Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Ann Med Hist V1 N3 Fal Yr 1917 To C
Ann Med Hist V1 N3 Fal Yr 1917 To C
Ann Med Hist V1 N3 Fal Yr 1917 To C
ANNALS OF
MEDICAL HISTORY
W IL F R ID M . D E V O Y N IC H & F IE L D IN G H. G A R R ISO N , M .D .
of the early mediaeval figurations of Death tween physic and the figurative arts would
suggest kinship with the m s . anatomical be hard to explain in any other way than
drawings of the same period, and it is pos the one I shall attempt to use, simple
sible that the mediaeval artists may have and obvious as it is! It was by the haz
acquired this peculiar type of decorative ard of association in one and the same
scheme not beautiful in itself, from associa guild that the anatomists and artists of
tion with physicians who were studying Florence made their magnetic contacts.
anatomy by means of dissection. In his The painters formed a sub-membrum of
interesting study of the influence of the the ‘Guild of Physicians and Apotheca
Florentine painters of the Quattrocento ries.’ They all belonged— Giotto, M asac
S k e l e t a l and V isc e r a l A natomy 227
cio, Castagno, Ucello, Verrocchio— to the together in all the multiform guild func
membrum pictorum of the Guild of tions; they sat together in the guild
Physicians and Apothecaries. Masaccio Council; walked together under the same
joined the guild first as an apothecary banner in pageants. It cannot, therefore,
oir twbcf
(in 14 21, at the age of 19); then he matric be a matter of surprise to learn that
ulated under the membrum pictorum (in Giotto was a friend of Dino del Garbo
1423). You see, the apothecaries included and Torrigiano, or that Luca della Rob
color handlers, the ‘spetiarii, qui emunt, bia (almost 200 years later) was a friend
vendunt et operant colores et alia ad of the founder of pathological anatomy,
membrum pictorum spectantia memora- Benivieni, although the latter was al
tum’ (apothecaries who buy, sell and most half a century (49 years) younger
deal in colors and other materials needed than Luca.” 3
by the artists). B y virtue of this affilia 3 E . C. Streeter: Johns Hopkins Hosp. Bull.,
tion the artists and doctors were thrown Balt., 1916, xxvii, 118 .
228 ^Annals o f Medical History
Some light upon this question is afforded of the “ Books of Hours,” and the best in
in the skeletal and other anatomical figura artistic merit, particularly the illuminated
tions in the illuminated and printed “ Books m s s ., are of French design, tasteful and
of Hours,” from which the pious recited their charming in conception and execution.
mec.m.XOefufcepit* Cpfe fm u s.
f£u& ©cue meus:ad te oe luce vigtlo,gjfftiuitffl te
V j/am na mea:q^multipltciter tibi caro m eajTnl^ra
oeferta imua z inaquofa ftcm fancto apparufHbmvide j
rem virtut^ warn et gloria tuam Quemamelioz ell mia (
tua fuper vitas:labia mea laudabut te* benedtcatef
mvita mea:et innomine tuo leuabo manus meaa^fcut,
adipeetpinguedine repkqturaiamea: etlabiierejculta=
tioms laudabit os med*j©ic memo: fuiml fuper dratu
jim matutims meditabot te: q: fuilli adiuto: meus
invelamento alaro tuarumejcultabo adbefit anima
mea pod te:me fufcepit oejttera tuCHpfi vero inuanum
quefierunt aiam meam introibuntwinferior terre: tra=
dentur in manus gladij partes vulptu erunfc^ejt vero
letabitur inoeo laudabutur oesqui turat ineo:q? o b lte
ctum ell os loquentiu iniqua d O u s mifereat noflri z be.
nedicatnpbis: illuminet vultufuu fuper nos et mifereaf.
n o d ri^ t cognofcamusut terra viam tua :in omnibus
gentibus falutare tuuOonfiteatur tibi populi oeus: cd
nteantur tibi populi et ejeultent getes quo
mamimjtcas populos mequitate:et genres in terra oir£=
gis.CXonfiteantur tibi populi oeus: confiteantur tibi po
puli oes terra oedit fructu fu30enedicat nos oe9 oeus
noder bndtcat nos oetfsxt metuant eum oes fines terre*
^Requiem eternam oonaeis one et lujcperp etua luceat
eis*an*X0e fufcepit oeictera tua oomie*an.H poria infer!
fp^falm us*
/So oi]eiin Oimidio oieru meomm: vadam ad pot-
tasinferi* Ouefiuirefiduum annommmeqium:
oijei non videbo oominum oeum in terra viuentifiAT
afpiciambominevltra:etbabitato:em quietis* < 3 ^ iera
tio mea ablata ed et conuoluta ed a me:quafi tabernacus
lum padommOtccifa edvelut a te)tente vita mea bum
! adbuc ozdirefmccidit me:oe mattcvfq? advefpera fiiries
yg^erabam vfq$ ad mane: quafileo fic contriuit oia
matins, lauds, vespers, and the other daily In the plates herewith presented, it will
exercises of prayer and devotion. There are strike upon the sense of any one that the
many different varieties of skeletons in these marginal figurations of death as a half-
beautiful mediaeval manuals which we dissected corpse, as a figure covered with
hope at some future time to study. For syphilitic or leprous sores, or as a shrivelled
the present, it may suffice to describe a Hautskelett (Sudhoff’s Lemur engestalt) were,
few pages photographed from a manual in all probability, conceived from some
of the horse canonicse printed at Paris in other viewpoint than the purely artistic.
1501 by Pigouchet (Plates I-IV). Most In the shrivelled figure of Death subscribed
S k e l e t a l and V isc e r a l A natomy 229
“ /e pape” in the right-hand margin of covered with syphilitic sores, with a spade,
Plate I, the abdomen is opened, suggesting threatening a newly-married wife (“ nouvelle
dissection. In the lower right-hand corner marie” ), and Death jeering at a pregnant
of the center-piece is a leper, with Lazarus- woman (“ la feme grosse” ). A t the bottom
rattle and wallet, a dog licking the sores of the page, a dead eviscerated king, covered
on his left foot. The skeleton in the lower with luetic sores, lies with his crown beside
right-hand corner of Plate II (“ le medecin” ), him. In the center of Plate IV is a corpse
grins mockingly at a doctor who is uphold astride a jester, the abdominal viscera
ing a urine glass. At the top (“ /e moyne” ), being dissected out, with lines extending
grinning Death shoulders a spade. The from the heart, liver, stomach and other
right-hand marginal ornamentation of Plate viscera to legends in the margin indicating
III shows an eviscerated Death arm in the planets influencing these separate parts,
arm with a nun (‘ 7 a theologiene” ), Death a decorative device plainly derived from
230 Annals o f Medical History
the old zodiacal diagrams for bloodletting tures of Henri de Mondeville (1314 ), which
and purgation, in which an exposition of Sudhoff has reproduced,4 or the shrivelled
planetary influences was frequently com skeletal larvae, with jesters between their
bined with schemata of the viscera. That outstretched legs, from the Shepherd’s Cal
these grotesque figurations should be em endars (Calendrier des Bergiers) of 1495 and
ployed as decorative devices in the other 1500 5 or the Nuremberg skeleton of Rich
wise beautiful “ Books of Hours,” plainly ard Helain (1493),6 or the Brunswick skele
suggests affiliation of the miniature painter ton of Griininger (1497).7 That there is
with medical men who did dissecting and some connection between these early ana
made anatomical illustrations in m s s . This tomical figurations and the decorative de
will seem clear to any one who compares vices in the “ Books of Hours” seems clear,
these shrivelled and eviscerated skeleton- and we hope to trace this connection further
larvae with the twelve anatomical minia- back at some future opportunity.
4 Sudhoff: “ Studien zur Geschichte der Medizin” 5 Sudhoff: Ibid., pi. ix.
(Puschmann Stiftung), Heft 4, Leipzig, 1908, pi. 6 Ibid., p. 46.
xxiv. 7 Ibid., p. 48.
I j we open a vein in a ligated arm and while the distal part was correspondingly dim
compress or ligate the distal portion near the inished; at the same time, if the vein was lig
opening, not a drop of blood comes out: from ated, it did not swell perceptibly. This has
which we may conclude, apparently, that when been our common experience. But in order
blood does flow from the opening, it comes that there might be no manner of doubt, and
from the direction of the hand. Again, when that we might know what goes on inside the
blood is drawn in quantity to the extent that vein, we have elevated the detached vein and
it could not have come from the lower part of artery a little, and have fastened the leg tight
the brachial veins, it must have come from ar ly underneath, so that the blood could not be
teries not closed by the ligature, and above the carried up or down by any other vein than the
opening as the pulse itself indicates. But in one so lifted. Then, having suspended and
order to make this plainer, we have sometimes elevated the vein with a thread as represented
separated the tissues from a large vein and ar in the figure, we made a little opening above
tery lying above the muscles in a dog’s groin and below the ligature: Instantly the blood
so that both were completely exposed. On lig from the part farthest from the heart spurted
ating this vein with a thread we have noticed out in an abundant, impetuous jet; while the
that the part nearer the vena cava emptied and part beyond the thread and nearer the heart
contracted, while the lower parts swelled ex oozed out only drop by drop. From which it
tremely towards the leg, so that by reason of seems evident that the blood does not descend
its fullness it seemed harder than the artery from the greater vessels but ascends from the
itself. But directly the ligature was relaxed, smaller to the larger veins; especially since
the blood mounted upwards on the instant and having ligated the same vein farther from the
' the hardness and fullness of the vein was vast heart we have seen that not a drop came from
ly diminished; when the artery was ligated, the opening from which it had previously jet
the part near the aorta swelled marvelously ted forth with such impetuosity.
BABYLONIAN-ASSYRIAN M EDICINE1
B y M O R R IS JA ST R O W , JR ., P h .D ., L L .D .
University of Pennsylvania
PHILADELPHIA, PA.
M
E D IC IN E among the Babylo
nians and Assyrians takes its everywhere. So far as plants and the ani
rise from popular experience mal world are concerned, this identification
or perhaps, we should say, of all forms of life, though set up in an en
from necessity, and, therefore, rests upon tirely unscientific spirit, would not be in
popular beliefs as to the cause of disease. contradiction to modern biological theories
That cause forms part and parcel of a most which recognize some connecting link be
primitive Weltanschauung which seeks to ex tween the lowest form of animal life
plain the universe in terms of life. Life is the and the highest form of plant life, but
one phenomenon which man finds everywhere, primitive man extends the analogy to
in himself and about him. He recognizes life inanimate nature— to stones, streams and
in trees and plants, in wells and streams, in the heavenly bodies. All life is of the
the heavens above— in the sun and moon, in same kind and, therefore, the primitive
the rain and the storms which come from philosophy assumes the possibility of one
above— and as a matter of course also in the form of life passing on to another form— a
animals that he sees or with which he comes point of view that is illustrated in the folk
into contact. Whatever moves must have tales and myths, so widespread, of men
life, and so he assigns life to the clouds and being changed into animals or trees, and
to the running brooks. Whatever grows and vice versa.2 This theory survives in ad
gives fruit has life, and so there is life in the vanced forms of religious thought in the
trees and plants; whatever has power is en doctrine of the transmigration of souls, as
dowed with life, and so there is life in the in Buddhism, where the same vital es
sun and moon as in animals and in himself. sence, it is assumed, may appear succes
Whether we call this theory animism or sively in a tree, in an animal or in man; in
prefer some other designation, it represents another direction it leads to the belief of
an early and natural phase of man’s the incarnation of a deity in human form—
thought, closely entwined with his religion a belief found in many religions.
and involved in most of the rites which we The primitive theory of animism has a
find to be a part of primitive culture. bearing on the earliest view as to the cause
It is a part of this early and naive philos of disease. Since physical suffering is an at
ophy to identify all forms of life as of the tack upon the vital essence in man, pre
same quality, or rather as one may also senting itself as a conflict waged between
put it, not to differentiate between the man and some hostile power, that power
various forms and manifestations of life. is likewise viewed under the aspect of life.
1 The article is based in large measure upon my M a y 5, 19 17, I have treated the subject from a some
monograph “ The Medicine of the Babylonians and what different point of view and have added some
Assyrians,” published in the Proc. Roy. Soc. Med., new material, to bring the subject up to date.
Section for the History of Medicine, 1914, vii, 2 For instance, in the Jatakas or the Buddha birth
10 9 -176 , which is an enlargement of a paper read tales, coming down to us as the “ Fables of Bidpai,”
before the Royal Society in October, 19 13. In the “ Tisop’s Fables” and in various other forms.
present article, enlarged from a paper read before The “ Metamorphoses” of Ovid and the “ Golden
the Chicago Society for the History of Medicine, A ss ” of Apuleius also rest on this popular belief.
231
232 Annals o f Medical History
The germ theory, so popular in these days The evil Utukku,6 who in the open attacks
of advanced pathology, has an ancient heri the living;
The evil AIu covering one like a garment;7
tage. It forms the starting point of medi
The evil Etimmu,8 the evil Gallu who seizes the
cine everywhere, for sickness is pictured body.
by primitive man as being due to some Labartu, Labasi, bringing sickness to the body;
active living force that has found its way Lilu,9 wandering about in the open,
into the body. The conclusion is a very Approaching the side of the wandering man,
natural one. In the case of a violent or a Imposing wasting disease on his body,
Bringing an evil ban on his body,
shooting pain, the sensation is very vivid
Bringing an evil pest into his body,
that there is something inside which pro Bringing evil poison into his body,
duces the picture, something that must be Bringing the evil curse into his body.
forced or coaxed out if one is to be relieved * * * * * * *
— and in many cases this is no doubt true. Ashakku10 has approached the head of the man.
A cure, therefore, involves the expulsion Nam tar 11 has approached the throat of the man.
The evil Utukku has approached his neck.
of the hostile power. Medical treatment is
The evil AIu has approached his breast.
essentially exorcism. This primitive germ The evil Etimmu has approached his stomach.
theory has, in fact, a great advantage over The evil Gallu has approached his hand.
the modern successor, for to the imagina The evil god has approached his foot.
tion of primitive man the germ is obliging The seven together have seized him;
enough to take on tangible shape. It does They have burned his body like a glowing fire.ua
not hide itself, as the modern germ insists The Babylonians and Assyrians thus rec
upon doing, so as to be discernible only ognized an entire faculty of demons. The
when isolated and under the gaze of a age of specialization had set in which as
powerful microscope, nor must its exist signed a special function to each “ germ,”
ence be hypothetically assumed. The an though the professional ethics of demon
cient germ was not ashamed of itself; it ology did not bar the demons from en
showed its teeth and even its tail and its croaching on the domain of a colleague.
horns. The germ was a demon, an evil spir Medical treatment, therefore, was di
it that was sufficiently accommodating to rected towards exorcising the demon as the
sit for its portrait, and so we have in early cure. It remained on this level among the
art, pictures of these demons that by their Babylonians and Assyrians, despite consid
terrifying aspect3 suggest the mischief that erable progress made in the direction of
they were capable of inflicting. prophylaxis. Sickness continued to the lat
Let me add a description of these de est period, in the long stretch of several
mons as found in Babylonian literature: thousand years covered by Babylonian-As-
syrian history, to be viewed as a struggle
Evil Rabisu 4 are they
From the lower world they come forth.
between the patient and the demon. The
Messengers of Enlil,5 the lord of the lands are theory persisted that the patient was cured
they. when the demon had been thrust out.
3 See the illustrations in Jastrow, “ Civilization of 7 A demon that clouds one’s vision.
Babylonia and A ssyria,” PI. xxxii. 8 A class of demons identified with the “ shade”
4 Name of a class of demons, meaning “ the one of the departed.
who lies in w ait.” 9 A storm demon.
6 The chief deity of Nippur and, in the older period, 10 The demon of wasting disease.
the head of the pantheon. 11 The demon of plague.
6 Another class of demons, meaning “ the strong uaT hat is, with a fever, which is regularly spoken
99
one. of in these texts as a fire.
B ab ylo n ia n -A ssy r ia n M ed icin e 233
II sacredness. The Nile, the Euphrates and
An interesting trace of this point of view Tigris, the Ganges, the Jordan, the Tiber
is to be found in the Sumerian12 name for and the Rhone, as indeed large streams
physician which also passed over into Ak everywhere, are sacred. To this day pious
kadian and thence into other Semitic lan pilgrims bathe in the Ganges and in the
guages. He is called A -Su composed of two Jordan to free themselves from sin. Baptism
signs, conveying the idea of “ one who as a rite of initiation into the covenant of
knows water ” — a water expert. The term the church is in the direct line of succession
rests on the prominent part played by water to the use of water as a purifying element.
in the exorcising of disease. The water-cure The novice must be freed from uncleanliness
is, in fact, the starting point of medical before entering upon a new life. Hygiene
treatment among the Babylonians. and religion thus converge in the early
In the Babylonian-Assyrian incantation stages of human culture.
texts, of which we have a large number,13 An incantation to be recited while sprink
the two elements of nature which play the ling the patient with water or pouring it
most prominent part in the exorcising of over him reads:
disease are water and fire. Water is viewed
The holy 14 water,
under the aspect of a sacred element, sym The water of the Euphrates, flowing in a
bolizing, as water does in primitive and an holy place,
cient cults in general, purification from The water that is preserved in the deep,15
ritualistic uncleanness. Fire is also a sacred The pure water that is purified by E a ,16
element, contact with which purifies, but Seven sons of the deep 17 are they,
Who have purified it and made it clean and
in Babylonian-Assyrian texts its function is
glisten
to destroy the demon or the sorcerer as the Before your father, Ea,
cause of the disease. Before your mother Damkina 18
Disease as due to the presence of a harm M a y he (i.e., the victim or diseased one) become
ful demon is regarded as a form of unclean- resplendent, pure, clean.
Iiness. The association of ideas involved in Or again in an incantation to the god
this symbolism is very natural. Water is Marduk, the son of Ea, and who as the
looked upon as a gift of the gods, suggested chief god of the city of Babylon becomes the
by the rain that comes from above. Streams, head of the later Babylonian pantheon:
filling up and overflowing during the rainy
Marduk, son of E a .
season, therefore acquire a special degree of
W ith holy, streaming water,
12 Sumerian is the designation of the non-Semitic W ith clear, shining water,
speech represented by the earliest records of the
Euphrates Valley; Akkadian is the Semitic speech Babylonia,” London, 1904; and in German, K . L.
that became predominant after 2000 b . c. While Tallquist, “ Die Assyrische Beschworungsserie M aq-
the Akkadians may have been the earlier settlers, Iu,” Leipzig, 1894, and Zimmern, “ Beitrage zur
the Sumerians, coming to the Valley as conquerors Kenntniss der Babylonischen Religion,” Leipzig,
from a mountain home, imposed their authority and 1901, Part i.
their language on the valley till circa 2500, when the 14 Or “ pure.” The two terms are synonymous in
Akkadians came to the front, and about 2000 b .c. Babylonian.
obtained definite control of the region, though some 15 T h at is, by the spirit or god who resides in the
Sumerian centers continued to flourish after that waters.
date. The cuneiform syllabary appears to be of 16 The god of the waters— more particularly of
Sumerian origin. See further Jastrow, “ Civilization the Persian Gulf.
of Babylonia and A ssyria,” Chapter iii. 17 Seven minor water gods, who are the attendants
13 Translations of many of these texts will be found of Ea.
in R . C . Thompson, “ Devils and Evil Spirits of 18 Consort of Ea.
234 Annals o f Medical History
Seven times and again seven sprinkle, purify, doubt come across the original incantation
cleanse! ritual of Eridu, which is frequently referred
M ay the evil Rabisu pass out!
to in the later texts at our disposal. “ Recite
M a y he step to one side,
M a y the good Shedu,19 may the good Lam assu19
the incantation of Eridu,” we read in these
attach themselves to his b o d y !20 texts, time and again.
B y heaven, be ye exorcised! The most common conception attached
B y earth, be ye exorcised! to Ea next to that of “ king of the deep”
is that of god of humanity. He is depicted
The A -Su or “ water expert” is, there
as saving man when other gods are angry
fore, the one qualified by his knowledge to
and irreconcilable. It is Ea who reveals
drive the demon away through the use of
to a favorite that the gods intend to bring
water as the purifying element. From the
on a deluge, and tells him to build a ship.
circumstance that he rather than the fire
E a endeavors even to secure immortality
expert should have been the one to acquire
for man, though he fails to do so. This
the general qualities of the physician, we
aspect of Ea as the friend of humanity is
may conclude that the water-cure was prob
due, largely if not exclusively, to the
ably the older and certainly the most aus
function of water as the element of E a in
picious method of driving out the demon
exorcising the demon of disease. Ea is the
of disease.
real physician and in a sense the only
In accord with this, we find the deity
healer. The Asu or “ water expert” is
most prominently associated with the large
merely his human servitor, who knows how
mass of Babylonian-Assyrian incantations
to secure the cooperation of the god in
to be the god Ea, the god who has his hab
effecting a cure. One of the forms in which
itat in the deep that surrounds the earth
E a was portrayed was that of a huge-sized
and on which, according to Babylonian
man— the gods were always pictured as
views, the earth floats like a rubber ball.
supermen— with fish scales hanging down
The name E a is written with two signs con
from the back of the head to the feet, the
veying the idea of “ water-house,” which
latter being an appropriate symbol for
points to the character of the deity, and
a water god. The priests of Ea, when per
also shows that the name was originally a
forming their exorcising ritual, similarly
designation of the “ deep.” 21 The Persian
clad themselves in robes resembling fish
G ulf as the largest body of water was more
skins,23 to indicate that they were the god’s
particularly regarded as the seat of Ea, and
representatives, and that their power was
the old city of Eridu, situated on the Gulf,
due to the supposed transfer of the god’s
was the oldest center of his cult. That city
qualities to his vicars. The masquerade was
is represented by the mound Abu Shahrein,22
to suggest the transfer.
which has not yet been excavated. When
No doubt the Asu also made use of other
that shall have been done, we will be in a
forms of treatment besides the water-cure,
position to solve many a problem connected
and it may be worth while before passing
with the origin of this deity and will no
on to give a specimen from Babylonian-
19 A protecting spirit.
20 As bodyguards. terra firma, who becomes a “ water god” when the
21 W e must, therefore, assume that the god was Sumerians reached the Euphrates Valley— where
designated as the “ god ° f Ea, ” i.e., “ the god of the water is the most prominent element.
water-house” or the god of the deep. The older nam 22 See the map in Jastrow, “ Civilization of B ab y
ing of the deity was En -K i, “ lord of the land” or lonia and A ssyria.”
of the fixed abode. As the deity of the Sumerians 23 See the illustrations in Ward, “ Seal Cylinders of
living in a mountainous country, Enki is a god of Western A sia,” p. 226 et seq.
B ab ylo n ia n -A ssy r ia n M ed icin e 23 5
frequently introduced as an ingredient, the let it cool, mix with oil and honey, let him drink
second a hot one. The purpose of the poul it without food, and he will have a passage. The
next morning, mix honey, fine oil, unmixed
tice is apparently to produce heat, and thus
wine,50 let him gulp it down without food and
by stimulating the circulation, to afford without touching his tongue, and he will have
relief. The vagueness of the term used to a passage.
diagnose the seat of the trouble makes it
In addition to poultices and drugs in
impossible to determine the nature of the
tended to mollify irritated membranes, to
disease, which may have been a simple case
reduce swellings, to open the bowels, to get
of indigestion.
rid of wind, we come across such curious
Somewhat more specific is the descrip
remedies as pouring concoctions over a pa
tion of a disordered stomach as follows:
tient’s head, on his stomach and on his
If a man’s inside is swollen and inflamed, and anus, though, presumably, in some cases
he is nauseated, then for his life (i.e. to cure rubbing of the affected parts with liniment
him), mix onion with cumin seed, let him drink
is intended.
it in wine without food and he will recover. If
ditto, take the green rind of the II plant, mix If a man has cramps,51 let that man sit down,
with pig’s fat, let him drink it with Du-Zab, with his feet under him, pour boiled . . .
unmixed wine and sweetened water, and he and cassia juice over his head and he will
will recover. recover. If ditto let him kneel and pour cold
water on his head.
Aggravated cases of inability to retain
food are described as follows: The choice is here again between a warm
and cold douche. I f the one afforded no re
If a man has a pain inside, food and drink lief, the other could be tried. A variation
coming back to his mouth, bandage his head of the treatment includes massage to stim
and breast. Boil . . . 49 let him eat it with
ulate circulation.
honey, Iamb fat and butter. Let him refrain
from eating onions, white onions and kidnu If ditto, place his head downwards and his
for three days, and not wash himself with water feet [under him?], manipulate his back with
and he will recover. the thumb, saying “ be good,” manipulate his
arms 14 times, manipulate his head 14 times,
Here we have at last a diet prescribed. rolling him on the ground. . . .
The honey, fat and butter are intended to The address to “ be good” appears to be
soothe the irritation, while avoiding onions directed to the demon, and in view of the
seems equally rational. Presumably, the di underlying theory of disease, it would be a
rection not to wash for three days has refer reasonable conclusion that the aim of the
ence to bathing, which should be avoided manipulation is to push the demon out of
to prevent the patient from catching cold. the body. I f this be correct, we would have
For a similar case of inability to retain in such treatment another illustration of
food, pounded tamarisk seed is prescribed, the manner in which the theory would ac
likewise to be taken with honey and butter cord with the result of experience. Massage
and without any other food. must have been recognized as beneficial in
For a case of constipation with gas in certain cases, but the point of view neces
the stomach, a laxative mixture is ordered sarily was that what was good for the pa
with very specific directions. tient was bad for the demon. The drugs,
If a man’s inside is full of gas, to cure him the poultices, the hot and cold douches and
take sweet-smelling reed, Balluku-pla,nt, cypress, the massage all were supposed to act not
oleander ( ? ) . . . put into wine, boil, strain,
50 T hat is, strong fermented wine.
49 T ext defective. 51 Literally “ tyin g” or “ contraction of the inside.”
242 Annals o f Medical History
on the patient but on the demon, who was goat star 53 and in the morning without food let
in this way to be forced out or to be coaxed him drink. Then let him take of Shi-Ka
out. through his mouth and anus, sprinkle him
with it and he will recover. If ditto, mix rock
It is hard for us at the present stage of
s a lt54 and ammonia 55 with unmixed wine, let
medical knowledge to reconstruct so strange him take it without food through his mouth and
and distorted an attitude towards the his anus, sprinkle him with it and he will
results of medical treatment, and yet it is recover.
perhaps fair to assume that the average Or again:
lay person today when he hears of an anti
If a man has cramps, compound green onions,
toxin to kill the germ that is the cause of a chicory rind with unmixed wine and let him
particular disease, has in mind a picture of drink it without food. (For his diet) let him
something that by the treatment passes eat dates either in pig’s fat or in oil . . . .If
out of the body. A t all events, the popular ditto, take Shi-Shi plant, Shi-Makh, tarmush
(a kind of bean), root of male namtar (some
(not necessarily the scientific) notion of the
bitter root), moistened with unmixed wine at
“ germ” theory should help us to understand
the rise of the star (i.e., in the evening) and in
the point of view which looked upon any the morning, let him drink one-third of it with
relief from pain as due to an influence out food, and two-thirds let him direct into his
exercised upon the demon. The removal of anus, and he will recover.
an irritation was always realistically inter As the last example of a disordered stomach
preted as a consequence of getting the I quote a most realistic description of what
demon away from the affected spot. The we would call a case of “ jag,” but which
drug was supposed to be disagreeable or the Babylonian Asu sets forth in most
harmful to the demon and, similarly, the serious fashion:
poultice— hot or cold— was unpleasant to
him, and the bandage around the head or If a man has drunk unmixed wine and has
breast or stomach was supposed to strangle a severe headache, he forgets his words,56 his
speech is heavy, his mind is clouded, his eyes
him.
are set, take (eleven plants are enumerated)
The use of an enema, which is frequently mix them with oil and wine, let him drink
referred to in the medical texts, would before the approach of Gula,57 and in the morn
strengthen the belief that a cure actually ing before any one has kissed him.
involved driving the demon out of the body.
Did the Asu add the last touch from a
Prescriptions of this character read as
sense of humor?
follows:
Now taking all these and other descrip
If a man has a stomach ache, he cannot
tions with the prescribed remedies together,
retain food which comes back through his we obtain not only an extensive pharma
mouth, his . . . is pierced and he has diarrhoea, copoeia but also a rather large variety of
his flesh is flabby ( ? ) , and wind (i.e., gas) treatment as well as dietary precautions,
moves about in his anus . . . to cure him take bandages, poultices, douches, massage, ene
3^ K a of date juice, x
/ i K a cassia juice, oil and
mas and even indications of a rest cure.
sweetened water, 3 shekels52 of clarified oil,
2 shekels of honey, 10 shekels of pounded mint term sal ammoniac is directly derived. Amanus is
added thereto, at night before the rise of the the name of a mountain range in northern Syria.
The common derivation from the temple of Amon
52 A standard silver coin, worth about 40 cents, in E gyp t is erroneous, and rests upon a phonetic
but here used as a weight. coincidence. The substance appears to have been in
53 A general phrase equivalent to “ evening.” troduced into Egyp t through Babylonian influences.
64 Literally, “ mountain salt.” 66 T hat is, does not know what he is talking about.
65 Literally, “ salt of Am anus” from which our 67 Another expression meaning “ evening.”
B a b ylo n ia n -A ssy r ia n M ed icin e 243
longing to a physician whose name was He also prescribes an eye wash of alkali
Nabu-zer-kitti-Iishir,69 the son of Mardi, with which, it is directed, his eyes are to be
grandson of Apia. The tablet dates from the washed until the tears cease to flow. Then
late Assyrian period— somewhere in the the eyes are to be bandaged, and the pa
seventh century b . c ., and represents an tient to be put into a closed room, and the
extract from a larger series of medical patient’s head is to be rubbed with boiled
texts, prepared by the physician for his own juice of kiptu every evening and morning,
guidance and use. It is the only specimen alternating with poultices of various in
so far published of a physician’s handbook.70 gredients and oil liniment— the treatment
to continue as usual for three days.
