Diseases in the District of Maine 1772 - 1820

This is a rare, previously unpublished account of suffering and healing in the Early Republic, a primary source describing one medical practice. We know a lot about how elite physicians practiced 200 years ago, but very little about the daily practice of an ordinary rural doctor, attending the ordinary rural patient. Barker's manuscript is written in a clear and engaging style, easily enjoyed by general readers as well as historians, with extensive footnotes and a glossary of terms. Barker himself intended his book to be "understood by those destitute of medical science."