A Frontier Doctor Page: 141

                                
HUMORS OF PRACTICE IN BERNALILLO 141
That club became quite active when I was suddenly
stricken with some kind of fever, was put to bed, and old
Dr. Carroll was called in.
He at once confided in me that he was not a physician;
that all he ever gave was quinine, castor oil, and native
wine. This wine, of very fine quality, was made each year
by most of the families, from the famous Mission grapes
that are found everywhere in the Rio Grande Valley.
Although the good old doctor's drug supply was limited,
I found him to be a splendid nurse and I was well cared
for. My goods arrived about the second week of my ill-
ness and as I had been delirious for some days Dr. Car-
roll had them stored in my adobe.
Judge McCutchin, his wife, son, and daughter from
Washington, D.C., had come to Bernalillo for the Judge's
health. Hearing of my illness, they kept me supplied with
all kinds of suitable dainties as soon as I began to conva-
lesce, and it was not long before I was in the adobe rooms
unpacking and fitting up the new drug store.
My first professional call came one midnight. The wife
of one of the most prominent families had been in agony
for twenty-four hours. Dr. Carroll had attended them
for years, was called, gave her a liberal potion of each of
his 'sheet-anchors' without results and a family consulta-
tion resulted in their deciding to try out the new medico.
I soon discovered the agony was due to an acute bladder
trouble and relieved it instantly by a catheterization, a
procedure unheard of among these people at that time.
The reputation of the 'medico colorado' - the cognomen
given me by the Mexicans on account of my red hair -
was on a very firm basis in Bernalillo from that night.
Don Jos6 Antonio Montoyo was ill with pneumonia.
Dr. Carroll informed the family it was a hopeless case and
left for Santa F6 to be gone a week. A son-in-law of the
patient came and asked me to come and stay at the house