If a fever seizes a man, localized in the
nerves of his head (i.e., produces a severe
Our physician, despite the late period in
headache), and it affects his eyes so that his which he flourishes, holds to the belief in
vision is clouded,71 and inflammation sets in, demons as strongly as do his patients, and
and his eyes water, pound one-third K a of so he does not hesitate to copy on his tablet
powdered “ thorn” root with khaltappanu stone, the following purely magic rite to drive the
take one-third of it for the head that pains,
demon out in case all other methods fail.
knead with cassia juice, wrap it around the
head, attach it (i.e., b y a bandage), and for If a man’s head is affected and the demon 72
three days do not remove. in the man cries out,73 but comes not out, is
not caught by bandage or incantation, then kill
The physician includes in his extracts a captured kurku bird, squeeze its blood out,74
other remedies for headaches which are not 71A blinding headache.
accompanied by a fever: 72 There is a special demon of headache, who is
known as T i’u.
68 In the Talmud the question is asked, “ what is 73 One is reminded of the passage in M ark 1, 26 =
fever,” to which the answer is, “ a fire of the bones.” Luke 14, 33, of the unclean spirit (i.e., demon) in
69 The name signifies “ O, Nabu, may the legitimate a man that cries out and issues from the body at
offspring flourish.” the command of Jesus. See also the incident in
70 The one referred to above, p. 240, in the possession Luke 9, 27.
of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia. For a 74 Note a similar rite of using the blood of a
complete translation and discussion of its contents, bird as part of the rite to exorcise the demon of
see my article, Tr. College of Physicians, 19 13 , pp. sara’ ath, a skin disease (not our leprosy) in Leviticus,
365-400. Chap. 13, for the explanation of which consult the
B a b ylo n ia n -A s sy r ia n M ed ic in e 245
take its . . . its fat and the skin of its crop ( ? ), The “ heart” plant grew in the mountain and
burn it in the fire, mix cedar with the blood, and I tore it out— the “ inside” 75 became affected—
pronounce the incantation “ evil finger of m an” The god Sin 76 [plucked it out].
three times. I commanded, and the “ heart” of Shamash 77
was affected; Shamash [plucked it out]
These examples will suffice as illustrations I commanded, and the “ heart” of heaven and
of the general character of the medical texts earth became affected.
of the Babylonians and Assyrians, showing
And so on ad infinitum et ad nauseam.
both the method followed and the decided
Such incantations may well represent older
limitations in this method. Medical treat
elements than the prescriptions proper, but
ment, being based solely on popular ex
their retention in that case by the side of
perience, never reached even to the border
genuine remedies is as significant a feature
land of a science. It developed no new
as their greater age.
theory of disease; on the contrary, it clung
to the old one. The Asu was as steeped in IX
superstitious regard for the value of in
Turning now to the pharmacopoeia of the
cantations and magic rites as his patient.
Both stood on the same platform, and the Babylonians and Assyrians, the large di
manner in which, even in genuine medical mensions that it assumed in the course of
texts, incantations and magic rites are pre time will have become apparent from the
scribed shows the persistence of the primi examples quoted. This conclusion is con
tive theory, and the impossibility of any firmed by the long lists of plants that have
genuine advance in medical science beyond come down to us in the later copies of Ashur-
prescribed bounds. We not infrequently find banapafs library,78 and also in texts dating
the incantations to be recited taking up from much earlier periods. These lists were
more space than the remedies prescribed. prepared in the temple schools of Babylonia
Even such trifles as that a medical potion where all instruction was imparted, in
should be held in the left hand while drink cluding, therefore, the training of priests to
ing it seemed worthy of mention. The in act as physicians. The evident aim was to
cantations— a jumble of phrases, often make these texts as inclusive as possible
meaningless— are set forth in detail. so as to cover all the plants and woods and
shrubs that grew in fields, gardens, orchards
Wind of the glowing, wind, wind close to the and in the mountains. The medical charac
gods ter of these lists is indicated by the use of
Wind that went forth between excrements and
the determinative Sham, signifying “ drug,”
urine,
and which, like A su, has made its way from
And whose throne is set up with the gods, thy
brothers. the Sumerian into the Semitic languages.
Moreover, in addition to the names, the
This incantation for one suffering from lists often contain indications of the use to
an inflated stomach is to be recited, while which the drugs are to be put, or in what
the patient is being rubbed with a salve of w ay they are to be compounded with other
cynoglosson and oil. drugs or with ingredients other than drugs.
Or in another instance the incantation Finally, we have the proof for the medical
reads: character of these lists in the circumstance
“ chicory” (cichorium); shushi, “ liquorice and ill-smelling qualities. These drugs con
root” ; karashu, “ leak” ; gingiru, “ rocket” stitute a Dreckapotheke, to use the expressive
(eruca sativa); tarmush, a “ bean” of some title for a general compilation of such
kind; girgishshu, “ strawberry tree” (ar strange remedies82 and which, as is well
butus unedo)— native in Mesopotamia and known, were in general use in all countries
Palestine; silbanu, “ liquorice wood” ; bu- until well into the nineteenth century, and
rashu, “ cypress” ; laptu, “ turnip” (brassica no doubt still survive as “ la y ” prescrip
rapa); puglu, “ radish” ; zuziratu, “ por- tions— “ housewife remedies” — in many a
tulac” ; sapru, “ straw flower” (helichry- nook and corner of Europe. In the B ab y
sum); lardu, identical with “ nard” (by a lonian-Assyrian Dreckapotheke, we encoun
common interchange between I and n ); ter such examples as a “ green frog” to be
sapandu, which has passed over into Persia mixed with chicory, the claw of a black dog
and Arabia as sipandu, and is our white with “ pestilence” root, the dust from a
mustard (sinapis alba); kulkulanu, “ cassia- man’s foot to be added to powdered “ thorn”
to ra” ; kaman, identical with our “ cinna plant. Pig’s fat, dog’s dung, fat of a viper,
mon” ; kamtu, “ truffle” ; khazilatu, “ colo- neck of a dog, the excrements of man and
cynth” ; sagilatu, “ jasm in” ; shishbanu, swine, the hair taken from a virgin goat,
“ vitex agnus castris” ; kharubu, “ St. John’s a hair from the pudenda of an old woman,
w ort.” The terms for “ coriander” and and much more of the like are included in
“ caraway seed” seem also to have been de the lists.
termined with considerable certainty. Such remedies represent, as I venture to
Among trees of which the leaves, bark, suggest, a natural outcome of the primitive
sap, roots and seeds were used for medical theory of disease upon which Babylonian-
purposes we have urbatu, “ willow” ; binu, Assyrian medicine rests. Their purpose is to
“ tam arisk” ; tittu, “ fig” ; asu, “ m yrtle” ; have a direct effect on the demon by dis
sarpatu, “ elm” ; as well as the terms for gusting him through their nasty smell— to
olive and cypress. Among salts, we have at lead him to fly to regions where the air is
least two which are quite certain “ moun more agreeable, and thus to relieve the un
tain sa lt” which is our rock salt, and “ salt fortunate victim after being obliged to sub
of amanus” which, as pointed out,81 is our mit to an ordeal that must often have
ammoniac. Other mineral substances, seemed worse than the disease. The genuine
crushed and compounded, were used in remedies represent, of course, the result of
considerable number, and it should be noted experience, but it was easy to apply the
that just as in medical texts and in lists, fundamental principle— that what was good
the sign for “ plant,” Sham, is used in a for the patient was bad for the demon— to
general way for all organic substances, so remedies that were intended to bear on the
the sign for stone (Sumerian Na = Akka demons, without reference to any medicinal
dian abnu) is used in general fashion for character of the substances employed.
inorganic substances. When with the advance of medical knowl
Before leaving the subject, attention edge of a more rational kind the value of
should be directed to a feature of the lists genuine remedies acting on the patient
of plants and drugs drawn up by the scribes increased, the value of the Dreckapotheke
for medical instruction and guidance. We was forced into the background, without,
find a large number of substances enumer however, altogether disappearing. The nasty
ated that are conspicuous for their nasty
82 K . F. PauIIini: “ Heilsame Dreckapotheke,”
81 See above, p. 242. 17 1 4 (reprinted, Stuttgart, 1847).
248 1Annals o f Medical History
substances acquired the power of a charm," are supposed to have the power of disgust
and from this point of view the old B ab y ing the demons and of driving them away.
lonian-Assyrian Dreckapotheke was carried Lastly, we have included in the lists,
along the ages, gathering new ingredients compiled by the Babylonian-Assyrian
on the way and surviving to the threshold scribes for use in the medical courses given
of modern times. The substances which the in the temples, actual prescriptions, the
witches in “ Macbeth” throw into the caul form of which is very simple. The drugs to
dron83 to produce a charm to enable them be compounded are enumerated, together
to peer into the future bear a close family with the indication of the disease against
resemblance to the ingredients of the which they are to be used. In this w ay,85 we
“ magic” aspect of Babylonian-Assyrian have nine drugs set forth, as a remedy for
medicine that is hardly accidental. The stomach trouble, five drugs to be com
usage in both instances rests ultimately pounded for the advanced stage of jaundice
on the same association of ideas, though the — known as akhkazu,86 a formula of six
purpose differs. drugs for the ordinary form of jaundice,
and so on.
Fillet of a fenny snake
In the cauldron boil and bake X
E ye of newt and toe of frog,
Nose of bat and tongue of dog, A direct natural result of medical treat
Adder’s fork and blind-worm’s sting, ment among the Babylonians and Assyri
Lizard’s leg and owlet’s wing, ans was to lead to the study of the human
For a charm of powerful trouble,
body and to some extent also of animal
Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.
anatomy. An elaborate anatomical nomen
The substances represent drugs that con clature was evolved which, passing far be
tinued to form part of the popular, as also yond the obvious subdivisions of the body
part of the professional pharmacopoeia in to minute details, furnishes the evidence
Shakespeare’s days and beyond. The charm that the general structure of the human
passes over into the amulet, and the wearing body was actually studied by the medical
of bits of animals or trinkets in the shape students of the Euphrates Valley thousands
of substances supposed to have magical of years ago. Long lists of parts of the
power is merely another expression of the body were drawn up by the scribes which
same idea that such substances as show the richness of the anatomical nomen
clature developed in the endeavor to sub
Scale of dragon, tooth of wolf
Witches’ mummy, maw and gulf divide the organs and members of the body
Of the ravin’d salt-sea shark, into their component parts.87 Let me take
Root of hemlock, digg’d i’ the dark 84 as an illustration the designations of the
Liver of blaspheming Jew , ^ parts of the male and female genital organs.
Gall of goat and slips of yew, A common term for both is ba’ultu which has
Sliver’d in the moon’s eclipse,
the force of “ pudenda.” The most frequent
Nose of Turk and Tartars lips,]
Finger of birth-strangled babe, j term for the penis is birku, literally “ knee,”
Ditch-delivered b y a drab.
85 “ Cuneiform T exts,” xiv, Plate 48 (Rm 328).
83 A ct iv, i, lines 14-40. 86 See above, p. 243.
84 The direction not to pluck a medicinal root i * 87 The most comprehensive study of the subject
while the sun shines is specifically given in the Baby- is embodied in the monograph by Harri Holma, “ Die
Ionian-Assyrian lists of medicinal drugs; e.g., “ Cunei Namen der Korperteile im Assyrich-Babylonischen,”
form Texts, from Babylonian T ablets,” xiv, Plate Helsingfors, 1 9 1 1 , in Annales Acad. Scientiarum Fen-
25 (K 259). nicae. Ser. B, Tome, vii, i.
B a b ylo n ia n -A s sy r ia n M ed ic in e 249
and which suggests that birku is a euphem “ jugular vein,” girru, giranu, and gangu-
ism just as we find in other languages some ritu, “ gurgle,” with further subdivisions,
part of the body suggesting the penis as kharurtu, “ laryn x,” urudu, “ windpipe,”
“ hand,” “ foot,” “ leg,” “ ta il” used euphe khamuritu perhaps “ vocal chords,” and sub
mistically for the male organ. The “ testi divisions of the back into “ spinal column”
cles” are ishku, the “ foreskin” urulati, and (esensiru— literally, “ bone of the back” ),
the “ prostate gland” perhaps sapsapu. shoulder (budu), shoulder blade (rapashtu),
For the female organ, the number of terms and varous other terms, and similarly for the
is very large—so large indeed as to suggest stomach (karshu), such divisions as takaltu,
that specific parts of the womb were in “ stomach net, ” pappan libbi, “ navel, ” butnu
tended— though each term was used also for “ belly ” (?), we may reasonably conclude that
the female organ in general. We find among medical practice superinduced such de
others uru from a stem indicating “ naked tailed analysis. We have in all about
ness,” bissuru, perhaps the “ clitoris,” rubsu, four hundred terms for the various organs
the “ uterus,” remu or remtu the “ wom b,” and members and subdivisions of the hu
kuzbu, perhaps the “ mons veneris,” libish- man body. This extensive nomenclature,
shatu, probably the “ hym en,” silitu, “ after which will no doubt be further increased
birth,” and such fanciful names as E-tur, as new texts are made accessible, is a sig
“ house of the child,” and pirishtu, nificant testimony to the attention that
“ secret,” 88 besides a number of more defi must have been paid to the study of anat
nitely euphemistic terms. omy, though to be sure, in a purely empir
It is entirely natural and not indicative ical and unscientific fashion.
of technical knowledge to find in such lists We may go a step further in tracing the
terms for leg (ishdu literally “ pillar” or origin of this study which, curiously enough,
“ support” ), knee (birku), flank (kuritu), takes its start not with medicine but with
shin-bone (kimsu), leg (puridu, literally divination; and, what is still stranger, it was
“ advance” ), foot (shepu), sole (bud shepi), the attention paid in the interest of divina-
heel (ikbu), toe (ubanu) and nail (supru), or tory lore to the liver of the sheep, the sac
that for the upper part of the body we rificial animal par excellence, that furnished
should have names— and in some cases the stimulus to the study of anatomy.
several names— for the eye, ear, lip, nose, Among the various methods of divination
nostrils, mouth, teeth, gums, tongue, throat, developed by the Babylonians and Assyri
beard, breast, nipple, etc.; but when we ans, the endeavor to read the future in a
find in the case of the eye such subdivisions sheep’s liver appears to be the oldest, as
as iris (burmu— literally “ many colored” ), it is certainly the most widespread of prim
eyelid (kappu, “ wing” ), nakabtu, “ corner itive methods to ascertain the disposition
of the eye,” eye-ball (gaggultu), pupil (libbu, of the gods at any critical juncture in af
“ inside” ), arku, “ white of the eye,” salmu, fairs. In various publications I have en
“ dark of eye,” or when in connection with larged upon this subject of liver divination,
the throat and neck, the differentiation ex or hepatoscopy,89 and of its spread under
tends from kishadu, “ neck,” to labanu, Babylonian-Assyrian influence, so that I
“ nape,” tikku, “ back of neck,” napishtu, may content myself here with a brief ref-
88 One might compare our use of “ privates.” subject is given; and for a general survey of the field
89 See my monograph, “ Babylonian-Assyrian Birth of Babylonian-Assyrian divination, see Jastrow,
Omens and Their Cultural Significance,” Giessen, “ Civilization of Babylonia and A ssyria,” pp. 2 5 4 -
1914, p. 1, where a list of articles of mine on the 269.
250 Annals o f Medical History
erence. The method rests upon the belief and the soul of the god became for the time
that the liver as the bloodiest organ in the being in perfect accord. The liver as the
body was also the seat of life. The associa soul of the animal reflected the disposition
tion of ideas between blood and life was as of the deity as in a mirror. If one could
natural as it was obvious. E arly specula read the signs on the liver, one could be
tions about what we in common parlance certain of what the god had in mind—
call the soul or the vital essence always take whether he was favorably disposed to the
on a materialistic turn. Life was looked upon questioner or unfavorably minded— just as
not as a condition, but as connected with in the higher form of astronomical divina
some substance and, accordingly, the at tion, the reading of the stars revealed the
tempt was made to localize the seat of life frame of mind of the gods in heaven.
in some part of the body. Blood being re This curious method of liver inspection
garded as identical with life, the organ had, however, the result of leading to a
which seemed to be the center and seat of study of the sheep’s liver, for in the course
the blood, whence it was distributed of time as the signs noted on examined
throughout the frame, was also the seat of livers increased— and no two livers were
life. The primitive observation was correct ever exactly alike— liver divination became
to this extent—that the liver contains a a pseudoscience for which specialists had
considerable proportion of the blood of the to be trained.
body, about one-sixth in the case of many The experience of the past was gathered
animals, and even more than this in the in handbooks which formed the textbooks
case of man. for training the priestly augurs— the pre
The ordinary sacrificial animal in B ab y cursors of our modern meat inspectors. B y
lonia and Assyria was the sheep, and in or means of a natural or artificially developed
der to ascertain the disposition of a deity association of ideas between signs observed
at any given moment, a sheep was killed on the liver and what they portended, and
and its liver examined. According to symp further on the basis of actual experience
toms found on the liver conclusions were that on an occasion when an inspected liver
drawn as to whether the signs observed showed certain signs, an event of a favor
portended a favorable answer to a question able or unfavorable character occurred,
put, or whether one had better defer an an elaborate system of liver interpretation
undertaking till a more favorable moment. was built up that continued in force till the
The sacrificial animal offered to a deity end of the Babylonian empire and spread
and accepted by him became attuned, as to other lands.90
it were, to the deity. The soul of the animal
The study thus given to signs on the liver medical texts already given, let me quote
included the appearance of the gall, of the some passages from letters from Assyrian
various lobes of the gall-bladder and of the physicians that have come down to us. These
gall-ducts, of the larger and smaller ap letters form part of the royal library at
pendices to the liver and of the veins. Nineveh which has been mentioned.91 In
Names for these subdivisions were devised, cidentally, they also shed a further light
some of which passed over into the anatom on medical diagnosis and medical treatment
ical nomenclature of other lands or which in ancient Assyria.
influenced that nomenclature. Since this One of these letters written by a court
curious system of hepatoscopy was devised physician, Arad-Nana, in the days of King
as early at least as 2500 b . c ., we may safely Ashurbanapal (668-626 b . c .) deals with
assume that the inspection of the sheep’s the case of one of the royal princes who is
liver marks the very beginnings of the study suffering from an injury to the eye. The
of animal anatomy anywhere. The impetus physician reports to the king as follows:
thus given by liver divination reacted on
To the King, my lord: thy servant Arad-
the natural curiosity of man, and was no
Nana! Hearty greetings to the King my lord!
doubt a factor in leading to a closer ob M ay Ninib and Gula92 grant happiness and
servation of the human body as part of health to the King, my lord.
the medical training of the Babylonian- Hearty greetings to the little fellow whose
Assyrian Asu, with the result of producing eyes cause him trouble. I put a bandage93 on his
the very extensive anatomical nomencla face. Yesterday, towards evening, I took the
bandage off, removing also the dressing below.
ture that forms one of the surprises in the
There was blood on the dressing as much as
study of cuneiform literature. The proof the point of the little finger. T o which one of
that this study was undertaken in connec the gods this is due, his order has surely been
tion with the endeavor to drive out the carried out. Hearty greetings! Let the King, my
demons of disease by incantations and lord, rest assured. In seven or eight days he will
medical treatment is again furnished be well.
the Orient with Greek civilization that had transcript of Greek medicine, is a chapter
given birth to the medical schools of Hip of “ native prescriptions,” 106 and here we
pocrates and Galen led to the practical encounter the familiar remedies of B ab y
abandonment of the theory of demoniac lonian-Assyrian medicine as, for example,
possession as the cause of disease, but med for a disease of the heart:
ical treatment in the Talmud remained on
Burn the bones of partridges ( ? ) until they
the same level as in Babylonia and Assyria. become a fine powder. Pour this powder into
As late as the days of Josephus we come olive oil and warm the mixture and smear it on
across beliefs in the power of individuals the head and sprinkle vinegar on the head.
to drive demons out of the body by means
Or again:
of certain roots attached to a ring placed
in the nostrils of a victim. Josephus, “ An Pound the insides of walnuts with garlic
tiquities,” viii, 2, 5, tells us also of a root and apply to the head.
baaras that was supposed to have the For eye trouble, the following is pre
power when brought to a sick person of scribed :
driving the demon away. This crude man
Take 30 drachmas of juice of anethum foeni-
ner of affecting the demons is an indication culum and 10 drachmas of honey and 30
of the fading belief, reflecting a period when drachmas of sweet pomegranates, mix together.
it was no longer regarded as plausible that Set the mixture on a fire and boil. Take it off
by taking a medical prescription the cure the fire, keep it in a glass vessel and pour onto
involved the departure of a demon out of the eyes when the belly is empty.107
the body. Demoniac possession becomes Still closer to the style of Babylonian-
limited to abnormal mental manifestations Assyrian prescriptions are the following:108
like insanity and hallucinations. In this
For insides 109 which will not retain food, boil
form it appears in the New Testament,103 thorns in water and let the patient drink it.
but for all that the remedies themselves
that are set forth in Talmudic passages For wind on the stomach, pound peppercorn
and cinnamon reed. Work into a paste with
parallel the pharmacopoeia of Babylonia and
honey and let the patient eat 3 drachmas for
Assyria, including a Dreckapotheke.104 Such two days.
a detail, as that medicines should be taken
For a very sick person, give him to drink of
in wine, forms too close a parallel to what
the sweat of his feet mixed with excrements.
we so frequently find in Babylonian-As
syrian texts to be an accident. We have For one who has been poisoned, let him
the proof also that in Syria the Babylonian- drink the urine of a child, mixed with wine or
gall of a gazelle in goat’s milk.
Assyrian methods of medical treatment re
mained in popular usage long after the more Among other ingredients of the “ native”
scientific Greek medicine had made its Dreckapotheke, clearly intended to disgust
way throughout the ancient world. Attached the demons as well as the patient, we have
to an elaborate Syriac ‘ ‘Book of Medicines,” such substances as the testicles of a fox
published a few years ago by E. A. Wallis for breasts too full of milk, or the gall of a
Budge,105 embodying for the larger part a
106 Vol. ii, pp. 6 56 -714 .
103 See the passage quoted above, p. 244, note 73. 107 A parallel to the frequent injunction in Bab y
104 See examples in Preuss, “ Biblisch-Talmudische lonian-Assyrian texts to take a mixture “ without
Medizin,” p. 509. food.”
105 “ Syrian Anatomy, Pathology and Therapeu 108 Budge, II; pp. 674-675.
tics” or “ The Book of Medicines,” 2 vols., text, 109 The word leb (Babylonian libbu) is used to
t ransIation and introduction, Oxford, 19 13. designate the “ insides” in a general and vague way.
256 Annals o f Medical History
pig to be burnt under a person who has a pears to have reached a much higher plane
sore in the arms, or the fat of a black ser in Egypt. The oldest medical papyrus of
pent with a red neck and the gall of a pig Egypt— the Papyrus Ebers— dates back to
to be applied to the anus, or the dung of a the 1 6th century b . c . and is remarkably
white dog. The person who has gas in the free from magic rites and incantations,
stomach should drink this mixed with sugar though we do find, as in Babylonia-Assyrian
and water “ and his insides will be loosened medicine, substances like dung, the uterus
and he will have relief.” and vulva of various animals introduced
Such remedies are clearly remnants of as drugs—which suggests that the purpose
Baby Ionian-Assyrian medicine, preserved of such drugs was originally, likewise, to
perhaps for centuries by oral tradition until drive the demon out of the body. No doubt
they were embodied in the collections made Egyptian medicine started out from the
by native “ quacks,” who continued to same primitive theory of demoniac posses
flourish by the side of the better educated sion, but it appears to have cut itself loose
physicians. from the theory to a large extent at an early
The rival of Babylonian-Assyrian med age. Strangely enough in medical papyri of
icine in point of age is Egyptian medicine, the new kingdom, magic practices and the
of which we now know a great deal, thanks recital of incantations reappear as promi
to the discovery and publication of several nent factors in the treatment of disease.
medicinal papyri of various periods.110 The It is tempting to conclude that this recru
possible relations between the two systems descence of primitive methods, in striking
is a question which must be left to a fur contrast to the more rational manner in
ther paper.111 That the drugs used in the which diseases are handled in the papyri
Euphrates Valley should have passed to of older date, was due to the influence of
Egypt at an early period, and vice versa, is Babylonian-Assyrian culture, whereas the
exactly what we should expect to have hap advance to more scientific methods in B ab y
pened at an early date, now that we have lonian-Assyrian medicine, so far as this is
ascertained that the intercourse between to be noted, may be ascribed to Egyptian
these two regions reverts to the second influence as a factor, by the side of the
millennium before this era. In the plant and natural progress which must also be as
drug lists drawn up by Babylonian-Assyrian sumed.
scribes, we find specific mention of sub A t all times, however, and despite the
stances brought from other countries— recrudescence of magic incantations, E gyp
Canaan, Magan, Elam, etc. I have pointed tian medicine appears to have been far
o u t 112 that ammonia was probably intro more scientific in character, and if in the
duced into Egypt through intercourse with case of Greek medicine, which marks the
Babylonia. Beyond such interchange, how foundation of medical treatment on a basis
ever, it may be questioned whether the more closely approaching that of modern
Egyptian medicine had anything to learn days, we are to seek for any outside influ
from Babylonia, for medical practice ap ence, we must turn to Egypt as a possible
110 The latest publication of them b y Wreszinski pp. cxxx-cxliii, for a general survey of Egyptian
(a) “ Papyrus Ebers,” Berlin, 19 13 ; (b) “ Berlin medicine and the further references there given.
Papyrus,” Berlin, 1909; “ London Papyrus,” Leipzig, 1111 reserve for a special article to be prepared for
19 12. T o these is to be added “ The Hearst Medical the Bull. Soc. Med. Hist, of Chicago a fuller discussion
Papyrus,” edited by Reisner, Univ. of California of the relations between Babylonian-Assyrian Medi
Publications (1905). See also Budge’s Introduction cine and that of the Jews and Egyptians.
to his edition of the Syriac “ Book of Medicines,” 112 See above, p. 242, note 55.
B ab ylo n ia n -A ssy r ia n M ed icin e 257
I
N the Library of St. John’s College,
Oxford, is a large folio volume (MS. for Venus is called in Greek Aphrodis.”
17), containing an encyclopaedia of Ajrodis is for dcppd)drjc, an adjective formed
secular knowledge, perhaps the earli from dtppoq = foam. Again “ Eliotropium id
est mediaeval work of its kind that has yet est intuba a grecis sive solsequia uel sponsa
come to light. It is composed under the solis.” “ The heliotrope of the Greek, that
strong traditional influence of Bede. We is intuba, either the sweetheart or the bride
have described the M S. elsewhere and have of the sun.” 3 In one instance, also, the
shown that it was written between m o Greek script is used, namely for the legends
and 1 1 1 2 by an English speaking monk of a circle of Petosiris.4
who was ignorant of Norman French.1 The In the medical section the author has
M S. contains numerous glosses nearly all borrowed largely from the contemporary
of which are in the same hand as the Salernitan writings, and from them he may
text. have derived a number of medical terms of
A rather surprising feature of this en Greek origin, such as anastomo, plagiotimo,
cyclopaedia is the acquaintance with Greek anacarsis, malanma, dissentericus, emotoi-
that it betrays especially in the medical cus, cephalica. In some cases, however, there
sections. The knowledge of Greek is, it is is a suggestion of a more intimate contact
true, little more than vestigeal, but even with Greek sources, and a correspondingly
that degree was unusual in Western Europe greater degree of misunderstanding of them.
during the profound intellectual depression Thus in a section on bloodletting we read:
of the 10th, n th , and early 12th centuries.
Inciditur autem de flebotomo optimo rectam
The interest in the Greek language taken percussuram catatixin. habet hoc est in iussum
by the author, or rather the compiler, is primere flebotomum rectum. & sursum Ieuare.
shewn in various ways. Thus there are sev Quod si male incisa fuerit. collectionem in
eral Greek alphabets scattered through the altum facit. & uulnera insaniosa facit. insan-
volume. Again, derivation from the Greek iamque plurimam. & spissa nutrit uulnera. &
deducit ad omnem perniciem.5
had the same fascination for the English
monk as was exhibited by St. Isidore of Se “ [The vein] is best incised with the lancet
ville and by Bede. He tells us, for instance, catatixin, that is with a direct cut, and it
that the name of the month April is derived is the practice to raise the lancet with the
from Aphrodite. “ Aprilis pro uenere dicitur point passing it straight and upwards. For if
quasi afrodis grece enim uenus dicitur.” 2
3 Fob 17 6 recto column b.
1 Chades Singer: “ A Review of the Medical Liter Eliotropium is, of course, fiXtoTpoxtov. Intuba
ature of the Dark Ages with a New Text of about is the Virgilian dnh&um, endive or some such plant.
1 1 1 0 ,” Proc. Roy. Soc. Med., London, 19 17, vol. x The interpretation of solsequia is more difficult. I
(Section of History of Medicine, pp. 107-160) and have regarded sequia as equal to secia a mediaeval
“ A Medical Compendium of the First H alf of the form of sexa. Possibly it is falsely derived from
Twelfth C en tu ry” in the Bull. Soc. Med. Hist. sequor.
Chicago, 1 9 17. 4 Folio 8 recto.
