Smid was one of the first writers on medicine in Scandinavia who was trained in medicine, but according to Stokker, Remedies and rituals: folk medicine in Norway and the new land (2007) p. 111 "had trouble succeeding as a doctor bcause of the public's preference for self-trained healers." He copied some of his text, which may be translated as "Beautiful, merry new herb garden," from Petersen's works and other sources.