The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-06-15
INVENTED DovER's POWDER.
Adventurous Career of the old-Time
 Physician.
New York Times.

AQVenJurouS CaTeer or the OlU-AluS
 Physician.
 New York Times.
 Since Mark Twain at a recent dinner in this city went into the subject of old time physicians and their methods, an in- vestigation has been proceeding in Eng land into ancient cures and their authors, with the result that some strange and lit- tle-known facts have been brought to light.
 Who. for instance. knows anything about Dover who immortalized himself by discovering 'Dover's Powder" which is in daily~use in many countries of the world and Is a regular standby? Many lived in comparatively recent times and that he belonged in the category with Bright, of "Brigflt's disease fame: Mur- phy. the discoverer of 'Murphy's button. and McBurney, after whom "McBurney's s Point" is named.
 Out from some dust heap of the past there has been hshed Thomas Dover's g sole contribution to literature. It was of age. and bore the following title:
 The Ancient Physicians Legacy to his County-Being what he has collected himself in Forty-Nine Years Practice Or an Account of the Several Diseases in- cident to Mankind, described in so plain a Manner that any Person may know the Nature of his own Disease. Together with the several Remedies for each Dis- temper faithfully set down. Designed for the Use of all Private Families" Herein Dover's formula was contained.
 An Ancient Roast.
 Dr. Dover felt he had message to de- liver. and he had but little faith in the elan of prejudiced gentlemen" as he termed tho Royal College of Physicians. |, They returned his contempt, or, more probably. they began the squabble, for Dover tells in his book that they referred to him as the quicksilver doctor" But It was a title in which he gloried. He had immense faith in quicksilver, this precious jelly of metals. as it may be f5iieS d S;oo It makes Pa5e al, 9aSSm giSs of he adds. but you disguise it. You give it an honest. open manner. You give it combined with sulphur. the worse ex- cipient you could find. in the form of | Ethiop's mineral. That is like striking | man with sword in a scabbard." Their opinion is a sign they have trav- | eled far at home.' He advises them to take a trip to Hungary ard visit the mines where the quicksilver is dug. They l may there see slaves working entirely | naked to prevent them stealing the met al" But these slaves, it appears. dodg5 their tasl.-masters by swallowing every day so much that they buy chopin of drink with 1t at night.
 Dover's Career.
 Dover was born somewhere In War wickshire in 16S0. How he got his medi- cal training is not known, but some time in hlS youth ne llNeQ ln the mousse OI the famous physician Sydenham. There he had smallpox. First he vas bled to the extent of twenty-two ounces. and then he had an emetic. It was January: he had no fire In his room, the windows were always kept open, and the bed clothes were only allowed up to his waist. The medicine he took was twelve bottles of small beer, acidulated with spirit of vitricl. every twenty-four hours.
 Having resisted both the disease and tEo treatment he Is first heard of in practice at Bristol in 1884. He plodded on there till 170s, when at the age of 4S a voyage around the world. They had two ships, the Duke and the Duchess Captain Woodes- Rogers. who has left an account of the expedition was in chief comand, and Dover, who had charge of the Duke, was his second. He must have been on the sea in his early life or he would hardly have been chosen to com mand q vessel. The buccaneers were away from England three years. and they came back with Spanish frigate of twenty-one guns and lots of loot.
 Among the other events of the voy- age was one of world famous import ance. On February ?, 11o9, Dover touched at the island of Juan Fernandez and brought away from it Alexander Selkirk. who had been there alone four years and four months. and who was the prototype of the immortal Robinson Crusoe.
 A few months later the expedition land ed at Guayaquil. in Peru. Having sack ed the city and stored their plunder in the ships the sailors slept in the church. cs, and Dover records quaintly how they were annoyed'by the smell of the corpses For plague was raging in the place at tho time and the victims were laid just below the floor, with onlv a plank or two to cover them. Forty-eignt hours later. after they had again put to sea, a large number of the sailors we're attacked by the disease. One hundred and eighty of them altogether had it.
 Early Treatment.
 Dover. who had four surgeons under him, ordered them to be bled freely, and he says about 100 ounces O: blood was taken from each man. The surgeons went round and started the bleeding, and only stopped 1t when they had made their rounds. Then ne gave them spirit of vitrol and only seven or eight died.
 Returning to England Dover practiced in Cecil Steeet London, till l72S. when he Is again missed for two or three years From l731 to 1736 he lived in Arundel Street Strand. There he wrote his book in the preface of which he quotes pr. Radcliffe's opinion that it is expedent that young gentlemen entering our pro- fession should travel. If travelling pc necessary to make an accomplished phy- sician." Dover remarks, "l am very sure that l have travelled more than all the physicians in Great Britain put to- gother."
 Ills diaphoretic powder is prescribed in his book in A chapter on gout. The form uld llntTS, put IiH ItSutLi-l5 NplAA pbhlin is practically the same that is called DoVcr's powder. The original formula was as follows:
 Take opium l ounce. saltpetre and tar tar TtrioIated each I ounces, Nquorish 1 ounce, ipecacuanha 1 ounce. Put the saltpetre and tartar into red-hot mor- tar, stirring till they have done flaming. Then powder them very fine after that slice in your opium; grind these to powder. and then miT the other powders with these. Dose: From 40 to @ or 70 grains in d glass of white wine posset going to bed. covering Up warm, and drinking a quart or three pints of the posset-drink while sweating"
 Tn two or three hours at furthest the patient will be free from pain, and. though before not able to put his foot to the ground. 'ts very much + he can not walk next day. The remedy may be taken once a week or once month"
 Tricks of the Trade.
 A sidellght on the relations between doctors and apothecaries in the early days of the eighteenth century is thrown by Thomas Dover's treatise. In Q chapter on ague flor which he says bark is the best medicine known 10 mankind, though he could have the resinous quality of it sep arated from the elrthv parD he remarks that he cannot prescribe to please the a pothecaries. He cannot bring fever case to pounds" though he has known