OF THE

MEDICAL PROFESSION

OF

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA

BY

GEORGE H. KRESS, B. S., M. D.

WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY

WALTER LINDLEY, M. D., LL. D.

Press of the Times-Mirror Printing and Binding House

First and Broadway

Los Angeles

1910

1910

INTRODUCTION.

T

BY WALTER LINDLEY, M.D., LL.D.

Editor of the Southern California Practitioner.

HIS work will for many years be a valuable book of reference. History in revealing the past becomes the guide board of the future. Read herein of the first meetings of the Los Angeles County Medical Association forty years ago, of the organization of the College of Medicine of the University of Southern California (now the Los Angeles Department of the College of Medicine of the University of California) more than a quarter of a century ago, the Salutatory in the first number of the Southern California Practitioner, published nearly twenty-five years ago, and you will gain an insight of the motives and ambitions that actuated the medical pioneers of Los Angeles and of Southern California.

These records make a most creditable showing.

For thirty-five years the writer of these lines has been a participant in the current medical history of Southern California and he is proud to see it collected and recorded in this permanent form.

There were some striking characters in the profession in Los Angeles thirtyfive years ago. There was that impressive looking Irishman, Dr. Richard S. Den, who always rode a magnificent black horse groomed to glossy perfection. Dr. Den himself was invariably well groomed, being at all times dressed as though he were going to a wedding. But he never attended his own, and died at an advanced age a bachelor. Dr. Den never made a visit for less than twenty dollars.

Then there was Dr. John S. Griffin, a Southern gentleman, graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, who carried a brusque and somewhat forbidding mask to cover a tender, generous heart.

Another figure of those days was Dr. W. F. Edgar, a retired army surgeon of distinction. He was a delightful man, and commanded the respect of all who knew him. He bought a lot on Broadway, another on Main Street, another corner of Figueroa and Washington Streets and other realty, so that his widow -still living in Los Angeles-has a valuable estate.

Now and then in those early days there was in the profession those who evinced a spirit of the wild and breezy west. For instance, two physiciansstill with us who drew their "guns" on each other on Main Street near Temple Block. No blood was shed and their goreless duel did much to relieve the monotony of life.

Then there was in those days Dr. Joseph P. Widney, the ideal student, philosopher and kind practitioner.