Evening star., 1940-04-07
Discusses Predecessors
of Doctor-Authors
By Frederic J. H1sEin.

~ FfeGef1c J. HGSEtn.
To the current generation Of Ameri-
cans 1t may seem that doctors Of medi-
cine recently have entered q new field
and come near to usurping the cata.
losues Of the publishing houses, but one
need 60 back only about three-quarters
Of century to find the idea Is not ex-
actly new and to discover In the Rev.
Marcus Lafayette Byrn, who also was
physician, fascinating prototype. To
be sure, many doctors Of medicine have
written books and some have actually
abandoned medicine completely to 60
into the business Of writing fiction.
The poets Keats and Shelley started
out to be doctors. but probably the most
famous Englishman of the last century
who gave up the stethoscope for the pen
was Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the creator
Of Sherlock Holmes. Today. England
shows such figures as Francis Brett
Young, A. ]. Cronin, ]. B. Priestley and
Warwick Deeping, who have achieved
far greater fame as fiction writer's than
1t is likely they would have achieved tn
the practice of medicine
Here, in the United States, we have
had stories of country doctors, of city
doctors, stories of doctors turned detec-
tive and plain romanticists, and very
good writer's they have turned out to be
for the most part. One wonders how
many Of them ever heard of DR.. Byrn.
He not only practiced medicine; he
preached the Gospel he wrote books
which today would be regarded only as
pseudo scientific but in his day were
gospel to hundreds of thousands and.
moreover he wrote romances and robust,
mid-19th century humor. Also, it is to
be noted, he was a good businessman.
For both his romances and his humor-
GUS works he used as a basis his own
life. Nor could he have done better.
Born in Wilson County, Tenn, Septem-
ber 4, 1925, he worked on q farm and, at
the age of Is, set of on horseback with
500 In cash which his own efforts and
his Irish parents had provided him, to
seek his fortune.
His first venture was job in country
store which had. in rude combination, q
country doctors Office There he learned
from the doctor and in spare time,
roamed the hills and woods in search of
herbs. In 1848 he entered the Louisville
(Ky0 Medical School. While there he
began actual practice of medicine-a
fact that may seem preposterous In these
days OF long training for qualification
but serious epidemic broke out at the
time and ragged up and down the Mis-
sissippi Valley. He found the services
Of doctor in strong demand and his
youth and inexperience did not deter
him whit.
In 1850 he went to New York City and
another wonder Of precocity-in 1851
the New York University Medical School
conferred upon him his M. D. He went
back to Tennessee with his additional
knowledge and practiced there for a
brief time period in which he gathered
much experience and material for his
later writings. The year 1853 found him
back again in New York, opening q doc
tors office and embarking upon further
| strange chapters Of his strange career
For enc thing, as . boy Of is he had
been converted at Methodist revival
meeting in the hills and, at once, began
to preach the Gospel. He was known
as the Boy Preacher and attracted large
congregations at camp meetings and
spoke frequently at schoolhouses. So, in
New York he did not drop this aspect of
his life, and got himself licensed rs an
"exhorter" by the Methodist Church.
He organized the Asbury Praying Band,
an extraordinary group of rather ANA
teur musicians who mingled prayer and
music. He composed the words and
music of 80 hymns.
He began his pamphleteering In 1857
when he printed a small booklet which
attacked quacks. He set forth his own
qualifications as reason why readers
OF his book should come to him and
avoid the pitfalls dug by less worthy
practitioners. Naively enough, in sub
sequent pamphlets he explained that
he, himself, was not in robust health and
could not move about extensively, 80 peo-
pie should either come to his office or
write to him, and thus he started an
extraordinary mail-order medical busi-
ness.
For sums as low as so cents he would
prescribe for any mail-order patient who
would write him his symptoms, and it
was no trick at all for any prospective
patient to pick out his own from q list
of symptoms which the learned doctor
would send him.
OF course, DR.. Byrn did not overlook
the opportunity of inventing, making
and selling his own proprietary medi-
cines. His advertisements asserted that
his own nostrums should be purchased
because, as his patients declared, they
"have given better general satisfaction
than any other medicines I have known
Of" Here he capitalized on what he had
learned Of herbs and simples In the
| Tennessee hills.
|
He compiled q remarkable opus called
"The Mystery Of Medicine Explained"
This was designed for household USE
and, it is known. 10000 copies were sold,
which was rather good for those days
for any book. He had much to say. He
was one Of the first pure food crusaders
and devoted chapters to various foods.
Concerning the adulteration of Ice
cream, his work declared: "Ah, my
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