John Frederick Morse, MD.
From “Pioneer Physicians” by Irma West, MD, Sierra
Sacramento Valley Medical Society, http://www.ssvms.org/articles/0403west1.asp:
In 1849, Dr. John Morse left his New York medical practice for California in the hope of improving his health. He mined gold for a short time before settling in Sacramento to practice medicine.
Dr. Morse both practiced medicine and helped to improve conditions. During the cholera epidemic of 1850 he gave generously of his services to the sick and destitute. His willingness to help the sick without pay forced him to look for other work to support his family. He worked at a variety of jobs, including selling real estate, running for public office, owning a drug store, and, in 1851, editing the Sacramento Union newspaper. He also wrote a vivid history of Sacramento. His writing earned him both popularity and respect in the community. In his writing and his activities in politics, he strongly promoted public health measures to clean up Sacramento.
In 1863 Dr. Morse left Sacramento for San Francisco and a position with the Medical Department of the University of the Pacific, the first medical school in California. In 1873, his deteriorating health forced him to retire from both teaching and his medical practice. He died soon after on December 30, 1874. A statue to his memory stands in Mt. Olivet Cemetery in San Mateo County.
Notable Quotations
Regarding his expectations for the Calif. State Medical Journal (which he edited and published mostly at his own expense):
[It would present] “circumstances of thrilling and startling interests” and “the unscrupulous and murderous pretenders to be unmasked and driven from their unholy and reckless tampering with human life.”
Regarding the practice of medicine:
“The title ‘Doctor’ … will sit like a diadem of imperishable fame upon the brow of every man who makes himself a zealous and efficient worker in the benevolent and unrequited Science.”
[Medicine is] “a calling so ennobling in purpose and yet so trying and dangerous in the labor it entails.”
Regarding county hospitals in California:
“In the first place we will find them located in buildings which, in situation,
construction and finish, are entirely unsuited to the humane and glorious purpose
for which they were produced.”
“… there is nothing to palliate or assuage the unmitigated popular meanness, nothing to redeem the despicable features of public economy, which is made the rule of action and the rod of inflexible law throughout the governmental and executive branches of county hospitals. The first result of this evil or crime, is the adoption of the infamous system of selling off the poor and friendless sick at auction, not to the highest but to the lowest bidder. Now, of all the disgusting vices that make inroad upon the character of Christian communities, this to our mind is the most heathenish and unutterable cruelty that was ever inflicted upon the reputation of moral and accountable beings.”