No sooner had the American frontier swept from the Alleghenies to the Mississippi following the Revolution, leaving permanent settlements in its wake in Kentucky and the Northwest, than medical colleges began to spring up. To establish a medical school in the hinterland appealed to the pioneer spirit and brought national recognition and personal satisfaction to the founder. Small wonder that Elias Cooper whose medical education, such as it was, took place in the setting of these nascent schools, should be attracted by the challenge of founding a school himself. Therefore, in addition to the following account of his formative years, we will also describe some of the regional schools that served as examples to him.
Early Life
Elias Samuel Cooper (1820-1862)
From the outset, our review of the early life of Elias Samuel Cooper must also include that of his nephew, Levi Cooper Lane , whose name is inseparably linked with his in the history of Stanford Medical School. Elias was like an older brother to Levi who was eight years younger and the son of Elias's sister Hannah. Growing up on neighboring Ohio farms, they were boyhood companions and explored the still-wild countryside together. The bond of loyalty, developed between them during this period and strengthened by the Quaker traditions of their close-knit families, was crucial to the survival of the Medical School in San Francisco after the death of Elias in 1862.
The merging streams of Quakers, fleeing the spread of slavery in the South, brought the Cooper and Lane familes together in Southwestern Ohio. The Lanes arrived from North Carolina in 1806, the Coopers from South Carolina in 1807. The Cooper farm lay just outside Somerville in Butler County, and the Lane farm only five miles distant in adjacent Preble County, close to the present town of West Elkton. Being Quakers, both families attended the Weekly Meeting in West Elkton, and there Jesse Lane's son Ira met Jacob Cooper's oldest daughter Hannah. Ira and Hannah were married on 7 June 1827 and remained in Preble County 13 years, during which five of their nine children were born. Their first child, born 9 May 1828, was named Levi Cooper Lane.[1]
All previous authors have relied on these two articles for facts regarding Cooper's youth and early manhood. They have thus perpetuated inaccuracies, particularly as to dates, contained in the articles. Recently an important new source of personal observations regarding both Elias Cooper and Levi Lane has been made available to us, i.e., the eight-volume Diary of Elias's brother, Professor Jacob Cooper (1830-1904), covering the years from 1847 to 1902.[4] Professor Cooper's meticulous Diary provides considerable additional information about the lives of Elias Cooper and Levi Lane and also allows us to correct certain misconceptions. For example, the date of Cooper's birth was reported in Lane's articles to be 1822. However, the well-kept family records found in Professor Jacob Cooper's Diary list the birth date of Elias as 25 November 1820. We believe this source to be more reliable than Dr. Lane's memory and therefore propose to designate 1820 as the correct year of Elias Cooper's birth. We should add that birth dates in Cooper's day were often inaccurate. In fact, the date of Dr. Lane's birth was uncertain according to Dr. Emmet Rixford, Stanford Professor of Surgery who, early in his career, was an asssistant to Dr. Lane. [5] [6]
Lane's misunderstanding as to Cooper's birth date led him to exaggerate the youthful precocity of his uncle who, irrespective of his actual age, was an uncommonly able and resolute young man. With this mild caveat we quote from Lane's warmly partisan memories of his Uncle Elias, written in 1870 in the florid style familiar to the time: [7]
| From the example of an older brother (Esaias Samuel Cooper) who had entered the medical profession, in which he has won and now holds an enviable position, the younger brother was led naturally to embrace the same calling. The selection of this profession was his own choice, and having once chosen it, he gave himself to its study with all the passionate ardor of youthful enthusiasm. The leading textbooks - especially those upon Anatomy - he almost committed to memory; for this branch of medical science he early exhibited a strong predilection, and its almost endless details, which are tiresome and difficult of acquirement by most students, were mastered by him with that pleasure and eagerness which love for a science always lends to its study. A fondness for Human Anatomy can scarcely exist alone - it naturally leads to Comparative Anatomy, its kindred science; hence, we find our young student soon pushing his investigations in the latter quarter, and learning there those laws which, in the humbler grades of animated nature, do not differ from those existing in the "paragon of animals." With no other guide than his own original and all but intuitive genius, he instituted a series of most interesting and instructive experiments in the ligation of veins and arteries in reference to the mechanism and functions of the various valves; and the observations then made by him, he found subsequently of great value in operative surgery. |
There is much more in the same elegiac mode, but this excerpt is sufficient to convey Lane's expansive view of Elias's intellectual promise, sterling character, and early vocation for medicine as his life's work.
