Boone County, Indiana - Chapter 14: The Physicians of Boone County, 1914

Chapter 14: The Physicians of Boone County

Dr. George McCoy, writing of the pioneer physician of Indiana, has the following to say of him : "It cannot be said that our early doctors were all men of eminent scientific skill or training. Few of them held diplomas from medical colleges, for seventy or eighty years ago medical colleges were not as thick in the land as they are now. The pioneer doctors learned all they knew by reading, observation and instruction under established practitioners and by their own experience. Men of fair education and good common sense in a few years gained good reputations as successful and safe physicians. They learned and were guided by actual practice more than by theory or the formulas laid down in the few books they were able to procure. Each doctor carried his own remedial agents - a small drug store - in a pair of saddle-bags of huge dimensions, and he dosed out with a liberal hand. They rode on horseback to visit their patients, day or night, far or near, through the dense woods and over slashy paths and rough corduroy roads, fording or swimming streams and enduring innumerable hardships, which the physicians of the present day would not dare encounter."

During the years of the early settlement of Boone county the numerous rivers and creeks were fouled and obstructed by fallen timbers, drifts and other accumulations of vegetable debris. The water from freshets and overflows stood reeking and stagnant on the lowlands and in the sloughs and bayous, and gave out their noxious exhalations for miles and miles around, while thick forests and tangled undergrowth, in rich and rank profusion, almost equaled the famed valley of the Amazon. The air was laden with the pestilential miasma, particularly in the autumn season, when biliary and malarial diseases were rife. Whole settlements were at times stricken down and were almost helpless.

The doctors found the ague, in many instances, more than a match for their skill. It was of the real shaking, quaking variety, the chill lasting not infrequently three or four hours, to be followed by raging fever and intense and insatiable thirst. So malignant was the type of fever that as many as three or four deaths of adults have occurred in one family in less than forty-eight hours. Peruvian bark and calomel would temporarily check the fever, but cold weather seemed to be the only thing that would stop this dreadful scourge, and even this failed in some instances, and the poor invalid either wore himself out or else wore out the disease. (What a blessing would have been a little of our knowledge of the relation of the mosquito to the prevalence of malaria and of crude oil to the larvae of the little pest.) In the early settlement the "regulars," in the treatment of fever, relied mainly upon one remedy - calomel. It was, indeed, extraordinary upon the part of the physician to treat any form of disease without the generous use of a large dose of calomel. One old physician has remarked that not to salivate a patient seemed to be regarded as allowing him or her to go to the grave without a saving effort.

Another idea, held by the pioneer physicians of Boone county in common with all physicians of the time, was that a patient "sick of fever" must also be bled freely before an internal remedy was administered. The lancet held sway alongside of calomel. If, in raising a log cabin, a man was thrown from his "corner" and badly bruised, the practice was to bleed him copiously on the spot as the first step toward his recovery. In conversation with some of our old physicians who practiced in the "fifties," they, without exception, still claim that phlebotomy was the correct procedure, and that our present-day doctors would not lose so many cases of pneumonia if it was practiced.

There were, no doubt, many things to criticise in the methods of the pioneer physicians, yet we must all acknowledge that they stood out as shining lights in their day and generation, the equals, if not the superiors, of their contemporaries in all the other walks of life. They did their duty as citizens, and as physicians they were always found doing their best "according to their lights." The physicians of Boone county have succeeded to a noble heritage: may they prove worthy of their great responsibility. Will Carleton has paid the old-time doctor a beautiful as well as a deserved tribute, when he says :

Our old-time doctor, even at a time when most men drank alcoholic liquors and really thought they were benefited thereby, knew the harm of it all. In a paper before a convention of physicians, one of them was discussing tincture of arnica as an applicant in contusions. He was of the opinion that it was the whiskey and not the arnica which was entitled to whatever credit which was due in these cases. This led him to make the following observation : "Whiskey is sometimes good as a medicine if properly used. I have never, and never will, so use it as to turn a sick man into a drunkard."

About 1824 medical books were very scarce in Indiana. The first work on materia medica was brought into this county we do not know when. The physician who could afford one work on each branch of the profession was considered well off. The book stores in Cincinnati, at this time, could not furnish a work of each branch.

In 1843 Dr. Charles Parry, of Indianapolis, read a paper on the treatment of congestive fever with quinine, before the Academy of Medicine at Philadelphia. After this, quinine seems to have grown in favor with physicians. It is said that this drug was given until, in many cases, a quinine habit was formed, and children sometimes cried for it.

