History of medicine in Massachusetts : a centennial address delivered before the Massachusetts Medical Society at Cambridge, June 7, 1881.

  • Samuel Abbott Green
Date:
1881
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: History of medicine in Massachusetts : a centennial address delivered before the Massachusetts Medical Society at Cambridge, June 7, 1881. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library at Columbia University and Columbia University Libraries/Information Services, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the the Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library at Columbia University and Columbia University.

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    theis Condicons Nameley That 40* should bee allowed him viz' for his Chist 2.? the Rest [for] his owne sallery for the first yeere puided yt he [continue] 3 yeeres the Comp. to bee at Charge of transporting his wiffe & a ch[ild] haue 20' a yeere for the other 2 yeeres *fc to build him a ho [use at] the Comp Chardge & to allott him 100 acr'. of ground but if he stay but one yeere then the comp to bee at Chardge of his bringing back for England & he to Leaue his s'^u[ant] and the Chist for the Comp seruice. Agreed w' Robert 3Iorley s^iant to M' Andrewe IMathewes late barber surgeon to s^ie the Comp. in Newe England for three y[ears] the first yeere to haue 20 nobles the second yeere [30 ? and the third] yeere 20 markes, to serue as a barber & a surgeon [on all] occasyons belonging to his Calling to aney of this [Com- pany] that are planters or there seruauts, and for his [chest and] all in it whereof he hath geeueu an Inuentory . . . sight of it It bee approoued ffyve pounds Is . . . and payd to him ffor it & the same to bee fo[rthwith payd.]—(General Court Rec- ords, i. 3».) Mr. Pratt's given name was John; and after coming to Xew England he lived at Cambridge. The last entry in these records reminds us of the time when barbers were doctors by brevet, as it were, and performed many operations of minor surgery, such as pulling teeth, bleeding, and cup- ping. A noble was worth about 6s. 8d.; and a mark was double the value of a noble. For many years before the Puritans came to this country, they were subjected to bitter perse- cution ; and foreseeing the possibility of an eject- ment, a considerable number of their ministers studied medicine. They saw the probable needs of the future, and fitted themselves, as best they could, for any emergenc}- that might arise in a new settlement; hence they formed a large pro- portion of the early physicians of Massachusetts. History repeats herself, and we see to-day Ameri- can missionaries who first study medicine as a par-
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