Medicine and Physicians of James Fenimore Cooper

摘要

A5 a boy I was fascinated by Cooper's works. They were the essence of true romance to my way of thinking. Leather-Stocking was my hero, and Cooper's Indians became my Indians. So vividly did these boyhood impressions remain that to me the Indians of America still are Cooper's Indians. In later years when I took my first trip through the Mohawk Valley I did not see all the examples of twentieth century modern America as I traveled along, for I was seeing the countryside as Cooper described it. Since the classics do not die, but become more meaningful through the years, one naturally rereads his favorite authors. As one matures and comes to a better understanding of the early American setting, one realizes that Cooper was tremendously interested in the social problems of his day. He was a social critic of his times. Being a medical librarian, as I reread my favorite stories by Cooper I began to look for his comments on American medicine. Cooper was well acquainted with the medical practice of that day, and his stories point out many of the failures and likewise some of the better aspects of medical practice of early America.