History of Logan County and Ohio, Part 39

Author: Perrin, William Henry, d. 1892?; Battle, J. H; O.L. Baskin & Co
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Chicago, O.L. Baskin
Number of Pages: 798

USA > Ohio > Logan County > History of Logan County and Ohio > Part 39

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with the fierce, unyielding battle which the ancient doctor maintained with the fell mala- dies of those olden times. Indeed, more than once, I have heard good people, whose checks were smitten with wrinkles and hair with frost, relate how the doctor and the disease went at it, as it were, "nip-and-tuck;" how the doctor, with his armament of calomel and jalap, would assault the monster; and then how the malady, returning, like the wings of an army, would, in the shape of a "relapse." or the " janders," or a "sinking chill," singly or together, renew the battle; and, finally, how the doctor, with his lancet, and his blis- ters, and his senna and salts, would put the strongest malady to ignominious flight, or crush and grind him to powder. Such were the stories recounted, with glowing cheeks and sparkling eyes, in honor of the deeds of the doctor in those old Saturnian days.

Much of the time, in those days, the roads were extremely muddy. The doctor, for such emergency, always had " leggins." They were frequently composed of three-quarters of a yard of green baize, rolled round the leg, and reaching from the sole of the boot to four or five inches above the knee. They were tied on by wrapping the leg below the knee three or four times round with a kind of elastic woolen tape, of sufficient length, and about three-quarters of an inch broad, and fastened with a bow-knot. Divers and sundry pins made all secure. These articles of the pro- fessional toilet were often saturated with mud and water, while the horse and his rider were also plentifully bespattered from head to foot with the same material.

It was a very important point in those days

* Contributed by Dr. T. L. Wright. + Contributed by ---

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for the physician to own a speedy and reliable horse. In fact it was a great blemish upon the professional escutcheon of any one, not to be in possession of a good horse, for there were serious misgivings in the absence of equine speed, let the attainments of the man of science be ever so good in the abstract. To this day, old pioneers in this county will tell of this, or that doctor's " big sorrel pacer," or - blaze-faced mare," which made such mar- velously quick trips, "nigh onto forty years ago." The doctor in those royal days of long ago, used to carry his medical equip- ments (all, save his trusty lancet, which he kept in his vest pocket,) in a pair of rather cumbersome saddle-bags. These were well stuffed with senna, and snake root, chamo- mile flowers, calomel, jalap, rhubarb, and spigelia, for the little ones with worms. How the doctor, riding as he did, in John Gilpin style, ever managed to reach his patients all in one piece, that is, without himself and his saddle-bags and horse, coming in separate and distinct parcels, is to this day a mystery and a marvel. Probably the feat was achieved partly from an adroitness acquired by habit, and partly from some special miraculous prov- idential dispensation, which certainly some- times seemed to be displayed in the doctor's Iw.half; notably, in bringing his patients out right side up, in certain cases, where recovery upon any other hypothesis is inexplicable.

These were great times for the use of the lancet. Everybody wanted to be bled, in the spring time, especially, and it was no uncom- mon occurrence for a person to call at the doctor's office and ask to be bled. There was usually nothing the matter in reality, the party only claimed that he was used to being bleed in the spring, and it did him good. 11 was common for certain persons to keep lancets, and in the absence of a doctor, blood such people in the neighborhood as would call upon them for that service.

The hardships of the carly physicians of this county were much enhanced by the foolish panies that would seize the friends of the sick, in the night time. No case of any importance occurred that the physician was not called upon for night service, from one to half a dozen times before he was through with it; and the truth is, that not one in ton of such calls were necessary. In consequence of this folly, the physician would sometimes become completely exhausted, and be compelled to hide under some friendly roof to procure greatly needed sleep. This habit of calling upon the physician at night was a sore tax upon his strength and constitution. The coldest blasts of winter, with roads frozen and terribly rough, brought no respite. He was expected to go, for it a patient " took worse " in the night, there was presumed to be the greatest danger.

