The broad ax. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1895-19??, 1897-03-06
EARLY AMsRIcAN pocroRs.
some Very Queer Details OF Their
Practice.

some very Queer Details OF Their
Practice.
II may be well here to refer to the
method Of obtaining a medical profess
SION IN those days, says the American
monthly Magazine. There were but
Two schools Of medicine In the country.
ioe one at Harvard college, just es-
taolished, and that at New Haven, or
CANNED In 1854. But by reason Of the
dangers and expense of travelling they
We're oy no means well attended. In
general the medical education was such
a. the student could pick up by serv-
ing as an apprentice to some noted
practitioner, which combined the du-
ties OF student with many mental az
fairs. He ground the powders, mixed
the pills, rode with the doctor on his
rounds, held the basin when the patient
was bled, helped to adjust the plasters,
sew wounds and run with the walls OF
medicine from one end of the town to
the other. 1t was a white day when
such a young man enjoyed the rare
good fortune Of dissecting a half-putrid
arm So great, indeed, was the diff-
Guilty OF obtaining anatomical subjects
that the medical school at Harvard
college made a single body do duty for
whole year. Under such circum-
stances the doctors knowledge was
practical, and derived from personal
experience rather than from books.
The advantages Of study were sparing-
" enjoyed. Few physicians boosted Of
q library Of fifty volumes. His appren-
dceship ended, the student returned to
his native town to assume the practice
Of medicine. At that period, with the
exception OF the minister and the
judge, the doctor was the most impor-
tant parsonage in the community. His
genial face, his engaging manners, the
sincerity with which he inquired after
the carpenters daughter and the in
terest he took in the family of the
poorest laborer made him the favorite
for miles around. He knew the names
and personal history Of the occupants
OF every house he passed. The farmers
lads pulled on their hats to him, and
the girls dropped courtesies as he
passed. Sunshine and rain, daylight
and darkness were alike to him. He
would ride ten miles in the darknest
night over the worst of roads, In a
pelting storm, to administer a dose of
cAlomel to an old woman or attend a
child In q fit The drugs were stored
away on the shelves of the village
store, among heaps of shoes, Rohan
hats, packages Of seeds and fiitches Of
bacon. The physician was compelled
to compound his own drugs, make his
own tinctures and put up his own pre-
scriptions- His saddle-bag was the
only drug store within forty miles.
Each spring the blood must be purified,
the kidneys excited and the damsel who
tainted profusely bled. Large doses Of
SIENNA and mama and rhubarb and mo-
lasses taken daily. II is safe to say
that more medicine was taken every
year by the we'll than is now taken by
the sick in the same time.
Water was denied the patient tor
mented with fever. In its stead was
given a small quantity Of clam Juice.
Mercury was taken until the lips turned
blue and the gums fell away from the
teeth. The writer has vivid recollec-
ton, when about years old, In a rag
ing fever, pleading for water; the nurse
handed the pitcher and the child salts
fed her burning thirst. Her brother.
overhearing what was going on, rushed
into the room, exclaiming: You will
kill her." but it was too late.