340 TRAVELS IN THE CONFEDERATION 



generally regarded as industrious people ; they have 

 this character throughout America, and are every- 

 where welcome. 



At Baltimore I had the pleasure of knowing Dr. 

 Wiesenthal, + a worthy fellow-countryman, an old Ger- 

 man physician. He has been here since almost the first 

 beginning of the town, and for his private character as 

 well as his attainments is generally esteemed. It is a 

 pity that his years and infirmities restrict his activities 

 too narrowly, already obliging him to take in a ' part- 

 ner.' This is a very usual custom in America ; physi- 

 cians form agreements like merchants, and it is no 

 matter if perhaps their methods are quite contrary ; 

 on the other hand, one gains at times what the other 

 loses and they share the profit in the end. Almost all 

 the doctors dispensing their medicines themselves and 

 keeping their offices at home, it is in this way a con- 

 siderable help to beginners, unable to set up for them- 

 selves, if they form a partnership with an older man, 

 whose practice they at first assist in caring for and 

 finally inherit. 



I have already made mention, under Wyoming, of 

 the saltpetre prepared in America ; from Dr. Wiesen- 

 thal I received still further information, regarding the 

 natural saltpetre found in America ; and it will not be 

 inappropriate to bring together here all I learned on 

 that subject. 



In the preface of the first volume of the American 

 Philosophical Transactions it is stated among other 

 things that the southern parts of North America are 



" serif t. no. XI, 1786. I knew nothing of this society at the 

 time of my stay in Baltimore, October 1783. 



