DR. PETER SMITH.

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children, twin babes among them, carried in baskets suitable for the purpose,hung to the horns of the saddle ridden by his wife—and thus, without roads totravel, crossed mountains, rivers, and creeks. The wilderness was not free fromdanger from Indians, but he traversed the woods from Georgia through Ten-nessee to Kentucky, intending there to abide. But, finding that Kentucky hadalso become a slave State, the dogmatic old man and his family bid good-bye toKentucky. He left that State with a parting shot to the effect that it was thehome of "head-ticks and slavery," and emigrated to Ohio, settling on DuckCreek, near the Columbia Old Baptist Church, now adjacent to Norwood village,and near the limits of Cincinnati, reaching there about 1794.

He became, with his family, a member of the Duck Creek congregation, andfrequently preached there and at other frontier places, still pursuing the doubleoccupation of farming and the practice of medicine. In 1804 he again took to thewilderness with his entire family, then numbering twelve children, born in the" Jerseys and on the line of his march through the wilderness, the States and theTerritories." He finally settled on a small, poor farm on Donnel's Creek, Ohio,in the midst of rich ones, where he died December 31, 1816. It seems fromhis book (p. 14), published while he resided at his last home, that he did not per-sonally cease his wanderings and search for medical knowledge, as he states thathe was in Philadelphia, July 4, 1811, where he made observations as to the effectof hot and of cold air upon the human system. It is certain that he not onlytaught to the end in the pulpit, but ministered as a physician to his neighborsand friends, often going long distances from home for the purpose. He con-cluded, near the termination of his long and varied experiences, that " Men havecontrived to break all God's appointments but this: ' It is appointed for all menonce to die.' "

Peter Smith, preacher, farmer, physician, pioneer, aggressive Abolitionist be-fore Wendell Phillips or William Dloyd Garrison were born, is buried in aneglected graveyard near Donnelsville, Clark County, O. No photograph orother likeness remains to revive the features of this picturesque personage.

Such is the life-record of this man, who, so far as the writer can determine,ventured to publish the first Western work on materia medica.

The Dispensatory. It is to be regretted that Dr. Smith neglected the use ofbotanical names. His plants are all employed under common names, but he de-scribes the appearance and habitat of each specimen so carefully as to enable theexperienced reader to identify most of them. Rafinesque, who credits Dr. Smith'swork, objects to his common names, which, however, are very interesting in con-nection with the text. The pains he takes to credit authorities from whom heobtained information is very refreshing, the relationship of these names to thesubstances used being useful to us to-day in connection with many drugs.

A few examples both of lost terms and others still in use may be cited:

Brinton's or Culver's Root.

Miami Columbo (American Columbo) Root.

The Nine-bark Root.