This led to acrimonious language, in consequence of which he either left or was discharged. From the office he went back to his father. At that time a Rev. Andrew Wiley, D.D., an Irish Cov-enanter, taught a school and had a congregation in Philadelphia. King's father got the boy placed as a boarder and scholar in Andrew Wiley's school. All the acquirements he had in the higher branches of a liberal education he received here. Dr. Wiley was a good scholar, but eccentric in his habits. - He some-times got so overcome with liquor that he could not sit at table. Still he was a good scholar and preacher. After receiving what education he did at Dr. Wiley's, he attended the medical lectures at that city 354 - HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA. and walked the hospitals. He supported himself, and made some money afterwards by himself lecturing on medicine, and by doing duty in the Philadelphia hospitals. He then commenced practice as a physician, and opened an office in that city. He got but little business, and having got in arrears with his rent, he was ejected for the non-payment of the same by the woman who owned the building. Much dejected in spirit, as he afterwards related, he then endeavored to secure a position as assistant surgeon on board of a ship, and while engaged in the negotiation for this position he happened to meet at the house of Mr. Wiley, with whom he still stayed, a Westmoreland man, a citizen of Greensburg, of the name of William Brown. Mr. Brown was a shop-keeper of the town, and when he went to Philadelphia to buy goods, himself being a Covenanter, was visiting Dr. Wiley, with whom he was on familiar terms. Brown showed the doctor a Westmoreland paper which contained the notice that a good physician was badly wanted at Pleasant Unity, in that county. He told him the location was a good one, and that if he would go there he would in a short time get into business. This was about 1838. Upon this he made arrangements to come out. He sold what effects he had, and after paying his passage had seventy-five cents left. He located in Pleasant Unity, and when he first came when he visited a patient he either walked or borrowed a horse. As horseflesh, however, was then cheap, he soon got one. In the course of his practice he was brought into contact with Dr. Postlethwaite, of Greensburg. He visited him, was taken to his home, and introduced into his family, which eventually led to the marriage between Dr. King and Miss Sidney Postlethwaite, daughter of the doctor. Drs. Postlethwaite and King shortly after entered into partnership in Greensburg. He had now more leisure and opportunity to turn his attention to the study of literature and the natural sciences, and especially geology. In 1840, Dr. King contributed a series of nine articles to the Republican newspaper on the subject of'geology. These articles, however, were preceded by a short one in the form of a communication, and which was a serious criticism on an essay from the pen of Alexander Campbell, D.D., on the Mosaic geology. The appearance of a comet and an unusual display of meteors in the heavens in the fall of that year gave rise to much scientific discussion in the public prints throughout the Union. Dr. King's observations on meteorology were not the least interesting and instructive of these. He also gave his views on animal magnetism, and in sundry articles advocated the cherished project of a County Medical Association. Dr. King made a collection of these articles given by him to the press, and they make quite a large book. To this scrap-album we have had access, and although it is quite voluminous, yet it does not contain all the contributions which he made, nor all of his public addresses or lectures. 1 In his own hand, under date 1840, is the following memorandum, as a kind of preface : " These essays were written as much for the amusement and improvement of the writer as for the instruction of the readers, but when both can be united considerable benefit may result, therefore the object must be considered laudable. " Being fond of literary pursuits, and residing in a town in which there is little appreciation of literature, the writer chose this mode of amusing himself during the few leisure moments which he could snatch from the performance of the arduous practicA - and study of an onerous profession." These articles, on scientific and medical topics, were on " Bronchitis," " Scrofula," " Cancer," " A Meteorological Phenomenon," " Tornadoes," " On the Importance of a Well-Directed Education," "History and Habits of the Hessian Fly," " Natural. Sciences," " A Brief Exposition of Mr. Espy's Philosophy of Storms," " Asiatic Cholera," being a communication on the nature and character of the disease, furnished in answer to a special request of many of the first citizens of Greensburg, and which ran through a series of ten articles printed in the Argus. There are also other miscellaneous articles on various subjects, of which some were written in an amusing vein, but all were directed to worthy and commendable objects. Of all the literary productions which gave Dr. King notoriety, the most notable was an address delivered before the Westmoreland County Lyceum on the evening of the 24th of March, 1843, on "The Study of Natural Science." In this address he made severe strictures on the Roman Church for what he called its intolerant spirit, manifested against the leaders of science in the Middle Ages, and particularly the efforts made to have Galileo to recant. In it was also used this language : " The baneful consequences of the belief in supernatural agency in the direction and accomplishment of earthly events have been dissipated to the four winds of heaven." This lecture gave occasion for a lengthy and learned reply by the defenders of Mother Church. Immediately following its publication came a reply signed " Amicus Veritatis." In these articles it was evident he had met a more formidable antagonist. The author was said to be Peter C. Shannon, Esq., a well-known attorney, now on a Territorial bench. It is true that the articles were given to the printer in the handwriting of Mr. Shannon, and it is probable that he furnished some of the language and quotations used, which were taken from the body of the English poetry ; but the substance of the reply, the arguments, the citations from the po- 1 our thanks are due Dr. William H. King, son of Dr. A. T. King, of West Fairfield, for the use of the scrap-album of his father and for other favors. THE MEDICAL PROFESSION - 355 lemical writers and from the ecclesiastical and secular history of the Middle Ages were the work of Rev. Stillinger. This reply appeared in the Argus, and it was an article of such force and ability that Dr. King replied in the Intelligencer over his own name. A rejoinder was made, and this was so forcible and so full of statements which appeared to be well authenticated in history that, finding that he was contending with a theologian on his own ground, a disciple of Saint Thomas Aquinas, who was well versed in the subtleties of scholastic disputation, and in the logic of his master on a subject that was old and threadbare, Dr. King went to Pittsburgh, and consulted with Dr. Greene, of the Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, and there got facts and authorities upon which he based a reply, and which were incorporated therein. Since that day no similar controversy has been presented to the people of this county. Of course nothing was established. The friends of science maintained that the doctor had the advantage ; the friends of religion maintained that the priest had the advantage. To a large class, who would not seem to be moved by any sinister motive in expressing their opinion, it appeared that Dr. King had the merits of the case, but that as a historian and a theologian he was not the equal of Dr. Stillinger, and that in the argument and in the management of the controversy the latter had the advantage. The results of this controversy were injurious to the moral reputation of Dr. King. Henceforth an illiterate rabble garred at his heels till his death. Brainless men took up the cry, for the want of a better, of " quack," and were patted on the backs by the veriest of quacks. Others, who themselves had no more religion than a house-dog, openly proclaimed that on a strict interpretation of the Scripture he was an infidel, and that he was a corrupter of youth and a teacher of false doctrine. Even jealous members of his profession, who were actuated by no honorable motives, violently charged him with being the advocate of mercurial treatment. He was attacked for his scientific views by the clergymen of almost every denomination, and by those laymen whose zeal, like honest Bardolph's, " burnt in the nose." A singular phase to be considered in this famous controversy was this : The Intelligencer, the paper in which Dr. King's articles were published, had the reputation of being the mouth-piece of that body of citizens who profess a stricter morality than their neighbors, without regard, of course, to persuasion. The Argus was more worldly. Where the first quoted Scripture in its editorials, the last quoted Hudibras and Don Juan. Hence scoffers said that there was much of the motives which actuated the Puritans in their endeavors to extirpate the profane amusement of bear-baiting evidenced in this, and that the doctor was countenanced in his heterodox views not because he attacked Christianity generally, but because he abused the Roman Church particularly. Prior to the year 1844 it was the prevailing opinion among geologists that in the carboniferous age no air-breathing animal could possibly have existed, on account of the supposed excess of carbonic acid gas in the atmosphere necessary to produce the wondrous vegetable growths of the coal strata. Sir Charles Lyell, one of the most eminent of geologists, says that no vertebrated animals more highly organized than fish were known in rocks of higher antiquity than the Permian (that is, the period following the carboniferous age, and which closes the paleozoic era, or the older division of geological time) until the year 1844, when a fossil reptile was discovered in the coal-measures of Munster-Appel, in Rhenish Bavaria. In the same year, and before the news of this important scientific discovery reached America, Dr. King made public a discovery of fossil remains which had been unearthed by him several years previous. Up until that time he had discovered in several localities fossil footmarks of seven distinct but nondescript animals on minacious sandstone belonging to the coal-measures. This was the first unequivocal indication, at least in America, and among the first in the world, of the existence of birds or other animals high in the scale of organization lower than the new red sandstone, and hence geologists regarded the discovery with great interest. Before this discovery was made by Dr. King, it was, we have said, the unanimous opinion of geologists, from the absence of the remains of highly organized animals among the coal-rocks, that they did not exist at that early epoch. This discovery also conflicted with an hypothesis long maintained by distinguished geologists, that the atmosphere during the carboniferous period contained a much larger amount of carboniferous acid gas than at present, which by absorption caused the rapid growth of tree-ferns, lepidodendrons, and other stupendous coal plants now found so abundantly in a fossil state. This discovery proved that such could not have been the case, since birds and other highly organized lung-breathing animals existed at the same period. Professor Silliman, in the American Journal of Science for January, 1845, makes the following remarks in reference to these footmarks : " Dr. King's discovery is of great interest for the novel forms which he represents in the drawings accompanying his papers. Only two of them can probably be referred to a biped animal. . . . The other five figures are referable to quadrupeds, of which there are at least four different species, if not genera; His figure 6' is distinctly referable to an animal having the same inequality of step as the cheirotherium and other batrachians. The figures 3, 4, 5, and 7 are probably quadrupeds, but differ entirely from anything else of the sort we have seen ; there is a circular imprint, surrounded by five toes, in one case circular, in another long and ovate, in a third they are of an intermediate character." 356 - HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA. Dr. King framed a new nomenclature, and arranged all these tracks under classes and orders, genera and species, and his paper was published in and among the proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia for November and December, 1844, and in the American Journal of Science for January, February, and March, 1845, edited by Prof. Silliman, where full descriptions and accurate engravings of these remarkable footmarks may be seen. This discovery, as might be expected, created the greatest excitement in the scientific world. Sir Charles Lyell, president of the Royal Geological Society of London, came to North America in the interests of his science, and while here made it a special object of his journey to visit Dr. King, and make a personal inspection of the geological formation of this region, and especially to examine the strata of the coal-measures in which had been found these fossil remains. The public expression of Mr. tyell was looked for with great expectation, and many quidnuncs predicted that he, upon a personal examination of the remains, would come to an unfavorable conclusion. Upon his return he wrote the following letter for publication "To THE EDITORS OF THE PENNSYLVANIA ARGUS. "GENTLEMEN,—As many persons have inquired at Greensburg since my return from a visit to the quarries in Unity township what opinion I have come to respecting the curious markings discovered in 1844 by Dr. King, I shall be obliged to you if you will state in your journal that I entirely agree in the views which he has expressed respecting these fossil footmarks. They are observed to stand out in relief from the lower surface of a slab of sandstone which lay some feet below the soil. They closely resemble the tracks of an animal to which, from the hand-like form of the foot, the name of Cheirotherium has been given in Europe, where they occur both in Germany and in England. It is now universally admitted that such tracks must have been made by a large reptilian quadruped. "Their position in the middle of the carboniferous formation has been correctly pointed out by Dr. King, for this layer of sandstone in Westmoreland County is decidedly lower than the main or Pittsburgh seam of coal, but there are other smaller seams of coal which occur still lower in the series. These are the first and as yet the only indications which have been brought to light in any part of the world of the existence of reptiles in rocks of such high antiquity. We cannot, therefore, estimate too highly the scientific intere3t and importance of this discovery. "I am gentlemen, " Your obedient servant, "Greensburg, 18th April, 1846. "CHARLES LYELL." The importance of this discovery, and the recognized place of Dr. King as a geologist, has long been settled ; and in the far advanced degree of that science to-day he is regarded as one of those who helped to lead the way to the mountain-tops, whence his followers may get a glimpse of the promised land. Reference to this discovery in the standard works on geology, is thus made : "CHEIROTHERIAN FOOTPRINTS IN COAL-MEASURES. UNITED STATES.