[161-47] JAMES MESCHTER ANDERS, M. D, b July 22, 1854; s Samuel and Christina (Meschter) Anders [161-21b]; m Apr. 30, 1908, MARGARET GERTRUDE WUNDERLICH, b July 3, 1876; dau Jacob H. Wunderlich. Res., 1605 Walnut St., Phila., Pa. (1922.) No issue.
James Meschter Anders, M.D., Ph., D., LL. D., was born on his father’s farm near Fairview Village, Montg. Co., Pa. After attending the public schools of his native township and also of Norristown, Pa., Dr. Anders entered the academic department of the Theological Seminary, conducted under the aus- Pices of the Mennonite Church, at Wadsworth, Ohio, where he was prepared to enter college. Being especially apt in mathematics, Dr. Anders was appointed teacher of mental arithmetic during his career at Wadsworth. While still a boy on his father’s farm, Dr. Anders had acquired some local fame as a mathematician. It is said that some of the prospective teachers of the neighborhood, when preparing to take the examinations under the county superintendent, would bring their problems in mathematics to Dr. Anders, and that the latter would solve them while following the plow on hisfather’sfarm. After finishing his preparatory course at Wadsworth, Dr. Anders entered the medical department of the University of Pennsylvania, from which institution he was graduated in 1877, having ‘‘read medicine”
in the meantime with the late Dr. George K. Meschter of Worcester, Pa. In this same year, 1877, he also received the degree of Ph. D. from the University of Pennsylvania, and was awarded a prize for the highest general average and for his original thesis on ““The Transpiration of Plants.”’
During the first decade after his graduation Dr. Anders continued his studies in natural history subjects. His original investigations on certain plant functions led him to discover that all flowering plants and odoriferous foliage possess the power to convert the oxygen of the air into ozone. He was the first to show by experiment that when growing plants are cultivated indoors they tend to increase and maintain a proper degree of humidity in the air and are therefore beneficial to health. A few of the articles published by Dr. Anders along this line are the following: ‘‘Hygienic and Therapeutic Relations of House Plants,” “Beneficial Influence of Plants,” ““The Exhalation of Ozone by Flowering Plants,” “House Plants and Lung Diseases,” ‘‘Sanitary Influence of Forests,” ‘‘The Relation of Forests to Health Resorts,” ete. Asa result of Dr. Anders’ investigations along these lines he was tendered in 1885 the chair of Forestry and the Relation of Plant Life to Health, in the Academy of Natural Sciences, Phila.
In his professional capacity, Dr. Anders has served as visiting physician on the staff of the Protestant Episcopal Hospital of Phila., the Medico-Chirurgical Hospital, Philadelphia Hospital, ete. He has served as consulting physician to the Jewish Hospital and the Widener Home for Crippled Children in Phila., as well as the Hospital for the Insane at Norristown, Pa. Dr. Anders’ connection with the Medico-Chirurgical College began in 1889 when he was made lecturer on ‘‘materia medica’ and was advanced to the chair of Hygiene and Pediatrics the following year. Two years later he was elected to the chair of Clinical Medicine, and in 1893 was elected Professor of the Theory and Practice of Medicine, which chair he held for twenty-five years. In 1890 Dr. Anders was elected a member of the Board of Trustees of the Medico-Chirurgical College and Hospital, which position he held until the College was consolidated with the University of Pennsylvania, having held the office of vice-president for five years. That Dr. Anders has achieved a national reputation as a diagnostician, is also worthy of note.
In 1898 Dr. Anders published his large work, ‘“‘The Theory and Practice of Medicine,” which is the most widely used textbook of its kind in the medical schools of the country, the fourteenth edition of this work having been issued in September, 1920. In addition to the publication of his textbook, Dr. Anders has contributed more than one hundred articles to the leading medical periodicals, scientific and other magazines, and has read papers before the foremost medical and scientific associations of the nation.
Upon the merging of the Medico-Chirurgical College with the University of Pennsylvania Medical Department in 1916, which project was managed by Dr. Anders, he automatically became Professor of Medicine and Clinical Medicine in the Graduate School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.
Dr. Anders has been honored by the different mayors of the city of Philadelphia by being selected at various times as a member of the Mayor’s Advisory Board, and by appointments to the Board of Health. In 1898 Ursinus College conferred upon him the honorary degree of LL. D. Dr. Anders is a member of the leading medical associations of the nation; for many years he has been a member of the Councils of the State Forestry Association, and chairman of the Publication Committee of the City Parks Association. He has served as president of the local medical clubs and county association, and in 1902 delivered the oration in medicine for the American Medical Association in New Orleans. In 1908 he was elected vice-president and a member of the Central Executive Committee of the Sixth International Congress on Tuberculosis held at Washington, D. C. He also founded the library of the Philadelphia County Medical Society in 1910. In the same year the French Government signally honored Dr. Anders in recognition of his standing in medicine, and especially of his discovery regarding the innate ability of flowering plants to convert the oxygen into ozone, by electing him an “‘Officier de VInstruction Publique et des Beaux Arts.” In 1913 he was elected president of the American Climatological and Clinical Society.
it was also through the influence of Dr. Anders that in 1917 an annual celebration of ‘Health Day” was instituted, and he was instrumental, together with Dr. John D. Roberts, in creating a new section on Industrial Medicine and Public Health in the College of Physicians.
During the World War, Dr. Anders at the request of Gov. Brumbaugh of Pennsylvania, formed the Medical Advisory Board for the examination of registrants entering the United States military service, and he served as chairman of the board until the close of hostilities abroad. In addition, he was a member of the Medical Section of the Pennsylvania State Council for Defense, and served as vice-president of the Senior Medical Service Corps and chairman of the Committee on Physical Research, which was a nation-wide movement to improve the physical standard of the American men and women. In March, 1921, Dr. Anders was unanimously elected president of the American College of Physicians at
the annual meeting held in Baltimore, and on the following June 4, at the meeting of the American Therapeutic Association, held in Washington, he was chosen president of that society as well.
Although Dr. Anders’ professional duties take up the greater part of his time, he has by no means neglected his church affiliations, as his home church has always enlisted his active interest. He has been a member of the Board of Missions of the Schwenkfelder Church since its incorporation and was instrumental in having the Board establish a mission in Philadelphia. From the time of its organization he has served as Moderator of the First Schwenkfelder Church of Philadelphia. Dr. Anders is also International Councilor of the Drexel Biddle Bible Classes and a member of the Board of Directors of the Drexel Biddle Military Training Corps. On the Board of Trustees of Perkiomen School, Dr. Anders serves as vice-president, and is likewise a member of the Board of Trustees of Ursinus College. In 1920 when the Society of the Descendants of the Schwenkfeldian Exiles was organized, Dr. Anders was honored by being elected the first president.
Someone has truly said of Dr. Anders that he is ‘‘one of the leaders in all public-spirited movements, as well as a foremost member of his profession.”
Parents’ family: [161-21b] Samuel Dresher Anders and Christina Meschter