2 Fob 17 verso. 5 Folio 2 recto cob b.
258
O n a G r e e k C harm 2 59
it should be badly cut, a deep gathering is The top line in Anglo-Saxon may be
formed which makes the wound extremely translated “ I f blood run from the nose
unhealthy, generates chronic lesions and write on his forehead in a Christ’s cross,”
gives rise to all kinds of trouble.” and then follows the charm.
This catatixin is clearly the kcct’ !£ cv of As regards the charm itself, it is nothing
Hippocrates who uses it as describing the else than a quotation from the Greek L it
same side and distinguished from the op
posite side. Hippocrates6says that if a person
with enlarged spleen has haemorrhage from
the same (that is the left) nostril, it is a
good sign, but if dvdxaLcv from the opposite
(that is the right) nostril, it is bad, an idea
which afterwards gave rise to the famous
controversy as to “ derivation” or “ re
vulsion.” Galen uses the expression yuxx’
in a commentary on this very passage of
Hippocrates.7 He there takes the view that
venesection should be performed y.ax’ on
the same side as the disease. The author of
our M S. has misunderstood Galen’s phrase
urgy of St. John Chrysostom still in use
and takes him to mean that venesection
by the Orthodox Church. The passage oc
should be performed with a straight up and
curs in the most solemn part of the service
down cut The error may have arisen from
.8
S E C T IO N II
S
IN C E the first section of this Dr. Potts is to be held accountable” would
valuable archivistic material has perhaps need more explanation than the de
already been prefaced by Colonel preciated value of Continental paper then
Owen’s salient cullings from the obtaining.
records, these few words of recapitulation In the light of modern war reconstructive
will suffice. work, the provision for an I nvalid Corps under
From unorganized beginnings, the forma date of M ay 27th, 1777, to be composed of
tion of official medical service may be traced men disabled for rigorous war service but
in the scattered items of the Journals of the capable of acting in the capacity of military
Provincial Congress of Massachusetts instructors and garrison guards, is illuminat
(1775), supplemented by excerpts from the ing. Interest also centers around the unfor
M ilitary Journal of Thacher, who, as sur tunate circumstances at the Alexandria in
geon’s mate to the senior surgeon, Dr. John oculation camp in which the conscientious
Warren, was active in these early days. In Dr. Rickman was involved. His work was
the Journals of the Continental Congress later exonerated by tracing the cause of
from June 2nd, 1775 to April 7th, 1777, the the unsuccessful results to incompetent as
story is carried through the appointment sistants and the malarial breeding swamps
and dismissal of Benjamin Church, the through which the men were taken on forced
Director General and Chief Surgeon of our march immediately before inoculation.
first Arm y Hospital, and of Dr. Stringer The beginnings of our present pension sys
whose conduct was pronounced “ highly tem, odd means of disciplining those con
derogatory to the honor of Congress.” The tracting venereal disease, unusual reports
office of Surgeon General and less important of the extravagance at the Yellow Springs
positions under revolutionary medical service Hospital under a certain Alexander M cK al-
were destined to be stumbling blocks for many. Iaher, “ allowed to do so by Congress or Dr.
A t this point, the excerpts in this second Shippen, the informant is not certain
installment take up the account with the ig which,” and the complaints about food and
nominious dismissal of Church’s successor, clothing,— all these rather modern problems
Dr. John Morgan on August 3rd, 1777. Dr. are interwoven with the many entries which
Rush, Chief Physician in the Middle Dis group themselves around the story of Dr.
trict, is forced to resign his commission to Shippen’s court-martial. From June 4th,
Dr. Jonathan Potts at about the same time. 1778, when Shippen was accused of malfeas
B y June 10th, 1778, this worthy gentleman ance in office by the counter-charges of the
is charged with “ exorbitant expenditure” deposed Dr. Rush, until his acquittal August
and indeed the numerous successive entries 1 8th, 1780, the machinations of Dr. Morgan
in the Journal of requisitions for fifty and and other derogators are but slightly hidden
one hundred thousand dollars, “ for which in the record which follows.— E d i t o r .
262 Annals of Medical History
II. FROM JOURNALS OF THE CONTINENTAL geons general of the military hospital, and the physi
cians and surgeons general of the respective armies,
c o n g r e s s (1774-83) ( Continued) and that the election be on the day following.
April 8, 1777. 243, 24 4 -6 April 1 1 , 1777. 2 5 3 - 5
That the eldest son of General Warren, and the Congress then proceeded to the election of the
youngest son of General Mercer, be educated, from officers in the hospital department; and the ballots
this time at the expence of the United States.33 being taken,
Congress resumed the consideration of the report Dr. William Shippen, Junr- was chosen, by the
on the hospital; Whereupon, unanimous vote of the thirteen states, director gen
Resolved, T hat in time of action and on any other eral of all the military hospitals for the armies of the
emergency, when the regimental surgeons are not United States.
sufficient in number to attend properly to the sick Dr. Walter Jones, was elected physician general of
and wounded, that cannot be removed to the hos the hospital in the middle department.
pitals, the director, or deputy director general of Dr. Benjamin Rush, was elected surgeon general
the district, be empowered and required, upon the of the hospital in the middle department.
request of the physician and surgeon general of the Dr. John Cochran, was elected physician and sur
army, to send, from the hospitals under his care, to geon general of the army in the middle department.
the assistance of such sick and wounded, as many Dr. Isaac Forster, deputy director general of the
physicians and surgeons as can possibly be spared hospital in the eastern department.
from the necessary business of the hospitals. Dr. Ammi Ruhamah Cutter, physician general of
T h at the director, deputy directors general, as the hospital in the eastern department.
sistant deputy directors, physicians and surgeons Dr. Philip Turner, surgeon general of ditto.
general, be and they are hereby required and di Dr. William Burnet, physician and surgeon (gen
rected to employ such parts of their time, as may eral) of the army (in the eastern department).
conveniently be spared from the duties before point Dr. Jonathan Potts, was elected deputy director
ed out to them, in visiting and prescribing for the general of the hospital in the northern department.
sick and wounded of the hospitals under their care.34 Dr. Malachi Treat, physician general of ditto.
That the establishment of the medical department Dr. Forgue, surgeon general of ditto.
be as follows: Dr. John Bartlett, physician and surgeon general
i director general........6 dollars a day and 9 rations. of ditto.
3 deputy directors gen- The Board of Treasury reported,
eral............................ 5 do. 6 do. T h at there is due to Dr. J . Ramsey, and to be paid
Indeterminate assist- to the honorable Jonathan Elmer, Esq? for sundry
ant deputy director. 3 do. 6 do. medicine supplied the New Jersey troops, the sum
4 physicians general of £ 9 3 6 equal to 24 42/90 dollars;
and 4 surgeons gen- T h at there is due to Dr. James Tilton, for sundry
eral each...................5 do. 6 do. medicine supplied the batallion of the state of Dela
1 to each army, physi- ware, the sum of £ 10 , equal to 26 60/90 dollars;
cian and surgeon T h at there is due to Dr. William Currie, for sun
general of the arm y. 5 do. 6 do. dry medicine supplied the 5, or Colonel Johnston’s
Senior surgeons.......... 4 do. 6 do. Pennsylvania batallion, the sum of £ 50 17 2 equal
Second surgeons..........2 do. 4 do. to 13 5 56/90 dollars.
Surgeons’ mates..........1 do. 2 do.
Apothecaries general.. 3 April 12, 1777. 257
do. 6 do.
M a te s ........................... 1 Vo do. 2 do. Resolved, T h at 100,000 dollars be advanced to Dr.
Commissary.................2 do. 4 do. Shippen, director general, for the use of the hospi
Clerk, who is to be tals; he to be accountable.
paym aster................2 do. 4 do. Resolved, T h at the surgeons general and physi
Assistant clerks.......... 2 / 3 do. 1 do. cians general of the hospitals, shall, each of them
Stewards.......................1 do. 2 do. regulate the practice of both physic and surgery, and
M atro n .........................Vo do. 1 do. do the duty of physician and surgeon general in the
Nurses...........................24-90 1 do. hospitals respectively committed to their charge, and
Stabler.......................... 1 do. 1 do. that the director and deputy directors general take
Regimental surgeons.. 2 do. 4 do. proper care to keep the sick and wounded in separate
Do. mates.. . . 1 1 / 3 2 do. departments.
Ordered, That the regulations respecting hospitals
April 1 7 , 1777- 2 7 4 - 5
be published.
T h at there is due to Dr. William Smith, conti
April 9, 1777. 247 nental druggist, for sundry medicine purchased by
him for public use, the sum of 2,820 30/90 dollars,
Resolved, T hat to-morrow be assigned for nomi
and for sundry medicine supplied by him for the use
nating gentlemen for the offices of director and dep
of the brig Lexington, the sum of 13 1 38/90 dollars,
uty directors general, physicians general and sur
both sums making 2,952 28/90 dollars;
33 This report, in the writing of Benjamin Rush, is in the P a 84 These two paragraphs, in the writing of James Wilson, are
pers o f the Continental Congress, No. 19, V, folio 151. in the P a p e rs o f the Continental Congress, No. 22, folio 26 1/2.
H istory of th e A rmy M ed ical D epar tm en t D uring th e R evolution 263
T h at there is due to Dr. William Currie for sun the army, wherever found, in their own or other
dry medicine supplied the sick of the 4th and 6th departments, provided such other departments are
Virginia regiments, the sum of 99 66/90 dollars. not supplied with any of the officers aforesaid.
April 22, 1777. 288-90 April 23, 1777. 292
Resolved, That a Corps of Invalids be formed con Resolved, That Dr. James Tilton be authorized to
sisting of eight Companies, each Company to have repair to Dumfries, in Virginia, there to take the
one Captain, two Lieutenants, two Ensigns, five Ser charge of all continental soldiers that are or shall
jeants, six Corporals, two Drummers, two fifers and be inoculated, and that he be furnished with all
one hundred Men. This Corps to be employed, in necessary medicines: that the commanding officers
Garrisons and for Guards, in Cities and other Places, in that department be directed to afford every as
where Magazines or Arsenals are placed; as also to sistance in their power, and that all commissaries
serve as a M ilitary School for Young Gentlemen, and quarter masters on whom the doctor shall have
previous to their being appointed to marching Regi occasion to call, be directed to provide quarters and
ments, for which purpose, all the Subaltern Officers, everything requisite for this business.
when off D uty, shall be obliged to attend a Mathe
matical School, appointed for the purpose to learn April 25, 1777. 300
Geometry, Arithmetick, vulgar and decimal Frac Resolved, T hat the physician or surgeon general
tions and the extraction of Roots. And that the of the hospital in the middle department, be directed
Officers of this Corps, shall be obliged to contribute to send a proper person or persons in the medical
one d ay’s pay in every Month, and Stoppages shall department, to visit all the hospitals betwixt this city
be made of it accordingly, for the purpose of pur and the town of Annapolis, in Maryland, with direc
chasing a Regimental Library of the most approved tions to order all such soldiers, as shall be deemed
Authors on Tacticks and the Petite Guere. capable of service, to join immediately their respec
That some Officers from this Corps be constantly tive corps under proper officers.
employed in the Recruiting Service, in the Neigh April 30, 1777. 3 1 7
bourhood of the places they shall be stationed in,
Resolved, T h at M ajor General Schuyler be di
that all Recruits so made, shall be brought into the
rected to send a proper officer, to hasten the march
Corps, and drilled and afterwards draughted into
of the Carolina continental troops, supposed to be
other Regiments as occasion shall require.35
now on their w ay to head-quarters; that they halt
Inform General Washington that Surgeons’ Mates
at Dumfries, Colchester and Alexandria, in Virginia,
are appointed and their Pay fixed. P ay and Rations
there to pass through inoculation; which the hospi
of Regimental Surgeons and Mates same as second
tal surgeons, lately despatched from this city to Dum
surgeons in the Hospital.36
fries, are directed to see effected, with the greatest
Resolved, That the farther consideration of the
despatch.
report be postponed.
Resolved, That the director and deputy directors M a y 2, 1777. 3 2 1 - 2
general, shall constantly publish in the news-papers, T hat there is due to Christopher, jun. and Charles
the names of the places in which their military hos Marshall, for sundry medicine and chirurgical in
pitals are respectively kept; and the several com struments supplied by them for the use of different
manding officers of parties, detachments, or corps, batallions of continental forces, the sum of £ 1 ,5 5 6
on their march to or from the camp, shall send to 16 6, equal to 4 ,1 5 1 48/90 dollars:
the said hospitals, such of their officers and soldiers, T h at there is due to Dr. George Glentworth, for
as, from time to time, are unable to proceed, together sundry medicine supplied the sick of Captain Doyle’s
with certificates to the director or deputy director company in continental service, the sum of 28 48/90
general, mentioning the names of the said officers dollars:
and soldiers and particular regiments to which they T h at there is due to Dr. Frederick Phile, for sun
belong; unless, from the distance of the hospitals, dry medicine administered by him to several batal
or other causes, it shall at any time be necessary to lions of continental forces, the sum of £4 9 2 2 9,
deliver them to the care of private physicians or equal to 1 ,3 1 2 33/9 0 dollars.37
surgeons, in which cases, such physicians and sur Ordered, T h at the said accounts be paid.
geons, and also the respective commanding officers,
are forthwith to report their names and regiments May 8, 1777- 335
to the director or deputy directors general as afore A letter, from Governor Livingston, to Dr. Wither
said, who shall give the necessary orders for removing spoon, dated Haddonfield, M a y 7, was laid before
them to the hospitals as soon as may be, and dis Congress and read, wherein he requests a guard of
charge the reasonable demands of the physicians and 25 or 30 continental troops, for purposes therein
surgeons conducting agreeable to this resolve. mentioned; Whereupon,38
T h at the director, deputy directors general and
M a y 20, 1777. 3 71
assistant deputy directors, have power to order to
A letter . . . of the 19th, from Dr. W.
their respective hospitals, the sick and wounded of
Shippen, director general; . . .39
36 See under June 20, 1777, post.
36 This report is in the P a p e rs o f the Continental Congress, No. 38 This letter is in the P a p e rs o f the Continental Congress, No.
147, I, folio 147. 68 , folio 255.
37 This report, dated April 29, is in the P a p e rs o f the Continen 39 The letter of Shippen is in the P a p e rs o f the Continental C on
ta l Congress, No. 136, I, folio 141. gress, No. 78, XX, folio 403.
264 Annals o f Medical History
M ay 27, 1777. 389-90 Ju ly 12, 1777- 547
Resolved, . . . by the resolutions of Congress T h at there be advanced to Dr. William Shippen,
of the 26th day of August, 1776, to make, provision director general of the hospitals, 8,000 dollars, for
for the maintenance of disabled wounded soldiers, which he is to be accountable:
belonging to their respective States, and to keep a
regular account of the expence attending the same, Ju ly 16, 1777 - 5 5 4 -6
Resolved, T h at the pay and subsistence of sur
that, at a future day, the Continent may be charged
geons in the navy, be equal to the pay and subsis
therewith:
tence of the lieutenants of the vessels to which they
M a y 28, 1777- 394 shall respectively belong.
A letter, of the 27th, from Dr. B. Rush, was read: Resolved, That, for carrying into execution the re
Ordered, T h at it be referred to the Medical Com solve respecting Colonel Nicola’s corps of invalids,
mittee. the following plan, for raising one company, be
June 20, 1777. 482 adopted for raising the whole of the said corps:
Resolved, T h at a corps of invalids be formed. 1. T h at the director general of the continental
. . . This corps to be employed . . ., and hospital be desired to give directions to the Phy
for guards in cities and other places where . . ., sicians and surgeons, in the different departments
or hospitals are placed; . . . at a reasonable distance from Philadelphia, that, be
June 23, 1777. 490 fore they discharge any serjeants, corporals, or pri
A . . . letter of the 20th, from Dr. W . Ship- vate men from the hospitals as unfit for service,
pen, informing that Dr. Walter Jones, for weighty they consider, whether such men are actually, or
reasons, cannot accept the honour Congress did him likely soon to be capable of doing garrison duty;
in appointing him physician general of the hospitals and, if thought so, to mention it in the discharge,
of the middle department; and that he gives this that they may not be entirely discharged from the
information at the desire of Doctor W . Jones; service, but transferred from the regiment to which
.4° they actually belong, to that of invalids; and that
in case such men are at a distance from their re
Ju ly 1, 1777- 5 i7 , 5 18
spective regiments, that the director or steward of
Resolved, T h at there be advanced to Dr. W .
each hospital send such men to Philadelphia, in the
Shippen, director general of the military hospitals,
best manner circumstances will admit:
25,000 dollars, for which he is to be accountable.41
2. T h at notice be sent, by the Board of War, to
Congress proceeded to the election of a physician
the generals commanding the armies, of the raising
general of the hospital in the middle department, in
a corps of invalids, and that they be desired to give
the room of Dr. Jones, who declines, and, the ballots
orders to the officers commanding regiments, that,
being taken,
in case they have any serjeants, corporals, drum
Benjamin Rush was elected.
mers, or private men, deemed incapable of doing
Ju ly 2, 1777. 525 field duty, such men should be examined b y the di
Congress proceeded to the election of a surgeon rector of the hospital or some other physician or
general of the hospital in the middle department, in surgeon, and, if judged fit for garrison duty, that
the room of Dr. Rush; and, the ballots being taken, they be not discharged, but transferred to the in
Dr. William Brown was elected. valid corps, and sent to Philadelphia as soon as pos
Ju ly 3, 1777. 527 sible.
A letter . . . of the 22 June, from Jonathan Men having only one leg or arm each, if otherwise
Potts, at Ticonderoga; . . . capable of doing garrison duty, are to be deemed
Ordered, . . . that the letter from Dr. Potts, proper recruits for this corps.
be referred to the Medical Committee. 3. T h at the following advertisement be published
in the several newspapers as soon as possible, viz.
Ju ly 5, 1777. 532.
“ War-Office, June, 17 7 7 : The Congress, being de
The said Board farther reported that a warrant
sirous to make provision for such men as suffer in
should be drawn by the president on Benjamin Har
the military service of the United States, have di
rison, Jun r, Esq^, deputy pay master general of
rected a regiment of invalids to be immediately
the southern department, in favour of Colonel Will
raised for the reception of such as have already
iam Aylett, deputy commissary general in the said
been, or may, in future, be rendered, by wounds or
department, for 54,000 dollars, for which the said
disorders, incapable of doing field duty, but are yet
Commissary General is to be accountable.42
fit for garrison service. Notice is hereby given, that
Ju ly 7, 1777. 538 all persons in Philadelphia, or within twenty miles
T h at there is due to Messrs. Caldwell & Co. for round, who are under continental half-pay, on ac
sundry medicine delivered William Smith, conti count of incapacities contracted in the service, must,
nental druggist, for the use of the United States, within fifteen days, repair to Philadelphia and show
the sum of 666 60/90 dollars: themselves to Colonel Nicola, in Front Street, four
(Ordered, T h at the said account be paid.) doors below the Coffee house, that, if judged capable
40 The letter of Shippen is in the P a p e rs o f the Continental C on lie.” These paragraphs were: “Resolved, That all Bedding, Blan
gress,No. 78, XX, folio 115. kets, Shirts and Sheets which may be necessary for the use of the
41 This report is in the P a p e rs o f the Continental Congress, No. Hospitals be purchased and supplied by the Clothier Gen
136, I, folio 271. eral. . . . ”
42 This paragraph formed part of a report, dated July 2 , which The report i3 in the P a p e rs o f the Continental Congress, No.
contained two other paragraphs, both of which were ordered" to 136, I, folio 283.
H istory of th e A rmy M ed ical D ep ar tm en t D uring th e R evolution 265
of duty, they may be put on full pay. All other per stowing of rank on the inferior officers of the civil
sons, who have served in the armies of the United Departments of the Arm y, corresponds with the
States, within the above description, though not on Opinion of the Officers in general, and there is too
half-pay, may present themselves, and, if judged much Reason to apprehend great inconveniences
capable, they will be immediately received. All from such Measures if not rectified in future. . . .
such as are above twenty miles from Philadelphia T h at the Director and each of the Deputy Direc
must apply to the nearest continental general, field tors General be severally authorized to empower the
officer, physician or surgeon, who are desired to for Surgeon and Physician General of the A rm y within
ward such as they judge fit for the corps of invalids. his respective District, to draw on the issuing Com
Officers who, from wounds or disorders contracted missaries for such Articles of Provision in gross
in the service, are rendered unfit for field duty, Quantities as the said Surgeon and Physician Gen
must signify their pretensions, with certificates from eral Shall require for supporting the Sick in the fly
continental physicians or surgeons to the Board of ing and temporary Hospitals; and the said issuing
W ar. A s this corps is intended, not only as a pro Commissaries are respectively directed to charge
vision for disabled officers and soldiers, but as a such Provisions to the Director or Deputy Director
school for propagating military knowledge and dis General of the District, and to keep the Vouchers in
cipline, no officers need apply but such as produce separate Files in order for Settlement with the
ample certificates of their having served with repu Officers aforesaid. . . .
tation, and having supported good characters, both
as citizens and soldiers. Officers and soldiers who August 6, 1777. 618
have engaged during the war will be preferred.” Resolved, T h at there be advanced to Dr. William
Resolved, That Enoch Welsh be appointed an en Shippen, Jr. director general of the hospitals, the
sign in the corps of invalids.43 sum of fifty thousand dollars, for the use of the hos
pitals, for which he is to be accountable:
Ju ly 17, 1777. 560
Resolved, That in lieu of the advance ordered on August 8, 1777. 623
the 12 instant to be made to Dr. William Shippen, A petition from William West, major, James
director general of the hospitals, an order be drawn M ’Henry and Hugh Hodge, surgeons of the 4th and
on the loan officer of Connecticut, in his favour, for 6th regiments of ||Pennsylvania forces, || commanded
8,000 dollars, for which the said Dr. Shippen is to by Colonels M agaw and Cadwallader, prisoners on
be accountable.44 parole, praying to be informed, whether, as conti
nental officers holding commissions only revocable
Ju ly 22, 1777. 570 b y this or a future Congress, they are not entitled
A letter, of the 5, from Dr. W . Rickman to M r. to pay while on parole, as well as when in the hands
(Benjamin)* Harrison, was laid before Congress and of General H o w e :45
read :44a Ordered, T o lie for consideration to M onday next.
Ordered, T h at it be referred to the Medical Com The Medical Committee, to whom the memorial
mittee. from Dr. J . Morgan was referred, brought in a re
Ju ly 3 1, 1777. 593 port.46
A . . . letter and memorial from Dr. J . M or August 9, 1777. 6 26 -7
gan, were re a d :44b Congress took into consideration the report of
Ordered, . . . that the memorial of Dr. Morgan the Medical Committee which was read, as follows:
be referred to the Medical Committee. “ The Medical Committee to whom the memorial
August 5, 1777. 608, 609 of Dr. John Morgan to Congress was referred, beg
. . . T h at there are sick in the Hospitals and leave to report, that they find from the journals of
Arm y 3,745 soldiers, the number of which has been Congress, that Dr. Morgan was appointed director
greatly increased by the use of bad Bread, and the general and chief physician of the hospital, in the
W ant of Vinegar, Vegetables and Soap as particu room of Dr. B. Church, October 17, 17 7 5 ; that, on
larly set forth in General Washington’s Letter to the the 9 January, 1777, he was dismissed from said ap
Committee . . . . pointment; that though no cause is assigned for his
In the Hospital Department from the W ant of discharge, yet, your committee on enquiry, find,
Authority in the Director and Deputy Directors that the general complaints of persons of all ranks
General to draw Supplies from the Commissary’s in the army, and not any particular charges against
Stores. him, together with the critical state of affairs at
That the General officers as well as the Staff com that time, rendered it necessary for the public good
plain of their not receiving regularly the resolutions and the safety of the United States, that he should
of Congress relative to their several offices. be displaced, and were the reasons of his dismission;
T h at the Complaint of the General upon the be- that the doctor’s memorial appears to your commit
tee to be a hasty and intemperate production; not
43 This report is in the P a p e rs o f the Continental C ongress, No. withstanding which, as he conceives himself injured,
147, I, folio 237.
44 This report is in the P a p e rs o f the Continental Congress, No. and requests an enquiry into his conduct, your com
136, I, folio 305. mittee are of opinion that he ought to be heard, and
44aThis letter is in No. 78, XIX, folio 97.
44bThe letter of Morgan, in No. 63, folio 113; and the me 45 This petition is in the P a p e rs o f the Continental Congress, No.
morial in No. 41, VI, folio 19. 42, VIII, folio 167.
* Material placed in parenthesis appeared in brackets in the 45 This report is in the P a p e rs o f the Continental Congress, No.
original MSS. 19, IV, folio 177. It is summarized on August 9, post.
2 66 Annals o f Medical History
that a committee of Congress should be appointed hospital stores, &c. settling accounts with the sur
for that purpose:” geons, mates, &c. attending the commissioners at
Resolved, T h at Congress concur in the said report. Hartford, 1,16 4 dollars; for 1,17 9 rations from 31
The Medical Committee, to whom was referred December, 1776, to 10 M ay, at 8/90 dollar, 104
the letter from Dr. William Rickman, also report, 72/90 dollars, and for 567 rations, from 10 M a y to
“ that as the establishment of the military hospital 12 Ju ly, at 10/90, 63 dollars, making in the whole
in Virginia, by a resolution of Congress of the 18th 2 ,14 5 22/90 dollars:
of M ay, 1776, is entirely distinct from, and inde
pendent of, the general establishment of hospitals September 13, 1777. 739
in the other States, they are of opinion, the same Ordered, T hat the President issue his warrant on
was not affected by the new regulations of the 7th the commissioners of the loan office for the State of
day of April last, and that Dr. Rickman still con Pennsylvania, in favour of Dr. Shippen, director
tinues director of that hospital;” general of the hospital, for fifty thousand dollars,
Resolved, T h at Congress concur with the foregoing for the use of that department; and for which he
report.47 shall be accountable:
Ordered, T h at a copy of the foregoing report and September 18, 1777. 754
concurrence of Congress be sent to Dr. Shippen, and
Resolved, T h at establishments be made for the
that he be directed to withdraw from Virginia such hospital in the respective departments, and chap
physicians, surgeons, or assistants, as he may have lains appointed, and that their pay be each 60 dol
sent thither. lars a month, three rations a day, and forage for
August 25, 1777. 670 one horse:
A letter, . . . o f the 16, from Dr. Shippen, were The Rev. M r. Noah Cook was elected chaplain of
re a d :48 the hospitals in the eastern department.
Ordered, T h at . . the letter from Dr. Shippen, be October 18, 1777. 821
referred to the Medical Committee. A letter from William Shippen, director general,
to the Medical Committee, was laid before Con
August 30, 1777. 699 gress and read:
The Medical Committee brought in a report Ordered, That it be referred to the Board of War.
which was taken into consideration; Whereupon, October 20, 1777. 823
Resolved, T h at the several issuing commissaries Resolved, T h at General R. Howe’s letter of the
be directed to furnish the director general, or any of 29 August last, relating to the general hospital in
the deputy directors, or their assistants, with such South Carolina, be referred to the Medical Commit
provisions as any of them shall, from time to time, tee.
demand by an order in writing, for the use of any
October 24, 1777. 838
temporary hospital which shall be established, which
Resolved, T h at a warrant issue on the treasurer for
order, with the receipt of the steward endorsed
500 dollars, in favour of William Shippen, Juffi di
thereon, shall be a sufficient voucher for such issu
rector general of the hospital, which is to be charged
ing commissary, who is also required to keep such
to the said W . Shippen, and for which he is to be
vouchers separate, and make a separate entry of the
accountable; this being to indemnify the treasurer
same in his books, charging the director who ordered
for so much advanced by him to the said Dr. Ship-
the same therewith.
pen on account of the military hospitals, as appears
September 10, 1777. 727, 72 8 -9 b y his receipt, dated 15 October, 1777.
A letter, . . of the 9, from Dr. Shippen, director
November 6, 1777. 870
general of the hospital, . . .