Dr. Cornett, in some of his writings, narrates some very interestingreminiscences, among which is the following : "In surgery as well as medicine, there has been an advance within my remembrance. I knew a surgeon half a century ago who made it a rule to trephine in every case of fracture of the skull, whether there was depression of the bone or not. He boasted that he had bone buttons enough, bored from the skulls of his patients, to furnish a full set for a double-breasted coat." This same doctor tells us further: "For a number of years I was the only physician in the county in which I was then practicing; I had to travel all over it on horseback by day and by night, without regard to weather or remuneration for services. Occasionally

I found myself lost in the woods at night, and would* have to tie up my horse and make my bed on the ground until morning." This unselfish spirit and devotion to duty was typical of the early doctors everywhere.

The following is a copy verbatim of an old physician's account of fever treatment : "When called during the fever and wild delirium, we seated the patient on the side of the bed and held him there, by the aid of assistants if necessary, opened a vein in his arm by making as large an orifice as practicable, and allowed the blood to flow until his pulse became soft and less resisting, or until syncope supervened. We relied more on the effect produced than the amount of blood extracted, our first object being to produce a decided impression upon the heart's action. Our patient, being in a sitting posture, and the blood escaping from a free opening, it did not require a great length of time to produce the desired effect. Often within ten to twenty minutes after faintness or sickness occurred the subject of this mode of treatment would become bathed in a copious perspiration, and the violent fever and delirium existing a short time before would have entirely passed away. Now, if the indications seemed to require it, we directed an emetic to be given, usually composed of tartarized antimony and ipecac combined, or wine of antimony. After free emesis and the sickness had subsided, if thought necessary, we gave a brisk cathartic, usually containing more or less calomel. After the primae viae had been well cleared, it was our practice to give opium in such doses as the case required, in order to allay all irritability of the stomach and bowels. We directed the usual febrifuges to be given if the fever should return, and these were given in such doses as required to arrest or mitigate it. We used no manner of temporizing treatment, but aimed our agents directly at the exterminating of diseases. Opium, ipecac, tartarized antimony, nitrate of potassa, spirits mindereri, and spirits of niter, with other means too numerous to mention, were all frequently brought into requisition.

"Under the above manner of treating a case of remittent fever, it was no uncommon thing, on our second visit, to find our patient sitting up, feeling 'pretty well, except a little weak,' and within a few days able to return to his ordinary avocations. When we met with more protracted cases, we had recourse to the Peruvian bark, gentian, columbo, and most of the ordinary tonics of the present time, excepting quinia, which was not then in use. For some time after quinia was introduced the price was such that Hoosiers could not afford to use it. The first I used cost at the rate of thirty dollars per ounce. I may state that tartar emetic was a favorite remedy in all the active or acute forms of disease.

"We seldom lost patients from acute diseases. It would have detracted from the standing of a medical man should it have been known that he lost a patient from inflammation. He might lose a patient from sheer debility and be excusable, but not from acute disease, provided he saw the case in an early stage of the attack."

Many of the physicians of Boone county who have labored so long and so faithful may have gained honors, and grateful remembrance, but very few of them have accumulated wealth; none have made more than a living, with but few exceptions, and their fortunes amounting to but a few thousand dollars, were the results of careful economizing, fortunate investments, and small families. It seems that the healing art, though an honorable profession, is not a lucrative one, especially in small towns or the country.

Prior to 1820 charges were as follows over the state generally: A visit in town, $1.50, medicines additional; extracting teeth, 25 cents; cathartic pills, 20 cents per dozen; one dose calomel, 1 ounce paregoric and vial, 62l/2 cents; one dose of calomel and one dose tartar emetic, 50 cents; mercurial pills, 734 cents; accouchment cases, natural, $5.00; bleeding, 50 cents; one dose of jalap, 25 cents; pectoral powders, 25 cents each. In 1820 there seems to have been a decrease in the prices of drugs, and the doctor very considerably reduced his charges in proportion. Also I note that a visit in town fell to $1.00.