— In 1844, the very year when the Apateon or Salamander of the coal was first met with in the country between the Moselle and the Rhine, Dr. King published an account of the footprints of a large reptile discovered by him in North America. These occur in the coal strata of Greensburg, in Westmoreland County, Pa., and I had an opportunity of examining them in 1846. I was at once convinced of their genuineness, and declared 1 The original letter is in possession of the editor. my convictions on that point, on which doubts had been entertained both in Europe and the United States. The footmarks were first observed standing out in relief from the lower surface of glebe of sandstone, resting on thin layers of line unctuous clay. I brought away one of these masses, which is represented In the accompanying drawing (Fig. 386). It displays, together with footprints, the casts of cracks of various sizes. The origin of such cracks in clay, and casts of the same, has before been explained, and referred to the drying and shrinking of mud,.and the subsequent pouring of sand into open crevices. It will be seen that some of the cracks traverse the footprints, and produce distortion in them, as might have been expected, for the mud must have been soft when the animal walked over it and left the impressions, whereas when it afterwards dried up and shrank it would be too hard to receive such indentations. "No less than twenty-three footsteps were observed by Dr. King in the same quarry before it was abandoned, the greater part of them so arranged (see Fig. 387) on the surface of one stratum as to imply that they were made successively by the same animal. Everywhere there was a double row of tracks, and in each row they occur in pairs, each pair consisting of a hind- and fore-foot, and each being at nearly equal distances from the next pair. In each parallel row the toes turn, the one set to the right, the other to the left. In the European CleeiroUur riunt, before mentioned (p. 290), both the hind- and fore-feet have each five toes, and the size of the hind-foot is about five times as large as the fore-foot. In the American fossil the posterior footprint is not even twice as large as the anterior, anti the number of toes is unequal, being five in the hinder and four in the anterior foot. In this, as in the European CleirotAernsm, one toe stands out like a thumb, and these thumblike toes turn, the one set to the right, and the other to the left. The American Cheirotherium was evidently a broader animal, and belonged to a distinct genus from that of the triassic age in Europe. "We may assume that the reptile which left these prints on the ancient sands of the coal-measures was an air-breather, because its weight would not have been sufficient under water to have made impressions sn deep and ditinct. The same conclusion is also borne out by the casts of the cracks above described, for they show that the clay had been exposed to the air and sun, so as to have dried and shrunk. "The geological position of the sandstone of Greensburg is perfectly clear, being situated in the midst of the Appalachian coal-field, having the main bed of coal, called the Pittsburgh seam, three yards thick, one hundred feet above it, and worked in the neighborhood, with several other seams of coal at lower levels. The impressions of Lepidodersdron, Stigrnaria, and other characteristic carboniferous plants are found both above and below the level of the reptilian footsteps. "Analogous footprints of a large reptile of still older date have silos been found (1849), by Mr. Isaac Lea, in the lowest beds of the coal formation at P ttsville, near Philadelphia, so that we may now be said to have the footmarks of two reptilians of the coal period, and the skeletons of four.“ 2 " Amphibian footprints have been observed in the coal-measures both of Pennsylvania and Nova Scotia. Near Greensburg, Pa., in a layer situated about one hundred feet below the horizon of the Pittsburgh coal, Dr. A. T. King counted twenty-three consecutive steps of one individual. Those of the hind-feet are five-toed, and of the fore-feet four-toed,—the former five and a half inches long, and the latter four and a half inches. The distance between the successive tracks is six to eight inches, and between the two lines about the same, which shows that the animal was large, about as long as broad, and probably a batrachian of the Labyrinthodont tribe. The species is called Thenaroptis heterodactylua." His address, delivered Nov. 22, 1842, before the Westmoreland County Medical Association, on the rise and modern history of medicine, is without doubt one of his most interesting productions. In regard to his style of expression, he had the rare, happy faculty of conveying information on scientific subjects in popular language. He was a professional who was not content with the restricted dictum of the materia medica, but to express his acquirements and his thought laid contribution to the polite liter- 2 Sir Charles Lyell: Manual of Geology, blew York, Harper's, 1871, p. 407. 3 James D. Dana : Manual of Geology, Philadelphia, 1863, p. 351. THE MEDICAL PROFESSION - 357 ature of ancient and modern times. In his inquiries and researches he penetrated into the very depths of the natural, sciences, identified the medicinal properties of plants with the plants themselves, and was not satisfied with any of the phenoinena of nature without comprehending the whole of the scientific bearing and all the reasons connected with them. He took pains to show, and did show in popular language embodying learned research, that the knowledge of organic chemistry was essential in the acquirements of a thorough and scientific physician. The ostenta-tious and obtrusive. ignorance in the profession at his day in these science.s was doubtless the cause of the supreme contempt in which be held the average backwoods or country physician. Dr. King had also turned his attention largely to the existing flora and fauna of Western Pennsylvania, and with them he was probably more intimate than any man of his day. He dissected all the animals, had a collection of almost all the birds, and his herbariums furnished specimens of all the plants of the region between the crest of the Alleghenies and the Western boundaries of the State. His experiments as a chemist and his collections as a mineralogist attest his zeal and industry in these departments of human knowledge. He was also a thorough microscopist, and his testimony in several great criminal trials upon the blood-corpuscles found on the clothing of the prisoners aided largely in administer-ing the laws correctly in such cases. In the death of Dr. King—and now we use the words of one of his warm friends—not only his friends but his profession and the community in which he lived sustained a heavy loss, because, although not appreciated perhaps by all classes, there was, nevertheless, a large number of families who looked to him in the distress and alarm consequent upon disease in their midst with unbounded confidence, and they, no doubt, sincerely lamented the dispensation which deprived them of his professional aid. Certainly one of the most skillful among his brethren, he had besides such rare faculties for the diagnosis of dis-ease that some of them almost believed him inher-ently and especially gifted in that behalf, rather than that his abilities had been acquired by close observa-tion in a large practice. Cool and careful at the bedside, collecting all the evidence, investigating all the symptoms, he came to no conclusion until the whole was taken into the account, and then he was rarely ever mistaken. In his mode of treatment too he was equally judicious, and if his remedies sometimes failed in their operation they never proved injurious, or left the patient worse than before. To him the “vis medicatrix nature” was all in all, and the office of the pill and plaster was but to clear the way for its full and free operation. Hence his won-derful success in many of the most dangerous cases to .which he was called. Although not celebrated as a surgeon, yet he performed all needful operations with a correct eye and steady hand, except those, perhaps, which require the very highest professional skill, and the largest amount of practice; and these his modest sense of responsibility prevented him from undertaking rashly merely for the sake of eclat. His reputation was such that some two years before his death he was appointed Professor of the Theory and Practice of Medicine in the Medical College of Philadelphia, and filled it for one or two sessions with profit to his class and marked distinction for himself ; but his ill health at length compelled him to abandon his vocation as a teacher in his profession. Dr. King in personal appearance was rather tall and well formed, yet he was by no means of a robust constitution, and his sedentary habits as a hard student were not calculated to improve it, so that he suffered more or less at all times from disordered digestive functions, and he who could remedy all the ills of others was unable to relieve his own. His disease was inflammation of the stomach and intestine,s, which had committed such ravages upon his naturally feeble frame that before his professional brethren were aware of his danger or could come to his aid it was impossible to save him. Drs. Brown (Sr. and Jr.), Jackson, and Reiter watched him with intense anxiety, using all the means of modern science, but in vain. On the 2d of January, 1852, death removed him of all care and suffering, as gently as a mother puts her child to sleep. His body lies somewhere in the St. Clair Cemetery, but the stranger would not be able to identify the grave. A plain tombstone which had been erected over them has been misplaced and broken. In his life and death he is an example of a character unappreciated at home but honored abroad,—" a prophet not without honor save in his own country." The words which Milton wrote to Cromwell were applicable to him,—" He who conquers another's liberty in the very act loses his own." He who has made the name of Westmoreland to be connected with his own and embalmed them both in the libraries of the leading philosophical societies and universities of the civilized world from London to Tokio—words familiar to paleontologists everywhere —lies in a nameless grave within twoscore steps of him whose name has been conferred on their burying-ground, whose life and services, t,00, brought untold distinction and honor to the county, and whose dust is covered by the humble monument erected by the hand of charity. DR. DAVID ALTER.—Among those members of the medical profession of Westmoreland County who have earned high reputation in the walks of science, Dr. David Alter, who died in September, 1881, deserves to be mentioned. In our mention of him we avail ourselves of the graphic and affectionate memoir from the pen of Dr. Frank Cowan, a gentleman who 358 - HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA. in the field of literature has done for his profession what Dr. Alter did in the field of practical science. " In the year 1878," says Dr. Cowan, " I called upon him at his residence in Freeport, Armstrong Co., Pa., and lound him, in appearance, an old man, with a calm and kindly countenance, in stature above the ordinary, albeit stooped and shrunken with age, still pursuing his profession, that of a physician, for a livelihood, while in effect he was the puzzle or sphinx that every philosopher must be to those around him who cannot appreciate the work of his hands in an objective form in the open day, much less encompass, in the depth, the distance, and the darkness of his windowless mind, the complexity of cerebration and entanglement of thought from which his work has been evolved. "Dr. Alter was born on the 3d of December, in the year 1807, in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, in what is, now Allegheny township, and within a few miles of the town of Freeport, in which he lived a great part of his life, and died, on the 18th of September last, in his seventy-fourth year. " Dr. Alter was a boy of only eight or nine when his mind was directed to the study of electricity. This was the result of reading the life of Benjamin Franklin. At ten, an uncle, a student of medicine, brought home from Washington a Leyden jar and other apparatus, and the boy became acquainted with frictional electricity and the accumulation of the mysterious mode of force in the jar. And before the lad attained the age of fifteen be had set up in his father's orchard a pole surmounted by a wire, in order that he might charge his Leyden jars with electricity from the clouds, the subtile force with which be already had begun to make experiments. " About this time, suffering from an affection of the eyes, he went to an Irish doctor in Freeport, who, after prescribing for him and learning the curious bent of his mind, lent him a book on electricity. This the young student read and re-read with such avidity that it almost cost him his eyes. "Soon after, from another physician, he procured a work on chemistry, and devoted himself assiduously to make himself master of its contents. And thus he went on, borrowing books and accumulating knowledge slowly and laboriously, until, at the age of twenty-four, in the year 1831, he was graduated as a physician at the Reformed Medical College of the United States, New York, belonging to the botanic or eclectic school of to-day. " After this short account of his boyhood and education in his specialties, Dr. Alter proceeded to give me an account of his labors and achievements. " In 1836, while living at Elderton, Armstrong Co., he invented and perfected an electric telegraph, which consisted of seven wires, the electricity deflecting a needle on a disk at the extremity of each wire. Each needle being deflected to the right or left, the seven gave in all fourteen movements or characters, which in turn by combination gave a greater number than was absolutely necessary to transmit messages resolved into letters and figures. Each wire had a separate helix. And so perfected was the system that the doctor had it in operation between his house and his workshop in the barn, himself and members of his family transmitting messages to and fro. " I related to Dr. Alter what I had heard of his connection with the invention of the electric telegraph, which was in brief that he was the first to accomplish the results comprehended in the term an electric telegraph, and that Professor Morse had stolen the idea that has made him immortal from him, Dr. Alter. To this he replied that, as far as he knew, be was the first to perfect and put into use an electric telegraph, and that he did it apart from and independent of everybody. But,' he continued, others about the same time attained the same results. In 1887, in England, Professor Wheatstone invented a telegraph on a similar plan to mine, using one wire, a single disk, and a deflecting needle ; and with respect to Professor Morse and the electric telegraph now in general use, I have seen in the newspapers time and again the statement which you make, and am free to say that it is without the slightest foundation ; indeed, I may say that there is no connection at all between the telegraph of Morse and others and that of myself, and that my system would be inadequate to do the work that is done to-day by the Morse ; oh, no, nol Professor Morse most probably never heard of me or my Elderton telegraph.' " I was surprised at hearing this refutation of what I had heard asseverated so often ; but at the same time I was pleased, for the doctor exhibited more anxiety to disabuse my mind of an erroneous impression of another than to create a favorable impression for himself. Indeed, with respect to his own electric telegraph, he spoke of it as if it had been a toy of his youth, or an ingenious plaything for the amusement of himself and family, rather than as the forerunner of the marvelous machine that is now in use in every civilized country of the globe. And although, as he himself states, his invention was not in the line of the ancestry of the great telegraph, yet it is worthy, of honorable mention among men for all time as an original and prior achievement of a less. " And here, in parenthesis, in justice further to Professor Morse, I may say that a claim for priority is made even for his invention, substantially and essentially as it now exists, over the crude and cumbersome inventions of Dr. Alter and Professor Wheat- stone. In Appleton's Encyclopedia' it is stated authoritatively that Morse completed and put into successful operation his telegraph in 1835, or two years before the date generally assigned, and one year before Dr. Alter, while Dr. C. T. Jackson, Morse's most formidable rival, declares that his telegraph was an accomplished fact in a perfect instrument in opera. tion in 1834, or one year before Morse. THE MEDICAL PROFESSION - 359 " Now to pass to another invention, which, in other forms, in time may rival the telegraph and electric motor. " In 1837, Dr. Alter invented a little machine which was run by electricity, and on the 29th of June, 1837, he published in the Kittanning Gazette an elaborate article on the use of electricity as a motive-power, under the heading of ' Facts Relating to Electro-Magnetism.' This paper attracted attention among scientists and inventors, and was commented on generally. See Silliman's ' Principles of Physics,' page 616. " In 1845, Dr. Alter, in association with Dr. Edward Gillespie and James Gillespie, went into the manufacture of bromine from the bittern, or mother-liquor of the salt-works, by a process which he and his partners had invented and elaborated to such an extent that they secured two patents for it. A large jar of the precious substance was exhibited at the World's Fair in New York in 1853, and attracted great attention, the wonder being that the rare form of matter could be produced in such quantites. " I beg leave here to correct another error that prevails with respect to the achievements of Dr. Alter, namely, that he was the discoverer of the elementary substance bromine. He was not, and never pretended to be. Bromine was discovered by a chemist named Balard in 1826, and Dr. Alter, in his modest way, only assisted others in inventing and patenting two processes for its manufacture, in which he engaged in business with his associates. "I now come to the ultimatum attained by Dr. Alter in science and invention, namely, the discovery and application of the principles of the prism in that marvelous mode of investigation universally known to-day as spectrum analysis. And here, in setting forth his claim to this achievement, which in effect has added almost a new sense to mankind, beyond the statement which the doctor made to me that he made his discovery in 1853, I desire to give in evidence only that which is unimpeachable and indisputable, namely, the documents setting forth the discovery in detail, which were published in a leading scientific journal and spread before the eyes of investigators and inventors throughout the world. And in doing so I doubt not that I shall do all that my lamented friend, were he here, would ask or allow to preserve his name among his fellow-men, without condemning either the encyclopedists for ignoring him, or the distinguished scientist who, perhaps unconscious of the prior claim of another, wears the crown of glory to which he, Dr. Alter, is entitled. " " The first paper of Dr. Alter appeared in November in the year 1854, or no less than five years before the announcement of the discovery of spectrum analysis as his own achievement by Gustav Robert Kirchoff, of Konigsberg, Germany, for a sketch of whose life and works the reader is referred to the leading encyclopedias of the day. "It appears in Silliman's American Journal of Science and Art, 2d Series, vol. xviii., for November, 1854, pp. 55-57, under the following head : ' Article VI.