Wayne Bethard - Lotions, Potions, and Deadly Elixirs: Frontier Medicine in America

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Butch Wayne Bethard (pronounced Betherd hes anerd, not anard, not a little Bathard or a little Bothered, either) is a pharmacist by trade, an author by design. He is by definition the truest of drugstore cowboys. He really is. Hes a purebred, naturally inseminated, pedigreed, registered druggist, a hospital pharmacist, if you will. He graduated from the University of Texas way back when the diplomas simply said The University of Texas, not at Austin, or Tyler, or College Station.

Wayne is also a member of the Western Writers of America, the DFW Writers Workshop, and a past member of the Texas Outdoor Writers Association. For three years he served as contributing editor for The Texas Outdoors Journal and authored his own monthly section titled At Full Draw.

Wayne resides, practices, and writes out of his home in Longview, Texas, which he shares with his wife (going on forty years now), Wanda, a second-grade schoolteacher he still introduces as his first wife.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

B ETWEEN EVERY GOLDEN EGG, there is bound to be a little mass and gas. I would like to thank everyone who assisted me with this little egg, especially the DFW Writers Workshop, who helped me clean up my masses. A special thanks goes to Erin McKindley and her wonderful copy-editing staff, who waved their laced editing fans to whisk away the many pungent blunders that had escaped me. I also thank my wife for putting up with me during all this; my professors and the helpful staff at the University of Texas College of Pharmacy; John Lovett, assistant curator of the University of Oklahoma Western History Collection; Russell Stocks and Julie Henderson for their help with bezoars; Art Weaver for his mineral wells pictures; the Hughes Springs Chamber of Commerce; Susan Black, my research librarian at the Longview Public Library; and all the professors, physicians, and pharmacists who went out of their way to lend a hand.

This author has attempted to assemble a suitable information base on medicines used in Americas frontier times. Mistakenness, errors, or blunders are always possible even in reputable reference materials. Neither the author nor the publisher assumes responsibility for inaccuracies or patient care associated with the applications of information contained in this presentation. People not of the health profession should seek appropriate professional supervision on the utilization of any medicine before using it. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, transmitted, or stored electronically or mechanically, including photocopying, scanning, or by any informational retrieval/storage system without written permission of the author and publisher.

FRONTIER MEDICAL DATES AND
OTHER WORTHY OF
NOTE FACTS