"The World is My
University"
or
The
Life and Adventures of Dr. John Uri Lloyd, M.D., Ph.D.
Tuesday, September 15, 2015
"The World is My University" or. The Life and Adventures of Dr. John Uri Lloyd, M.D., Ph.D.
A paper presented before
The Boone County Historical Society
Boone County, Kentucky
18 May 2000
The Life and Adventures of Dr. John Uri Lloyd, M.D., Ph.D.
"The
World is My University
My
Greatest Teacher — Time."
— John Uri Lloyd
John Uri Lloyd was a
very prolific writer. Going through his papers, not to mention the printed books, one is struck with the fact that he saw the
importance of recording information, especially scientific material, to
preserve it. If he had been an historian rather than a pharmacist he might,
given his industry, have been another Gibbon. Manuscripts that ended in collections
far from Kentucky might have been preserved closer to home. Many things now
lost might have been preserved. Since botany and pharmacy were his first loves,
to them he gave the bulk of his attention. He produced 8 scientific books, and
6 scientific treatises, most of them quite large. Besides these there were more
than 5000 scientific articles and editorials.1
Of
great interest to us are the 8 novels which he published. There were in
addition about 60 short stories.2 The first of these stories was "The
Kentucky Marksman," written in the 1860's, and never published -- of
course it unusual for the stories of a 14 year old to be published. But the
story exists beautifully handcopied by his mother.3 As he grew older, and had
less spare time, the stories became more frequent. The discipline he had in
this regard is shown by the following anecdote: Lloyd was once asked how he
found time in his busy schedule to write novels. He replied: "Young man,
you would find little difficulty in writing the equivalent of a printed page in
one day?" When he agreed that he could write a page in a day Lloyd
remarked: "There are 365 days in the year, and 365 pages make a large
book!"4
This method of writing accounts for redundancies and inconsistencies in the novels, but it also shows the value of making uses of little snips of time most of us waste. Probably Etidorhpa is the most confusing of all his works, some of the convolution here is intentional to increase the sense there must be something here the reader is missing.
This method of writing accounts for redundancies and inconsistencies in the novels, but it also shows the value of making uses of little snips of time most of us waste. Probably Etidorhpa is the most confusing of all his works, some of the convolution here is intentional to increase the sense there must be something here the reader is missing.
It is almost as if there are three
story lines going at the same time. Sprague de Camp, in his Science-Fiction
Handbook, mentions "John Lloyd's unreadable Etidorhpa."5 This is more
than balanced out by the praise of H. P. Lovecraft, a writer of outlandish
fiction and tales of fantasy, whose following is considered a kind of cult. He
highly admired Etidorhpa.6 Lloyd seems to have evaded at least part of the
responsibility he claimed to have fulfilled on the title page. Adolph Vogeler
mentions a copy of the Commercial Tribune of Cincinnati for the 16 of May
[1897] in which are printed three chapters Lloyd excluded from Etidorhpa
because he did not have enough scientific audacity to risk their publication at
the time. I have not seen them but, Vogeler says: "In these chapters are
more fully developed speculations about the possible nature of light and energy
..."7
Stringtown
on the Pike is full of this scientific interest. In fact the whole plot
turns on the meaning of a certain chemical reaction. He has worked in a host of
curious customs about the Northern Kentucky area. In fact Lloyd could never
understand why no one else wrote novels about this part of the Commmonwealth.
He left an account of the writing of Stringtown in which he says:
Just why Kentucky authors should have confined their studies
to Central or Southern Kentucky is hard to determine, especially as these
sections of the state have long been worn threadbare in literature. Why authors
in search of an inspiration have allowed this rugged northernmost section of
the state to escape them is difficult to answer.9
Lloyd
was acquainted with James Lane Allen. There are several letters from Allen in
the Lloyd Library. At least one of them implies that Lloyd had sent him one of his
books on medicine, and Allen was highly interested in it. In 1901, just after
the publication of Stringtown, he wrote: "I must congratulate you in
general upon the fresh activity of the past few years which have opened up for
you so much happiness and the power of giving so much to others."10 Lloyd
was invited to the dinner celebrating the seventieth birthday of Mark Twain.
