a student setting out in practice for
himself, may be imagined from the conclusion of an old indenture of
apprenticeship, which states, that when Jacobus Hubbard shall have
fulfilled his apprenticeship of four years and eight months,--during
which he has well and faithfully served his master, his secrets kept,
his lawful commands gladly everywhere obeyed,--he shall be provided,
when he goes forth as doctor, with a "new set of surgeon's pocket
instruments, Solomon's Dispensatory, Quence's Dispensatory, and Fuller
on Fevers."

It is probable that such a very healthy country as New Jersey did not
always give a doctor of a neighborhood sufficient work to occupy his
time, and therefore the early physicians used to combine other
professions with that of medicine and surgery. Some were lawyers, others
clergymen, and many were farmers and planters. The following story is
told about the Rev. Jacob Green, "who lived in Hanover, and was pastor
of the Presbyterian Church in that place. He had also many other
callings, as may be inferred from a letter addressed to him by a wag,
and which was said not to exaggerate the truth:--

"'To the Rev. Jacob Green, _Preacher_.
" " " " _Teacher_.
" " " " _Doctor_.
" " " " _Proctor_.
" " " " _Miller_.
" " " " _Distiller_.'"

The necessity for this variety of occupation is shown by a letter from a
gentleman named Charles Gordon, living near Plainfield, to his brother,
Dr. John Gordon, in England, in which he says, "If you design to come
hither, you may come as a planter or merchant; but as a doctor of
medicine I cannot advise you, for I hear of no diseases to cure but some
agues and some cutted legs and fingers." Other physicians gave up their
professions at the beginning of the Revolution, and became prominent in
military matters.

Dr. John Cochran, one of the first New Jersey physicians, was a man of
wide experience and reputation. He was surgeon in the British hospital
during the French War, and afterward practiced medicine in New
Brunswick. During the Revolution, he became an army surgeon. He was a
friend of Washington, and, in fact, was quite intimate with the
commander in chief of the American forces. It is said that when
Washington was at West Point in 1779, and the doctor and his family were
stationed at the same place, Washington wrote to Dr. Cochran almost the
only facetious letter whi