Early
Doctors & Dentists

in

Jefferson
County

   The early physicians of Jefferson
County were men who had studied under preception for a number of years
and recieved such instructions and information as their preceptors could
impart. This equipped them just about as well as if they had attended a
medical school in those early days, because practically all the information
they could recieve at the schools was through lecture courses. These schools
had no labratories, autopsies were not permitted to discover the causes
of death, and subjects for disection could only be secured by robbing the
newly made graves.
   There was no law in Illinois
prior to 1877 to prevent any one from practicing medicine who so desired,
as no license was required. In 1877, a law was passed in this state preventing
anyone from practicing medicine until they had secured a license from the
State Board of Health. The requisite for this license was they should be
a graduate of an approved medical school, or should have been actively
engaged in the practice of medicine for ten years prior to the passage
of this law.