Remote & Rural Remedies

"Survey return from J. Vass"

Tain.

1851.

RCP/COL/4/8/227

J. Vass (also written as Voss) was a medical practitioner in Tain.

Tain was a parish and market town in the historic County of Ross and Cromarty and contained the village of Inver. The main industries in the parish were distilling, brewing, iron foundry, and wool production. In 1836, the population was 2915.

---

[[Addressee]]
Dr Voss
Tain

[[Survey]]
QUERIES

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

Three years

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

see next page¹

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

Horseback and
a Single Gig²

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

very good

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

The same medical men have occupied this
district prior to my settling in it, so that
I can’t speak of any change for good or bad
among them.

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 am not able to speak from Experience of
any other quarter than my own. The greater part of the working &
poor people particularly those not in town are not much disposed
to employ medical men. It may be the fear of their Fees may to
some extent account for this, but it is certainly not the sole
cause. This district includes a Circle with a radius of about
7 – 8 miles – some parts of which are very thinly peopled
with such as are willing to employ and pay medical men –

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?

³ {answer to Query 6 continued} and a Population of ten to twelve thousands,
of which the town of Tain contains 2500. –
But a very small portion of the whole
is in the regular habit of employing a
medical attendant. There are three medical
men settled in Tain for this district but I
consider there is sufficient work and
adequate remuneration for only Two.
Answer to Query 7}⁴ One special Hardship to which I would refer is
the want of any society or intercommunion among
medical men, - any medical library or correspondence
with our more fortunately situated professional brethren
of the South. The Limited returns which our Professional
Labors yield don’t admit of our spending money
in the purchase of new Books & from our limited numbers
and remoteness from any college or society, there is
not that Emulation among us nor those facilities
for the acquirement of the most recent information
which would enable us to keep pace with the times.
Thus for example I know of some of men around
me who are hardly acquainted even by name with
Bright’s Disease⁵, and in such matters the Public
are scarcely capable of judging between the
(over)⁶
well⁷ and the ill informed.
I am not prepared to suggest any “general measure”
as a remedy for this, yet I would venture to mention,
that were the Colleges of Physicians & Surgeons, the Universities
and other Societies – either in concerted combination, or apart,
to lend to their members under certain conditions, new
medical works, after having been perused – say for one year –
by the members more immediately within the ordinary
circle of distribution, it would tend greatly to elevate
the character and standing of country practitioners.


[[Additional text]]

⁸{Answer to query 2} The ordinary distances are in the Town of Tain and
from 4 to 8 miles around it. The most remote
part of my district, - towards Tarbatness Light-
-house is about 13 miles distant. I am
occasionally called to visit at greater distances
up to 20 or 25 miles – chiefly English Sportsmen or
visitors – apart from or in consultation with
the Practitioners in whose district the cases occur
This however is rare and not to be considered
a part of any ordinary practice
There are two medical men at Invergordon
12 miles distant to the west and one at
Bonar 15 miles to the north who may be
considered to divide the intervening space
with their neighbors in Tain.
J. Vass
Tain 20th. Septr 1851

---

Explanatory notes:

1. Query 2 is answered on the addressee page and represented under [Additional Text] in the transcript.
2. A gig is a light two-wheeled carriage pulled by one horse.
3. After “pay medical men –” query 7 is crossed out and the answer to query 6 continues.
4. The answer to query 7.
5. A historical classification of kidney diseases that would be described in modern medicine as acute or chronic nephritis.
6. “Over” is written by respondent to indicate he has written on the addressee page.
7. From the word “well” the text continues onto the addressee page.
8. Written on the addressee page, after the answer to query 6, cross-wise across the addressee’s name and address.