In 1848 I find the following fees customary: Visit in town, $1.00; with unusual detention, $2.00; prescriptions, with letters of advice, $5.00 to $10.00; consultations, $3.00 to $5.00; night visits, double; vaccination, 50 cents to $1.00; venesection, 50 cents; simple medicines, per dose, 25 cents; mixtures, 25 cents per fluid ounce; blisters, from 25 to 50 cents; accouchments, $5.00 to $10.00. The following charges, dated 1857, are taken from bills of a Boone county physician: Accouchment, $3.00 to $10.00; fracture of an arm, $10.00 ; setting broken leg, $15.00 ; bleeding, 25 cents ; letter of advice, with prescription, $6.50; vaccination. 25 cents; two dozen powders, (24) kind not stated, 30 cents ; one dose of calomel, one ounce paregoric, with bottle, 50 cents ; six mercurial pills, 30 cents ; one blister, 25 cents.

Before the days of Boone began, many of the ideas that came from the Carolinas and had filtered through Pennsylvania, Ohio, and the dark and bloody ground of Kentucky, had been materially modified. No pioneer of Boone was anxious to plant his potatoes in the moon but was only too glad to stick them down into the loose primitive soil without date or sign. He never waited for the dark of the moon to put on the clapboards or lay a fence worm. If the old black cat wanted to move into the new cabin with the family and take his place to snooze by the jamb of the great fireplace, no one objected. As a rule the early settler of Boone county had no time to wait on the moon or for signs. By the time he had felled the trees, dug the stumps, grubbed the underbrush, ditched the bogs, pulled through the mud to church and mill and fought the mosquitoes and malaria, he had no time for side shows. If you have the blood of a Pennsylvania Dutchman running in your veins, you have a pretty clear conception what the above meant to the settler of Ohio and southeastern Indiana. Old Dearborn county could fill volumes; you could not pull through the western part of Franklin county without rubbing up against all the superstition of the Teutons put into practice.

When the men of Wayne, Fayette and Union and all the counties in the southeast part of the state ventured out into the wilderness of Boone county, they carried not a little of the ideas of their parents and the old countries with them. We have heard our grandmother tell many a time about the hobgoblins and mermaids so common to the Scotch and Irish. These ideas followed the children's children to the third and fourth generation. These ideas crept into the woods of Boone with the early settlers and the pioneer doctor, minister and teacher had to meet and overcome them. As a man thinketh, so is he, is a gospel truth. The trouble is not only to get minds to think but to get them to think along right lines. It took as much grubbing to get these old superstitions out of the minds of the old pioneers as it did to remove the stumps and underbrush from the land. The teacher had to overcome the hindrance of too much "larnin", the minister had to pull in the "ends of the earth" and round down its four corners and the farmers find other light than that reflected from the moon in her rounds and changes for his potatoes, fencemaking and roofing. All men concede that the mind can affect the body and the food that is used for its sustenance. No one knows this truth better than the "medicine man." The pioneer doctor in Boone county came in contact with all these influences. They affected him and his work in various ways, often causing him amusement, but more often vexation and disgust. These ideas dealt with almost every phase of life, from the most trivial to the most serious. If one left the house and forgot something for which he must return, he must set down before leaving again, or when leaving, pass out through a different door; rocking an empty chair was a serious offense, and was likely to cause death in the family; putting one corner of an ax bit down upon something and spinning it presaged bad luck; if in sweeping, two straws were dropped from the broom and by some means became crossed, a serious calamity was due to arrive in a year or less; in fact, one could scarcely do anything without its being an omen of some significance or other. Since these things entered so largely into the lives of our forefathers, and since, as far as I am aware, these things have not received treatment at the hands of the historian, I propose to discuss superstitions in general, and then give some attention to those having to do with our physician-friends in particular.

