Pittsburgh, PA Lewis is waiting the barge to be completed so that he can head down the Ohio River. Here, tumors in the Pittsburgh area at the time are described by Thaddeus Harris.
Surgeons’ Kit c. 1803
Historical interpretation by John W. Fisher, presentation by the Lewis and Clark Honor Guard. Photo © 2017 by Kristopher K. Townsend. Permission to use granted under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.
Tumours
We observed several people near Pittsburg affected with a tumour on the throat like a wen. Inquiring into the cause of it, we were informed that they imputed it to some effect of the climate under the brows of the high mountains where they reside, and added that even dogs and some other animals were subject to it. Indeed we saw a couple of goats who had this uncomfortable appendage to their necks.
—Thaddeus Harris[1]Thaddeus Harris, The Journal of a Tour into the Territory Northwest of the Alleghany Mountains Made in the Spring of the Year 1803, p. 45–46 in Reuben G. Thwaites, Travels West of the Alleghanies … Continue reading
Defining “Wen”
Owen Dictionary, which was brought on the expedition, gives this definition for Wen:
WEN, a tumour or excrescence that arises on different parts of the body, and contains a cystus, or bag filled with some peculiar matter, of which physicians reckon three kinds, viz. when this matter is soft, resembling pulp, the wen is called atheroma; if like honey, meliceris; and if like suet, steatoma.[2]A Dictionary of Arts and Sciences, Owens 1764 ed., s.v. “wen.”
Notes
| ↑1 | Thaddeus Harris, The Journal of a Tour into the Territory Northwest of the Alleghany Mountains Made in the Spring of the Year 1803, p. 45–46 in Reuben G. Thwaites, Travels West of the Alleghanies (Cleveland: The Arthur H. Clark Co., 1904), p. 346. |
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| ↑2 | A Dictionary of Arts and Sciences, Owens 1764 ed., s.v. “wen.” |
