This is the first in a two-volume set issued by the Illinois State Medical Society in commemoration of its diamond jubilee. Much of this history is biographical, and there are long quotes excerpted from a variety of sources. The Table of Contents is 12 pages long, containing hundreds of topics listed under the chapter headings. Chapter headings and a very small sample of topics are:

-Introduction: Devonian age or age of larger fishes. Cliff-dwellers of the West.
-Coming of the White Man called for the Practice of Medicine: Father Marquette investigates an Indian remedy for snake-bite. A physician accompanies La Salle on his greatest expedition.
-Period of French Influence and Colonization: Priests practice blood-letting. Surgeons during the days of old Fort de Chartres.
-Fort de Chartres and the Infant Colonies as Found by the British: Smallpox in the Garrison. Wilkins writes of unsanitary conditions of the country surrounding the fort.
-The British lose the “American Bottom”: A revolutionary skirmish at the front door of Chicago. A surgeon’s narrative of his miraculous escape from torture and death. The court orders payment of a surgeon.
-Illinois Territory in the Early 19th Century: Dr. Truman Tuttle of the U.S. Army arrives. Dr. Lyle of Cahokia lacks good nature. Dr. James Rose imbibes more than his share. Comments on remedies in vogue.
-The Physicians of St. Louis, A Suburb of the American Bottom in the Early Days: Dr. Auguste Condde loses a distinguished patient as well as his fee. Lawsuit gives information about an early surgeon. Dr. Mercier emancipates a faithful slave upon his demise.
-The Medical History of Centers of Civilization on the Wabash, Ohio and Mississippi Rivers: A pioneer physician much given to practical joking. A physician helps to build a village, dies in an almshouse. Dr. Moses Meeker a mining promoter. Dodge advances on his laurels. The Mormons and their medical history.
-Dark Age of Chicago’s History: The sad end of Dr. Van Voorhis. Polygamy in the wilderness. One of the promoters of the Underground Railroad.
-Civilian Practitioners of New Chicago, 1836-1850: Schooner wreck renders a couple destitute. Post mortem reveals neoplasm. Rush Medical College. Dissection course not obligatory. Dr. Josiah Cosmore Goodhue, father of Chicago’s public school system.
-Homeopathy and its Early Adherents in Illinois: First homeopathic hospital established. George Elias Shipman founds a home for waifs.
-Medical History of Pioneers of the Interior of the State, Southern Section: Cholera makes five visits to White County. Bandits prey upon the traveling public. A physician heads Swiss colonization scheme. Witchcraft becomes a business of extortion.
-Interior of the State: Central Counties: Superstitious beliefs of backwoodsmen. School for the blind. A contributor to the literature of his time. Illinois College faculty.
-Interior of the State: Northern Counties: A great fruit magnate was this pioneer physician. Dr. Griffith casts doubt concerning his intentions, but proves a friend indeed. Erysipelas and scarlet fever decimate the ranks of the frontiersmen. Body-snatching proves to be the undoing of a zealous anatomist. A prophylactic dose which was worse than the disease it was to prevent.