Resolved, T h at the unremitted attention shewn
Ordered, T h at the letter from Dr. Shippen, . .
by Dr. Potts, and the officers of the general hospi
be referred to the Board of Treasury. . . .
tal in the northern department, (as represented in
T h at there is due to Dr. John Morgan, late direc
General Gates’s letter to Congress, of the 20 Octo
tor general of the American hospitals, the balance
ber,) 49 to the sick and wounded under their care,
of his account current as adjusted by the commis
is a proof not only of their humanity, but of their
sioners of accounts at Hartford, the 12 Ju ly last, the
zeal for the service of the United States, so deeply
sum of 6 13 40/90 dollars, and the farther sum of
interested in the preservation of the health and lives
200 dollars which he advanced to Dr. Warren, sur
of the gallant asserters of their country’s cause; and
geon of the general hospital, to defray expences, &c.
that Congress, therefore, cannot but ascertain a
which sum was stolen from the said Warren, as per
high sense of the services which they have ren
certificates taken on oath before the commissioners
dered, during this campaign, by a diligent discharge
at Stamford, and which the Board of Treasury
of their respective functions.50
agrees should be allowed to Dr. Morgan;
Also the pay of director general from the 3 1 De November 12, 1777. 894
cember, 1776, to the 12 July, 1777, being 194 days, Ordered, T h at a warrant issue on Nathaniel A p
at 6 dollars per day, which time he employed in pleton, Esq!' commissioner of the continental loan
taking accounts, and delivering up the medicines, office of the State of Massachusetts bay, in favour
47 See note under August 8 , ante. 50 This report, dated November 4, is in the P a p e rs o f the C onti
48 The letter of Shippen, is in the P a p e rs o f the Continental No. 147, I, folio 381. The members of the Board
nental Congress,
Congress, No. 78, XX, folio 147. present were: Francis Lightfoot Lee, William Duer, Joseph
49 Words in parentheses were inserted by Henry Laurens. Bones, William Williams and John Harvie.
H istory of th e A rmy M ed ical D epar tm en t D uring th e R evolution 267
of Dr. William Shippen, director general of the hos hospitals at Alexandria, reported, “ T h at from the
pitals, for sixty-seven thousand dollars, for the use information of several officers in the Virginia and
of his department, and for which he is to be ac North Carolina regiments, which are annexed, it
countable: appears obvious to the committee that Dr. Rick
man, director of the said hospitals, has been guilty
November 19, 1777. 941
of great neglect in not giving proper attendance to
The Medical Committee brought in a report, the officers and soldiers under inoculation at Alex
which was taken into consideration; Whereupon, andria:” The said report and the informations being
Resolved, T h at the cloathier general be directed to read,
deliver to the director general of the military hospi Resolved, T h at Dr. Rickman be immediately sus
tals, the deputy directors general, or their assistants, pended, and that he attend the Medical Committee,
for the use of the sick and wounded of the several to answer the several complaints exhibited against
departments, a proportionable share of the blankets, him.
shirts, shoes, and stockings, he shall, from time to Ordered, T h at the Medical Committee transmit
time, procure for the supply of the army: to Dr. Rickman a copy of the complaints against
T h at the director general of the hospitals be au him, and direct his attendance:
thorized to cause stoves to be erected in the differ T h at the said committee write to Dr. Shippen,
ent hospitals, in case he shall think such a measure director general, and direct him to send immediate
will conduce to make up for the present scarcity of ly a skilful physician to take care of the sick and
blankets and cloathing, or to the greater comfort of superintend the inoculation of the soldiers at Alex
the sick; and that the waggons annexed to the hos andria.
pital department be employed, as much as possible,
in the transportation of fuel for the respective hos January i, 1778. p. 9
pitals. A letter, of the 8, and one, of the 13 December,
from Dr. B. Rush to M r. (William) Duer, were laid
November 29, 1777. 980
before Congress, and re a d :52
A letter, of the 16, from General Gates, . . . Resolved, T h at the said committee be fully au
also a letter of the 24, from W . Shippen, director thorized to take every measure, which they shall
general, at Bethlehem, were re a d :51 deem necessary, for the immediate relief of the sick,
December 1, 1777. 983 and report such alterations in the medical depart
ment, as they shall deem best adapted to answer
Ordered, T h at a warrant issue on Thomas Smith,
the end of its institution.
EsqF commissioner of the loan office for the State
of Pennsylvania, in favour of Dr. William Shippen, January 6, 1778, p. 23, 24
director general of the hospitals, for fifty thousand
The committee to whom the letters from Gover
dollars, for the use of his department; the said direc nor Livingston and Dr. Rush were referred, brought
tor general to be accountable: in a report, which was taken into consideration;
Ordered, T hat a warrant issue on the treasurer, in
Whereupon,
favour of Dr. William Shippen, director general of
Resolved, T h at the cloathier general be directed
the hospitals, for fifty thousand dollars, for the use
to deliver to the order of the director general as
of his department, the said director general to be much linen and as many blankets as can be spared,
accountable: to be retained in the hospital for the use of the sick:
December 10, 1777. 1016 T h at the cloathier general be directed to supply
Resolved, T h at two members be added to the the convalescents with necessary cloathing, in order
Medical Committee: that, when properly recovered, they may join the
The members chosen, Mr. (Francis) Lewis and arm y:
M r. (John) Penn. T h at a member of Congress be forthwith appoint
Congress having received information that the ed to visit the hospitals in the middle department:
inoculation of recruits in the hospital in the State the member chosen, M r. (John) Penn.
of Virginia has of late been attended with much ill T h at a recommendation be sent to the clergy of
success; all denominations in the said [ middle ] district, to
Resolved, That the Medical Committee make strict solicit charitable donations of woolens and linen,
enquiry into the truth of this information, and re made or unmade, for the sick soldiers in the hospi
port to Congress, with all possible despatch. tals; and to send the same to the Board of W ar, or
any hospital, as may be most convenient.
December 13, 1777. 1024 T h at Dr. Shippen and Dr. Rush be directed to
A return of the number and names of the wound attend Congress on the 26 day of January inst. to
ed men, distinguishing such as are fit for the corps be examined touching certain abuses said to prevail
of invalids, and such as are totally unfit for service; in the hospital.
Resolved, T h at the farther consideration of the re
December 20, 1777. 1039 port be postponed (to the afternoon.) . . .
The Medical Committee, to whom it was referred Congress resumed the consideration of the report
to enquire into the conduct of the director of the under debate this morning; Whereupon,
61 The letter of Shippen is in the P a p e rs o f the C ontinental (7on- 62 These letters are in the P a p e rs o f the C ontinental Congress, No.
gress, No. 78, XX, folio 163. 78, XIX, folios 173 and 181.
268 Annals of Medical History
Resolved, That the sum of ten dollars shall be paid T h at in the absence of the director general from
b y every officer, and the sum of four dollars by any district, the physician general and surgeon gen
every soldier, who shall enter, or be sent into any eral shall hereafter determine the number of hospi
hospital to be cured of the venereal disease; which tals to be provided by the deputy director general
sums shall be deducted out of their pay, and an ac for the sick and wounded, and shall superintend
count thereof shall be transmitted by the physician and controul the affairs of such hospitals:
or surgeon who shall have attended them, to the T h at the director general shall consult with the
regimental pay master for that purpose; the money physician general and surgeon general in each dis
so arising to be paid to the director general, or his trict, about the supplies necessary for the hospitals,
order, to be appropriated to the purchasing blan and shall give orders in writing to the deputy direc
kets and shirts for the use of sick soldiers in the tor general thereof to provide the same; and, in the
hospital. absence of the director general, the physician gen
eral and surgeon general shall issue such orders:
January 19, 1778. 60
T h at each deputy director general shall appoint
A letter, of the 18th, from W . Shippen, Jun, one or more of the assistant deputy directors, under
. . . was read: . .M him, to the sole business of providing beds, furni
January 26, 1778. 92 ture, utensils, hospital cloathing, and such like arti
cles; and shall appoint one or more to provide medi
A letter, of the 25, from Dr. Rush, was
cines, instruments, dressings, herbs, and necessaries
read: . . ,54
of a similar kind:
January 27, 1778. 93 T h at the director general shall frequently visit
A letter from Dr. Shippen, director general of the the hospitals in each district, and see that the regu
hospital, and one from Dr. Brown, (both directed) lations are carried into effect; shall examine into the
to the Medical Committee, were laid before Con number and qualifications of the hospital officers,
gress, (and read:) 55 report to Congress any abuses that may have taken
Ordered, T h at the same, together with the letters place, and discharge the supernumerary officers, if
some time since received from Dr. Shippen and Dr. there be any, that all unnecessary expence may be
Rush, and Governor Livingston, relative to the hos saved to the public; and when the director general
pital department, be referred to a committee of five, is in any particular district, the physician general
and that the committee be instructed to confer with and surgeon general in that district shall not ap
Dr. Shippen and Dr. Rush, and report specially: point any officers without his consent:
That, on the settlement of hospital accounts, the
January 30, 1778. 100 officers entrusted with public money shall produce
Resolved, T h at a warrant issue on the treasurer vouchers to prove the expenditure, and receipts from
in favour of Dr. Jonathan Potts, deputy director the proper officers of the hospitals, specifying the
general of the hospitals in the northern department, delivery of the stores and other articles purchased;
for twenty thousand dollars for the use of his dis and the apothecaries, mates, stewards, matrons, and
trict; the said deputy director general to be ac other officers, receiving such stores and other arti-
countable. ticles, shall be accountable for the same, and shall
A letter, of this day, from Dr. Rush, requesting produce vouchers for the delivery thereof from such
leave to resign, was read: 56 officers, and according to such forms as the physi
cians general and surgeons general have directed, or
February 6, 1778. 1 2 8 - 1 3 1 shall, from time to time, direct; which forms and
Congress took into consideration the report of the directions the physicians and surgeons general shall
committee to whom the letters from Dr. Shippen, report to the Board of Treasury:
Dr. Rush, and others were committed; and there T h at the director general, or, in his absence from
upon came to the following resolutions: the district, the physician general, and surgeon
For the better regulating the hospitals of the general, shall appoint a ward master for each hos
United States, pital, to receive the arms, accoutrements and
Resolved, T hat there be a deputy director general cloathing of each soldier admitted therein, keeping
for the hospitals between Hudson and Potomack entries of, and giving receipts for such articles,
rivers; and that the superintending care of the di which, on the recovery of the soldier, shall be re
rector general be extended equally over the hospi turned to him, or, in case of his death, the arms and
tals in every district, and that he be excused from accoutrements shall be delivered to the commissary
the duty of providing supplies, [and from “ particu or deputy commissary of military stores, and re
la rly ” superintending the said hospitals]* when the ceipts be taken for the same; and the ward master
deputy director general shall be ready to enter upon shall receive and be accountable for the hospital
the office: cloathing; and perform such other services as the
T hat the several officers of the hospitals shall physician general or the surgeon general shall di
cease to exercise such of their former powers as are rect:
herein assigned to other officers thereof: T h at the physicians general and surgeons general
shall hereafter make no returns to the deputy direc-
63 The letter of Shippen is in the P a p e rs o f the C o ntinental C on
gress, No. 78, XX, folio 171. 78, XX, folio 175.
54 The letter of Dr. Rush is in the P a p e rs o f the Continental C on 56 This letter is in the P a p e rs o f the Continental Congress, No
gress, No. 78, XIX, folio 197. 78, XIX, folio 205.
55 This letter is in the P a p e rs o f the C ontinental Congress, No. * Material in brackets was cancelled in the original MSS.
H istory of th e A rmy M ed ical D epar tm en t D uring th e R evolution 269
tors general, but the returns shall be made by the Dr. Charles M ’Knight was elected.
said officers respectively to the director general, Whereas, the duty of the person who executes the
who shall carefully transmit copies of each with his office of secretary and pay master of the hospital in
monthly return to Congress, and suspend such of the middle department, is important and difficult:
the officers aforesaid as neglect this or any other Resolved, T hat the pay of the person who exe
part of their duty, and shall report their names to cutes those offices in the hospital in the middle de
Congress: partment, be augmented to three dollars a day.
T h at the director and deputy directors general T h at a warrant issue on the treasurer for the sum
forthwith prepare their accounts, and adjust them of forty thousand dollars, in favour of William Ship-
with the commissioners of claims, at the Board of pen, Jun. director general of all the military hospi
Treasury. tals, for the use of the middle district; for which
T h at four dollars a day, and the former allowance the director is to be accountable:
of rations, be hereafter allowed to each assistant February 23, 1778. p. 191
deputy director and the commissary of the hospitals T hat a warrant issue on the treasurer in favour of
in each district; and one dollar a day, and two ra Dr. Jonathan Potts . . . for one hundred thou
tions, to each ward master: sand dollars . . . he is to be accountable.58
Resolved, That Dr. Potts be called from the north
ern district, and appointed to act as deputy director M arch 7, 1778. p. 230
general in the middle district. The Medical Committee report, “ That they have
Resolved, T h at the eldest assistant deputy director carefully examined and considered the several alle
in the northern district shall execute the office of the gations and testimonies for, and against, Dr. W il
deputy director general in the said district, until the liam Rickman, deputy director general in the south
further orders of Congress: ern department; that, notwithstanding, it appears
T h at the salaries of the hospital officers and debts the North Carolina and Virginia troops, inoculated
contracted for the hospitals of the middle district by the said Dr. Rickman at Alexandria, suffered, in
to the time of Dr. Potts’s entering upon the office of general, more in the course of the disease than is
deputy director general therein, shall be adjusted usual, and that a number of them did die; yet, as
and paid by the director general, who shall deliver the committee are convinced that it was impracti
all the public stores in his possession to the deputy cable for the director to obtain, in season, a variety
director general or his order, taking duplicate re of articles for their due accommodation in the hos
ceipts for the same, and transmitting one of each to pitals, as many of them were badly cloathed, and
the Board of Treasury; and the same rule shall be all had, immediately before the operation, under
observed by Dr. Potts with respect to the salaries gone a long and fatiguing march at a season of the
and debts of the hospitals of the northern district, year when putrid diseases generally prevail most; as
and the public stores thereof, which are to be de from a regular return it appears that most of those
livered to his successor in office in that district. who were lost, died of a putrid fever; as the director
Congress proceeded to the election of a physician really had not sufficient assistance, and lastly, as
general in the middle district, in the room of Dr. one of the assistants, of the name of Parker, who
Rush, [ resigned ] and the ballots being taken, was employed from the necessity of the case, ap
Dr. William Brown was elected. pears to have greatly abused the confidence and
trust reposed in him by the director; whence a great
February 10, 1778. p. 142 part of the evils complained of by the patients may
Resolved, T hat another chaplain be chosen for have arisen; the committee are of opinion, that Dr.
the hospitals in the middle department: Rickman ought to be acquitted of the charges ex
The ballots being taken, the Rev. M r. (James) hibited against him; that the resolution of the 20th
Sproat was elected. day of December last, for his suspension, be re
February 13, 1778. p. 157, 158 pealed, and that Dr. Rickman be directed to repair
T h at there is due to Dr. John Witherspoon, for immediately to his department, and resume the ex
hay for the army, and wood for the hospital at ercise of his duty there:” 59
Princeton, as appears by the certificate of Enos Kel
sey, acting in the quarter master’s department, the March 9, 1778. 235
sum of 429 30/90 dollars: A letter, of the 2, from Captain W. Nichols, was
Resolved, T h at M r. Nathaniel Scudder be added read, praying for leave to resign his commission.
to the Medical Committee, . . . A letter from Dr. A(mmi) R(uhamah) C u t
ter to M r. (George) Frost, praying for leave to re
February 2 1, 1778. p. 186, 187 sign, were read: 60
A letter of 21, from Dr. W . Shippen, was re a d ;57 Ordered, T h at Dr. Cutter have leave to resign;
Whereupon, that the letter from Captain Nichols be referred to
Resolved, T h at a surgeon general be appointed the Board of W a r ; .....................
for the hospital in the middle department, in the M arch 1 1, 1778. 243
room of Dr. Brown, promoted; the ballots being T h at a warrant issue on the treasurer, in favour
taken, of Joseph Nourse, pay master to the Board of W ar
67 This letter is in the P a p e rs o f the Continental Congress, No. 69 This report, in the writing of Nathan Brownson (?), is in the
78, XX, folio 193. No. 19, V, folio 249.
P a p e rs o f the C ontinental Congress,
68 This report is in the P a p e rs o f the Continental Congress, No. 60 The letter of Nichols is in the P a p e rs o f the C ontinental C o n
136, II, folio 101. gress, No. 78, XVII, folio 37.
270 Annals of Medical History
and ordnance, for 50,000 dollars, to be b y him trans . . . There w as. some time ago an apprehension
mitted to Doct. Isaac Forster, deputy director gen in a part of the goal distant from the officers’ apart
eral of the military hospital in the eastern depart ments that a contagious fever had broke out among
ment, at Danbury, in Connecticut, for which the the soldiers, but the diseased were immediately re
said doctor is to be accountable: moved to hospitals, and a Surgeon and nurses pro
March 26, 1778. 284 vided for them, and every assistance afforded them
A letter, of the 24 February, from the council of the nature of our affairs would admit. . . .
Massachusetts bay, respecting allowances to be M ? ConoIIy, altho’ indulged with every thing a
made to sick and wounded soldiers, was read. 61 prisoner could reasonably wish, has repeatedly rep
resented his own, and the situation of the goal, in
April 3, 1778. p. 303 similar terms with the letter now under considera
A letter, of 21 March, from General Washington, tion, and the former, and this Board, have often
enclosing a copy of a letter to him from Dr. Rush, had consequent examinations, in all of which they
dated Princeton, 25 February, was read; also a let found the complaints groundless. Once particularly,
ter of 9 March, with a postscript of 19, from Dr. when M !- ConoIIy represented himself as at the
Rush to M r. (Daniel) Roberdeau, was laid before point of death from the severity of his confinement,
Congress: 62 the board directed Doctor Shippen to visit him, who
reported that his situation was directly opposite to
April 17, 1778. p. 361
his representation, his indisposition slight and mere
T h at 30,000 dollars be advanced to Dr. Potts, ly of an Hippochandriac Nature. . . .
and that a warrant issue in his favour on Thomas R ichard P eters . 63
Smith, Esq. commissioner of the continental loan M a y 25, 1778. p. 5 3 1
office in the State of Pennsylvania, for the farther
Resolved, T h at the auditor, together with M r.
sum of 70,000 dollars, for the use of the hospital in
Milligan, one of the commissioners of claims, be au
the middle district; for which sums the said Dr.
thorized and directed to examine and pass upon the
Potts is to be accountable:
accounts of Dr. Isaac Forster, deputy director gen
April 18, 1778. p. 365, 366 eral of the eastern department.
Resolved, T h at a W arrant issue on the Treasurer M ay 28, 1778. p. 546
On question, in favour of Dr. William Shippen, . . T h at 755 42/90 dollars be advanced to the Com
negatived for Forty thousand Dollars, . . . mittee of Commerce, to enable them to pay Andrew
for which he is to be accountable. and James Caldwell the freight of sundry medicines
Resolved, T h at M r. G(ouverneur) Morris be add imported in their sloop from Martinico, on public
ed to the Medical Committee. account; the said Committee to be accountable.64
M ay 16, 1778. p. 504 June 4, 1778. p. 568
Ordered, T h at 100,000 dollars to be paid to Dr. A letter, of 20 April, from Dr. Rush to Messrs.
Thomas Bond, Jun. to be b y him delivered to Dr. (William Henry) Drayton, (Samuel) Huntington,
Jonathan Potts, deputy director general, for the use and (John) Banister, committee appointed on 3d of
of the hospitals of the middle district; the said Dr. that month to inquire into Dr. Rush’s charge against
J . Potts to be accountable: Dr. Shippen, (was read:) 65
June 9, 1778. p. 580, 582
M a y 23, 1778. p. 525, 526, 527
Ordered, T hat 50,000 dollars be advanced to Dr.
. . . The Board will lay before Congress the facts Isaac Forster, . . . f o r the use of his department;
which they have collected from M ajor Wilson, com and for which he is to be accountable. . . .
manding at Carlisle during the residence of M ajor Resolved, T h at the deputy director general of the
Stockton and other officers of his party in the goal hospital in the eastern department shall, as hereto
of that place; from M ? T . Peters, Deputy Commis fore, in the absence of the director general, superin
sary of prisoners, who has had the charge during the tend the medical affairs of that department till the
winter of the prisoners at Carlisle and Y ork; from further order of Congress.
Doctor Henry, employed to attend the British pris
June 10, 1778. p. 582
oners when sick; . . .
Ordered, That 200,000 dollars be advanced to Dr.
. . .B u t the goal at Carlisle not being secure,
Jonathan Potts, deputy director general for the
the deputy Commissary of prisoners removed them
middle district, for the use of his department; he to
to the prison of this place, wherein was also confined
be accountable.
Doctor John ConoIIy, for the same causes which in
N . B. Dr. Potts applies for 300,000 Dollars; but
duced and continued their present imprisonment,
as he has already had that sum advanced him since
and for other reasons of policy and prudence. Doc
February last, and as the Treasury is at present
tor ConoIIy having also sundry times behaved amiss
very low, your Committee judged it improper to
while on parole.
report so large a sum. They beg leave further to
61 This letter is in the P a p e rs o f the C o ntinental Congress, No. inform Congress, that from an examination of the
65, I, folio 288. It is indorsed: “There are no resolutions of Con
gress respecting soldiers in any of the circumstances mentioned 63 This report is in the P a p e rs o f the C ontinental Congress, No.
in this letter.” 147, II folio 57.
62 The letter of Washington is in the P a p e rs o f the Continental 64 This report is in the P a p e rs o f the Continental Congress, No.
Congress, No. 152, V, folio 411; that of Rush to Washington is 136, II, folio 321.
in No. 78, XIX, folio 211; and that of Rush to Roberdeau, in 65 This letter is in the P a p e rs o f the C ontinental Congress, No.
the same volume, folio 215. 78, XIX, folio 233.
H istory of th e A rm y M ed ical D epar tm en t D uring th e R evolution 271
estimates given them b y Dr. Potts, they conceive guards in the city of Philadelphia; and if an addi
the expences that accrue in his Department are ex tional number is, in their opinion, necessary, how
orbitant; they have therefore laid them before Con many and for what purposes.
gress for their Inspection.66
August 2 1, 1778. p. 825
June 15, 1778. p. 607 T h at there is due to the officers and privates of
The auditor general and commissioners of claims the invalid regiment, for pay and subsistence for the
having, in consequence of the resolution of the 25 months of M a y and June last, the sum of 9 37 54/90
M ay, reported upon the accounts of Dr. Forster, dollars:68
Ordered, That it be referred to the Board of Treas Ordered, T h at the said accounts be paid.
ury, and that the accounts of Dr. Forster be adjust September 3, 1778. p. 863
ed agreeably to the said report, when he shall pro
T h at a warrant issue on the treasurer in favour
duce vouchers shewing the expenditure of the stores
by him procured and charged in the said account. of Dr. Jonathan Potts, deputy director general for
the middle district, for 70,000 dollars, of which
Ju ly 13, 1778. p. 686 40.000 is for the use of the hospitals thereof, and
The Committee for Foreign Affairs laid before 30.000 to be transmitted to Dr. Johnston, assistant
Congress a letter from Dr. Edward Bancroft, dated director of the northern department; the said Dr.
31 M arch last which was read, and returned to the Potts to be accountable:
Committee. September 7, 1778. p. 887
August 4, 1778. p. 746 A letter, of 28 August, from Dr. (I.) Forster, dep
Ordered, T h at a warrant issue on the treasurer uty director general of the hospital in the eastern
for one hundred thousand dollars, in favour of Jona department, was read:
than Potts, Esq., . . . he to be accountable. Ordered, T h at it be referred to the Medical Com
mittee.
August 11, 1778. 775 September 16, 1778. p. 9 18
T h at a warrant issue on the treasurer in favour of T h at Dr. John Warren, Executor of the late M a
Dr. Isaac Forster, . . . f o r the use of his depart
jor General Warren be authorized and requested to
ment, . . . he to be accountable; and that the superintend their Education, and to make quarter
same be paid to John Delamater, as requested by ly Drafts on the Treasury of the United States for
the doctor. the Expences incident to the same, transmitting to
August 14, 1778. 787 the Board the necessary Accounts.
A letter, of the 1 August, from M r. (Samuel) September 18, 1778. 925
Huntington, one of the delegates of that State in A letter and memorial from Dr. J . Morgan, were
Congress, was laid before Congress, and read, set re a d :69
ting forth sundry evils and abuses in the hospitals Ordered, That the foregoing letter and memorial
in the eastern district: Whereupon,67 be referred to the said committee.
Resolved, T h at the resolution of Congress of the September 23, 1778. 946
9 of June last, authorizing the deputy director gen
eral of the hospital in the eastern department, in Resolved, T h at M r. (Samuel) Holton be added to
the absence of the director general, to superintend the Medical Committee.
the medical affairs of that department, be, and it is October 9, 1778. p. 993
hereby repealed; and that the said hospital for the T h at there is due to the officers and privates of
future be under the same regulations as the hospi the invalid regiment, commanded b y Colonel L.
tals in the other departments. Nicola, for pay and subsistence for the month of
Resolved, T hat the director general be directed to August last, the sum of 1 5 5 8 2 5 / 9 0 dollars:
enquire into the state of the hospital in the eastern
department, and give proper orders for the good October 10, 1778. 997
government and economy thereof, and discharge un A letter, of 4, from Dr. W . Shippen, director gen
qualified and supernumerary officers, if any there eral, enclosing a return of the sick in the hospital,
be. was read:
Ordered, T h at the same be referred to the Medi
August 20, 1778. 816 cal Committee.
A letter, of 19, from M ajor General Arnold, was October 20, 1778. 1031
read: Whereas by a resolution of Congress of the 22
Ordered, T h at it be referred to the Board of W ar,
April, 1777, it is provided, that the several com
and that the Board be directed to report their opin manding officers of parties, detachments or corps on
ion on the necessity of an additional number of
their march to or from the camp, shall send to the
troops to the corps of invalids, for the purpose of military hospitals such of their officers and soldiers
66 This report is in the P a p e rs o f the C o ntinental Congress, No. as from time to time, are unable to proceed, unless
136, II, folio 349. from the distance of the hospitals or other causes,
67 The letter of Huntington is in the P a p e rs o f the Continental
Congress, No. 78, XI, folio 309. 69 This position, dated September 17, is in the P a p e rs o f the
68 This report, dated August 20, is in the P a p e rs o f the C onti Continental Congress, No. 41, VI, folio 51. The letter is in No. 63.
nental Congress, No. 136, II, folio 471. folio 117.
272 Annals o f Medical History
it shall at any time be necessary to deliver them to ments of this State, as agreed to b y the House,”
the care of private physicians or surgeons, in which was laid before Congress:
cases the deputy director general shall discharge the
reasonable demands of the physicians and surgeons Ordered, T hat so much thereof as relates to the
conducting, agreeably to the said resolve. hospital, be referred to the Medical Committee, and
And, whereas, no provision is therein made for the remainder to the Board of War.
discharging the accounts of other persons who have November 12, 1778. p. 112 4
been or may be employed by proper officers for
Ordered, T h at a warrant issue on the treasury for
taking care of and providing for such officers and
seventy-five thousand dollars, in favour of Jonathan
soldiers:
Potts, deputy director general, and another warrant
Resolved, T h at the deputy directors general be
in his favour on Derick Ten Broek, Esq. commis
respectively authorized and instructed to discharge
sioner of the continental loan office in the State of
such of the said accounts as shall appear to be rea
New York, for seventy-five thousand dollars, . . .
sonable and just, provided that each person who
for use in hospitals in the northern department;
may hereafter be employed to provide for officers
. . . said deputy director general is to be account
and soldiers as aforesaid, shall give the earliest no
able.
tice thereof to the deputy director general, or the
physician or surgeon general of the district, in order November 28, 1778. p. 1170 , 117 4
for their speedy removal to the military hospitals. T h at another warrant issue on the treasurer in
favour of Isaac Forster, Esq., . . . for twenty-five
October 22, 1778. p. 1038
thousand dollars, to be paid to James Davison,
A memorial from the regimental surgeons and . . . said deputy director general to be account
surgeons’ assistants of the A rm y or the United able: . . .
States of America, was read: A memorial from the magistrates and the over
Ordered, T h at it be referred to a committee of seers of the poor of the city of Philadelphia, was
three: read, praying for a compensation for the use of the
The members chosen, M r. (Nathaniel) Scudder, house of employment, occupied for continental hos
M r. (Samuel) Holton, and M r. (Josiah) Bartlett. pital: 71
October 26, 1778. p. 1062, 1064. Ordered, To lie on the table.
A letter, of 2 1, from M ajor General Lord Stirling,
enclosing a letter to him from Dr. Griffith, with sun December 5, 1778. p. 119 2
dry affidavits relative to the massacre of Colonel The committee to whom was referred the memo
Bayler’s regiment, on 27 September last, was read: rial of the regimental surgeons and assistants,
. . . Ordered, T h at M r. (Josiah) Bartlett be brought in a report, which was read, and after de
added to the Medical Committee: bate,
Ordered, T h at it be committed to the Medical
October 30, 1778. p. 1079 Committee, who are directed to take into considera
T h at there is due to the officers and privates of tion the case of the hospital as well as regimental
Colonel Lewis Nicola’s regiment of invalids, for ra surgeons, and report thereon.
tions and parts of rations retained from their first
establishment to the 3 1 of M ay, 1778, a balance of December 28, 1778. p. 1259
six hundred and eighty-eight 50/90 dollars, as more Resolved, T h at a member in the place of M r.
fully appears b y a particular state filed with the ac (John) Harvie be added to the committee on the
counts: memorial from Dr. Morgan:
The member chosen, M r. M(eriwether) Smith.
November 3, 1778. p. 110 1 February 6, 1778. p. 1282
T h at a warrant issue on Thomas Smith, commis Resolutions on Hospitals.
sioner of the continental loan office in the State of 199. Rules and directions / for the better regulat
Pennsylvania, in favour of Jonathan Potts, deputy ing the M ilitary Hospital of the United States: / In
director general, for one hundred and thirty thou consequence of a Resolve of the Honourable the
sand dollars, for the use of his department; he to be Continental Congress, the 6th of / February, 1778 ;
accountable:70 to be punctually observed b y the Officers, Nurses,
A motion being made respecting the medical de &c. of the / Eastern Department.71®
partment, (Signed) P. Turner, Surg. Gen. M . H. E. D.
Ordered, T h at it be referred to the Medical Com F ° Broadside.
mittee.
September 25, 1778. p. 1287
November 9, 1778. p. 1 1 1 3 Provision for disabled officers and privates.
A n extract from the journals of the assembly of 226. In Congress, August 26, 1776 . . . . In Con
South Carolina, purporting to be “ a report of the gress September 25, 1778 . . .71b
committee on the president’s message, relative to
December 3, 1778. p. 1289
the hospital establishment and military arrange
Health of Soldiers.
70 This report is in the P a p e r s o f the C o ntinental Congress, No.
136, II, folio 665. 71a A copy is in the Library of Congress. P a p e r s o f the C on
71 This memorial, dated November 18, is in the P a p e r s o f the tinental Congress, No. 78, xxii, folio 567. It
measures 40 x 25 cms.
C ontinental Congress, No. 41, VI, folio 73. 71b See P e n n s y lv a n ia A rch ives, vi, 755.
