“In 1843, Dr. John M. W. Davidson of Gadsden County began recording medical recipes and treatments in a small, leather-bound notebook. Davidson was a family practitioner and farmer who lived and worked in Gadsden County for more than 50 years.

The 126-page journal reveals a glimpse of the knowledge and concerns of a pioneer physician in early Florida, including recipes for medicines, diet supplements, tinctures, salves, and treatments for illnesses as varied as colic and typhoid fever.

Noticeably absent from Davidson’s journal (though we can assume not from his attention altogether) were treatments of yellow fever, which had ravaged population centers in Florida, including nearby Tallahassee, St. Joseph, and Apalachicola only two years earlier.”

ABOUT THE JOURNAL
Series Number: M81- 24
In 1843, Dr. John M. W. Davidson of Gadsden County began recording medical recipes and
treatments in a small, leather-bound notebook.
State Archives of Florida, Collection M81-24

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https://www.floridamemory.com/discover/historical_records/davidson-journal