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Discourse, 17 September 1843–B, as Reported by Levi Richards

Source Note

JS, Discourse, [, Hancock Co., IL, 17 Sept. 1843]. Featured version inscribed [ca. 17 Sept. 1843] in Levi Richards, Journal, 31 July–17 Sept. 1843, pp. [15]–[16]; handwriting of ; Levi Richards, Papers, CHL.
This discourse is found in a small book measuring 6¼ × 3¾ inches (16 × 10 cm) and comprising four sheets, which are folded and sewn together into a gathering of eight leaves. All sixteen pages are inscribed.
The journal, along with other papers, was apparently kept by Richards and passed down among his descendants. The journal and papers were acquired by the Church Historian’s Office (later Church Historical Department) sometime during the tenure of Andrew Jenson, who began working in the office in 1891 and served as assistant church historian from 1897 to 1941. In 1975 the journal was cataloged as part of the Levi Richards Papers in the Church Historical Department (now CHL).

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    Jenson, Autobiography, 192, 389; Jenson, Journal, 9 Feb. 1891 and 19 Oct. 1897; Bitton and Arrington, Mormons and Their Historians, 47–52; see also the full bibliographic entry for Levi Richards, Papers, 1837–1867, in the CHL catalog.

    Jenson, Andrew. Autobiography of Andrew Jenson: Assistant Historian of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. . . . Salt Lake City: Deseret News Press, 1938.

    Jenson, Andrew. Journals, 1864–1941. Andrew Jenson, Autobiography and Journals, 1864–1941. CHL.

    Bitton, David, and Leonard J. Arrington. Mormons and Their Historians. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1988.

  2. [2]

    See the full bibliographic entry for Levi Richards, Papers, 1837–1867, in the CHL catalog.

Historical Introduction

On the afternoon of 17 September 1843, in , Illinois, JS delivered a discourse in which he responded to a sermon by a Reverend Blodget and offered his thoughts on the use and abuse of medicine. Though the featured document does not reveal Blodget’s full name, it identifies him as a Unitarian minister from who, on this occasion, spoke to a group of concerning religious liberty.
Most of the discourse, as recorded by , related to JS’s critique of medical practices. In antebellum , there was very little medical regulation or consensus about medical treatments. Some physicians employed heroic methods, including bloodletting, blistering, or prescribing emetic drugs such as calomel, while botanical doctors, such as those following the Thomsonian method, used natural herbs to cleanse the body through vomiting and sweating. Swayed by effective marketing, Americans consumed copious quantities of patent medicines, or nostrums, as panacea for a variety of physical ailments.
JS’s views about medical practices were shaped by his personal experiences and those of close family members. When JS developed osteomyelitis in the 1810s, Dr. Nathan Smith of Dartmouth Medical College performed an innovative medical procedure that likely saved his leg from amputation. In November 1823, JS’s oldest brother, , died after a doctor administered a “heavy dose” of calomel that “lodged in his stomach.” In his late twenties and thirties, JS cultivated close relationships with Thomsonian practitioners, such as , , and , as well as orthodox physician . However, JS sometimes expressed frustration with medical practitioners and their use of medicines. Speaking to a group of newly arrived immigrants on 13 April 1843, for example, JS said, “The Doctors in this region dont know much. . . . Doctors wont tell you where to go to be well. they want to kill. or cure you to get Your money.” He warned them about ingesting dangerous medicines such as calomel and lobelia. After a Municipal Court session presided over by JS adjourned on 19 April 1843, JS told and that he “lost a fathe[r] brothe[r] & child because. in my anxiety I have depended more on the jud[g]ment of other men than my own.” He asserted that “people will seldom die with disease provided we know it seasonably. & treat it mildly. pat[i]ently. & perseveri[n]gly. & do not use harsh means.”
JS gave the featured discourse at a Sunday worship service in a near the . In the morning, church member spoke about “the building up of Zion in the Last Days,” followed by JS, who “gave some instuctin [instruction] ab[o]ut order in the congregation— men among women & wom[e]n among men. horess [horses] in the assembly men & boys on the stand &c.” In the afternoon, Reverend Blodget addressed the congregation, and JS followed, speaking for about an hour and a half. An entry in JS’s journal indicates that JS was generally pleased with Blodget’s sermon but that he “differd in opini[o]n on some po[i]nts— on which I freely ixpressed myself to his gre[a]t satisfacti[o]n on perscutin [persecution] making the work spread.”
Church member was likely in the audience when JS delivered the featured discourse, and he produced a handwritten manuscript that captured portions of JS’s words. The disjointed nature of the account suggests that Richards wrote it as JS delivered the discourse.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    Reverend Blodget may have been James Blodgett, who later led a congregation in Deerfield, Massachusetts. Blodgett graduated from Harvard Divinity School in 1843. According to a contemporary Unitarian publication, Blodgett suffered from poor health, and “for the sake of its improvement he entered on a missionary tour at the West.” It is possible that he preached in Nauvoo as part of this tour. (Quinquennial Catalogue of the Officers and Graduates of Harvard University, 1636–1915, 198; “Obituary,” 431.)

