Page:Early History of Medicine in Philadelphia - George W Norris.djvu/16



N looking back into the records of the first settlements upon the banks of the Delaware, but few allusions are found either to sickness or physicians. The earliest notice of anything relating to medicine which I have met with is in 1638, in which year it is recorded that from Alfendolft, was employed as "barber" (as surgeons were then denominated), in the settlement of the Swedes, at ten guilders per month. In the years 1642, 1657, and 1658, Alricks, the Director of the Colony at New Amstel, notices in his correspondence, the prevalence of "great sickness and mortality," and under the last-mentioned date adds, "Our barber surgeon died, and another well acquainted with his profession is very sick." Afterwards, in 1660, it is represented to the Governor that the company "are much in want of a surgeon," and one