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 ' '*>^*^^^^S t 
 
 ^i^v*5*^^:^;^ai^iiiiig^^ 
 
 
 
 NOTES 
 
 J. • . ■ , 
 
 ON A COPY OP 
 
 im- 
 
 DR. WM. DOUGLASS'S ALMANACK ^^ 
 
 Foe 1743, *««' *"""*^' 
 
 :-. ►.!>''* 
 
 TOUCHING ON 
 
 
 /:T 
 
 THE SUBJECT OF MEDICINE IN MASS:^CHUSETTS 
 
 BEFORE HIS TIME. 
 
 
 'S 
 
 
 s 
 
 BY 
 
 SAMUEL ABBOTT GREEN, M.D. 
 
 
 fgbfic Archives of Nova ScoQf 
 
 mtiFAx. N, a. 
 
J"'^"" "mm^^m^rfnnffn 
 
 Afchivitt «f Havi StuAi* 
 
 v< 
 
IhiMiC «nlil»»l$ a« *n»J SMU> 
 
 
 J^ O T E S 
 
 UN A CUrV OF 
 
 Ife^ 
 
 '-n^^ 
 
 DR. WM. DOUGLASS'S ALMANACK 
 
 I OK 174:5, 
 
 KUMIIINO ()\ 
 
 TIIK Sl'li.lK(T OF MKHiriNK IN MASSACfllSKTTS 
 
 IJKFOKI-: HIS TIMK. 
 
 l:v 
 
 SAMUEL ABBOTT (;RKEX. M.D. 18= i^-'M'^- 
 
 [HiirnixTKn from thk PuocKKDiNr.s of thk Massac iii-sktti* IIistokkai, 
 SociMv, Fi.uiirviiv, 1HH4.1 
 
 CAMBiniKJK: 
 
 .lOIIX WII.SOX AND SOX. 
 
 ilmbcrsitg i3rcss. 
 
 1SS4. 
 
i 
 
 i 
 
 
T)U. ^VM. DOUGLASS'S ALMANACK. 
 
 At a meeting of the Massachusetts Historical 
 Society held on l^mrsday, Feb. 14, 1884, Dr. Samuel 
 A. Greex, in presenting a copy of WiHinin Nadir's 
 Ahnanack for tlie year 1743, spoke as follows : — 
 
 This ahiianac has l.een in the possession of my family for 
 several generations, and it is only recently that J have been 
 enabled to identify the handwritintr an(i establish beyond 
 (lonbt the name of the orijrinal owner. The followincr entry 
 IS made nmong the notes, under date of March 2 : — *' 
 
 " Peter Fatuiil Es.f dyo.l of :i coinplioatioii of diseasos. a very fat 
 s(iimt mail, it has hiii KxcM-etling cl.arital)le amogst us, and a gi-eat Loss 
 Ml tins Jo\T." ® 
 
 Aj^ain, under date of March 10 : ~ 
 
 " m Peter Faneuil Esq' burrie.l a very Large fmioral went roud v" 
 Town house gaue us gloucs at y'' funeral hut sent y" gloucs on y- U 
 day. his Cofin couer[d] w'" black velvet, & plated w'" y-jlow plates." ' 
 
 In the first volume (pan:e 73) of the Proceedin<rs, it is 
 recorded that the oift of - A MS. Journal of a Gentleman 
 in Boston, from the year 1729 to the vear 1740, from Mr. 
 Joshua (ireen," was made to this Society on July -JO, 17!»4 
 The person presentin<r it was my <,n-eat-grandfather'; and 
 with the laudable curiosity of a dutifui descendant I set about 
 an examination of tlie manuscript, which consisted of three 
 folio volumes made up mostly of items about the weather 
 There are entries here and there of some interest, but gener- 
 ally they are of a meteorolojrieal character. All the internal 
 evidence goes to show that the Journal was kept bv Henjamin 
 
4 
 
 VViilkcr, .Ir. ; .iiitl not only is the liiunlwritiiifj identical with 
 that in the almanac!, hut often the t'xjjressions are very similar, 
 leaving' no (loiii)t that it was Walker who made the marjj^inal 
 notes. He rehsrs as follows to the benefactor of tlu! town of 
 lioston, and mentions a physical peculiarity not j,'enerally 
 known : — 
 
