The Woodlands Texas History, Information and News

harles Bellinger Stewart’s roles in early Texas—as the first signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence and the designer of the Lone Star flag —have secured his place in the annals of Texas history as a respected and beloved figure ¹. However, his role as an innovative pioneer in Texas medicine is not well known.

Stewart, a South Carolinian by birth, was a licensed pharmacist when he opened an apothecary shop in 1835 in San Felipe de Austin, near present-day Brenham, on the eve of the Texas Revolution. He was licensed to practice medicine in that year, also, and in 1837 moved his practice and new wife, Julia, to the village of Montgomery. Here he spent 48 years as a healer, trying to make his world a better place in an era when the pedagogy of medicine was still in its infant stages.

Though he practiced medicine in a small town in rural Texas under less than ideal conditions, Stewart —thoroughly acquainted with the fields of science, theology, land law, spiritualism and farming —kept abreast of innovative ideas of his time. One of his many interests was the healing property of ultraviolet rays. Ultraviolet rays, called “chemical rays,” were first observed and documented in 1801 by a German physicist, Johann Wilhelm Ritter. These rays were studied throughout the 19th century, and their healing properties became known.

Stewart, aware of this phenomena, conducted studies of his own in the solarium at his home in Montgomery. The solarium contained large windows with every alternate pane of window glass containing glass of deep blue color of varying intensities. These panes were thought to have special properties that transmitted ultraviolet or “heat rays” in greater intensity at the ends of their spectrum than clear glass. He applied his theories to his medical practice as his skills became known and therapy sought.

In the last years of his life, Stewart retired from medicine to focus on experimental farming and gardening practices, introducing new varieties of plants to the area such as the Cherokee rose and

the bluebell. He carried out silkworm experiments in the 1870s. Stewart explained that since he no longer could attend medical conventions, he could not keep up with the latest information, and therefore should give way to those who had more current knowledge.

Ahead of his time in implementing ultraviolet rays as therapy in medicine, modern science has proved correct his theories about the healing properties of sunlight and about the nature of glass of varying composition.

Truly an innovative thinker, Charles Stewart should be remembered not only for his contributions to the establishment of the Republic of Texas but also for his efforts in the advancement of early Montgomery County medicine. l

¹Charles Bellinger Stewart, born in Charles, S.C., on February 6, 1806, held offices as Texas ’ first Secretary of State: was elected four times to the legislature over a period of 40 years; was a delegate from Montgomery County to the Constitutional Convention in 1845 and fought at the Battle of Velasco under Francis W. Johnson. He was District Attorney for Montgomery County and also served as its postmaster. Stewart died in Montgomery, Texas, on July 2, 1885.