A  j^SarryPi898rm"}    Dr.  Peter  Smith  and  His  Dispensatory. 
medicine,  Peter  Smith,  the  representative  of  a  class  of  men  who 
sought  neither  fame  nor  gold,  and  who  feared  no  privation,  made 
his  mark  and  passed  away. 
"  Peter  Smith,  the  Indian  Herb  Doctor."  That  name  was  familiar 
during  the  writer's  boyhood  in  Kentucky.  The  name  lingers  yet 
about  Western  domestic  medicine,  and  is  occasionally  seen  in  ortho- 
dox medical  print.  Rafinesque  cited  Peter  Smith  as  one  of  the 
authorities  consulted  in  the  formation  of  his  Materia  Medica,  but 
Smith's  book  was  lost  to  sight.  Tradition  also  told  of  a  book  by. 
Peter  Smith,  but  no  such  book  was  anywhere  to  be  found.  Second- 
hand booksellers,  old  men  and  women  throughout  the  "  Miami 
Country,"  old  physicians'  libraries  were  appealed  to  in  vain.  Neither 
is  a  copy  of  this  book  to  be  found  in  the  Surgeon- General's  library. 
The  name  of  the  man  alone  remained,  the  book  that  he  wrote  had 
vanished.    Then  at  last  the  writer  gave  up  the  search  in  despair. 
Last  summer,  by  invitation  of  Mr.  Le  Roy  Brooks,  the  day  was 
spent  with  the  Toledo  Club  at  Middle  Bass  Island,  Lake  Erie. 
General  J.  Warren  Keifer,  in  speaking  about  old  books,  chanced  to 
mention  Peter  Smith's  Dispensatory,  a  copy  of  which  he  possessed. 
The  lost  book  was  found,  and,  in  addition,  the  history  of  its  author 
was  recovered,  for  Peter  Smith  was  the  father  of  General  Keifer's 
mother.  Added  interest  accrued  from  the  fact  that  it  was  learned 
that  the  field  of  Dr.  Smith's  operations  about  Cincinnati  was  near 
the  spot  where  these  lines  are  penned,  the  old  Duck  Creek  church, 
a  pioneer  monument  in  the  history  of  the  Ohio  Baptists,  in  which 
he  officiated,  being  within  a  few  moments'  walk  of  the  home  of 
the  writer. 
HISTORY  OF  PETER  SMITH.1 
Dr.  Peter  Smith,  a  former  resident  of  Old  Columbia,  now  a  part 
of  Cincinnati,  had,  in  pioneer  days,  some  celebrity  as  a  physician  in 
the  "  Miami  Country."  He  was  a  son  of  Dr.  Hezekiah  Smith,  of 
the  "  Jerseys,"  "  a  home  old  man,  or  Indian  doctor."  Peter  was 
born  in  Wales,  February  6,  1753,  from  whence  this  branch  of  the 
Smith  family  came.  He  was  also  a  relative  of  Hezekiah  Smith,  D.D., 
of  Haverhill,  Mass.  Peter  Smith  was  educated  at  Princeton,  and  was 
married  in  New  Jersey  to  Catherine  Stout,  December  23,  1776.  He 
seems  to  have  early,  under  his  father,  given  some  attention  to  medi- 
1  Credit  is  due  General  Keifer  for  the  facts  that  gave  this  information.— L. 
