In the general desire for knowledge and a steady advancement in the things pertaining to civilization the professions were in harmony with that honesty, simplicity and zeal which constituted the foundation structures of pioneer society. The doctor, the clergyman and the lawyer occupied respectively their inviting fields, and each became alike interested in the ever new book of nature, and read aloud the wonders of the New World. The calling of the physician was not very remunerative. He seldom refused to obey a call for reason of the inability to pay. Still, he had but little to do. It was not fashionable to send for a doctor and have the temperature taken for every little indisposition. The people, from instinct or circumstances, had great faith in Nature as a healer. They discovered that persons recovered from most all diseases; and that cool spring water and a little catnip or bone-set tea served to amuse the patient to a satisfactory termination quite as well as the visits of the physician.
And, it would appear, the doctors were generally honest enough to encourage this reasonable confidence to so great an extent that the good physical inheritance required very little medication; and many pioneer fathers and mothers reared large families of children without the loss of a single member, as well as without having a doctor called for any occasion whatever. And the rate of mortality remained astonishingly low until the innovation of “cross-roads” medical colleges, and proprietary nostrums received the patronage of the public.
The great danger in a free country of the learned professions being made up of evil, ignorance and corruption, gave timely warning to the medical men of Ohio, who, with the aid of the legislature, endeavored to protect the growing community against quacks and mountebanks.
The state was divided into districts of several counties each, in which censors were appointed and duly qualified “to faithfully perform and impartially discharge their duties as censors” in the examination of the qualification of applicants to practice medicine and surgery. A certificate of qualification from the Board of Censors was insufficient of itself to entitle the holder to practice, and required a license from the court of common pleas, certified by the secretary of the medical district, and placed on record in the county in which the applicant proposed to practice medicine and surgery.
The following forms were used:
“CERTIFICATE OF QUALIFICATION.
SEAL
“State of Ohio,
Medical District No. 3.“To Whom It May Concern.
“These presents certify, That Giles S. B. Hempstead, of Portsmouth, in the county of Scioto, appeared for examination, and is found to be duly qualified to practice physic and surgery.
“In testimony whereof, I, President of said Board, have hereunto set my hand and affixed the seal of said Board at Marietta, this, the fifth day of November, 1818.
“E. Perkins, President.
Columbus Bierce, Secretary.”
“LICENSE.
“Know all men by these presents, That I, ——, President of the Second Circuit Court of Common Pleas in the State of Ohio, by the authority in me vested, do license Giles S. B. Hempstead to practice physic and surgery within this state.
“In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and official seal of the County of Scioto this, the twenty-third day of November, A. D. 1818.
SEAL
__________________________
“President Court Common Pleas.“I do hereby certify the above to be a true copy of the license granted to Giles S. B. Hempstead.
“Columbus Bierce,
Secretary Third Medical District.”
Each medical district kept a record of all certificates and licenses issued within the area designated for public inspection, that all might know who were qualified to assume the responsibility.
The censors and members licensed composed a list of the learned and able men of Ohio. Almost every one licensed brought with him a certificate of qualification from state censors of some state east, which was copied into the records kept by the censors in Ohio.
These “Diplomas” were quite similar in character and expression, the following being a fair sample: