Edward
Rawson Flint served as Professor of Chemistry (Ph.D., Gottingen, 1892) at the
University of Florida from 1904 until 1917, and it is for his contributions to
the teaching of science at Florida that Flint-Keene Hall bears his name.
Professor Flint was also Doctor Flint (MD, Harvard, 1903) and during his
13-year tenure at UF he also held the title of Resident Physician.
Flint
arrived in 1904 when the university was located in Lake City and continued his student
medical practice when the university moved to Gainesville in 1906. The university had been enticed to
Gainesville in part by the city’s offer of free water; water that was pure and
spring-fed. Lake City’s promoters
countered that the water of Gainesville was “not an antidote for Gainesville
fever.” Whether
the citizens of Lake City had any actual knowledge of health problems in
Gainesville is unclear, but Flint’s records indicate that the accusation was
far from being specious.
In a medical
log now preserved in the University Archives, Flint recorded each patient he saw, the
diagnosis, and the prescribed treatment. The
first Gainesville entry is dated October 16th, 1906, thirteen days after the
campus opened on September 20th. Roy
Daniels, a sub-freshman from Orlando, came to Flint’s office in the morning
complaining of pains and fever. Flint
diagnosed malaria and paid a “house call” to Buckman Hall in the afternoon to
see how the young man was doing. Later
the same day, Flint was visited by another sub-freshman, P. H. Winter, from the nearby
town of Waldo. He was also diagnosed with
malaria and was sent home to recover.
Over the
next five weeks Flint would diagnose five malaria cases.
There was a smaller outbreak in early January when four additional cases
were reported. Cold weather probably brought
the situation under control; the last malaria patient was seen on January 17th
and no further cases appeared that spring. The
disease reached epidemic proportions, however, in the next academic year. The outbreak began on October 25, 1907
and did not abate the entire semester. Twenty-one
new cases were reported that fall. Eighteen
new cases appeared in 1908, 23 the following year, and 29 in 1910, the last complete year
recorded in Flint’s log.
At least two
instances of malaria affecting the football team are recorded in newspaper articles. The December 1907 Florida Pennant,
predecessor to the Alligator, notes that halfback William F. Gibbs played the 1907
Rollins game with a malarial fever and was bedridden for weeks after the game. The Florida Times-Union worried that
“a touch of malaria” might keep Captain Neal “Bo Gator” Storter out of
the opening game of the 1911 season. (It
didn’t.) Out of a roster of 15, eight
members of the 1910 football team had been diagnosed with malaria at some time during
their college stay.
Flint’s records indicate that more than a quarter of the 210 students enrolled in 1910 had been diagnosed with malaria. As malaria is a persistent disease that continues to produce the characteristic chills, fatigue and fever long after the initial infection, Flint had to contend with an increasing number of chronically ill students. Recurrent or tertian malaria, as it is called, accounted for a significant part of his practice. In fact, by 1910, malaria was the most common ailment treated by Flint. Fifteen grains of quinine taken daily was the standard treatment.
What was the
source of the problem? The vector for malaria
is the Anopheles mosquito, of which two species existed in Florida at the time. This was well known, and the problems associated
with the Anopheles are documented in an early Florida master’s thesis. In a 1913 thesis entitled “Mosquito
conditions at the University of Florida” entomology student U. Carr Loftin pinpointed
several Anopheles breeding areas on or near campus.
Although
difficult to imagine today, the campus historic district was originally surrounded by
marshes, water-filled sinkholes, and hardwood hammocks. (Only the sinkholes remain today.) All were good places for mosquitoes to breed.
However, in the natural wetlands larvae predators, such as minnows, kept the mosquitoes in
check. The principal sources for the
university’s mosquitoes were, instead, man-made. Construction projects in the early
years provided numerous places for water to collect.
Wagon wheels cut deep ruts that filled with water after heavy rains and
barrels and other open containers were strewn about.
Especially troublesome was the university’s sewage that flowed into a
natural depression now occupied by the stadium to create a large bog. (Yes, the Swamp
really was a swamp.) In the absence of
natural enemies, the Anopheles multiplied by the millions, and humans did little to hamper
their spread.