We can find no specific information regarding Elias's early schooling. We assume that he attended one of the country schools in Butler County but where and for how long is unknown. Years later, in an Introductory Lecture to medical students, he stated that he taught school and at the same time pursued independent study including animal experimentation. It is probably to this interlude of independent study that Lane referred above in such glowing terms.
Apprenticeship
The next stage of Elias's preparation for a medical career would in his day have been an apprenticeship with a practicing physician. Although Elias never mentions having served an apprenticeship, Volume 1 of Jacob's Diary contains the following entry:
My brothers Esaias and Elias began their professional studies early; the former went to study with Dr. Waugh in 1835 and Elias in 1838.
On the basis of this information, it is reasonable to conclude that Elias began an apprenticeship in 1838 at the age of eighteen with a Dr. Waugh and probably served through 1839. We have been unable to find Dr. Waugh listed among the physicians practicing in southwestern Ohio. In view of the fact that both Esaias and Elias later began their practice of medicine in Indiana, it seems likely that Dr. Waugh practiced there and introduced them to the state.
As we shall later mention, it is probable that Elias also served as an apprentice or as a partner with Esaias in Greenville, Indiana, from 1840 to 1843 when Elias moved and began to practice independently.
Medical School
Medical Department of St. Louis University. Lane was correct in stating that Elias received his medical degree from St. Louis University in St. Louis, Missouri. After considerable difficulty in deciphering the records of that school, due to the fact that Esaias was also a graduate of it, we have determined that Elias was awarded the degree of M. D. ad eundem by the Medical Department of St. Louis University in 1851. [8]
Esaias received a similar M. D. ad eundem degree in the previous year of 1850. Thus both Elias and Esaias received their M.D. degrees qualified by the suffix ad eundem. The literal English translation of this Latin phrase is "in or of the same rank". [9] When suffixed to an academic degree as, for example, in "M.D. ad eundem", it means that some or all of the work on the basis of which the degree was granted was done elsewhere, but was recognized as being of equivalent rank or quality to that provided by the degree-granting institution. Ad eundem medical degrees were introduced in colonial America and were awarded by American medical schools during the nineteenth century, but their use has been discontinued. [10]
Requirements for the degrees of M.D. and M.D. ad eundem, as published in the Annual Announcement of the Medical Department of St. Louis University for 1850-51, were: [11]
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1. That the candidate be twenty-one years of age, of good moral character and have been engaged in the study of medicine for three years (courses of lectures included). 2. That he shall have attended two full courses of lectures in this Institution (duration of course, 4 1/2 months: 15 October through February). Attendance on a regular course in some respectable and generally accredited medical school, or four years of reputable practice will, however, be considered as equivalent to one of the courses above specified. 3. That he shall undergo a satisfactory examination on all the branches taught in this College, and write an acceptable Thesis, either in the English, Latin, French or German language, on some subject connected with medicine. 4. Candidates, applying for the degree ad eundem, must show written and satisfactory testimony that they are graduates of a generally acknowledged school of medicine - that they have been engaged in practice at least two years, without having followed, during that time, any other occupation. 5. Fees for the whole course amount to $105. The Matriculation ticket (paid but once) is $5; that of the Demonstrator, $10; the Hospital tickets are gratuitous; and the graduation fee is $20. |
It is apparent from the above outline that, if the candidate received credit for "four years of reputable practice", it would be possible to qualify for an M.D. degree from St. Louis University in a period of four and a half months; that is, the length of one course of lectures. We assume that both Esaias and Elias exercised this option.