 '• Thursdiiy .'5. [March, ITL'i.] Peter Fiiiiuil Kscj' between 2 ifc o 
 H elock ill y'' altfriiooii dyed of ji diopsiciil roinplyca, lie was a fat .s(|iiat 
 Ijaiiif [man.] lii|> short went with hi<;h liet'ld shoe (In my opinion a 
 j^reat loss too 'I'his Town aifcd \'l. H m) &. I tliink liy wliat I liaiif 
 hcar'd lias tloiu; more ('hnrital)le d(;eds than any man y' eiier liv'd in 
 tiiis Town iV; for whom I am very sorry. 
 
 " ^laicii 10. I'cler Faiinil Ks(|Miurried. IJearers Mess" Tom Leeh- 
 mere Josh. Winslow .Fn" Whct-lwright And. Oliuer .In" Gooch .In" 
 WciidaM went round y'' Town house 
 
 "Tiiiiisija 10. IWirrird IVicr Kant-uil Esci"^ in 43'! year of age a fait 
 (!ori»uh'n lirowii sipiat man hip short lame fro childhood." 
 
 Benjamin Walker, dr., the writer of this Journal, was the 
 son of IJeiijamiii ami I'alsorave Walker, and horn in Boston 
 on Jan. lid, 1071>-8(). He was a shopkeeper, and associated i 
 business with his younoer brother John. His lamily is men- 
 tioned in Sewall's Diary (vol. iii. pj). oTl, •"•Tii) ; and additional 
 facts concerning it an^ given in "The N(!W ICnglaiid Histori- 
 cal cind (JcMiealogical Uegister " (vol. xv. pp. ;>), od). I have 
 but little doubt that he was a kinsman of Isaac Walker, the 
 partner of my great-great-grandfather, Joshua Green, and that 
 these papers came through this mercantile coimection. Their 
 firm were extensive owners in a tract of land, known as " the 
 (ireen and Walker grant," and comprising a large part of 
 the present towns of Heath and [{owe, in Franklin County 
 of this State.* The sons of these partners, Joshua (Jreen, Jr., 
 and Edward AValker, after the dissolution of their fathers' 
 iirm by death, ke[)t up the same business, under the same 
 style of (Ircen ami Walker; and this fact undoubtedly ex- 
 plains the drift of the Journal iind this little i)amphlet. 
 
 The almanac bears on the title-i)age the name of William 
 Nadir as the author, and to it are a[)[)en(led the mysterious U't- 
 ters L. X. (^. It is well known that this name was the pseu- 
 donym of Dr. William Douglass, a Scotchman by birth, who 
 catne to Boston in the early days of his professional career. 
 He had received his medical instruction in Paris and Leyden, 
 and was a man of good education and man}* accomplishments, 
 
 * llollantrs History of Western Massaclmsetts, vol. ii. pp. 382, 410. 
 
 ^ 
 
 i' 
 
 HmFAX, H. 3. 
 
 .u4ii.._. 
 
<', 
 
 
 
 though oF u pcfculiiir disposition that kept him coiitiiiiiiilly in 
 controvei-sy. It was wittily saitl of Iiini oncu that he was 
 always positive; and sonietinies accurate. IFc was well 
 veised in tiie natural sciences, and much interested in astron- 
 omy. Dr. Douj^lass op{)ost!d strenuously, hoth by tctnj^ue 
 and pen, the introduction of small-pox inoculation, though 
 he lived to modify his views nn this subject. He took up 
 Ins al)ode at Host(jn in the year 17 IH, at which time he was 
 the only physician here who had recieived tin; Doctorate of 
 Medicine. 
 
 lie writes, under (hite of Feb. 'JO, 1720-21, to his com- 
 patriot, Dr. CadwalhuUn- ('olden, who had settled at New 
 York, also in the year 171H : — 
 
 "You coinphiiii (if tlio priicticc of IMiysick l)t'iii<i tniderviiliifd in 
 your )»arts uiid with rciison ; we nn' not luucli Ixfttcr in tliiit respect in 
 this place; we jilmund with I'ractilioners, tliouiili no oilier jfra<liiale 
 tliaii myself, wo liav(( fourteen Apotiieeary sliop« in IJoston ; all our 
 J^raetitioners dispense their own medicines."* 
 
 Dr. Doughiss appears to iiave been fairly successful as a 
 pliysician, and in a little more than two years after the date 
 of this letter he was tl»e owner of a large tract of hmd in 
 Worcester (^ounty, which is now included within the limits 
 of Douglas, — a town named after him, though the iiiuil x is 
 dropped. In the year 17-5.") he was one of a small number 
 of persons who formed a medical society in Boston, the iirst 
 association of the kind in the eouittry. 
 