Invitations were extended only to published authors, and Lloyd sat at the table
of Twain's daughter. This, as Flannery points out, meant that in a literary
sense he had "arrived," and it established his contacts with the
literary elite.11
Lloyd
had many other literary interests and was an avid collector of books. He tells
of ordering a book which was advertised by a bookstore in Albany, New York. It
was an original copy of John Filson's Kentucke, with the map, which is even
rarer than the book. He says: "I did not know it was of any particular
value, but as it was a history of Kentucky, and I am a Kentuckian, it was of interest
to me."12 He bought it for 35 cents. He was born in New York, but came to
Boone County at age five, but he was truly a Kentuckian. He wrote a paper for
the Literary Club of Cincinnati, of which he was a member for many years,
entitled "John Filson, the Neglected" (7 Feb 1903).13
All
of these things, interesting as they are, are but a sideline, means by which
the Professor amuses himself in his spare time. His abiding interest was ever
pharmacy, botany, anything relating to plants, plant drugs, and their sources.
It is amusing to see places in his novels where he tells of someone walking
outdoors and then to say in a footnote that they were unconscious of the
vegetation surrounding them, which he then proceeds to give the scientific
Latin names for. His characters may not share his interest, the reader may
think it out of place. It does not matter. It is Lloyd's book, it will include
scientific matter about plants. This is because Lloyd was not merely a
pharmacist, but a pharmacognocist. The term pharmacognosy was first introduced
in 1815, and was stated by a contemporary of Lloyd to be "the simultaneous
application of various scientific disciplines with the object of acquiring
knowledge of drugs from every point of view."14
Varro
Tyler, himself a pharmacognocist, writes: "Perhaps what impressed me above
all else about John Uri Lloyd is the part he played in the development of the
American materia medica.... Indeed, John Uri Lloyd did much to promote the use
of America's almost untouched botanical materia medica and is often called
"The Father of American Materia Medica."15 Tyler mentions
specifically his treatise number 30:
'A Treatise on Echinacea' especially interests me because of
the recent indications that this plant contains useful medicinal properties. It
was first introduced into medicine by a Nebraskan, Dr. H. C. F. Meyer of Pawnee
City (a small town just a few miles from my hometown of Nebraska City). Having
learned of the therapeutic value of the drug from the Indians about 1871, Meyer
used it to prepare a 'blood purifier,' which he claimed was useful in treating
almost any condition, including rheumatism, migraine, streptococcal infections,
tumors, poisoning by herbs, and so on. In 1885 Meyer called echinacea to the
attention of the Lloyds, and Curtis Gates Lloyd identified the plant for the
physician. Though skeptical at first of the physician's claims for the plant's
therapeutic properties, the Lloyd Brothers firm finally produced several
echinacea products intended primarily as anti-infective agents. By 1920,
echinacea was the firm's most popular plant drug, but with the advent of the
sulfa drugs in the 1930's it fell into disuse. Recent research has shown that
it does possess bacteriostatic properties as well as antitumor, wound-healing,
and insecticidal activity. In Europe, it has now acquired a considerable
reputation as a nonspecific immunostimulant. More research is urgently needed
on this interesting native American plant that was introduced into medicine so
long ago by the Lloyds.16
Lloyd
was quick to point out the sources of his drugs. The elemental uses of American
plant drugs had been discovered by the Indians. They were also current in folk
remedies.
There was a remarkable pharmacopoeia, so to say, in
existence among the red men; taking this unwritten lore as base, strides were
rapid in the development of the use of American drugs and this especially in
the direction of replacing the old 'heroics' by what we call the 'kindlier
medicines.' Folk called these investigators 'reformers.' Laymen in particular
seemed thankful for the substitution of these kindlier medicines, for people in
general dislike the 'heroics.'17
Heroics included bleeding, plasters,
inducing blisters, use of mercury, and cathartics. The old idea of driving out
an enemy or evil spirit by something stronger, was replaced by the new group
with the idea that disease is a departure from the normal. In this view the
purpose of drugs is to conserve the vital force against the inroads of disease.
When
asked if a new use for one his drugs was found, would or could he patent it
Lloyd replied:
We stick, according to our views, to our cornerstone of
being an ethical house. We look to the service we can do for the whole race.