The derivation of the word superstition is somewhat enlightening as to its meaning. It comes from superstitio, which is itself a compound, being composed of super, above, or over, and stare, to stand ; the word thus literally means to stand over, when we have excessive religious belief, possibly a standing over a thing in amazement or awe. The word is loosely used to include all false faith or belief, its distinguishing characteristics being its irrational estimate of something imperfectly understood. We might also further say that the answer to the question of truth or falsity varies with time and place, hence it follows that the accepted belief of one time or people may be superstition to another. Most of the popular superstitions of the present are survivals of earlier science or religion. At a time when there existed no system of recorded observations of natural phenomena conclusions were of necessity drawn from external characteristics, and objects and events were supposed to exercise influences corresponding to the impression produced upon the sense or imagination. This manner of interpretation is responsible for a great mass of superstitions, especially those having to do with the treatment of disease. It is a characteristic of popular credulity that such notions, once prevalent, do not yield to contrary experience. If observation shows the principle to be inaccurate, reasons are always at hand to explain the error; hence the power of the ancestral habit, which we find arbitrary and which we call superstitious. With all pioneer peoples, such beliefs have an immense effect on action ; the daily method of nutrition, attire, the hunt, agriculture, are determined by an infinity of regulations which are religiously handed down from generation to generation. In some cases it is possible to discover the principle of expediency which gave birth to the requirement ; thus, the discovery of the ill effect marriages between near relatives and in breeding of stock, causes to be established a religious necessity, limiting the relations of the sexes according to certain rules, sometimes very complicated and ingenious, of which our present customs and laws are but the survival. But in multitudes of other cases no good reason can be offered for demands and abstentions which originally depend on inferences which it is impossible to reconstruct.

A considerable number of superstitions are connected with the heavenly bodies. From very remote times the observation of the stars and their movements has been considered important, but it has been with the night especially, that ancient religious ceremonies are associated. The most distinctive difference between the nights were found by alterations in the growth of the moon crescent; according to universal processes of thought, it was supposed that the time when the moon increases and becomes dominant, the principle of growth must prevail, and on the other hand, that her wane must be a season of general decay. Hence, it has been everywhere inferred that all operations designed to promote increase ought to be performed at the time of the new moon. That then potatoes should be planted, hair cut, etc. But if it is desired to cause shrinking, the work must be done when the moon is at the full so say the maxims of traditional agriculture, and at this time should be cut, alders, spruce, and other undergrowth, because the roots will in this case wither without sprouting. Away back in Shakespearean time men were taught "The fault is in ourselves and not our stars that we are underlings."

Not less important in popular usage is the part played by the course of the sun. As he moves in a particular direction, so it has been thought that in order to produce beneficial results, mankind should proceed in a corresponding manner; in worship it was thought necessary to adopt a processional movement in the sunwise direction. Even in the ordinary movements of daily life this order was followed and traces of it survive to the present day.

Thus, in order to make good bread or butter, it is essential that the motion should be in the same uniform direction, for reversal of the direction in which the kneading, stirring or churning is performed will undo the work accomplished, and make failure sure. From household maxims still preserved, it appears that the hand must be moved in a sunwise circuit. As the route taken by the sun is holy, so the opposite path will be evil, and has been adopted in practices of witchcraft and magic, and in the old Roman worship, the gods below were adored with this reverse circuit. It was long ago discovered by Boone county housewives that it was not necessary to stir the cake the direction the vine twines around the pole to make it good. Some good cake makers keep the old rule to this day.

Among periods of human life, the terror which attaches to death has made it the center of a vast body of superstitious habits. A great number of actions and experiences are still popularly regarded as signs of approaching departure. The principle on which the phenomena are interpreted is that of association of ideas. Thus, ringing in the ears is a sure sign of death, because the church has usually rung a "death-bell" over the departed; carrying a spade through the house has like significance, because a spade is used to dig graves ; a blue flame in the candle is ominous, for the lowering of the light forecasts the decline of life; a flower blooming out of season foreshadows a decease ; the unusually precocious child will never attain adulthood ; and so on indefinitely. In like manner, the unusual also is a fruitful source of superstition; if every child was born with a caul (that is, a membrane encompassing the head) it is doubtful if this would have been taken as an especial sign of good luck.

A considerable number of superstitions relate to the times of the year, and revert to the practices of old religion. Thus, Hallowe'en is attended with observances which seem to have been dependent on its original character as a feast of the dead, when departed spirits were invited to partake in the fruits of the harvest; and were conceived as present at the sacrifice and merrymaking. On this night it is usual to perform divinations, now reduced to mere jests, in which an unmarried person is expected to discover his or her companion for life. These practices must be regarded as the remainder of serious necromancy, in which the returning spirits were asked to reveal the future.

