Archives
"Facts from the Past"
Notes from the Archives
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“The Living Skeleton”
Historical Note:
While going through some material in the Albany Medical Center Archives, I recently came across an article from the Times Union dated May 10, 1956. The article describes a visit to Albany Medical College specifically to view “The Living Skeleton,” also known as Calvin Edson. Calvin Edson was born in 1788 and lived a relatively normal and healthy life up until he served in the American Army at the Battle of Plattsburgh in 1814. He claimed that after a night of sleeping on the cold, damp ground after the battle, he started to “waste away.” He went from a 125 lb, 5 foot 4 inch man to a 45 lb, 5 foot 2 inch man. According to “The Boston Medical and Surgical Journal” of 1831, with the exception of his low weight, Mr. Edson appeared by all accounts to be a healthy person with a healthy appetite and average strength. Calvin used his misfortune to his advantage and began exhibiting himself for a small fee. One of the places he showcased himself was at the Albany Medical College Anatomical Museum, where he also offered himself for clinical instruction to the doctors. He died in 1833 and per his wishes, upon his death his body went to the College. The College embalmed his body, “he was preserved with his skin intact, placed in a glass case and labeled ‘Specimen, No. 1.’” He remained there for 120 years, having been moved to various buildings at the College after the closing of the Museum building. What was the ultimate fate of Calvin Edson? According to the article, a caretaker for the building housing the museum specimens got “tired of looking at the remains of Calvin Edson” and cremated his body in the outdoor college incinerator.
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Edwin H. Huntington, MD
AMC Class of 1914
Historical Note:
Dr. Edwin H. Huntington, a member of the Albany Medical College class of 1914, came from a long line of physicians and great men. His grandfather was a physician and his great grandfather served as a surgeon in the War of 1812 and then as a member of Congress. His ancestor, Samuel Huntington was a signer of the Declaration of Independence and served as a member of the Continental Congress. Additionally, his father, Dr. George Huntington was known for his study, research, and professional papers on a nervous disorder, now known as Huntington’s disease. Dr. Edwin Huntington served as a physician in Ossining, NY for 43 years, serving as President of the Ossining Hospital as well as Chief of Obstetrics. He was also a member of the Phelps Memorial Hospital staff as well as serving as acting medical examiner for Westchester County for two years. He was the first consultant doctor at the Victoria Home for Aged British Men and Women in Ossining. In addition to his medical career, he was also involved in community organizations such as the Ossining Rotary, the Ossining Anglers Club, and was a ruling elder of the First Presbyterian Church in Ossining.
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L. Whittington Gorham, MD
Historical Note:
Dr. L. Whittington Gorham had a long and prolific life that started in Albany, NY on the day of his birth, June 20, 1885. He graduated from Albany Academy, Yale University, and received his MD from Johns Hopkins University in 1910. After some time studying medicine in Europe and a brief position at the Boston City Hospital as a Pathology assistant, he returned to Albany and became an instructor in Medicine in 1913 at Albany Medical College. With the start of World War I, Dr. Gorham decided to join his colleagues in the war effort by using his medical skills as a captain in the Medical Corps, serving with Base Hospital No. 33 in Portsmouth, England. After the war, Dr. Gorham returned to Albany Medical College becoming Physician in Chief of Albany Hospital and Director and Professor of the Department of Medicine of the Albany Medical College. Additionally he was also Professor of the Division of Oncology at Albany Medical College from 1948-1951. While in Albany, he was highly active in several medical societies, as well as serving on health care committees and consulting with community hospitals. He also served as secretary-general of the second World Congress of Cardiology held in Washington, DC. Dr. Gorham retired from medical practice in 1951 and moved to New York City to devote his time and skills to medical research.
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John Henry Cotter, MD
AMC Class of 1878
Historical Note:
Dr. John Henry Cotter, a former president of the Albany Medical College Alumni Association, was born in Dutchess County, NY in 1851. His descendents came from Ireland with branches settling in Georgia, New York, and Canada. Dr. Cotter’s uncle, James Cotter, served under General Lee in the Confederate Army and was killed near Richmond, Virginia. Dr. Cotter graduated from the Dutchess County Academy in 1869 and began his study of medicine with two different physicians before matriculating at Albany Medical College. Following the receipt of his medical degree in 1878, he opened a medical practice at Mount Ross in Dutchess County, NY. During his time there, he was not only a practicing physician, but also health officer and postmaster, in addition to growing apple orchards. In 1894, he left his country practice to his nephew and moved to Poughkeepsie, NY where he continued his general practice as well as serving as a medical examiner for various life insurance companies. He continued to be active in the medical community through his appointment as surgeon for the Central-Hudson Railroad Company in 1902 as well as attending physician at St. Andrew’s Novitiate-on-Hudson.