H istory of th e A rmy M ed ical D epar tm en t D uring th e R evolution 273
235. Directions / For Preserving / The Health of Ordered, T hat it be referred to the Medical Com
/ Soldiers: / recommended to / The Consideration mittee.
of the / Officers / O f the A rm y of the United /
February 26, 1779. 255
States. / B y Benjamin Rush, M . D. / Published by
Order of the Board / of W ar. / Lancaster: Printed That agreeable to the application of the Medical
b y John Dunlap, / In Queen-Street. / M .D C C .L X X - Committee a warrant issue on the treasurer, in
V II I. 12? pp. 8. favour of Doctor Jonathan Potts, *** for one hun
dred and fifty thousand dollars, *** he to be ac
January 12, 1779. 5 1 countable.
A letter, of 10, from Doctor Shippen, Director March 6, 1779. 287
General, was read: Resolved, T h at a warrant issue on the treasurer,
Ordered, T h at it be referred to the Medical Com in favour of Dr. Jonathan Potts, *** on the applica
mittee. tion of the Medical Committee, for one hundred
Ordered, T h at two members be added to the said and fifty thousand dollars, . . . for which he is
committee. to be accountable.
The members chosen, M r. (Thomas) Burke and March 10, 1779. 301
M r. T(homas) Adams. T h at a warrant issue on the treasurer in favour of
Doctor Jonathan Potts, . . . f o r one hundred and
January 16, 1779. 73 fifty thousand dollars, . . .h e is to be accountable.
T h at a warrant issue on the treasurer, in favour
March 13, 1779. 3 1 3
of Nathaniel Eustis, upon the application of Doctor
Isaac Forster, deputy director general of the eas The committee, to whom was referred the memo
tern district, agreeable to his letter of the 28 Decem rial of Doctor J . Morgan, late director general and
ber last, for twenty-five thousand dollars; and physician in chief in the general hospital of the
T h at another warrant issue on Nathaniel Apple- United States, brought in a report, which was re a d :73
ton, Esq. commissioner of the continental loan office, Ordered, To lie on the table for the perusal of the
in the State of Massachusetts bay, in favour of the members, to be taken into consideration on Thurs
said Doctor Isaac Forster, for fifty thousand dol day next.
lars; . . . said deputy director general is to be April 12, 1779. 440
accountable; . . . for the use of his department. T h at John Nixon Esqr. Col. Shee, Andrew Doz
have been recommended by Francis Hopkinson Esq.
January 23, 1779. n o - 1 1 1 Treasurer of Loans; Hugh Montgomery by Doctor
Resolved, T h at the director general (of the medi Witherspoon, and John Miller Esq. by Doctor
cal department) be authorized and instructed to en Ewing, as proper persons to be appointed Commis
join the several deputy directors, physicians, and sioners for destroying the Bills to be taken out of
surgeons general and other officers under his super circulation.
intendence, to attend and perform such duties at
any post or place, as a change of the position of the April 15, 1779. 455
army, or other circumstances, may, from time to A memorial from the staff officers of the general
time, make necessary, and shall be required b y the hospital was read:
Commander in Chief, notwithstanding such deputy Ordered, T h at it be referred to the Medical Com
director, physician, or surgeon is, by the general ar mittee.
rangement of the hospitals, attached to a particu April 16, 1779. 460
lar department; and that in case of any dispute con
T h at a warrant issue on the treasurer, in favour
cerning their seniority or precedence, the director
of Doctor Jonathan Potts, deputy director general
general shall determine the same in the first instance,
of the military hospitals for the middle department,
the party supposing himself aggrieved being at lib
upon the application of the Medical Committee, for
erty to appeal for redress to the Medical Committee.
one million of dollars, for the use of his department,
Resolved, T hat the director general be authorized
and for which he is to be accountable.
and instructed to supply, for the use of the regi
mental surgeons, such medicines and refreshments April 27, 1779. 5 1 5 , 5 2 3 -5 2 4
as may be proper for the relief of the sick and T h at a warrant issue on the treasurer, in favour
wounded before their removal to a general hospital, of Isaac Forster, Esq. *** for one hundred thousand
and to be dispensed under the care and at the dis dollars, to be paid agreeable to his request to John
cretion of the physician and surgeon general of the Adams, *** the said Doctor Forster to be account
arm y.72 able.74
The Committee on the Treasury report,
February 8, 1779. 15 1 T h at information has been given to the Board of
A memorial from W . Shippen, director general, in Treasury that Alexander M cKallaher, the deputy
behalf of himself and the medical officers of the gen commissary of the hospital at the Yellow Springs,
eral hospital in the middle, eastern and northern has made a practice of exchanging the hospital stores,
districts, was read: such as sugar, molasses, &c. for butter, poultry, eggs,
72 This report, in the writing of James Duane, is in the P a p e rs 73 See under June 1 2 , “post.”
o f the Continental Congress, No. 33, folio 277. 74 Based upon Forster’s letters of March 9 and 10, 1779.
274 Annals o f Medical History
&c. for his own and the doctors’ table: T h at he keep June 12, 1779. 722, 723, 724
a blooded horse in the guard house, and a mare and T h at upon the application of the Medical Com
colt; and a hostler at his quarters, and another at mittee, a warrant issue on the treasurer, in favour
the hospital, that he entertains all people who come of Doctor Isaac Forster, deputy director general
to the hospitals with wine and toddy, alledging that of the eastern department, for one hundred and
he is allowed to do so by Congress or Doctor Ship- fifty thousand dollars, . . . he is to be account
pen, the informant is not certain which. able. . .
T h at those circumstances have given occasion to T h at there is due to the officers and privates of
great clamours among the inhabitants in the neigh Colonel Lewis Nicola’s invalid regiment, their pay
bourhood. and subsistance for the month of April last, two
T h at it is convalescent hospital: T h at they have thousand three hundred and seventy three dollars
repaired the Farmer’s houses in the neighbourhood and 6/90ths. . . .
for their own convenience at the public expence; Congress took into consideration the report of the
Whereupon, committee to whom was referred the memorial of
Ordered, T h at the information from the Commit Doctor John Morgan, late director general and phy
tee on the Treasury, relative to Alexander M cK alla- sician in chief of the general hospitals of the United
her be referred to the Medical Committee, and that States, and thereupon came to the following resolu
they take such measures for ascertaining the facts; tion:
and if properly supported for bringing him to a tryal, Whereas by the report of the Medical Committee,
as they shall judge expedient.75 confirmed by Congress on the 9th of August, 1777,
it appeared that Dr. John Morgan, late director
M a y 5, 1779 - 549 general and chief physician of the general hospitals
T h at a warrant issue on the treasurer, in favour of the United States, had been removed from office
of Doctor George Smith, for the sum of thirteen on the 9th of January, 1777, by reason of the gen
hundred seventy six dollars 22/90, equal to five hun eral complaint of persons of all ranks in the army,
dred and fifty pounds ten shillings, New Y o rk cur and the critical state of affairs at that time; and
rency, reported by John Welles and Edward Chinn, that the said Dr. John Morgan requesting an in
Esquires, commissioners of accounts, at Albany, to quiry into his conduct, it was thought proper that
be due to him for cattle and forage taken by order a committee of Congress should be appointed for
of General Schuyler for the immediate subsistance that purpose: and, whereas, on the 18th day of
of the militia and other troops assembled at Fort September last, such a committee was appointed,
Edwards on the evacuation of Ticonderoga, his de before whom the said Dr. John Morgan hath in the
mand of recompence for the loss of fencing being re most satisfactory manner vindicated his conduct in
jected.76 every respect as director general and physician in
chief, upon the testimony of the Commander in
M a y 17, 1779 - 599 . Chief, general officers, officers in the general hospi
Resolved, T h at a warrant issue on the treasurer tal department, and other officers in the army, shew
in favour of John Gibson, auditor general, for four ing that the said director general did conduct him
teen thousand dollars, being the sum he so paid to self ably and faithfully in the discharge of the duties
the said Scott, on the order of the said Nathan of his office: therefore,
Brownson, on the 1 September, 1777, on account of Resolved, T h at Congress are satisfied with the
the State of Georgia, and for which the said State is conduct of Dr. John Morgan while acting as director
to be accountable.77 general and physician in chief in the general hospi
tals of the United States; and that this resolution
M a y 28, 1779. 661 ' be published.79
A petition from Isaac Forster and others, officers
of the hospital in the eastern department, was read: June 15, 1779. 733
Ordered, T h at it be referred to the Medical Com A letter, of this day, from Dr. J . Morgan, was
mittee. read, charging Dr. William Shippen, Jun. in the
service of the United States, with mal-practices, and
June 5, 1779. 689 misconduct in office, and declaring his readiness to
A letter, of this day, from John Morgan was give before the proper court having jurisdiction, the
read;78 Whereupon, necessary evidence in the premises against the said
Resolved, T h at Saturday next be assigned for Dr. William Shippen.80
considering the report of the committee on the On motion of M r. (Henry) Laurens, seconded by
memorial of Doctor J . Morgan. M r. (William Henry) Drayton,
76 The committee’s recommendation was that “an enquiry Congress, No. 136, III, folio 313. The account with the State of
ought to be made into the truth of the said charges, without de Georgia is on folio 317.
lay; and that on proof thereof the parties charged ought to be 78 This letter is in the P a p e rs o f the C ontinental Congress, No.
suspended and brought to trial.” The resolution adopted was an 63, folio 125.
amendment offered by Elbridge Gerry, to be found in his writing 79 This report, in the writing of William Henry Drayton, is in
on folio 259 1/2. The name is written McKallaster in the Journals, the P a p e rs o f the C ontinental Congress, No. 19, IV, folio 185. It
and McKallaher in the committee report. was presented March 13, 1779. Morgan’s “Vindication,” dated
76 This report, dated May 3, is in the P a p e rs o f the Continental February 1, 1779, is in No. 63, folio 184.
Congress, No. 136, III, folio 287. 80 This letter is in the P a p e r s o f the C ontinental Congress, No.
77 This report, dated May 17, is in the P a p e rs o f the Continental 63, folio 129.
H istory of th e A rmy M ed ical D epar tm en t D uring th e R evolution 275
Resolved, T h at a copy of the said letter be trans fifty thousand dollars, for the purchase of hospital
mitted to the Commander in Chief, and that he be stores, and for defraying the necessary expences of
directed to cause such proceedings to be had there his department, and that another warrant issue on
on, as that the charges alluded to in it be speedily Thomas Smith, Esq. commissioner of the continental
enquired into, and justice done. loan office, for the State of Pennsylvania, in favour
Ordered, That an extract of the letter, with the of the said Doctor Jonathan Potts, for seventy one
above resolution, be transmitted to Dr. Shippen. thousand one hundred and forty four dollars, in loan
office certificates [for the purpose of discharging
June 2 1, 1779. 754 a debt due to Robert Morris, Esq. for twelve
A petition from the surgeons of the American boxes of surgical instruments purchased of him by
navy was read: the said Dr. Potts;] the said Doctor Potts to be ac
Ordered, T h at it be referred to the Marine Com countable . . . .
mittee.
October 19, 1779. 118 7
June 29, 1779. 782 Resolved, T h at Friday next be assigned for taking
T h at a warrant issue on the treasurer, in favour into consideration the report of the Medical Com
of Doctor John Warren, for seventeen hundred and mittee on the medical staff.
forty three dollars and 60/90, in full of his account
for the support and education of Joseph Warren, son October 22, 1779. 120 0 -1
of the late M ajor General Warren, to April, 1779, as Congress took into consideration the report of the
allowed by the council of Massachusetts bay, and Medical Committee on the medical staff, and some
that the said sum be paid to David H. Conyngham time being spent thereon,
authorised to receive the same.81 Ordered, T h at the farther consideration thereof be
postponed.
Ju ly 19, 1779. 854 October 25, 1779. 1208
A letter, of 19, from John Morgan was read, en A letter, of this day, from Doctor John Morgan,
closing sundry papers relative to his charges against was read: 84
Doctor Shippen: 82 Ordered, T h at it be referred to a committee of
Ordered, T h at copies thereof be sent to General three:
Washington.
October 27, 1779. 1 2 1 1
August 3, 1779. 9 17
Sundry returns of the state of the hospital in the
A letter, of 28 Ju ly, from Doctor W . Shippen, was southern department, were laid before Congress and
r e a d ;83 Whereupon, read:
The Medical Committee, to whom were referred Ordered, T hat they be referred to the Medical
the several papers and memorials from the officers Committee.
of the Medical department, brought in a report,
which was read: October 27, 1779. 1 2 1 3 - 1 4
Ordered, That the same be taken into considera According to order, Congress took into consider
tion, when the report from the committee on a far ation the report of the Medical Committee and af
ther allowance to the officers of the army is consid ter debate,
ered. On motion of M r. (Nathaniel) Scudder, seconded
b y M r. (Samuel) Holton,
August 18, 1779. 978 Resolved, T h at the farther consideration thereof
Resolved, T hat until the further order of Congress,
be postponed.
the said officers be entitled to receive monthly for On motion of M r. (Nathaniel) Scudder, seconded
their subsistance money, the sums following, to wit, by M r. (William Churchill) Houston,
. . . ensign and surgeon’s mate 100 dollars.
Resolved, T h at the director general, each of the
September 3, 1779. 1018 deputy directors general, each physician and sur
A letter, of 2d, from the hon1?.1® Sr. Gerard, was geon general, each senior physician and surgeon,
read, soliciting leave for M r. Witherspoon, a surgeon each junior surgeon, each apothecary general, each
in the service of the United States to go to France: chaplain and each apothecary’s assistant, in the
Ordered, T h at it be referred to the Medical Com hospital of the United States, [to the north ward of
mittee. the river Potomac ] shall be entitled to draw clothing
Resolved, That two members be added to the said annually from the stores of the clothier general, in
committee. the same manner, and under the same regulations as
The members chosen, M r. (Nathaniel) Peabody, are established for officers of the line, by a resolu
and M r. (Frederick A .) Muhlenberg. tion of the twenty-sixth day of November, 1777.
Resolved, T h at until the further order of Con
September 29, 1779. 112 3 gress, the said officers of the military hospital shall
T h at on the application of the Medical Commit also be entitled to subsistence, in like manner as is
tee, a warrant issue on the treasurer, in favour of granted to officers of the line, to be estimated in the
Doctor Jonathan Potts, . . for one hundred and following ratio:
81 Based upon an order of the Council of the State of Massa 83 The Shippen letter is in the P a p e rs o f the C ontinental C on
chusetts of May 3, 1779. gress, No. 78, XX, folio 435.
82 Morgan’s letter is in the P a p e rs o f the C o ntinental Congress, 84 The Morgan letter is in the P a p e r s o f the C ontinental C on
No. 68 , folio 133. gress, No. 63, folio 137.
276 Annals o f Medical History
1st. The director general to receive the same sub purposes aforesaid in their executive authorities, if
sistence as a colonel in the line: the same be not already done.
2d. The deputy directors general, the physicians,
November 19-20, 1779. 1293, 4 -6
surgeons and apothecaries general, the same as lieu
tenant colonels: Resolved, That the report of the Medical Com
3d. The senior physicians and surgeons the same mittee on the hospital staff be postponed till to
as majors: morrow, and that the same be taken into consider
The junior surgeons and apothecaries’ assistants ation immediately after reading the journal.
the same as captains: and the chaplains, the same Congress took into consideration the report of
as chaplains of brigades are entitled to by a resolu the Medical Committee on the hospital staff; Where
tion of the 18th day of August last, and to com upon,
mence from the said 18th day of August. Resolved, T h at the director general, deputy di
Resolved, T h at the mates of the military hospital rectors general, the assistant deputy directors, the
shall, during service, be entitled to the same sub physicians and surgeons general of the hospitals and
sistence as is given to regimental surgeon’s mates, by army, the senior surgeons, the second or junior sur
the resolution of the 18th day of August last. geons, the apothecaries general and apothecaries’
mates or assistants, the hospital chaplains, regimen
October 28, 1779. 12 16 tal surgeons and mates, mates of the military hos
Resolved, T h at the resolutions of yesterday, re pitals, commissaries, assistant commissaries, pay
specting the officers of the hospital department of masters and stewards of the hospital, who shall have
the United States, be re-considered; and together been in the service for the space of one year, and are
with the report of the Medical Committee on the at present employed in the same, shall each be en
hospital department, be re-committed. titled annually to draw cloathing from the stores of
the cloathier general, in the same manner and under
November 4, 1779. 12 3 7 the same regulations as are established for officers
A letter, of 26 October, from Thadeus Benedict, of the line by a resolution of Congress of the 26 day
was read,85 respecting the conduct of Dr. Forster: of November, 1777.
Ordered, T h at it be referred to the Commander Resolved, T h at until the further order of Con
in Chief, and that he be directed to cause such pro gress, the following officers of the military hospital
ceedings to be had thereon, as that the charges al shall be entitled to subsistence, in like manner as is
luded to in it be speedily enquired into and justice granted to officers of the line b y a resolution of the
done. 1 8th day of August last, and in the following pro
Ordered, T h at the Medical Committee transmit portions, viz. each deputy director general, 500 dol
to the Commander in Chief the memorial of Thadeus lars per month; each assistant deputy director, 400
Benedict and others, against Dr. Forster, and such dollars; each physician general and surgeon general,
other papers as they may have respecting that 500 dollars; each physician and surgeon general, 500
matter. dollars; each senior surgeon, 400 dollars; each junior
surgeon, 300 dollars; each apothecary general, 400
November 5, 1779. I2 4 °
dollars; each apothecary’s assistant or mate, 100
A letter, of 4, from Doctor Forster, was read, re dollars; each commissary, 300 dollars; each commis
questing that a court of enquiry may be appointed sary’s assistant, 200 dollars; each clerk, who is to
to examine into his conduct.86 be pay master, 200 dollars; each steward, 100 dol
Ordered, T h at it be transmitted to the Com lars; each chaplain, 400 dollars;
mander in Chief. T he same to commence from the 18 day of August
November 16, 1779. 12 77 last.
[ Resolved, T hat all the said officers of the military
The Medical Committee, to whom were referred
hospital and all regimental surgeons and their mates
the resolutions of 27 October respecting the officers
who shall continue in the service to the end of the
of the hospital department, together with the re
present war, shall be entitled to quotas of lands
port of the said committee on the said department,
respectively, in like manner as is stipulated, in favour
which was re-committed, brought in a report:
of officers of the line by the resolution of the
Ordered, T h at the same be taken into considera
day of , which quotas shall be ascertained and
tion on Friday next.
apportioned according to the rate of subsistance
The committee to whom was referred the letter of
above granted. ]
25 October last, from Dr. J. Morgan, brought in a
Resolved, That all mates necessarily employed in
report; Whereupon,
the military hospital or army shall, during service,
Resolved, T h at it be recommended to the execu
be entitled to the same subsistence as is given to
tive authority of the respective states, upon the ap
regimental mates, viz. 100 dollars per month.
plication of the judge advocate for that purpose, to
Resolved, T h at the remainder of the report be re
grant proper writs requiring and compelling the per
committed.
son or persons whose attendance shall be requested
b y the said judge, to appear and give testimony in November 22, 1779. 1297
any cause depending before a court martial; and A letter, of 19th, from George Morgan, was read:
that it be recommended to the legislatures of the Resolved, That the Medical Committee be instruct
several states to vest the necessary powers for the ed to revise the several resolutions passed respecting
85 This letter is in the W ashington P a p e rs , No. 92, folio 312. 86 The Forster letter is in the W ashington P a p ers, 92, folio 311.
H istory of th e A rmy M ed ical D epar tm en t D u rin g th e R evolution 277
the hospital department, and to digest and arrange thereto, where the witness resides within the dis
them with such amendments as may make the whole tance of thirty miles from such party, and six days
consistent with and conformable to the alterations where the witness resides above the distance of
made by Congress in the original system, and re thirty, and not exceeding eighty miles, and a reason
port the same to Congress. able time for a greater distance.
November 24, 1779. 1303
A letter, of 22d, from Doctor J . Morgan, was S U M S A D V A N C E D PIN 4 T H E H O S P IT A L D E
read: 87 PARTM ENT
Ordered, T h at the same be transmitted to the Feb. 26. T o Jonathan Potts, deputy di
Commander in Chief, Doctor Shippen being first rector ..................................... 150,000
furnished with a copy thereof. March io. T o do..................................150,000
April 16. T o do................................. 500,000
November 25, 1779. 13 10 Sep. 29. T o do..................................2 2 1,14 4
T h at on the application of the Medical Commit Jan. 16. T o doctor Isaac Forster, dep
tee, the following warrants issue in favour of Doctor uty director eastern d istrict. 75,000
Isaac Forster, deputy director general of the eastern April 27. T o do..................................100,000
department, amounting to one hundred and fifty June 12. T o do..................................150,000
thousand dollars, for the use of his department; for N ov. 25. T o do..................................150,000
which he is to be accountable, viz: June 29. T o S. Kennedy forrent of hos
December 10, 1779. 1366 pital at Yellow Springs . . 5,000
Dollars 1,5 0 1,14 4
A letter, of 8, from D(avid) Jackson and a memo
p. 14 4 0
rial from the officers in the hospital department,
F A R T H E R S U M S A D V A N C E D IN T H E P A Y -
were r e a d :88
O F F IC E D E P A R T M E N T
Ordered, That they be referred to the Medical
Jan . 9 and 20................................................... 38 57 5-9 0
Committee.
Feb. 9 ......................................................210 2 26-90
December 13, 1779. 13 73 March 30 ..................................................... 2275 5-9 0
The director general, to whom was referred the April 1 2 ......................................................2 1 5 2 70-90
report of the commissioners on the memorial of M ay 1 3 ..................................................... 2300 4-90
Lewis Weiss in behalf of the single brethren of Beth June 1 2 ......................................................2373 6-90
lehem, having reported thereon, and the said re January 1, 1780. 1
port being read: 89 A letter, of 30 December, from Doctor J . Morgan,
Ordered, That a warrant issue on the treasurer, in
was read, requesting to be furnished with copies of
favour of Lewis Weiss, attorney of John Bonn, war
the following letters and returns of Doctor W . Ship-
den of the single brethren of Bethlehem, for three
pen, viz: 92
thousand and seventy seven dollars and 60/90 for Letters previous to October 9, 1776, on which
the use of the said brethren, being in full of their
were founded the resolves of that day; of November
account for evacuating, repairing and re-entering 1, 1776, including the return of the sick; November
their house, which was used as a general hospital 9, 1776 ; November 24, 1777, and return of the sick,
for the space of eight months, in lieu of rent and all also return of the hospital officers; January 19, 1778,
other demands.90 '* with the return of the hospital officers, &c., also
December 22, 1779. 1400 Governor Livingston’s, to which it refers; January
A letter, of 20, and one of 22d, from Doctor M or 26, 1778, to Francis Lewis, Esquire; Whereupon,
gan, were read: 91 Ordered, T h at Doctor M organ’s request be com
Ordered, T h at they be referred to a committee of plied with and that those of the papers which are in
three: the possession of the Medical Committee be lodged
in the Secretary’s office for that purpose.
December 24, 1779. 1409
January 3, 1780. 1 0 -1 2
The committee to whom was referred the letter
of 20, from Dr. Morgan, brought in a report, which According to order, Congress took into considera
was taken into consideration; and thereupon, tion the report of the Medical Committee, viz.
Resolved, That on the trials of cases not capital T hat each and every officer hereafter mentioned
before courts martial, the depositions of witnesses and described in this resolve, belonging to the medi
not in the line or staff of the army, may be taken cal department in the hospitals, or army, who is
before some justice of the peace, and read in evi now in the service of the United States, and shall
dence, provided the prosecutor and person accused continue therein during the war, and not to hold
are present at the taking the same, or that notice any office or profit under the United States, or any
be given of the times and places of taking such de of them, shall after the conclusion of the war, be
positions to the opposite party four days previous entitled to receive, annually, for the term of seven
years, if they shall live so long, viz; the physicians
87 The Morgan letter is in the P a p e rs o f the C on tin en tal C on 90 This report, dated December 4, is in the P a p e rs o f the C on
gress, No. 63, folio 143. tinental Congress, No. 136, III, folio 873.
88Letter of Jackson and enclosures, in the P a p e rs o f the C o n 91 Morgan’s letter of the 20th is in the P a p e rs o f the C ontinental
tin en ta l Congress, No. 78, XIII, folio 125-33. Congress, No. 63, folio 165.
89 Shippen’s letter, dated this day, is in the P a p e rs o f the C on 92 This letter is in the P a p e rs o f the Continental Congress, No.
tinental Congress, No. 19, VI, folio 513. 158, folio 305.
278 Annals o f Medical History '
general, surgeons general, the physician and surgeon T h at the commissary general of issues direct the
general of the army, the deputy directors general, form of the returns and receipts aforesaid.93
each, a sum equal to the half pay granted and ex
tended to a colonel in the line of the army b y a re February 7, 1780. 130
solve of Congress, of the 15 of M ay, 1778 ; the senior A letter from sundry officers in the hospital de
surgeons and physicians, assistant deputy directors, partment was read:
and the apothecary general, each, a sum equal to the Ordered, T h at it be referred to the Board of W ar,
half pay of a lieutenant colonel, granted and ex to take order.
tended by the resolve aforesaid; the junior or sec A memorial from President Wheelock, of D art
ond surgeons of the hospitals and the regimental mouth college, was read: 94
surgeons, each, a sum equal to the half pay of a ma Ordered, T h at the same, together with the report
jor in the line, granted and extended as aforesaid; of the committee on a memorial from the late Doc
the mates of the regimental surgeons, the apothe tor Wheelock, be referred to the Board of W ar.
cary’s mates, or assistants, each a sum equal to the February 9, 1780. 143
half pay granted and extended to a lieutenant in
the line of the army, by the resolve aforesaid; the T h at on the application of the Medical Commit
whole of the foregoing allowances are to be subject tee, a warrant issue on the treasurer, in favour of
in every respect to the same rules, restrictions and Jonathan Potts, purveyor general in the middle dis
limitations, upon which the half pay of the afore trict, for sixty thousand dollars, to defray the neces
mentioned officers of the line was granted and ex sary expences of the department; and for which sum
tended by the said resolve, of the 15 of M ay, 1778. he is to be accountable.95
T h at each of the aforementioned and described February 14, 1780. 166
officers in the medical department, or their legal The Board of Treasury beg leave to report
representatives, respectively, shall be entitled to the T h at a warrant issue on Thos. Smith E sq ' Com-
like quantity of lands with the aforementioned and missr of the Continental Loan Office for the State
described officers of the line, in due proportion to
of Pennsylvania for T hirty six thousand nine hun-
the sums granted to them respectively b y the pre
xr • t dred dollars in Loan Office Certificates
ceding resolve, upon the same conditions, and sub ga ive jn favor 0f Jonathan Potts Purveyor
ject to the same rules, restrictions and limitations,
General of the Hospitals, or order, for which sum
as the grants of lands to the aforementioned officers
the said Purveyor General is to be accountable.96
of the line, b y a resolve of Congress of the 16 Sep
tember, 1776. March 1, 1780. 220
On the question to agree to the first proposition Tw o letters, of February 4th and 14, from Philip
for granting half pay, the yeas and nays being re Turner, were read:
quired by M r. (Roger) Sherman,................... Ordered, T h at they be referred to the Medical
So it passed in the negative. Committee.
On the question to agree to the second proposition
for granting lands, the States were equally divided, March 18, 1780. 260
and the question lost. T h at on the application of the Medical Commit
tee, the following warrants issue in favour of Jona
January 27, 1780. 99
than Potts, purveyor general of the hospitals, for
That the Medical Committee, as soon as they the use of his department; and for which, amount
shall judge convenient, give directions for removing ing to forty six thousand nine hundred dollars, he is
the hospitals in or near Philadelphia, to some other to be accountable; vi z. . . . . . .
place, where wood and other necessaries may be
procured on more reasonable terms than in the city March 30, 1780. 3 1 7
aforesaid: A letter, of n , from Doctor I. Forster to the
T h at the issuing commissaries be respectively di Medical Committee was laid before Congress and
rected not to deliver rations, or parts of rations, to read.
any hospital commissary, unless on returns signed Ordered, T h at it be referred to the Board of
b y him and countersigned by the principal physician Treasury.
or surgeon of the respective hospitals, specifying the
names and stations of the persons for whom, and for April 4, 1780. 326
what time, the rations are drawn; and that the hos A letter, of 28 March, from Doctor J . Morgan,
pital commissary be also required to annex to each was read.97
return the receipts of the persons to whom he shall
have delivered the provisions drawn on the last re April 5, 1780. 330
turn: T h at on the application of the Medical Commit
tee of the third instant, a warrant issue on Henry
93 This report, in the writing of Elbridge Gerry, is in the P a p e rs
o f the C o ntinental Congress, No. 29, folio 123. 96 This report is in the P a p e rs o f the C ontinental Congress,
94 This memorial, dated January 3, 1780, is in the P a p e rs o f No. 136, IV, folio 91.
the Continental Congress, No. 41, X, folio 423; the letter from offi 97 Morgan’s letter is in the P a p e rs o f the C ontinental Congress,
cers in the hospital department, dated February 7, 1780, is in the No. 63, folio 169.
P a p e rs o f the Continental Congress, No. 78, XX, folio 499. (Note) A letter from W. Rickman, dated April 23, 1780, ap
95 This report is in the P a p e rs o f the C ontinental Congress, No. pears to have been read. It is in the P a p e rs o f the C ontinental
136, IV, folio 79. Congress, No. 78, XIX, folio 311.
