Historical address : delivered before the Medical Society of the County of Albany in the state of New-York, November 11, 1856, being its semi-centennial anniversary meeting / by Sylvester D. Willard.

  • Willard, Sylvester David, 1825-1865.
Date:
1857
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Historical address : delivered before the Medical Society of the County of Albany in the state of New-York, November 11, 1856, being its semi-centennial anniversary meeting / by Sylvester D. Willard. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    by a thorough course of instruction be prepared for the duties and responsibilities to be assumed. This preparation was to be tested by an examination before the censors of the society, and it proving satisfactory, the Board was empowered to bestow upon the candidate a license to practise. This board was particularly calculated to exert a protective and healthy influence upon both the profession and the public, and was the medium through which students gained access to the profession for many years. So it continued, until the more general establishment of Medical Col- leges throughout this and adjoining States. The vastly superior inducements and advantages which these afford over private instructions, and their great ease of access has after the period of half a century, almost entirely superseded the necessity and the duties of this Board. It was in conformity to this law of April 4th, 1806, that the physicians of the city and county of Albany, met on the 29th of July following, and organized the Medical Society of the County of Albany—the society which we represent here to-day, and whose Semi-Centennial Anniversary we now commemorate. It seems suitable to this occasion that we briefly trace the history of the society through the half century which it has now completed. It was nearly two hundred years at the time our society came into existence, since the building of Fort Orange (1623), which was the embryo of this capital. Around Fort Orange little hamlets had nestled until assuming the name of Beaverwyck it became a thriving and populous village. In 1686, Beaverwyck was incorporated a city under the name of Albany, the act being granted by Thomas Dongan, the Colonial Governor under the authority of King James the Second. From the erection of Fort Orange until the original members of this society came into active life, we ask almost in vain,—Who were the physicians and surge- ons through this long period 1 Who filled the important places of guardians of the public health through these long years 1 To the ambition of those who would inscribe their names on the pages of our city's medical history, this silence concerning those who have preceded them, affords but little encouragement. A solitary exception comes to our knowledge,—Abraham Staats, surgeon, came from Holland in 1642, and settled at Fort Orange. He was the first presiding officer of the Beaverwyck village council upon its organization, and several incidents indi- cate that he was a valuable and enterprising citizen. He became the owner of Fort Orange, and the ground on which it stood has