While the majority of superstitions are remains of antiquity, their inventions have not altogether ceased in historical times. Of this we have ex- amples in the prejudice against the number thirteen, and in objection to Friday as unlucky, since in Christian thought the day of the Crucifixion and the number involving the addition of Judas were of necessity regarded as illomened. The superstition of the evil eye, that is, the belief that certain persons have the power to injure by a look, is still widespread in Eastern countries, where the belief yet lingers that the demoniac is divinely inspired. Nature worship lingers in such superstitions as those connected with the moon, the belief in its mysterious power to work good or ill, as seeing the new moon over the right shoulder being an omen of good luck, its influence on the weather, etc. The belief in ghosts reflects ancestor worship. The common notion about good luck brought by a horseshoe has been traced back to phallicism. Some of the most common of those things forming a basis for superstitious divination are as follows : Appearances in the air ; fowls picking up grains of wheat ; anagrams of person's names ; man's features ; use of numbers ; by dice ; by the heavenly bodies ; by winds ; the Bible ; by herbs ; by playing cards; by mirrors; by dropping melted wax into water; by writings of paper; by the hand; by certain lucky or unlucky words; by the entrails of animals ; by the navel of an infant ; by the finger nails ; and so on ad infinitum. It should be said, before taking up the discussion of those having to do with healing, that there were a number of "schools" or methods of bringing about the same results, e. g., there were a number of methods of removing warts. One was by taking a part of the leaf fat surrounding, what might be called the eye of the left kidney of a hog, melting or rendering it by heating it just as hot as possible without scorching. This was to be applied to the base of the wart just where it came into contact with the healthy skin. Two applications were sufficient to remove any wart, but I am informed that you must, if treating one, go as if you intended to make the third application, when you will find the wart gone. Another method is to pick the wart until it bleeds a little, then take a grain of corn and rub it until some of the blood adheres to it, then throw it into the well. The wart will disappear as soon as the grain decays. Still another method is by making use of the three greatest names, viz. : God, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. To treat a wart by this method you should take your patient to the top of a hill at sunrise, and just as the edge of the sun appears above the horizon you must moisten the little finger of your left hand and rub around the wart three times and repeat :

"In the name of the three highest names, That of the Father, the Son, and Holy Ghost, Just so sure as the blessed Mary Will ne'er again bring forth a child, Just that sure thou shalt disappear Never again to bother this soul."

The reader will probably notice that this is "blank verse" and a little irregular, but I am assured that it never fails to bring results, if nothing more than to see a sunrise. This latter method might be called the "Eclectic" method of conjuration, for it doesn't hesitate to borrow from the others as well as furnish some original methods of its own. The three greatest names, sunrise, sunset, the north, south Zenith, nadir, magic squares, anagrams, the livers of bats, teeth of bats, the abdominal segments of the wasp are some of the agents used to bring about charms.

Measuring is another very common treatment for disease, especially "flesh decay" or "undergrowth." The patient is usually laid down upon a board and the length of the body is accurately marked. The length is then "measured" by the thumbs of the "operator" in the same way that a distance might be "stepped off," except that the unit is the width of the thumbs. During the process certain formulae are repeated, which I will not give for fear of securing the enmity of the undertakers. It might be further said that it is astonishing how many people patronize this sort of thing.

Controlling bleeding of the nose or bleeding from cuts is another class of treatments receiving special attention at the hands of the conjurer. One way of stopping the flow is by placing the right hand on the back of the head in the occipital region, the left over the lambdoidal suture so that it extends from the base to the points of the fingers, then calling upon the three greatest names and declaring that the blood shall cease just so sure as that the blessed Mary shall never again become a mother. Another method is by reading or repeating Ezekiel 16:6. I have heard some wonderful stories of the stopping of blood by this method, the conjurer being in some cases some distance away. It reminds one of Christ's miracle of healing the nobleman's son.

It is possible by conjuration to control the sex, either in children or the lower animals. Also in case of litters, as of kittens, pups or pigs to control the number as well as the sex. These results are brought about through the three greatest names, together with certain rigmaroles. All this must be performed at sunset, facing the west, and before the mid-period of gestation. To insure the baby's never having colic, give it a meat-rind as soon as possible after birth. In most cases this had better not be done in the presence of the attending physician. It is also recommended by most conjurers to take the newly-born babe up by the heels, as this will probably free it from many ills to which flesh is heir.

This list might be extended to fill a volume as large as this and still not have exhausted the subject. Since beginning to investigate along these lines, I have unearthed an astonishing amount of beliefs, superstitions, magic and witchcraft, all having to do with the supernatural. There are plenty of people in Boone county today who believe in witches. There are a number of people of my acquaintance and of yours, my reader, who will risk a conjurer sooner than the best schooled doctor in the state. The desire of the fledgling to fly is proof of its ability to fly. Man's desire for immortality is a proof of the immortality of his soul. I wonder if all this superstition isn't a manifestation of the same thing?