Out of this, it follows that it will often occur that a doctor client of ours
learns of a new remedy -- maybe he actually worked it out, maybe he received
his clue from some old wife of the neighborhood. He tries it out; he likes
results; he tells other doctors. One of them writes of it in some medical
journal somewhere; other doctors want to try the same; there comes a demand.
This demand, in its course, reaches us; we prepare to meet it -- to supply. but
we do not patent or keep the name of the plant secret.18
Perhaps some of the researchers at
work today should take a lesson from Lloyd. All research is indebted to the
work of others, and no one should have exclusive rights to what belongs to
many.
Martin Fischer, M.D., professor of physiology at the University of Cincinnati,
and an interesting character in his own right, wrote an article in 1923, which
appeared in Industrial and Engineering Chemistry. He tells of visiting Lloyd at
work a number of times. Here in his laboratory the Doctor of Science, honoris causa,
who calls himself the "Empiricist and Irregular" welcomes you, and
after some apt story, says: "I have an experiment which I should like to
show you."
Fischer says: "In those who have had this experience several times, a warm
rush of blood to the head is the emotional response which foretells that now
some new decoration will be knocked off their scientific gargoyle." He
then lists a number of things held by the science of the day which Lloyd made
it his business to debunk.19
Fischer relates what happens when you began to ask questions of John Uri Lloyd:
As you wait for a solution
to filter, your eyes wander into the background. What are those vials labeled a
to d? "Just alkaloids separated from -------." And what are those
labeled I to IX. "Another set from ------." But you were sure that
each of these infernal plants contained but one alkaloid. Quite so, but here
are the rest. And knowing that fat reputations have been built upon the
discovery of just one alkaloid, you ask when the Professor will publish his
results. "I am not young any more and a bit tired. Let me tell you about
them and then you publish the facts." You see on the table a pot of
tar-like material. And what is that? "Just the muck which you 'regulars'
think it well to carry along with the bits of active material in your standard
pharmaceuticals and which, after twenty years of work, I have learned to get
out by my studies of differential solubility." You feel that you have
heard just an overtone of bitterness in his voice, but a look at his face seems
to belie your impression.20
He goes on to say:
Is science a cloak to you which may be put on and off during
convenient working hours. If so, John Uri Lloyd does not interest you, for to
him it is life itself. ... he follows her [that is science] as lovers, romance;
and children, the rainbow. Alkaloids are not things to be made into medicine,
but voices which speak from another world.
Fischer ends this tribute by saying
Lloyd is "an individual and a man who is as good a picture in flesh and
blood of what science stands for as may be found in the day's journey."21
As a
teacher, he was rather unconventional -- does that surprise you? He used no
notes, and would not permit any to be taken. His son, John Thomas Lloyd, said
that often his father would write out his lecture, and then tear it up as soon
as he finished. "What are your memories for?" he would say to
students. "Write it down when you go home. If you write now you will miss
something. Listen to me! If you want to do something besides listen, go
someplace else."22 If you have ever been interrupted by students taking
notes you will sympathize with this position.
Among
his many honours were these: He was made Master of Pharmacy, 1897, by the
Philadelphia College of Medicine. He was granted a Ph.D., 1897, by Ohio
University. The Doctor of Laws, came in 1902, at Wilberforce University. In
1916 he won the Ebert Prize -- for the third time. In this year the University
of Cincinnati made him a Doctor of Science. Then there was the Remington Medal
in 1920 -- it is pharmacy's highest honour. He was the first recipient. Also in
this year he became a Doctor of Pharmacy, Cincinnati College of Pharmacy.
Perhaps most unusual was the title of M. D., conferred in 1921, by the Eclectic
Medical College of Cincinnati. These honorary degrees, and many other degrees
and distinctions too numerous to mention, show the esteem in which he was held
by the learned world.
