William Quitman Wilkins' kept this daily diary from January 1, 1869, through April 27, 1869, largely while attending medical school at the University of Louisiana (now Tulane University) and receiving clinical training at the Charity Hospital of New Orleans. He reported on case studies, operations, recommended treatments, pharmaceuticals, post mortem examinations, tests, and other aspects of his education. Wilkins kept his diary in a pre-printed "Patent Self Closing Diary for 1869."
The physicians he studied under included Drs. Frank Hawthorn, J. D. or S. M. Bemiss, Stanford E. Chaille, Warren Stone, and others. Examples of conditions represented in Wilkins' notes include dysentery "from alcoholic poison," pneumonia, typhoid, gangrene of the penis, delirium tremens from the use of opium, malaria, syphilis, constipation, chorea (in a ten year old), opium poisoning, suffocation from hemorrhage, and other ailments. He also wrote of smallpox vaccination and amputations. In one instance, he witnessed an African American woman's operation for "skirrus" (i.e. scirrhous) cancer of the breast (February 27).
In the evenings and on weekends, he attended concerts, "varieties," operas, and plays. He met Tom Thumb and visited Henry Clay's monument on Canal Street (January 9), watched James Robinson & Son (January 18), attended a performance of Fire Fly (January 21), assisted in the wedding of his aunt Sallie and uncle John (January 28), reported on Mardi Gras (February 9), and witnessed the Fireman's Festival and Parade (March 4).
W. Q. Wilkins had apparently received a gunshot wound in his leg/hip and toward the end of the term he underwent surgery to remove bone fragments (March 12). He left New Orleans on March 18, and arrived home in Oxford, Mississippi, the next day. After his arrival, he suffered for weeks with chills, a fever, and leg abscesses. During this time, he briefly mentioned family visitors, reading, taking invoices of drugs, and much bedrest. On April 3, Dr. Isom (possibly Dr. Thomas Dudley Isom [1816-1902]) removed two more bone fragments from his leg. By April 27, his health had improved and he began to study his textbooks once again.
The final 24 pages of the diary contain notes for one of Dr. Chaille's tests, lists of medicines, Medical Association of Lafayette County's fees for various medical treatments, names and addresses, and other notes.
William Quitman Wilkins was born on February 2, 1848 (see diary entry of this date), to Presbyterian minister William Haskew Wilkins (1803-1862) and Elizabeth Craighead Porter (1809-1867). The family lived in Lafayette County, Mississippi.
W. Q. Wilkins attended the University of Mississippi, pursuing "select studies" in the 1865-1866 session of the Department of Arts. He was also present in the Preparatory Class of 1866. Wilkins attended the medical college at the University of Louisiana at New Orleans (now Tulane University) in the 1868-1869 session, receiving clinical training at the Charity Hospital of New Orleans. In March 1869, Wilkins underwent surgery to remove bone fragments (apparently in his knee and/or hip, where he had been shot) before returning to Oxford, Mississippi. After his arrival, he suffered for weeks with chills, a fever, and leg abscesses. By April 27, 1869, his health had improved and he began to study his textbooks once again. The United States census of 1870 lists W. Q. Wilkins at home in Oxford, Lafayette County, Mississippi, with his siblings, working as a clerk at a dry goods store. Wilkins died on October 1, 1872, and is buried in the Oxford Memorial Cemetery.