H is t o r y o f t h e A rm y M e d ic a l D epartm en t D u r in g th e R e v o l u t io n 279
Gardiner, treasurer of the State of Massachusetts Medical Committee, to whom was referred the let
bay, in favour of Isaac Forster, deputy director gen ter from Governor Trumbull, of the 1st inst.; and
eral of the hospitals in the eastern department, for thereupon,
forty thousand dollars, being part of the monies Resolved, T hat the director general, or in his ab
raised in the said State, for the use of the United sence, deputy director general, of the hospitals in
States, and for the use of that department; for which the eastern district, be and he is hereby directed to
the said deputy director general is to be accountable. hire a suitable house at or near the port of New
London, in the State of Connecticut, for the recep
M a y 4, 1780. 4 12 tion of such sick American prisoners as shall, from
Ordered, T h at a member be added to the Medical time to time, be exchanged and landed in that
Committee. neighbourhood; and that one senior surgeon or phy
The member chosen, M r. (James) Henry. sician, and a suitable number of mates, be occasion
M a y 10, 1780. 4 17 ally employed therein, as the number of sick shall
A letter, of this day, from Doctor J . Morgan was increase or diminish.100
read, requesting “ to be indulged with an authenti June 26, 1780. 562
cated copy of his Excellency General Washington’s T h at on the application of the Medical Commit
letter to Dr. Shippen, referred to in the General’s tee, a warrant issue on Abraham Yates, commission
letter to him (Dr. Morgan), of January 6, 1779, er of the continental loan office for the State of New
dated about the beginning of November, 1776, and York, in favour of Robert Johnson, assistant direc
enclosed to the President of Congress in Doctor tor of the hospitals in the northern department, on
Shippen’s letter, dated 9th November, 17 7 6 :” account of Jonathan Potts, purveyor general of the
Ordered, That Doctor Morgan be furnished with military hospitals, for the sum of fifty thousand dol
a copy of the said letter, agreeably to his request. lars, one half of which, payable in loan office cer
M a y 12, 1780. 425 tificates, and the other half in current money of the
The Board having considered the letter of William United States, to be applied in the department afore
Rickman Deputy director general of the hospitals said; and for which the said Jonathan Potts is to be
in Virginia referred to them b y Congress report accountable.101
T h at the said William Rickman*is not charged Ju ly 1, 1780. 581
with any monies in the Treasury books, [and that if A letter, of this day, from the Board of W ar was
he has received any monies that he is accountable read:
to the Director General who is to account with the Ordered, T h at the same be referred to the Medi
United States.] cal Committee, and that they take order thereon.
M a y 16, 1780. 430 Ju ly 6, 1780. 589
The Board on the references relative to the Chil
dren of the late General Warren Report, Ordered, T h at on the application of the Medical
T h at the accounts for the Education of Joseph Committee, a warrant issue on the treasurer, in
Warren his eldest son have been paid to Doctor favour of Jonathan Potts, purveyor of military hos
John Warren up to April 1779 and that no accounts pitals, for twenty thousand dollars for the purpose
have Since been rendered, of purchasing necessaries for the hospitals in the
T hat they know of no resolution of Congress mak middle department; and for which the aforesaid
ing provision for the education of any other of the Jonathan Potts is to be accountable.102
Children of the said late General Warren.98 Ju ly 7, 1780. 592
M a y 20, 1780. 442 Resolved, T hat a member be added to the Medi
On motion of the Medical Committee, cal Committee, in the room of M r. J(ames) Henry,
Resolved, T h at on the application of the Medical who is absent:
Committee, the Commercial Committee be author The member chosen, M r. (Abraham) Clark.
ised to furnish Doctor Potts, the purveyor general, Ju ly 18, 1780. 638
with two hogsheads of sugar, for the use of the hos
Another letter, of 15, from General Washington
pitals in the middle district, the said purveyor gen
was read, enclosing the proceedings and sentence of
eral to be accountable.
a general court martial on the trial of Doctor W .
Resolved, That on the application of the Medical
Committee, the commissary general of purchases be Shippen, Junr, director general of the military hos
pitals :
directed to furnish the purveyor general with two
Ordered, T h at the consideration thereof be as
hogsheads of spirits, for the use of the hospitals in
signed for to morrow.
the middle district, the said purveyor general to be
Another letter, of 15, from General Washington
accountable.99
was read, respecting the hospital department.
M a y 23, 1780. 447 Ordered, T h at it be referred to the Medical Com
Congress took into consideration the report of the mittee.103
98 This report is in the P a p e rs o f the Continental Congress, No. 101 This report is in the P a p e rs o f the C ontinental Congress, No.
136, IV, folio 303. 136, IV, folio 367.
99 This report, in the writing of Frederick A. Muhlenberg, is 102 This report is in the P a p e rs o f the Continental Congress, No.
in the P a p e r s o f the C o ntinental Congress, No. 22, folio 89. 136, IV, folio 409.
100 This report, in the writing of Frederick A. Muhlenberg, is in 103 Washington’s letters are in the P a p e rs o f the C ontinental C on
the P a p e r s o f the Continental Congress, No. 22, folio 87. gress, No. 152, IX, folios 25 & 19.
28o Annals o f Medical History
Ju ly 19, 1780. 646 Ju ly 27, 1780. 676
According to the order of the day, Congress took Congress resumed the consideration of the pro
into consideration the proceedings of the court mar ceedings of the court martial on the trial of Doctor
tial on the trial of Doctor W . Shippen, director gen W . Shippen, Junior; and some farther progress be
eral of the hospitals, and some time being spent ing made................
therein;
Ordered, T h at the farther consideration thereof Ju ly 28, 1780. 6 7 7 -8
be postponed till to morrow. Congress resumed the consideration of the pro
ceedings of the general court martial on the trial of
Ju ly 20, 1780. 648 Doctor W . Shippen; and some farther progress be
Congress resumed the consideration of the pro ing made therein,
ceedings of the court martial on the trial of Doctor Ordered, That the farther consideration thereof be
Shippen; and having made some farther progress, postponed.
Ordered, T h at the farther consideration thereof
be postponed till to morrow. Ju ly 29, 1780. 680
Ju ly 2 1, 1780. 648 Congress resumed the consideration of the pro
ceedings of the general court martial on the trial of
The Medical Committee, to whom was referred Doctor W . Shippen; and some farther progress be
the letter of 15, from General Washington, brought ing m a d e ,.............
in a report, which was read; Whereupon,
The Medical Committee to whom was referred Ju ly 3 1 , 1780. 684
the letter of the Commander in Chief of Ju ly 15th Congress resumed the consideration of the pro
beg leave to report, ceedings of the court martial on the trial of Doctor
T h at they have conversed with D. Cochran and Shippen, director general; and some farther prog
other gentlemen of the Hospital department by ress being made therein,
whom, and the many distressing accounts the Com
mittee almost daily receive from every quarter, it August 7, 1780. 708
appears that the department is in want of almost Ordered, T h at the Medical Committee report as
every article necessary for the comfortable suste soon as may be, the state of the military hospitals
nance of the sick and wounded soldiery. They are within the State of Pennsylvania, specifying partic
therefore clearly of opinion that a sum of two hun ularly the number of physicians, surgeons, mates,
dred thousand dollars is immediately necessary to matrons and attendants residing in Pennsylvania,
put the department on such a footing, that the dan and the places they are employed in, and also the
ger the General apprehends in his letter may be number of the sick.
avoided. T h ey beg leave to refer to the enclosed
estimate and submit the following resolution. August 10, 1780. 7 16
Ordered, T h at a warrant issue on the treasurer, in W “ Shippen, D . G. H., 628,200 dollars, Ren
favour of Jonathan Potts, purveyor of the hospitals dered accounts.
in the middle district, for two hundred thousand August 16, 1780. 737, 8.
dollars, for the use of the hospitals in the middle A letter, of 15, from Doctor W . Shippen was read.106
district, to be applied as the Medical Committee Congress resumed the consideration of the pro
shall direct; the said purveyor to be accountable.104 ceedings of the court martial on the trial of Doctor
The Medical Committee, to whom was referred Shippen, director general, and having gone through
the letter, of 15, from Doctor Brown, brought in a the evidence, defence and judgment of the court,
report, which was read; Whereupon,
The Medical Committee to whom D . Will, August 18, 1780. 744, 5, 6
Brown’s letter of Ju ly 15th was referred, beg leave Congress resumed the consideration of the pro
to report: ceedings of the court martial on the trial of Doctor
T h at they have conversed with D. Brown and Shippen, director general, when a motion was made
find that his circumstances will no longer permit his by M r. (Timothy) Matlack, seconded by M r. (Wil
continuance in the service, and as it appears to liam Churchill) Houston, as follows:
them that he has been a faithful and diligent officer
they submit the following Resolution. T h at the court martial having acquitted the said
Resolved, T h at Congress entertain a high opinion Doctor W . Shippen, the said acquittal be confirmed.
of the abilities, integrity and past services of Doctor A motion was made by M r. (Abraham) Clark,
William Brown, physician general, but as his pres seconded by M r. (Nathaniel) Folsom, to amend the
ent circumstances will no longer permit his continu motion, by inserting after W . Shippen, these words,
ance in the service, his resignation be accepted.105 “ excepting that part of the 2d charge relating to his
speculating in hospital stores, on which the court
Ju ly 22, 1780. 654 judge him highly reprehensible.”
Congress resumed the consideration of the pro The court martial having acquitted the said Doc
ceeding of the court martial on the trial of Doctor tor W . Shippen, Ordered, that he be discharged from
Shippen, and having made some farther progress, arrest.
Adjourned to 10 o’CIock on Monday. So it was resolved in the affirmative.
104This report, in the writing of Frederick A. Muhlenberg, is in in the P a p e rs o f the Continental Congress, No. 19, I, folio 423.
the P a p e rs o f the C o ntinental Congress, No. 19, VI, folio 287. 106 Shippen’s letter is in the P a p e rs o f the C ontinental Congress,
105This report, in the writing of Frederick A. Muhlenberg, is No. 78, XX, folio 541.
(Concluded in the next issue)
MILITARY SANITATION IN THE SIXTEENTH, SEVENTEENTH
AND EIGHTEENTH CENTURIES1
B y C O LO N EL C H A R L E S L. H E IZ M A N N
U. S. A., Retired
SAN FRANCISCO, CAL.
PART I.--- THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY buses, and Montluc relates the equipment,
in the same year, of twenty men of each
The Siege of Metz, 1552 company with arquebuses that carried 400
paces from point to point.2 Field artillery
T
H E i 6th century was eminently one of
sieges, from which date the origin of was comparatively rare during the whole of
modern fortifications. In the preceding cen this period. Rabutin, who details the ar
tury the proportion of sieges to battles was mament of Henry’s army, mentions forty-
nearly as 1 to 1; in the 16th, as 2 to 1; and three cannon, nearly all siege guns. On the
in the 17th, about 4 to 3. Political, econom other hand, cities of any importance were
ical or strategic reasons may be given for provided with large cannon, and as these
these differences, but underlying them will were eventually opposed by artillery of
be found a sufficient explanation in the similar calibre, more numerous because
history of the development of fire-arms. made more movable, further means of de
The ramparts of a town became the best fense were invented, which proved a tem
defensive armor against the gradually in porary advantage over besieging armies in
creasing number and effectiveness of arque the first years of the 17th century.
buses and cumbrous pieces of siege guns, Forts and arms, however, did not always
few of which could be brought into action determine the result. Famine and disease
in the field on account of the crude means were just as fatal.3 Knowledge of the
of transportation. It is true that the smaller means of prevention of epidemics and of
fire-arms were not in general use until the precautions against their spread was very
following century. As late as 1553 the lance extensive in this century. Municipal and
was the favored weapon of the French, royal ordinances regulating the police of
the pike of the Swiss, the two-hand sword cities in time of peace were very common.4
of the Poles, bows of the English, sword The application of them in a besieged
and poignard of the Italians, halberd of town by military authority ought to have
the Germans, pistols of the Danes and been easy, yet the memoirs of the time are
arquebuses of the Spaniards. Y et one-third full of recitals of suffering and destruction
of the entire force of 40,000 fighting men, due to their neglect. There was excuse for
gathered by Henry II. of France, March, the absence of sanitary measures from ar
1552, to invade Germany, possessed arque- mies in the field, in their transitory charac
ter, lack or weakness of medical organiza
1 This article, which appeared in the Journal of
tion, and general ignorance of the subject
the Military Service Institution of the United States,
Vol. xiv, No. fxiv, Ju ly, 1893, has been reprinted 3 Of 57 besieged towns, 24 were carried by assault,
by permission. 20 capitulated and 13 were relieved or the siege aban
2 One fourth of the remainder of H en ry’s army doned.
had pistols, and from 1200 to 1500 mounted harque- 4 The Archives curieuses de I’histoire de France
busiers had guns three feet long, slung to the saddle depuis Louis X I — Louis X V I I I , par L . Cimbcr,
bows. Slings, long disused, were said to carry from Paris, 1834, contain (9th vol. 1st series) a valuable
500 to 600 paces, and ancient Roman machines 700 and interesting document on the subject, by Claude
yards; crossbows killed point blank at from 40 to de Rubys, being the history of the pest in Lyons,
50 yards, elevated at from 120 to 160 yards. 15 77.
282 Annals o f Medical History
as affected by the changed condition of tions for the Landesknechte. It is not known
living.5 Hence the dissipation of armies was how far or often these were carried out, but
frequent, on account of the want of food, it has been justly said, by Froelich, that the
the appearance of disease and consequent instructions for physicians and surgeons are
desertions. the origin and basis of the present medical
The gallant array of Henry II. met with regulations of the German army, because
this fate in less than four months, although no such existed in Germany before, and be
it encountered no serious military obstacle, cause there is so great a resemblance be
nor fought a single battle. Its historian says tween them and those of to-day;— indeed,
that the camp followers outnumbered the the latter are very little better than those
troops proper, a common occurrence of that an enlightened past had brought to a
those days, and together with the soldiers high grade of perfection. Another authority6
loaded the wagons with plunder from aban asserts that Charles drew physicians and
doned houses, thus causing disorder and surgeons from all sides for his campaigns,
famine in the camp. Summer approaching, and that, not satisfied with garrison hos
on account of the great heat some started pitals, he instituted field hospitals, following
to march at 2 a .m ., and remained on horse the example of his grandmother, Isabella of
back until noon before they were lodged;— Spain.
the foot soldiers generally began the march The custom in camp was to send the sick
first so as to reach their destination at the and wounded to the baggage train, where
same time, and were overcome by thirst; they were cared for in tents by the physi
they eagerly filled themselves with cold cian or barber and nursed by women, who
water and many “ fell into great diseases, then constituted a large following of armies.
pleurisies and fevers,” a large number dying. On breaking camp the light sick were
Toul, Metz and Verdun were the trophies, transported in wagons and the dangerously
but France was exhausted when it became sick sent to hospitals in the nearest tow ns..
known in Ju ly that the Emperor Charles V. The Landesknechte selected from among
was collecting a force to recapture these their number and paid in common a Spital
places. meister, or hospital superintendent, who
Among the Emperor’s many inheritances looked after their sick in hospital or on the
from his predecessor, Maximilian I., not the march, providing necessaries and waiting
least were regulations for military organiza on the physician, barber and women. The
tion and discipline, so that his armies were meanest duties were performed by women
considered in these respects the best in and children.
Europe. Leonhard Fronsperger in 1555 A field physician-in-chief and a field-
wrote a work on Imperial courts-martial, barber were attached to the staff of the
etc., in which are found sanitary disposi- commanding officer of each Haujfen,— 5,000
5 1 can find only one treatise on hygiene specially,
printed in the 16th century,— Anton Schneeberger, thing to be near lodgings, and the same to be buried.”
De bona militum valetudine conservanda, 1564, a copy Altogether there were printed, mostly after Pare’s
of which is in the Library of the Surgeon-General’s first edition, 45 works or parts, on military surgery
office,— and a chapter in a surgical work by N . by both physicians and surgeons, most of whom had
Godin, 1558. Occasional orders enjoining cleanli field experience,— 1 on military pharmacy, and n
ness were issued, presumably after their necessity on various military diseases.
became manifest; thus, the statute of the English 6 L. Thomas, Lectures sur Uhistoire de la medicine,
Henry V . in the early 15th century, at Mans, and Paris, 1885. He mentions particularly the celebrated
one of Henry V III., in 1544, prohibiting “ carrion, anatomist Vesalius and a distinguished Spanish sur
filth, or other unwholesome or infectious, stinking geon, Daga Chacon.
M il it a r y S a n it a t io n 283
to 10,000 infantrymen; a physician to the ments, apothecaries and medicines for both
field-marshal of cavalry, and a field-barber internal and external wounds and sickness.
and assistant to the chief of artillery. All “ He should also with all diligence, advise
of these had rank and pay assimilated to whether a leg, arm or such should be am
superior officials. To each independent putated or preserved by other means.
troop, each infantry company— about 200 Further, he should give his attention to the
men, and each squadron was assigned a severely wounded, that they may not be
field-barber. His place during battle when left too long on the lines or in the companies,
not in the ranks, was with the rear guard, but immediately carried to the surgeons and
and he ranked between clerk and halber aided by beneficial dressings. On the march,
dier, according to Fronsperger, after the when it becomes important to have a field-
quartermaster sergeant and before a cor barber near at hand or available, it is his
poral, according to others. He received a business to see that one is stationed between
salary and could charge a soldier for special the cavalry and infantry, with his instru
services. ments. On other occasions, in camp and
‘ ‘ The physician-in-chief must have been quarters, each barber remains with the
a doctor, or one who had recently charge of troop in which he has been assigned for
surgeons or field-barbers by State authority; duty. Whenever a question arises between
he must be a well-known, skilful, experi barbers and cured soldiers or others, as to
enced and cautious man, of the proper age, the payment to be made, he shall settle it,
upon whom all barbers, cutlers, wounded, seeing that neither too much nor too little
sick and stricken could rely for help and is given.
counsel in time of need, particularly when “ As it is necessary that a field-barber or
they are shot, cut, bruised or broken, or surgeon serve with each troop, so should
are suffering from any accidental or dis each Captain be careful to select a well-
abling diseases, such as scalds, fluxes, versed, skilful, experienced and trained man,
fevers, and similar affections that occur and not a poor beard-shaver or bath-boy
among soldiers. His duties are even more as often happens by reason of favor; thus,
extensive in that he should inspect, both the killing or maiming of good soldiers may
when the regiment is organized and later be prevented. The field-barber should be
at monthly muster, the instruments and supplied with all necessary medicines and
everything pertaining thereto, and when he instruments in a field wagon, and the Cap
finds anything lacking or lost, such shall be tain should see that it is done. He should
charged to the field-barber, to make up the be a capable Knecht, to help in necessity.
deficit. When this cannot be done, he shall His duty is to render assistance first, when
find other means to meet emergencies. On there is need, to those of his own troop,
the march he will closely attend his com not to exact too much from anyone, but to
manding officer. When exigency or peril treat men at reasonable and like rates. He
impends from the enemy, in battle array shall have his lodging at night at the com
or skirmishes and such like, he shall remain pany pennant, so that he may be found in
in the neighborhood of his superior military necessity, and it is best that one barber
officer;— but he will also oversee as much as should be accessible to each lodging house,
possible the other physicians, surgeons and on account of the sick and wounded. He
the like, wherever wounded, etc., are to be shall serve with his troop in all else like an
attended, and he shall devote his care, ad ordinary soldier, and he shall receive double
vice and skill to all others, particularly be pay.”
cause he, above others, is ready with instru The greater part of the Imperial army
284 Annals o f Medical History
on this occasion consisted of Landesknecbte,7 of Guise and other nobles occupied Metz,
14 regiments of 143 bands or companies, and formed and drilled in guard exercises
and it is presumed that some such medical 12 companies, in all 4,500 to 4,600 foot, 444
organization obtained among them, for horse, and 920 gendarmes in 3 companies.
Fronsperger speaks of it as well known, not The military student ought to read Sa
as having been recently introduced; and in lignac for the particulars of preparation
1557 at the siege of St. Quentin, an analo for defense made by the active genius of
gous arrangement of medical officers for this young man, with very inadequate
the English ordnance existed, evidently means;— the repairs to the fortifications
copied from Maximilian’s, and usually cited with the aid of women and children, making
by English authors as the first attempt at serviceable old and badly cast cannons,
the formation of a regular medical staff. construction of powder mills, razing of
The remainder of 120,000 men was made suburban gardens, pleasure resorts, mills,
up of 27 Spanish companies, 16 Italian, etc.; the storing of grains and provisions,
more than 10,000 cavalry and 7,000 pioneers. purchasing in his own credit animals, salt
There were 140 pieces of artillery. This meats, fish, butter, oil, salt, cheese, rice,
army was said to have been larger, by 15,000 etc., enough to last a year8 purging the city
men, than any army gathered by Charles, of superfluous persons and things, retaining
and twice as large as any army collected and organizing 1,200 artisans, including
under one chief afterwards for more than carpenters, masons and blacksmiths to
one hundred years. There is no record of a help in the ramparts and artillery, and
medical organization other than the Ger armorers, farriers, bakers, shoemakers and
man, but it is probable that a surgical ser hosiers, a limited number of the most ex
vice existed among the Spanish troops, pert and best provided with materials to
such being mentioned in 1554 with Daga meet the necessities of the soldiers;— the
Chacon as head, and among the Italians, means of defense adopted in the event of
who employed surgeons for campaigns as breaches, or in case the walls were taken;
early as the 13th century, and combined the rules for the effective guard of the
them in bodies for sieges in the previous walls, for cavalry raids in large parties (100
century and even before. to 120 men), and in small (20 to 30 men)
To meet this formidable array the Duke on the enemy’s supply trains, for ambushes,
7 Salignac says they were levied in the manner cardamon and other spices “ to put in our pastries,
and numbers of the Germans, and that the companies the principal ingredient of which was horse meat,
were not complete, coming recently from their and these would have tasted badly without them.”
country. It was the custom to enlist Knechts by vol Turnips, carrots, leeks, etc., were buried in the
untary engagement for the war only;— a fixed pay gardens and reserved for extreme necessity. Sir
was agreed upon, and they were permitted to pillage James Turner furnishes even a larger list of articles
and demand ransom. There arose from this condot- to be provided for an English army in the field in
tien, who had at their call bodies of men, of varying Elizabeth’s time, including, besides, almonds, chest
numbers according to the price paid, which were nuts and hazelnuts, honey and tobacco! The ordi
placed at the disposition of princes about to engage nary daily ration was 2 lbs. of bread, 1 lb. of flesh,
in war. There was no medidal examination of a re or, in lieu of it, 1 lb. of cheese, 1 bottle of wine or
cruit, and when a Knecht was permanently disabled, 2 of beer. A n ensign got 4 rations, a colonel 12. “ T t
he dragged himself to his home as best he could. is enough,’ cry the soldiers, ‘ we desire no more.’
8 Pare’s list is curious: biscuit, fresh beef, salt It is enough in conscience;— but this allowance will
veal, bacon, saveloy, Mayence-hams; salt fish, as not last very long;— they must be contented to
cod, marline, salmon, shad, tunny, anchovy, sar march sometimes one whole week and scarce get
dines, herring; also peas, beans, rice, garlic, onions, two pounds of bread all the while, and the officers
prunes, cheeses, butter, oil and salt; pepper, ginger, as little as they.”
M il it a r y S a n it a t io n 285
for the interior police defining the relation cold that sentries were found frozen stiff,
of citizen and soldier, the duties of the lance in hand. The wounded in both
former during an alarm of fire, etc., and armies, partly on this account, did not do
of the latter to suppress disorder at any well. Some of the imperial officers be
hour. came dissatisfied with the treatment and
Rabutin visited Metz after the siege was sent many of their disabled soldiers to
raised, and inspected the numerous con springs of their native country. A quack
trivances hastily made to meet every step appeared in one of the three besieging
of the enemy’s advance. He also speaks of camps, named Doublet, who met with such
them somewhat in detail, and in the most success by the use of simple water dressing
admiring terms, especially of the pyrotech- that his fame spread.9 After the manner
nical inventions of M. de St. Remy, who of the time Guise suspected poison in the
was among the besieged. drugs used in the city, and sent a message
The energy and foresight of Guise did to the king, November 8th, requesting a
not stop here. Some soldiers of Rodemar, new supply. Ambrose Pare was intrusted
who had joined the garrison before the city with the commission, and repairing to
was invested, were taken sick with a con Verdun, was smuggled into the city, him
tagious disease;— they were at once isolated, self, an assistant and a medical outfit, at
and after having been mustered, were or midnight on December 8th, by an Italian
dered to rejoin the camp of M. de Chatillon, captain, whose services were purchased by
their colonel. To the surgeon barbers of the 1,500 ecus, an easy matter, it appears, since
city he advanced money to provide them the Emperor had failed to keep his prom
selves with means to treat wounds. The ises of payment.
pioneers, under the provost, were ordered Pare’s reception and presentation by
to clean the city often, horses and carts Guise to the princes and officers on the
being supplied, to throw carrion and all breach are historical, and his recital of his
other filth out of the city, and to keep the labors and observations is classical.
streets always clean. When a soldier was From his account and other sources it is
wounded or taken sick, especially during learned that at this period in France, at
the night watch or work that had to be least, surgeons, like physicians, in armies
done in the rain or extreme cold, it was were not obliged to attend the soldiers.
ordered that he be carried at once to the A few men of considerable merit were at
hospital and then treated with everything tached to the persons of captains or nobles,
necessary; and the pioneers, when taken whom they followed, and upon whom they
sick or wounded while engaged on the depended. Pierre Aubert, in his capacity of
ramparts, were to be sent to another hos surgeon, thus served the Duke of Guise.
pital. When a campaign ended, usually in autumn,
The siege began October 20th, but the they passed the winter in the cities, in the
defense was so well conducted that a breach pursuit of their customary civil practice.
was not effected before November 26th, However, royal ordinances were beginning
by means of a constant battery of 40 to be issued establishing more uniformity.
double cannons for many days. It was as In 1550 Coligny inspired a decree respecting
large as a front of fifty men. The besiegers infantry, which was remarkable in that it
found behind it another new and stronger created in each company a surgeon, who
rampart. The weather now became so was to take care of its sick and wounded
9 Frequent mention is made in those days of charla on soldiers who had been abandoned by their com
tans following in the train of an army to practice rades.
286 Annals o f Medical History
in garrisons and campaign; his pay was congelations, dysentery and scurvy were
not to come from the royal treasury, but soon followed by typhus fever, and the
from a tax on the sum total of the pay of mortality became frightful. The least esti
the company. The company baker, one to mate places the loss in the imperial army
each company, was paid in the same way. from all causes at 20,000 men.
The obstinacy and cleverness of Guise On the sixty-fifth day, December 26th,
irritated the Emperor into an expressed the retreat was ordered and begun. It was
determination to capture the city by force done so hurriedly and covered so badly by
or famine at the cost of his entire army. the Marquis Albert of Brandenburg that
This becoming known, it was ordered that some dead were left unburied and many
no one in the city should eat fresh fish or sick and wounded were abandoned in their
venison or game birds, for fear that they tents. Still, part of the disabled were car
might be pestiferous. The prescribed rations ried away in carts, but the roads having
must suffice, and they were carefully dis been made impassable by the advance of
tributed by weight and measure according cavalry and heavy cannon, a number of
to the quality of the persons. A t first each them were left at a neighboring abbey. To
soldier received two pints of wine and two these Guise sent provisions atid ordered
loaves of bread, each of 12 ounces;— from Pare and several other surgeons to attend
these were gradually taken Y and Y2 ounce. to their wants. A sallying party came across
Pare says that the rations were diminished a number of sick Spaniards in wagons and
in such a manner that what had been given let them pass unmolested. Considering these
to three was divided among four persons, circumstances Guise departed from the
and it was forbidden to sell or barter any custom of setting fire to the camps; he col
remnants. lected all the sick and sent more than
During the siege prisoners were treated three hundred to the hospital in the city,
with unusual consideration.10 The Emperor where many lost limbs by amputation; he
learning from some of his own soldiers ordered that all be fed and treated, and he
returned from the city on parole, the ex buried the dead. After a few days he sent a
treme measures taken by Guise, watered trumpet to A lva, the imperial general, prom
his wine, as Pare puts it. His battery of ising safe conduct to such persons as he
forty-five days had not advanced and his might send to care for and carry the sick
mines had all been successfully met by and wou,nded prisoners to Thionville, the
countermines. The intensely cold weather objective point of the retreat, stating that
persisted and was the cause of crowding in he would gladly supply them with well
the tents, huts and holes dug in the ground covered boats for the purpose. A lva sent
and covered with stubble. Food became wagons and carts, but not enough, and
scarce; the surrounding country, having Guise supplied the deficiency. M ost re
been previously devastated by Henry’s markable of all, the imperial general asked
expedition and by Guise’s orders, furnished that a sick Spanish officer of his command
no resources, and much of the imperial be permitted to enter the city for treat
supplies had been ruined by rain and snow. ment, and the request was granted. The
Clothing was so scarce, by reason of raids demoralization of the defeated army was
on the trains, that the greater part of the so great that the French cart drivers, on
soldiers were barefoot. In consequence, their return, found the roads filled with
10 A t the siege of Metz in 1444, according to
the dead bodies of those who, before ex-
Mathieu de Coussy, the besieged amused themselves followed the example, both parties disdaining ran
b y drowning the prisoners, and the besieging French som.
M il it a r y S an itatio n 287
piring, had been thrown there by the should be surrendered. Only a few months
Spanish teamsters, who remarked that they before it, at the siege of Damvilliers, Pare
were not paid to carry dead men. first tied an artery after amputation, dis
The clemency of Guise proved a disaster, carding the cautery. On his return to Paris
which would have been averted had the from Metz, he was appointed surgeon to
same precaution been taken as at the be^ the King, the highest position he could
ginning of the siege. No serious disease had covet, and about this time his surgical dis
been in the city during the siege;— once coveries began to spread throughout E u
it was raised, the importation of prisoners rope.
created an epidemic of typhus, which P R IN C IP A L A U T H O R IT IE S
spread to the adjoining villages.