Dennis Worthen, current director of the Lloyd Library, said to me that John Uri
Lloyd was the most important pharmacist of his time in the United States. There
is no doubt this evaluation is correct. Kremers and Urdang's History of
Pharmacy states of Lloyd: "One of the greatest and most versatile pharmacists
America has ever had." "...He played an important part in the
development of plant chemistry and drug extraction."23 They say of the
Lloyd Brothers firm: "Under John Uri Lloyd the concern assumed not only a
leading position in the field of plant preparations of every kind but became
the world's most valuable sources of progress in plant chemistry, colloidal
chemistry, and new pharmaceutical methods and devices."24
Alfred Joyce Kilmer, best known for his poem "Trees," wrote a review
of Lloyd for the Red Cross Notes in which he says:
In his chemical works, he has ever shown a deep sense of the
dignity of his profession, of a great mystery lying behind the simplest laws of
nature. A scholarly and modern chemist, he yet has the temperament , and bearing
of an ancient alchemist.25
This mystical temperament, along
with his practical scientific mind, is always at work in his fiction. What is
truly surprising is that he should have written novels at all.
According to Kremers and Urdang: "There are only a few pharmacists who
have attained more than local fame in American literature. A thorough and
discriminating examination leaves in fact only one member of the profession
whose writing was comprehensive and valuable enough to give him a place and a high
rank among American novelists: John Uri Lloyd. The versatility of this man is
almost miraculous. Not only did he work in many different fields but he
attained high rank in all of them." They point out that the other
pharmacist who gained distinction as a writer of short stories, William Sidney
Porter, better known as O. Henry, left the profession for writing in his early
years.26
I
have not time to tell you this evening of the many other adventures of Dr.
Lloyd: his acquaintance with Grover Cleveland; his trip to visit the Ottoman
Empire, as Turkey and its Near Eastern possessions, were called at that time,
as special ambassador of President Woodrow Wilson.
What
is significant for us, as it was for him, that in a real sense his adventure started
here, and he came here often to renew his ties to Boone County and his people.
This is the importance of the series of five articles by Frank Grayson. In
these little journeys one can almost feel the pleasure he takes in describing
the countryside, explaining what happened during the Civil War. He is at his
best showing off the old church building at Gunpowder, about which he had
written so much. There on that spot an animal stole one of his shoes while he
was up in the mulberry tree. The world was indeed his university, but still the
aged Professor prefers to talk about the old home place.
In
his novel Scroggins Lloyd speaks in a manner some might consider a bit
morbid, but which I think embodies a great deal of realism: "Without a
word," he writes of old Scroggins, "he turned his weary footsteps
toward the busy world that, outside the graveyard fence, was treading its own
way past this old cemetery toward another that, somewhere in the future, lies
across the end of each man's path."27 Lloyd died in California at the age
of 86, while visiting his daughter. But in a sense the adventure also ended
here, for he is buried in Hopeful Cemetery. As Grayson notes, "A plain but
beautiful monument of gray stone stands on the lot." You can see it from
the road as you drive by.
NOTES
1. In fairness we must note that many of
these, especially in later years, were rewritings of earlier work.
2. The Sam Hill Stories are in JUL MSS Collection 1 Boxes 37 and 38, there is also one story in Box 50. Many of them were typed and bound in a single volume by Corinne Simons. Many were also published in the Northern Kentucky Heritage Magazine, 1994, 1995
3. JUL MSS Coll.1, Bx 40, Folder 582. Here it is dated 1859, but elsewhere JUL states he was about 14 when he wrote it.
4. Varro and Virginia Tyler, "John Uri Lloyd, Phr.M., Ph.D." Journal of Natural Products: Lloydia 50 (1987): 4. The young man was Henry V. Arny, who wrote of JUL in the Journal of the American Pharmaceutical Association 25 (1936): 885.
5. L. Sprague de Camp, Science-Fiction Handbook: The Writing of Imaginative Fiction (New York: Hermitage House, 1953), p. 48
6. This is mentioned in a letter to a fan, a copy of which is in my possession.
7. Memorial Issue Eclectic Medical Journal, 96 / 5 (1936), p. 185-186.
8. Eunice B. Bardell, "The Novels of the American Pharmacist, John Uri Lloyd," Pharmacy in History 29 (1987): 177-180 deals particularly with the strychnine incident in Stringtown. This article is of some interest, but not of particular value.
9. "The Writing of Stringtown on the Pike," JUL MSS Coll. 1 Bx 2 Folder 29
10. Michael Flannery, John Uri Lloyd: The Great American Eclectic (Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1998), p. 134-137. There are four letters in the Lloyd Collection. JUL MSS Coll. 1 Bx 6 Folder 67. The letter quoted here is dated 11 Sep 1901.