The diseases of those times were serious. Malarial troubles were always present; some- times alone, but sure, also, to complicate any other ailment that could affliet the frame of humanity. Inflammation, such as pleurisy and pneumonia, were much more prevalent, in proportion to the population, than at pres- ent. They were also of a more exalted and. so to speak, furious type than is now gener- ally the case. The manner of living at that time had, no doubt, much to do with this. But it is by no means certain that periodic, magnetic and solar influences-which it is now known have great effect upon the reigning types of disease, at periods of time remote from each other-might also have bad some power in determining the positive and aggres- sive character of the inflammatory diseases of the period now under consideration. At. all events, the treatment was of the most " heroic" kind. Bleeding was universally practiced, not only in inflammatory diseases, but in cer- tain fevers, which were truly of a frightfully. active grade-" inflammatory fevers," with a

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tendeney to some local disaster. It is certain that the practice was not followed with the dangers and disasters that would now be entailed by a similar mode of procedure. On the contrary, it is probable that at the time and under the circumstances the treat- ment by depletion-by bleeding and blister- ing, and diaphoretics and diuretics, to say nothing of emeties and purgatives-was the proper one, and altogether the best. Let the cycle of fitty-nine or sixty years of astronomi- ical relationship between the conjunction of the planets Saturn and Jupiter be completed, and then see what the type of diseases con- nected with the corresponding magnetic dis- turbances will be, before assuming too posi- tively that the same practice may not become again a necessity!

In the olden time, when a messenger arrived in hot haste after the physician, it was always possible, before two words were spoken, to know when some expectant mother was in trouble. No man can truly describe the why and wherefore, but the experienced physician always knew, almost at once, when that difficulty had to be met; so he hurried, in good sooth. The blazing log-fire, the only light in the cabin sometimes, shining upon the white-ash puncheons, with cracks an inch or more apart, and half a dozen of the nearest female neighbors and gossips, made up the main features of the scene. At length, suf- fice it to say, a new, trembling life has been added to the innumerable throng which jour- neys always towards the undiscovered country. Something to live for, something to love, has been added to the household; and the dark clouds of selfishness and hate, which are wont, too often, to cast their shadows upon the human heart, have been put to flight, at least for the time, by the sheer presence of innocence and helplessness.

And now all is bustle. The jellies, and the jams, and the preserves, carefully laid

by for this auspicious moment, by the careful forethought of the mother, are now displayed in prodigal profusion. And chickens, and ham, and eggs, and all the substantials and luxu- ries that have been provided by care and prudence, and self-denial, are lavishly set forth. The doctor is the great man of the oc- casion; no grand potentate was ever more de- votedly served, or had half so safely the hearts of all around him. He is asked with a display of reckless extravagance, and an air sug- gestive of tons of sugar within easy reach, if he will " take sweet'nin" in his coffee? And after all is over, he goes home a happier, and perhaps a better, if not a richer man.

One of the earliest and most distressing maladies that made its appearance in con- siderable portions of Logan County was known as the " Trembles," or " Milk Sickness," or, more emphatically, the "Sick Stomach," This was a malady almost unknown to the Faculty, and was not as yet described in works on medical practice. Dr. Drake de- clares it was known in North Carolina one hundred years ago. Since the early part of the present century, there have appeared in the medical periodicals a number of contribu- tions upon the disease in question. And yet there is much that is uncertain and in dispute concerning it. It is known to have appeared in North Carolina, Virginia, Kentucky, Tennes- see, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois. Its appearance in these States has been confined to narrow and clearly defined localities. The horse, mule, cow, dog, goat, sheep, hog and buzzard have been known to take the disease. In some of these animals, as the dog and buzzard, the mal- ady was doubtless contracted by eating of the flesh of cattle that had died of the " Trembles." Calves would often have the disease, and even die with it, while the mother did not seem greatly affected. The human being probably always became the victim of the poison by partaking of the flesh, or milk, or butter, or

