The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-05-05
GRANNY WOMEN,
They Kept the Mortality as Low q
Regular Doctors Do.

Regular Doctors Do.
The Southern girl went around to spend
an evening with the trained nurses at their
home in West Twenty-hrst street. There
were dozen or more of them at home that
night, and the Southern girl had not been
there very long before they were demand
ing to be told about those "female doctors
down South"
"How many of you are M.D.'s? Hold
up your hands," said the Southern girl.
Several hands went up.
"Were any of you ever in Asheville,
N.C.?"
Three or four affirmative answers were
given.
Good! Then you know where the Pied
mont section of South Carolina is, about
eighty miles from Asheville. Well, these
women doctors I'm going to tell you about
hourished there long ago, even before any
woman in this State ever studied medi-
cine, guess.
"You see, it was this way They had to
take up the practice of medicine from sheer
necessity. In the early days of the CEN
fury regular ply sicians were scarce in
rural districts, and this was particularly
true of Upper Carolina. The only ply
stefan in county lived at the Court
house. as the county seat was called.
Consequently the people living in remote
parts OF the County would have to ride
twenty or twenty five miles for the doctor.
When his office was reached he might then
be on the opposite side of the county.
The scarcity of physicians and the long
distance to be travelled caused the people
to rely more on simple remedies. The
woman who was wisest in administering
these soon became the neighbour God doc
tor. Her knowledge of herbs and roots
and their various uses added the practice
of midwifery to the art of poulticing and
bllsterlng. This, too, grew out of the ne
ccessitles OF the people living miles away
from the doctor.
"These granny women, as they were
called, were sturdy, self-reliant set, and
most useful in their neighborhoods. Often
they would ride ten or twenty miles to
attend patient. Some of them were kept
so busy that they found good saddle
horse a necessity, and they were just as
ready to attend the calls of the sick, day or
night, as genuine man doctor. In cases
OF childbirth they would often remain
with the patients several days, acting as
nurse"
Ibid they use any medicine ?" asked one
of the nurses.
"They used store medicine very eau
tlously," answered the Southern girl" and
eiiSll COitcCtloIl VI uTuRS Qli llOL 10 pey Gnu
ealomy, 'laudamy,' 'camtire, 'jollop' and
tartar emetic. You learned female doctors
and trained nurses may recognize these
drugs.
"0f these granny women, two were
especially prominent down to the Civil
War, and they continued to practice after
ward as long as they were able to go. One
OF these was Granny McKeown and the
other Granny McCraw. They were as
highly esteemed for their excellence of
character in the sick room as the regular
male graduates, and many families pre-
ferred these women, with their herb teas,
poultlces and sympathetic ways, to the
young. graduates who seemed to know
everything. The old doctors were always
glad to have them on hand, especially in
severe cases. Ii these women had been
born later they might have gone to a
medical college and been leaders in the
profession, or they might have done the
very work that you are all doing.
II wonder what the modern graduate,
male, OF course, would do she went on,
I'm case ne was called in suddenly to at
tend a patient without his medicine case.
| believe he would feel like an idiot search
ing around for rue or tansy or ground ivy
to relieve pain. Now, these granny
women couldn't even spell the word
botany, but they knew all about plants
and were self-reliant enough to use their
knowledge. New York Sun.