All
American
>Colonial America
People
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Midwifes
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Mary Hays McCauly
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G. DeBonneville
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J. Wesley
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Dr. John Jones
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Margaret Jones
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William Alcott
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Sylvester Graham
Places
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North Carolina
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Williamsburg, Virginia
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Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
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Boston, Massachussett
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Albany, New York
Events
1565: The settlement of St. Augustine, Florida included 2 surgeons
and an apothecary.
April 5, 1651: The first surgery on a gall stone was
done.
1734: Every Man His Own Doctor: Or, The Poor Planners
Physician, by John Tennent.
1736: The Medical Society of Boston was founded.
1752: Pennsylvania Hospital opened in Philadelphia.
1773: Hospital of the Metally Ill at Williamsburg, VA.
1775: John Jones issued first treatment of wounds and
fractures, the first work on surgery in the British Colonies.
1820-1860: Health Reform Movement
Resources
Medicine In America by James H. Cassedy is a secondary source
and is a credible source.
Trials of an Ordinary Doctor by Harold J. Cook is a secondary
source and is a credible source.
The Story of Medicine In America A brief, straight forward,
and credible overview of medicine and health occupations up to the Modern
Era. A secondary source written by Geoffrey Marks and William K.
Beatty
Updated 2/9/00 |
Colonial American Medicine
By Kristi Wall, Uche' Mcclennahan, and Ryan Jewell
Students, University of North Carolina Pembroke, 2001
Surgery
In the start of the American colonies, one
if in need of medical assistance would turn to one of three fields:
physicians who were the well educated, surgeons which have two subgroups
the Surgeons of the Long Robe and the barber-surgeon, and finally
the apothecaries who could only charge for merchandise. (Marks and
Beatty 3-4) The surgeons who derived their name from the greek word
"chirurgeon" literally meaning handwork were called "mister"
to differ themselves from physicians and the ordinary man. (Marks
and Beatty 4) Many ship surgeons coming over to the colonies would
set up a practice, still by this time no training facilities for surgeons
or physicians were available in the colonies. The first hospital
established on Manhattan Island in July 1660, was a failure and rated unserviceable.
After its twenty year service the first hospital was taken down and not
until 1736 will there be another hospital, the Workhouse and House of
Corrections. In 1751, Ben Franklin and Dr. Thomas Bond proposed
a bill to the Philadelphia Assembly to open a hospital there. Even with
hospitals, education for the physicians and surgeons was limited to universities
teaching students without hands on training. In order to get the
experience of surgery without operating on a live man was for one to use
a freshly buried body, this lead to grave robbers. This lead to the
paradox of citizens wanting a experience and well educated surgeon, but
having strife over religious beliefs and superstitions. The grave
robbings would continue inciting riots in various cities such as Cincinnati,
New York, and in Columbus, Ohio.
Diseases
During the Colonial time period in America, there were many diseases
that faced the new world. The practitioners of this period were faced
with many challenges due to not knowing the diseases and such that they
were forced to face in coming to the new world and being exposed to new
things. In the colonial time period, death was an every day thing
for the people living all over the new country of America. One disease
that many of Colonial America were faced with was Scurvy. Scurvy
was a disease characterized by painful joints, mental apathy, and lassitude.
Scurvy affected many of the immigrants during the trip over to America.
One thing that could be done to prevent Scurvy was to eat lots of citrus
fruits. Another such disease was caused by famine and was common
among the Indians. This disease was called Beriberi, and some symptoms
of Beriberi were swollen and large bellies and odd swellings. Some
of the common cures of Beriberi were half a pint of wheat and half a pint
of barley boiled in water in the common pot. By doing this type of
"cure", all of the little Vitamin B that may have been in the mixture was
boiled out. Another disease that they were faced with was the outbreak
of Dysentary, or diarrhea. These are just a few of the many diseases
and epidemics that the Colonial Americans faced as part of everyday life.
The lack doctors, knowledge and medicines needed to cure common things
had a enormous impact on the way things in Colonial American medicine ended
up.
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