The Apothecary in Eighteenth-Century Williamsburg / Being an Account of his medical and chirurgical Services, as well as of his trade Practices as a Chymist

PASTEUR and GALT

It must have been a source of gratification to John Minson Galt when the well-established Pasteur invited the younger man to become his partner. The announcement of the new firm read as follows:

WILLIAMSBURG, April 15, 1775.
THE Subscribers having this Day entered into Partnership, beg Leave to acquaint the Public in general, and their Friends and Neighbours in particular, that they intend practicing Physic and Surgery to their fullest Extent; and that they intend also, as soon as the Situation of the Times will admit, to keep full and complete Assortments of Drugs and Medicines, which they will endeavour to procure of the very best in Quality, and will take Care to have them fresh by making several Importations in the Year. It is proposed that John M. Galt shall pay his particular Attention to Surgery, to whom our Friends are desired to apply on all such occasions, but will be advised and assisted by W. Pasteur in all difficult Cases. They both desire to make their most grateful Acknowledgments to their Friends and Customers for the many Favours and Civilities they have received, and hope, by this Union, they will be enabled to carry on their Business to the entire Satisfaction of their Friends; as, on their Part, the strictest Assiduity and Attention shall be observed.
PASTEUR & GALT

Only a few days after this announcement appeared, the spark of revolution flared out in both Lexington, Massachusetts, and Williamsburg, Virginia. As it happened, Dr. Pasteur was to play a minor role and a momentary one on the Williamsburg stage. Governor Dunmore’s surreptitious removal of the colony’s gunpowder from the Magazine was detected and there was an immediate reaction from the populace, some under arms. Attending a patient in the Palace, Dr. Pasteur was twice accosted by the Governor and made the bearer of angry messages to the Speaker of the House of Burgesses and “the Gentlemen of the Town.” Should he be attacked, His Lordship blustered, “he would declare freedom to the slaves & reduce the city of Williamsburg to ashes.”

What actually followed was that Dunmore and his family fled the Palace, never to return, and Pasteur became the next mayor of Williamsburg. It should be mentioned that he and John Minson Galt were already members of the Committee of Safety for the city when they formed their partnership. The sympathies of both were clearly on the patriot side.

The partners very shortly were able to advertise the importation of the usual wide assortment of drugs and medicines for sale in their shop on Duke of Gloucester Street. And a few surviving bills indicate that they did not lack for medical and surgical business. Dr. Pasteur, it would seem, did not share his younger colleague’s aversion to phlebotomy, as the following excerpt from a Pasteur & Galt bill to Henry Morse Esq. in 1775 shows:

April	14	To bleeding Vomit & Chamomile Flowers	. . 7 . . 6
	21	To Brimstone & Antimony	. . 1 . . 3
	22	To Purge Honey & Barley	. . 4 . .
	25	To Purge 2/6. 26 Sugar Candy 1/3	. . 3 . . 9
	29	To bleeding & Pectoral Mixture	. . 8 . . 6
	30	To Visiting Mixture & Sago	. . 9 . . 9
May	4	To Pectoral Mixture	. . 6 . . 6
	11	To 1 lb Balsam Honey	. . 6 . . 3
	19	To 1 lb Do. 6/3 25 Honey 1/0
		31st Cons. Roses 2/	. . 9 . . 3
June	1	To 1 lb Balsam Honey	. . 6 . . 3
	6	To Lenitive Electary & Salope	. . 3 . . 6
	15	To Castor Oil & Honey	. . 6 . .
	16	To Febrifuge & Bitter Decoctions	. .12 . .
	22	To Attendce & Bleedg in the Night	. .10 . .
	23	To Honey & Oxymel Squills	. . 2 . . 6
July	10	To Honey 1/ 10th Capillaire & Sago 5/6	. . 6 . . 6
August	20	To Vomit & Chamomile Flowers	. . 2 . . 6
	21	To Febrifuge Decoction repeated	. .10 . .
			L 5. 16 . 6

The partnership lasted only three years, for reasons not now discernable, and William Pasteur gave notice to the public that “I purpose commencing oyster merchant” at his landing on King’s Creek between Williamsburg and Yorktown. Galt, on the other hand, continued to practice medicine, serving as a senior surgeon to the Continental military hospital in Williamsburg, joining in partnership with Dr. Philip Barraud, and becoming visiting physician to the public hospital for the insane and a member of its board of directors. He held both offices until his death in 1808. Yet as late as 1794 he was identified in court records as “Apothecary, of the City of Williamsburg.”

Clyx.com