The Midwest pioneer, his ills, cures, & doctors - University Library ...

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ment of which every doctor in America should be proud."
Then followed a demonstration and ovation such as few
doctors have received in the annals of American medicine.
When the author was called upon, he was overcome, faint,
and speechless. When he recovered, he said, "I have not
lived in vain," but wished that departed loved ones could
have been there to share the acclaim.
Alexander von Humboldt pronounced Diseases of the
Interior Valley "a treasure among scientific works" and
Benjamin Silliman of Yale classified it as "an enduring monument
of American genius." The Edinburgh Review gave
it favorable notice and the British and Foreign Medico-
Chirurgical Review devoted thirty pages to it. Later critics,
evaluating American medical books, stated that, though it
was not possible to make a great list, one could make a
strong one, and on that list Drake's work was among the
strongest.
Since books were often unavailable, medical journals
were the best means by which the doctor could increase his
knowledge and keep abreast of the developments in the field
of medicine. Indispensable as were these professional periodicals,
with the possible exception of the minority of general
practitioners in the West who had emigrated from
eastern cities,
few physicians were subscribers.^^
True, as with agricultural knowledge, a certain amount
of medical literature was printed in the newspapers. In a
period in which the newspaper was made up largely from
copy lifted bodily from "exchanges," articles from periodicals,
British and American, were common property. In
addition to the usual hints on health, recipes, and the like,
newspapers ran contributions, often of a column or more
in length, by local doctors. Sometimes these were continued
through several issues. For instance, in 1821 the Cincinnati
Liberty Hall published a long series by "Hippocrates";
number seventeen was on "Emetics," number eighteen on
"Blood Letting." Others treated of seasonal fevers, epidemics,
and wounds. As interest in this sort of thing increased,
leading doctors became aware of the need for