Dr. Stanley Clark This is Me

Education

 Web References

1. 1. SouthBendTribune.com: Medical pioneer

   www.southbendtribune.com/stori - [Cached]

   Published on: 3/7/2004   Last Visited: 3/7/2004

   Dr. Stanley Clark worked as a physician in South Bend.
   
   Photo provided/Northern Indiana Center for HIstory
   
   Stanley Clark was born in Galien, in 1877. He grew up and was educated in his home northwest of South Bend. His relationship to education was not limited to being a student; he also provided the means for teachers to give their students a better education. More of this will come later in the story.
   
   After graduating from high school, Clark enrolled at the Hahnemann Medical College in Chicago, earning his medical degree when he was 21 years old. He was particularly interested in a brand new diagnostic aid, the Roentgen ray, discovered in 1895 by Wilhelm Konrad Roentgen, of the University of Wurzburg, Germany.
   ...
   This was the state of the art when Clark served as house surgeon at Hahnemann Hospital for a year after graduation. The ink now dry on his diploma, he came back to Galien and opened his private practice in 1898.
   
   The population of Galien and environs was small, and when Clark was offered a chance to join in the practice of medicine with Dr. Cornelius Myers in South Bend, he eagerly accepted. This was probably Clark's most significant career move, for Myers had purchased an X-ray machine.
   ...
   Clark started his medical career in South Bend the day the new Epworth Hospital opened its doors in October 1901. Clark operated the X-ray machine with success.
   ...
   Clark moved his offices and the X-ray machine to the Warner Building and was practicing medicine on his own.
   
   Those early X-ray machines emitted low energy X-rays that formed a weak image in the fluoroscope. This forced the doctor or technician to wait in a darkened room for several minutes until he could see the faint image. Later, it was discovered that if the doctor wore glasses with red lenses while getting the patient ready for testing, this waiting time was reduced considerably. It was said that Clark would sometimes wear his red glasses while driving his automobile on South Bend streets, scaring drivers and pedestrians as they thought he was blind for they could not see his eyes. He eventually convinced people that he could see perfectly well while wearing the red glasses and was always ready to look inside their bodies should the occasion arise.
   
   Next week: Clark perfects X-ray techniques.