According to Loftin, ten percent of the student population reported to the Infirmary in 1912 for malaria treatment whereas less than one percent of the work force at the Panama Canal Zone did so. Loftin went on to state that eradication of the Anopheles breeding areas would have been relatively simple: “If Panama with her tropical rains and with excavations made by buildings, can be freed from mosquitoes and malaria, why can’t the University of Florida,” he demanded. Loftin attributed the lack of effort to a complacent attitude about the disease: “While the etiology of malaria is well understood, few people realize the importance of it. They take it as a matter of providence that every one in the South should have it and that it does not amount to much.”
Still, the
president and faculty were not oblivious to the problem nor were they unconcerned with the
students’ health. As recorded in the
faculty minutes of February 11, 1911, Professor A. J. Weichhardt of the engineering
college complained of the mosquitoes in the buildings and a committee was created “to
suggest means to exterminate the pest.” However,
the only measure taken to protect the students was the installation of screens on the
dormitory windows. Still, Loftin notes that
even after the screens were installed there were as many as thirty mosquitoes present in
the rooms, ten of which were Anopheles. “Complaints
have frequently been made to me by students that the mosquitoes were so thick in the
dormitory that they could neither study nor sleep in peace.”
If the
etiology of malaria was well known, the same cannot be said of the common cold. In a leaflet produced by the Infirmary in 1911,
students were warned to avoid “sudden changes of temperature and draughts.” The leaflet also advised students to give
themselves a good rubbing down after baths until they felt “a surface glow and
warmth; otherwise [they might] contract a cold.”
The good doctor also treated a litany of bruises, cuts, and stomachaches,
but broken bones and serious life-threatening illnesses were sent on to other doctors.
Like all physicians past and present, Flint had his generic diagnoses. A common one was “debility.” Debility patients suffered from a variety of vague symptoms such as headaches, fatigue, and a general lack of energy. Flint’s favorite remedy for debility was an arsenic laden herbal called nux vomica. Nux vomica, aka Poison Nut and Quaker’s Button, is recommended in homeopathic publications today for a broad range of stomach and intestinal disorders. It is also suggested for liver detoxification and hangovers.
As
Resident Physician, Flint was required to record medical excuses in the log. A student might be excused from all activities,
but sometimes only physical activity was mentioned. Military
education was mandatory at the time and “Ex. drill” or “Ex. military”
appears on every page of the log. This may
account for the large number of patients seen on a daily basis. On a typical day in 1910, Flint would see 5-10
patients or about 3-5% of the entire student body. Flint
logged 518 entries in the spring semester of 1910 or about 2.4 visits per student.
An
intriguing entry in the medical log is the case of J. C. Powers whose diagnosis
reads “Runaway. Accident.” Flint
notes on February 23, 1910, that Powers had been kicked off a team of horses.
He arrived “senseless” at Flint’s home with an injury to the back
of his head. Flint cleaned and
dressed his wound and gave Powers a dose of brandy to help him sleep.
Until 1911,
Flint saw his patients in his office or at their bedsides in Buckman Hall. In 1911, the
Infirmary was established and a Resident Nurse was hired.
The original Infirmary was a six-bed unit on the fourth floor of Thomas Hall
where the nurse also lived. Patients now came
to the nurse and only saw Dr. Flint if more professional care was needed. Our first nurse was Leona Bramblett who came here
directly from the nursing college of the University of Missouri and stayed one year. Mary McRobbie, who served until 1920, followed
her. An assistant nurse was named in 1924 and
two more nurses joined the staff in 1927. For
a time, nurses received free meals at the Commons and ate with the (all male) student
body. Their presence, according to the
University Physician in 1930, “provoked remarks from the students that caused
embarrassment” and he asked that meals be brought to the Infirmary instead. Eventually, the Infirmary set up its own kitchen
to serve patients and staff.
Flint was
never happy about being the university’s physician and the time it took from his
research. In a letter to President H. J.
