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R R__L~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~-----Surgeon-Naturalist Dr I M. C. Stuart Houston, MD Dr. John Richardson: Arctic Doctor SUMMARY RESUME Dr. John Richardson was foremost among Le Dr John Richardson fut l'une des figures a special breed of men, the dominantes de cette categorie d'hommes un peu surgeon-naturalists, one of whom speciale que sont les chirurgiens-naturalistes et qui ont participe a toutes les expeditions organisees accompanied every exploration party sent par la Grande-Bretagne. En plus de s'acquitter de out by Great Britain. In addition to ses fonctions medicales, le chirurgien-naturaliste performing medical duties, the devait identifier et ramasser des specimens de surgeon-naturalist was expected to identify differentes especes vegetales, animales et and collect specimens of plants, animals, minerales. Le Dr Richardson fut membre de deux and rocks. Dr. Richardson was a member expeditions organisees dans les regions arctiques par John Franklin et a participe aux recherches de of two of the arctic expeditions led by Sir la troisieme expedition Franklin qui avait subi un John Franklin, and participated in the retard considerable. search for the long-overdue third Franklin expedition. (Can Fam Physician 1988; 34:1616-1620.) Key words: Franklin expedition, Dr. John Richardson, __R_R__l~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~-----surgeon-naturalist Dr. Houston is Head of the by Great Britain. When he attended nologist. He was also a competent ich- Department of Radiology, Edinburgh University in 1803-1807, thyologist and mammologist, but he did University Hospital, Saskatoon, all medical students were given a good not become an expert at identifying Sask., and a Professor in the grounding in Botany. Herbal remedies birds until the second Franklin expedi- Department of Diagnostic were important, for doctors could not tion of 1825-27. Radiology at the University of treat dropsy unless they could recog- Richardson wintered at Cumberland Saskatchewan, Saskatoon. nize the foxglove, Digitalis purpurea. House, on the Saskatchewan River, Requests for reprints to: Dr. C.S. Zoology was important in the study of just west of the present Saskatchewan- Houston, Department of Medical comparative anatomy. With few excep- Manitoba boundary. In 1819-20, his Imaging, University Hospital, tions, only doctors had access to these assistant in collecting natural history Saskatoon, Sask. S7N OXO courses. specimens, Midshipman Robert Hood, Only select doctors, those who had tells us of an operation performed by I T IS FITTING that an issue of Ca- shown the greatest aptitude in natural Richardson in that winter. nadian Family Physician devoted to science, might obtain an appointment The guns trafficked with the Indians Northern and Native Health should with an exploring expedition, on the by the Companies, are of very bad contain an account of the first medical recommendation oftheir Professor, Sir quality, and occasion accidents doctor to visit the Athabasca and Mac- William Jardine. Although a surgeon every year. A poor man whose hand kenzie regions, and the first to travel was necessary to suture wounds, lance had been dreadfully shattered by the along the northern continental coast- boils, and set fractures, a surgeon-natu- bursting of his gun, the year before line. Dr. John Richardson, LRCS, Edin- ralist was also expected to identify and our arrival, was brought down from burgh, 1807, MD, Edinburgh, 1816, collect specimens of plants, animals, Carlton House to Dr. Richardson, visited the area three times: in and rocks. Geology and Botany to- who amputated it above the wrist 1819-1822 and 1825-1827 with ex- gether were the best indicators of the and restored the use of his arm. He ploring expeditions led by Sir John future economic prospects of a new bore the operation with an unchang- Franklin, and in 1848-1849 to search land. ing countenance, and afterwards for the long-overdue third Franklin ex- Richardson's hand-written diary of manifested much gratitude. pedition. the first overland expedition led by Dr. John Richardson was foremost John Franklin in 1819-1821, to find a Richardson's important description among a special breed of men, the sur- northwest passage to the Orient, shows of the unusual prevalance of iodine-de- geon-naturalists, one of whom accom- that Richardson was already a remark- ficient goitre at Fort Edmonton has panied every exploration party sent out ably competent botanist and liche- been quoted by many subsequent 1616 CAN. FAM. PHYSICIAN Vol. 34: JULY 1988 authorities. Dr. Richardson did indeed mula), and suckling it successfully at one week, time or faith or the ministra- 'examine several ofthe individuals af- his breast. Richardson was not a gulli- tions of the doctor had affected a cure flicted with it," but he examined them ble victim of a Wentzel hoax, as two of whatever ailed him. By