 In a letter written by him to the assessors of the town oi 
 Boston, and dated April 28, 1747, he says: — 
 
 " Further I may observe to you tliat I am or Soon must he in the 
 Decline of Human life: therelbre do not endeavor to increase my 
 Fortune, liaviiiij; no family to provide for: hut sliall yearly lessen it, Iiy 
 dooiiig charities in my life tiiut; liy donations and bounties." t 
 
 I have been thus explicit with Dr. Douglass's aflUirs in 
 order to show that it is not improbable that lit; was the "-cer- 
 tain gentleman of the town of Boston," alluded to in the 
 printed Journal of the House of I{ei)resentatives, July 7, 
 1789, and about whom a ([uery was raised by our Corre- 
 sponding Member, Mi'. Moore, of New York, in a letter to 
 the President of this Society, J written two years ago. 
 
 * 4 Miiss. Hist. Coll., vol. ii. p. ir,4. 
 
 t The Boston Medical »iul Surgical Journal, vol. civ. p. 538; June 8, 1881. 
 
 } Procceilings, vol. xix. j). 250. 
 
 r/ '^^ d Nova SooUa 
 
\. 
 
 \ 
 
 6 
 
 The entry in the Joiirniil is as follows : — 
 
 "Information heiny jjivon to the IIous(i liy the M«!ml)or from Wor- 
 cester, that a certain <i(Mitl)-iiiun of iIh; Tosvii of ItoNtoii, [was] wi-li 
 tlisposol for tlic Kiifoiini^M'iiKMit and Sii|)port of a ProftJHMorof I'liysick 
 within tliiH I'rovincc, an<l for that (rood l'in'[)OKe would ('h«-arfiiily con- 
 trihiite out of liis own Kstato u ('onsi(U'ral)k' Sum of Money, |irovid(Ml 
 this Court will join therein in inaluny a Grant of Lands, or otherwise 
 estahlisli a ^ood Fund for the valuable Knds aforesaid ; and tlu^ sam(' 
 beinj; eonsicU'red ; 
 
 ''•Ordervil, That flu! miunhers of Boston, Charlestown, Roxhury, ami 
 Chelsea he a Committee to treat with the (icntleman, hear him on his 
 Proposals, atid rep»trt their Opinion »»f what may be proper to ■ •:; done 
 for the encouragement of so good u Soheme." 
 
 The member frotn Worcester who hroufjlit tlie suhjotit he- 
 fore the House was Colonel John Chiiiuller, and as Dr. Doug- 
 lass was a larcje land-owner in Worcester (bounty it is not 
 unlikely that Colonel Chandler knew him personally. Tliis 
 fact, I am aware, has hut little weight, hut I mention it for 
 what it is worth ; and in IIk; ahsence of positive testimony it 
 would seem as ))rol)al)le as not, that Dr. Douglass was the 
 "certain gentleman of the town of IJoston," who olVertnl to 
 endow a medical jtrofessorship at that time. The olVer, how- 
 ever, d(»es not seem to iiavc been accepted, as no further trace 
 of it is foun<l in the proceedings of the House, or elsewhere. 
 This attempt is by no means the earliest one in Massachusetts 
 to promote medical ediuiation, as Mr. Moore sui)poses. Nearly 
 a century before this time (Jilcs Firmin, a man learned in medi- 
 cine, had given instruction in this branch of science. The apos- 
 tle Kliot, under date of Sept. 'J4, KI47, writes to Mr. Sliei)ard, 
 the minister of Cambridge, and expresses the desire that — 
 