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Raymond F. Kircher, MD
AMC Class of 1917
Historical Note:
Raymond F. Kircher, a 1917 graduate of Albany Medical College, was born in Albany in 1895. He was a member of the last class to graduate from Albany Medical College without the later requirements of pre-medical degrees. Prior to 1914, students of Albany Medical College only needed a high school diploma to matriculate at the College. Starting in 1914, potential students needed one year of pre-medical education and in 1917 they needed a Bachelor’s Degree. After graduation, Dr. Kircher did a brief internship at St. Francis Hospital in Hartford, CT, before enlisting in the U.S. Army Medical Corps. and serving as an Army captain in France during World War I. Upon his return to Albany, he opened a general practice on Clinton Avenue. He also served as chief of medicine at St. Peter’s Hospital and in 1958 was honored with the highest award a layperson can receive when he was selected to be an “Affiliate of the Order” by the Order Friars Minor Conventual for his outstanding services to the community for 40 years.
Below are excerpts chronicling Dr. Kircher’s time as a student and an Albany physician taken from the former student newspaper, The Albany Medical Nexus Alumni News section highlighting memoirs of the Class of 1917.
Dr. Kircher’s Memoirs
“The students were from all walks of life. The tuition at that time was less than $500.00 a year. In the first two years students were taught basic subjects: Anatomy, Dissection, Physiology, Chemistry, Embryology, Histology, and Pathology . . . . . . The last two years were clinical, also known as outpatient clinics. The faculty was mostly local physicians. There were only three full-time professors.”
"It was quite a change from books to lectures. One of the professors said it was not necessary to have, verbatim, the subject, but woe be the man who did not know the subject when the quiz period occurred. Dr. Sampson, who was head of Gynecology, came from Johns Hopkins University. He was offered the Chair of Gynecology at Hopkins but preferred to stay at the Albany Medical College."
“That winter, 1919, we had a blizzard and the snow was above one’s knees. The roads were snowed under for four days. One could not use automobiles as a mode of travel. After four days, the main trolley lines were opened. Side streets could not be traveled. When the main trolley lines were opened, I made calls by trolley. I would go to North Albany, sometimes at 11 o’clock at night, and then to the other end of the city. I would go by trolley to the end of the line at Watervliet Avenue where I was met by a young lad with a horse and cutter and went on about four miles, out to Sand Creek Road to see a patient with pneumonia.”
“In regard to house calls, I remember, in the late thirties, we had an outbreak of influenza. With my brother as chauffeur, I remember going out about 8 o’clock in the morning and making 28 house calls in one day, returning about midnight, after having a light lunch of soup, and dinner about 11 p.m.”
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Nathaniel Emmons Paine, MD
AMC Class of 1875
Historical Note:
Dr. Nathaniel Emmons Paine, the descendant of Puritans who sailed to Salem, Massachusetts in 1637 on the "Mary Anne," was born in 1853 in New Hartford, NY. Dr. Paine was educated in the Albany Academy and in Professor Lewis Collins’ private school in Albany. He graduated from Hamilton College in 1874 and received his medical degree from Albany Medical College, graduating as valedictorian in 1875. Following his graduation from Albany Medical College, Dr. Paine spent time studying medicine in Europe, mostly in Vienna, region Austria. Upon his return to the region United States, he dedicated his medical expertise to psychiatry, eventually serving as professor of psychiatry at the Boston University School of Medicine as well as the first medical superintendent of the Westboro State Hospital in Westboro MA. In 1892 he founded the Newton Nervine in Newton, Mass, dedicated to the care and treatment of patients with nervous diseases as well as mental illnesses. He also invented the "Paine Nasal Feeding Tube" used for the forced feeding of mental patients. In addition to his work in psychiatry, he was also a genealogist and the author of a book on Thomas Payne of Salem, MA and his descendents.
The above information is provided from the AMC Archives through the Alumni Association and is part of an informational campaign to share the historical knowledge of Albany Medical College with the AMC community.
- Jessica Sault, MSIS, Albany Medical Center Archivist
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If you are interested in learning more about the Albany Medical College Archives--
Please contact Jessica Sault-Archivist at: 518.262.5810 or via e-mail: saultj@mail.amc.edu
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