MEDICINE OF THE PIONEER PERIOD IN UTAH BY JOSEPH R.
T
MORRELL*
pioneers in Utah provided an interesting chapter in the history of American medicine. There were problems to be met, in relationships with which other frontier groups were not concerned. The Mormon religion taught dependence on faith in a Divine Power in the care of their sick, and the people, therefore, made little use of physicians. Many of the members held a resentment against all doctors, while some felt that to employ them, even in an emergency, indicated a lack of faith. HE MORMON
There were a few medical graduates among the pioneers. A larger number who were treating the sick belonged to a cult known as the Thomsonian doctors. These latter had a higher rating in the communities than the physicians, some holding high rank in the priesthood of the church. They practiced a system of treating disease with mild herbs, and naively referred to their medical competitors as "Poison Doctors." The combined influences reacted strongly against the doctors, and practice for them was never agreeable and smooth. The Thomsonian cultists early organized a Council of Health, into which were admitted many of the church leaders. Regular meetings were held in which officials of the church participated actively. This gave the council a place of prestige, and the members used it to advantage to dominate the medical men. The result was a general suspicion of both the integrity and ability of the physicians. Their services were limited largely to the treatment of emergencies and the care of some who were considered of weak faith. The handicaps thus imposed restricted medical practice to a minor place in community life. And such it remained, in fact, for many years, until progress in the knowledge of disease, and its prevention and cure, had reached a point where it could no longer be kept in the background. *Dr. Morrell is a retired physician and surgeon of Ogden, Utah.