—On certain Physical Properties of Light, produced by the Combustion of different Metals in the Electric Spark refracted by a Prism. By David Alter, M.D., Freeport, Pa.' " A second article appeared in the same scientific journal for May, 1855, vol. air., pp. 213-14, under the caption, ' Article XXI.—On certain Physical Properties of the Light of the Electric Spark within certain Gases, as seen through a Prism. By Dr. Alter, M.D., Freeport, Pa.' In this explicit article a paragraph is found indicating the application of his discovery to the detection of the elements in combustion in, shooting stars or luminous meteors, in other words, to the application of spectrum analysis to the study of celestial phenomena ad infinitum. " While, in curious confirmation of the discoverer's comprehension of the scope of spectrum analysis still in his hands, Dr. Alter already had daguerreotyped the dark lines of the solar spectrums, two of which he sent along with his communication to Professor Silliman. " It remains now but to show that the substance of these articles of Dr. Alter was reproduced in Europe, and came within the ken of Professor Kirchhoff, possibly beneath his very eyes, to make out a presumptive case that, in addition to the indisputable prior discovery of spectrum analysis by Dr. Alter, his was the source, afar in the backwoods of Western Pennsylvania, from which has flowed the stream of science on the surface of which the gilded galley of Kirchhoff has floated in glittering splendor around the world. A half-page abstract of Dr. Alter's first paper appeared in the Chemico-Jahrsberichte of Liebig and Kopp for 1854, while the second paper of Dr. Alter was reproduced in its entirety in the Parisian journal L' Institut for the year 1856, page 156, and in the journal of Geneva, Archives of the Physical and Natural Sciences, vol. xxix. page 151. In addition to this a full-page extract from the second paper was published in Kopp and Will's (formerly Liebig and Kopp's) ' Annual Report of Chemistry,' 1859, page 107, and in the extract the statement of Dr. Alter appears that gases would be characterized just as distinctly by the light of the ordinary electric spark as metals by the galvanic light, also that all the elements could be distinguished in this way by means of the fusion. In connection with which it is to be noted that in this year the announcement of the discovery of Kirchhoff was made, namely, the cause of Fraunhofer's lines in the solar spectrum. See 5 Reports of the Academy of Berlin' for 1859, page 652; Poggendorrs Annals' ; Dingler's Polytechnic Journal' ; and Kopp and Will's ' Annual Report of Chemistry,' 1359, page 646. " And here I cannot refrain from expressing my surprise at the omission of the name of Dr. Alter by 360 - HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA. Professor Kirchhoff in his summary of the progressive steps of spectrum analysis t,o the ultimate attained at the time of his writing, seeing that the Annual Report of Chemistry,' which contained the procla-mation of his discovery on page 643, contained on page 107 an extract exhibiting the results of Dr. Alter's investigations four and five years before, re-sults, too, which clearly comprehended his own, and I can account for it only on the ground of dishonesty and the basest of all incentives to action or inaction, ingratitude, exhibited in kicking the ladder after the house-top is gained. But Kirchhoff, in the interest of self-glorification, happily is not the only recorder of the achievements of science and the history of man-kind, and I doubt not that the time will soon come when the name of David Alter will be pronounced with the same breath of praise and pride that keeps alive and fevered the names of Franklin and Morse. " It is a little matter in comparison with the above, but it is curious, and perhaps not without its use, t.o know that the prism with which Dr. Alter made his remarkable experiments, was made by him from a fragment of a great mass of very brilliant glass found in the pot of a glass-house which had been destroyed in the great fire of Pittsburgh on the 10th of April, 1845. Thus remotely was the burning of Pittsburgh the solution of the combustion of the sun of the solar system, and of the otherwise incomprehensible con-flagratrons of more distant furnace spheres in illimitable space. " Besides the achievements of Dr. Alter referred to above, he accomplished much more that is deserving of note. Of other inventions, I may mention here a rotating retort for the extraction of coal oil from can-nel coal and the oleiferous shales. With this apparatus in operation by a company with ample capital, the philosopher was on the high road to making a fortune, when, presto ! E. L. Drake, at the depth of only seventy feet, in Venango County, struck oil or petroleum, and the days of coal oil and Dr. Alter's affluence were at an end. " Indeed, from his birth to his death, the life of Dr. Alter was a struggle with poverty ; but in the greater mankind in which he was merged and with which he is now immortal, he is rich in the reward which his race inherits." THE WESTMORELAND MEDICAL ASSOCIATION. At the solicitation of Dr. A. T. King, a number of the medical profession met at Greensburg in the sum-mer of 1842 to hold a conference on the subject of organizing a County Medical Society. In the county papers for the month of August appeared the following announcement: "To THE MEDICAL PROFESSION. " Whereas, having deeply lamented the desolate and disconnected state in which the medical profession of Western Pennsylvania exists, alike disreputable to ourselves and the profession in other parts of the United States, where friendship, and science, and literature are cultivated by its members; and where., being fully convinced that the multitudinous evils, not expedient to mention in this place, resulting from this disconnected state may be easily remedied and the cause readily removed; therefore a meeting of the members of the profession in Westmoreland and the adjoining counties is respectfully and earnestly solicited on Tuesday of the second week of the coin, , in Greensburg, for the purpose of taking into consideration the practicability of organizing ourselves into a society." The meeting held in pursuance of this conference and announcement was attended by some of the fore-most physicians of the county. Of its proceedings we have nothing except what we have gathered from the fragmentary notices in the county papers. Of this meeting, however, Dr. Hasson, 1 of West Newton, was elected president ; a committee was appointed to draft a constitution, and a subsequent meeting was fixed for Tuesday, the 13th of October, 1842. This meeting was reported as follows: " WESTMORELAND MEDICAL ASSOCIATION. " Agreeably to adjournment, a large number of physicians of the county convened at the court-house on Tuesday, the 13th instant " Dr. Howson, president of the previous meeting, being absent, Dr. Porter was called to the chair, Dr. Brown, secretary, " When, on motion, it was Resolved, That the secretary form list of the members present, now and at the former meeting, and that they be considered the society. " The committee to draft a constitution submitted one, which, after interchange of sentiments, was, with its preamble, adopted with amendments, after which the following officers were elected: Dr. D. Porter, president; Dr. J. Poetlethwaite, vice-president; Dr. A. T. King, recording secretary; Dr. J. Hasson, corresponding secretary; Dr. S. P. Brown, treasurer ; Dr. F. Vogely, librarian. "On motion, Resolved, That a committee of three be appointed to draft by-laws and report at next meeting. Dn. Richardson, B. R. Marchand, and William Speer were appointed. " On motion, Resolved, That a committee on a minimum fee-bill be appointed, and that they report at next meeting. Drs. King, Cummins, and Brown were appointed. " On motion, Drs. Porter and King !sere appointed to deliver addressee at the next meeting. "On motion, Resolved, That the proceedings of this meeting be signed by the officers and published in the Republican and Intelligence, " Resolved, That the society now adjourn to meet in this place on Tuesday, 22d of November next, at one o'clock P.M. " DAVID PORTER, President. " S. P. BROWN, Secretary. " PREAMBLE to the constitution of the Westmoreland Medical Association as adopted on the report of the Committee : "The objects contemplated by the Westmoreland Medical Associated are, first, The cultivation of friendship and good feeling among its members. Second, The collection, diffusion, interchange, preservation, and general advancement of knowledge pertaining to medicine and surgery, together with the various branches of physical science which are subservient to them. Thirdly, The promotion of the empire of general 1 Dr. John Hasson died at his realdence in West Newton, Pa., May 10, 1872, aged sixty-six years. Dr. Hasson was born in Cecil County, Md., received his academic education at West Nottingham Academy, in his native county, pursued his medical studies in the office of Dr. Joseph Pancoast, of Philadelphia, and after having attended two summer courses In the Philadelphia school of Medicine and three full winter courses of medical lecture. in the University of Philadelphia, received from that institution the degree of Doctor of Medicine in the spring of 1835. After a practice of three years in the State of Maryland, he settled in West Newton, Pa., March, 1838, having letters from several eminent physicians of Eastern Pennsylvania, among which were testimonials of ability and integrity from Drs. Pancoast, Randolph, and William Rush, of Philadelphia. These testmonials foreshadowed the confidence Dr. Hasson afterwards enjoyed throughout a career of thirty-four years of active professional life. During thie long period he served a numerous community of patrons, and was always prompt in the dire charge of professional duty and faithful in his attentions to the sick. THE MEDICAL PROFESSION - 361 knowledge, by which we mean to include all the branches of the exact sciences and general literature. Fourthly, The diffusion of professional knowledge as far as practicable among the community." On the occasion of the meeting of the society in November, Dr. King delivered his address, one of the most beautiful and entertaining of all his productions. The subject was " A brief historical abstract of the origin, progress, and present condition of medical science." At a meeting of the association in February, 1843, Dr. Porter, the president, delivered an eulogy on Dr. Postlethwaithe, who had died Nov. 17, 1842. Dr. Hasson delivered a lecture upon anatomy. At a meeting in May, Dr. Cummins was the president pro tern., and Dr. King recording secretary. This association in time passed out of existence, and the next effort to form an organization was in 1852. The following is from the Argus of March 19, 1852 : "MEETING OF THE MEDICAL PROFESSION. " Agreeably to a notice circulated among them, a number of the members of the medical profession of Westmoreland County met at the office of Dr. A. T. King, in Greensburg, on Tuesday, the 9th inst., for the purpose of forming a County Medical Society. "The meeting was organized by calling Dr. A. T. King to the chair, and the appointment of Wm. C. Lane as secretary. "After the organization the following resolutions were offered by Dr. Reiter, of Mount Pleasant, and unanimously adopted : "lst. Resolved, That our object in forming a County Medical Society is to co-operate with the onward movement now making in the United States, as well as in the world at large, for the advancement of medical science. " 2d. Resolved, That Drs. King and Lane be appointed a committee, whose duty shall be to prepare a constitution and by-laws for the government of this society, and that they present the same at the next meeting of the society, so that the members may have an opportunity of approving them and attaching their names to them. "On motion of the chairman, it was resolved that each member who may attend the next meeting of this society be requested to bring with him a written statement of the nature and predominant characteristics of the various diseases which have prevailed in his respective locality during the past year.  " It was furthermore unanimously agreed that Dr. Wm. C. Reiter be requested to deliver an address before the members of this society at its next meeting. "On motion of Dr. 0. J. Robison, the society adjourned to reassemble at the office of Dr. King, in Greensburg, on Monday, the 12th day of April, at 2 o'clock P.M. It was also "Resolved, That the proceedings of this meeting be published in the several newspapers of Greensburg. " A. T. King, Pres't. " WM. C. LANE, Sec’p." The Westmoreland County Medical Society was organized at Greensburg, Nov. 15, 1859. The first minutes of the society are as follows : " MOORHEAD'S EXCHANGE, GREENSBURG, ETC. "Pursuant to an advertisement a large number of the physicians of the county met for the purpose of organizing a County Medical Society. Dr. S. P. Brown was elected president ; Dr. Nelson, vice-president ; and Dr. A nawait, secretary. After some consideration of the object and advantages of a County Medical Society, on motion, Drs. Kemble, Richardson, Rugh, Blackburn, and McConougby were appointed a committee to prepare a constitution and by-laws for the government of the society. " The committee on constitution and by-laws reported a draft, which, after some modification, was adopted. "A committee was appointed to make nominations to fill the various offices. The following were reported and elected, viz.: S. P. Brown, president ; R. Nelson and J. McConoughy, vice-presidents; J. W. Anawalt, recording secretary ; T. Richardson, corresponding secretary ; James Taylor, treasurer ; George S. Kemble, J. L. Cook, and J. W. Blackburn, censors. "On motion, the treasurer was instructed to provide the books necessary for recording the minutes, etc. " On motion, Dr. Kemble was appointed to deliver a public lecture on the evening of the next quarterly meeting. "On motion, the secretary was instructed to prepare resolution expressive of the sense of the society concerning the early death of J. E. King. "On motion, it was resolved that the minutes of this meeting be pn lished in the county papers. On motion, the secretary was instructed to advertise each regular meeting three weeks in advance. On motion, the society adjourned to meet at 1 o'clock P.M. of Tuesday, Feb. 14, 1860. "J. W. ANAWALT, R. S." The next meeting of the society was held at the court-house, Feb. 14, 1860. At this meeting the following resolution was adopted : "Resolved, That all members of the profession of the county present to-day whose qualifications entitle them to membership in this society, and those whose names were appended to the advertisement for a meeting of the members of the profession to organize this society, shall be regarded as members from the beginning after they shall have signed the constitution and paid the initiation fee." At the night session of this meeting Dr. George S. Kemble delivered an interesting and appropriate lecture to a public audience on " The Medical Profession and the Public, their Mutual Relations and Responsibilities." Thus did the Society begin its, existence, which has continued uninterruptedly from that time to this. It has held since that time eighty-two meetings, the minutes of which have been kept in due and proper order. The proceedings therein are full of interest to the profession, and that it has been greatly advantaged by the interchange of ideas passed at these periodical assernblings there can be no manner of doubt. A very large proportion of the members of the profession in the county belong to it, and have uniformly given it their active support. At the meeting of Nov. 15, 1881, the following officers were elected : President, Dr. F. L Marsh ; Vice-Presidents, Drs. Strickler and Van Kirk ; Secretary, Dr. D. E. Welsh ; Treasurer, Dr. D. W. McConoughy ; Censor, Dr. C. D. B. Eisaman ; Examining Board, Drs. Anawalt, Cowan, and Cook. The Westmoreland Medical Society has ever advocated legislative action in the behalf of the profession and for the protection of the regular school. There are many evidences of this, but we shall only advert to its action in one instance. In the session of the Assembly for 1854-55 a bill was reported providing for the establishment of a Board of Medical Censors, to consist of three regular physicians to be appointed by the Governor, before whom all practitioners of medicine, irrespective of age or standing in the' profession, should be annually summoned, in order to undergo an examination, not only as to their qualifications, but as to the progress they had made in the developments and improvements in the science of medicine, subjecting them, upon the first examination, to a tax of twenty-five dollars, and five 362 - HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA. dollars for every subsequent yearly examination. In the event of non-compliance with this act the penalty was to be " no recourse in law for the collection of their bills for medical services." Two of the censors were to constitute a quorum, to whose decision in all cases the third should submit. The committee which had been appointed by the Westmoreland County Medical Society on the qualifications of physicians and surgeons made their report in the form of two resolutions (1866). The first resolution was to the effect that the State should be divided into Eastern and Western Districts ; that the Governor should appoint five competent medical men in each district to examine persons who should desire to practice medicine, surgery, or obstetrics in the several counties therein, and who had not graduated in lawfully-chartered medical institutions, and to grant certificates to those found competent, for which the person examined should pay fifty dollars, the standard •of qualifications not to be lower than that required by medical colleges in this State. " Further, that it shall be unlawful for any person to practice medicine, surgery, or obstetrics in any part of the State who is not a graduate of medicine, or who does not hold such certificate ; and it shall be unlawful for any such person to collect any bills, or receive any compensation, directly or indirectly, for such service." The committee was then instructed to prepare a bill in accordance with the above resolution, and lay the same before the Legislature for adoption. The following list of regular practitioners in the county is made up from the docket in the prothonotary's office, in which are recorded the names of all who are entitled to practice under the terms of the act of Assembly contemplating it : Logan M. Kifer, Irwin Station ; Jefferson Medical College, March 5, 1878. James L. Crawford, Greensburg; Jefferson Medical College, March 7, 1868; Bellevue Hospital Medical College of New York City, March 1, 1875. John S. Crawford, Greensburg ; Hahnemann Medical College of Philadelphia, March 10, 1875. I. Putnam Klingensmith, Derry Station ; Jefferson Medical College, March 11, 1875. David Gildner, Bolivar borough. I, David Gildner, have been engaged in the practice of medicine, surgery, and obstetrics since the year 1871 in the following places, to wit: Philadelphia, one year ; Somerset County, one year; Cambria County, one year ; Washington County, six years; and in Westmoreland County, one year. Wilson J. Rugh, Franklin township; Columbus Medical College, Columbus, Ohio, Feb. 27, 1877. Alexander Hunter Peebles, Youngstown; Cincinnati College of Medicine and Surgery, Cincinnati, Ohio, Feb. 17, 1876. Robert Robinson Bowman, Youngstown ; Jefferson Medical College, March 12,1878. James C. Cline, Derry Station; Jefferson Medical College, March 13, 1880. James Henderson Lafferty, New Florence borough ; College of Physicians and Surgeons, Baltimore, Md., March 1, 1881. Frederick Henry Patton, West Newton borough; Jefferson Medical College, March 10, 1866. Bennet Hutchinson Van Kirk, West Newton borough ; Jefferson Medical College, March 12, 1869. Joseph Henderson Richie, West Newton borough ; Western Reserve Medical College of Cleveland, Ohio, Feb. 10, 1867. James Taylor, West Fairfield, Jefferson Medical College, March 8, 1851. Jacob Swan Taylor, West Fairfield ; Electric Medical Institute of Cin. cinnati, Ohio, June 7, 1881. John Davidson Milligan, Madison borough ; Bellevue Hospital Medical College of New York City, March 1, 1876. James Ayres Fulton, Delmont. I, James A. Fulton, have been engaged in the practice of medicine, surgery, and obstetrics since the year 1864 continuously in the borough of New Salem. Henry George Lomison, Greensburg ; Jefferson Medical College, March 6, 1852. William Dana McGowan, Ligonier borough; University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, April 5, 1851. George Washington Kern, West Newton borough ; Hahnemann Medical College, Philadelphia, March 11, 1878. Matthew Watson Miller, Ligonier; Cincinnati College of Medicine and Surgery, Cincinnati, Ohio, Feb. 15, 1872. Marston Monroe McColly, Ligonier; Jefferson Medical College, March 12, 1870. Alexander Johnston Rogers, Scottdaie. I, A. J. Rogers, have been engaged iu the practice of medicine, surgery, and obstetrics in the State of Pennsylvania for more than twenty years, and I have been in continuous practice since the year 1871 in the counties of Fayette and Westmoreland. John Q. Robinson, West Newton borough ; University of the City of New York, upon pridie id. Mart., 1849. Albert William Strickler, Scottdale borough ; Jefferson Medical College, March 9, 1871. David William McConanghy, Latrobe borough; Jefferson Medical College, March 3, 1858. George Bonbright Anderson, Latrobe borough ; Jefferson Medical College, March 10, 1877. Daniel Abraham Arter, Greensburg. I, Daniel A. Arter, have been engaged in the practice of medicine, surgery, and obstetrics for more than thirty years, and I have been in continuous practice in the borough of Greensburg since the year 1871. Bernard Cole Leaton, Bolivar borough ; Jefferson Medical College, March 12, 1873. David William Miller, Adamsbarg ; Western Reserve Medical College of the city of Cleveland, Ohio, upon the die ants diem posterns mesas mortices, 1881. Ralph Erskin Fulton, Mount Pleasant borough; Jefferson Medical College, March 12, 1869. William John K. Kline, Greensburg. Doctor of Medicine conferred by Long Island College Hospital, New York, July 2,1883. William Jackson Clarke, New Florence; Jefferson Medical College, March 28, 1849. Robert McConaughy, Mount Pleasant borough ; Jefferson Medical College, March 11, 1875. Benjamin Rupple Mitchell, Scottdale ; Jefferson Medical College, March 10, 1877. James Henderson McLaughlin, New Salem borough ; Cincinnati College of Medicine and Surgery, Feb. 17, 1873. George Singer Foster, Greensburg; Homoeopathic Medical College of Pennsylvania, March 3, 1859. James Sullivan Miller, Derry Station ; Jefferson Medical College, March 10, 1855. James Logan Brown, Pleasant Unity ; filed written statement. James Ross Ewing, Oakland X Roads; Cincinnati College of Medicine and Surgery, July 30,1870. George Barkley Porch, New Florence ; Jefferson Medical College, March 13, 1871. John Rowland Moore, Burrell; Jefferson Medical College, March 11, 1854. Amos Ogden Taylor, New Salem ; Eclectic Medical College of Pennsylvania, Dec. 29, 1879. Jacob T. Ambrose, Ligonier borough; Long Island College Hospital June 29, 1870. William McWilliams, Merwin ; filed written statement. Alpheus Arlington Bush, hlerwin; Bellevue Hospital Medical College, March 1, 1875. Hamilton Keeley Beatty, Parnassus; Jefferson Medical College, March 13, 1871. James Irwin Marchand, Irwin ; Jefferson Medical College, March 8, 1862. James Mortimer Bennett, Donegal township ; filed written statement, found elsewhere in these columns. THE MEDICAL PROFESSION - 363 David Emmett Welsh, Latrobe: Jefferson Medical College, March 12, 1878. Alexander Bennett Mitchell, Harrison City ; Jefferson Medical College, March 4, 1872. Hugh Wallace Leve, Harrison City ; Eclectic Medical College of Pennsylvania, March 25, 1880. George Parks, Murrysville; College of Physicians and Surgeons. Baltimore, March 4, 1879. Millard Sowash, Irwin ; Jefferson Medical College, March 11, 1874. Joseph Sturgeon Long, Circleville; Western Reserve College of Ohio, March 4, 1868. James Patterson Orr, West Bethany ; University of Michigan, March 26, 1879. Florence L. Marsh, Mount Pleasant; Jefferson Medical College, March 7, 1868. Joseph L. Cook, New Alexandria; Jefferson Medical College, March 9, 1858. Robert Brown Hammer, Greensburg; University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, March 15, 1881. John Edwin Rigg, Stonerville; College of Physicians and Surgeons, Baltimore, Md., March 4, 1879. Oliver Wycoff Howell, Mount Pleasant township; Western Reserve College of Hudson, Ohio, March 6, 1880. Bruce L. Calhoun, Parnassus ; Cincinnati College of Medicine and Surgery, June 19, 1876. Lewis Trauger Smith, Pleasant Unity ; Jefferson Medical College, March 4, 1876. George Louis Humphreys, Irwin ; Jefferson Medical College, March 11, 1874. Joseph Hiester Clark, Mount Pleasant ; filed written statement. Winfield Scott Madden, Latrobe; Jefferson Medical College, March 15, 1876. Enoch Wright Townsend, Greensburg; Homoeopathic Medical College of Cleveland, Ohio, Feb. 19, 1853. Jacob Welty Rugh, New Alexandria: Jefferson Medical College, March 8, 1861. John Duncan Evans, Latrobe; Eclectic Medical College of Cincinnati, Feb. 7, 1871. John Nelson McCune, Suterville; Western Reserve College, Hudson, Ohio, upon the die pridie Nonas Martias, 1878. Robert Francis Gaut, Mount Pleasant township; Detroit Medical College, Feb. 29, 1876. Darwin Darius Taylor, Irwin ; filed written statement. John Charles Taylor, Irwin; filed written statement. James McConaughy, Mount Pleasant; Jefferson Medical College, March 20, 1845. Lewis Shupe Goodman, Mount Pleasant, Eclectic Medical Institute, Cincinnati, May 7, 1878. Henry Leander Donnelly, Latrobe ; Jefferson Medical College, March 9, 1853. Frank Johnston Wethington, Livermore; Long Island College Hospital, New York, Jose 6, 1876. Norman G. Berkey, Hempfield township ; Jefferson Medical Collage, March 12, 1878. Morgan Rhees Banks, Livermore; filed written statement. Martin Dallas Heath, Mount Pleasant; Pulte College of Cincinnati, March 4, 1880. Isaac Newkirk Leyda, Manor Station ; Doctor of Medicine conferred by University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pa., March 12, 1876. Samuel Cummins Campbell, Stahlstown ; Eclectic Medical Institute, Cincinnati, Ohio, Feb. 6, 1879. James Taylor Krepps, Webster ; Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, March 11, 1875. William Armstrong Jamison, Cowansburg ; Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, March 12, 1879. Lemuel Offutt, Penn Station ; University of Maryland, Baltimore, Md., Feb. 29, 1876. Charles David Fortney, Scottdale. Have been engaged in the practice of medicine, surgery, and obstetrics for twenty-seven years, and in continuous practice in Westmoreland County since the year 1871. Written statement filed. David Alters, Parnassus; Jefferson Medical College, March 9, 1861. Lewis Sutton, Mendon ; Jefferson Medical College, March 29, 1848. Uriah M. Snyder, New Salem (Delmont P. O); Bellevue Hospital Medical College, New York City, March 1, 1872. Alvin St. Clair Daggette, Shaner station (Youghiogheny P. O.); Cleveland Medical College, Ohio, March 2, 1881. James White Anawalt, Greensburg ; Jefferson Medical College, March 10, 1856. Francis McConnell McConangby, Ligonier ; Jefferson Medical College, March 24, 1846. James H. Kelly, Pleasant Unity. Has been engaged in the practice of medicine for twenty-three years in the counties of Indiana and Westmoreland, and in continuous practice in Westmoreland County since 1871. Written statement filed. James Buchanan Wakefield, Mount Pleasant. Has been engaged in the practice of medicine, etc., for eleven years, and in continuous practice in Westmoreiand County since 1871. Statement filed. Joseph Robertson, Rostraver township; Columbus Medical College, Columbus, Ohio, March 3, 1881. Joseph William B. Kamerer, Greensburg ; Jefferson Medical College, March 13, 1871. Samuel Edgar Burchfield, Latrobe ; University of Michigan Mincepathic Medical College, June 30, 1881. James Prine Frye, Webster; College of Physicians and Surgeons, Baltimore, March 4, 1880. William Brown Cosgrove, New Derry; College of Physicians and Surgeons of Baltimore, March 3, 1880. Samuel H. Decker, New Derry ; Medium's Medical Association, Michigan, Aug. 19th, 1880. Joseph Spratt Dodd, Parnassus ; Jefferson Medical College, March 11, 1875. Samuel Shaw Stewart, Stewart's Station; Jefferson Medical College, March 9, 1861. Daniel Elwood Belts, Ligonier ; University of Medicine and Surgery, Pennsylvania, May 10,1885. John Wesley Morrison, Doug's.] borough ; written statement. Perry Green Anderson, Scottdale; Physio-Medical College of Ohio-Feb. 4, 1869. DR. HENRY G. LOMISON, who enjoys the popular distinction of being one of the leading physicians of Westmoreland County, is of English stock on his paternal side, and of Dutch lineage on the maternal side. His immigrant ancestor, Lawrence Lomison, was a native of Bristol, England, from which place he took ship in 1682, and landed in Chester, then called Upland, Pa., December 11th of that year. Some time after his arrival he married an immigrant lady, a native of Holland, by the name of Von Kindel, and with her settled on lands near Germantown, Pa., where they became the parents of a large family, some of whom removed to Northampton County, Pa., others settling near Trenton, N. J., and Belvidere, in that State. Dr. Lomison is descended from the Belvidere branch, and is the son of William Lomison, who was born near Belvidere in 1788, and died in 1862, at the age of seventy-five years. Dr. Loinison's mother, whose maiden name was Anna Fulkerson, was the daughter of Col. John Fulkerson, of Northumberland County, Pa., a native of Holland, and was born in 1787. She intermarried with William Lomison in 1811, and died Dec. 11, 1856. Mr. and Mrs. William Lomison were the parents of eight children, of whom Dr. H. G. Lomison was the youngest. He was born July 17, 1831, near Danville, Columbia (now Montour) Co., Pa., was reared upon the homestead farm, receiving a common-school education and instruction in Danville Academy, and at the age of nineteen, after having for a year or two taught school, entered upon the study of medicine under the direction of Dr. James M. Stewart, of Indiana County, Pa., to which county the family of Dr. Lomison had removed a little before that time, and 364 - HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA. eventually