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cheese, derived from animals infected with it. It was not always possible to say from simple inspection whether an animal was suf- fering from the " Trembles" or not. The poison not infrequently would remain latent or dor- mant, not only in the lower animals, but in man also, for a considerable period of time. Some sudden, exciting cause in such cases would in- fallibly develop the active symptoms. If an animal was really infected with the poison, a little rapid driving would bring on the trem- bling; and, indeed, the beast would some- times drop and die during the experiment. Butchers always drove suspected cattle furi- ously for a short time, in order to determine whether the disease was lurking in them or not. If there was no trembling as the result, the creature was considered safe for beef; but if the exercise brought on that symptom, the meat would always prove to be poisonous. There was a test common amongst the people through which they determined whether the milk of a cow was poisonous or not. They would pour vinegar into a small vessel con- taining some of the suspected milk. If the milk curdled in mixing with the vinegar, it was esteemed to be sound; but if it remained fluid, it was poisoned. Another test was by scalding : if the milk retained its liquid form when boiled, it was good, but if it thickened up and coagulated under the influence of heat, it was rejected as diseased. These facts are given merely as part of the history of the disease, without vouching for their value or trustworthiness. Post-mortem appearances showed, in the lower animals, a changed and softened state of the inner lining of the paunch and bowels. The lining membrane was some- times nearly destroyed and gone, or of a very dark and mortified appearance. In man, such often the bowels were greatly contracted and dry internally, and the small bowels drawn together so as to look alnost like a cord. All

the ordinary seeretions were greatly reduced in quantity.

The cause of this disease has never been determined with entire satisfaction. It is true that very few observers fail to form a very decided opinion on this point, but the trouble is that no two of them are of the same opinion. It has been attributed to the effects of blasted grain, or ergot. Dr. Lord, and others, think it is derived from water; others believe that it is derived from a certain agency in the soil-it may be aqueous, gaseous er vaporous, which is dissipated or destroyed by cultivation. According to others, it is derived from various weeds, or shrubs, or vines growing over old logs, etc. Some try to reconcile the various opinions on this sub- jeet by suggesting that the real agent is a microscopic germ or sporule that might infest at times either of these different substances and thence become transferred into the circu- lation of the animal. A great difficulty in satisfactorily determining the cause of the trouble lies in the fact of its strict conline- ment within certain clearly recognized limits. Cows giving milk are less apt to die, or even show the symptoms of the disease, than dry cattle. In man, the attacks are of variable degrees of violence, commensurate, no doubt, with the amount of poison received. But in severe cases, after a brief period of weakness and depression, the patients begin to vomit, and the retching and vomiting continue un- ccasingly. There is no bile thrown out, the sec- retions being universally suppressed. There is insatiable thirst, and generally constipation.

There is a peculiar odor emitted by one af- fected with the " sick stomach," which has been compared to the smell of a rattlesnake. At all events, it is always present, and is at once re- cognized, both by physicians and attendants.

There is great diversity of opinion respect- ing the best plan of treatment. Some sali- vate with calomel, and employ also blisters

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to the pit of the stomach and extremities; others depend upon whisky and blisters; others employ strychnia and belladonna, and some, again, depend upon large and repeated doses of ordinary purgative medicines. As many as "from fifty to seventy doses in twice as many hours," of full measure of purgative medicine, has been recommended.

There is no doubt that the symptoms, in- cluding the constipation in this disease, are the direct result of the poison depressing the nerve power, both central and sympathetic. The indication of cure is not the relief of some isolated symptom, but it is the removal of the poison; and, in order to effect this, the using of such auxiliary means as will restore the strength, so that time may be afforded to accomplish the elimination of the morbid agent from the body is proper. The use of mere physics, as such, is not the most logical procedure, for the constipation is not the cause of the disease-it is merely one of its effects.

It will be remembered that the cow giving milk does not die. The large flow of milk eliminates the poison soon after it is received. The milk contains the product of the elimin- ation, and the calf dies ; and persons also who partake of this milk, or of the butter or cheese made from it, become poisoned.

A person well acquainted with these facts informs me that he never knew a milch cow die of this disease but once. A family hav- ing contracted "sick stomach" from the milk of this cow, she was abandoned, and her milk no longer taken from her. The elimination of the poison ceased, and she died. In the human patient, what is wanted to procure re- lief is the elimination of the poison. It will be remembered that all the secretions are greatly diminished in milk sickness. Various and apparently distinct as the more success- ful plans of treatment seem to be, the fact is that they operate in a common way in this

one particular, namely, in promoting the elimination of the morbid matter.

