Medical practice of the 1700s - John Murray's Musings



MEDICAL PRACTICE IN THE 1700S

By: John F. Murray

The medical practices of the 1700 in Lancaster County, PA make an interesting study. Medical doctors were usually recorded as a "Doctor of Physic" meaning herb doctor. Dr. Francis Neff is also called a Chirurgeon (sic). One became a doctor by reading medicine with a practicing doctor. So the medical skills were often passed from father to son.

In the 1700s the majority of doctors in the City of Lancaster were Neffs or Neff descendants. Three other doctors were Dr. Adam Kuhn and Dr. Robert Thompson and Dr. Samuel Boude. There were other doctors in the out lying townships. One of better known ones was Dr. Johannes Blank of Salisbury Twp.

A. The Doctors Neff and related doctors were:

1. Dr. Hans Henry Neff Sr. was the first known Doctor in all of Lancaster Co. He settled on the Conestoga River to the northeast of Lancaster in the year 1718. He also built and operated a grist mill on his property.

2. His son, Dr. Hans Henry Neff Jr., moved to Frederick Co. MD. in 1742 and then in 1748 on to New Market, Frederick Co. now Shenandoah Co. VA, where he and several of his descendants were doctors.

3. Another son of Dr. Hans Henry Neff Sr., Dr. Abraham Neff, inherited half of his father's land with the buildings and mill and sold out to Sabastian Groff in 1750. Dr. Abraham opened an office on Orange St. just above Line St.

4. Dr. Abraham's son, Dr. Christian Neff, had his office at the corner of Orange and Shippen Streets.

5. Dr. Abraham Neff's two sons-in-law were doctors also. They were Dr. Adam Breneman and Dr. John Breneman.

6. The son of Dr. Adam Breneman, Dr. Abraham N. Breneman, practiced both physic and surgery and started the first Drug Store in Lancaster in 1797 at the corner of King and Vine Streets. He lived on the corner of Queen and German Streets.

7. Two sons of Dr. John Breneman were doctors, Dr. Abraham and Dr. George. This Dr. Abraham Breneman was known as the "Water Doctor" because he was the first doctor to use urine analysis in diagnosing illness.

8. Dr. Francis Neff Sr., the brother of Dr. Hans Henry Neff Sr., first practiced medicine in Germantown from 1719 to about 1728. He was so well known in Germantown, that even after he move to Lancaster, the Pennsylvania Gazette in 1737 advertised a house for sale in Germantown next to the house of Dr. Francis Neff. He was both a doctor of Physic and Surgery. He built and operated a mill on the east edge of Lancaster. He also operated a toll crossing on the Conestoga River. His son Jacob might have practiced medicine at Strasburg, but Jacob was better known as a minister in the Mennonite Church.

B. One of the medical procedures of the 1700s was "blood letting". According to the diary of Christopher Marshall, many people went to Dr. Christian Neff to have this done. Blood letting involved surgically opening a vein on the wrist and allowing blood to drain from the patient. It seems obvious to us that in those days the function of the blood was not understood.

It appears that this practice of bleeding patients hastened death. Some wills of the 1700s were written only a few days before they were probated. For example Henry Neff (A13) made and signed his will on June 25,1755 and it was entered into probate 9 days later on the July 4, 1755.

Wooden splints were used in setting broken arms and legs.

C. Diagnosing illnesses in those days was done by observation and questioning of the patient. The first urine analysis was not done in the City of Lancaster by Dr. Abraham Breneman until about 1810. This was 17 years after the death of his grandfather Dr. Abraham Neff and 15 years after the death of Dr. Christian Neff.

D. Medicines were made from imported narcotics, from herbs grown in herb gardens and from seeds and roots of plants and bark of trees found in the surrounding forests. One can envision the doctor’s wife and children helping to plant, cultivate, harvest and dry the herbs. The children probably helped their father gather seeds, roots, bark and herbs from the forest. No doubt they watched their father prepare the medications and listened to him explain their preparation and use. In this way a son learned the medical practice from his father.

It appears that Dr. Abraham Neff purchased some drugs in Philadelphia from Christopher Marshal. When Dr. Abraham Neff died insolvent in 1793 his property was sold to Christopher Marshall of Philadelphia to pay the debts owed him. Christopher Marshall was perhaps the supplier of imported drugs. It seems evident that the practice of medicine in those days was not a lucrative profession. It appears that the major source of income for the first of the Doctors Neff came from milling and farming and not from the practice of medicine.

It seems evident that the Doctors Neff had to prepare their own medications because as I just mantioned the first drug store in Lancaster was opened until 1797. One of the most interesting finds would be their medical books containing the formulas for preparing medications.

I inherited two old medical books from my parents. Volume I describes the various parts and functions of the human body. Volume II describes diseases, and other physical problems, how to diagnosis them and what medications to prescribe. Volume II also describes over one hundred herbs, narcotics and minerals used in the preparation of medicines and what they were supposed to cure. It also has many formulas for mixing prescriptions. Of interest to me were the instructions concerning the gathering and preparation of herbs, which were with little doubt similar to those used by the Doctors Neff and their families.

E. The gathering of herbs is as follows:

1. Leaves should be plucked from a plant while it is still in bloom, and should be dried in an airy room.

2. Roots should be gathered in the spring or the fall of the year.

3. Flowers may be gathered at any time of the year when in bloom and dried in a well ventilated room.

4. Barks should be taken from the tree in the early spring or late fall and stored in a dry, dark place.

5. Seeds can be gathered any time they become ripe.

6. Herbs should be gathered only when they are in bloom.

F. The preparation of medcines is described as follows:

1. Infusions are made by steeping one ounce of the part of the plant to be used, thoroughly beaten, to each pint of boiling water. Cover and let stand for half an hour, then strain. Infusions should be made fresh at least twice a week.

2. Decoctions, with few exceptions, are made by adding one pint of boiling water to each ounce of the part of the plant to be used, and should be boiled on a very slow fire for twenty or thirty minutes; allow to cool and then strain.

3. Tinctures should be made from fresh plants, one ounce to each pint of alcohol. The plant should be thoroughly pounded before adding the alcohol, and placed in an air-tight jar for one to two weeks. It should be shaken often.

4. Essences are made by adding one pint of alcohol to each ounce of essential oils.

Let me highlight three medicines.

1. One is Nux Vomica. This is strychnine dissolved in alcohol. The dose was one, to five drops, depending on the size of the person, mixed in a little fruit juice for taste. It appears that the strychnine would speed up the body's systems and in the process would also throw off the disease. This was also used with guanine to cure malaria.

2. Tincture of aconite was a narcotic dissolved in alcohol. It was given as a sedative to help break fever. Dosage was similar to Nux Vomica and was often given with Nux Vomica in cases of the flu.

3 A third was paregoric which is a tincture of opium. The dosage for diarrhea was two teaspoonfuls. This is still in use a few years ago. One could buy Kaopectate with paregoric.

Sources of information:

1. Ellis, Franklin and Samuel Evans, History of Lancaster County Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Evert & Peck, 1883, p. 247, 248 and 905, 906.

2. Landis, Patricia, Neff Ancestors, copy in the Mennonite Historical Library, Lancaster, PA.

3. The estate of Dr. Abraham Neff on file at Lancaster Co. Court House.

4. Cornish J. L. MD Editor, Health Knowledge, Volume I and II, Domestic Health Society, New York, 1921.

5. Neff , Elmer Elllsworth, M. D., A Memorial of The Neff Family, Mirror Printing Company, Altoona, Penna., 1931.

................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download