338  The  History  of  Dover\s  Powder.  {^mi^;?m™' 
and  romance,  become  the  subjects  of  interest,  and  appeal  for  preser- 
vation at  our  hands.  Our  kindred  institutions  have  awakened  to 
the  importance  of  incorporating  in  the  literature  of  college  historical 
clubs  the  traditions  of  the  professions,  and  with  these  the  instructive 
truths  which  a  faithful  narrative  may  hand  down  to  posterity  as  a 
kind  of  legacy. 
The  topic  which  we  have  chosen  for  a  brief  consideration  with  you 
to-day  has  been  suggested  in  the  publication,  by  the  Johns  Hopkins 
Hospital  Historical  Club,  on  the  life  and  personal  history  of  Thomas 
Dover,  physician  and  buccaneer,  author  and  originator  of  Dover's 
Powder.  Strange,  indeed,  it  is  that  the  inventor's  fame  should  survive 
the  lapse  of  two  and  a  half  centuries,  and  be  perpetuated  upon  the 
seemingly  unsubstantial  support  of  a  medical  powder !  Yet  what 
tyro  of  the  drug  store  of  to-day  does  not  associate  with  his  alphabet 
of  familiar  preparations  the  well-known  Dover's  Powder ;  and  is 
there  anything  more  familiar  to  any  of  us  ?  Yet,  if  the  biographer 
had  not  coupled  the  career  of  Dr.  Thomas  Dover  with  a  tinge  of 
romance,  attaching  the  story  of  a  privateer's  life  and  exploits  at  sea, 
quite  likely,  perhaps,  Dr.  Thomas  Dover,  as  a  name,  would  never 
have  become  known  to  fame  and  to  us.  This  points  to  the  moral 
of  our  plea  for  the  safe  custody  of  facts  worthy  of  preservation  at 
the  hands  of  a  college  historical  society. 
We  will  not  stop  to  discuss  the  merit  of  Dover's  Powder  more  than 
to  say  its  sterling  value  has  never  been  superseded,  and  its  thera- 
peutic importance  in  specific  use  remains  to  this  day  unquestioned. 
We  would  fain  worship  at  the  shrines  of  many  new  gods,  but  the 
good  old  deities  are  yet  worthy  of  our  highest  homage. 
Thomas  Dover  was  born  in  England  in  the  year  1660.  He 
settled  and  practised  medicine  for  a  time  in  Bristol ;  left  there  for  a 
period  and  returned  again.  He  lived  with,  and  was  contemporane- 
ous with,  Sydenham.  He  gained  much  professional  reputation  on 
the  occasion  of  a  severe  epidemic  of  fever.  This  may  have  sug- 
gested to  him  the  use  of  ipecac  and  opium  in  a  compound.  He 
seems  to  have  scoffed  a  good  deal  at  his  brother  doctors,  and  finally 
wrote  and  published  a  work,  entitled  "  An  Ancient  Physician's 
Legacy." 
In  Dover's  day  and  time,  the  apothecaries  were  in  the  ascendency, 
being  the  medical  practitioners,  whilst  the  doctors  were  called  in  to 
attend  in  childbirth  and  protracted  illness.    Indeed,  it  is  stated  that 