It remains only to say, in connection with this subject, that milk sickness has now near- ly disappeared from the limits of Logan Coun- ty. The increase of population and the uni- versal cultivation of the soil has banished it, and left it, to a large degree, only a horrid re- membrance.

About the year 1839, a change in the type of prevailing diseases began to take place. This fact was not really recognized at that time, but the light of subsequent medical events leaves no doubt of it. Typhoid symptoms began to appear. It is not true that the typhoid type was suddenly established. Many were still affected with the higher or inflan- matory grades of disease, and they were treat- ed accordingly, with success. But more and more that kind of treatment was found to fail, and in fact to prove injurious, until, in a few years, the universal tendency to a typhoid state of the constitution was clearly perceived. Blood-letting, especially, went entirely out of practice; and the waiting and sustaining plan of treatment was adopted. The human con- stitution, so far as Logan County is concerned, is yet in a condition of depression, although not nearly so much so as fifteen or twenty years ago.

About the year 1843 there prevailed throughout this region a disease which was then universal throughout the United States, and common in other continents. It was a general malady disseminated by atmospheric influences alone, and profoundly affecting the whole system, although its more prominent symptoms were connected with the mucous membranes. This was the influenza, called by the French La Grippe. It was called in this country, by the people generally, the " Tyler grip." Its most prominent symptoms were sore and tearful eyes, copiously discharg- ing nostrils, pain in the forehead and over the

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eyes, sneezing and soreness of the lungs and throat, and cough. Sometimes diarrhea pre- vailed to a large extent. There was a remarkable depression of the strength, and this symptom was sometimes so pronounced as to cause the death of aged or weakly persons. Patients with weak hings would often recover very slowly, or would eventually die by the superadded weight of the influ- enza. Ordinarily, the worst symptoms would abate in three or four days, but the full re- covery of the strength was a work of con- siderable time.

In the year 1851 the cholera broke out in Bellefontaine. It made some slight appear- aner before that time, as well as afterwards. But that was the only time of great mortality and danger from the scourge. The disease had been prevailing in Sandusky City, and a young man had come thence to his home in Bellefontaine. Hle came on a certain day, and, although apparently well, he was dead on the next day. He died of cholera. His brother, at whose house he was, also died in a day or two; also another relative, who was making a box to receive the remains of a cholera patient, died, and was encased in the box made by himself. Altogether, there were a dozen or fourteen deaths within a brief space of time. A poor woman, who washed some of the clothing soiled by these patients, died, together with her husband, from the same disease.

It was curious to see how great a solicitude sprang at once among the inhabitants of the town for the welfare of their relations who dwelt at a distance, Fearful that sickness and disaster might reach them in their distant homes, many of the sympathetic citizens straight way betonk themselves thither to help them, and nurse them should they, perchance, become sick. Even some of the physicians had such conscientions calls, and obeyed them. Not one would entertain the propo-

sition for a moment that he was scared and ran away from the cholera.

We owe the following facts to the kind- ness of Dr. S. W. Fuller, respecting the his- tory of the diseases afflicting the lower por- tion of Logan County. Dr. Fuller is an observer of superior qualifications and is a trustworthy reporter. The time represented is between the years 1838 and 1854.

Marsh malarial fevers were endemic almost every year. Some seasons, however, they prevailed more severely than others, prostrat- ing ahnost whole neighborhoods. Now, hap- pily, owing to the clearing up of the country, drainage of surface waters and drying up of stagnant ponds, they have greatly abated. and no longer appear in an endemie form. Quinine has lost its relative importance in the family, being at one time almost as much of a staple as flour.

Measles and whooping-cough were epi- demie in this period, and during a portion of their stay they assumed a severe type, and were attended with considerable fatality. Scarlet fever also prevailed to a considerable extent, but scarcely attained to the propor- tions of an epidemic.

Perhaps the most remarkable of these pre- vailing diseases which raged during this po- riod was that of small-pox. It broke out May 8, 1842, and continued to prevail until late in the July following. The population of the village of West Liberty would not exceed 500, and the umber of cases, including all varieties, from the measle-like rash of the millest form of varioloid to the malignant confluent form, was nearly 150, the greater number of which were in town. Some idea may thus be formed of the seriousness of the outbreak and the distress that prevailed.

