The Country Practitioner

About the Book

The Country Practitioner is the story of a short-lived but lively medical journal published in New Jersey between 1879 and 1881. Today, copies of this long-forgotten journal are found in only a handful of archival collections. It’s editor, Ellis P. Townsend, M.D., of Beverly, N.J., created a publication for general practitioners in villages across America, who, in his view, were underserved by the urban medical journals of the day. Townsend brought his own strong opinions on topics such as bloodletting, obstetrics, and diphtheria to the Country Practitioner. He also editorialized, often tartly, on the tribulations of general practice and the woes of medical editors. Townsend’s personal odyssey included service in a Gettysburg military hospital, a post as medical officer for an ill-fated engineering expedition in the deep Amazon, and his death in Montana following frostbite while on a medical call.

About the Author

Dr. Sandra Moss is a general internist who practiced for many years in central New Jersey. She has published over thirty articles about the history of medicine in a variety of publications, and has spoken before local, state, and national history organizations. Her research focuses on nineteenth-century medicine in New Jersey. Dr. Moss is past-president of the Medical History Society of New Jersey and is an officer in the American Osler Society, an organization for clinician historians.