Medical history of Michigan .., Pioneering the Upper Midwest 1820 - 1910

This illustrated two-volume set compiled by the Michigan State Medical Society presents information about medical developments in Michigan in the early and middle nineteenth century in loosely-organized chapters. The material is drawn from reminiscences, historical chronicles, anecdotes, scholarly journals, letters, and biographical as well as autobiographical accounts. Topics in vol. 1 include Native American medicine; physicians who accompanied the European and early American explorers of the upper Northwest; the development of Michigan's medical education and public health resources; diseases and epidemics; insects; homeopathy; diagnostic aids; medical equipment; and therapeutic practice. Many physicians are remembered in short factual entries or sketches. A few, like the pioneer physiologist William Beaumont (who conducted digestive research by monitoring a patient's exposed entrails), receive entire articles. Vol. 2 emphasizes the latter half of the nineteenth century, a time when Michigan physicians were developing a professional code of ethics, standards, and regulatory mechanisms. Topics include the re-organization of the State Medical Society, the controversy over homeopathy, and how hospitals became the preferred setting for major medical procedures. An index for both volumes starts on p. 83.

"References" at end of each chapter except two.

Also available in digital form on the Library of Congress Web site.