Salignac, Le siege de Metz par Vempereur Charles V.
The defense of Metz became the marvel
en Van 1552. Carloix, Memoires sur Vielleville. Rabu-
of Europe;— it, without doubt, saved tin, Commentaires des dernikres guerres en la Gaule
France from destruction, and, in many Belgique. Bourdeille, abbe de Brantome, Vies des
ways, besides political, its effects were grandes capitaines, etc. Pare, Apologia et voyages.
lasting. Wounded soldiers were afterwards Fronsperger, Von kayserlichen Kriegsgerichten, Male-
better treated, as at the siege of Thionville, fitz und Schuldhandler, etc. Froelich, Geschichte des
Konig. Sachs. Sanitatskorps. Montluc, Commen
1558, and after the capture of Havre, 1563,
taires.
when the project of an Invalides originated
with the queen mother, though it was not
PART II.---THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY
carried out for many years. The humanity
of Guise towards both well and sick was The Last Campaign of Gustavus Adolphus
remembered at the siege of Therouanne,
1553, by the Spanish, who, on being re Sully, the great Minister of Henry IV.,
minded of it by the French, courteously under date of 1604, wrote in his Memoirs:
saved all prisoners, says Brantome. After “ It is difficult to conceive that, in a na
this the custom of massacring prisoners tion, which from its establishment has been
who were not reserved for ransom, gradually engaged in war and has indeed pursued no
declined, and this was the germ from other trade than that of arms, no care
which arose the spirit that culminated, in should have been hitherto taken to form
a little over 300 years, in the articles of and methodize them. Whatever related to
the Geneva Convention. the soldiery of France was offensive and
It was noteworthy also in the prepara disgusting; the foot soldiers were enlisted
tions made for it, other than purely mili by violence and made to march by a cudgel;
tary, of food, medicines, hospitals;— in the their pay was unjustly withheld; they
organization of artisans and surgeons; in heard of nothing but a prison and had
the police and guard regulations and pre nothing before their eyes but a gibbet;
cautions against disease. The first sugges their treatment drew them into all meth
tion of transporting wounded soldiers in ods of desertion, which was prevented only
numbers by water was made here. It was by the prevots, who kept them in the camp
the first occasion when the services of the like men besieged; the officers themselves
“ father of modern surgery” were univer being ill-paid had some kind of right to
sally recognized in an army, by soldiers as violence and plunder. . . . The regulation
well as officers, services that, in the fol (prompt payment) was followed by another
lowing year, rendered his opinion of such equally just and equally proper to recon
importance, that he was called in the coun cile the mind to the trade of arms; by this
cil of war to determine whether Hesdin there was a provision made for the relief
288 Annals o f Medical History
of soldiers who, by wounds or sickness con Ireland in 1693, and Greenwich for seamen
tracted in the service, were unable to live in 1695.
either by war or labor; things were man From remote antiquity disarmed and
aged so that in their state of misery they maimed soldiers excited general commis
wanted nothing either for their maintenance eration and were provided for in various
or care.” ways, by pensions, assignment of lands,
B y the establishment of the Maison etc. The reasons for founding asylums for
royale de la Charite Chretienne in 1600, the them are obvious and are often men
droit d’oblat was practically abolished. In tioned; economy, repression of beggary
virtue of this right the kings attached dis and control of vices that were especially
abled and aged officers and soldiers to con prevalent among discharged mercenaries.11
vents as lay brothers, who rendered service No permanent means were taken, however,
by ringing the bells and sweeping the other than civil hospitals, to preserve the
chambers. It had been exercised since the soldier temporarily disabled in active service,
beginning of the Carlovingian race (752- or in time of peace, until enlistment became
987). The conception of a house in common universally established for a period longer
for infirm soldiers is older than SuIIy’s than the duration of a war, and when offi
institution. Philip Augustus of France cers became irremovable and dependent
(116 5 -12 2 3 ), St. Louis in 1260, the charter on the sovereign; until a regular royal mili
of the chevaliers de I’Etoile in 1352, contem tary service was organized having greater
plated it; M ary of England left a pro cohesion, better discipline and administra
vision in her will, 1558, for such a retreat, tive departments, than were possessed by
but no attention was paid to it, and the the so-called standing armies before the
mother of Henry III. of France in 1563 17th century. For France, Richelieu is
promised it. M any private individuals fol credited with the first system of sedentary
lowed the example, among them Sir Thomas hospitals on the frontier near the scene of
Coningsby, who founded a relief for worn- war, at Pignerol,12 (1630) for the army in
out soldiers in Hereford in 1614. The Italy. They were all placed directly under
Maison decayed insensibly under Louis the superintendence of a chirm gien-maj or
X I I I ., a pension of 100 Iivres was substi des camps et armees, the first appearance
tuted in place of the oblat, and after an of this title. Other nations,— Austria, Prus
other ineffectual attempt by the organization sia, Denmark and Sweden,— continued to
of the Commandery of St. Louis in 1633, furnish treatment for sick and wounded
the Invalides, proposed in 1659, was finally soldiers in quarters and tents, exceptionally
started in 1676. In England Chelsea was in civil hospitals, until the middle of the
foreshadowed by the fourth of the Articles 1 8th centufy. The persistence of regimental
for his M ajesty’s Guard, 1663, and com hospitals in England and America to the
menced operations in 1682; Kilmainham in beginning of the present century, is a relic
11 In the time of Henry II. and Francis II. disabled
of the company methods of the 16th cen-
soldiers and widows went to Fontainebleau to de
mand, not pensions, for these were not yet in vogue, It was found during the reign of Louis X I I I .
but assistance. The cardinal Minister Claude de Lor that the soldiers dissipated their pension and lived
raine, for an answer, caused to be trumpeted that in misery the rest of the time. (Histoire de I’botel
those who came to seek relief must leave in twenty- des Invalides, in Archives curieuses etc., par Danjon,
four hours, under pain of being hanged, and he 2d series.)
actually had a gibbet erected for the purpose under 12 About 70 miles from Casal, the seat of the final
the window of the king himself. (Audouin, Histoire military operations. The building was standing in
de l’administration de la guerre.) 1858.
M il it a r y S anitation 289
tury. Permanent, or garrison, and port, or ment of 2,200 men sent by Jam es I., 1620,
naval, hospitals soon followed the seden to the Palatinate, was accompanied by
tary in France (probably an outcome of medical officers, but there was no allow
epidemics), but nowhere else, and were ance for medicines or hospitals in the esti
prominent among the military reforms of mates, though made by experienced officers,
Louvois undertaken with the aid of M ar and, consequently, it suffered much from
tinet and Dumetz, and dating from 1666, privation. The original plan for the expe
Vauban designating places for hospitals dition contemplated two physicians, two
in all the captured towns of Alsace and surgeons and two apothecaries on the staff
Flanders, which he fortified. of the general; one surgeon to a regiment
The crude field system of the 16th cen of 1,800 men with pay of captain, and one
tury was limited to the company infirmary surgeon to each company of 150 men, with
with the occasional help of civil hospitals. pay of ensign; one surgeon to the general
SuIIy’s establishment at the siege of Amiens, of horse, one to each cavalry troop of 100
1597, was an improvement on this, but was men, and one surgeon to the ordnance
not, as has been stated, the first ambulance and pioneers.14
hospital.13 It had more of the character of The English contingent of 12,000 foot
a field hospital, was supported by a tax and 200 horse to Count Mansfeld’s expedi
on sutlers, tavern-keepers, haberdashers, tion to the Netherlands, 1624, was likewise
tailors and shoemakers in the train of the provided with surgeons, but owing to in
army, and was so well directed by Pigray, competency or want of supplies it lost
a pupil of Pare and the king’s physician- one-half of its men from contagious dis
surgeon, that officers preferred to be treated eases. The scarcity of surgeons compelled
there. This was, nevertheless, the first im Charles I. to issue a mandate, 1628, to the
pulse given to a change of former methods Surgeon’s Company to “ impress sixteen
and to the development of organization, on able and efficient chirurgeons” for the force
military models, for the care of sick and of 4,000 men collected for the relief of
wounded soldiers, whether on the field or Rochelle. In 1630 the Scotch troops in Swe
at sieges. den, 12,000 men, had four surgeons to a
Throughout Europe the condition of the regiment, they being reckoned among the
soldier and officer began to improve at the staff officers, who took priority over the
beginning of the century, and with it the line. About this period there was introduced
quality and number of surgeons; though in the army in Ireland the rank of physi
medical attendance was not yet deemed a cian-general, surgeon-general in the East
soldier’s right or even a department of India service, regimental surgeon in the
State. army and surgeon’s mate in the navy.
In England more interest was taken in As early as 1614 there was improvement
military matters generally, and officers in the navy, and to Woodall, originally
were imported to instruct the militia, there an army surgeon, were due the assignment
being no standing army proper. Much of surgeons to the East India ships, outfits
confusion prevailed in sanitation. A regi
sisting of 13 companies, one being the colonel’s;
13 A similar field hospital was established at the the 12 had 144 privates each, the colonel’s 192;
siege of Rouen, 159 1, and in the same year an edict each company had a surgeon; on the regimental
was issued taxing wines and ciders of tavern-keep staff was a chief surgeon, who was also surgeon of
ers, the proceeds to be applied to the care of wounded the colonel’s company; each cavalry troop had 70
soldiers. cuirassiers and 30 carbineers with one surgeon.—
14 Another account describes a regiment as con- Colburn s United Service Magazine, 1836, part 3.
290 A n n a ls of Medical History
of medicine chests, and the introduction a stipulated amount to support the regi
of lime juice for the prevention and cure mental medicine chest; both were liable to
of scurvy. Not until 1660 do we find a be called by the company barbers, the
purely military expression of interest in physician only in severe cases.15 During
the hygiene of troops, and that by Sir the first years of the century this was,
Jam es Turner. During the civil war the likewise, the status in the Saxon army, in
character of the soldiery was necessarily which nursing, by the consent of the com
of a higher order than usual. In the parlia manding officers, was still done by camp
mentary ranks Sydenham rose to a captain women who accompanied the soldiers in
cy and subsequently became the greatest the march, the regulation prescribing that
observer of medical facts of modern times. they should be neither “ lewd nor sus
On the royal side served Harvey, the dis pected.” Not until 1683 was there a head
coverer of the circulation of the blood, as to the surgical personnel, a staff physician
physician to the king, and Wiseman, the in the cortege of the general, whose duty
best English surgeon of his day. The pro it was to look after the proper arrangement
verbial conservatism of the English is no of the hospitals and superintend the barbers
where shown so well as in the retention of and apothecaries therein. There were also
crossbowmen in their armies as late as 1672. a staff field-barber and field apothecary in
Among the Germans the soldiers of the the same body. The rank of all these is
duchy of Brandenburg (united with that supposed, by Froelich, from their pay and
of Prussia, 16 11) were at first in a wretched rations, to have been that of ensign. The
condition. They were not provided with a physicians and surgeons furnished their
commissary, and in 1620, when Branden own mounts, and received forage; the
burg raised troops, they received the privi apothecary was allowed six horses and
lege of begging through the country; the two wagons. Toward the end of the century
peasantry were ordered to give each sol there appears a general staff surgeon, and
dier a farthing every time he begged and the regimental barber’s rank was then
a good thrashing with a stout cudgel, if he fixed among the officers, but that of the
was not satisfied. The few permanent company barber was still between quarter
troops before 1653,— the Elector’s body master sergeant and corporal. T hat the
guard of 100 men and several companies social and official position of medical men
of Landesknechte distributed among various was then improved is shown by the fact
strongholds,— grew in that year to 52 that a captain of horse, Gehema, became
troops of cavalry and 82 companies of in physician to the Brandenburg Guard. In
fantry, and in 1656 to a force of 25,000 his capacity as an officer of the line he had
men. The system of company field-barbers observed the faults of the sanitary service,
remained; those of the infantry were particularly manifest in the character of
equipped and armed like other soldiers, the field physician and subordinates and
though their rank was gradually raised; of medical supplies, and he made vigorous,
they received, besides their pay, a small but almost ineffectual, efforts to reform
sum from each man, “ basin-money,” them. Minderer, a Bavarian, was an es
for shaving twice a week. Each regiment teemed writer, 1620, on military medicine,
had a physician on its staff and a field- including hygiene of troops and camps, and
barber, who got from each soldier monthly Purmann, surgeon-major in the Branden
15 Eventually a general oversight, only in time of
burg army, published a celebrated treatise
war, was given to the physicians of the guard, thus sicians were the first Prussian surgeons-general, be
making the organization more of a unit. These phy- ginning with Brandhorst.
M il it a r y S an itatio n 291
on military surgery in 1680. The medical the latter half of the century, there was no
organization throughout Germany, how surgeon of any merit or reputation, who had
ever, continued to be so poor that soldiers not served in the armies, such service being
perished in numbers; as late as 1685-87, of the readiest means of obtaining employ
3,000 men sent by Saxony to aid Venice in ment. Instances are recorded of men from
the Morea only 761 returned. the rank of private rising to distinction in
It is natural to infer from the number science and in medicine and surgery, no
and variety of military medical institutions tably the philosopher Descartes, whose
in France, that there was greater advance mathematical and physical discoveries and
ment in the quality and numbers of the physiological observations place him among
personnel. Before the invention of seden the promoters of medical science, and
tary hospitals for armies in the field, Rich Jacques Beaulieu, a famous Iithotomist.
elieu began to improve the field hospitals, Richelieu also organized the administrative
first at the siege of Rochelle, 1627, by at departments generally,17 and the details of
taching to them persons whose duty it was the edicts affecting them were admirable,
to distribute bouillons and medicines, even though experimental and not always suc
to those who could or would not seek their cessful in results. During the retreat, in
aid. There was as yet no uniformity in 1635, of the army of la Valette on the
the assignment of physicians and surgeons,16 Rhine, the hospitals were still unorganized
but they became more an official part of and there was no transport service for the
the army. In 1638 he published an ordi wounded. It was on this occasion that the
nance, which is considered, by Morache, young Turenne having, as was customary,
as the foundation of true ambulances. several carts loaded with personal baggage,
Like the system adopted at the siege above plate, etc., ordered the contents to be thrown
mentioned it provided Jesuits and cooks to away and the carts filled with wounded; he
give potages and bouillons to the sick who also picked up bodily a wounded soldier and
did not want to go to the field or sedentary tied him on his own horse, which he led to
hospitals, and a surgeon and apothecary;— a place of shelter. The medical service ex
a large army was to have 4 priests, a lay cited in 1667 the personal interest of
brother and a cook with 5 assistants, 2 Louis X IV . so much that he sent for three
wagons with food and six sheep;—small of the most skilled surgeons of Paris for
armies, 3 priests, a cook with 3 assistants, the army in Flanders,— Turbiere, to whom
1 wagon and three sheep. The priests were was first given the title of chirmgien-major
to look after the spiritual welfare of the consultant des camps et armees, Bienaise, re
sick. The majority of surgeons of hospitals nowned as the most intrepid operator of
and regiments were members of the College the century, and Gayant, who was the
of St. Come, Paris; and Percy says that in first surgeon to be admitted to the Acad-
16 Thus, this year, 2 surgeons to the Chevaux Iarger rations at the expense of the municipalities:
Lagers,— 2 1 2 men; 1 to a company of Mousquetaires, daily for each man, 2 pounds of bread, 1 pound of
— 343 men; 2 surgeons and 1 physician to the meat, salt, vinegar, and one pint of wine, fuel for
guards,— 4,602 men; 1 physician and no surgeon to light and heating, and the loan of table linen, a
the Suisses,— 2 ,5 16 men; 1 surgeon to the Gardes du bowl and a glass;— forage was also to be supplied
Corps,— 145 men; many organizations had neither to the horses. During the campaign the system of
physician nor surgeon. contracts on a large scale was followed to furnish
17 Troops in garrison were supplied with bread in everything including transports, the contractor
kind by a contractor, its cost being withheld from being represented b y a general des vivres, who had
the pay. Troops on the march were supplied with under him a large personnel.
292 Annals o f >Medical History
emy of Sciences.18 B y 1674 it had so grown being of sheep-skin, excepting those of the
and was so well managed that at the battle cuirasseurs, who had simple breastplates.
of Seneffe, the Intendant Robert could dis The infantry company was in six ranks,
tribute in three villages 230 military sur the cavalry in four and two squadrons.
geons assisted by nurses, with the necessary The artillery pieces differed in calibre, the
material to care for an exceptionally large novel feature being the field-guns worked
number of wounded. In 1683 it was ordered by the infantry. These consisted of a thinly
that during a campaign the sick be lodged beaten cylinder of copper, the chamber
before the officers. reinforced by four bands of iron, and the
The T hirty Y ears’ War brought Sweden whole wound by rope and covered with
into prominence as a military nation, and rawhide;— they were mounted on carriages
its most brilliant achievement was the last so light that two men could drag and
campaign of Gustavus Adolphus, beginning manipulate a gun, and they were very slow
June, 1630, by the landing in Pomerania in heating. The effects of this artillery are
of an army of 8,000 men, reinforced at first graphically described by Munro, a surgeon
by six Scotch regiments, about 7,000 men. of M c K ay ’s Scotch regiment.
Of this force both regiments and companies “ It is thought the invention of cannon
of infantry and cavalry varied in the num was first found at Nuremberg for the ser
ber of men. The differences were more vice of man; being at first, for a long
marked in the infantry,19 but four surgeons time, used for battering down of walls
were always among the regimental staff and cities, and for counter-batteries, till
officers of both arms, as well as a quarter at last they were used in the field to
master (ranking between major and cap break the squadrons and battailles of
tain), a provost (and his archers), a re horse and foot; some carrying pieces
corder, two chaplains, eight sutlers and a called spignards, of four foot and a halfe
drum-major. All soldiers had swords, long long, that shot many bullets at once no
swords or sabres. Two-thirds of the foot greater than walnuts; — and how soon
were armed with matchlock muskets, the the trumpet did sounde, the enemy were
forked rest being suppressed, and cartridge thundered on, first with these as with
boxes instead of shoulder belts; and one- showers of hailstone, so that the enemies
third with pikes 11 feet long, the iron part were cruelly affrighted with them, men
being 2 feet long and 4 inches broad at of valour being suddenly taken away,
the widest part. The cuirasseurs had car who before were wont to fight valiantly
bines and two pistols each, the dragoons, and long with sword and lance, more for
or light cavalry, light muskets and axes. the honour of victory than for any desire
Armor was then falling into disuse, because of shedding of blood; but now men were
it could be easily penetrated by the heavy martyrised and cut down at more than
bullets;— the head only was specially pro half a mile of distance by these firearms
tected by a helmet or iron cap, the jackets and thundering engines of great cannon
that sometimes shote fiery bullets able to
18 Gui Patin, Lettres, who had no special regard
for surgeons as a class, speaks of them in the highest 19 From a note found among the papers of Axel
terms, and adds that it was rumored that the king Oxenstiern, dated 1632, it appears that some regi
at the same time had sent for a good physician to ments had 12 companies and 1,78 7 men; others, 11
govern the army hospitals. It was the custom then, companies and 1,533 men; others, 13 companies
and it lasted many years thereafter, for physicians and 1,940 men; others, 12 companies and 1,824 men.
to superintend the work of surgeons, there being Since 16 14 the company had varied from 120 to
the greatest distinction between the two. 140 men.
M il it a r y S an itatio n m
burne whole cities, castles, houses or of death;— quarrels over spoils were pun
bridges, where they chance to fall;— and ished by seizure of the goods, which were
if they happen to light within walls or devoted to the “ next hospital’ ’ ;— civil
amongst a brigade of foot or horse, as hospitals, except when used for offensive
they did at Leipsigh on the grave Van purposes, were expressly reserved from
Torne his brigadd, they spoil a number pillage, as also churches, schools and mills;—
at once, as doubtless, the devilish inven churchmen, the aged, maids and children
tion did within WaIestine.,, were shielded; ordnance, munitions of war
The opposing imperial infantry regiments and food were to be left for the use of the
had 6 companies of 300 men, each company army, exempted from pillage, and one tenth
having a surgeon.20 One half of the soldiers of his spoil each soldier was to give to the
had very heavy matchlocks, a forked rest sick and wounded in the hospitals.
4 feet long and a sabre of the same length, Billeting was at its height, and the custom
the cartridges being carried in metal or was to leave the sick, wounded, prisoners
wood boxes on a leather shoulderbelt;— and heavy baggage in a captured town with
the other half had pikes 15 to 18 feet long a small garrison, the disabled to be treated
and swords;— both had helmets, but the in the civil hospitals. This was often diffi
pikemen had breastplates and mailed cult, as appears from an edict of the
aprons as well. They were in 10 ranks. A Elector John George of Saxony, for Dres
cavalry regiment had 5 companies of 100 den, after the battle of Leipsic, Sept.,
men each, and no surgeon is mentioned in 16 31, mentioned by Froehlich. Wagons were
its organization;—the cuirasseurs were used in both armies for carrying the
weighted down by complete armor, a long wounded, and an instance is related of a
sword and two pistols and fought in 8 badly wounded prisoner being transported
ranks;— the carabineurs had pistols, sabres to Pappenheim’s quarters on two pikes.21
and carbines, helmets and breastplates, in Gustavus made it a rule to gather the
5 or 6 ranks, and the dragoons, in the same enemy’s wounded and bring them to camp,
number of ranks, were like the infantry, whence they were sent to hospitals in the
except that they were mounted and had neighboring towns. He was anticipated in
a lighter musket. Drills and exercises in this by Henry IV. of France during his
this army were very minute and manoeuvres campaign in Flanders, where he commanded
were very slow. besides that the wounded prisoners receive
A t this period troops subsisted mainly on without distinction the same treatment as
the country and plunder, but Gustavus his own men. Indeed, the sentiment of hu
Adolphus made efforts to deprive his cam manity toward an afflicted enemy, though
paigns of the appearance of incursions;— far from universal, was not uncommonly
he combined his troops in marching, fight exhibited during the Thirty Y ears’ War,
ing and feeding, established magazines and and several instances are related as antici
distributed daily rations of bread and meat. pating in a measure the Geneva Conven
There was no separate commissary officer, tion. A t the siege of Domitz by the Swedes,
each general acting in that capacity. His 16 31, under Colonel Lohansen, in the ar
Articles of War are very explicit, prohib ticles of capitulation there was one to
iting pillage without leave under penalty
flight. Recent researches disprove this, for which see
20 Some writers assert that the imperial armies Baas, Hist, of Medicine, 1 7th century.
had no surgeons;— all seem to base their opinion 21 This method is mentioned in the Chronique de
on the anecdote of Tilly being wounded at Leipsic B ay art as having been offered to the chevalier when
and compelled to seek a surgeon at Halle in his he received his mortal wound, but was declined.
294 Annals of Medical History
supply wagons for the transport of the toward the end of the century were sown
sick along with the garrison retiring with the seeds that made the 18th century, in
the honors of war. And in 1636 there was this and all other respects, the most note
an agreement made between John George worthy of modern times.
of Saxony and the representatives of the
king of Sweden at the surrender of Magde P R IN C IP A L A U T H O R IT IE S
burg, that the sick were to be left in the Grimoard, Histoire des conquetes de Gustave Adolj,
city and when cured to be given passes 1789. Gustave Adolf, Lettres et memoires, etc., 1790.
to return to their regiments. The same Chassignet, Essai historique sur les‘ institutions mil-
compact was made at Gorlitz, 1641, between itaires, 1869. Morache, Article, Service de Santi in
Diet. Encyclop. des sciences medical, 1874. Gore,
the same parties.
Surg. Major, The story of our services to the Crown.
The career of Gustavus was terminated Froelich, Militarmedicin. Froelich, Geschichte des
at Liitzen, 1632, by a ball traversing his Kong. Sachs. Sanitats-korps. Baas, Grundniss der
breast, his arm having been first broken Geschichte der Medicin. Sicard, Histoire des institu
by a bullet, which fact he hid from his tions militaires des Frangais. Daniel, Histoire de la
soldiers. His military talents placed him milice Frangaise. Grose, Military antiquities.
23 The custom lasted in England until 1858. in warm water or Iicquorice root. In high fevers eat
24 A book, “ Discourse upon the Trigger,” attrib nothing even for twelve days, but drink small beer
uted to him, was sent b y the Russian government as much as you please. In intermitting fevers,
to every regiment in the service. It contains these neither eat nor drink. In hospital the first day the
rules for diet. “ Have a dread of the hospital. Ger bed is soft, the second comes French soup, and
man physic stinks from afar, is good for nothing the third you are laid in your coffin; one dies and ten
and rather hurtful. A Russian is not used to it; mess of his companions inhale his expiring breath. For the
mates know where to find roots and herbs. A soldier healthy, drink, air and food; for the sick, air, drink
is beyond all price; take care of your health, scour and food.”
the stomach when it is foul; hunger is the best med 25 R ye bread was issued in Queen Anne’ s time
icine. If loose bowels want food, at sunset a little but discarded because of a notion that it caused
nourishment; for costive bowels some purging plant dysentery.
M il it a r y S anitatio n 297
to cities farther removed when these be Scheldt opposite the field, to cover the re
come crowded. It is rare that surgical op treat of the French king. All arms were
erations are performed on the field proper, engaged at one time or another, the artil
that is, at the place where wounds are in lery opening the battle, and at the critical
flicted, and still more rare are amputations moment, supported by cavalry, saving the
performed. The light wounded betake them day for the French, an occurrence said to
selves to the ambulance station, the dan have been the first combination of the two
gerously wounded are carried there on arms in history.
litters/’ With the village of Fontenoy toward the
The place occupied by the ambulance is right of the French centre, the length of the
thus described: “ Sometimes, as at Fon- line that bore the brunt of the battle was
tenoy, it is in the open field, commonly about 1,200 yards, and the width, of what
it is in some village, more rarely in the was practically a closed field, was 2,000
cities, and nearly always sufficiently distant yards. The point where the English and
from the place of combat.” He also dis Hanoverians massed their attack was on the
cusses litters, mentions a horse litter im left of the village, including it eventually,
provised by the great surgeon, J . L. Petit, and it was here that the terrible slaughter
praises transportation by water, accom of the French infantry nearly won a victory
plished on a considerable scale after Det- for the allies. Surgeons were posted on the
tingen, and gives the detailed structure of first line, as is proved by the fact that
a wagon specially designed for carrying while the English were advancing on the
wounded. regiment stationed nearest Fontenoy, the
With the aid of other writers the ar French lieutenant-general Futtaux was
rangements at Fontenoy can be pictured. wounded, and his aide implored him to
The contending forces, allied English, have his wound first dressed before going
Dutch, Hanoverians and Austrians, 55,000, to report to the king. The regiments of
and the French, 60,000, were organized Hainaut and Dillon were, in the beginning,
very much alike; foot battalions of five on the French left, and which moving toward
companies containing 100 to 140 men the centre to stay the English by an attack
each, two to four battalions making a regi in the flank, lost heavily. It is stated by
ment numbering 1,000 to 2,700 men, the Boucher that on the field itself amputa
English battalions being slightly largest; tions were performed on wounded of these
cavalry, in squadrons of about 100 men regiments, it is inferred, at the ambulance
each. As at this time each infantry regi hospitals, which were, at the furthest, about
ment had a surgeon and mate or assistant, 2,000 yards from the front line. After the
it is estimated that the allies had about battle these ambulances were evacuated
forty regimental medical officers, the French and the wounded carried on caissons and
as m any; the cavalry of both armies had carts to cities in the rear, principally to
none. There was on both sides a small Lille, 16 miles, and Douai, 20 miles distant,
number of physicians, one usually to a where an immense number of surgical op
garrison of about 10,000 men, and army erations were performed at hospitals estab
surgeons. The infantry were armed with lished for the purpose, the civil hospitals,
flintlock muskets and bayonets, the sword churches and private houses being used.26
having been abandoned about this time,
26 The following members or associates, or con
and they worked the field pieces of artil tributors to the transactions, of the French Academy
lery, the largest mentioned being a battery of Surgery were present: Boucher at Lille, where his
of six 1 6-pounders on the bank of the River conduct is mentioned as beyond praise, Geraud,
I
Guffroy, PoIIet, Guerin, Vandergracht, Theri at douille had charge of the whole system of evacua
field hospitals, Faure and Read at Valenciennes. tion of wounded on cities of the north of France;
Garengeot was, I presume, with his regiment, du Ravaton was at one of these, and La Peyronie, its
Roi, one of those at the centre of the conflict; An- President, operated on the field.
A CHECK LIST OF MEDICAL INCUNABULA
IN THE SURGEON GENERAL’ S LIBRARY, WASHINGTON, D. C., 19 18
T
H E following check list of incunabula ministration have succeeded in increasing
in the Surgeon Generals Library is the number of our incunabula.
compiled not only for only for the convence This list is published in the A n n als of
of the library, to enable us to state at a glance M ed ical H istory to give the material a
what it possesses of early printed books, wider circulation among readers of medical
flut also in the interest of the students of literature. I hope that other lists of the
medical history. The list does not make a medical incunabula available in public and
pretentious claim to bibliography. private libraries may be presented to the
Dr. Arnold C. Klebs has in preparation public through this medium so that the
a bibliography of all medical incunabula, files of the A n n als will eventually contain
including those in our library and those in a complete bibliography of the medical
other American libraries, in which the en incunabula in this country.
tries will be given in full.
C ham pe C a r t er M c C ulloch
As I have already stated in my paper
“ On Incunabula,” published in the Bulletin Librarian
0/ the Medical Library Association, N. S., L IS T O F IN C U N A B U L A
Vol. V, No. 1 (July, 1915), the first attempt
at listing medical incunabula was made by 1. ABIO SU S, JO A N N E S. Trutina rerum
the late J . Stockton Hough of Trenton, coelestium et terrestrium. [Venezia,
New Jersey. J oannes R u b e u s , a. 5 February, 1498.]