Under this head I must not neglect to mention Indian doctors. An Indian medicine-man, Buck-on-ga-helas, was largely engaged in the practice of the healing arts in Fort Wayne in 1804. He was chief medicine-man and surgeon to Little Turtle, the great Miami chieftain. He acquired a great reputation in the cure of bites of poisonous snakes, but more particularly from poisoned arrows then used among the Indians. His practice was not confined to the Indians, but was quite extensive among the white settlers. There isn't much doubt but that this medicine-man had a few patients in and around what is now Thorntown. There is some slight reason to believe that another medicine-man called Ma-te-a (who) practiced his art in this county.

These Indian doctors were sharp, shrewd Indians, well acquainted with all the medicinal qualities of herbs, especially as applied to the treatment of snake bites, poisoned arrows, and the diseases incidental to savage life. By far the greater part of their practice consisted of incantations and juggleries. The doctor would usually dress himself in the most grotesque manner, with face painted to inspire fright, then with a great variety of contortions of the body approach his patient. He would breathe on him, blow in his face, squirt medicine into his mouth and nose; rattle beans or pebbles in a dry gourd over him, at the same time keeping up the most horrid gesticulations and noises to frighten away the disease. After thus making his professional visit, he would retire to await the result of his effort. Doctor Kemper, in his Medical History of Indiana, tells us that the Indian doctor would compound his potion and then drink it himself in order to cure his patient. If our present-day doctors practiced this, would it have any effect on the taste of the potion? Longfellow, in a few of the closing lines of Hiawatha's Lamentation, has set out the rules of practice of the Indian when he tells us :

Some Pioneer Physicians

I feel justified in giving herewith a few sketches of the lives of some of our pioneer physicians. I think this is advisable for several reasons : ( 1 ) These men lived in times which "tried men's souls." (2) That they should be remembered for what they were as well as what they tried to do, for the record of the physicians of Boone county has been a creditable one; few moral delinquencies have existed. They have been observant and industrious. Our death rate has not been excessive even in the face of serious epidemics, which, in the past, have stolen upon us like thieves in the night.

Dr. William N. Duzan was born in Tennessee, in 1809. With his father, Rev. William Duzan, he came to Clarkstown about the year 1836. He commenced practice as a country doctor in the east part of Boone and the west part of Hamilton counties, his father's farm being on the line just east of Clarkstown. Late in life he married a lady in Indianapolis, and about the year 1856 removed to that city, where he mostly resided, except a short stay in Arkansas and California.

Doctor Duzan followed nature's methods of healing, being guided by experience in his large practice. He was very successful in business and made a host of friends. In person he was of medium size, auburn hair, small piercing eyes, indicating a quick, nervous temperament. In politics, he was an unflinching Democrat. He died at Indianapolis, August, 1886; buried at Crown Hill cemetery.

Dr. Jeremiah Larimore was born in Fayette county, Indiana, in 1825. His father, H. G. Larimore, was his tutor; he also was a physician. When but a lad, he came with his father, in 1834, to Eagle Village, where he re- ceived the best training the common schools afforded. At twenty-one, he went to Missouri, where he attended medical school, married in 1845, an<^ practiced for several years. He then returned to his former home in Eagle Village, where he found more work than he could well do. After four years of continuous practice, he sought recuperation in California for the next three years. Returning to his old home, he soon regained his practice, and when Eagle Village declined he went to Zionsville and practiced several years, then to Whitestown, where he also prospered in his practice. In the early eighties he died in Indianapolis and is buried at Mt. Run cemetery.

Dr. Samuel K. Hardy, one of the early doctors of Northfield, was born in Virginia, married Miss Sarah Larimore in Fayette county, Indiana. He commenced the practice of medicine in Northfield, Boone county, in 1844, where he remained a number of years and built up an extensive practice, subsequently removing to Zionsville, where he continued at work until his death. In personal appearance Doctor Hardy was tall, rawboned, of rather angular build, dark hair and complexion. He is the father of Dr. J. S. Hardy, of Whitestown, this county.

Doctor Pressly was one of Northfield's pioneer doctors, away back in the thirties. So long ago not much can be learned about him. No doubt he was highly esteemed and appreciated and filled the community's needs.