matriculating at Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, graduated from that institution in March, 1852. He at once entered upon the practice of his profession at Saltsburg, Indiana Co., his capital stock at that time consisting of his general education, professional acquirements and books, a robust and powerful constitution, determination to excel, tireless energy, and " a horse, saddle, and bridle: Thus equipped he soon made his way into a good and, not long after, a large and lucrative practice, which he pursued, with Saltsburg as his centre of operations, uninterruptedly till the winter of 1858-59, which he spent in New York in attendance upon the course of lectures at the College of Physicians and Surgeons. In the winter of 1859-60 he attended a course of medical lectures at the University of Pennsylvania, and in the spring of 1860 took up his residence in Greensburg, and followed his profession until 1869, in which year he took a tour of eight months in Europe, with the principal object of acquainting himself with the practice of medicine as administered in the chief hospitals of England, France, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, and Italy, which he visited. Returning he resumed practice, which he still follows with the old love for his profession, his popularity as a physician constantly increasing. Dr. Lomison is a gentleman of business abilities and spirit, and of public enterprise, and has made valuable improvements in real estate in the county and at the county-seat by the erection of edifices of various kinds. Among those at Greensburg should be mentioned the Dixon House, on Depot Street, and on West Otterman Street, a structure heretofore greatly needed in the borough, the Lomison Opera-House, with conveniences for over a thousand sitters, and supplied with full sets of scenery, together with unusually commodious dressing-rooms. In addition to sedulous attention to his large professional business, Dr. Lomison has found time to engage extensively in matters of real estate, with results which popular opinion declares extremely profitable. He is the possessor of over a thousand acres of land in Westmoreland County, all underlaid with the celebrated Connellsville coking-coal. In politics Dr. Lomison is a Democrat, and was in 1878 a candidate for nomination to Congress from the Twenty-first District of Pennsylvania, composed of the counties of Westmoreland, Fayette, and Greene, and received the unanimous vote of his party in Westmoreland County. He has 'since been urged by the party to go again before the people, but while appreciating the confidence reposed in him by his multitudinous friends, declined on account of 'professional and other engagements. Obviously possessed of that good sense of " the fitness of things" which some other able physicians have manifested in the doctrine, vitally illustrated, that no man who loves his profession and is truly married to it has need of or right to any (other) wife, Dr. Lomison remains a bachelor ; at any rate, whatever may be his doctrine concerning the matter in question, his practice leaves him single. The priest and the doctor, both " father-confessors," and bound by the sanctities of their professions to guard well, in utter silence, the countless delicate secrets necessarily confided to them, should not be subjected to the temptation of a special, inquisitive family " bosom," into which to be beguiled to pour the privacies of their subjects and patrons. A " doctor's wife" is often the most " knowing," treacherous, and scandalous nuisance in a community. DR. DAVID ALTER.—The Alter family of Pennsylvania was of Swiss extraction, and first settled in Cumberland County, where David Alter was born in 1775. He married Elizabeth Mull, of German origin, and removed with his wife and two children, in 1803, to Puckety Creek, where he had purchased the old Miller tract. He erected the noted " Alter's Mills," famous in early times as the resort for the milling of a large scope of country. He was a captain in the war of 1812, and his sister married Governor Ritner. He and his wife were buried in the old Brady graveyard. Their children were Nancy, married to Maj. George Dugan; Joseph, Jacob, Samuel, John, Henry, David, Jeremiah, Daniel, Elias, Samson, and Elizabeth, the latter dying unmarried and young. The first eleven all raised large families. Of these, all are living but Joseph, Elizabeth, Henry, and David. Jacob celebrated his fifty-eighth wedding anniversary before the death of his wife. Joseph was born in 1800, and, like his father, was a miller and farmer. He was a famous athlete in his younger days, and in wrestling was unequaled in this region. He married Margaret C. Dinsmore, daughter of Robert and Margaret (Curry) Dinsmore. They had eleven children, three boys and eight girls, of whom the former, Dr. David Alter, Robert D. Alter, and Rev. Joseph Alter, and one of the latter, Maria M. (married to Martin Van Buren, of Ohio), are living. The eldest child, Dr. David Alter, was born Dec. 28,1829. He first attended the old subscription schools, then those of the new system, adopted in 1834-35, and subsequently the Freeport Academy. He completed his education at Madison College, in Guernsey County, Ohio. While attending the latter and pursuing his medical studies he taught school for some eight years. He read medicine with Dr. Thomas Galbraith, of Tarentum, and graduated at the Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, in 1861. The same year he located at Puckety Church to practice his profession. In 1862, during the war, he was sent to the Fifth New York Regiment (Col. G. K. Warren), then at Harrison Landing, as a contract surgeon, and in the winter of 1863, after the battle of Fredericksburg, he visited and attended the hospitals in and near Washington City. In the summer of 1863 he was with the Fifty-fourth Pennsylvania Volunteer Regiment of militia, and went to Gettysburg as a volunteer sur- THE MEDICAL PROFESSION - 365 geon, and in the fall assisted in the capture of Gen. John Morgan on the Ohio River. Later in the same year he went with Rev. W. F. Kean, and at his request, as a delegate of the Christian Commission to Southern Tennessee and Northern Alabama. On Sept. 10, 1864, he was mustered in as a surgeon of the Two Hundred and Sixth Pennsylvania Volunteers, and was among the first troops that entered Richmond, Va., on its capture in 1865. After his muster out, June 26, 1865, he came to Parnassus, where he had located in the fall of 1865. Here he has remained to the present time in the successful practice of a profession in which he is one of the acknowledged leading practitioners of the county. He has been for years the surgeon of the Allegheny Valley Railroad, and was once president of the Allegheny Valley Medical Association. Among his medical students three have achieved distinction,—Dr. J. L. Crawford, of Greensburg (a learned contributor to the medical press) ; Dr. John Porter, of McKeesport; and Dr. George C. Parks, of Murrysville. Dr. Alter was the first president of the Parnassus Bank, which position he held several years, and has served as president of the School Board, and under his administration the Parnassus schools were put into a high state of efficiency and attained a first-class rank. He has been elected by his townsmen as chief burgess of the borough, and was largely instrumental in the organization of the literary and philosophical societies of the town. He is a member of the United Presbyterian Church. In politics he is an unswerving Republican, and comes of an old stock originally antislavery in ante bellum days. He was married Dec. 31, 1863, to Miss Mary, daughter of John H. and Jane (Irvine) Anderson, by whom be has three children,—Alonzo Anderson, William Irvine, and Joseph Galbraith. Dr. Alter has one of the largest private collections in the State of natural history, Indian relics, and historical objects old and rare, and his studies in these directions have greatly stimulated others to investigation and research in the same channel. His collections embrace almost every variety of animals, fishes, insects, reptiles, coins, and of curiosities collected from far and near at great expense and with unceasing labor. He has the "rebel flag" captured at Richmond, Va., from over the Speaker's stand in the House of Representatives of the Southern Confederacy, and the " slave-roll" of the oldest and largest slave-holding family in the " Old Dominion" in 1854. Among his valued heirlooms is an old family clock, made in 1775, of brass, beaten and worked by hand, which has been kept In the Alter family, descending to the oldest male branch of each generation. His large collection embraces many ancient and historic maps and documents seldom found outside of public institutions, all of which attest the patient researches of their owner into antiquarian objects and studies. DR. JAMES A. FULTON.—The Fulton family, of - 24 - Scotch-Irish extraction, of which Abraham Fulton was the ancestor, resided near Londonderry, Ireland. His children were James, Abraham, Robert, Joseph, Margaret (married to a Mr. Irvine), and Polly (married to a Mr. Boyd), who all came to America about 1780, and all settled in Westmoreland County except Joseph, who located in Ohio after remaining a few years in this State. James, who settled in Derry township, married a Miss Laughrey, by whin union were born the following children : James, Abraham, Robert, Cochran, Benjamin, and Sarah (never married). Of these, Benjamin was born in 1791, and married in 1834 Jane Ayres, also of Scotch-Irish birth. He was a reputable farmer, and died in 1859, and his wife in 1872. Their children were Dr. James Ayres Fulton ; Nancy E., married to Maj. A. P. Davis, of Pittsburgh ; and Violet E., unmarried. Dr. James A, Fulton was born in Derry township, Jan. 8, 1835. He attended the common schools in his neighborhood, and afterwards Allegheny College, at Meadville. He then taught school seven years in his native township, during which time he read medicine with Dr. J. W. Blackburn, of Derry. He attended his first course of lectures at Cleveland (Ohio) Medical College, and his second at Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia. He then located in New Salem, in 1858, in the practice of his profession, in which he has been eminently successful, securing the confidence of the people and the respect of the medical profession. On July 30, 1861, he was mustered into the United States service as first lieutenant of Company H, Fortieth Regiment (Eleventh Pennsylvania Reserve Volunteer Corps), and was discharged Oct. 3, 1863, on account of severe wounds received July 2, 1863, at the battle of Gettysburg. He was wounded by a Minie-ball, which went into and through his right leg and lodged in the left, where it was cut out the February following by Dr. Pancoast, of Philadelphia. When wounded the doctor was commanding his company at Round Top. Previous to this, in 1862, during the McClellan campaign and "Seven Days' fighting" before Richmond, he, with all his regiment save Company B, was captured at Gaines' Mill and taken prisoner to Libby Prison, where at the expiration of forty days they were released on parole. After returning from the army he again resumed bis practice, now one of the largest in the county, and in which as a successful practitioner he hardly has a superior in Westmoreland. He was married by Rev. James C. Carson, Dec. 26, 1865, to Nancy Sterritt, daughter of Robert and Mary (Borland) Shields, by which union were born the following children : Robert Henry, Wilbur Wilson, Mary Elizabeth, Anna Louise, Jane Helen, and James Guthrie. Together with his wife, he is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, of which for many years he has been a leading trustee, and is assistant superintendent of the Union Sunday-school. The doctor has ever been greatly interested in all moral and 366 - HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA. educational mea.sures for the advancement of society, and which find in him a zealous supporter. In politics he is a stanch Republican, devoted to the principles of his party, but is not a politician in a partisan or machine sense. As a souvenir of his services to his country when imperiled by a rebellion, he keeps and cherishes the rebel Minie-ball extracted from his person and received at the great battle that decided the destinies of the late civil war. He is a member of the County Medical Society, organized in 1859. His residence is on Pittsburgh Street, where, surrounded with a neat home and pleasant family, he assiduously devotes his time and well-known ability to the practice of his honored profession. DR. J. Q. ROBINSON was born in Rostraver township, Westmoreland Co., Pa., July 22, 1817, the third in a family of nine children of Thomas and Achsah (Bailey) Robinson. On the father's side the family are of Irish descent. His grandfather, Alexander Robinson, moved with his family from Chestnut Level, Lancaster Co., Pa., at the close of the war of the Revolution, and settled in Rostraver, on land whicn he patented, and a portion of which is still owned by his descendants. His wife was Martha McCormick. Their children were Mary, Nancy, Elizabeth, John, Alexander, Martha, and Thomas. Mary was wife of James Cunningham, farmer in Rostraver, seven children ; Elizabeth, wife of William Bingham, farmer in Rostraver, eight children ; Nancy, wife of Thomas Patterson, farmer in Fayette County ; Martha, wife of ____ Patterson ; John, married Hannah, daughter of Rev. James Finley, ten children ; Alexander studied medicine, and died soon after entering upon the practice of his, profession. Thomas Robinson, his father, was born Lancaster County, July 22, 1777, was about three years of age when the family moved to Rostraver, and spent the rest of his life on the homestead place, a portion of which came into his possession by purchase from other heirs. He added other lands, and at the time of his death was the owner of upwards of four hundred acres. He built the brick residence now owned by Jesse Fries, a son-in-law. He married Achsah L., daughter of Daniel and Lucinda (Perry) Bailey. On her father's side she was the lineal descendant in the sixth generation from Thomas Bailey, who emigrated from England, and was known to be a resident of Boston, Mass., in 1643, and with his wife, Ruth, in Weymouth in 1661. The line is as follows : 1st, Thomas ; 2d, John, of Scituate ; 3d, Joseph ; 4th, Adams ; 5th, Daniel ; 6th, Achsah. John Bailey moved frail Weymouth to Scituate, and was " among the list of allowed and approved inhabitants in Scituate to whom portions of the common lands were assigned by the joint com-mittee of the court and town in 1673." Married Sarah White, Jan. 25, 1672 ; children by this union : John, b. Nov. 5, 1763, d. 1752 ; Sarah, b. October, 1675, died young ; Mary, b. December, 1677 ; Joseph, b. 1679 ; Benjamin, b. 1682; William, b. 1685 ; Hannah, b. 1687 ; and Samuel, b. 1690. No record of his first wife's death. He married Dec. 9, 1699, Ruth Clothier. No children by this union. He died in 1718. Joseph, fourth child above, married Miss Adams ; children: Joseph, b. 1704 ; Martha, b. 1707 ; Ruth, b. 1709; Benjamin, b. 1712; Ebenezer, b. 1714 ; Seth, b. 1717; Caleb, b. 1720 ; and Adams, b. 1722. The latter, Adams Bailey, married in 1746, Sarah, fourth child of Jonathan and Sarah (Fields) Howard, of Bridge-water, who was born in 1726. Their children were Seth, b. 1747 ; Adams, b. 1749 ; Joseph, b. 1750; Charlotte and Sarah, twins, b. 1752 ; Charity and Jonathan, twins, b. 1756 ; Caleb, b. 1759 ; Ebenezer,. b. 1760 ; Daniel, b. 1765 ; Caleb, b. 1768 ; and Paul, b. 1770. The three first born in Scituate, all the rest in Bridgewater. Daniel Bailey, tenth child above, married Lucinda Perry, daughter of Capt. James Perry, of Easton, Bristol Co., Mass., who raised a company of soldiers as early as 1776, was elected their captain, and departed for the seat of war. He served under Washington three years, and was engaged in the battles of Trenton and Princeton. His father before him had been a captain in the colonial service, " a stalwart man of commanding presence." Mrs. Bailey was born in 1774. The children of Daniel and Lucinda Bailey were Achsah L., b. Nov. 10, 1789 ; Harriet, b. 1791 ; Alfreda H., b. 1793 ; George B., b. 1796 ; Leonard P., b. 1798; Lucinda P., b. 1800 ; Charlotte Adams, b. 1802 ; aud James P., 1808. After marriage and birth of three children, the family moved from Bridgewater and settled in the township of Rostraver, at Budd's Ferry, on the Youghiogheny. Daniel