In the rapids there are three passages, and they are all taken at different times, according to the state of the river. Pilots are, by law, appointed to navigate boats down the rapids. The quantity of water in the river often varies: it sometimes both rises and falls in the course of a few hours.
Before I proceed further down this river, I must notice those parts of Pennsylvania and Virginia, which lie on the Ohio. The western boundary of Pennsylvania lies about forty miles west of French Creek and Alleghany river; and west of Pittsburgh, on both sides of the Ohio, about the same distance. North-west, it is bounded by a part of Lake Erie, and south by a part of Virginia.
A part of the state of Virginia lies on the Ohio, [155] having a part of Pennsylvania on the east,[[144]] and Kentucky on the west. The principal waters, which enter the Ohio from Pennsylvania, are the Big Beaver on the north, and Racoon Creek on the south.
In travelling in the vicinity of the western rivers, I could not always obtain good accommodations upon them. As such accommodations, however, were of but little consequence to me, I always, when I wished to descend the rivers, jumped into the first boat I could find.—Sometimes I moved along in a keel, sometimes in an ark, and sometimes rowed myself in a little skiff. By taking this course, I not only could land when I pleased, but became particularly acquainted with the navigation of the rivers, and with the various means of transportation upon them. My society, it is true, was not always the best; but, perhaps, not the less instructive for this circumstance. To become practically acquainted with the world, one must see human nature in all its aspects. Sometimes I met real gentlemen, and sometimes fell in with the perfect boor. I was not known to any one; but the boatmen, frequently becoming sick, applied to me for medical aid; and hence I acquired the title of Doctor.
My prescriptions were always simple; and, strange to tell, I did not lose a single patient. My knowledge of the Materia Medica was, no doubt, limited. Without, however, consulting Celsus or Boerhave, I always told the sick, that in a few days, they would be perfectly well. I really suppose that men often die, because they think they shall. Much depends, in sickness, upon the state of the mind. Our intellectual and physical nature always sympathise with each other. Resistance lessens the force of an attack; and there is something [156] in the declaration, I will not be conquered! which fortifies both the mind and the body.
My next learned theory was, that nature loves herself; and, in sickness, requires, in many cases, only a little aid to enable her so to exert her powers as to produce the desired effect. The most simple prescriptions, if efficient, are always the best. Powerful remedies tend to disorganize the most subtle functions of the animal economy; and by curing one disease to produce a complication of many others.
But I would not call in question the importance of the profession of medicine. As to its station in the catalogue of sciences, it ranks among the very first. This profession presents to the human mind the most extensive field for investigation. The great science of physiology is its basis; and chymistry, the wonderful magician, by whom the constituent parts of matter are ascertained, the effects of their various combinations discovered, and the production of new qualities realized. The physician should be, emphatically, a child of nature, and well acquainted with the principles of her government, both with respect to mind and matter.
Upon the western rivers a great many boatmen die, and their graves upon the banks are numerous; hence those who are taken sick are, generally, much alarmed.
The boatmen of the west are conspicuous for their habits of intemperance, and swearing. Whilst on the western rivers my ears were shocked by their oaths and curses. I endeavoured to lessen this practice. To effect my object I, occasionally, associated with them; and by a kind, free, and yet grave manner, prepared the way for some friendly counsel upon the subject. They saw that I did not feel above their labours, or their modes of living.—I fully participated in their hard fare; slept across flour [157] barrels, without bed or covering, drank water from the river, and sometimes laboured at their oars. Thus I gained their confidence and their good will.
At one time, during the silence of evening, I addressed about twenty boatmen upon the subject of swearing. I represented the practice as not only wicked, but idle, low, and unmanly. They heard me with attention, some of them made many acknowledgments, and whilst I continued with them, they swore little or none. Upon many other occasions I spake to boatmen upon the subject; and from their manner, I have no doubt that the practice of swearing among them might be rendered less common. But, perhaps, there is no habit, the controul of which depends less upon the will than that of swearing. The tongue is a little member, and often moves ere the judgment can controul the impulses of the heart. A pretty lad, in one of the western boats, attracted my attention, both by his beauty and his profaneness. After speaking to him upon the subject, I offered him a dollar upon the condition of his not swearing for the remainder of the day. He was much pleased with the proposition; but after controuling himself with much watchfulness, for about an hour, he became discouraged, and partially returned to his long established practice. Let those, who are so happy as to be free from this vice, guard against the subtle influences of its example.