Doctors
Prior to 1841, no physician had located within the limits of Clinton county,and the settlers depended upon what little stock of medicine they chanced tobring with them, upon Indian remedies, and upon the indigenous roots and herbsgathered and prepared by the experienced elder ladies.
Ipecac and boneset were the chief species in the medicine chest. DoctorBeck added to the local pharmacy pills and ointment, especially blue and redprecipitates, which, there is a credible tradition the settlers had a"terrible itching for" about that time.
James D. Bourne, in his part of the county, turned his attention to surgeryas well as medicine, and probably performed the first surgical operation afterthe Indian medicine man vanished.
He first relieved Norman Evans, who had received a severe gash upon the knee,and afterward cut a rusty fish-gig from the hand of an unknown man, andextracted a bean from the nose of a child.
In the spring of 1837, Robert Bourne brought to this section the firstassortment of medicine, including calomel, jalap, chinchona, wormseed,Sappington's pills, which were dealt out to the settlers in heroic doses.
The obstetric department was managed by the wise and experienced matrons andthey performed their services well.
The first regularly educated physician in the county was Dr. William Bassett,who came from DeKalb county, Ill., to Camanche in 1841. From there hemoved to Lyons in 1844, and practiced there until 1848, when he went across theriver to Fulton, Illinois, and died there in 1867. He was born inHinsdale, Massachusetts, in 1808, was educated at Berkshire Medical College,Pittsfield, Mass.
Dr. Zebulon Metcalf came next; he located at DeWitt in 1842, and residedthere until his death in 1847. He was born in Cherry Valley, New York, andwas educated in eastern schools.
SOURCE: Centennial Edition, Clinton Herald, Clinton Iowa, 18 June 1955
