MEDICINE IN AMERICA 403 



Plymouth, where he practiced for thirteen years. The mental 

 state of these ancients when they planned their curious rem- 

 edies may be imagined by reading the following receipt taken 

 from the receipt book of John Wadsworth of Duxbur}-: 'This 

 Receipt cost me fifty pounds by count, and I })ra}' you would 

 not expose the same without good fee : This for Canser proves 

 exelant, and if in the time applied, will cure a canser humor. 

 Take 3 frogs and put them into a deep earthen basen and power 

 upon them as much sweet oyel as will cover them, put yt into 

 a hot oven and let yt stand a quarter of an houre; then turn 

 off the remaining oyel and dip towl in it and apply to the can- 

 ser; and for a plaster you must take the yolks of two eggs. Bur 

 tallow, 1 oz., coal armonick, 1 oz., Bay salts | oz. Bruse all to a 

 fine powder and mix up with yt yolks of eggs and apply in form 

 of a plaster to the sore every 3rd day. Gi\'e a portion of a 

 spoon of salts to cool the hete of the blood; this alwaise will 

 carry off the canser humor if timely applied. The person must 

 make them constant drink the canser roots tea — we may att 

 sartain times apply a tode cutt in two to the wound, two or 

 three times a week the nature of yr tode is such yt will draw 

 out the sharp hot canserous and pysonous and if you proseded 

 in this matter, you may cure any canser." 



This carries us back into the dark ages. The absolute 

 ignorance of the nature of cancer and its diagnosis is not sur- 

 prising ; but the credulity of the writers is amazing. It was an 

 age of barbarism, but Harvey was living and his famous con- 

 temporary, Rene Descartes, who was the first to show that 

 vital phenomena, like all other phenomena in a physical world, 

 are resolvable finally into matter and motion. Truth was 

 being sought, but in America all was crudeness and error. 

 For near a hundred years the births of children were in the 

 hands of the women, midwives so-called. Medicine was 

 largely the work of ministers, and statesmen took a hand. 

 Nevertheless by 1692 the records show one hundred and 

 thirty four men doctors — in name at least. Many of these 

 had their patrons. To us, this may seem humiliating, but our 

 art held no great place in those times. The church came first 

 and then the law. The surgeon was subordinate to the phy- 

 sician until many years later. The pompous, mysterious 



