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DOCTORS,
DOMESTIC REMEDIES, AND FUNERALS Our forefathers were
subject to the same physical ailments as ourselves, but they do not appear to
have suffered to the same extent from disease as we do in our day. The
surgeon was rarely called upon to exercise his calling, and then only when
amputation s were felt to be necessary, or some mutilated member needed
mending. Fashionable operations were unknown. The vicious tendencies of the bacteria
in the human body were not then discovered, or, if they had, war had not
yet been declared upon them. Men went about their daily occupations, too busy
to bother with the microbes that the modern scientists tell us are gnawing at
our vitals. Their greatest fear was from epidemics like small pox, which
occasionally swept through a neighbourhood, leaving a trail of sorrow in its
wake. Of licensed practitioners there were but few; and they were, for the
most part, attached to the military posts. Occasionally, if the roads were
passable, and they felt in the humour and saw a prospective fee of
respectable proportions, they might be induced to visit a patient in the
neighbouring townships. In this, as in all other matters, the settlers did
their best to serve themselves. In no community of this or any
other age have there ever been lacking the services of skilled specialists in
any line very long, before some unqualified individual volunteered to supply
the lack. It was not long before the quack doctor with his vile decoctions
appeared among the pioneers. Strenuous efforts were made to legislate him out
of existence, but he managed to evade the statutory prohibitions and has even
survived to the present day. During the first few decades of
the Loyalist settlements it was not so much a question of whether the quack could
practise in the townships *The first statute providing for the
licensing of practitioners in physics and surgery throughout the province was
passed in 1795. Up to that time the quacks had it pretty much their own way.
The Act was found unworkable and was repealed in 1806; a new and more
effective Act was passed in 1815., but the question more to the point was
whether the educated and skilled physician would practise. The
settlers had become so expert in treating most of their complaints, that they
rarely deemed it necessary to secure the services of the medical
practitioner; and, when the real physician did take up his abode among them,
he not uncommonly engaged in some other calling as well and practised his
profession as a side-line. The mother or grandmother, as a
rule, was the doctor, nurse, and apothecary for the whole family. In the
month of September, or perhaps October, when the phase of the moon was
supposed to be favourable for the purpose, she organized an expedition to the
woods in search of a supply of herbs to replenish her medicine chest. In some
cases she dug in the ground for roots, in others the bark, leaves, or stems
were sought, and in others still the fruit or seeds possessed the necessary
medicinal properties. When she had gathered in her stores, she tied them up
in bundles and hung them up in the attic, or stowed them away in some
convenient nook until required. Her collection contained specifics for nearly
every ache and pain. It may be that in those days there
was not the mad rush for excitement and wealth, and the average citizen kept
better hours, ate more plain and wholesome food, had some respect for the
different organs of his body, and did not make such ridiculous demands upon
them as are made by some of the high livers of to-day. It may be, too, that
mother's simple remedies went a long way to correct the excesses and
indulgences of the weak and careless and to restore the health of the sickly.
In any event the mortality among the pioneers does not appear to have been
any greater than it is to-day. It may not be out of place to enumerate some
of the uses to which some of the common herbs were put, as they possess the
same, if any, medicinal properties to-day. For coughs and colds, a syrup
was made from the roots of the spignet, another name for spike-nard. The
tuber of the blood-root was dried and then grated into a fine powder; this
was snuffed up the nostrils as a cure for polypus. Catnip has lost little of
its popularity as a medicine for children. There are few, if any, of us who
have not protested vehemently against having our mouths pried open to receive
a spoonful of tea made from the leaves of this common weed; the first
symptoms of a stomach ache were sufficient to set the vile decoction brewing
and almost any affection of the throat called for a dose of the same liquid. The word "tansy" is
derived indirectly from a Greek word meaning "immortality"; because
the yellow blossoms, when dried, lose very little of their original shape and
colour. It is doubtful if the name had anything to do with the prescribing of
tansy-tea as a tonic. It was extensively used for this purpose, and I can
readily conceive a patient, after taking a dose, being quite ready to eat the
first thing in sight to overcome the disagreeable taste left in his mouth by
the medicine. Hop-tea for indigestion and cherry bark tea for regulating the
blood were remedies widely known and extensively used. Reference has already been made
to the danger of children falling into the tub of hot water used in scrubbing
the unpainted floor. This and the open fire-place were sources of great
anxiety to the mother of a young family. The frequency of severe scalds and
burns from these causes created a demand for a soothing and healing salve. A
favourite prescription was black alder, lard, resin and beeswax. Smartweed steeped in vinegar was
applied to bruises and swellings where there was no abrasion; it gave instant
relief from pain and reduced the swelling. For use upon dumb animals, particularly
the legs of horses, wormwood was substituted for smartweed. For lame feet and other troubles
requiring a soothing poultice, the leaves of the plantain were used. The
stems and ribs were first removed, the leaves allowed to wilt and were then crushed
by rolling them between the hands. A healing ointment for abrasions
and open sores was made from the leaves of the ordinary garden bean. These
were cut up, mixed with lard, and heated over a slow fire. While still hot,
the liquid lard, which had absorbed some of the juice of the leaves, was
poured off and allowed to cool, when it was ready to be applied to the
affected part. Even the roots of the burdock, a
most persistent and troublesome weed about most country homes, were put to an
useful purpose. These were preserved by being dried, and when required were
steeped and the tea thus produced was administered as a cure for indigestion
and to regulate the blood. The mandrake, mandragora, or
mayapple, has attracted much attention from the days of King Solomon to the
present day. It has figured in literature in many capacities, all the way
from a death-dealing agent to the main ingredient of a love potion. From its
roots our forefathers made a tea which they used as a gargle for sore throat. The roots of the nerve-vine were
chewed to quiet the nerves; hence the name. The roots of elecampane were
utilized for man and beast; when steeped they produced a soothing and healing
lotion for open wounds, and made into a syrup, were administered to children
suffering from whooping-cough. Spearmint tea was given to "break
up" a cold; and an infusion of mullein was administered to give relief
in the more advanced stages of the same complaint. The more bitter the
medicine, the more frequently was it prescribed. Thus wormwood tea was
regarded as a general tonic to be given in almost all cases where other
remedies failed. It was not at all uncommon for a
plain and simple farmer, with no pretension to a knowledge of medicine or
surgery, to acquire a reputation as a specialist in some particular branch of
the profession. Perhaps in some emergency he would set a broken limb, with
results so satisfactory that his services would be requisitioned in the next
case of a similar character. His patients so successfully treated would
proclaim his fame abroad, and with the little experience thus acquired he
would, in the eyes of his neighbours, become an expert in this operation .
