Anna Pierce Hobbs Bixby
Anna Pierce Hobbs Bixby | |
|---|---|
 Dr. Anna Pierce Hobbs Bixby discovered that white snakeroot (Ageratina altissima) was the cause of milk sickness from grazing cows eating the wild plant which fatally poisoned the milk consumed by frontier settlers | |
| Born | Anna Pierce 1808 or 1812 |
| Died | 1869 or 1873 (aged 61-65) |
| Nationality | American |
| Other names | Anna Bixby, Anna Bigsby, Anna Pierce Hobbs Bigsby, Anna Hobbs |
| Occupation(s) | midwife, frontier doctor, dentist, herbologist, scientist |
| Relatives | Isaac Hobbs (first husband), Eson Bixby (second husband) |
| Medical career | |
| Research | milk sickness |
Anna Pierce Hobbs Bixby, sometimes spelled Bigsby born Anna Pierce (1812–1873), was a midwife, frontier doctor, dentist, herbologist, and scientist in southern Illinois.[1]
Bixby discovered that white snakeroot (Ageratina altissima) contains a toxin. When cattle consume the plant, their meat and milk become contaminated and cause the sometimes fatal condition milk sickness. One of the most notable and tragic cases of the "milk sickness" was that of Nancy Hanks Lincoln, the mother of Abraham Lincoln, who died at 34 years old in 1818.
Early life
Anna was the daughter of farmers, who had moved from Philadelphia and in 1828 settled in southeastern Illinois, close to what would become the village of Rock Creek. After finishing school, Anna travelled to Philadelphia to train in midwifery and dentistry, but on her return to Illinois she became the first physician in Hardin County and consequently, a general practitioner for her community. Anna Bixby may also have been the first female doctor in the state of Illinois. Others claimed she was a midwife from Tennessee, married to her first husband, Isaac Hobbs.
Research on milk sickness
She did thorough research of milk sickness, which was causing a good deal of fatality among both people and calves, including Anna's mother and sister-in-law.[2][3][4][5][6][7][8] Noting the seasonal nature of the disease and the fact that sheep and goat milk were not affected, she reasoned that the cause must be a poisonous herb. However, she was unable to determine the precise cause until she was shown the White Snakeroot by a medicine woman of the Shawnee tribe.
Experiments on a calf confirmed the toxic effect of Snakeroot. However, despite her efforts, it was not until 1928 (55 years after her death) that research confirming her discovery was published. Her position as a frontier doctor and a woman would have made it hard for her to gain respect from the medical profession of the time.
Eson Bixby and his criminal activities
After Isaac Hobbs died, Anna Pierce Hobbs married her second husband, Eson Bixby, who turned out to be a notorious outlaw around the region of Cave-In-Rock, on the Ohio River.
Death
Anna Hobbs Bixby died in Rock Creek, Hardin County, Illinois.
Legacy
According to local legend, Anna Bixby left a treasure trove concealed in a cave named after her. The treasure is supposedly buried in Rock Creek, Hardin County, Illinois, and has never been found. A historical marker has been mounted in Anna Bixby's honor in Cave-in-Rock, Illinois, near her home. Also, in southern Illinois, the Anna Bixby Women's Center in Harrisburg, Illinois, gives shelter and services to area abused women and children.
References
- ^ Bailey, Laurel (1996). "Dr. Anna and the Fight for the Milksick". Illinois History. Retrieved 5 May 2013. Citing
Kelly A. Cichy, Women Meet the Challenge in Southern Illinois History;
Lowell A. Dearinger, "Dr. Anna and the Milksick," Outdoor Illinois (March 1967);
Lowell A. Dearinger, "Free-Fer-Alls and Cornbread," Outdoor Illinois (October 1963);
William D. Snivelyand Louanna Furbee, "Discoverer of the Cause of Milk Sickness," Journal of the American Medical Association (June 1966)." - ^ Tabler, Dave. "The curse of Milk Sickness". Archived from the original on 2013-06-03.
Dr. Anna Pierce Hobbs Bixby (1808–1869), the town physician of Rock Creek, IL for 35 years, was wrestling with the cause of milk sickness about the same time John Rowe was experimenting on his cows back in Ohio. The disease had claimed the lives of her mother and sister-in-law.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|deadurl=ignored (|url-status=suggested) (help) - ^ Ellison, George (2003-01-15). "White snakeroot was long a problem for settlers". Archived from the original on 2011-09-20. Retrieved 2013-05-05.
Doctor Anna [ . . . ] was baffled in her field research until she happened upon an elderly Indian medicine woman known as Aunt Shawnee. When Doctor Anna described what she was looking for to Aunt Shawnee, the older woman took her into the woods and pointed to white snakeroot.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|deadurl=ignored (|url-status=suggested) (help) - ^ "Moments in Kentucky Legislative History". Kentucky Historical Society. Archived from the original on 2008-12-02.
On February 18, 1841, the legislature offered a reward of two thousand dollars to anyone "who shall, within five years after the passage of this act" succeeds in discovering "the true cause of the disease, now known to be caused by the poisonous effects of the wild, flowering white snakeroot transmitted by the milk, butter, and flesh of cattle consuming the plant. Milk sickness had become a scourge in early Kentucky and nearby states, having claimed the lives of many settlers, including Abraham Lincoln's mother.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|deadurl=ignored (|url-status=suggested) (help) - ^ Marshall, C Dwight (June 1929). "Trembles". Farmers' Bulletin United States Department of Agriculture (1593). Retrieved 2019-06-01.
Too much credit, however, for proving the connection of white snakeroot with trembles should not be given to the work of recent years, for John Rowe in 1839 not only poisoned cattle and poisoned a calf from the milk of an affected cow by feeding the plant, but also got affidavits from responsible people, who were acquainted with the symptoms of trembles, declaring that his experimental animals had the disease. W. J. Vermilya, in 1859, too, poisoned sheep and horses experimentally. These experiments by Rowe and Vermilya were just as conclusive as anything done in this century, but did not receive the recognition which was their due.
- ^ National Institutes of Health bulletin, Issue 56 By National Institute of Health (U.S.), Hygienic Laboratory (U.S.)
- ^ Niederhofer, Relda. "1985 DANIEL DRAKE SYMPOSIUM syllabus, DR. DANIEL DRAKE'S STUDY OF MILK SICKNESS". p. 3. Retrieved 2019-06-01.
Milk sickness in humans, and Trembles as it is referred to in animals, is caused by the common woodland plant, Eupatorium rugosum (White snakeroot).[ . . . ] In 1840 Drake travelled within 150 miles of Cincinnati on horseback and foot studying the geology and botany of the area and consulting with physicians and farmers. From his study of the etiology Drake suggested five plants that might cause milk sickness: Eupatorium rugosum (White snakeroot), Bignonia capreolata (Creeper), fungi, Rhus venevata (Poison sumach) and Rhus toxicodendron, (Poison ivy) . He narrowed the plants down to white snakeroot and poison ivy, then rejected the former because it was so common and had no poisonous properties. Because Drake was such a prominent physician and scientist his theories were accepted almost without question. It wasn't until the early part of the 20th Century, nearly sixty years after Drake's death, before the mystery was solved.
- ^ The Western Journal of Medicine and Surgery, Volume 3, edited by Daniel Drake, Lunsford Pitts Yandell, Prentice & Weissinger, 1841
Further reading
- Hall, Elihu Nicholas. Anna's War Against River Pirates and Cave Bandits of John A. Murrell's Northern Dive. Unpublished manuscripts in Southern Illinois University Rare Book Collections. Revised and published as Ballads From the Bluffs. 1948.