11. Flannery, p. 134.
12. "Some Curious Mineral and Geological Specimens From Kentucky," Report of an Informal Address delivered before the Cincinnati section of the American Chemical Society. Mechanics Institute 12 Feb 1902. JUL MSS Coll. 1 Bx 40 Fold.596. This 17 page article is the record of a lecture taken almost entirely from Filson.
13. JUL MSS Coll 1 Bx 40 Folders 575, 576, 577. There is a handwritten MS, two copies in typescript, and a picture of Filson torn from a book.
14. Varro E. Tyler, Lynn R. Brady, and James E. Robbers, Pharmacognosy ed. 7 Philadelphia: Lea & Febiger, 1976), p. 2-3.
15. Varro and Virginia Tyler, p. 1.
16. Ibid., p. 2.
17. Memorial, 204-205.
18. Memorial, p. 207-208.
19. He mentions the Formation of Dew. Lloyd had a theory that dew was formed within a plant and exuded by it. See "Experiments in Connection with the Formation of Dew." JUL MSS Coll. 1 Bx 42. Folders 633, 634, 635. This seems to be one case in which Lloyd was mistaken.
20. Memorial, p. 202.
21. Ibid., 202-203.
22. Tyler, p. 3
23. Edward Kremers and George Urdang, History of Pharmacy: A Guide and a Survey (Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1940), p. 424. This is the first edition. Dr. Worthen informs me the 4th edition (1976) is still the standard work on the subject.
24. Ibid., p. 316.
25. A. J. Kilmer, Red Cross Notes ser. 6, no. 2. The review is reproduced in C. M. Simons, John Uri Lloyd (Cincinnati, 1972), p. 189-190.
26. Kremers and Urdang, p. 333.
27. Scroggins (New York: Dodd, Mead, 1900), p. 36-37.
28. JUL MSS Coll. 1 Bx 45 Folders 691, 692.
2. The Sam Hill Stories are in JUL MSS Collection 1 Boxes 37 and 38, there is also one story in Box 50. Many of them were typed and bound in a single volume by Corinne Simons. Many were also published in the Northern Kentucky Heritage Magazine, 1994, 1995
3. JUL MSS Coll.1, Bx 40, Folder 582. Here it is dated 1859, but elsewhere JUL states he was about 14 when he wrote it.
4. Varro and Virginia Tyler, "John Uri Lloyd, Phr.M., Ph.D." Journal of Natural Products: Lloydia 50 (1987): 4. The young man was Henry V. Arny, who wrote of JUL in the Journal of the American Pharmaceutical Association 25 (1936): 885.
5. L. Sprague de Camp, Science-Fiction Handbook: The Writing of Imaginative Fiction (New York: Hermitage House, 1953), p. 48
6. This is mentioned in a letter to a fan, a copy of which is in my possession.
7. Memorial Issue Eclectic Medical Journal, 96 / 5 (1936), p. 185-186.
8. Eunice B. Bardell, "The Novels of the American Pharmacist, John Uri Lloyd," Pharmacy in History 29 (1987): 177-180 deals particularly with the strychnine incident in Stringtown. This article is of some interest, but not of particular value.
9. "The Writing of Stringtown on the Pike," JUL MSS Coll. 1 Bx 2 Folder 29
10. Michael Flannery, John Uri Lloyd: The Great American Eclectic (Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1998), p. 134-137. There are four letters in the Lloyd Collection. JUL MSS Coll. 1 Bx 6 Folder 67. The letter quoted here is dated 11 Sep 1901.
11. Flannery, p. 134.
12. "Some Curious Mineral and Geological Specimens From Kentucky," Report of an Informal Address delivered before the Cincinnati section of the American Chemical Society. Mechanics Institute 12 Feb 1902. JUL MSS Coll. 1 Bx 40 Fold.596. This 17 page article is the record of a lecture taken almost entirely from Filson.
13. JUL MSS Coll 1 Bx 40 Folders 575, 576, 577. There is a handwritten MS, two copies in typescript, and a picture of Filson torn from a book.
