History of medical practice in Illinois - Bushnell Historical Society

The General Practitioner 103them resulted from the revolt against the methods of the Regulars andprobablv improved the practice of medicine by calling attention to someof its more outstanding faults. There was constant warfare, usually ofwords, between the several systems, and occasionally this warfare ended inphysical combat. In the 1860's, one Lawrence County Regular and a Botanicreached this stage. While standing in a drugstore, the Regular saw hisBotanic adversary riding down the dusty streets of Lawrenceville in hisbuggy. He picked up a heavy iron weight from a nearby set of scales and,running into the street, threw it at his enemy. His aim was excellent, theweight striking the victim on one side of his chest and breaking a few ribs.And the fight was over. The populace enjoyed the diversion, however, andthe weekly county paper made the most of it. Its headlines announced:"Conflict Between Calomel and Lobelia. Calomel Wins."In 1866, Dr. John M. Scudder, Professor of Pathology and the Practiceof Medicine in the Eclectic Medical Institute of Cincinnati, stated: 3 "Thecountry, as andedication should have been made to the children of thisendeavor has been made to free the practice of medicine from everythingharsh and revolting, and to substitute those gentle means and appliances,which, while successful in counteracting disease, entail no present or futuresuffering. The practice of medicine in the past has been a chapter of horrors,which the truer civilization of the present will not tolerate." In this bookthere is an article on congestion of the liver, which the author stated "isknown by nurses and old ladies as liver-grown." He expostulated at onetime with an old nurse who was roughly massaging a baby's enlarged liverwith goose grease, but she told him that alldoctors were fools and thatshe would have her own way. The results justified her claims concerningher ability to treat "liver-grown," as the child made a rapid recovery. Scuddersaid he learned a lesson from this which he put into practice manytimes; that torpid organs can be stimulated to action by passive movements,and their circulation and nutrition decidedly improved.In contrast to the methods of the new systems, the Regulars believed inmeeting disease head-on with large doses of calomel and jalap (10 and 10grains) and other medicines in the same proportion. They also believed inbleeding, setons, the moxa, leeching, cupping, and other more or lessdrastic measures. The Regulars followed the teachings of such surgeons asDrs. Daniel Brainard, Samuel Gross and Robert Druitt, and such physiciansas Drs. Daniel Drake, George B. Wood, N. S. Davis and Thomas Watson.All of these men had written books which were in use by many practitioners.During the 19th century, general bleeding was an ancient method oftreatment used both in Europe and America for many diseases and espe-8Scudder, John M.: Eclectic Practice in Diseases of Children. American Publishing Co.,Cincinnati, Ohio. 1869.