Ophthalmology and otolaryngology. — With the coming of George E. Frothingham to the University in 1867, a special interest arose in ophthalmology and aural surgery. When Frothingham became Lecturer in Ophthalmology in 1870, a clinic in these branches was developed under his direction. The unusual importance attached to this branch of surgery was indicated by the fact that the first University building designed for a special clinic was a small Eye and Ear Ward, added to the campus Hospital in 1881.
Apparently, no special provision was made for this clinic in the Hospital on Catherine Street until Walter R. Parker and Roy Bishop Canfield were appointed, respectively, to the professorships of ophthalmology and otolaryngology in 1904. They realized at once that efficient work in their specialties was not possible while patients were treated in a general ward where they were in contact with septic cases. They began a campaign for a new building, which was eventually built in 1910. From that time the clinics in both of these subjects expanded rapidly.
The removal of the ophthalmology clinic to the new Hospital took place under Parker, who continued as Clinical Professor of Diseases of the Eye, until his resignation in July, 1932. He was succeeded by his associate, George Slocum, upon whose death in 1933 F. Bruce Fralick became Acting Chairman of the Department of Ophthalmology and in 1938 Professor of Ophthalmology and chairman of the department.
Originally, the clinic treated diseases of the ear, nose, and throat, as well as those of the eye, but in 1904 Canfield became Professor of Otolaryngology and head of the otolaryngology clinic. Under his energetic direction and because of his extraordinary skill as a surgeon, the clinic grew rapidly. Canfield, who was killed in an automobile accident in 1932, was succeeded by Albert C. Furstenberg, who had been for many years his able assistant.
Psychiatry and neurology. — The history of the development of the Hospital clinic in neuropathology goes back to the time of William J. Herdman, who had assumed charge of the work in nervous and mental disorders in 1888. Just before his sudden death in December, 1906, he had recommended the appointment of Dr. Albert M. Barrett who in September, 1905, had taken charge of the instruction in psychiatry and diseases of the nervous system. A clinical professorship of the diseases of the nervous system was also created. In June, 1907, this was filled, on Barrett's recommendation, by Dr. Carl D. Camp.
At the time of his appointment Dr. Barrett, who thus had the distinction of carrying out and organizing the first University Hospital clinic for the treatment of mental diseases in the United States, issued a statement about the work in the two divisions, psychiatry and neurology, as follows:
The Psychopathic Ward is a hospital intended for the so-called psychopathic conditions or for mild forms of mental diseases. This means that there will always be present in this Ward, patients which might properly belong either to the neurologists or the psychiatrists… The Director of the Psychopathic Ward in his capacity of Pathologist of the State Asylums, visits these institutions from time to time and has become familiar with much of their more interesting clinical material …
"Medical Faculty Minutes,"
Under Barrett, the clinic grew rapidly. It was centered in the State Psychopathic Hospital, which was connected with the old Catherine Street Hospital. An additional clinic was established in the new Hospital in 1925. Upon Dr. Barrett's death in 1936, he was succeeded