In summary, as far as we can determine, Elias Cooper's total medical college education consisted of only one series of lectures lasting four and a half months in the Medical Department of Saint Louis University in 1850-51. We should keep in mind that at mid-century many American practitioners of medicine had attended no medical school at all, receiving their training (if any) through apprenticeship. It was an objective of American Medical Societies, to which we will later refer, to exclude these "irregular" physicians from the practice of medicine.
These findings regarding Elias's limited medical education make his considerable accomplishments more noteworthy rather than otherwise, reflecting as they do his native ability, self discipline, and personal commitment to independent study. He was from the earliest stage of his career imbued with academic aspirations. He was no doubt well aware of the usefulness of "academic credentials" in the furtherance of his ambition, and felt keenly his lack of them.
Before leaving this subject we should take passing note of an instance in which Cooper's use of the M. D. degree was premature. Elias designated himself as an M. D. on the following article in a medical journal in 1849.
"Remarks on Congestive Fever by E.S. Cooper, M. D., of Peoria, Illinois". St. Louis Medical and Surgical Journal. 1849 Jan and Feb; 6 (4): 323-27.
This was the first medical paper ever published by Elias. We know that he did not hold an M.D. at the time. Therefore, we must conclude that the M.D. he used on the paper was "self awarded." Given the lax attitude toward such matters at the time, and the absence of legal requirement for a medical diploma in order to practice, it was not unusual for medical practitioners to put the M. D. after their name even though they had never attended a medical school.
The Illusory A. M. Degree of Elias Cooper
Unaccountably, Cooper began in 1855 to sign himself: "E. S. Cooper, A. M., M. D." This raises a further question with respect to his education. That is, when and where did he receive an A. M. degree?
On 10 July 1855, about six weeks after his arrival in San Francisco, he printed a circular entitled: Announcing a Course of Medical Instruction. He invited the Medical Profession of California and Oregon to attend a series of lectures and demonstrations on anatomy and surgery which he would provide. His name was printed on the circular as follows: "E. S. Cooper, A. M., M. D." As far as we can determine, this was the first time that he listed an A. M. degree after his name.
About a year after his arrival in California, Elias published the following article:
E.S. Cooper, A.M., M.D., of San Francisco. "Remarks upon the practicability of obliterating the abdominal aorta by gradual pressure, illustrated by vivisections." California State Medical Journal 1856 Jul 1 (1): 69-72.
The notable feature of this citation is the appending of "A.M." to his name for the first time on a scientific publication. From 1855 onward for the rest of his life, he continued to sign himself as "E.S. Cooper, A.M., M.D."
There is no information on the origin of this Master of Arts degree either among Elias's personal papers or in the various biographical commentaries that cover his professional career. Hoping to identify the institution that granted the Master of Arts degree, we contacted some likely prospects. in the Northwest including Knox College in Illinois; Hanover College in Indiana; Miami University in Ohio; and Union College in New York. None had a record of awarding an A.M. degree to Elias Cooper.
Thus, the source of Elias's A.M. degree remains a mystery. We have no documentary evidence that he ever earned such a degree. There is no other college in the Northwest that seems a likely prospect as grantor of the degree which he appended to his name beginning in 1855, and he certainly could not have received it from a school in California. Why Elias first added the A.M. to his signature in 1855 just after he arrived in San Francisco is puzzling. We shall return to this interesting question when we have followed him to California.
Now that we have provided all the information available on Elias Cooper's early life and education, it is an opportune point to become better acquainted with three devoted relatives to whom we shall later refer frequently. They are Elias's brothers Esaias and Jacob and his nephew Levi Cooper Lane, each of whom made a distinctive contribution to the favorable outcome of his efforts.