610 MEDICINAL HERBS after a boiler explosion aboard the U.S.S. Bennington on July 21, 1905, in San Diego Harbor. Boers was buried in the Vine Street Hill Cemetery, Cincinnati. Irish-born Cpl. Thomas M. Doherty (1869– 1906) won his medal for rescuing wounded soldiers from the front lines while under heavy fire at Santiago, Cuba, on July 1, 1898. After the war he was stationed at the Fort Thomas Military Reservation, where he committed suicide in the restroom of what is known today as the Midway Cafe across the street from the fort. He was buried in Evergreen Cemetery, Southgate. Samuel Woodfi ll (1883–1951), who was a 1st lieutenant when he received the medal, was described by Gen. John (Black Jack) Pershing as “the most outstanding soldier of World War I.” Woodfi ll was awarded the Medal of Honor for destroying three machine gun nests near Cunel, France, on October 12, 1918, even though he had just inhaled mustard gas. After the war Woodfi ll lived in Fort Thomas, where a school is named in his honor. He was buried in Arlington National Cemetery. Lt. Col. Donald C. Faith Jr. (1918–1950) grew up in Fort Thomas, graduating from Highlands High School and from Xavier University in Cincinnati. He was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for leading a counterattack on November 27, 1950, against Chinese troops at the Chosin Reservoir in North Korea. Faith was mortally wounded while clearing an enemy roadblock, thereby permitting his battalion to escape encirclement. He was buried in Arlington National Cemetery. Charles Clinton “Chalky” Fleek (1947–1969) was born and raised at Petersburg in Boone Co. He received the Congressional Medal of Honor for bravery in the Vietnam War. On May 27, 1969, he gave his life by throwing himself on an enemy hand grenade to save his fellow soldiers from harm. He was buried in the Petersburg Cemetery in Petersburg. About: Women’s History. “Mary Edwards Walker.” www.womenshistory.about.com (accessed April 25, 2006). Congressional Medal of Honor Society. www.cmohs .org (accessed April 25, 2006). “Ft. Thomas Man Awarded Medal,” KTS, February 6, 1919, 20. Home of Heroes. “Hometown Heroes of the Bluegrass State.” www.homeofheroes.com (accessed April 26, 2006). Kentucky Medal of Honor Memorial. www.kymoh .com (accessed April 25, 2006). Reis, Jim. “Memories of the Korean War Still Linger,” KP, July 11, 1988, 4K. “20 Years Later a Soldier’s Sacrifice Is Not Forgotten,” KP, May 24, 1989, 1K.
MEDICINAL HERBS. In 1797 Gilbert Imlay, who had been a captain in the U.S. Army, wrote a topographical description of the western territory of the United States, including Kentucky. Historian Michael Flannery later remarked that Imlay’s description of the fertility foretold of the many botanical medicines native to Kentucky. Medicinal products before the 20th century were predominantly natural substances. Although some medi-
cines came from distant lands, such as cinchona, the source of quinine, and the poppy, the primary source of opium, many were from indigenous sources. Among the most important medicinal herbs that grew in Northern Kentucky were goldenseal (Hydrastis canadensis), black snakeroot (Cimicifuga racemosa), mayapple or mandrake (Podophyllum peltatum), and ginseng (Panax quinquefolius). Goldenseal was found in open woods where there was a rich layer of leaf mold. The plant was abundant in the wild but quickly disappeared when woods were cut and the land cultivated. Used as a yellow dye by American Indians, its medicinal properties were first exploited by the eclectic physicians, who found it effective in the treatment of inflammation of the mucous membranes. Goldenseal was especially valued for its effects in ophthalmologic and gynecologic treatments. Black snakeroot, widely available in the Ohio River Valley, reportedly was used by early Indians. Professor John King of Cincinnati was probably the first to popu larize its use for gynecologic conditions. It later became an important ingredient in Lydia Pinkham’s Vegetable Formula. Mayapple was a common plant in the woods of the Ohio River Valley. The active constituent of the plant in resin form, podophyllin, was a potent cathartic, sometimes called “vegetable calomel.” Eclectics used it in place of the mercurial preparations previously favored by many physicians. William S. Merrell of Cincinnati was the fi rst to manufacture the product; it remained a popu lar ingredient in laxatives for many decades. Ginseng was also an important plant in the Ohio River Valley. Although it never achieved general acceptance as a medicine in North America, eclectics described its use as a mild tonic and stimulant, noting that some people believed it increased virility. Ginseng was an important commercial product as early as the end of the Revolutionary War. Daniel Boone was involved in the trade during his time in Kentucky, shipping 15 tons of the plant up the Ohio River in 1787–1788. Other botanical medicines were also indigenous to the fields and woods of Northern Kentucky, such as echinacea (Echinacea purpurea), skullcap (Scutellaria lateriflora), and puccoon (Sanguinaria canadensis). Flannery, M. A. “For a Voluptuous Glow of Health and Vigor: Medical Botany in Kentucky, 1792– 1910,” Journal of the Kentucky Academy of Science 60 (1999): 15–30. Imlay, Gilbert. A Topographical Description of the Western Territory of North America. 3rd ed. London: J. Debrett, 1797. Reprint, New York: Augustus M. Kelly, 1969.