Dr. A. J. McLeod was also an early doctor of Northfield, where he came prior to 1850. He was a Baptist, which is about all that can be ascertained of him at this late date.

Dr. Rodman was born in Ohio about the year 1820; came to Boone county when twenty-one years of age; read medicine with Dr. W. N. Duzan, of Clarkstown, Indiana. In 1845, he commenced practice at Eagle Village, where he was married to Martha Rose in 1847. He built up a fair practice in Eagle Village and remained there until 1853, when he removed to Zionsville. He practiced here some fifteen years, when his wife died. He remarried this time, Mrs. Beemer, and moved to Washington territory in 1887. Doctor Rodman was a noble hearted man, full of human kindness, first, last and all the time. In politics, he was a Jacksonian Democrat. At one time he and Dr. George W. Duzan were partners at Zionsville.

Dr. George W. Duzan, St., was born in Tennessee in 1812; came with the Duzan family to this county in 1834. He read medicine with his brother,

W. N. Duzan, and practiced with him for years in and about Clarkstown, their early home. In 1850 he was married to a lady near Augusta, in Marion county, and there removed and practiced for several years. Finally he went to Indianapolis and died near there in May, 1886, and is buried in Crown Hill cemetery. Doctor Duzan was a strong Methodist and at one time an able preacher. During his study he overtaxed his eyesight from which he never fully recovered. He will long be remembered by many to whom he has ministered physically and spiritually. The Duzans were all kinfolks.

Dr. George L. Burk was born in Kentucky. His parents moved to this county in 1836-37, and settled in the wildwoods of Jefferson township. His father died soon after, leaving his mother with small means and a large family.

The subject of this article, while young, went to Gosport and read medicine with Doctor Taylor. In the spring of 1844, he began the practice of his profession in Montgomery county. During that year he moved to Jamestown, Boone county, where he has resided ever since. Here he went into a large and lucrative practice. None were so poor as not to be able to command his services. Doctor Burk started in the world under any but flattering circumstances, poor and comparatively uneducated; yet, by his force of character, his zeal and industry, he reached a prominent standing in the community and county, an honor to his profession and state.

Dr. John J. Nesbit came to this county in 1836 and began his professional life in Thorntown. Soon, however, he moved to Lebanon, where he had a fair practice and enjoyed the undivided confidence of the people. He was an excellent physician, but his health failing he moved back to Preble county, Ohio, where he died of consumption in 1864, lamented deeply by all those who had the pleasure to make his acquaintance.

Dr. Jesse S. Reagan was born in Warren county, Ohio, in 1831, is, consequently a Buckeye, but, he came to this county in 1852 and began the practice of medicine at Reese's Mills in 1854. He made this his home. Here he has enjoyed the fullest confidence of the people and on account of his strict integrity and great energy and industry, he was elected clerk of the circuit court in November, 1886.

Dr. H. G. Larimore, one of the pioneer doctors of Boone county, came to Eagle Village in the year 1836, where he practiced medicine for over forty years as an old time doctor. He was a strict Methodist, full of old time vim and fire. In politics, he was a Whig. In i860 he moved to Fayette county, Indiana and died there in his ninety-first year. He was the father of Dr. Jeremiah Larimore, Thomas J. Larimore, Mrs. Eliza Imbler, G. W. Larimore, Mrs. Sarah Hogan, Mrs. G. A. Titus, Mrs. Mary , formerly, Miss Mary Larimore. Doctor Jerry is buried at Mt. Run cemetery.

Dr. W. P. Davis was an Ohio man. Came to Thorntown iri",i837 ; removed to Lebanon in 1840. Was a man of more than ordinary ability, positive in his convictions and politically and radically a Whig. Afterwards he became an intense Republican. He died in Des Moines, Iowa, in 1878.

Dr. William M. Simpkins was born in Ohio. Came to Lebanon in 1839. Was as fine a specimen of manhood as any country produces, full of energy and industry; no man was ever more interested in his patients. Owing to hard work, exposure and sleepless nights, he cut short his professional career which only lasted ten years. He took consumption and died lamented by all in 1849.

In Dr. A. G. Porter can be summed all that has been said of the other Boone county physicians. Lebanon was the home of his youth, his manhood and his old days. He is honored and respected by all and as a doctor had no superior in Boone county. Always ready to go to the bedside of the sick and dying whether there was any money or not in the visit, how could he be otherwise than loved.- He has always acted in the Democratic party and was the nominee for county recorder in 1886, but was defeated by a few votes, by F. M. Moody. He had a fine practice in Lebanon where he is universally respected and loved.

