New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1903-11-06
AMERICAN DOCTORS.
The Li0es of Some Noted Men IN
Our History.

A NARRATIVE OF MEDICINE IN AMERICA.
By James Gregory Mumford NJ D., AsslstaI,
Visiting surgeon 10 the Massachusetts Genera
ward Medical School svo pp. 5os. J. 3. ldppin-
colt Company.
Though. as DR. Mumford remarks. the tale OF
American medicine really begins with the end
OF the American Revolution he devotes a good
quarter of his book TO the previous period. and
presents an interesting narrative Of early prac-
lice Early Virginia is memorable for attract
ing the first physician who reached the shores
OF the New World. Thomas wotton, surgeon
general Of the London Company, and for the
first movement by the statute book for a higher
standard among practitioners. Quotations from
such contemporary record the receipt book
o. John wadsworth. Of DuNbury, from which Is
drawn a description Of an infallible remedy Tor
cancer consisting Of the application Of frogs
cut in two or oil in which they had been set in
q hot oven. illustrate the mental state Of the
slime. However touched and clouded by creou-
lity the period carries one great credit for the
profession in New-E England. they had no part IN
the wftchcraft delusion. Charleston. with New
York Philadelphia and Boston. constituted the
four medical centres Of those early days uhless
virginia and Maryland be included. The de-
,-e,onr,ent in these centres was not conspicuous.
,boprb tbe names Of the early doctors, brave
and faithful men and not without skill within
the limitations Of the knowledge Of the day. are
carefully preserved. The settlement OF the couh-
Try was largely done in the open. and men &C
crsto-ned to the hornely. energetic lie o. the
frontier had less need Of medical aid than Is
demanded by the urban conditions OF the pres
ent day Epidemcs however. occurred there
were many serious ones in New-England ana
Nev-Yorlz where smallpox played havoc ana
3, general in those places where ships came
.141, v4-ac loss q Y
posed TO foreign infection. and in all cases
..r,lsq,es- were attributed to the hand Of the
Lord shown in wrath.
The smallpox epidemics and the account
brought from Constantinople by Lady Mary
wortley Nontagu were the cause OF a violent
medical controversy in Boston in which press
Topulace. legislature. clergy and the physicians
we're involved But Mather. who came upon
the Turkish practice Of incubation in an &C
count four years old, and espous l II with con-
troversial energy: and Boylston, the hrst
American physician Of note, who carried MS
triumph TO London finally, with the help OF a
handful Of other practitioners, preVaiieo over
conservative caution. popular prejudice ana the
journalistic violence led by Franklin. hello"
fever. brought in from the West Indies was as
much the scourge Of the seaboard towns in the
next century as smallpox before. II was keenly
studisd and fought against by the generation OF
doctors that was handing over American prac-
tice 10 native born profession. especially by
the brilliant Charleston group, Chalmers, Lin
ing. Garden. Moultrie and Bull.
To the next generation OF native born en-
fhusiastic practitioners belongs the founding OF
schools and hospitals, such as those at Phila-
selphis and New-York This movement sup
piled in time the needed remedy for the lowering
of standards brought about by a change from
oSre- sea
vigorous but poorly equipped native profession.
The confusion that besets the tale Of the physi-
clans in the field Of the Revolutionary War the
UNPLEASANT breach between Morgan and his sue
cessor as chief physician Of the armies. Shipper
"a regrettable occurrence which had one COM
7,ensation in the publication Of a most informing
slocument-and Morgan's 'Vindication,' are
traversed with such detail as is TO be had. In
teresting chapters devoted TO Benjamin
Rush not a creative mind. but great student,
furious worker and magnetic teacher, and to
Elihu Hubbard Smith, scientific mind Of the
first order. The groups that appeared in med
zeal centres and gradually extended that condi-
rion to other towns, such as New-Orleans, are
r1aralleled spasmodically in the wilds. in Ohio
and Kentucky, where Mcdowell made a sue
cessful though scorned innovation in surgery.
The tale Of progress is followed through the in
dividual lives Of notable physicians and sur
Eeons down 10 the period closing the Civil War.
Hosack Nathan Smith and Bgelow stand out
among physicians in the early part OF the nine
teenth century Chapman is drawn with some
care, a man conspicuous for the impulse he gave
70 medical Journalism. The author also por-
trays Francis, a teacher in New-York after a
long and exhausting practice: Gibson. Of Balti-
more and Philadelphia, remembered for his
Efrile and vigorous personality his bold original
fly as an operator, and his whimsical crusa de
against tobacco; Jackson. author Of the Letters
10 a Young Physician for many years the wade
Inecum in England. and the introducer Of vac
cine virus from England. Daniel Drake, even
more notable than these men. a pioneer figure
Of Cincinnati, a brilliant teacher, voluminous
writer, enthusiastic citizen and man Of affairs
deserves his special mention. as does Morton
the dentist, who marred IS discovery of the
anasthetic quality Of ether by attempting to en-
force a patent upon il. In final chapter on
tendencies. Or. Mumfosd analyses recent Stats
tics Of the Harvard Medical School 20 show that
The general practitioner is not being supplanted
by the specialist and that the majority OF
graduates DO not seek the larger cities
The book is written with manifest interest
and sets forth the history OF our medicine by the
lives Of its noteworthy opponents with sympathy
and directness.