arrived later in the same year, having been sent in some other way, Whitman claimed the books as his charge, being the medical man of the mission. Gray protested against this in a
letter,[1] stating he needed some for his own use and added "we can better dispense with almost every other book except our Bible than medical—and especially when we have had but little experience in that department.”
After the massacre in 1847 the inventory[2] of Whitman's medical equipment "taken or destroyed by the Indians” is listed as follows:
Medical Library
$ 80.00
1 case Surgical Instrument as estimated by Doc Barkley
100.00
1 do. imperfect
15.00
1 packet case with medical bags
20.00
Medicine just arrived from Vancouver as pr. Vancouver bill
69.00
Medicines, phials, bottles, etc.
120.00
Another list[3] of medical supplies obtained from the Hudson's
Bay Company in 1839 includes: ⅛ lb. calomel 10/10; 4 lb. Epsom Salts /4; 4 lb. Glauber Salts /4; ⅛ Sulph. Copper 1/3; 1/16 Sulph. zinc 4/3. It will be seen that purgatives constituted the principal items.
The doctor's own health had not been of the best for some years before he left for Oregon, but in December, 1834, he wrote[4] with reference to being sent to the mission field: "My health is so much restored that I think it will offer no impediment.” He had previously diagnosed his own case as an inflammation of the spleen. He suffered from a pain in his left side, which however was relieved by remedies. During his journey with Parker over-exertion brought about a recurrence, and during part of this journey he also suffered much from a painful bowel complaint which weakened him to such an extent that
↑Inventory of property destroyed at Waiilatpu. This document is
letter 80, volume 248, of the American Board archives; copy in the Oregon Historical Society.
