History of medical practice in Illinois - Bushnell Historical Society

CHAPTER IIITHE HARDY PIONEER:HOW HE LIVEDIN THE EARLY MIDDLE WEST*By PAUL M. ANGLE, PH.D.fBYthe time the pioneer came to write his reminiscences, either for privatepublication, or for the county history, or for the Old Settlers'Society, the hardships of the past had faded into insignificance before theconviction that it had been a good life. And on the whole, it had been ahealthy life. When one old settler contended that "the youngsters presentedmasterly models of symmetry and beauty," and that "the beauty and brilliancyof human excellence, the comeliness of the figures of the earlypioneers of Illinois" defied description, 1 he was speaking more fulsomelythan most of his contemporaries; but many of them would have agreedwith another who wrote: "Living in log houses, generally unplastered, withopen fireplaces, they breathed pure air, and having regular sleep, anddressing healthfully, they were afflicted with but few physical ailments,save malarial ones." 2The fact is that the pioneer was afflicted by a great many physical ail-* Pertinent excerpts are herewith selected from the lecture by this title delivered onMarch 30, 1949, which was the sixth in a series given at the University of Illinois Collegeof Medicine, Chicago, under the auspices of the D. J. Davis Endowed Lectureship onMedical History.f Dr. Angle, now Director of the Chicago Historical Library, was for many yearsDirector of the Illinois State Historical Library at Springfield, Illinois. He is the authorof many books and papers on the early history of Illinois. Since Dr. Angle is a professionalhistorian and not a physician, the abundant data at his disposal have been presentedfrom the point of view of the "hardy pioneer" and not from that of the doctor.The period covered in this chapter begins approximately in 1820, when the pioneerswere invading the southern and central areas of the state, and extends well into theperiod past 1850, when the northern areas were occupied, thus connecting the intervals oftime covered by Volume I and Volume II of this series. While Zeuch in Volume I presentedmuch early pioneer data, later historical studies have made it possible for Dr.Angle to record more fully and completely the medical experiences of the Illinois pioneers.He has also made it clear that the best and most lucid accounts of malaria, as well asof other diseases, have been given not by doctors but by their suffering patients.—Editor1John Reynolds, "Cotton Picking," in History of Sangamon County (Springfield, 111.,1881), 172.2M. G. Wadsworth, "Auburn and Vicinity Forty Years Ago," Ibid., 17826