Iowa History Project

The next session will commence on the first Monday in November and continue sixteen weeks. The annual commencement will be held and the degrees conferred immediately after the close of the term. Every student will be required, within ten days after the opening of the session to take out the matriculation ticket, and pay the regular fee.

The following are the requisites for the diploma:
First - The candidate must be twenty-one years of age. Second - He must have attended two courses of medical lecturers; one of which must have been delivered in the medical department of the Iowa State University, or evidence of three years reputable practice, will be regarded as equivalent to one course. Third - The candidate must have studied medicine for two years under the direction of a respectable medical practitioner. Fourth - He must write a medical Thesis either in the English, Latin, French or German languages. Fifth - He must pass an examination satisfactory to the faculty and pay the graduation fee in advance.

Fees - The fees for a full course of lecturers amount to $70. The student may attend one or more of the courses, as he may be disposed, and pay only for the lectures for which he enters. The fee for the diploma is $20. The matriculation fee is $5. The fee for admission to the dissecting rooms and demonstrations is $5. Members of the profession from every part of the country who are graduates of medicine will on presenting their diploma to the dean and paying the matriculation fee be admitted gratuitously to all the lectures. Board can be obatined in the city at from $1.50 to $2 per week. Medical books may be purchased at our extensive book stores, on as good terms as in any Western city.

JOHN F. SANFORD, M.D.
Dean of the Faculty

(pg 67-69)

A letter to Professor Samuel G. Armor from Professor J.F. Sanford, written from Iowa City, January 7, 1851 presents some interesting facts which show the advanced views entertained by Professor Sanford at that time in relation to medical education; he says, "A better primary education on the part of our medical students will do more to improve and maintain the honor and dignity of the profession than any arbitrary exactions of medical colleges or societies, or proscriptive legislative enactments, but numerous literary institutions in Iowa, will doubtless display their influence in the ranks of the profession." In writing of the meeting of the State Medical Society for 1851, Dr. Sanford says: "It is very desirable that every portion of our state may be represented at Fairfield at the meeting of the State Medical Society in May next, that an extended and combined effort may be made to develop the medical resources of Iowa." Dr. Sanford was apparently directing some medical legislation before the General Assembly at Iowa City in relation to the question of a state lunatic asylum. (pg 71-72)

The organization of the Iowa State Medical Society in 1850 was due to the efforts of Dr. John F. Sanford of Davenport. On May 1, 1849, Dr. Sanford attended the session of the American Medical Association held in Boston as a delegate from the College of Physicians and Surgeons of the Upper Mississippi, then located in Davenport, and later known as the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Keokuk. Dr. Sanford was so impressed by the appeal to organize the state medical societies that on his return home he wrote many letters to physicians urging them to meet in Burlington, June 19, 1850, for the purpose of organizing the Iowa State Medical Society. Fearing that sufficient interest would not be aroused by correspondence alone, he concluded to make a personal appeal and took the stage to Keosauqua, Fairfield, Mount Pleasant, Washington and Davenport, and steamer to Muscatine, Burlington, Fort Madison and Keokuk. On June 19, 1850, twenty-five physicians gathered at the court room in Burlington, Dr. J.F. Sanford acting as temporary chairman and Dr. E.D. Ransom as temporary secretary. Professor Sanford delivered an able and eloquent address on the objects contemplated by the convention and which should engage it attention during the present session. (pg 103)

Dr. John F. Sanford, who did more to promote the organization of the [Iowa State Medical] Society than any one else, called the [first] meeting to order, made an able address, acted as chairman during the organization and should have been considered the first president. He was a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and was for many years one of the most prominent surgeons in the state. He was the prime mover in the organization, of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Keokuk and was professor of surgery in that institution for four years. He died in 1874. (pg 105-106)

The physicians of Keokuk under the lead of Dr. John F. Sanford met at Dr. Bond's office in October, 1850, to form the first local medical society in Iowa. The association was called "The Medical Society of the City of Keokuk" (pg 134 & 135)

A notice appeared in the Iowa Medical Journal, number 4, January and February, 1869, that Dr. John F. Sanford, the founder of the Iowa State Medical Society "has abandoned his infirmary and is, we understand, about to withdraw from the profession. The Doctor has engaged in patent rights and life insurance. We know nothing of the company he represents, nor the patent lamp burner of which he is the author, but we trust that in his new sphere of action he will make it more renumerative than professional pursuits. The Doctor is well calculated to fill the new position, and we have no doubt of his financial success." (pg 177)

[Notes: Dr. J.F. Sanford presented a lengthy report to the Medical Society in 1851. Refer to the Table of Contents: Part Sixth for the transcription of this report]

Dr. Simonds was born June 18, 1826, in Pawlet, Vt. He graduated in medicine in 1847 at the Albany Medical College, New York and moved to Iowa to practice his profession. He named the city of Iowa Falls, Hardin county and helped in the planning of it. He was the only physician in the radius of one hundred miles, and in the early fifties, when the frontier settlements were swept by small-pox, he attained great success in treating the disease and stamping out the plague by original methods.

His skill in handling the plague was brought to the attention of the medical profession throughout the country, and later, during the civil war, when the disease broke out in Memphis, Tennessee, he was called into military service as a surgeon and was placed in charge of the situation in that city. He met with success there also, and after the war, in which he continued to serve as operating surgeon, he was made sanitary officer of Memphis, in which capacity he completed the cleaning up of the city.

He later returned to Iowa, somewhat broken in health, and finding the climate too severe for him, he moved to Fayetteville, Arkansas. Coming to Washington in 1892 he entered the service of the pension bureau, and following his retirement, he has lived with his son in Riverdale, retaining his interest in the advancement of medical science and surgery up to the time of his death.