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BEXAR
HISTORY

NINETEENTH CENTURY MEDICINE

IN BEXAR COUNTY

This presentation on the history of medicine in Bexar County
during the 19th century is divided into three parts:

FRONTIER MEDICINE.
NOTABLE PHYSICIANS OF THE 19TH CENTURY.
ORGANIZED MEDICINE IN THE 19TH CENTURY.

There are many books and references in the literature concerning this period and
they have furnished the information to compile these articles.
There is a complete bibliography at the end of Part 3.

By J.J. Waller Jr., MD

During the first 20 years of the 1800s, Texas was a province of the abandoned as a mission and was converted into a hospital by the
Spanish government, administered from Mexico City. From 1821 Spanish government. The area’s only physician, a civil employee,
to 1836 it was a state in the Republic of Mexico, and from 1836 to treated all the residents of the county, including military, civilian set-
1845 it was the Republic of Texas. Thereafter it became a state in tlers, and Indians residing in the various other missions. During the
the United States except during the Civil War when it was a member Spanish rule of Texas, excellent records were maintained of the var-
of the Confederacy. ious military and civilian medical problems encountered in the
province of Texas. These included extensive medical records, which
While under Spanish rule, the physician at San Antonio de Bexar were then transmitted to the viceroy in Mexico and then onto the
was appointed by the viceroy in Mexico City. From 1821 on, the Spanish government in Madrid. From 1821 to 1836, during the pe-
physicians in Bexar County were independent practitioners or were riod of revolution of Mexico from Spain, the records decreased in
part of the military units assigned to the San Antonio area. frequency and from 1836 to 1845, during the Republic, records were

In 1805, the Mission San Antonio de Valero (the Alamo) was

14 San Antonio Medicine • January 2016