The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1876-01-21
The First Doctors of Michigan.

lHC TlTSb DOclOES Vi MlCHISuHs
Not more than five acres of Michigan
had been chopped and logged off before
a doctor arrived in the State, and they
have continued to arrive ever since that
hour.
The first hundred CT so didn't doctor
after the set rules of allopathy or homeo-
pathy. The grand object was to give
sick man his moneys worth of medicine,
and q little over. Drug stores were few
and far between in those days, and
every doctor carried his medicines with
him.
Indeed, this rule was practiced up to
fifteen or twenty years ago, when physi-
clans all at once got the notion that it was
more convenient and stylish for the pa
TENTS friends to turn out at midnight and
walk from one to five miles to get pre-
scription filed than it was for the doc
tor to sit by the bed and deal out the
drugs.
The first doctors were very energetic
and ambitious. If man fell sick they
called it fever'n ague, and pushed powders,
liquids and other things down his throat
until change occurred. If for the worse
they gave the disease some other name and
put on mustard plasters, gave the patient
calomel, kept his feet warm, and doctored
him on that theory until he rallied or was
still further reduced.
fine got well it was big card for the
doctor. If he died the doctors for sixteen
miles around would swear that the person
couldn't have been cured nohow.
1t can't be ascertained that more than
one of those early practitioners ever gave
up patient in despair. That one was a
resident of Wayne county, and was called
to see pioneer living seven or eight miles
from Detroit. The man had some sort of
low fever, and the physician attended him
for a month without noticing any improve
ment. On the contrary, the patient seem
ed to be sinking, and fearing to lose prac-
tice if the man died on his hands the ply
stefan decided to abandon the case. Call
ing his wife out of doors, he said
II can't come any more, I'm going to
Cleveland to live"
When she asked about her husbands
prospects, he replied:
"He is certain to die. [ never saw such
case before. / commenced with "a in
the alphabet ofmedicines and have runhim
down to and so forth and haven't moved
him peg"
The patient fell out of bed and broke
his arm next day, and in three months was
able to carry bushel of wheat to Detroit
on his shoulder
The doctors were just as polite and gen
tie in those pioneer days as they are now
and catching the spirit of the rapidly
growing country, they felt that time wa
the great desideratum. A doctor living
in Macomb county, when called upon t.
set broken leg for laborin9 man, exam
ined the limb and said:
"If l set this limb it will be,fye or 81,
months before you can walk. If | saw i
off and make you wooden leg you'll b.
out splitting rails in less than three
months"
The man declined the generous offer anC
the doctor sighed drearily as he ROLLED
down his shirt sleeves.
Those doctors. too, had warm and sym
pathetic hearts. One of them killed a MAJ
in Washtenow county by giving him poi
son in place of calomel. Upon discoverin!
his mistake he rode out to see the widow
and after a few preliminary remarks
said:
"I'm very sorry, Mrs. Cotter, but it can
be helped now; John was a pretty gooc
man, but there's Others just as good. In
willing TO do the fair thing by you, bein
as it was my mistake. A brother of min
is coming from York State next week
and he shall marry you inside of thrc
months
And he did.
And it was just as hard for doctors I
collect their bills then as it is now.
Detroiter who had doctered in one famil
for three or four years without getting an
nav started ont one mDrninu with th
avowed intention of collecting something
or raising tornado. He returned afte
four or five hours covered with mud, ha
caved in and blood on his coat collar
"Get any money of Jones2" asked
friend.
"No, but squared up with him an
left him receipt in full" replied the doc
tor, pointing to his left ear.
Half of it had been bitten off. - Detro
Press.