Waters of Kansas State Agricultural College dated July 15, 1917 Florida President Albert
A. Murphree wrote “Our professor of Chemistry would like to be relieved of his duties
as resident physician, for he has not the time to devote to it. It is unsatisfactory to
him and in some instances has been unsatisfactory to the student.” Flint resigned shortly after this letter was
written to take a position with the USDA as a chemist.
He left UF before the university’s most severe health crisis, the
Spanish Influenza epidemic of 1918.
The Spanish
Influenza originated in Europe where the ravages of war created conditions ripe for an
epidemic. With millions on the move, the
disease quickly spread to other continents. It
arrived in America in the summer of 1918 and appeared at UF in late September. By this time the university had been militarized
and the campus population was swelled by the arrival of hundreds of soldiers enrolled in
the Students’ Army Training Corps. The
soldier students took over the dormitories and regular students were moved to off-campus
housing. The dormitories, however, could not
accommodate all of the SATC personnel and two wooden barracks were hastily constructed.
In the
crowded conditions on campus, the disease spread rapidly.
Hundreds of students and faculty, including President Murphree, were taken
ill at the same time. In Murphree’s
stead, Vice President James Marion Farr directed the influenza campaign. Women from the
Gainesville Red Cross provided most of the bedside care, assisted by healthy students and
faculty. Beds were hauled from the
dormitories to the Agriculture Building (Floyd-Griffin Hall) where a temporary hospital
was set up in an auditorium. The initial
outbreak abated as quickly as it struck, but subsequent smaller outbreaks occurred into
1919. No figures on the number of patients
treated exist, but the death toll included math professor Herbert Keppel and several
students.
World War I
and the Spanish Flu had a dramatic impact on the nation’s health consciousness. Concern over future pandemics was evident, but
Americans worried as well about the large number of soldiers who returned with venereal
diseases. There was also a perception that
America’s youth was not physically fit and that the young men sent overseas had been
unprepared for the rigors of war. As a result, federal funds were made available for
public health education and preventive health measures.
Some of those dollars trickled down to college campuses through the Federal
Inter-Departmental Hygiene Board.
At UF, a
Division of Hygiene was established in 1920 to provide students with health education. Professor Albert Sweet was hired to teach hygiene
classes, including sex hygiene, and was placed in charge of the Infirmary. Emphasis was also placed on proper nourishment. The establishment of the division also marked the
beginnings of physical education as an actual department of instruction. For several years Coach William Kline and others
taught physical education within the Division of Hygiene before a separate Division of
Athletics and Physical Education was established.
Sweet was
not a medical doctor, but local doctors affiliated with the public health campaign were
available for campus duty. One such doctor
was George C. Tillman who was appointed University Physician in 1923. In addition to his other duties with the Board of
Health, Tillman examined patients in the Infirmary for a brief period each day. He also served as a physician at the state prison. In 1926, Tillman was named Infirmary Director and,
in 1930, became the University’s first full-time resident physician.
The post-war
public health campaign also attacked sanitation problems.
Mosquito eradication, prompted in part by a statewide outbreak of dengue in
1923, was an important part of the university’s sanitation campaign. The campaign was also a catalyst for a new sewage
and drainage system, eliminating the dumping of waste on the west end of campus. Tillman directed the mosquito eradication campaign
and, in 1934, he could safely report that no student living in the dormitories had
contracted malaria from a university mosquito. However,
primary malaria infections of students living off-campus continued to appear until World
War II.
Campus
medical facilities were expanded after World War I. In
1919, the Infirmary was moved from Thomas Hall to one of the barracks built for
the SATC. The number of beds was increased to 25 and later
to 45, and a separate contagious ward was created. In
the ensuing decade, the wooden Infirmary became the “poster child” for the
Alumni Association. Photographs of the poorly
constructed building were printed in the alumni magazine and funds were solicited to build
a suitable medical facility.
