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AMERICUS MIESSE : 1870s ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPT NOTEBOOK OF RECIPES, REMEDIES AND MEDICAL CURES HANDWRITTEN BY A NOTABLE LIMA OHIO DOCTOR AND INVENTOR

8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall. On hand is a rare and valuable medical formulation notebook from the mid 19th Century. Measuring 8 inches by 6.5 inches, the notebook contains 54 pages which are approximately 60 % complete. Also included are a number of newspaper clippings and ephemera. The front cover has separated but all pages are bound together. The handwriting is a graceful copperplate and is for the most part legible. Americus Miesse was an American physician of note. He was also an inventor with a number of patents to his name. Born in 1848, he became a prominent physician in Lima OH. He had a creative mind and certainly applied it outside of medicine, registering several patents in non-medical fields. Miesse passed away in 1918 at the age of 69. Casual research has not turned up any additional biographical information. This formulary is a collection of remedies and mixtures that he obviously believed to be effective. Flux, the old name for dysentery, was a major health threat in early America and accounted for high numbers of deaths. Many use abbreviations and measurement scales which are no longer employed: "Flux. Diarrhoea. Rx Pulv Opii gr X Hyd ch. Nite gr V Ipecae gr XV cts crete preparata Zii 50 Mix [ ] No 12 One every 4 hours - no water to be used as drink, Mustards to the bowels and renal region. Also warm Hip baths every day, Use catnip teas, if the case is troublesome, use with the above the following injections per rectum cts Rx Fr Opii Zii 35 Starch Gruel Oii Mix well with syringe, then inject (after each loose passage) about a syringe full and order them to retain it if possible". There are numerous other formulations to treat things like scabies, cramps, rashes, etc. Two such remedies are quoted from his fathers work - his father, Dr. Gabriel Miesse, was also a noted physician and surgeon The ephemera includes newspaper clippings describing other remedies and a prescription for codeine. In addition to his medical practice, Miesse was an inventor. Records show he was issued patents for a rural-delivery mailbox, an electrified alarm to detect leaks in gas pipes and a new type of headlight for street cars. For a medical researcher or historian, this book is a rare and excellent example of the work done in medicine across the United States in the mid-19th century. As a primary document, it can confirm the uses of various compounds and formulations. It is also direct evidence of the state of medical knowledge at that time as these formulations were used by two noted physicians.. Illustr.: /. Manuscript. Book Condition: Good

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