Steam Doctor, The

DESCRIPTION: "Steam Doctor, steam till you're ready to faint; Without ever stoppping to ask your complaint. He gives No. 6 and lobelia so fast That within a few hours you're breathing your last These hard times!"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1911 (Belden-BalladsSongsCollectedByMissourFolkloreSociety)
KEYWORDS: disease doctor death
FOUND IN: US(So)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Belden-BalladsSongsCollectedByMissourFolkloreSociety, pp. 442-443, "The Steam Doctor" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #7832
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Rigs of the Times" (form, lyrics)
NOTES [83 words]: Belden-BalladsSongsCollectedByMissourFolkloreSociety assumes that this is a satire of the methods of Dr. Samuel Thomson (1769-1843), who according to the Dictionary of American Biography was "originator of the 'Thomsonian system' of treatment by vegetable remedies and the vapor bath."
The song seems to have been built from "The Rigs of the Times," but since Belden-BalladsSongsCollectedByMissourFolkloreSociety's single stanza seems to be all that survives, it's difficult for us to say more. - RBW
File: Beld442

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