    Quinquennial Catalogue of the Officers and Students of the Law School of Harvard University, 1817–1889. Cambridge: Harvard Law School, 1890.

    “Obituary.” Christian Examiner and Religious Miscellany 4 (Nov. 1845): 431–432.

  2. [2]

    See, for example, Rothstein, American Physicians in the Nineteenth Century, 45–52, 131–137, 141–142, 146–150; Coventry, Address to the Graduates, 3–16; Harrison, Lecture, on the Best Mode of Discouraging Empiricism, 1–12; and Thomson, New Guide to Health, 5–132 (second numbering).

    Rothstein, William G. American Physicians in the Nineteenth Century: From Sects to Science. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1972.

    Coventry, C. B. Address to the Graduates of the Medical Institution of Geneva College, Delivered January 25th, 1842. Utica, NY: Democrat Office, 1842.

    Harrison, John P. A Lecture, on the Best Mode of Discouraging Empiricism: Delivered before the Ohio Medical Lyceum, January, 1843. Cincinnati: R. P. Donogh, 1843.

    Thomson, Samuel. New Guide to Health; or, Botanic Family Physician. Containing a Complete System of Practice . . . to Which Is Prefixed a Narrative of the Life and Medical Discoveries of the Author. Boston: By the author, 1822.

  3. [3]

    “Sherman’s Medicated Lozenges,” Nauvoo Neighbor, 6 Sept. 1843, [4]; “Physician Heal Thyself,” Times and Seasons, 15 Sept. 1843, 4:325–326; King, Quackery Unmasked, 248–256.

    Nauvoo Neighbor. Nauvoo, IL. 1843–1845.

    Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.

    King, Dan. Quackery Unmasked; or A Consideration of the Most Prominent Empirical Schemes of the Present Time, with an Enumeration of Some of the Causes Which Contribute to Their Support. Boston: David Clapp, 1858.

  4. [4]

    Wirthlin, “Nathan Smith,” 320–321; Lucy Mack Smith, History, 1845, 58–62; JS History, vol. A-1, addenda, 131nA.

    Wirthlin, LeRoy S. “Nathan Smith (1762–1828) Surgical Consultant to Joseph Smith.” BYU Studies 17 (Spring 1977): 319–337.

  5. [5]

    Lucy Mack Smith, History, 1845, 89–92.

  6. [6]

    Anderson, “Willard Richards’s Journey to Mormonism,” 81–98; Barrett, “Delegate John M. Bernhisel,” 354–358; Dinger, “Medicine and Obstetrics in Mormon Nauvoo,” 51–68. Levi Richards, who recorded the featured discourse, practiced the Thomsonian method and likely shared JS’s criticism of heroic methods.

    Anderson, Devery S. “From Doctor to Disciple: Willard Richards’s Journey to Mormonism.” Journal of Mormon History 38, no. 2 (Spring 2012): 66–98.

    Barrett, Glen. “Delegate John M. Bernhisel, Salt Lake Physician Following the Civil War.” Utah Historical Quarterly 50, no. 4 (Fall 1982): 354–360.

    Dinger, Steven C. “‘The Doctors in This Region Don’t Know Much’: Medicine and Obstetrics in Mormon Nauvoo.” Journal of Mormon History 42, no. 4 (October 2016): 51–68.

  7. [7]

    Discourse, 13 Apr. 1843, underlining in original.

  8. [8]

    JS, Journal, 19 Apr. 1843.

  9. [9]

    Levi Richards, Journal, 17 Sept. 1843; JS, Journal, 17 Sept. 1843.

    Richards, Levi. Journals, 1840–1853. Levi Richards, Papers, 1837–1867. CHL. MS 1284, box 1.

  10. [10]

    JS, Journal, 17 Sept. 1843.

Asterisk (*) denotes a "featured" version, which includes an introduction and annotation. Discourse, 17 September 1843–B, as Reported by Willard Richards Journal, December 1842–June 1844; Book 3, 15 July 1843–29 February 1844
*Discourse, 17 September 1843–B, as Reported by Levi Richards

Page [15]

P. M. heard the Rev Mr Blodget from Unitarian Preached good discourse of religious Liberty Text “what is Truth” followed by Pres Smith disproving the Idea that persecution causes a good work to prosper— continued his discours about 1½ hours [p. [15]]
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Document Information

Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Discourse, 17 September 1843–B, as Reported by Levi Richards
ID #
1165
Total Pages
2
Print Volume Location
JSP, D13:109–111
Handwriting on This Page
  • Levi Richards

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    See John 18:38.

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