| Victorian Medicine |
| From ancient Greece, the history of medicine has been documented, but it was not until the Victorian Age that advancements in early medicine began to take place. In 1853, Queen Victoria was administered chloroform as an aesthetic during the birth of her eight child. During this same period, one in ten babies died at childbirth or soon there after, even in upper class homes. Medicine was still in a very primitive stage. For example, there was basically no comprehension of germs. Because of crowed and unsanitary conditions, many diseases were spread due to raw sewage in the streets and the polluted water systems. In 1861, Louis Pasteur promoted his germ theory, but his views were not accepted until years later. Without a complete understanding of bacteria and sanitation medical tools were not washed period to surgery. For example, doctors as Dr. Forbes Barclay of Fort Vancouver would wipe his scalpel(s) on his frock coat or sleeve, and ot was not the practice to wash your hands moving from one patient to another. However, some scientifically minded physicians "were starting to pay attention to the consequences of germs and bacteria, looking at the evidence "that cholera and other intestinal problems were caused by "miasmas" or bad smells". They were close, since it came from sewage in most cases. (Mitchell, Sally. Daily Life in Victorian England. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1996, 195). Herb and chemical poultices were used for injuries, sore muscles and lanced boils. Herbs were boiled for coughs and croup. Opium was used to control cough of "consumption" (chronic pulmonary tuberculosis) thought to be caused by hereditary, but was actually passed through the air. Bloodletting: Since antiquity that marked the dark ages of medicine, a concept of bleeding patients was used. Basically, they thought that by removing blood it would remove the infection. Various instruments were used in the process. A lancet was the standard instrument used in blood-letting, and were carried in sets contained in simple leather to elaborate cases made of gold, sliver, mother-of-pearl or tortoise shell. Fleams had more than one blade at right angles to the handle held in a brass case, but by the 18th and 19th centuries were used mainly on animals. The prefrred instrument to draw blood on humans was a spring lanced devise consisting of steel blades contained in a case. A hook held the cocked blade, which was released when a button was pressed. Scarifactors were also popular during this period, where a cup would as a receptacle for the extracted blood. The device consisted of four to twenty blades that when used produced multiple cuts simultaneously. "Dry cupping" was also used by burning material in the cup. The cup was then placed on the skin, where it slowly drew out blood by the suction created by the cooling cup. Tin and peweter bleeding bowls were used to catch the blood, which had a series of concentric rings inside the containter to measure the amount of blood drawn. This equipment was kept in a "cupping kit". Bloodletting was a common and misguided physiology practice, and basically did more harm than good. By removing blood from patients who needed the blood when they were sick or from people who were not really that sick, often would lead to more complications and/or death. For example, Dr. Benjamin Rush (who was a signer of the Declaration of Independence) erroneously thought that the body contained 12 instead of 6 quarts of blood. George Washington, shortly before his death was suffering from an infected throat. He was bled 4 1/2 quarts of blood within a 24 hour period and died soon thereafter. Leeches were also used for bloodletting as early as 100 BC by Syrian physicians, and during the Civil War.. Leeches were stored in decorative glass and porcelain vases inscribed with the word "LEECHES". They were highly priced. "Leech tubes" were used by placing leeches in the container to direct them to small areas such as the ear, mouth or vagina. Today, though there is a twist in the story. Leeches are still used by some medical professonals to draw blood from infected and fragil wounds, in this manner, under controlled situations bloodletting has been useful in fighting infection. Where did this view of what today may seem like folly or sorcery of the past come from? Hippocrates (460-370 BC) that many consider to be the "Father of Medicine" practice on the island of Cos. He believed that the body system was in total balance, with an imbalance created by the results of diseases. Galen (130-201 AD) took Hippocrates theory one step farther, teaching that the body must maintain a balance between the four bodily fluids or the "Four Humors," i.e., phlegm, blood, yellow and black bile. One who had a phlegmatic personality was considered to be dull and sluggish, while blood was felt to be in relationship with a sanquine personality with a passionate dispostion, laughter and music in their life. An individual who was choleric (as yellow feaver) or quick to anger was represented by yellow bile. Lastly, black bile was tied to a person who was depressed or had a melancholic personality or melan that relates to the color black. With this background, one can now see that it was the physicians responsibility to restore balance and harmony in the individual's life with adjustments of the "Four Humors" by the use of cathartcs, emetics, purgatives and bloodletting. Transfusions were also given to help balance the four humors. In one account, a doctor replaced the patient's blood with that of a sheep. The patient died not long after. During the Colonist period it was also the time of bleeding patients, but also patients avoided "fresh air and bathing," and were "treated with animal excrement. For decades, there were "unstoppable epidemics....no hospitals and . . . virtually no licensing of physicians." In fact, in 1776 only 5 percent of the doctors in America held degrees. (Health and Medicine, Life as a Colonist, FS-10139, Frank Schaffer Publications). In short, living conditions were poor and "it is a wonder that any of the colonists survived." "Only 105 survived the voyage. Of those 105, only 38 survived the first year. Half of the 102 pilgrims that sailed on the Mayflower died within the first six months. Even after Plymouth was well established, one-fourth of the people died before the age of 21. Before 1650 the mortality rate per year in Chesapeake was as high as 80 percent." (Ibid.) |
| During the Civil War period, instead of trying to save an arm or leg that was infected or damaged by a bullet or cannon fire, it was instantly removed. In addition, sickness killed 1,933,794 soldiers during the Civil War. |
| Major diseases during the colonial period: whooping cough, typhoid fever, measles, influenza, cholera, scarlet fever, small pox, yellow fever, dysentery, malaria and diphtheria. |
| o C. Keith Wilbur, M.D., Civil War Medicine 1861-1865, The Globe Pequot Press, Old Saybrook, Connecticut, 1998. o Early Methods of Treatment, http://www.goecities.com/victorianlace16/treatments.html |