The Pioneer Doctor

The "Medicine Man" was here long before the white man; practicing his incantations and soothing with herbs and roots. It is not of him we wish to write, but of his brother the paleface. Just as soon as the white man came with his ax, gun, spade and grubbing hoe, the doctor came with his pill bag. It was a case of necessity. Just as sure as the country was full of game and dense woods and required the gun and the ax, so also, was it full of fever and miasma. In that age, the people were in blissful ignorance of microbes and bacteria so there was no need of the bacteriologist or microbiologist, to expatiate upon these infinitesimals that were so dangerous to the peace and health of man. All the doctor of that day had to do, was to drag himself through the woods and over the miserable roads on horseback with his saddlebags until he would find a cabin. Having discovered the domicil of his patient in the thicket, he would dismount and tie his faithful horse to a "saplin." He would shoulder his medicine bag and enter the cabin. If it was cold or rainy, he would approach the glowing hearth-stone with his great coat and gloves and warm himself. After this precaution he would quietly approach the bedside of his patient, and question cautiously and carefully all the while looking very wise. Of course, he had to feel the pulse and test the tongue. He would then open his bag of medicine, look over his vials of quinine, calomel and the edges of his lances. At the same time he would scratch his head behind the left ear, appear in a brown study and all of a sudden brighten up, take out his bottle of quinine or calomel or lance as he had determined between blood letting, salivation or shaking up the fever. You need not smile, that was the best they could do in that age, and it answered the purpose. Some of his patients recovered, in spite of the doctor and his calomel and blood letting, and the friends were rejoiced and praised the doctor and his medicine. What else could they do ? We do the same thing in our day and the world smiles on just the same.

Other patients passed away and there was mourning for loved ones gone, and there were tears, neighbors with neighbors and the grave was opened and the loved one placed in the cold earth. Among these early physicians were Jonathan Jones and John M. Steel Smith, of Marion township; George N. Duzan and S. W. Rodman, of Eagle ; J. E. Anderson, L. J. Davis and E. S. Woody, of Sugar Creek ; J. S. Hardy and Milton Lane, of Worth ; John F. Sims, J. M. Abston and Levi J. Sticklemier, of Clinton; A. M. Bennington, of Jefferson; J. L. F. Garrison, M. H. Bounell, A. G. Porter and Abijah Robison, of Center township, and many others in various parts of the county that were classed among the pioneer doctors of the county. Each of these gentlemen could a story unfold of the hardships and difficulties of the practice of medicine in the early days of our history. The labor of these men ceased long ago, and they have been gathered with their fathers. Their work was well done, and they labored against great difficulties in their day and generation.

L. M. Beaven, Herman A. Beck, H. L. Baker, H. N. Coons, James H. Black, Mary VanNuys, Guy Shultz, O. C. Higgins and Dr. Armstrong, of Lebanon. C. R. Armstrong, E. L. Brown, Clancy Basett, G. M. Owsley, Luella Masters, and J. S. Shields, of Thorntown ; J. C. Purdy, of Terhune ; C. D. Umberhine, of Mechanicsburg ; Thomas Bounell, of Jamestown; J. E. Tucker, of Elizaville; O. A. Nelson, Dr. Fall, of Advance; Isaac N. Cotton, Nelson Duzan, Drs. Brendel and son, Johns, and Millikan, of Zionsville; P. B. Little, and Dr. Taylor, of Whitestown. These men and women are keeping pace with the age, and administering to the ills of the people of Boone today, with all the skill of the science of medicine up to date. There is a great change not only in the system of practice, but in the conditions and facilities to do the work. All of the inconveniences of the early day have been removed. Instead of taking two days to communicate with the out townships it can now be done inside of five minutes.

Passed Century Mark

That Boone county is a healthful county, is the conclusion reached by Dr. J. N. Hurty, secretary of the State Board of Health, from two reports which he has received from that county. Hugh Wiatt, who lived in Sugar Creek township, Boone county, was, at the time of his death, 109 years, two months and two days old. He was born in Kentucky, and age caused his death. Miles Carrigan, who lived at Lebanon, was more than 101 years old when he died. He was born in Ireland, and his death was due to senility and brain anemia.