Our Catleolic Heritage in T e:xas
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women servants. The latter received room and board plus four pesos a month. The total cost of operation for the first year was 864 pesos.u Doctor Zerban did not prove popular. The people of San Antonio complained to Governor Cordero that Zerban failf'd to show proper interest. They protested that the medicines he prescribed, besides being e>..1>ensive, were ineffectual and that, as a matter of fact, their own home remedies brought much better results. He had not held the position four months before they signed a petition asking that he be not permitted to practice at all. Their antagonism was due in part to his nationality, for they declared frankly that the people of San Antonio preferred a Spanish doctor. 13 An investigation disclosed that the movement had been started after the arrival of a Spanish doctor. The newcomer seems to have desired to eliminate all medical competitors. Cordero retained Zerban, although he had no personal affection for him. In a letter to Salcedo some years later, he admitted that Zerban was a scoundrel, but that he was obliged to keep him because physicians were few and far between. An effort was made to secure adequate medical supplies and the neces- sary surgical instruments. Cordero sent to Salcedo a long list of drugs and instruments needed for the treatment of the troops. Salcedo imme- diately replied that he had forwarded the order to Mexico City together with instructions to fonvard the supplies without delay to Saltillo and thence directly to San Antonio. 14 Texas' first dentist. This same year San Antonio received its first dentist, Pedro Lartigue. In a petition to the governor for permission to practice, Lartigue declared that he was a master surgeon and dentist of twenty-three or twenty-four years' experience in Louisiana, and offered to furnish his patients free drugs and medicines. Cordero referred the petition to the Cabildo of the Villa de San Fernando de Bexar as coming under their immediate jurisdiction. The City Council voted to grant the request and Pedro Lartigue thus became the first licensed dentist in Texas. The members of the Cabildo who signed the resolution were Jose Antonio Saucedo, Jose Felix Menchaca, Vicente Travieso, Francisco Arocha, Jose Benito Duton, Jose Erasmo Seguin, and Toribio Duran. 15 llFrancisco Amangual to Cordero, October 1o, 1806; Accounts rendered, December I 6, I 806. Bexar Archives. UAlcalde Toribio Duran to Cordero, April 24, 1806. Bexar Archives. 14 Salcedo to Cordero, July I 3, 1806. Bexar Archives. 15 Petition of Pedro Lartigue and accompanying documents. August 7, 1806. Bexar Archives.
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