A FAMILY DOCTOR

Evening Star, Issue 20980, 19 December 1931, Page 12

A FAMILY DOCTOR

IN CROMWELL’S TIME Some time ago I found between the leaves of a very old book a folded piece of age-stained paper, upon which was some very faded but still legible writing in a very crabbed style (writes Flinders Barr,' in the Sydney ‘ Morning Herald ’). Upon unfolding it I found I had come upon something interesting in a way, for it was the letter of a Scottish family physician to one of his patients, and has been written in the year 1654, when His Highness Oliver Cromwell was Lord Protector, and the whole arts of medicine and surgery were still in what one may term their swaddling clothes. The letter was written on a sheet ot paper 12in by 7)in, which had then been folded in hair, on one of the sides the writing had been inscribed, after which the paper had been folded into three divisions, and sealed with red wax. Part of the seal was still intact, and, consisted of a small circle within which was a shield charged with three fivepointed stars or mullets, whilst round about were inscribed the letters I.M.P. On one of the outer folds the missive was addressed. “ For my very much respeckit friend, Patrick Rosse (word illegible), at Perth, These.” With some 1 ttle difficulty I was able to transcribe the epistle within, which I have rendered into modern wording. Right Worthy Sir, — Ye shall receive from this bearet the glass (bottle) with the water I did promise you for your ear. Ye must warm a little of it in a spoon and put three drops in your ear at night when ye go to bed, and stop it in your ears with a little wool or linen. As for your wife cause a blister to he put on her neck, the sooner the better, and make her drink wormwood drink, especially in the morning. I hope to see you some day in this week, God willing, and then I shall give her a more ample advice and what else I can do for her welfare ye may expect of . ■ , , Your Most Affectionate Friend ana Servant, ' _ Fallbaune, the sth June, 1654. J. PATON. POTENT MIXTURES. Doctor Paton *was not a particularly good speller, hut one can follow him without difficulty, and,_ at- the period in which h© wrote, spelling was extremely varied, most people pleasing themselves. The “dolour in the eares” as our forefathers called the ear ache, was in those days a very common complaint, for which there were many quaint remedies, such as pouring into the ear by means of a funnel ‘ the juice of absynth, capers, calammth, ana figs,” bot fomentations were also employed, and other remedies too horrible to mention. Tn tbe 17th century the more unpleasant a medicine was the more faith the patient had in it, and people to-day are much the same; they like their doses to have a- good tang m them. I remember long ago when at sea, once watching the ship’s surgeon prescribing for some of the seamen, it was his first voyage, and hitherto be had only been called, upon to attend to tbe delicate internal apparatus of the dweller in the refined atmosphere of Mayfair. When asked by the seamen to mix up for them their usual potent draught lie was astonished. “It will kill them,” be said; but afterwards, finding that no ill effects followed, be seemed rather annoyed. “A medical practitioner is out of place here, _ be declared, “what these men need is a vqt.” . .. _ Blistering was in great favour in Dr Paton’s time, but one’s-sympathies go out to poor Mistress Rosse, who was not only to be blistered in the neck, but also to take wormwood drink. This was a decoction of common wormwood, then much in use for stomach complaints; but, as generally prepared, it was a nauseous draught. The Egyptians and Romans thought much of its medicinal qualities, and Strabo says _ “ you can cure yourself of dizziness with the bitter leaf of wormwood.” The jaded young society women of Imperial Rome, on the morning after some sumptuous entertainment, took a cup of wormwood wine as a pick-me-up, before they could summon up enough energy to leave their couches at noon. It may. be remembered that it is from wormwood that absinthe, the liqueur so popular and so destructive in its effects, is made. Where Fallbane, where Dr Paton lived, may be, I dp not know, but one may conclude that it was some few miles from Perth, and that be would make an early start from bis home to get to the city and back by daylight, for nobody in those unsettled times cared to be out at night, to say nothing of the ruggedness of the mere bridle, tracks which were called roads, and were practically impassable in winter. Little actual reminders’ of the home life of our forefathers such as worthy Dr ’ Paton’s prescription, are quite delightful in their way, and if carefully considered impress upon us most forcibly how very smooth our lives hare been made to-day in comparison with theirs so long ago.