The Cobb Surname and Homeopathy

The Cobb surname provided one Professor of Physiology and Pediatrics at the Hahnemann Medical College and Hospital of Chicago and President of the American Institute of Homœopathy; and the founder of Cobb Hospital and Clinical Professor of Internal Medicine and Clinical Professor at the College of Homœopathic Medicine and Surgery of the University of Minnesota .

Joseph Pettee Cobb 1857 -** **

of Chicago, Illinois, was born in Abington, Massachusetts, June 12, 1857, son of Edward White and Elmina (Howard) Cobb, both of English descent, representing colonial families, twelve generations of the Cobb family preceding Dr. Cobb having lived in Massachusetts.

He studied in the public schools of Abington until fourteen years of age ; in Waltham (Massachusetts) New Church school, 1872-5 ; Bridgewater (Massachusetts) Academy, 1871-2, and graduated from Harvard University with the B. A. degree, in 1879.

His professional education was acquired in Hahnemann Medical College and Hospital of Chicago, where he came to the M. D. degree in 1883. He has since practiced in Chicago. He was Professor of Physiology in Hahnemann Medical College and Hospital of Chicago in 1889 and has been Professor of Pediatrics since 1893 ; has been Clinical Professor of Diseases in Children in Hahnemann Medical College and Hospital of Chicago since 1893 ; was business manager of Hahnemann Medical College and Hospital of Chicago from 1892 to 1894, and registrar from 1894 to 1900.

He is a member of the American Institute of Homœopathy of which he was President in 1903, the Homœopathic Medical Society of Illinois, the Chicago Homœopathic Medical Society, the Southern Homœopathic Society, the Clinical Society of Chicago, and has been both medulla and eucephalon of the Ustian fraternity, the former while a student at Hahnemann Medical College and Hospital of Chicago, and the latter several times since graduation.

He is past master of Lakeside lodge, F. & A. M., past regent in the Royal Arcanum, past archon in the Royal League, and a member of the Calumet Country Club, Kenwood Club, Harvard Club of Chicago and the Harvard Union of Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Dr. Cobb married, September 18, 1882, Edith Helen Persons, of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and their son, Edmond P. Cobb, is (1905) a junior at Harvard University.

Joseph Puttee Cobb was the teacher of Emile Herman Grubbe, who experimented with x-rays. The results of these experiments were so startling that homeopaths soon began to potentise these rays and pioneer the treatment of cancers with x-rays.

Sheridan Grant Cobb 1862 -** **

of St. Paul, Minnesota, was, born in Cascade, Minnesota, August 14, 1862, son of Ephriam Drake Cobb. His literary education was acquired in Niles Academy at Rochester, Minnesota.

He studied medicine with the late Dr. Isaac Westfall of Rochester, Minnesota, later of Watertown, South Dakota, and Dr. Paul H. Denninger of Faribault, Minnesota, now of Pacific Grove, California, and attended Hahnemann Medical College and Hospital of Chicago, 1882-84.

He practiced in Faribault, Minnesota, in 1884 ; Plainview, Minnesota, 1884-89, and since in Merriam Park, St. Paul. He did post-graduate work in the New York Polyclinic, 1894 ; Chicago Clinical School, 1898 ; in Vienna, 1900, and in various years under Dr. Edwin Hartley Pratt, of Chicago.

In 1902 he founded Cobb Hospital at St. Paul, the only homœopathic hospital in the twin cities. He has been Clinical Professor of Internal Medicine since 1903, and Clinical Professor in Surgery since 1904, in the College of Homœopathic Medicine and Surgery of the University of Minnesota.

He is Surgeon for the Great Northern Railway Co., Northern Pacific Railway Co., Wisconsin Central Railway. Co., Chicago Great Western Railway Co., Minneapolis & St. Louis Railroad Co., Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad Co., Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railway Co., Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway Co., Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis & Omaha Railway Co., Minneapolis, St. Paul & Sault Ste. Marie Railway Co., at the Minnesota transfer, and formerly attending surgeon to the Children’s Home Society of the State of Minnesota, and medical examiner for the Travelers’ Insurance Company of Hartford, Connecticut.

In his practice he makes a specialty of surgery. Dr. Cobb is a member of the American Institute of Homœopathy, the Minnesota State Homœopathic Institute, and member and ex-president of the St. Paul Society of Homœopathic Physicians and Surgeons.

He is a Scottish Rite Mason, a Knight of Pythias and a member of the Royal Arcanum. He married E. Melicent Cutter, June 30, 1886, and has two children, Francis Cutter and Mary Cobb.