Bailey died in 1849. His wife July 15, 1811., The children of Thomas and Achsah L. Robinson were Alexander, Lucinda, John Q., Thomas P., Martha, Oliver H , Mary, James P., and Harriet. Lucinda is widow of Andrew Jackson Null, living in East Huntingdon township, four children ; Thomas P., a widower, two children ; Martha, wife of H. L. Baer, of Scottdale, no children ; Oliver H., a farmer living it. Rostraver. Thomas Robinson died Oct. 8, 1860, at the homestead in Rostraver. Hig wife died March 24, 1864. Both are buried at Rehoboth Church. Dr. John Q. Robinson spent his boyhood and to near his majority at home on the farm. He was educated at the common school, Greensburg Academy, and at Washington College, studied Latin under ex-United States Senator Edgar Cowan, then a teacher at West Newton. In the spring of 1840 taught the district school at Pleasant Hill, Elizabeth township, and continued teaching off and on for about four years. During this period, however, he continued his studies with special reference to his chosen profession. Sept. 4, 1844, he commenced the study of medicine with Dr. Biddle at Monongahela City, and remained with him about one year. He then eniered the office of Dr. Hasson, at West Newton, and studied with him until THE MEDICAL PROFESSION - 367 the spring of 1848. He then went to Philadelphia, where he took a spring course, of lectures, and continued a course of reading and clinical instruction at the Pennsylvania Hospital, remaining altogether eight months. His second course of lectures was taken at the University of New York, from which institution he received his medical diploma in 1849. The same year he commenced the practice of his profession at West Newton, the first two years occupying an office with his old preceptor, Dr. John Hasson, and sharing his large and widely extended practice. Since 1851 he has not been associated with any other physician. He has been in the continuous practice of his profession at West Newton for over thirty-three years, only one year less than Dr. Hasson's term of practice in the same place. He is a member of the Westmoreland County Medical Society. Though the doctor has been almost exclusively devoted to his profession, he has always taken interest in the local affairs of the borough. He has been a member of the School Board of West Newton for eighteen years, Was on its building committee in the erection of its fine school building, and its secretary for a number of years. Hp was president of the Farmers' Bank of West Newton from its organization to the winding up of its business. He has been a member of the Town Council three years and also its secretary. He has been a member of the Presbyterian Church at West Newton since 1872, and was on the building committee in the construction of their fine edifice for worship. He married, Nov. 12, 1850, Catharine, daughter of Hon. Jacob F. and Eliza Kreps. Mrs. Robinson was born Oct. 28, 1881, in Greensburg, Westmoreland Co., Pa. Their children are Ada V., Georgianna (deceased), Achsah, Eliza, Martha L., Clara B., and John Q., Jr. Herewith will be found representations of the coat-armor of the Bailey and Perry families. WILLIAM J. K. KLINE, M.D.—The father of Dr. Kline's great-grandfather was Peter Kline, who lived in Lancaster County, Pa., in that part subsequently organized as Lebanon County, but whether there native born or an immigrant from Germany is not known. He was the father of three sons, the eldest of whom was named John. The other two died young, and their names were forgotten. John grew to manhood, and took part in the Revolutionary war, immediately under the command of Washington, at Valley Forge, and after a season of service in active duty was taken seriously ill, and upon recovery was transferred to the commissary department, and placed in charge of foraging parties, or troops the duty of which was to collect supplies for the army. In the pursuance of this duty Kline and his men scoured the country seeking provisions, for which they proffered to pay, and which the rebels or patriots willingly sold or gave to the army. But there were numerous Tories in those days in the district of Kline's opera- 368 - HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA. tions, who believed that the war would terminate unfavorably to the rebel cause, and would not sell their goods or willingly contribute their quotas under levies made, saying to, Kline, " Take : the king will repay us !" and he therefore did take. But the war terminating unfavorably to the patriotic Tories, they had no king to appeal to for reimbursement, and after the war they became the bitter foes of Kline and his comrades, and poured out their vengeance upon them by deeds of darkness, burning their houses and crops in the night season, etc. Kline, soon after the war, married a Miss Mace, and settled upon a farm near Millersburg, Lebanon Co., which farm he inherited from his father. There he remained for some time, becoming the father of several children, the oldest of whom was called John. The Tories nursing revenge bided their time, but finally visited upon him persecutions in the shape of the malicious destruction of his crops, the burning of his outbuildings, etc., and made life there so uncomfortable that his wife became terrorized and entreated him to migrate westward and leave the farm in the possession of a tenant. He resolved to go to Kentucky, and started thitherward on horseback, carrying his boy John before him, his wife and family also riding horseback, and thus they traversed the Allegheny Mountains. Reaching a point four miles west of Greensburg, near what is now called Grapeville, on their way to Fort Pitt, they found the road there forked, and pursued the branch which seemed the more travel-worn, but which, however, led not to Fort Pitt, but to the Manor settlement, as they found on inquiring of " a woman and another person," as the chronicler states, who were making hay in a meadow. One of them asked, "What course, my friends?" Kline informed her that he wished to go to Fort Pitt en route to Kentucky. She replied, " Why, my dear friends, have you not heard of the recent murders committed on the frontiers?" an Indian outbreak having then recently taken place. Kline said " No," and listened to the quick story of the slaughter of men, women, and children, and Mrs. Kline exclaimed, " If that's the case I shall go no farther !" The next thing was what to do, and Kline learned that he could live on the Painter improvement," and settle there in his trade as a weaver for the time being, and concluded to do so. He sold his horses for want of feed, but not without regret interposed by " little John," who " owned" one of the animals, a beautiful mare. At that time Mr. Kline held a draft on a Mr. Boggs for £75, which was, however, lost by the failure of Boggs, a fact which, however, did not leave him entirely penniless. He loaned money to one John McKee, a frequent guest of his on his way to and from Philadelphia ; and McKee becoming much in debt, conveyed to Kline in part payment seventy-five acres of land in the centre of what is now McKeesport. But McKee getting on his feet again, desired to purchase back the land, and Kline agreeing, McKee soon laid out the tract into dwelling-house lots, of which he profitably disposed, founding the city now bearing his name. In addition to little John, whom we have noticed, the family of the elder John consisted of William, George, Samuel, Polly, and Catharine. William settled and raised a family in Adamsburg, where be died, George died single, and Samuel went to the Southwest, and was never heard from by his Pennsylvania friends. The daughters married,—one Peter Kemerer, the other Daniel Kemerer,—one of whom eventually settled in Illinois, and the other in Iowa. Mr. Kline was a conveyancer as well as farmer, etc., and made frequent journeys to Philadelphia to ex-. amine titles. At last he made a trip to this city, as is supposed, and never returned, and was never afterwards heard of by his family. His absence left his family embarrassed, and they finally lost the farm he had acquired in Manor District, and were thrown upon their own resources. Little John, now well grown, provided for the family as well as he could, and they moved to and settled in the vicinity of Adamsburg, Westmoreland Co., where John cleared away the forest. He eventually married Miss Nancy Buchman, a native of Hagerstown, Md., by whom he had a large family, one of whom, John by name, was the father of Dr. Kline. He enjoyed the customary opportunities for education in those times, and grew up a farmer, subsequently settling in Manor District, Penn township. He was a man of great energy and industry, and was noted for his unswerving honesty in all the business affairs of life. In addition to his farm he became the owner of a mill property at Bouquet, and conducted the business of the mill for a time. He died when forty-six years of age, leaving a wife, whose maiden name was Elizabeth Knappenberger, a daughter of John Knappenberger, a descendant of one of the earliest settlers of the Manor District. The death of her husband. devolved upon Mrs. Kline the care of the family. She was at that time a woman of great energy, as well as mental strength, and now, when almost an octogenarian, her mind is not only unimpaired but bright as in youth. With rare tact, good judgment, and the exercise of the Christian virtues, she reared her family well, always commanding their love. The family comprised ten children. The first was Hezekiah Joseph, who married, settled in Illinois, and died, leaving one son, now a resident of California, he completing the Western journey of the Klines, which was arrested in the person of his great-grandfather, compelled to settle in Westmoreland County, as related above. The second child was Hannah, deceased ; the third, William J. K. ; the next, Nicholas, a surgeon dentist by profession, now residing in Scottdale ; the next, Mary Ann, married to David Snyder, and residing on the old homestead; the next, Henry, who entered the army during the Rebellion, and while faithfully serving his country died at New- THE MEDICAL PROFESSION - 369 bern, N. C., in 1864, at about twenty-one years of age. Being drafted for the war, and some of his friends volunteering to take his place, he said, " No ; I recognize this as a. proper call of my country, and I will let no other perform the duty which belongs to me to fulfill." The next in order of the family is Lydia, wife of Cyrus J. Snyder, residing in Penn township, on her grandfather Knappenberger's old farm ; the next, Amos, who after a thorough education in the select schools and academy in Westmoreland County took a course in and graduated from the Eastman Business College, at Poughkeepsie, N. Y., and is now associate editor of the Westmoreland Democrat. The next is Alpheus, who graduated from Franklin and Marshall College, Lancaster, Pa., studied divinity in the theological seminary of that place, and is now a minister of the Reformed Church. Jacob, the last, died in infancy. Dr. William J. K. Kline was brought up on the homestead farm, attended the common and select schools, Glade Run Academy, and subsequently graduated from Jefferson College, at Cannonsburg, in the class of 1860. During his senior years in college Dr. Kline pursued the elective study of law. His health being at that time quite broken, he spent some time in the oil regions, at the outbreak of the oil excitement, hoping thus to recover his health, but without much avail. Leaving the oil regions he entered the office of Dr. H. G. Lomison, of Greensburg, and with him read medicine, matriculated at Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, took a course of lectures, and then entered Turner Lane Military Hospital, in that city, as a cadet, and subsequently completed his medical course at Long Island College Hospital, and graduated therefrom ' in 1864. The battle of Gettysburg being then in progress be proceeded to Harrisburg with the intention of entering a surgical corps, passed examination by the State Medical Board, and was assigned to duty, and a large number of the wounded having been shipped to Harrisburg, he and Dr. J. S. King organized in that city the Walnut Street Hospital, of which they continued in joint charge for the period of nine months, at the end of which the emergency under which the hospital was organized was over. Near the close of his engagement there Dr. Kline contracted typhoid fever, which unfitted him for military duty, and on recovery went into private practice at Irwin Station, Westmoreland Co., where he followed his profession for some years, being a portion of the time assistant surgeon, and during the absence of Dr. Lomison, the surgeon, in Europe, the acting surgeon for the Westmoreland Division of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, In 1868 Dr. Kline married Miss Emma Tinstman, daughter of the late John Tinstman, of Fayette County, Pa. In 1868-69 he took an extra course of medical lectures at the Bellevue Hospital Medical College, New York. In 1871 he removed to Greensburg, where he practiced his profession. He is one of the proprietors of the Westmoreland Democrat, and for the first few years of his residence in Greensburg shared with his copartners the editorship of that paper, in addition to his professional practice. In 1876, Dr. Kline was elected a member of the State Legislature, and served in the sessions of 1877 —78. JAMES TAYLOR KREPPS, M.D., was born in Upper Middleton, Fayette Co., Pa., Aug. 4, 1847, the third in a family of seven children of Lewis and Sarah Ann (Lewis) Krepps. Jacob Krepps, his grandfather, emigrated with two brothers from Germany, and settled in Westmoreland County, Pa., and all who spell the name with a double " p" in this country are the descendants of these brothers. His grandfather Krepps raised a family of seven boys and three girls, eight of whom are living. All were married and settled in Western Pennsylvania. Lewis Krepps, his father, learned and followed the trade of a machinist, is retired from active business, a resident of Belle Vernon, Fayette Co., Pa. His mother was a native of the same county, and is still living. Their children were Hannah Elizabeth, Jacob William, James Taylor, Mary Allene, Ann Louisa, Eliza Jane, and Lewis Wilson, all married except Mary Allene and Lewis Wilson. When the doctor was a child his father moved from Upper Middleton and settled in Fayette City, Fayette Co. Here the doctor lived until he was eleven years of age. He then left home, and hired out at three dollars per month to Joseph Krepps, at Allenport, Washington Co., Pa., where he remained five years, attending school during the winter seasons. At the age of sixteen he went for four seasons as cook on the steamer " Gen. George Washington," plying between Belle Vernon and Pittsburgh, continuing his attention at school winters. When twenty years of age he went to work in the ship-yard (Speer's) at Belle Vernon, where he remained two years. He then bought a livery stable in Belle Vernon, and ran it five years. During this period he commenced the study of medicine with Dr. S. A. Conklin, then of Belle Vernon, now of Canton, Ohio. In the fall of 1872 he attended his first course of medical lectures at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and his second course in the session of 1874-75 at the Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, receiving his medical diploma from that institution in the spring of the latter year. On April 6, 1875, he located at Webster, and has practiced his profession at that place ever since. He carries on a drug-store in connection with his practice. In politics he is identified with the Democratic party. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church at Webster, also a member of the Ancient Order of United Workmen. He married March 14, 1871, Laura J., daughter of Thomas H. and Elma E. (Eberhart) Niccolls. Mrs. Krepps was born Oct. 26, 1848. Her grandfather Eberhart was among the first to manufacture glass in 370 - HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA. Western Pennsylvania, and at one time was a large property-owner in Westmoreland County. He died in Redstone township, Fayette Co., March 2, 1882. Her uncle, Dr. Robert Niccolls, was surgeon-general in the army, now a retired physician, living in Bloomington, Ill. Her grandfather, John Niccolls, was at one time sheriff of Westmoreland County. Dr. and Mrs. Krepps have children as follows : Allen Lewis, Laura May, Sarah Elma (deceased), and James Taylor, Jr. The doctor has been emphatically the " architect of his own fortune," has " made his own living" since he was eleven years of age, and by his own unaided efforts acquired his literary and medical education. Though among the younger members of the profession, he has attained a standing as a successful practitioner among the foremost in the county. DR. JOHN DAVIDSON MILLIGAN.