Day book of a Victorian provincial physician (Peter Pinyon of Benenden?), 1858-1859

Folio, 205 pp + 24 half-pages. In vellum account book, marbled endpapers, with label of Partridge & Cozens, London. Internally sound, clear and complete. Good, on lightly-aged paper. Binding worn and aged, with tear and head of spine. Titled in manuscript on spine: 'Day Book. May 1st. 1858. W. & P.'A nineteenth-century British surgeon's daybook is an unusual and rare survival. This item relates to patients from the village of Benenden in Kent, and its environs, and the hundreds of entries it contains provide a mass of information about the health of a settled rural population at the start of Queen Victoria's reign. It contains a reference to a patient being 'attended by Mr. Pinyon', this being Peter Pinyon (1831-1873), who was surgeon of the parish until his death at the age of 42. Pinyon had returned from a voyage to Tasmania and Madras, as ship's surgeon on the Mercia, at the end of 1857, and it appears that he then went into partnership with the incumbent surgeon of Benenden, the 'W.' of the 'W. & P.' on the spine. Pinyon died, 'Universally respected' according to his funeral inscription, at the age of 42, 'leaving a widow [nee Fanny Witherden Beale] and one son'.The first page carries a list of twenty-eight women, headed 'Midwifery from May 1st. 1858.' In four columns giving name, address, 'Expect' and 'Delivered'. Around half of the women have Benenden addresses (Iden Green, Standen Street, East End, Manor House, Village, Pump), with others hailing form nearby towns (Sandhurst, 'Hemsted', Rowenden, Dingleden, Biddenden). Five of the entries are marked 'Parish', indicating that the women's treatment was paid for through the poor relief. (On 19 October 1861 the Lancet reported that Pinyon had resigned from the position of 'Poor-law Medical Officer for the Biddenden District in the Tenterden Union'.) Several are marked 'Premature'. The entry for 'Mrs. Bird. E. End' states that she was 'Attended by Mr. Pinyon'. There is another list of 'Engagements' in 'Midwifery from Jany. 1st. 1859'. There is also a list of individuals 'To Vaccination', 7 April 1859.The entries in the rest of the volume are dated from 1 May 1858 to 30 April 1859, and are arranged in two columns per page, with each full leaf with a central vertical fold indicating the division between the two columns.Twenty-four pages on twelve half-leaves (each having the section of the leaf which would have carried the outer column neatly removed) are followed by a full page with the outer column headed 'List of Patients'. This list, the first of several (others date from 1 and 30 June 1858, 6 and 20 December 1858, 8 March 1859), carries 39 names, beginning with 'Thos. Neve. Esqre.', a substantial sheep farmer in the area. Other names in the list of patients include 'Rev. J. Pattenson', 'Rev. Wm. Thornton' (whose mother-in-law 'Mrs. Boys', wife of the local vicar Rev. Daniel Boys, also features in the volume), and 'Mast. Js. Curteis. Club [i.e. Club Foot?]'. Some of the entries are marked with a 'W', perhaps indicating treatment by Pinyon's partner.The day book contains hundreds of entries mainly consisting of prescriptions and notes written out in the medical Latin. One of the briefer of these entries reads 'Miss Maria Neve - | x Ress. Guttae. Tarax. Ziss. | x Chloroform - Zss'. (The prescription of chloroform at such an early date would appear unusual in a provincial English surgeon.) The surgeon's work includes dealing with minor ailments (haemorrhoids, 'Vaccinating infants', 'Double Truss 33 Inches', 'An Elastic Bandage').There are occasional memoranda ('Nov. 3 Inist Craddocks Dr. to be entered in Biddenden Ledger - | Scissors for Pattenson | Pills for Mrs. Boys', 'Staplehurst Up Trains 7.44 10.25 1.12 6.56'), and names of individuals are sometimes followed by words and brief notes in English, giving directions ('Wet a piece of Lint & Apply it the part [sic] - Afterwards cover it with a Poultice', (of 'Mr. Goldings Sons') 'Half for each, early the following morning', 'Take a 4th part with the pills to night - and repeat the draught every 3 or 4 hours') and taking notes ('Attendg. Mr. Wilson at Cranbrook', 'Iter ad Hastings & Consulting with Dr. Blackiston'. 'Iter ad Messrs. Newe & Wilson & making Affadavids [sic]') and giving occupations ('Goldsmith Mrs. Beer Shop', 'Mrs Croughtons Footman Sargeant', 'Farmer', 'Police', 'Lady's maid', 'Wheelwright').