The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1878-03-16
A Country Doctor Of the olden Tine.

A Country Doctor Of the Olden Time.
Among my collection of relics is Gu
rious old tooth puller belonging to an
old New Hampshire doctor, of q pattern
in common use in the back country
down to as late a period as rs years ago,
and which may, for all we know to the
contrary, have been the kind used for
100 years back, or more. 1t is trusty
old instrument of a sort of wrench-like
pattern, and many time have looked
upon it with dread as the doctor took it
out of its wrappings of old cloth, and
prepared to apply its jaws to my own.
Only diagram could give its precise
character understandingly. Once fas-
tened on the objective tooth, that tooth,
must come out unless the doctor or the
patients jaw broke down. But the
doctor, though short-winded, was pref
ty muscular and very perseyering. If
one grinding, horrible twist did not
tear out the tooth, there must be repeti-
tons of the agonizing operations. The
charge made was invariably II cents.
We have kept before US the old Doctors
day-book. We keep it with the black
old jaw-breaker.
We turn to the date of 1926, and run
over o month or two of his charges to
get the average rates of his tariff in those
! days. We run across many OF those
tooth-pulling items. The charge is al
ways the same, II cents. Visits to pa
tients, where no charge was made for
drugs, are entered at 80 cents. But the
country doctor was then also travel
ing apothecary. In q dingy, small
black trunk 1--WE have the trunk, and it
still smells of drugs, and wildly recalls
the old doctor) he carried the tooth.
puller, lancet or two, and small
stock of the DRUGGIST kind of drugs
tough old favorites of the heroic practi-
TONERS of the old SCHOOL, small list OF
which were made to do service in all
sorts of diseases, and which were ad-
ministered in heavy doses, as the old
book of charges shows. But though the
medicines were heavy the charges were
light. Fifty cents often covers a visit
and the costs of several medicines fur
nished. And these visits generally in
volved the Harvesting up of the doctors
faithful fast little horse-he always kept
two good horses, which for effect OF
necessity, he always drove at the rate OF
ten miles an hour. The sight of the
doctor in his light, open gig, flying ovel
the country roads, was such 4 common
one that we would hardly turn from oul
hoeing to give it second glance, unless
we had an idea that he had some new
and sudden call of some case of sickness
we had not heard of.
The great majority of the doctors
visits were made to chronic patients
whose cases were familiar to all-whicf
had been talked about year in and year
out. There was the Widow Jones who
had been dying from the dropsy fol-
many year, and who had to be regu
larly tapped by the doctor. We always
looked upon the operation as something
wonderful, and the doctor himself spoke
of his doings in this line with proud
satisfaction. Then there was the case
of Sally Smith, who had been bed-ridden
for ten years. The doctor had to pay
her regular visits, though he never gave
her much medicine. Many years after
the doctor had gone to his long home,
Sally took notion to ''get we'll" under
the skillful care of some quack who had
Yankee shrewdness to discover that
there was nothing the matter with her,
and so in some unexplained way got on
her legs once more. Sally afterward
got married and raised a family. Then
there was the case of Peter Brown, who
had what used to be called the thirty
years consumption; and Mrs. Davis,
| nh ,.bo ticn, en- had fhaf
her distorted joints were a sight
to behold; and old Capt. Roberts,
who had had what he termed a
liver complaint ever since we could
remember; and Miss Cynthia Tasker,
who was always in feeble health,
yet somehow lived to be 80 years old /;
the Towle boy, whose bones were made
of so poor material that he always had
on hand for the DOCTORS attention a
broken limb. And speaking of broken
limbs reminds us of our own painful eX-
perience. One day the doctor came fly
ing over the road to us, for we had
been slung upon the hard December
ground from the bare back of our run
away horse, getting from the fall a
broken arm. The memory of the hard
pulHnS upon InaL Orohcu arn cones
wildly to mind as we write. The doc
tor tugged and sweat to get it into
place, and we writhed and roared under
the operation.
The heaviest charges upon the doc
tors books are for certain visits requir-
ing often all-night detentions. One of
these, which may be taken to illustrate
old-fashioned medical rates, stands
thus: John Rollins, to an all-night Wis
it to his wife, $3.50. There is no larger
single charge in the book than this.
John lived seven miles away, in a
neighboriug town, and this charge COW
cred the long ride in that old gig, per-
haps in some dark and stormy night,
over rough roads, and a whole night
away from home.-Boston advertiser.
Europe and the Mississippi Valley.