Constructions
funds for a new Infirmary were appropriated in 1930 along with $8000 for medical equipment. The first section of today’s Infirmary opened
on June 24, 1931 and a new division called Student Health Service was created with Tillman
as its head. He supervised one additional
doctor, the four nurses, and a custodian. In
1932, Tillman was accepted into the American College of Surgeons and was soon performing
surgery in the Infirmary. In October 1932,
the College of Surgeons placed the Infirmary on its list of “Fully Approved”
hospitals, its highest ranking.
The epidemics of 1936 and 1957
The
capabilities of Student Health Services were put to the test over the years but never more
so than in the years 1936 and 1957. In both
years, the campus was hit by two epidemics. Influenza
was the principle source of trouble in both years. The
1936 flu was compounded by a simultaneous outbreak of the mumps. In 1957, a virulent strain of Asiatic Flu reached
the University of Florida and was followed by a major rubella contagion.
The first
flu and mump cases appeared on the same day, February 1, 1936. The strain of flu is not indicated in the records,
but whatever it was it hospitalized 412 students over a seven- week period including 20
that developed pneumonia and one who died. The
mumps impacted a much smaller group but accounted for another 63 admissions. The Infirmary was filled to capacity with flu
victims and an emergency ward was opened in the YMCA building to care for the mumps. Both epidemics petered out by mid March but not
before one sixth of the student population had checked into the Infirmary.
The 1957
Asiatic Flu came in waves and started at UF three weeks before fall classes. The first wave began on Labor Day when a football
player from Texas showed up for practice already infected.
The flu spread quickly through the team and within two days there were 27
acutely ill football players. To admit them,
the Infirmary was forced to open two weeks ahead of schedule. By September 4, the Infirmary had treated 88
players and the Athletic Association had to cancel Florida’s season opener with UCLA.
The next
wave of flu came with the arrival of freshmen for Orientation Week. Thirty-one freshmen were already occupying beds in
the Infirmary when the rest of the student body arrived.
In anticipation of the third and largest wave, the normal Infirmary capacity
of 65 beds was increased to 100, and 50 beds were borrowed from nearby Camp Crystal and
placed in Florida Gym. Those beds were
quickly filled as returning students became ill. The
Civil Defense Authority came forth with 200 cots complete with pillows, blankets, and
sheets from its warehouse in Tallahassee. It
was estimated that 5000 of the 11,000 students came down with the flu that year and of
that number the Infirmary treated 2903. In
all, 2092 students were hospitalized with the average stay being 2.42 days. 76 developed complications, mostly pneumonia.
The
impact on the Infirmary’s staff and facilities was enormous. The five staff physicians worked 17-hour (7 AM to
midnight) shifts during the height of the crisis. Eight
nurses were hired to supplement the normal contingent of sixteen. As in 1918, students and faculty pitched in as
over 40 students from the College of Physical Education and Health volunteered to change
linens and serve food. Patients in the
Florida Gym were fed from the cafeteria with food being sent over via a heated truck. To cut down on paperwork, the standard 4 page
patient record form was replaced by a one-page version.
By the time
students left for the winter holidays the flu epidemic had almost run its course in
Florida. But students returning from the
holidays with the German measles promptly started another health crisis. This one involved
1606 students of which 711 were treated on an inpatient basis. The impact of both epidemics was such that the
Infirmary hired a temporary cashier to handle the increased patient billing. Statistical records in virtually every
department of the Health Center were shattered that year according to Director Robert
Vadheim.
Ironically, the epidemics of 1957 occurred the year before the teaching hospital was opened. In 1966, administration of the infirmary was transferred to the J. Hillis Miller Health Center and inpatient care for students became the responsibility of Shands Hospital. No longer would it be necessary to mobilize extra staff and beg for beds during an emergency. Of course, immunization has also had a dramatic impact on student health care. Today, the Student Health Care Center conducts annual vaccination campaigns that will prevent the rapid spread of the flu. Preventive medicine and education are once again at the fore of the center’s health program and, as in 1920, emphasis is placed on sexually transmitted diseases, diet, and physical exercise.
Some
things never change.
Copyright 2001 by Carl Van Ness. All rights reserved.