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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.

SAMUEL ABBOTT GREEN, M.D.

fgbfic Archives of Nova ScoQf

mtiFAx. N, a.

J"'^"" "mm^^m^rfnnffn

Afchivitt «f Havi StuAi*

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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.

Tj^

I »

rui;.c A.

^i.i

i t'ova Sec a 5

HAUIFAX, N. 3*