May 13 – A Debilitating Condition

Sarah Smith Horr, in personal letters to her daughter Angelette in 1862, comments on several ways in which the American Civil War was affecting life in the town of Castleton.  In March, less than a year after the war had begun, Castleton Medical College was disbanded.  At a time when the American population was increasing and spreading, at a time when many doctors would be needed in the approaching war, why would a medical college be dissolved? 

Castleton Medical College, 1855

In 1818, when the Castleton Medical College was established, it was the first medical college in Vermont.  Ten years later, the University of Vermont in Burlington started its own medical college.  Interestingly, the success of the medical college at Castleton in the 1820s and 1830s caused the University of Vermont to suspend its own medical instruction for a while.  By the 1850s, however, Castleton was struggling to maintain its reputation, and the U. of V. was growing in popularity.

One trend that influenced the decline of this medical college also affected other small town medical colleges.  Students wanted impressive facilities and a large variety of patients to practice on.  By 1840, more young doctors were going to Europe to study, and they returned with a desire to work in a city where they would have a broader variety of patients, more medical colleagues for conferring, and better communication about new treatments.

At the College of Physicians and Surgeons of the Western District of New York, a prominent country medical college, a resolution to close that college was adopted in 1841, with an official statement that the institution was prosperous and did not need to close but that it was considered advisable to close in the midst of prosperity rather than wait for deterioration to force closing.

Dr. Joseph Perkins was at the heart of the college’s struggles for financial stability.  He was appointed Registrar in 1840, then Treasurer, and he collected all fees and paid all bills. He became President of the Faculty in 1843, a title that was changed to Dean in 1852, and he was also President of the Corporation from 1843 to 1856.  His administration, supplemented by his personal financial backing, was successful in stabilizing the institution’s finances and increasing enrolment.  Castleton Medical College conducted two lecture sessions and graduated two classes each year.

a medical student conferring
with Dr. Charles Allen (right)

In 1855, Charles L. Allen, a doctor’s son, was appointed Professor of Chemistry.  He had no experience in teaching, and he resigned after one year.  

William Sweetser had been Professor of Medicine for seventeen years at Castleton, and a Dean from 1857-1859.  He was an efficient teacher and attracted many students to the institution. When he resigned both his professorship and the deanship at the end of the session of 1859, Charles L. Allen became his successor, even though he had not succeeded at teaching and had no experience in administration.

The final five years of Castleton Medical College was a period of confusion, dissension, and disintegration.   In its efforts to attract larger numbers of fee-paying students, many institutions expanded their programs on borrowed money.  At Castleton, Joseph Perkins tried to turn the college around using some of his own money, but it only slowed the deterioration.  

basic anatomy

The necessary expenses of basic maintenance continued to be paid, but that left only about $1,600 to divide among eight professors, which was not enough to attract skilled teachers when dissatisfied professors resigned.  Each replacement after 1856 was by a less experienced teacher and the quality of the faculty steadily deteriorated.  Instruction at Castleton became irregular and professors were lax in giving complete courses of lectures.

Younger men teaching in medical colleges were often given a temporary title of lecturer, so when Joseph Perkins proposed his son Selah for a professorship, he was offered a lecturer position.  But his appointment aroused a lot of opposition because Selah had been investigating homeopathy and that healing system was considered unscientific.

demonstration of the effects of ether

The Medical Department of the University of Vermont enlarged and strengthened its faculty in 1857, and that expansion became a significant factor in the diminishing attendance at Castleton.  The last year of two sessions and two graduating classes at Castleton was 1858.  The next year, the announcement of one session stated that this was "in accordance with the recommendation of the American Medical Association."

In 1860, enrolment at Castleton was reduced to 44 students, possibly because of the resignation of William Sweetser, the popular Professor of Medicine.  The attendance in the 1861 session was only 30.

The last class was graduated in June 1861.  The Professor of Anatomy, Corydon La Ford, resigned at the end of that session, and no successor was appointed.

The college advertised its session of 1862 in medical journals in the winter of 1862, as late as January. This shows that the authorities expected to continue operation.
  

Civil War field hospital

But when Dr. Eben K. Sanborn, Professor of Surgery, joined the Union Army and was commissioned as a surgeon in February 1862, this left vacant the two important professorships of anatomy and surgery.  No replacements could be found on such short notice, at the beginning of the term, especially in time of war.

Some students had assembled at Castleton for the beginning of the session of 1862, announced for February 27.  Some lectures probably took place, but on March 3, the dean announced that instruction would not be continued.  He hoped that college sessions could be resumed in the fall of 1862, but they did not.  “This announcement created quite a sensation in town."

The leading medical journal of New England reported the suspension of instruction for the spring session of 1862 and stated that it was "on account of derangement of plans caused by the war."  Several medical colleges, both urban and rural, closed early in the Civil War.  That conflict affected all medical colleges and some of them barely survived the war. Some writers have also called Castleton Medical College a casualty of the Civil War, but the long deterioration of the institution made it evident that the end was near and the institution would have had to close even if the Civil War had not occurred.

info:  Waite, Frederick Clayton.  First Medical College in Vermont: Castleton, 1818-1862.  Montpelier: Vermont Historical Society, 1949. 

https://archive.org/stream/firstmedicalcoll00wait/firstmedicalcoll00wait_djvu.txt