14. Varro E. Tyler, Lynn R. Brady, and James E. Robbers, Pharmacognosy ed. 7 Philadelphia: Lea & Febiger, 1976), p. 2-3.
15. Varro and Virginia Tyler, p. 1.
16. Ibid., p. 2.
17. Memorial, 204-205.
18. Memorial, p. 207-208.
19. He mentions the Formation of Dew. Lloyd had a theory that dew was formed within a plant and exuded by it. See "Experiments in Connection with the Formation of Dew." JUL MSS Coll. 1 Bx 42. Folders 633, 634, 635. This seems to be one case in which Lloyd was mistaken.
20. Memorial, p. 202.
21. Ibid., 202-203.
22. Tyler, p. 3
23. Edward Kremers and George Urdang, History of Pharmacy: A Guide and a Survey (Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1940), p. 424. This is the first edition. Dr. Worthen informs me the 4th edition (1976) is still the standard work on the subject.
24. Ibid., p. 316.
25. A. J. Kilmer, Red Cross Notes ser. 6, no. 2. The review is reproduced in C. M. Simons, John Uri Lloyd (Cincinnati, 1972), p. 189-190.
26. Kremers and Urdang, p. 333.
27. Scroggins (New York: Dodd, Mead, 1900), p. 36-37.
28. JUL MSS Coll. 1 Bx 45 Folders 691, 692.
ADDENDA
I
wish to mention the material collected by John Uri Lloyd about the escape of
John Hunt Morgan through Boone County. In my article for the Historical Society
Newsletter I wrote:
In my
opinion, Warwick of the Knobs, though perhaps not the most interesting
of his stories overall, is the best written from a literary point of view. It
also contains interesting historical materials which are worked into the
narrative; the most significant are: the Lick at Big Bone, the Old-School
Baptist church on Gunpowder Creek and the controversial trek of John Hunt
Morgan through Boone County after his escape from a Federal Civil War prison.
It would be of great interest to discover any documentation assembled or
collected by Lloyd on the subject of Morgan's route through Boone County. This
might tell us for sure whether Lloyd was contributing to a local legend, or
preserving in fiction an account of what might well be described as Boone
County's greatest contribution to the Southern cause.
I
have these documents, but have not had time to assimilate all of the material,
but I have reason to think that the truth is to be found among these papers.
Though the characters in Warwick are fictional the Morgan incident, I believe,
is not. It is founded on better documentation than many Civil War incidents
accepted as genuine history. Here is what I found:
Letter of Perry Corbin, to his sister Sallie, with
photograph
Letter of L. H. Voshell of Union, to JUL, dated 9 Sep 1901
Interview with R. G. Adams, by JUL, undated
Letter of R. G. Adams, of Union, to JUL, dated 6 Aug 1901
Interview with Mrs. B. F. McGlasson, by JUL, undated
Other notes and papers
Letter of L. H. Voshell of Union, to JUL, dated 9 Sep 1901
Interview with R. G. Adams, by JUL, undated
Letter of R. G. Adams, of Union, to JUL, dated 6 Aug 1901
Interview with Mrs. B. F. McGlasson, by JUL, undated
Other notes and papers
Had
Lloyd been as great an historian as he was a pharmacist it is possible he would
have been able to question his informants in such a way as to leave no doubts
about the facts. I venture to think he would have at least done something so
basic as to date the material. I am going to make these documents available to
anyone who is interested. After everyone who wants has a chance to study them,
and check them by other sources of information, perhaps the Morgan Raid and
escape through Boone County can become the subject of another meeting.
Note to
Addenda
This
incident is partially confirmed by Lester V. Horwitz, The Longest Raid of the
Civil War (Cincinnati: Farmcourt Publishing, 1999), p.361. "...Their next
stop, which was at the home of Henry Corwin near Union, Kentucky. Here, on
Saturday, November 28 [1863], they spent the night." He cites as his
authority William E. Metzler, Morgan and His Dixie Cavaliers (1976), p. 77. I
have not yet been able to check this book, but the fact that the name is given
incorrectly as Corwin, rather than Corbin, shows this information came from
some source other than Lloyd, and so helps confirm it. Dr. Worthen showed me
the guest register where Horwitz had used the Lloyd Library, but, according to
him, had not consulted this material, as it was not available at that time.
Additional
note. Since this paper was written the Morgan escape through Boone County has
been covered by Bruce Ferguson, vice-president of the Historical Society. It is
to be hoped his material will soon be published.
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