 "Our young Students in I'hysick may be trained up better than yet 
 they bee, who ha\ »^ onely theoreticall knowledge, and are forced to fall 
 to practise before ever they saw an AiuUomy made, or duely trained up 
 in making experiments, for we never had but one Anatomy in the 
 Couiurey, which JNIr. iHli's Firman (now in England) did make and 
 read upon very well, but no more of that now." * 
 
 An anatomy is the old name for a skeleton ; and Mr. Firmin 
 may be considered, in })oint of time, the first medical lecturer 
 in tlie country. His instruction, doubtless, was crude, and 
 comprised little more than informal talks about the dry bones 
 before him ; but even this was a great hel{) to the learners. At 
 any rate, it seems to have excited an interest in the subject ; for 
 
 * 3 Mass. Hist. Coll., vol. iv. p. 67 
 
 
♦ 
 
 tho recoiiinieiulutioii is iiiadtt at tliu Hossioii of the (iunenil 
 Court, lu'^inniiif; Oct. 27, 1047, a low weeks later than tho 
 date oF Eliot's letter, that — 
 
 '' We coiiccivo it very iiecessury y' such as Htixlles pliysick, or clii- 
 nirj^cry may have lilicrty to n-ailf aiii»t(»iiiy & to aiiotomizf oacc in 
 foiiit' yeares some iiiulel'aclo'' in case tlieie bu such as the Coarte shall 
 alow of." * 
 
 Kdward Jolmsoii, in his " Wonder-Working' I'rovideiM^e " 
 (Loinlon, lt).*)4), written about the year !♦>")(), deserihes Har- 
 vard College at a period near that time, and says that " some 
 help hath heeu had from hence in the study of IMiysiek " 
 (page lt'>")). It is very likely that ('ambridge was the place 
 where (liles Firmin had "'read upon" or lectured on his 
 skeleton. 
 
 Even much earlier than this, at the very planting of the 
 Colony, attention had been given to the need of physicians 
 and the importance of medical knowledge. In the lirst gen- 
 eral letter of instruction to(iovernor Kndicott and his Council, 
 from th(! (lovernor and Deputy (»f the New England Couj- 
 pany, dated (Jraves«Mid, April 17, lG:i9, it is written, — 
 
 '* Wee liauc entertained Lambert Wilson, Cliirur^fion to reniaine 
 [with] yo" in the service of the plantaeon, w"' wlioui wee are aj^reed 
 that bee? shall serve this C<iin|»ani(! and tlu? other l'lant«M-8 tlial li[vej 
 
 |»ly himself to cure 
 bee sbalbt! directed 
 I] pticuler iiccomptrt 
 
 in the I'bmtacon for ."i yeares, und in that tynie, a 
 but also for tht; Indians, as from tyme to ty[me 
 not only of such as came from hence for the liefiiill an 
 by yo'selfe o"^ yo'' successo'' iVc the rest of the ("(tuncell; And more- 
 over hee is to educate «& instruct in bis Art one or more youths, such 
 as yo" and the said Counccll sb!il[l] appoint that may bee belpfull to 
 him and if occasion serve succeetl liim in the IMantacon. vv''' youth or 
 youths fitt to learn that pfession lett bet; placed w"' him, of w''' M' 
 IIuf»essoiis 8omu> if bis flitber approut; tberof may i)ee one, the; rather 
 because hee h|atb] bin trayned vp in litteraturc, but if not lice then such 
 other as yo" shall iudg most fittest &c."t 
 
 Here we have the germs of a medical school, which, to be 
 sure, did not fructify at once. Hut who shall say that they 
 were not fostered and kept alive during this long series of 
 years, in a regular line of descent, umler the various and 
 varying fortunes of the Colony and Province, and tinally de- 
 veloped into the noble institution known to-day as the Har- 
 vard Medical School ? Whatever other responsibilities may 
 
 * (ieiieral Court Kecords, vol, ii. p. 170. 
 t iSutfolk Deeds, lib. i. p. xii. 
 
 / 
 
8 
 
 rest upon the slioiilders of the tbunders of Massachusetts, or 
 wliatever other faults may be charged to their account, it can- 
 not be said that they were unmindful, in theory at least, of 
 the libeial benefits that accrue from the school of rational 
 medicine. 
 
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 i t'ova Sec a 5 
 
 HAUIFAX, N. 3* 
 
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