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Doctors of the Old West by Robert F. Karolevitz (review)
- Western American Literature
- The Western Literature Association
- Volume 3, Number 4, Winter 1969
- p. 318
- 10.1353/wal.1969.0022
- Review
- Additional Information
- Purchase/rental options available:
318 Western American Literature of the American frontier which hit the Mississippi around the turn of the century and increased thereafter. He might also have added a section in the monograph describing Spain’s contemporary political weakness as well as its imperial collapse a few years after the events related in this work. But these suggestions are not intended to detract from the fact that Spanish War Vessels on the Mississippi is a real contribution to scholarship; it is clearly up to the standards Professor Nasatir has maintained for many years. Charles J. Bayard, Colorado State University Doctors of the Old West. By Robert F. Karolevitz. (Seattle: Superior Publishing Company, 1967. 192 pages, illus., bibliography, index, $12.95.) This book, as its subtitle suggests, is a pictorial history of medicine on the frontier. It is an interesting collection of photographs depicting the prob lems of medical practice, such as it was, during the pioneer development of the United States. It includes the story of the Indian Medicine Man, the tribal healer as well as the quack and outright charlatan. It also tells a story of the medical practitioner, who was by necessity, a combination of scientist, adventurer, and soldier of fortune. Many ethical doctors struggled with the problems of public health and preventive medicine, but the bulk of medical practice was directed at the care of the injured or administering to the dying. These pioneer doctors not only cared for the sick and injured, but because they were among the more educated of the pioneers, were frequently called upon to serve in an administrative capacity. As a history of pioneer medicine, the book leaves much to be desired, partly because of the lack of continuity. The book skips from one section of the country to another and from one period of time to another so often that no story is really told. It is a collection of interesting facts and photographs which will be interesting to a small segment of people only. The book focuses mainly on the inadequacies of medicine and public health during a difficult but exciting period of our country’s development. One photograph was of special interest to this reviewer. It shows Dr. Donald Guthrie, founder of the Guthrie Clinic in Pennsylvania, assisting Dr. Will Mayo as St. Mary’s Hospital in Rochester, Minnesota. The names and dates are not included but the same photograph was shown to me by Mrs. Guthrie in 1955, when it was my pleasure to care for Dr. Guthrie while he was a patient at the Mayo Clinic. The photograph was taken in 1909. Stanley W. H enson, Jr., M.D., Fort Collins, Colorado ...