Last week, in writing about the
destruction of the William Morrison cemetery, I mentioned that Morrison was a
juror in a trial involving Dr. James C, Campbell whom I described as “an
apparent crackpot who billed himself as a Surgeon and “Botanic Physician of the
Reformed School.” There is more to say about Dr. Campbell than that.
James Claibourne Campbell came to Platteville in its early days (before
1841) and by 1845 had a thriving practice.
The 1881 History of Grant County says about him: “The
early physicians, it may here be observed, were Drs. Bevans, Russell and Basye,
of the regular school, and J. C. Campbell, who killed or cured with lobelia and
steam.” Nothing
is known of his qualifications to act as a Physician and Surgeon, but it is
probable that he learned what was then called the Thomson System of Botanic
Practice.
Samuel Thomson, a native of New Hampshire, seeing the failures of
standard medical practice in the first half of the 19th century, and
being exposed to folk medicine, studied the use of plants to treat and cure
disease. Self-taught, the herbalist then developed the use of “steaming” in
treating the ill. Basically this
consisted of pouring vinegar over hot stones while the patient sat over the
stones and under a cover to concentrate the steam. Between the steam and herbal medicines and
poultices, Thomson claimed to have much more success than conventional
doctors. He noted the standard medical
practitioners “would always either bleed
or give physic (laxative).” He noted that the condition of a woman neighbor
grew worse the more doctors visited her.
The doctors, he said, could give her no relief “excepting a temporary one by stupefying her with opium and giving
physic.” Doctors also administered mercury and other poisons which more
often than not harmed rather than helped the sufferer.
In 1822 Thomson published a book, The New Guide to Health, which set forth his principles that
the paths to elimination (bowels, lungs, pores) must be kept open and internal
body heat maintained. Treatment
consisted of using herbal concoctions or decoctions that induced sweating and a
feeling of warmth, along with steaming and applying herbal poultices for
lacerations, Canker-Rash (Scarlet Fever), Measles and Pox. Thomson gave
certificates to those who bought and studied his system (above) and apparently
Campbell was one of these. “Those
calling on me for medicine”
Campbell said, “shall receive the Botanic medicine, and no other.”
The interesting and frightening fact about Campbell is that he also
billed himself as a surgeon, having to all appearances no training in the art.
According to a memorial to Dr. Campbell, written by his descendant Clinton
Kimball in 1952, he did receive a medical degree from a Missouri College, but
not until he was sixty-five years of age (he was born on October 30, 1810). His
claimed surgical repertoire in 1845 included Trephining (boring a hole in the
skull, usually to treat penetrating head wounds or depressed fractures, but
sometimes for headaches, epilepsy or mental illness), tying the iliac artery (to treat uncontrolled
uterine bleeding) and Lithotomy (cutting out stones from the kidney, bladder,
gallbladder, etc.).
Because of the utter lack of sterile procedure (the Germ Theory of
Disease had not yet been developed) infection and death were common. Dr. Campbell was sued a number of times,
usually not for malpractice, but he gave public notice nonetheless:
“TAKE
NOTICE ALL: …if the patient dies, or the medicine docs
no good, or the limb or part of the body
operated upon by me as a Surgeon, is lame or in any way wrong, after the operation, I will not be responsible for mal-practice or bad treatment in any way,
and will, in all cases, charge the full price
of the above bill, whether they are
benefited or not. In very many cases,
the fault is in the patient, or nurse,
for which I cannot and will not be
responsible.”
Campbell was continually stymied in collecting his fees
for services. His diary mentions him
visiting patients, not to administer treatment but to attempt to collect for
treatments given. In 1844 in the U.S.
District court at Lancaster, a jury denied him the right to collect on certain fees
he had billed. We do not know the reason.
His response was to take out a nearly full page advertisement in the Platteville Independent American and General
Advertiser on January 25, 1845 announcing:
“In order to form a more perfect system of doing business —
establish justice — insure and provide for my own defence — promote my general
welfare and secure the blessings of liberty to myself and family, do ordain aid
establish, That I will not sell any more Medicine, without
the money or its equivalent paid in hand, except, the persons wanting the
same are POOR — WIDOWS — ORPHANS.
or objects of CHARITY, such can come and "buy without money or price.”
Campbell’s love of money apparently led him into both social and legal
trouble. A case arose in which he
apparently was named to administer the estate of one Edmund Locke. He withheld funds from the man’s widow and
child claiming that $1,440.00 in fees were owed him. He was expelled from the Masonic Lodge for
this outrage in 1852. That same year he
took his family and moved to St. Louis, Missouri. Subsequently, Jonathan Moore, administrator
of the Locke estate won a judgment against Campbell, and in 1854 his lots in
Platteville and land in the country were sold by Sheriff William McGonigal to
pay the Locke Estate principal and interest.
In 1852 Campbell acquired as a patient an important citizen of St.
Louis, John F. Darby, former two term mayor of St. Louis and then a member of
the U.S. House of Representatives. From
June through September 1852, Campbell made three trips to give treatment to
Darby and provide him medications to use in his absence. Darby was suffering from some kind of
“paralytic condition” which made it nearly impossible for him to raise his
arms. Campbell told Darby it would cost
him between $200.00 and $500.00 to cure him.
The treatments consisted of steam treatments, “Life Liniment”, “Ague and
Fever Physic”, “Composition Tea”, and Emetics. At this time Campbell was hawking his own
“California Medicine” packets as well.
Campbell must have felt that
there was more profit to be made in St. Louis than in
Platteville, for on November 8, 1852
He packed up his family and went to Galena, taking passage from there to St.
Louis aboard the steam boat Shenandoah.
“We had to pay $12.00 each for passage” he wrote in his diary. On the voyage downriver the Shenandoah struck bottom and began to
sink. The passengers were transferred to
another boat, the Wisconsin, which
promptly began to leak. They almost
sank, but the crew saved them and they finished the trip aboard the steamboat Regulator.
Campbell continued his medical practice in St. Louis, and late in life
received a degree in medicine. He
remained in St. Louis and continued his practice until 1880. In that year, at
the advanced age of seventy, he and his wife returned to Platteville and took
up residence in the old Campbell House, part of which still stands at 150 Market
Street. The back portion and the third floor have been removed over the years.
James Claibourne Campbell died in Platteville on November 12, 1881. He is buried in the Greenwood Cemetery in
Platteville. Campbell’s son James
Alexander Campbell became a well-regarded Oculist (Ophthalmologist) and Aurist
(otologist or ear doctor), the author of a number of books and papers on his
specialty. By the time of James C. Campbell’s death, medical science had
outgrown his concepts, and was ready to scientifically investigate and cure the
killers of his younger years. The world
today is a much better place to live a healthy life because scientific research
has replaced folklore in medicine.
The James C. Campbell house as
built
The James C. Campbell House
today
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