The question will naturally arise in the mind, how so many cases should occur before the disease could be arrested? In order to satisfy this inquiry, it will be necessary to

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enter a little into detail in regard to the origin of the epidemic. It was evidently im- ported from the State of Delaware into the vicinity of the town by a man named Vick- ass. He had been visiting in the town of Seaford, in that State, and upon investigation it was afterwards learned that small-pox was rife there during his visit. In twelve or four- teen days after liis return to his home, some three miles north of the village, small-pox ap- peared in his family. Dr. Marquis Wood at- tended upon the family, and the disease be- ing of a mild type, he was in doubt as to its nature. One of the oldest practitioners of the county was called in, and he decided that it was chicken-por. It so happened that a young lady whose mother resided in town was visiting the Vickass family. She returned home and immediately entered the village school, in which were twenty or more children who were not protected by vaccination. She became ill in school of variolous fever. She then abandoned the school, but her illness was so slight and the eruption so trifling that no physician was called to see her; conse- quently, two weeks of precious time was lost in which to prepare for the enemy's onslaught. The means to combat the onset were not readily obtained, before the days of railroads and telegraphs. At the end of this time it is believed that every child in the school that was not protected by vaecinnation, took the disease, thus showing the fallaciousness of the opinion of Sir J. Y. Simpson, who held that small-pox was not contagious during the pri- mary fever.

It was on Friday or Saturday that many persons, more particularly children, were taken sick, and on the following Sabbath I felt called upon to announce that the disease was small-pox. At this time a quarterly meeting of the Methodist Episcopal Church was iu progress, and, at that carly day, the more ardent members came from distant

parts of the surrounding country to attend these meetings. The report flew through the village that " small-pox " was in town. "Then there was hurrying to and fro," and "mount- ing in hot haste," and a sudden evacuation of the place by all the visitors, and the citizens were left to muse upon the dire calamity that had befallen them. Some persons were so uncharitable as to say that a knowledge of the disease had been withholden, in order to break up the meeting; but the charge was more ludicrous than vexatious. Of course, there was a panic amongst the people, and for days the pavement in front of our office was lined with men, who, as the fear gradually wore off, or as duty demanded their presence in other places, slowly disappeared, and we were no longer encumbered by them. All business with the outside world was suspended and the town isolated ; and, although situated on the main thoroughfare from Cincinnati to the lakes, travel passed around, with the excep- tion of an occasional traveler who found him- self in the infected town. But he stopped not upon the order of his going, but went as fast as his horse could carry him, with hand- kerchief over nostrils and mouth. All had the fashion of filtering the infected at- mosphere through the handkerchief. The commerce of the town now consisted largely in the sale and purchase of rice, molasses and Epsom salts, of which, fortunately, there was a liberal supply. To these articles the inhal- itants seemed almost instinctively to be in- clined. It was fortunate for them that they did, for, as we had not the means to protect them by vaccination, this was the best re- source left; and no doubt the diet of rice and molasses, with the free use of Epsom salts, saved a number of lives. One man, to test the virtue of the latter, took a quarter of a pound for one dose. Ile retired to the hills above the village, but he " still lives."

A man of some note in his day, HI. M.

HISTORY OF LOGAN COUNTY.

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White, who kept the principal hotel and stage office, being a believer in small-pox, in- oculated his family and dependants with that disease. This is always supposed to render it mild, but, in our observations, we found there was but little difference in the severity of the disease between the inoculated and those who had acquired the malady in the natural manner, but who were under strict regimen, so that the latter is probably of more importance than the mode of introduction.

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History of Logan County and Ohio, Part 39

Author: Perrin, William Henry, d. 1892?; Battle, J. H; O.L. Baskin & Co Publication date: 1880 Publisher: Chicago, O.L. Baskin Number of Pages: 798

Author: Perrin, William Henry, d. 1892?; Battle, J. H; O.L. Baskin & Co
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Chicago, O.L. Baskin
Number of Pages: 798