contrast, on at Fort Carlton or at Cumberland reputable historians, Margaret Arnett November 23, 1821, another Copper House, not at Edmonton, as at least one Macleod and Richard Glover, have Indian named "The Fop", when his historian has suggested. Goitre af- claimed. We now know that males, as gun exploded and "wounded him fected chiefly the Metis women at Ed- well as females, have the hormone slightly on the wrist", did not stay for monton, who drank river water, prolactin and can produce milk (inap- care from the weakened doctor but hur- Richardson reported. It was less com- propriate galactorrhea or inappropriate ried on alone to Akaicho's camp. mon among those who left the fort for lactation). Indeed, in some parts of Af- Richardson tells ofthe malignant ro- periods, and it could be "cured" by a rica it is common for grandmothers, up dent ulcer on the face of the wife of visit to the seacoast at York Factory or to 50 years of age, to put their grand- Cascathry. He describes the severe by ingestion of burnt sponge. child to the breast if a daughter dies chafing ofthe inside ofthe men's thighs Richardson was told that a single year's soon after giving birth. There are also a as they pulled heavy loads on the ice of residence at Edmonton was sufficient few well-documented cases of men Point Lake. Although nine of 11 voya- to cause goitre, and that the children of successfully nursing infants, including geurs died of exposure and starvation, women afflicted with goitre were that ofa Black male wet nurse who was no one lost a foot, toe, or fingertip from sometimes cretins. The inhabitants of displayed before a medical class in frostbite, thus offering good evidence Rocky Mountain House, upstream Maryland in 1827; milk from the male of the adequacy of moccasins and fur from Edmonton, were said to be af- breast is nourishing. mittens in extreme cold. fected even more severely. Dr. Richardson's reputation pre- Richardson sometimes provides de- Richardson's is a remarkably per- ceded his arrival at Fort Providence on tails that Franklin's published journal ceptive and correct account of iodine- Great Slave Lake. Hood says that the of 1823 does not. Franklin spares his deficient thyroid enlargement, almost Indians believed this "medicine chief' readers the gory and intimate details of unknown at sea level, but common in had the power to "prevent any person the incisions to relieve Adam, the inter- mountainous areas before the advent of from dying." It is less plausible that preter, on October 30, 1821. Franklin iodized salt. Indeed, the first results of they believed, as Franklin put it, that simply says that "The Doctor having treatment ofgoitre with iodine were re- Dr. Richardson "was able to restore scarified the swelled parts of Adam's ported on 25 July 1820, after the dead to life." In striking contrast, body, a large quantity of water poured Richardson had left Europe. Medical however, to the experience of the Indi- out." Richardson is more specific: "I theory ofthe time suggested that goitre ans in other winters in this harsh cli- made several scarifications in his scro- might be caused by drinking snow mate, not a single Indian died while Dr. tum, abdomen and legs and a large water, since goitre was endemic in sub- Richardson lived among them during quantity of water flowing out he ob- alpine districts. Richardson points out the winter of 1820-1821. tained some ease." Adam, as well as that those North American Indians who When Richardson's advance party Franklin, Peltier, and Semandre, had drank much snow water but rarely left Fort Enterprise on June 4, 1821, a been eating "large quantities of salt, a drank river water were free from Copper Indian, Akaiyazza or Little- barrel of that article having been left in goitre, thus refuting the theory. He foot, who was ill, hurried after him to the house." Because of their severe adds: receive medical attention. In exactly protein deficiency, this excess salt in- gestion probably contributed to fluid I could not learn whether it was nec- retention (edema). Franklin and essary that both parents should have Figure 1 Richardson both tell how the starving goitres, to produce cretin children; Dr. John Richardson l.-D I .rll wwrR ~~~~~~~~~~~~Imen had sores in their mouths from eat- indeed the want of chastity in the ing acrid soup, made from the bones of Metis women would be a bar to the the previous winter's camp. deduction of any inference on this The fragility ofthe doctor-patient re- head. lationship was evident from two events Richardson was the first medical at Fort Enterprise. On January 5, 1821, doctor in the Northwest to record the Richardson gave medicine to old Cas- extreme susceptibility of the Indians, cathry for his ailing wife. As he especially children, to the "white watched Cascathry wrap the drug with men's" diseases, whooping cough and extraordinary care, Richardson could measles.
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