—The great-grandfather of Dr. Milligan, John Milligan, emigrated from the Highlands of Scotland to America in the early part of the last century, and settled in Chester County, Pa. He here married a Miss Mary Adams, a lady of the New England Adams family. He was a miller by occupation, and owned a mill and carried on his business at his place of location in the early part of the Revolutionary war. Being in sympathy with the cause of the colonies, he secretly and in a clandestine manner from time to time arranged that the Continental army should get rations of his flour. Being suspected in this he was in danger from the British at the time they occupied Philadelphia and the southeastern portion of the State. A detachment of the army sent for that purpose finally did destroy his mill, when he joined the army under Washington, and remained there till the close of the war. After the war he came to Westmoreland County, and took up the farm afterwards owned and occupied by Col. Israel Painter, known as " the Willow Tree Farm." He afterwards removed to and occupied the farm still in the possession of some of his descendants, situated west of Bell's Mills, Sewickley township, Westmoreland Co. On this farm he died. Before his death he held for a number of years the commission of justice of the peace. He left issue,—John, Alexander, and James C., of whom the latter was the grandfather of Dr. Milligan, and who was born in 1790. He married Deborah Eckels, a native of the county, of Scotch extraction. He was a farmer and carpenter, and occupied a portion 'of the Bell's Mills tract, upon which he still, with his wife, resides in vigorous old age. His family are David, Mary, James M., Margaret, George, and Ellen. James M., the father of Dr. Milligan, was born on the 1st of January, 1819, and was married to Elizabeth Davidson, daughter of Samuel Davidson, in the fall of 1849. The issue of this marriage were John Davidson, Rosetta, Sarah, and Harry. John Davidson Milligan was born July 31, 1851, within a short distance of where he is at present located as a physician. He spent his boyhood on the farm of his father until he was seventeen. During this time he enjoyed no further benefits of schooling than were common to the boys of his locality at that time. But having advanced as far in his education as the facilities of the common schools allowed, he prosecuted his higher studies, including the classics, under competent private tutors. In his eighteenth year he creditably sustained an examination by the county superintendent, and received a certificate to teach. He taught two terms in succession, and still pursuing his studies became a student and graduate, July 17, 1872, of Iron City College, Pittsburgh, Pa. Afterwards he again taught school in the same building in which he had first gone to school. About this time he took up the study of medicine under the direction of Dr. Lewis Sutton, a practicing physician at Mendon, this county, and in 1874 attended a course of medical lectures at the Western Reserve Medical College, Cleveland, Ohio. From this institution he went to New York City, where he remained until he completed his course, and where, on March 1, 1876, he graduated from Bellevue Hospital Medical College. Returning home, he remained with his preceptor during the summer of 1876, and in October of that year again went East. On this trip, October 2d, he was married to Mrs. Martha J. Pinkerton, daughter of the late Col. Joseph Guffey, of Sewickley township, Westmoreland. The marriage ceremony was performed in the Pennsylvania Room at Mount Vernon, amid a throng of travelers, by the Rev. Mr. Ingersoll, of Washington City. Returning to New York, Mr. Milligan remained there during the closing session of that academic year, occupying his time in the study of clinical medicine and surgery in special, together with all available subjects incidental to the curriculum of the profession. After properly qualifying he returned to Madison, this county, in March, 1877, where he located to pursue the practice of the profession of his choice. Here his attention to business, clear conception, and honesty of purpose soon opened out to him a field of practice second to none in this county. Soon after locating at Madison he became a member of the Westmoreland County Medical Society, and in 1878 was delegated to Pittsburgh to the meeting of the State Medical Society, of which he became a permanent member. It might be expected that it would be said that Dr. Milligan is still a devoted student, and so he is. He has devoted much time and study to the treatment of infantile and puerperal convulsions, and is at present preparing a work on that subject, together with clinical reports on all kinds of eclampsy. The Centennial year was one long to be remem bered by Dr. Milligan, for in that year he graduated from college, and in that same year was he married. The marriage ceremony was performed under peculiarly patriotic circumstances. On the 2d of October, 1876, he was united in the bonds of wedlock to Mrs. COMMON SCHOOLS - 371 Martha J. Pinkerton, daughter of the late Col. Joseph Gaffey, of Sewickley township, this county, at Mount Vernon, in the Pennsylvania room, in the midst of a throng of travellers, by the Rev. Mr. Ingersoll, of Washington City. This wedding ceremony was an impromptu one, and was hastened on under circum-stances which, the doctor says, were patriotic as well as romantic. Dr. Milligan is regarded as one of the foremost citizens of his community. He has filled all the offices of the borough corporation, and been selected school director ; offices it is true of no distinction to a man, but capable of being made of some distinction by a man. The Milligan family has always been consistent Whig or Republican ; and in politico-clerical fields it has had one exponent well known in Western Pennsylvania. Rev. Dr. McLeod Milligan, pastor of the First Covenanter Congregation of Pittsburgh, is one of this family, and his eloquence and uncommon zeal are well known to Westmorelanders. Dr. Milligan has some reputation as a politician, having taken an active part in politics, and helping much to con-trol his party in local measures in this county. The biographical sketch of Dr. Lewis Sutton, whose portrait accompanies this chapter, appears in the bio-graphical department of South Huntingdon township. CHAPTER XLV. COMMON SCHOOLS. Condition of Early Instruction in the Early Province and State—Mr. Somerville's School at Greensburg—Country Schools— First Institutes— The Superintendency and the Opinion of the, last Generation touching it—First Country Schools in the North of the County—List of County Superintendents : J. S. Walthour, H. Pd. Jones, J. Silliman, J. R. Spiegel—Present Status of the Common Schools—The County Institute of 1881. IT is not possible for us to trace up a satisfactory history of the school system in this portion of the State from its settlement, as we have no data to work from. This want will doubtless be supplied by the publication of the " History of the Common School System of Pennsylvania," now in preparation by Mr. Wickersham, late Superintendent of Public Instruction. Some interesting observations on the early school system of the State may, however, be obtained in Lodge's " History of the English Colonies in America," chap. xiii. We make room for a passage : "The Germans, as a rule, were far behind the English in point of information, although they produced some distinguished men, like Rittenhouse and Muhlenberg ; and the same held true of the Swedes and Dutch, and in a less degree of the Irieh. The German and Swedish pastors made great efforts to remedy this state of affairs by establishing schools in connection with the churches, but they met with little success. The Scotch and Irish Presbyterian clergy, more active and more zealous, fared better, and did good work with their country schools, known at this time as 'log colleges.' But the general condition of education in the rural districts was wretched in the extreme. School-houses were few and small, and rudely built of logs, and even thee̊ did not begin to appear much before the middle of the eighteenth century. The barest rudiments only were taught, and those badly and for small fees. There was little learning, loose order, and much whipping everywhere. There was no public system of schools, and education was almost wholly in the handl' of itinerant masters, who were frequently convicts and foreigners , and even they generally abandoned a profession where the fee of a scholar was only tive shillings a quarter. The case was a little better in the towns, such as Wilmington ; but the educational efforte of the English, who were the governing race, seem, except in the case of private schools kept by individual clergyman, to have been confined to the capital." We do not propose to give a biographical sketch of the life and public services of the race of defunct pedagogues in treating of this subject, any more than do we propose to make of the civil history of our county a gazetteer or directory. But the reader will readily perceive that we can illustrate any given subject to better advantage by treating in detail a particular branch or component part of it, and on this topic we recall a description of the "opening exercises" of the public school in Greensburg when Mr. Somerville was schoolmaster there, about 1830. When the school opened Mr. Somerville passed around among the scholars taking down their names and ages, and examining the books which they had brought with them in which to pursue their studies. And here it may be premised that a series of very good readers had been compiled for the use of schools by the grammarian, Lindley Murray. They were named " The Introduction," " English Reader," and "Sequel." These readers were in common use, but after reading through them once or twice, boys were then allowed to read histories or the Holy Scriptures. On making inquiry about the books, one boy had brought Goldsmith's " History of Rome." Somerville said, " Let me hear you read." The boy read a few sentences, when the schoolmaster said, " Stop ! take that home and bring an English Reader.' " The boy replied, " Why; sir, I have read the English Reader' and Sequel.' " Somerville sternly exclaimed, " Do as I bid you! Take that book home and bring the English Reader.' " Another boy had brought Grimshaw's " History of the United States." He was ordered to take it home and bring an " English Reader." A third boy had brought the Bible. " Read a few verses," said the schoolmaster. The pupil read them. " Take that book home," cried the stern pedagogue, " and bring an Introduction.' " In shott, he packed off Goldsmith, Grimshaw, Tytler, Plutarch, and the lives of Francis Marion and George Washington, and did not in his indignation spare even "King Jame’s Translation of the Holy Scriptures." After repeated trials in reading he arranged all his scholars into three reading classe,s, known by the books they used, " Introduction," " English Reader," and " Sequel." Somerville being an Englishman, and probably an usher in England, had gotten his ideas of order and system at home, and these he brought with him. He 372 - HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA. was generally regarded as ahead of his time, but this opinion we are bound to say was formed and promulgated after he had left. In his teaching he appears to have laid much stress on reading, and evidently made an effort to teach the rudimentary branches ..ell rather than hurry his pupils forward. In teaching reading he made his pupils read oftentimes the same sentence, that it might in the end be read correctly in emphasis, articulation, and intonation. He would read aloud himself to teach them properly, and thus call their attention to their own defects. To the shame of ridicule, he added the dread of chastisement. The public schools then, and long after, closed on Saturday at twelve o'clock. Every Saturday afternoon Mr. Somerville strolled into the woods, and returned with a number of long, two-handed rods, which he wore out on the backs of the pupils during the following week. The parents had too much good sense to object, and indeed those mostly who wished their children to succeed at school imagined they made more rapid progress. With Solomon they were orthodox, and held that " to spare the rod was to spoil the child." All the boys who were advanced beyond a spelling-book used the dictionary of John Walker, which they were required or expected to study every day. Besides the ordinary method of teaching arithmetic, Mr. Somerville was among the first to arrange his pupils in classes and give instruction in mental and oral calculation. For a small compensation he, as all worthy teachers of his day, performed a great amount of labor. Blank paper and goose-quills were used in learning to write, and the schoolmaster had to set all the copies and make and mend all the pens. Thirty or forty copy-books had to be written in every day, and thirty or, forty pens put in order. The schoolmaster had often to remain after hours or go before school-time in order to get through with his irksome daily labor. And such, we take it, does not inaptly answer for a description of the manner in which the schools of the towns were in those days conducted. In the country schools, where the people were poorer, the roads bad, and the settlements scattered, the facilities for common schools were greatly inferior to those we have indicated. To the public spirit and the influence of good citizens and men in nearly every locality the common people of the remote districts were indebted for all the advantages they possessed, such as they were. The qualifications of the " masters" who taught the schools were not high. Besides teaching spelling, reading, the Ten Commandments, and ciphering as far as the double rule of three, they were to show the youngsters how to sharpen quill-pens, and be able to cudgel the biggest and worst boy in the district. A successful pedagogue for a term, of years might hope to be made a justice of the peace after many years' service. If he could survey or clerk between times he could make a living. The following personal reminiscence of Col. John Bonnett, who lived between Laurelville and Mount Pleasant, preserves some information which we cannot afford to lose. Col. Bonnett was of French descent, of Huguenot extraction, and his only daughter was the wife of Dr. David Marchand, father of the Greensburg family of Marchands. He was a man of sterling integrity, noble and generous-hearted, esteemed and respected by all who knew him, plain and unostentatious in his manners, but when roused had all the fire and flash of a Frenchman. His wife was a strong-minded woman of rare good common sense. They were known and generally called by the kindly name of "Uncle and Aunt Bonnett." One of his kind and generous acts probably eighty years ago or more (1800), was to set apart a plot of ground on one corner of his large plantation o9 which to erect a school-house, which was built by the neighbors throwing together, contributing largely towards it himself. This school-house, which was built about a mile east of Mount Pleasant, along the turnpike, served the community for many long years within a radius of five or six miles, and from a recollection extending over fifty years, was the only institution of learning there known. Quite a number from Mount Pleasant attended school there, of whom but few are now living. So celebrated was that old log schoolhouse for the schools held in it, church and other meetings, that the late Daniel Shupe had it photographed by A. N. Stauffer, of Mount Pleasant, before it was torn down, and had a walking-cane made from one of the timbers. In those days the schools were supported by subscription,—no pay schools at that time,—and it was common to have a winter school for the larger ones, and a summer school for the smaller pupils. For the benefit of the smaller pupils, Col. Bonnett planted along the road opposite the school-house two rows of cherry-trees of different varieties, two or three of which are yet standing as monuments of his noble generosity. He lived to see them grow up and bear abundance of fruit to gladden the hearts of many a child. He