Doctoring The South: Southern Physicians And Everyday Medicine In The Mid-nineteenth Century (studies In Social Medicine)

n N doctoring the south u studies in social medicine u Allan M. Brandt and Larry R. Churchill, editors u n Steven M. Stowe u doctoring the south Southern Physicians and Everyday Medicine in the Mid-Nineteenth Century N the university of north carolina press chapel hill & london ∫ 2004 The University of North Carolina Press u All rights reserved u Manufactured in the United States of America Designed by Heidi Perov Set in Monotype Garamond and Copperplate by Keystone Typesetting, Inc. The paper in this book meets the guidelines for permanence and durability of the Committee on Production Guidelines for Book Longevity of the Council on Library Resources. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Stowe, Steven M., 1946– Doctoring the South : southern physicians and everyday medicine in the mid-nineteenth century / Steven M. Stowe. p. cm. — (Studies in social medicine) Includes bibliographical references and index. isbn 0-8078-2885-8 (cloth: alk. paper) 1. Medicine—Southern States—History—19th century. 2. Physicians—Southern States—History—19th century. I. Title. II. Series. r154.5.s68s76 2004 610%.975%09034—dc22 2004005103 08 07 06 05 04 5 4 3 2 1 u for my mother u This page intentionally left blank u Contents u acknowledgments ix introduction: Physicians, Everyday Medicine, and the Country Orthodox Style 1 Sickness and Health in a Southern Place 4 Physicians: A Mid-Nineteenth-Century Profile 7 part one. choosing medicine one. Men, Schools, and Careers 15 Family, Intellect, and the Manly Choice 16 Medical Schools and Reform: Stretching Orthodoxy 19 The Porous School: Apprenticeship 27 The Porous School: City Life and a Man’s World 32 two. The Science of All Life 41 Lectures: Synthesis and Practice 42 Clinics: Foreign Bodies and Appended Charity 52 Anatomy: Opened Bodies and the Moral Urge 59 The Medical Thesis: Enlightenments 69 three. Starting Out 76 New Degree, Fresh Doubts 77 Calculation for Survival 80 The Community Chooses Its Own 84 First Patients, ‘‘Monster’’ Disease, and ‘‘Inward Satisfaction’’ 90 part two. doing medicine four. Livelihood 101 Logging Patients, Seeing Race 103 Self-Interest and Moral Judgment 108 Health Talk across the Racial Divide 114 Rounds 119 Livelihood, Subjectivity, and the Country Orthodox Style 127 five. Bedside 131 Summoned to the Social Bedside 133 Seeing Bodies: The Physical and the Social 141 Changing Bodies: ‘‘Experience’’ and the Charm of Drugs 149 Borrowing, Experimenting, and Violence 156 The Shadow of Bedside Practice 162 part three. making medicine six. The Lives of Others 167 Co-attendance and Conflict 168 Writing Orthodoxy at the Bedside 175 John Knox: E√acing Pain 177 Charles Hentz: Making Case-time 182 Courtney Clark: Looking for Connections 192 seven. Landscape, Race, and Faith 200 Landscapes of Knowledge 201 Slavery and Race 208 Faith: Knowing What ‘‘Passeth Understanding’’ 218 eight. Witnessing 228 Case Narratives: Orthodoxy’s Stories 229 Dr. Patteson: Technique and Transcendence 236 Dr. Dowler: Scientist and Community 239 Dr. Yandell: The Eclipse of the Personal 243 Dr. Bassett: The Eclipse of the Professional 249 epilogue: The Civil War and the Persistence of the Country Orthodox Style 259 notes 273 bibliography 327 index 365 viii u contents u Acknowledgments u Many people have helped in the research and writing of this book, many more than I can hope to acknowledge here. I am grateful for funding received from the National Library of Medicine (#1r01lmo5334-01), the Indiana University Center for the History of Medicine, and Research and the Unive