The medical companion, or, Family physician : treating of the diseases of the United States, with their symptoms, causes, cure, and means of prevention : common cases in surgery, as fractures, dislocations, &c. : the management and diseases of women and children, a dispensatory, for preparing family medicines, and a glossary explaining technical terms : to which are added a brief anatomy and physiology of the human body, shewing, on rational principles, the cause and cure of disease : an essay on hygieine [sic], or the art of preserving health without the aid of medicine : an American materia medica, pointing out the virtues and doses of our medicinal plats ; also, the nurse's guide / by James Ewell.

  • Ewell, James, 1773-1832.
Date:
1822
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The medical companion, or, Family physician : treating of the diseases of the United States, with their symptoms, causes, cure, and means of prevention : common cases in surgery, as fractures, dislocations, &c. : the management and diseases of women and children, a dispensatory, for preparing family medicines, and a glossary explaining technical terms : to which are added a brief anatomy and physiology of the human body, shewing, on rational principles, the cause and cure of disease : an essay on hygieine [sic], or the art of preserving health without the aid of medicine : an American materia medica, pointing out the virtues and doses of our medicinal plats ; also, the nurse's guide / by James Ewell. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    lich, and their coadjutors, have often been led, from superficial and conceit- ed knowledge, to become prescribes to others, and have, by their blun- ders rendered the attendance of the regular physician more needful than ever. Hence it has been argued, that publications of this kind fail to pro- mote the plausible object of their composition, and in reality, produce a mischievous, and not a beneficial effect. It has even been urged against them, that they are of no service to any person but the writer, who may diffuse his fame and increase tiis wealth in proportion to the circulation of. his book and the consequent disturbance it works in society. Whatever may be the merits of this controversy among those who are toiling night and day in the service of the infirm and disabled, or in the comoilation of volumes, for our own parts, as reviewers, we feel favourable to the genera) distribution of knowledge. We are not attached to monop- olies of any kind, and less than any, to that which confines to a particular order, the information which will teacli man how to prevent sickness and pain, and to remove these ills when they invade. He who publishes whole- some precepts and directions, cannot be denied the merit of good intention; and it would be hard to refuse him the additional credit of having done sub- stantial good to those who have followed his advice. Having indulged these prefatory reflections, we advance to the consideration of the work before us. The author has prefixed to it a dedication to the President of the United States, a preface explanatory of his design, and a number of recommendato- ry epistles from his friends. Then follows a chapter of preliminary obser. vations, of which we were inclined to offer an extract for the gratification •four readers; but our limits forbade. The body of the work is devoted to the consideration of the principal diseases which assail the human frame at different times of life. They be- gin with fevers, and end with rickets; without, however, observing any strict method or nosological arrangement. Each section stands by itself, and has little or no connexion with the preceding or subsequent matter.— But a table of contents and index are two good keys to the subjects dis- cussed. The diseases are severally considered in short and generally appropriate terms. After a definition, the. observations are mostly comprised under the head of symptoms, causes, treatment, and regimen) to which, in some instances, are added paragraphs on prevention. And it is but justice to observe, that the author has manifested a careful and discriminating mind in condensing so much valuable instruction into such a moderate compass. The senten- tious, and, at the same time, intelligible manner of conveying his directions, is at once calculated to give the reader a clear idea of his meaning, and fa- vourable opinion of his understanding. Besides the observations that are strictly medical, the work contains a va- riety of directions upon surgical subjects. To render his compilation more generally useful and acceptable, the au- thor lias annexed to it a dispensatory. 1 his consists of two parts: the first comprehends a table of medicines for fan ilj use, with their doses and qual- ities annexed; and the second contains a collection of recipes for the princi- pal part of the compound medicines recommended in the course of the work. And this part of the publication ]., executed in a manner that justi- fies the opinion we hinted before, of Dr. Ewell's sagacity and skill.