Churchmen and Medicine
Medicine was associated in many minds not only with the powers of evil but also with the forces for good. The clergyman in colonial America often practiced medicine, and the layman in some localities of Virginia could turn to the local parson for medical assistance.
Throughout the early Christian era and the medieval period, medicine and religion had had a close relationship. The New Testament had numerous references to the healing of the sick by spiritual means, and a casual relationship between sin and physical affliction had been assumed by many persons for centuries before the seventeenth. The hand of God was still seen by many in physical phenomena, whether disease or the flight of a comet. Not only was there a supernatural relationship seen between the God of the church and disease, but also a natural one between medicine and the church clergy, for they had staffed the medical schools for centuries. It is not surprising, then, that the parson-physician was no stranger to the Virginia colony.
As early as 1619, Robert Pawlett, known to be a preacher, surgeon, and physician, came to Virginia. He was followed by other parson-physicians in Virginia and in other colonies. As late as the end of the eighteenth century, the wife of George Washington called on the Reverend Greene, M.D., for medical advice.
Among the most interesting in this long tradition of ministers who practiced medicine is the Reverend John Clayton whose activities have been noted. Other persons residing in Virginia and combining the role of clergyman with a considerable interest in medicine were Nathaniel Eaton, who had a degree in medicine, and John Banister who was an active naturalist. As a naturalist, he made an important study of the plants of Virginia (Catalogue of Virginia Plants) which added to the literature available for the dispenser of medicinal drugs. One of the founders of Presbyterianism in America, the Reverend Francis Makemie, who came to America in 1681 and died in Accomack County, Virginia, was described as a preacher, a doctor of medicine, a merchant, an attorney—and a disturber of government by the governor of New York.
Law and Medicine
Although the Crown did not follow the lead of the Company in providing care for the sick and unsheltered, the authorities after 1624 did have the state take an interest in medicine to the extent of passing laws dealing with medical problems and situations. These laws were primarily concerned with the collection and charging of fees, but also provided for the censure of the physician or surgeon neglecting his patient.
On four occasions during the century the Assembly attempted to regulate the excessive and immoderate rates of physicians and surgeons. The chief example used to convey the injustice of fees for visits and drugs was that many colonists preferred to allow their servants to hazard a recovery than to call a medical man. Although an inhumane attitude, the colonists reasoned that the physician or surgeon would charge more than the purchase price of the servant.
The act of 1657-58 reveals this attitude and throws some light on the medical practice of the century. (Similar acts had been passed in 1639 and in 1645 and would be passed in 1661-62.) By the will of the Assembly, the layman had the right to bring the physician or surgeon into court if the charge for "paines, druggs or medicines" was thought to be unreasonable. The surgeon or physician had in court to declare under oath the true value of drugs and medicines administered, and then the court decided the just compensation.
The law went on to declare that: