Page:A cyclopedia of American medical biography vol. 1.djvu/71

 OPHTHALMOLOGY lxi

The first dispensary in America for the treatment of skin and venereal diseases was the Broome Street Infirmary for Diseases of the Skin, established in 1836 by Drs. Henry D. Bulkley and John Watson.

In 1853 the DeMilt and Northwestern Dispensaries of New York created a special department for the treatment of skin and venereal diseases.

In the same year the Howard Hospital of Philadelphia was estab- lished with departments for the several specialties; cutaneous disease was included among the other branches.

In 1856 a clinic for skin and venereal diseases was opened at the Eastern Dispensary of New York City. A year later a clinic of the same character was established at the German Dispensary.

In 1862 the Northeastern Dispensary of New York opened a clinic for the treatment of skin and genito-urinary diseases.

In 1868 Dr. Howard F. Damon had charge of a clinic for diseases of the skin at the Boston City Hospital.

In 1869 the Massachusetts General Hospital opened a like service under the charge of Dr. James C. White.

After 1870 nearly all of the dispensaries of the United States estab- lished clinics for the treatment of these diseases, and many of the hos- pitals reserved wards for dermatological patients.

This, briefly, is a history of the rise of dermatology in America; and to one especially interested in this subject it shows what earnest persist- ence can accomplish against great odds.

Until about 1850 the study of skin disease in America, if studied at all, was done in a desultory manner, and the available literature was anything but helpful.

The French school of dermatology had been, for some years, at the height of its glory, and all that was written on this subject was more or less tinctured with the teachings of Biett and Albert; it was not until the American student's attention was attracted to Vienna, where Hebra was teaching dermatology in a comprehensive and commonsense manner, that this interesting and difficult type of disease began to be scientifically observed and studied, and Americans began to do original work in this specialty; then quickly followed text-books, atlases and histo-patho- logical reports and the American school of dermatology was founded.

James McFarlane Winfield.

Ophthalmology.

The beginnings of ophthalmology in this country are not known. It is probable that in the early days there were those who devoted them- selves chiefly to the treatment of affections of the eye. Thus the Med-