The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1890-01-30
BILL ARP.
Old-Time Doctors who BleeI their Pa-
tients to Cure them.
atlanta Constitution.

There is an awful mystery about these
doctors. They know 80 much that COM
mon people don't know. When 7 was a
child T had profound reverence for them.
Our family doctor was thfee.hundred-
FOUNDER, and was gruf'and short in bis
speech, and not very fond Of children.
And yet he seemed to have c1great many
hid out somewhere; ar1 Was always
giving them away. Whenever new
child came into the family or the neigh
borhood it was said that the doctor
brought it. I used to wonder where he
kept them. l asked my mother once,
and she said, "in Heaven, maybe" and
this increased my veneration. Our big,
fat doctor had ahop-we didn't call it
an ofice-and I used to peep in at the
door sometimes and look at his little
bottles on the shelves. was sent there
once for SOME medicine; and be gave me
some licorice root and SOME cinnamon
bark. There vas mysterious box stand
ing up in the corner, long narrow box
about big enough to hold an old. fashion
ed clock-a grandfather's clock-and the
door was open little and I saw an
awful thing in there, a skeleton suspend.
ed from screw in the skull. There was
dark cavethous holes for the eyes, and q
hole for the nose, End thefo we're jaws
with teeth 10 them and they looked fierce
and malicious. had little prilnmer
at home, and it had pictures in it. One
was picture of a skeleton with scythe
in his hand and I had learned the lines /:
"Time cuts down all,
Both great and small;''
and I thought / had discovered where
this old rascal was kept hid. He was in
that box. 1t was q long time before 7
recovered from those childish supersti.
tioDs. One time I had long spell of
fever, and that old doctor bled me till I
tainted, and be wouldn't let me have any
water, and when I got delirious Thought
that hehsd that skeleton on his back, and
I was to be cut down with scythe blade.
He bled me several times-fve little
scars are on my arm yet. Bleeding was
big thing then. Mark Harding says
his arms are just tattooed with scars. |
reckon they bled more in Marks day
than in mine, for the older'a mau is the
more scars he has; and Mark says be has
got forty. I can tell how old man is
by his scars. Mark says that bleeding
vas good thing and ought not to have
been abolished. That these modern
doctors are always talking about blood
poison, blood poison. Well, ifthe blood
is poisoned, why not take it out? Bleed
man until he can hardly wag, and let
new blood form that is not poisoned"
But we lived-blood or no blood-water
or no water-doctors or no doctors. The
Baptists lived, and the Presbyterians
lived, for they say that Baptists don't
die until their time comes, aud predes.
tination saves the Presbyterians but it
is wonder that any Methodist were
ever raised in these phlebotomy days.
We never had any medicine except cas-
tor oil and calomel, and epson salts and
.jalap, and number six and sheep saffron
tea, and some jaw. breaking tooth pullers
that were made just like these crowbar
hooks that you turn over log with at
sawmill. There were some patent medi-
cines, like paragoric and Bateman's drops,
and Godfrey's cordial and opeldoc, that
were kept in the store, and they we're
good. too. But the noble science has
made progress, wonderful! progress, and
I like it because it offers such wide
field for smart man, and such slim
chance for fool. We've gotta boy study.
ing medicine, and are hopeful of him
ofcourse we are. His mother thinks be
will be great surgeon, for he is the
seventh son, and when he was lad our
peacock got his leg broke, and 1 was
about to kill him to put the poor thing
out of misery, but Ralph begged me to
give the bird to him; and he made some
splints out of "a big cane and fixed him
up in swing, and he got we'll
and another time he sewed up q
bad cut on one of our mules; and
he just loved to pick out splinters or get
a cinder out of your eye; and 80 re con.
sented to his being a doctor, and he is
attending lectures in Atlanta. and the
other day I called to see him at the
college. 1t was s kind Of recess when
got there. I was introduced to DR.. Ken.
drick, and he vas mighty kind aud said
they we're just about to perform on
clinik, and invited me in. I thought
that it was some kind ofelectric machine
but when / got in the room there were
1875 young doctors sitting all around or
tiers of seats that got higher and higher
so that all of them could look down or
the little circular pit at the bottoms
little pit about ten feet across and looked
like it was built to fight chickens in.
heard that the boys did fight chickens
there, on the ely, sometimes. The clinil
was revolving table that had cot OF
it, and was placed in the middle Of th'
pit. DR.. Kendrick went in first and
followed along with sick white maj
and two sick darkies. All of suddel
the young doctors commenced cheering
and so I took cheer and sat down.
didn't know whether they were cheerin.
the professor or the sick men, and 70
fear they would think I was sick I ros'
forward and took another cheer ant
they cheered again. The professor thel
introduced me to the audience and
came to a perpindicular attitude, ant
they cheered again and again and I took
Al ~ j.