Another may accidentally have had thrust upon him the distinction of being
able to reduce a dislocated joint. Dentists there were none, and
extraction was the only reliable treatment for troublesome teeth. Some one in
the locality would own one of those instruments of torture, a turn-key. If a
molar had been demanding too much attention from its owner, and a hot
fomentation had failed to overcome the pain, the man with the turn-key was
paid a visit. Anaesthetics were unknown, and sterilization was not practised
by the unprofessional. The victim was seated in a kitchen chair and grasped
the rungs on either side. The operator loosened the gum from the unruly tooth
with the blade of his pocket-knife, the hook of the turn-key was inserted,
and with grim determination the two men faced each other. The one clung
doggedly to the chair, the other twisted the key. I will draw a curtain over
the further details of the operation. Brute strength in the end prevailed. Such services were, as a rule,
rendered gratuitously, and while we would not care in our day to be at the
mercy of such amateur practitioners, yet they were a great benefit to the
neighbourhood in which they resided, where it was frequently a choice of such
aid as they could render or none at all. Of an entirely different class
were the "fakirs" who, with little or no knowledge of the diseases
they treated and the remedies they prescribed, preyed upon the helplessness
of their patients. With such the two great specifics were opium and mercury -
in all cases of doubt a dose of calomel was administered. Bleeding, as a
remedial measure, was a very common practice, and it was not considered at
all extraordinary to relieve a patient of a quart or two of blood at a time. The educational qualifications
of the quack may be inferred from the following advertisement, which was
posted up in a public place in 1817: "Richmond, Oct. 17,
1817. "ADVERTISEMENT:
- This is to certify that I, Solomon Albert, is Good to cure any sore in word Complaint or any Pains,
Rheumatick Pains or any Complaint what so ever the Subscriber doctors with
yerbs and Roots. Any Person wishing to employ him will find him at Dick
Bells. Mr. Albert's parents misjudged
the possibilities of their hopeful offspring when they bestowed upon him his Christian
name. He must have been quite exhausted after his literary effort in
composing that advertisement. In due season the need for
doctors and medicine was no more, and the grim reaper claimed his harvest.
The undertaker had not yet risen to the dignity of a separate calling, and
the plumed hearse was unknown. Simplicity and economy were the main features
of the last sad rites; the nearest carpenter was furnished with a rough
estimate of the proportions of the deceased, and, with plane and saw, he soon
shaped a coffin out of basswood boards. This was stained on the outside or
covered with a cheap cloth, and, with plain iron handles as its only
adornment, it was ready for the corpse. It was not until well on into the
nineteenth century that rough outer boxes were brought into general use. The funeral service was held at
the residence of the deceased, after which a silent procession was formed and
accompanied the remains to the grave, and in the winter season the silence
was intensified by removing the bells from the horses and sleighs. The
general regret over the loss of the deceased was measured by the length of
the funeral procession. In some neighbourhoods there
were public graveyards, as a rule in the rear of the church; but in many
instances a plot was selected on the homestead, generally a sandy knoll,
where a grave could be easily dug and there would be little likelihood of a
pool of water gathering in the bottom. In such a lonely spot were laid the
remains of many of our ancestors, with a wooden slab at the head of the
grave. Upon this was painted a brief epitaph, with a favourite quotation from
Holy Writ. In time the lettering yielded to the ravages of the weather, the
paint was washed away, the board rotted, and the fence surrounding the reservation,
if such there was, was broken down by the cattle. A careless posterity
neglected either to remove the remains or to renew the wooden marker by a
more enduring monument, until sentiment ceased to play its part in the
respect for the memory of the dead. The farm was sold with no reservation,
and the plough and harrow soon removed the only visible trace of the last
resting-place of those who, in their time, played important parts in shaping
the destiny of Upper Canada.` Chapter
1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter
4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6
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