Dennis B. Worthen
MEDICINE, HISTORICAL REVIEW. Before the establishment of accessible medical schools, physicians in Northern Kentucky, as elsewhere, were educated through medical apprenticeships. They were referred to as “doctors of physic” and often served wide geographic areas. Because no formal medical facilities were available, patients
were usually treated at home. With few diagnostic tools, early medicine was undoubtedly challenging: even simple X-rays were not discovered until 1895, and laboratory tests were similarly lacking. The earliest physicians had little except their own senses and skills to guide their diagnoses. Then, even if a doctor was fortunate enough to reach a correct diagnosis, successful treatment was anything but assured. There was no benefit of prior research, nor any extensive medical experience to refer to. When the causes of diseases were a mystery and treatment options nearly as scarce as diagnostic tools, mortality rates were understandably very high. Abundant health challenges confronted the early medical community. Diseases prevalent during the early years in Northern Kentucky included the familiar illnesses of cholera, typhoid, and smallpox. However, some other diagnoses of the times are less well known today. One was milk sickness, also known as “the trembles” or “the slows.” Later the cause of this sometimes-fatal disease was identified as the white snakeroot plant (Eupatorium rugosum). A toxin from this plant would pass into the milk of cows feeding on it and cause disease in unknowing humans who ingested the seemingly wholesome milk. Milk sickness is believed to have claimed the life of Abraham Lincoln’s mother, Nancy Hanks Lincoln, when Abraham was nine years old. Dropsy was a widespread cause of illness and death. It denoted swelling, usually caused by what is known today as congestive heart failure or, less frequently, by kidney disease. Tuberculosis, called “consumption,” took the lives of many. Syphilis was known as “bad blood.” “Milk leg” referred to a postpartum blood clot in a leg vein. Rabies was termed “hydrophobia” because of an affected person’s aversion to water. “Catarrh” meant an upper respiratory infection, what we now call the common cold. Pregnancy was an especially risky condition during early times, and childbirth was likewise hazardous. Hemorrhage or infection frequently resulted in the death of the mother or the baby or both. Northern Kentucky did not escape the global pandemic that struck in 1918. Between September 1918 and March 1919, churches, schools, saloons, and theaters closed. Families were told to keep their children at home. In Covington alone some 260 died from the Spanish Flu or “La Grippe.” Dr. John Todd, the well-known Health Department director in Newport, managed to survive, though some of his fellow city workers did not. Newspapers reported almost daily the deaths of Northern Kentuckians away in the military, many of them aboard ships at sea. The Fort Thomas Military Reservation was quarantined until early November 1918; Halloween ceremonies that year were canceled. Worldwide, the number of people who died from the flu, at least 20 million and perhaps 40 million, exceeded the number killed in World War I. Newspaper advertisements from the early years in Northern Kentucky paralleled those of other cities, offering an abundance of cures for nearly anything that could afflict a person. If a per-