It cannot be the aim of our library, just Quarto.
as it cannot be the aim of any library, no Reichling, IV, p. 97. Hain 25.
matter how large its endowment or ap 2. A B R A H A M B E N E Z R A . De nativita-
propriation, to own all the incunabula in tibus. Venezia, E rhard R atdolt , 24
existence, especially when one takes into December, 1485. Quarto. Bound with:
account the fact that there are about 28,000 Prognosticon, etc. Venezia, 1485.
of these rare volumes, and that in some Hain-Copinger * 2 1 . Proctor 4407. Pel-
instances only a few copies have been pre Iechet 16. Walters p. 2. Redgrave
served and in some, only one. Prof. Karl 46.
Sudhoff, of Leipzig, estimated the number
of medical incunabula at about 2,000. We 3. A B U L C A S IS . Liber servitoris. Venezia,
are inclined to place the number much lower, N icolas J en sen , 14 7 1. Quarto.
but refrain from giving any approximate Bound w ith : N ico lau s . Antidotarium.
figure. Pellechet 4 1 1. Proctor * 4075.
E arly printed books must be judged from 4. T X JID IU S C O R B O L IE N SIS. De
two points of view; first, from the standpoint pulsibus. Commentator: G e n t il is de
of the intrinsic value of the book itself, and, F u lg in eo . Editor: A v e n a n t iu s M u -
second, from a bibliographical standpoint. tiu s de C am erin o . Padova, M a t -
This must be the guiding principle for a th a eu s C erdonis , January, 1484.
special library like ours, when making a Quarto.
collection of incunabula. If possible, every
printer and every town should be repre Hain * 103. Pellechet 64. Proctor
sented by a good specimen dealing with the 6815.
subject in which the library in question is 5. ^ G I D I U S C O R B O L IE N S IS . Car
most interested. men de urinis cum commentario. Car
On this principle the incunabula for the men de pulsibus. Commentator: G e n
library of the Surgeon General’s Office were t il is de F u lg in eo . Editor: A v e n a n
collected; notwithstanding the limited tiu s de C am erin o . Venezia, B er n a r -
means I have tried to enlarge our collection dinus de V it a l ib u s , 16 February, 1494.
of early printed books and during my ad Quarto.
301
302 Annals of Medical History
Hain * i o i . Pellechet 62. Proctor primam. Ferrara, A nd reas B elfo r -
5522. t is .24 January, 1489. Folio.
Imperfect. Hain 1552. Burger p. 340. Reichling
6. A L B E R T U S M A G N U S. Liber aggre II, p. 118 .
gations de virtutibus herbarum. [Ant 15. A R C U L A N U S, JO A N N E S. Practica
werp , M ath ias va n der G o es , c. i486.] seu expositio in I X Iibrum Rhazis ad
Quarto. Almansorem. Venezia, B ern ardin u s
Campbell’s Annales 80+Supp. II, *80 S ta g n in u s , 12 November, 1493. Folio.
Burger p. 418. Hain-Copinger * 13899.
7. A L B E R T U S M A G N U S. De animali- 16. A R C U L A N U S, JO A N N E S . Exposi
bus. Venezia, J o an n es & G regorius tio in Avicennse canonis quarti Fen
de G rego riis , 2 1 M ay, 1495. Lolio. primam. Venezia, B onetus L o catel -
l u s , 27 October, 1496. Folio. Bound
Hain * 547. Pellechet 34 1. Proctor
with Gian Matteo Ferrari da Grado,
4541.
7502.
8. A L B E R T U S M A G N U S. Liber aggre Hain-Copinger * 1553. CoIIijn Up-
gations de virtutibus herbarum. sala 788.
[Speier, C onrad H ist , or E ic h sta tt ; 17. A R C U L A N U S, JO A N N E S. Practica
M ich a el R e y s e r .] Quarto. seu expositio in I X Iibrum Rhazis ad
Pellechet 343. Almansorem. Venezia, B onetus L o -
9. A L C A N IS , L U IS. Regiment preser- C A TELLU S for O C T A V IA N U S S cO T U S , l8
vatiu e curatiu de la pestilencia. [Va September, 1497. Folio.
lencia, N icolaus S p in d e l e r , c. 1490.] Hain-Copinger * 13900. Burger p. 482.
Quarto. 18. A R G E L L A T A , P E T R U S D E . Chirur-
Undescribed. gia. Venezia, B en ed ictu s of G en o va ,
10. A L E X A N D E R OP A P H R O D ISIA S. 9 August, 1480. Folio.
Problemata. Latin translation by Proctor 4596. Pellechet 1 1 6 1 . Hain
G eorgius Valla. A r is t o t e l e s : 1635. Reichling IV, p. 120.
Problemata. P lutarch : Problemata. 19. A R G E L L A T A , P E T R U S D E . Chirur-
Venezia, A ntonius de S t r a t a , 24 gia. Venezia, [J o an n es & G regorius
November, 18 December, 1488— 3 J a n G regoriis ], 12 September, 1499. Folio.
uary, 1489. Polio. Bound with: A l sa h a r a v iu s . Liber
Hain-Copinger * 658. Pellechet 439. theoricse nec non practicse, 7 5 7 9 .
VouIIieme Berlin 3917. Proctor 4594. Hain 1639. Copinger III, 241. Proc
1 1 . A LFO N SU S BO N I H O M IN IS. Libel- tor 5703. Reichling IV, p. 12 1.
Ius arabicus contra malos medicos. Edi 20. A R IS T O T E L E S . Opera. [Latin.] [4
tor: J o annes E lisiu s N ea po lita n u s , parts.] Augsburg, A m brosius K e l l e r ,
7500. Quarto. 7 5 September— 2 1 October, 1479. Folio.
Hain * 1658 [ 4 ] . Pellechet 1176 .
12. A L M E N A R , JO A N . De morbo gal-
British Museum Catalogue II, 361
Iico. Venezia, 1502. T o r r ella , C a s
[ I— III ]. VouIIieme Berlin 195-197.
p a r . De dolore cum tractatu de ulceri-
Proctor 1747-1749.
bus in pudendagra. Roma, J ohann
B e sic k e n with M artin of A m ster 2 1. A R IS T O T E L E S . Problemata. Ad
dam . 3 1 October, 1300. Quarto. dition: De vita et morte Aristotelis.
Proctor 4000. Hain-Copinger 15559. [Coin, H einrich Qu e n t e l l . c. 1490-
VouIIieme Berlin. 3547. 1495.] Quarto. Woodcut.
Hain * 17 2 1. Pellechet 1220. Proctor
13. A R C A N A . Arcana Medicinse. [Ge 1410 . Burger p. 552. British M u
neve: Louis C r u se , c. 1490.] Quarto. seum Catalogue I, p. 281.
Pellechet 110 5. 22. A R N O LD U S D E V I LLA N O V A. Trac-
14. A R C U L A N U S, JO A N N E S . Exposi- tatus de venenis. Addition: V a la sc u s
tio in Avicennse canonis quarti Fen de T a r a n t a . De epidemia et peste.
A C h eck L ist of M ed ic a l I n c u n ab u la 303
*
I f our young medical student would take strong against the literae humaniores— have
our advice, and for an hour or two twice a come off with some Greek or Latin, we would
week take up a volume of Shakespeare, Cer supplicate for an ode of Horace, a couple of
vantes, Milton, Dryden, Pope, Cowper, Mon pages of Cicero or P lin y once a month, and a
taigne, Addison, Defoe, Goldsmith, Fielding, page of Xenophon. French and German
Scott, Charles Lamb, Macaulay, Jeffrey, Syd should be mastered either before or during the
ney Smith, Helps, Thackeray, etc., not to men first years of study. They will never after
tion authors on deeper and more sacred sub wards be acquired so easily or so thoroughly,
jects— they would have happier and healthier and the want of them may be bitterly felt when
minds, and make none the worse doctors. I f too late.
they, by good fortune—for the tide has set in Horae Subsecivae, by John Brown.
NOTES AND QUERIES
[In the initial volume of the Index Medicus (1879) a department ot “ Notes and Queries,” relat
ing to medical history and medical bibliography, was established by Dr. Billings, Dr. Fletcher,
Thomas Windsor and others, but from lack of interest in the readers of the journal, due no doubt
to the backward state of medico-historical investigation in this country at that time, the project
did not take hold and was soon abandoned. In a journal devoted exclusively to medical history
it seems fitting and proper that items of this kind should be introduced from time to time, with
the proviso that both questions and answers be brief and to the point. Those subjoined are
believed to be difficult of solution.— Editor.]
the proper way to make incisions with marized in his book “ Who Is Insane?”
scalpel and bistoury, and the suturing and (1916), which is a large-minded considera
dressing of wounds. In this connection, we tion of “ the illusive nature of insanity, its
are reminded of the fact that the most suc origin in the derangement of the functions
cessful and useful medico-military text of the brain-cells, the extreme impressibility
books published at the present hour have of these cells and our power to increase or
been written in the same concise, precise repress their activities,” a series of piquant
manner. The sentiment of the officer in the homilies on the Horatian “ naviget Anti-
field would seem to be: “ Long life to the cyram.” The book is highly practical, and
small-sized book!” Prolixity at the battle- leaves one with the humorous impression
front is unthinkable. that the whole world is potentially or (as in
During 18 6 1-18 6 5 Dr. Smith was Pro present Eastern Europe) actually mad. “ A
fessor of Surgery in Bellevue Hospital mad world, my masters.” We may take
Medical College, after which he held the comfort in the observation, quoted by Osier:
chair of anatomy until 1874, in which year “ Every man has a sane spot somewhere.”
he became Professor of Clinical Surgery in As to “ the failure of the alienists to formu
the Medical Department of New York late an acceptable definition of insanity for
University. In 1865, he made an investiga the profession and the courts,” Dr. Smith
tion of the sanitary condition of New York is at one with Shakespeare:
and reported his findings to the legislature.
To define true madness,
In 1866, he made a report on hospital con
What is it but to be nothing else but
struction to the trustees of Bellevue Hos
m ad?
pital, and was one of the five physicians
who submitted plans for the construction Among Dr. Smith’s other public activities
of the Johns Hopkins Hospital (1875), the have been his services as member of the
award in this competition being made to city and national Boards of Health, and
the late Dr. John S. Billings. His papers on the State Board of Charities, his work with
the improvement of the homes of the tene the United States Sanitary Commission,
ment house population in New York City and his Commissionership to the Ninth In
were published in 1873-1875. In 1882, Dr. ternational Sanitary Convention at Paris
Smith was appointed State Commissioner (1894). He was one of the founders and also
in Lunacy of New Y ork by Governor first president of the American Public
Alonzo B. Cornell, and during his incum Health Association (1873), has published
bency (1882-1888) the following reforms many contributions to public hygiene, and
were effected: (1) the introduction of a has done much for the improvement of the
training school for attendants, (2) the crea Department of Health of New Y ork City.
tion of a State Commission in Lunacy, (3) To the literature of surgery, Dr. Smith
the removal of the insane from county to has contributed many papers, notably his
state care— in other words, a steady im analysis of 439 recovered amputations in the
provement over the old conditions, in continuity of the lower extremity, one of
which the insane were pauperized “ in the surgical memoirs of the United States
filthy cells and stalls, shackled hands and Sanitary Commission (18 71). In 1879, he
feet, and fed like swine,” up to the “ kindly published a “ Manual of the Principles and
care, good food, clean sanitary dormitories Practice of Operative Surgery,” a large
and freedom from cruel forms of restraint” treatise of 689 pages, which was re-issued,
of the now unrivalled State hospitals of New enlarged and revised in 1887. To the history
York. Dr. Smith’s experiences are sum of surgery, he has made two important
322 Annals o f Medical History
contributions, viz., his monographs on “ The treatment of the larynx was first shown,
Evolution of American Surgery” published and here that intralaryngeal surgery had
in Bryant and Buck’s “ American Practice its birth. The art of photographing the
of Surgery” (1906), and “ The History of larynx was perfected by a Brooklyn laryn
Surgery” in Stedman’s “ Reference Hand gologist. The causes of nasal obstructions
book” (19 17). These are both able and were discovered and the methods of reliev
vigorous contributions, worthy of a place ing them devised by New York surgeons.
beside the writings of Gross, Billings, There followed from this definite knowledge
Pilcher, Dennis and other Americans who concerning sinus diseases. Intubation was
have worked in this field. made a practical measure here. Graduate
Personally, Dr. Smith is a valiant, up courses in laryngology and rhinology were
standing character, straight, erect, and established in New York, and the first so
self-disciplined as an army officer, keen and ciety of laryngologists that was ever organ
quick of perception, yet with the genial, ized was established here. Dr. Delevan has
humorous “ twinkle.” No one could clasp done much to infuse a civic pride in New
his hand and look into his face without feel Yorkers over the work done in laryngology
ing impressed with his astonishing vitality in this city.
and virility. Those of us who heard his C h a r l e s L. D a n a .
vivacious address to the medical students
at Syracuse, in 1915, were treated to a cap
tivating volley-fire of humorous recollec The history of medicine furnishes a sub
tions and anecdotes which carried the ject which can be approached from several
younger men quite away. As we listened, points of view, and it is one that may be
with shaking sides, some of us could but treated in various ways, excellent or dis
re-echo the sentiment expressed by Pro tressing. No doubt the best one is that of
fessor Thayer at a banquet given to another scientific research, by means, for example, of
distinguished physician: a study of original documents. Through this
we secure new data and gain new interpre
Long may he live to taste alike
tations. This kind of work is essential to
O f age and youth the joys;
progress. It is the laboratory method, and
Old, yes, in years, but in his heart,
justly acclaimed by the chosen few, who
A boy among the boys.
are in the position to follow it. Medical his
F. H. G.
tory may also be approached by the de
scriptive and literary method, and it is
through this method that historical matter
It has been especially through the indus is made vital and brought into touch with
try, zeal and historical activities of Dr. D. current life, contributing to education,
Bryson Delevan that New Y ork C ity has recreation and art. The descriptive his
been shown to have unusual importance in toriographer must have not only literary
the history of the development of laryngol skill, but a sense of the proportion of things;
ogy- he must have some learning and do some
According to Dr. Delevan, it was in New research also. As this kind of writing is
Y ork that attention was first especially open to any one trained or untrained, it
called to the diseases of the throat by the may be done and often is done stupidly and
establishment of special public clinics and verbosely, with little result of real import
of professorships in this branch of medicine. ance to the world. Medical history and
It was here that the possibility of topical epidemiology may also be studied for their
E d it o r ia l s 323
use in contributing toward the larger prob in innovations or that any improvement
lems of general history and of human prog could be made in the science and art of medi
ress, being drawn upon as an ancillary to cine as laid down by Galen.
more serious and important work. This has He was learned in the classics and in liter
been done in efforts to explain the extinc ature; he had a ready and prodigious mem
tion of the Grecian States, and the decline ory. He was an eloquent and w itty speaker,
of the imperial power of Rome. and his lectures were so popular that the
Medical history is drawn upon to illus laity crowded into his amphitheater to
trate social customs, criminology, extraor hear him.
dinary human characters, and causes, and He became one of the most popular and
the stupidities of legislation. There is an successful physicians of his day, and was
interesting form of medical history which invited by the Queen of Sweden to be physi
is strictly biographical, and this is by no cian at her court, and by the Senate of
means the least important of the methods Venice to establish himself in that city. He
of historical work. was a bit litigious: he had a serious law
There is thus a long list of phases and suit against the famous Renardot, who tried
types of medico-historical writing, and to start a commercial dispensary, and he
an application of data obtained throws light was sued by the apothecaries because he
upon a number of present-day human prob publicly attacked their popular mixtures.
lems. It is wise to encourage all kinds of He was one of the first to denounce publicly
historical writing and to censure only that the secret and proprietary medicine busi
work which is insincere, careless and, per ness, and he won out in his fight.
haps, that which attempts to be funny. Patin believed in bleeding, senna and
The gods forgive everything but dullness; ptisanes, and he denounced the chemical
those who are interested in medical history remedies and polypharmacy with its mithri-
must sometimes forgive even this. Let those dates and theriacs and benzoar compounds.
who would avoid this, study the contribu He was even a little doubtful of quinine,
tions of Sir William Osier. and was cautious in the use of opium and
C h a r l e s L. D a n a alcohol.
He wrote a little book on the preservation
of health, and always maintained it was
G uy Patin (16 0 1-16 7 2), Dean of the easier to keep well than to get well. Were
Faculty of Medicine of the University he living now he would have been a zealous
of Paris, Professor of Surgery and, later, sanitarian.
of Medicine, was an important person in He had a large acquaintance and wrote
the medical life of Paris in the seventeenth many letters, and he called himself of the
century. Although he contributed nothing “ literary group.” In those days stone in
to medical science, he made a place for him the bladder was considered the penalty of
self in medical history and, to an extent, in being learned. Patin thought the best pre
the world of letters, through the force of ventative was vini privatio, but to make
his personality and his gifts of erudition, additionally sure he gave himself i(cinq ou
eloquence and satirical wit. six bonnes saignees de precaution par an.”
Patin was a reactionary, a follower of After his death, his letters were published;
Hippocrates and Galen, a hater of the they were eagerly read, and went through
chemical school, and was defiant of the value several editions. They told the gossip of
of the antimony which was then becoming the town, and threw interesting side lights
a substitute for bleeding. He did not believe on life in Paris in the seventeenth century.
324 Annals o f Medical History f
Few medical men of that century have feels with regard to the qualities of his char
been more written about or had their lives acter and the work that he did— and he was
and characters more frequently commented fiercely honest, genuinely learned, brilliant
upon. in lecture and conversation, true in his
A very considerable literature has grown many friendships and devoted to his family
up around G uy Patin and his family, for he — one cannot help feeling kindly towards
had an unusually talented wife, and he had the man who said:
two sons who became physicians. One of “ J ’aime bien Ies enfants; j’en ai six et il
them, Charles, became a professor at the me semble que je n’en ai point encore assez.
University of Padua and gained a very con Je suis bien ayse qu’ayez une petite fille.
siderable distinction in medicine and numis Nous n’en avons qu’une, Iaquelle est si
matics. The tons mots of Patin were pub gentille et agreable que nous I’aimons pres-
lished in a book, entitled “ Patiniana.” que autant que nos cinq gar^ons.”
M any editions of his letters were pub C h a r l e s L. D a n a .
lished, and comments on his life and career
have appeared by various authors. Dr.
Pierre Pic published a work on the career The publication of this, the third number
and character of Patin, Paris, 1 91 1 . Dr of the A n n a l s o f M e d i c a l H i s t o r y , has
Felix Larrieu published a monograph on been greatly delayed owing to the fact that
“ Patin, His Life, His Work and His Thera the editor has been called into service and
peutics,” in 1889, and a very elaborate to the fact that all the gentlemen connected
work was published in 1898, by L. Vuil- with the editorial work have been very much
horgue. occupied by duties in connection with the
The comments on the career and char war. The material for the fourth number is
acter of Patin have not always been by any now in hand and it will appear with very
means commendatory. But whatever one much less delay.
BOOK REVIEWS
E a r l y H ist o r y o f N o rth C a r o l in a M e d ic a l appointed a committee to found a botanical
S B y Dr. Wesley Long, M .D ., Greens
o c ie t y .
garden and a medical library.
boro, N . C. A reprint of an address delivered at
All together, from the scanty records of
the sixty-fourth annual meeting of the North
Carolina Medical Society.
this pioneer organization, we feel sorry that
it did not go on.
The author has spent two years of hard The present North Carolina Medical
work in obtaining the data regarding the Society dates from 1849. L)r. Long gives a
organization about which he writes and he brief summary of the work of these meet
has succeeded in bringing to light many ings, year by year, up to 1861, and he adds
interesting facts about the pioneer work of biographical notes of the presidents and
the North Carolina Medical Society. important officers during that time. He
It seems that North Carolina was one of made a careful search for the portraits of
the first states to have a medical society. the officers of the Society in the early days.
Such a society was organized in 1799, and Dr. Long is a resourceful man, and when he
met yearly for five successive years, when could not get a picture of an ancient father
it dropped out of existence, and there was he put in a picture of his grave. The oldest
then no state organization until the present portrait is that of Dr. Jam es Webb, who
society came into existence in 1849. The was a censor in 1801 and a very handsome
first society was evidently composed of man.
men of intelligence and vision. They recom The pictures of other men who are in
mended the establishment of a board of corporated in this monograph show them
medical examiners, and the dividing of the to be persons of intelligence and force.
state into districts, with meetings in these Undoubtedly it required those qualities to
various districts. be a successful physician in pioneer days.
Dr. Charles Smith was perhaps the first Dr. Long has made an original and very
American physician on record who was sub interesting contribution to American med
jected to examination by a board of exam ical biography. ^ T
& ^ J C h a r l e s L. D a n a
iners. Dr. Long suggests that he ought to
have a monument.
T h e N u r s e i n G r e e k L i f e . B y Sister M ary Ro-
The Proceedings of the early North Car saria, M .A ., of the Sisters of Charity, Halifax,
olina Society show that they were a serious N . S. A dissertation submitted to the Catholic
as well as an intelligent set of men, and Sisters College of the Catholic University of
the local paper states that at the meeting America in partial fulfillment of the require
in 1801, a “ considerable number of respect ments for the degree, Doctor of Philosophy.
5 1 pp., 1 . 1., 8°. Boston, June, 19 17.
able physicians” were present. The presi
dential address contained “ a cursory nar This is a beautiful piece of synthetic
rative of the progress of the science of work. What purports to be a dissertation
medicine from the earliest ages,” showing in classified philology is, for the physician
that the gentlemen of those days took an at least, a most fascinating study of the
interest in the history of medicine. They also cultural history of Greek pediatrics.
326 Annals o f Medical History
On the textual side, admirable analyses ical history, and no great amount of fore
of the Hippocratic and post-Hippocratic cast would be required to predict a second
pediatrics have been made by Kroner, edition. When this comes to pass, we hope
Troitzky and others, but this is the first that Sister M ary Rosaria will add transla
extensive handling of the present theme. tions to the citations chosen with such skill,
Hitherto, the subject has only been adum if only that busy physicians may be spared
brated in such things as the section on the necessity of painfully picking out the
“ Kinderpflege, ” in SudhofPs Catalogue of meaning from Bohn’s ponies or from the
the Dresden Hygienic Exhibit (1 91 1 , pp. bilinguals in Loeb’s Classical Library.
138-144) or the charming pages in J . P.
F. H. G a r r i s o n
M ahaffy’s “ Social Life in Greece from
Homer to Menander” (London, 1913,
29 -31, 163-168). Sister M ary Rosaria builds L eo n a r d o
d a V in c i: Quaderni d’Anatomia V.
up the whole cultural scheme of Hellenistic Ventisei fogli della Royal Library de Windsor.
Vasi-muscoli cervello e nervi— anatomia topo-
pediatrics from citations from the poets,
graphica e comparata. Quaderni d’Anatomia
dramatists, orators, philosophers and physi V I. Ventitre fogli. . . Proporzioni-funzioni dei
cians of classical antiquity. muscoli— anatomia della superficie del corpo
Beginning with a short introductory chap humano, pubblicate da Ove C. L. Vangensten,
ter on the Greek terms used for “ nurse” A . Fonahn, H. Hopstock. Con traduzione inglese
(rpo(f)6s, TiOrjvri fxala, and rirdr]), the suc e tedesca. Christiania, Casa editrice Jacob Dyb-
wad, 1916.
cessive sections deal with the social status
of the nurse, the nurse and the family, We have now before us complete the gi
including bathing, swaddling, wet-nursing, gantic work which began to appear in 1 91 1 .
cradling, fondling, humoring and all other If the war has hindered the industrious co
phases of “ mothering” the infant, also toys workers in their plan of issuing an annual
and games, nursery tales and lullabies, volume regularly, in the beginning of Sep
closing with a chapter on monuments to tember of each year, it has not hindered
the nurse, and a bibliography of sources. them and the doughty publisher from com
The high esteem in which the nurse was pleting the publication by the appearance
held in ancient Hellas, even when her tender of the sixth and last volume on September
charges had grown up to be men and women, 2, 1916, although the four non-Norwegian
is plain. As in Elizabethan England, and collaborators have been called to military
even later in Scotland, the nurse remained duty in the warring nations, two in Ger
a very important and influential personage many and Austria, two in England and
in the household. Italy. We have, then, the complete graphic
The poetic citations— particularly the and textual material of Leonardo on anat
lullabies from Theocritus, Simonides, Soph omy at hand in an exemplary edition, as
ocles and Euripides are beautiful, and we far as the Royal Library of Windsor Castle
can only regret that our authoress, who possesses it. Unfortunately, the original
commands a literary style of such pleasing material was not accessible, since physicians
simplicity, has chosen to give them only have had little opportunity for spending
in the Greek. In an essay intended, in the afternoons at Windsor for three years.
first instance, for Greek scholars, this was Not only these six volumes, which the pub
natural and to be expected. But this is a lisher, the Heliotype establishment at Chris
work which can hardly be bettered of its tiania, the London publishers in small part,
kind, one which will be in demand among and the three scholars of the northern uni
professional pediatrists and students of med versity with their staff, have given us in
B o o k R e v ie w s 327
such admirable and splendid style, but these bloodletting manikin, but reveals exten
volumes, combined with the two earlier sive post-mortem dissection in the delinea
volumes which Piumati in Paris (1898) and tion, of the course of the veins, or the won
Sabachnikoff in Turin (1901) published as derfully fine silver-crayon drawings of the
Feuillets A and B respectively, with Italian topographical anatomy of the neck, etc. The
textual script and English translation, make publisher has done his part as well, as thor
up the whole. In the Christiania edition, the oughly and with the same restless zeal as
Italian original text is accompanied by an the worthy editors.
English and a German translation, closely K arl Su d h o ff
following the Italian text. The English ver (Translated from Munchen. med. Wchnschr.,
sion is the work of W. Wright. The German 1916, L X I I I , 1622.)
rendition was made through the collabora
tion of M . HoII and K . Sudhoff, HoII having R e c o l l e c t io n s
o f a N ew Y ork S u r g e o n . By
naturally and rightly supervised the ana Arpad G. Gerster, M .D . Paul B. Hoeber, New
York, 19 1 7 ; 8vo, Cloth, 34 7 pages, 10 plates,
tomical interpretation of the text. We have
16 illus. $ 3 .5 0 .
now a reasonable basis for utilizing and
evaluating the material in its relation to There are several types of autobiograph
the history of anatomy and physiology, a ical writing. In some the writer pours out
field which Hopstock and Fonahn, as well his heart or lays bare his soul to the au
as M . HoII, have made legitimately and pe diences for which he writes. Of such a kind
culiarly their own. While the sixth volume were the “ Confessions” of St. Augustine
deals almost exclusively with surface anat and those of Rousseau. Other autobiogra
omy, muscular function and the theory of phies are not much more than a series of
proportions, the fifth volume, made up of literary or critical essays, of which the most
leaves from all of Leonardo’s periods of interesting example is the recently published
anatomical study, from the Florentine days “ Recollections” of Viscount Morley. Some
onward, contains great masterpieces of his autobiographies are the simple, straight
skill in the art of anatomical preparation, forward, unvarnished tales of the writer’s
particularly his delineations of the muscles career. Such was the “ Vita Propria” of
and tendons of the leg and foot, his original Cardan and the story of Benjamin Franklin
injections of masses of wax into the ven himself.
tricles of the brain, to the cortex of which, Dr. Gerster has written his autobiography
as well as the peripheral nerves, many stud along the lines of the last type. He tells his
ies are devoted. The topographical anatomy story with simplicity, directness and vivac
of the neck is set forth in countless prepara ity.
tions; the supply of muscles, tendons, The author has had a much more varied
bloodvessels and nerves of the lower ex experience than the average surgeon, who
tremity is elucidated by serial sections; the has lived a fairly long and very successful
course of the intestines is traced by occa life. Dr. Gerster grew up in picturesque
sional separation of the intestinal coils from Hungary; he finished his education in
the omentum. Physiological questions, such Vienna; he had an experience in the Aus
as the action of the heart and fetal respira trian army. He made a great adventure to
tion, are also attacked. The careful delicacy America and a still greater one to Brooklyn;
of the excellent reproductions will be a he had the daring later to transfer himself
constant source of delight to the beholder, to M anhattan. All of these enabled him to
from the very first picture of the venous give picturesqueness and a certain dramatic
system, which in posture resembles the old quality to his story.
328 A nnals o f Medical History
Readers will be generally more interested, that there is nothing in his book which ex
we think, in the story of his home life and ploits himself. We should rather be in
early education. This presents to us in a clined to say that the author is almost too
singularly direct and felicitous way the shy in recounting his achievements. He
kind of family life which the Hungarian seems more interested in the personalities
boy led. We must say after all that it was about him. He shows that he likes to esti
not very remote in method and type from mate and esteem his fellow men, and con
that of New England of forty to one hundred fesses that he has been well-treated by
years ago. those in his profession. He shows himself
We are a little disappointed that the very keen and very sound on problems of
author has not given us more gossip and education. He is a lover of art, of music, of
comment on the surgery of his early days books and of all the phases of outdoor life,
in New York. There were great men in his own experience in which he felicitously
those times and some fierce controversies portrays. If the traveler from M ars should
and personal incidents which Dr. Gerster pick up the work, he would say, we think,
could have given with great effect. He is, that it tells a story of a very unusual man,
we might say, almost too kind to his progressive, and sometimes aggressive, tenax
medical brethren. The members of that his propositi, broadly educated, widely endowed
toric band known as the Charaka Club are and a mighty good fellow. The book is well
given a chapter and receive thereby a con printed, and illustrated with some very inter
ditional immortality. esting plates of his family and environment.
Those who know the author would know C h a r l e s L. D a n a