Submitted to the Daily Reflector February, 2007

    “Greeneville is a small town on the south side of the Tar-River, built on a pleasant spot of considerable elevation, and nearly insulated by the river, and two branches on the east and west side of town, whose sources are but a short distance apart.  The land on the north side of the river is low, broken by ponds, and subject to be overflowed during a fresh [or flood], which occurs five or six times a year, to such an extent as to cover the low land half a mile distant from the bank.”  Thus wrote “Dr.G. Pillson of the town in his article “On the Topography and Diseases of Greenville on Tar River (North Carolina)” which he submitted to April 1, 1802, issue of The Medical Repository of Original Essays and Intelligence, Relative to Physic, Surgery, Chemistry, and Natural History. 

    Pillson’s purpose in writing the essay for the New York magazine was to supplement an article by a Doctor Williamson on the occurrence of fevers in North Carolina.  However, the Greenville doctor’s description of the ailments afflicting his patients, plus the methods he employed to treat their problems, provides a rare and unusually detailed look at the practice of medicine in eastern North Carolina in the days before aspirin and antibiotics.  Pillson’s first case was an attack of dysentery that struck a family south of town.  The doctor first tried a series of purgatives including the South American plant ipecacuanha, rhubarb, salts, and castor oil.  He finally hit upon a combination of calomel and opium as the solution for his patients. 

    During the late summer and fall, many patients were affected by “bilious” fevers.  While the chief symptoms included severe head pain that might develop into delirium, plus pain and in the back and lumbar regions, the chief medicines that the doctor administered were again purgatives.  Blisters or plasters on the neck and shoulders were used to reduce the head pain.  However, repeated doses of a mixture of Mexican jalap, calomel, Southeast Asian gamboge, Mediterranean scammony, and aloe constituted his chief treatment.  Congratulating himself on the success of this medical regime, Pillson notes that he lost only one patient with this method. 

    Pillson does not offer any cures for the common cold, but he deplores the readiness of others to employ bleeding to relieve the symptoms of any congestive conditions. In fact, he complains that the planters in his community are all too likely to treat themselves by bleeding before seeking medical advice, and the bleeding frequently weakens the patients to no effect. 

    In the case of influenza, Pillson observes that bleeding is invariably fatal.  He found plasters, warm diaphoretics (medicines that make the patient sweat), and cordials more beneficial.  Pillson goes on to describe the success of one patient in treating himself with heavy doses of alcohol.  The doctor also employed purgatives, expectorants, and snake root to relieve the symptoms of the flu. 

    Reading Pillson’s article today, sufferers of colds, flu, and other seasonal ailments can be thankful for the advances of medicine in identifying, relieving and curing many common medical conditions.   One certainly wonders of the fates of Doctor Pillson’s patients.  Pillson’s own fate is obscure.  Local records do not report the existence of a G. Pillson.  One Thomas Pillson came to Greenville in 1795.  His only real estate purchase was a half-acre lot in town.  He appears on the 1800 census as a single man with three slaves.  In October of 1801, Thomas Pillson sold his lot and home to Doctor David Alexander Telfair of Edgecombe County.  Dr. Telfair would remain active in Greenville for several decades, while the name Pillson simply disappears from Pitt County records.

    Those who wish to read Pillson’s article for themselves should consult the American Periodical Series in Joyner Library.  The online database is one of several electronic resources that provide full-text access to historical materials.  For assistance searching these databases for information relative to the history of North Carolina, visit the Verona Langford North Carolina Collection on the third floor of Joyner Library.  See our web site at http://www.ecu.edu/cs-lib/ncc/index.cfm or call 328-6601 for hours and directions.  

 

John R. M. Lawrence is a reference librarian for the North Carolina Collection of J.Y. Joyner Library at East Carolina University.