Medical Notice

Utah Historical Quarterly

Vol. XXI, 1953 No. 4

MEDICAL NOTICE.

P. MEEKS, respectfully informs the citizens of Nauvoo and vicinity, that he intends keeping an assortment of the best Indian remedies now known, entirely vegetable; which he digs from the earth himself, having knowledge and experience in the Indian practice of medicine for many years. He can with confidence recommend specifics, for any pulmonary complaints, from the consumption to the highest coughs; also a certain root which entirely cures the ague cake, or enlargeme[n]t of the spleen: also a certain root which is a sovereign remedy for the cramp; likewise the same kind of roots which the squaws use to facilitate.........

.........; those women that have not used it, will not be without it at such a time if possible to obtain it; which they should commence using two or three weeks before their expected............

..........; also a remedy which acts specifically on the kidneys wreters and urinary organs, to ease pains and allay inflamation, and cleanse the and cause it to flow free and clear, also effectually cure the tooth ache, without extracting the tooth; also a certain remedy for the piles. He also has on hand a vegetable snuff, which will in most cases relieve the head ache, by opening the head and let the obstructions pass out by the nose; also roots which is a specific remedy for the breast complaint or weakness in the breast, and also the liver complaint; also all obstructions and weakness: finally he intends when spring opens, to collect Indian roots and herbs a sufficient quantity and quality to meet with success any complaint that is subject to this country, either in male or female.

Residence on Rich street, half mile North East of the Temple, at the South East corner of Hyrum Kimball's farm.

Nauvoo Neighbor, January 9, 1845

Priddy Meeks was a "Thompsonian" or "herb doctor" prominently identified with what passed for medical practice in southern Utah during the frontier period. He joined the Latterday Saint Church in 1840, lived in Nauvoo several years, and participated in the Mormon exodus to the Rocky Mountains, arriving in Salt Lake Valley in October, 1847. He died at Orderville, Utah, October 17, 1886, in his ninety-second year.

This medical advertisement is an excellent social document, for it accurately illustrates the primitive character of medicine a century ago. The words deleted indicate a certain delicacy, or even prudishness, yet by their absence draw more attention to themselves than if they were printed. From the pinnacle of our modern sophistication, this notice, excerpted from an old newspaper, seems naive and primitive, if not downright simple, and yet we moderns, with our certainty that we nearly have reached the ultimate of things, no doubt will be looked upon in turn as quite a naive folk one hundred years hence. Certainly illness and death were as tragic then as now, but doubtless the people faced them with as much faith in their simple remedies as we do with our multitudinous ones.

A. R. M.

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