seemed to live to impart good to others. The Bonnett farm is now known as' the William Barnhart, Sr., farm. In the Gazette for March 25, 1825, is the following communication, which is of interest, as it reflects the public sentiment at that time on the matter of popular education. A correspondent writes us, so the editor says, from Rostraver township, in this county, as follows: "MR- EDITOR,—It is requested that you would publish in your paper that the citizens of Roetraver township at their township election-ground agreed unanimously, by a publick vote, not to elect schoolmen for said township." The editorial comments upon this bit of information were in the following order : "At an election in this borough fifteen votes were given for school-men. No previous notice, agreeably to the school law, was given by the inhabitants. we know of no law or act of any legislative body so un- COMMON SCHOOLS - 373 popular as this law has proven to be in this county. At the election in Hempfield township scene of confusion and tumult occurred which is represented as having been frightful. A person who witnessed part of it states that if any advocate of the school law had openly avowed himself as such he would have been literally torn to pieces. Expressions to this effect were uttered by several persons.. "Disorder on occasions of this kind is generally confined to a few individuals who drink too freely, but in this instance it is not a little surprising to find great majority of the people present openly opposed to the adoption of any measure having the least relation to the law in question. A greater number of persons were present than ever congregated at the same place before. "In Unity township, and, indeed, In every other township from which we have heard, a very decided disapprobation of the provisions of this law was manifested by the people. What could have produced such an unanimity of opinion upon the subject it is difficult for us to conjecture." FIRST INSTITUTES. At the June meeting, 1853, of the Westmoreland County Teachers' Association, John H. Hoopes, S. P. Shryock, and S. W. Greer were appointed a committee to prepare an address to the teachers and parents of the county on behalf of the association. The committee thereupon prepared and published in the county papers in July, 1853, the address, the opening portion of which is here given : "During the session of the Conemaugh Teachers' Institute' at Blairsville, Indiana Co., last October, a number of teachers from this county believing it high time to form a County Teachers' Association, held &meeting preliminary to such an organization. A committee was appointed to draft a constitution, and another to publish a call for a meeting at New Alexandria on the 21st of November. Unfortunately this committee called the meeting fcr the 24th of December, and when the time (as fixed upon by the preliminary meeting) arrived only about twenty-five teachers were in attendance. These believing it proper to proceed to business organized by adopting a constitution and electing officers, styling their organization as the Westmoreland County Teachers' Association. After a spirited meeting of two days the association adjourned to meet at Madison on the 24th of June following. Those present believed that the most serious obstacles in the way of forming a union had now been removed, and that the meeting in June would be a joyous gathering of all the teachers in the county. "The 24th of June came; timely notice in the public papers had been given of the meeting to be held on that day, and only eight teachers were in attendance. We confess it is with regret we publish this fact, but it is even so, that of more than two hundred professing teachers in this county only eight were interested enough to meet and consult together concerning the interests of their profession and for the welfare of those under their care. We are aware that the time was not the most favorable, being just at the commencement of harvest; but, making all due allowances, we think at least one hundred teachers might have been in attendance. Even that number would have been a poor representation of the county, but would have added permanency to the associatioc." This statement of facts gave opportunity and occasion for the committee to describe at length the peculiar relations existing between the teacher and the people, and to deprecate the apathy of the professional instructors and their lack of enterprise and aggression. A very eloquent and hearty appeal was made to the regular teachers to induce them to organize, first in township associations, and again more especially in a county association, and it was asserted, with great truth, that whenever they should do so the body of the people, and especially the friends of popular education, would come out and boldly and not timidly co-operate with them and assist them in their labors and in their efforts to elevate the standard of their honorable profession. The parents were specially requested to urge upon the teachers to effect local organizations, and to visit the schools. " There is," said the address, " too little visiting on the part of the parents; it is a duty you owe your children and their teachers ; every good teacher will always welcome the parents of his pupils." The announcement was then made that a special meeting of the County Association would be held at Adamsburg on the first Friday of September, and a stated meeting at New Salem on the last Friday of November, and that the "Conemaugh Teachers' Institute" for the instruction of teachers would meet at New Alexandria on the 24th of October, and continue in session one week. The common-school system, so far as regards its status in Westmoreland County, had in John H. Hoopes one of its most outspoken, ardent, zealous, and able friends and propagandists. Every movement in the interest of popular education was ably and warmly espoused and advocated by him, and he had a very happy faculty of presenting all the arguments in a practical as well as in an interesting manner. We think we do a favor to those who take an interest in this subject in recalling now some of his public expressions on the subject, which to the readers of that day were new. The following is taken from one of his contributions to the Greensburg Democrat, in the issue of Sept. 6, 1855. As it is a teacher's opinion and a teacher's reflex of public opinion, and so ably delineates the situation of his profession at that day, we cannot think that our time and space are lost in giving it : "TEACHERS' INSTITUTE. " At last we are to have a Teachers' Institute in Westmoreland, even in the town of Greensburg, and we do hope that our teachers—a majority of whom, for the first time, will have an opportunity of participating in an institution established for their own benefit, and located in a central part of the county easy of access—will come up, enroll themselves as members, and take an active part in the proceedings. " Teachers' Institutes in Pennsylvania are of recent origin, but were established as long since as 1840 in New England and Ohio. The object is to afford teachers an opportunity of assembling together and receiving instruction in the branches of education taught in public schools, and also in the theory and practice of teaching, the latter being an essential qualification to success, and one in which too many are sadly deficient. "Another advantage is also derived from these meetings: teachers are thus afforded an opportunity of meeting together and exchanging views on a subject which should interest them more than any other. This alone is well worth the cost, and is of incalculable value. The teacher who has never yet met in association with his fellow-laborers and conversed on the duties of his profession has but little idea of the information derived from such intercourse. " During the summer of 1853, Messrs. J. M. McElroy and J. M. Barnett, assistant principals of Elder's Ridge Academy, and a few other enterprising teachers made arrangements for holding an Institute at Blairsville, at which place in October of that year a large number of the teachers of Westmoreland and Indiana Counties met and organized the 'Conemaugh Teachers' Institute.' Several distinguished educationalists from abroad were present as instructors, and after a spirited session of one week the Institute adjourned to meet at New Alexandria in October of the next year. " We regard that meeting as the great (maker of the teachers of Pennsylvania; there a spirit was aroused which will never rest until the 374 - HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA. character of our public schools is elevated to the highest that can be attained. The Hon. Thomas H. Burrowes, the untiring friend of education, and who has done more than any other man In the State for public school., was present and took an active part in the meeting. After his return home be published in the Pennsylvania School Journal a Mowing account of what had been done, which so aroused the Leathern of several counties to a sense of duty that before the new year was ushered in a number of Institutes, had been held in various sections of the State, and arrangements made for their continuance in future. Since that time nearly every county has held one or more Institutes. The ‘Conemaugh Institute' convoked at New Alexandria in October, 1853, and continued in session one week, and again at Saltsburg in October, 1854, for one week. At this last meeting the connection between the teachers of Indiana and Westmoreland, so far as related to the 'Conemaugh,' was dissolved by mutual consent, it being thought that the time had arrived for establishing two separate Institutes, ons in each county, and that it was the duty of county superintendents to establish schools fur the instruction of teachers. In accordance with this view, our superintendent, Mr. McCormick, is now making arrangements for holding an Institute at Greensburg, to commence on the 8th of October next, and continue one week. He has secured the services of Professor J. H. Stoddard, a true friend of education, mid professor in the Normal School at Lancaster. Mr. J. P. Wickersham, superintendent of Lancaster County, has promised to be present, if possible. Mr. Burrowes and other distinguished gentlemen are also expected to be with us. "Very many of the teachers of this county have been engaged in teaching for several years, remaining isolated beings, never meeting with their fellow-laborers, never exchanging views with other teachers on the duties of their profession. This is all wrong. No teacher is so well qualified that he cannot improve, and he who desires to teach intelligently and succeed in ths school-room must associate frequently with his brother teachers. Ideas will be advanced, modes of teaching pursued by others will be suggested, and, unless be be resolutely determined to learn nothing more, he will return to his schoolroom with a lighter heart, a bettsr knowledge of his duties, and with a renewed zeal fur his profession. This is an age of improvement; there is a universal demand for reform,—in religion, in politics, in education, in sverything pertaining to our moral and social condition. The truly good teacher is beginning to be appreciated, and teaching is being elevated to its proper place. A majority of those who taught, or, rather, kept, school, say fifteen years ago, are no longer accounted worthy to occupy the position of teacher; they remained isolated, were well enough qualified to teach school, and so they awoke one morning and found themselves ' behind the age-' And the 'drones,' the machine-men, who are now intrusted with forming the character of the rising generation, unless they be up and doing, will soon meet the fate of their predecessors. We do not hesitate to say that the teacher who is unwilling to come out and meet his brother teachers face to face, who never expends a part of his salary in qualifying himself for his office, is unworthy the name of teacher, and had we the power to do so, we would strike the name of every such person from the roll. Much better would it be for the young minds of the present day if all such teachers, if they must be recipients of public funds, were paid to keep out of school-houses, as in that case our children, if not educated, would not be worse than uneducated. But we believe that a majority of the teachers of this county are interested in this matter, and really do wish to ses our schools obtain a more elevated character, and although they have stood aloof from the good work which has been going on, we cannot believe they have done so from choice, but rather have been actuated by feelings of modesty and a dislike of becoming known. Throw these feelings aside, and let us meet together to talk over our trials and difficulties, and have the dark places made bright- Let us meet and do each other good-" THE SUPERINTENDENCY. The act establishing the county superintendency was passed in 1854, and has consequently been in operation, at this writing, twenty-eight years. The office was at first very unpopular, but its usefulness is now universally acknowledged, except where men fill it who are incompetent for the place. 1 Those acquainted with the history of the common school's in Pennsylvania for the last quarter of a century must 1 Report of superintendent of public instruction for 1878. accord to it the high honor of being the principal agency in the movement that has revolutionized our system of public instruction, making it one of the most efficient in the Union. The Legislature of 1866 greatly strengthened the office by passing a law requiring all superintendents to be practical teachers, and to possess certain prescribed literary and professional qualifications. The school bill of 1854, in which was established the office of county superintendent, was received with marked feelings of disapprobation in some parts of the county. Like all advancements in any department of thought or action, it was opposed by that large portion of people who are constitutionally opposed to innovation. But among the supporters of that bill was Mr. Hoopes, the ardent supporter of every movement and every law contemplated or passed in the interest of the common-school system. He published a lengthy article on "The Office of County Superintendent" in the current issues of the Greensburg papers, in which he answers the objections advanced by those opposed to the office. In this article he evinced a thorough knowledge, not only of the State legislation on the subject, but of the whole history of the school movement in the State in every phase and in every section. Touching upon that function of the county superintendent, to pass upon the qualifications of teachers in both theory and practice, he uses the following language: "We have about two hundred and fifty schools; and of the teaches employed in these, I would like to know how many can publicly give their modus operandi of teaching? How many have any method at al. How many are mere machines, schoolmasters who teach altogether from the book, and do not know anything out of some particular textbooks they have committed to memory? How many teachers have we who have ever thought for one moment that something more than mere knowledge of some school reader, arithmetic, or grammar is ac- tually necessary in order to constitute a teacher capable of unfolding the infant mind and conducting it step by step up the rugged 'billet science'? These are grave and important questions, questions to which gloomy answers can only be returned, questions that deserves to be pondered seriously before we assert that our teachers and our Schools are in need of no further improvement. "Can the superintendent in any way improve the condition of our schools? Most assuredly he can; and the more certainly to eradicate the great and prevailing evil the Law itself points out his first duty, the examination of teachers." During 1858 and 1859 the great question which still agitated the peace of mind of the respectably inclined portion of country gentlemen, particularly those of that large class who are always looking about for a subject and an occasion which offers them a chance to be heard, was the question of the county superintendency, whether the office should be retained or vacated, whether it was of advantage or of disadvantage, whether, in choice terms, it was a good invest. went or an unprofitable investment. Meetings were held in nearly every school district in the county. The foremost gentlemen in every community attended. Their names appear in the reports of these