Our Family Doctor

Our Family Doctor is a medical primer dating to the late 19th century, designed for use in the home – it is reprinted here for its historical value.

Since this short book dates to the 1880s, the medical procedures and treatments described are starkly different from the modern day. The remedies for various serious ailments such as pneumonia, diphtheria and smallpox have long been superseded by improvements in medical science. As such, the value of this book is its demonstration of historic medicine – a time when the use of substances such as Sulphur, flax seeds, quinine and morphine to alleviate symptoms of life-threatening diseases was normal.

Originally, this book was attached to a medicine case which households could buy and keep in case of a sudden outbreak of illness. At the time, although such medicines were implied as a substitute for a doctor, the author is clear that if a disease progresses further that an actual physician must be summoned to the house to administer treatment.

An advertisement, listing the chemical tablets and droppers included in the company’s medical kit, is appended at the conclusion of this book.