Dr Alfred C Smith was a Canadian doctor who worked as medical superintendent at the Tracadie Lazaretto at Tracadie, New Brunswick.
Of Smith, Laurie C C Stanley-Blackwell wrote:
Numbered among the exclusive cadre of leprologists was Dr. Alfred C. Smith, medical superintendent of the Tracadie lazaretto, located in a remote village in northeastern New Brunswick, Canada (Fig. 1). The price of Smith’s physical isolation from the major medical centers of the 19th century was ultimately undeserved neglect. However, the private papers of this little known physician reveal that he counted among his colleagues the leading dermatologists and leprologists of his time, including Drs. Jonathan Hutchinson, James White, Isadore Dyer, Albert Ashmead, and George Pernet, editor of Lepra. Some of these medical luminaries even paid Smith the compliment of making a pilgrimage to Tracadie, such as Dr. James E. Graham, one-time Vice-President of the American Dermatological Association; George Fox, a leading American dermatologist; the legendary Dr. William Osler, and Dr. Henry Stelwagon, the renowned American author of A Treatise on Diseases of the Skin. Their visits were only partially motivated by professional curiosity. They also wanted to make the acquaintance of the remarkable doctor who had transformed the Tracadie lazaretto into a model institution.
Source:
Laurie C C Stanley-Blackwell, “The Mysterious Stranger and the Acadian Good Samaritan: Leprosy Folklore in 19th-Century New Brunswick,” Acadiensis (1993): 27-39.
Entry updated February 2016