Dr. Margaret MacGillvray (1845-1892)

             Dr. Margaret MacGillvray was born in Dunfermline, Scotland on October 21, 1845. She was a very intelligent and cultured woman and became one of the first female physicians in Bloomington. Before coming to America, Margaret traveled extensively—all over Europe and the Holy Land, and even resided for a period of time in New Zealand. Not much is known about her life in general. Margaret most likely came to the US through the ports of New York City. She would have arrived at least a few years before she graduated from Hahnemann Medical College in Chicago in about 1882 or 1883. It was at this college that she received training in homeopathic medicine. She remained in Chicago for one year while practicing medicine and then moved to Bloomington to continue her practices.

Medicinal practices in the 1830s and 1840s left a lot to be desired. It was primarily based on the ancient Greek theory of humoral pathology, which still taught that illness was caused by an imbalance of the four humors: blood, phlegm, yellow bile, and black bile. In order to cure these imbalances, the excess humor had to be eliminated, usually through induced vomiting, laxatives, raising the patient’s temperature to “cook” the humor, or, most notoriously, bloodletting. Operations were performed in the patient’s home using only whisky or gin to dull the pain, as there were no anesthetics. Due to unsanitary conditions (the modern “germ theory” was not discovered until 1865), the wound caused by the surgery often became infected, leading to extreme pain and death.

            Samuel Thompson’s New Guide to Health appeared in Bloomington in the 1830s and became very popular. Thompson had studied botanical medicine extensively and concluded that herbal medicines were more effective and simplistic than standard procedures. Botanical medicines were accessible to all, including the working class who could not afford the time or money required to see a regular doctor.

            Homeopathic medicine was invented by Dr. Samuel Hahnemann, a traditionally-educated German physician who had become disillusioned with humoral pathology. Hahnemann was highly influenced by Thompson’s views and began to teach alternative forms of medicine. He believed in two laws of medicine: the Law of Similars, which stated that illnesses could be cured by administering a substance which, in a healthy person produces similar symptoms to the symptoms that are causing problems; and the Law of Infitesimals, which stated that medicines are more effective in smaller doses, because large doses can overwhelm the positive effects of the remedy. Likewise, homeopathic doctors examine everything happening in a patient’s life, not just the symptoms. This is because homeopaths believed that it is important to treat the root cause instead of suppressing it beneath treatments. The actual treatments are made from plants, minerals, and other natural substances and only administered once in order to allow the body to strengthen itself with as little intervention as possible.

The teachings of homeopathy appealed to women as well, probably because the emphasis on self-treatment made it easier for women to participate in medical procedures without necessarily deferring to the male “head of the household.” When Dr. MacGillvray first arrived, the elite society of allopathic doctors, who believed in prescribing remedies that produced opposite symptoms than those they were trying to cure and a more traditional medical methodology, pushed for regulations to restrict the growing numbers of homeopathic physicians. In Bloomington, there were at least two female homeopathic physicians at the end of the 1800s: Dr. MacGillvray and her friend, Dr. Annie E. Kelso. Dr. MacGillvray’s office was located at 307 Mason Street, just down the block from 402 Mason, where Dr. Kelso practiced medicine with her husband, Dr. George Kelso. The Dr. Kelsos met one another at the University of Michigan School of Medicine at Ann Arbor, and they both graduated in 1883.  They opened the Bloomington practice in fall of 1888, shortly after they married.

Dr. MacGillvray, on the other hand, never married. Her obituary listed her as living at 204 Seminary Avenue with a friend, Mrs. W.W. Whittier, whom she lived with most of her time in Bloomington. Dr. MacGillvray passed away on January 10, 1892. after a lengthy illness. She had been suffering from complicated diseases of the heart and liver. She had been confined to her bed since Christmas and was prepared for her death. Dr. MacGillvray was buried in Evergreen Memorial Cemetery in Bloomington.

After the death of Dr. MacGillvray, however, the Kelsos responded to the growing discrimination by the allopaths by opening the Kelso Sanitarium near their home at 807 N. Main Street. The Sanatarium, built in 1894, was designed to provide homeopathic treatments for a variety of ailments, including rheumatism, paralysis, ailments of the liver, intestine, or stomach, mental and nervous diseases, diseases of women, rectal diseases, and confinement cases, as well as surgery, which was Dr. George Kelso’s specialty. It boasted “modern” conveniences, such as an electric elevator, steam heat, massage machines, mechanical equipment, and even electrical light baths. A newspaper advertisement for the Sanatarium described it as a place where “one week…is worth many weeks of exciting amusements at the seashore or a resort.” Unlike charity hospitals such as Brokaw Hospital or St. Joseph Hospital, the Sanitarium was a place where mostly-prosperous clientele could find a peaceful setting to relax and recover from their illnesses. In 1920, the Kelsos sold it to the Mennonite Sanitarium Association and operated a smaller hospital and clinic next to their home.