Remote & Rural Remedies

"Survey return from Dr. Livingston"

Duror, Appin.

1851.

RCP/COL/4/8/239

Dr. Livingston was a medical practitioner in Duror.

Duror was a quoad sacra parish within the united parish of Lismore and Appin. The general parish's industry was primarily agriculture. Seasonal fishing was also common. In 1861 the population of the general parish was 3595.

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[[Addressee]]
Dr Livingston
Duror
Appin

[[Survey]]
QUERIES

1. How long have you practiced in the locality you at present occupy?

20 years

2. What are the ordinary and what the greatest distances which you have to travel in visiting patients?

from 20 to 30 miles

3. What means of conveyance do you employ in going long journeys?

Riding when that can
be done but when crossing the Hills to the different Glens
I must walk

4. What is the state of the roads in your neighbourhood?

The Road through the Country
is very good but a single line

5. Is the position of medical men in general in your quarter improved, or otherwise, of late years?

The position
of medical men in general are most miserable laborious
practice & little or nothing for it – few or none of the Heritors¹
reside here & all tenants crofters & cotters (except Store Farmers²
who hold sheep alone) are in a state of or verging on Bankruptcy
& not able to pay their Rents since the failure of the potatos
& the depression of the prices of Black cattle

6. Supposing the people of the Highlands and Islands were generally able to pay for medical
advice, according to rates usually observed in other parts of the kingdom, what extent of
country in your locality would you regard as sufficient to occupy a single practitioner
fully?

I would consider Ten miles

7. Mention, if you please, any special hardships incident to your situation, such as you think
might be remedied by some general measure or enactment?

Unless something will be done, I do not think it possible for
a medical practitioner to live in this country depending on his
practice for maintenance however high his Acquirements &
abilities may be, and the reason is obvious the want of pay=
=ment – Take for balance a bad case of mid-wifery and
a course nights Journey of from 20 to 60 miles – crossing arms
of the sea & very often [1 word illegible] to get or take any
conveyance – shifting wait for Dry out of the question
after all this fatigue and expences I am sorry to say that not
more than three out of Ten can pay anything so in a pecuniary
point of view, I would be much better off by stoping at home
had it not been for the suffering of humanity

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Explanatory notes:

1. A heritor was a landowner, under Scots Law, whose holdings were sizeable enough for them to be liable for the payment of public burdens such as Poor Law rates, road and bridge assessments and the church minister’s stipend.
2. The term store farmer was often used interchangeably with stock farmer to designate a farmer who bred or raised livestock.