The Revolutionary War: Medicine
Medicine during the Revolutionary War was indeed crude compared to modern practices. However, as Lars Hedbor points out, “the passage of time may make some of our contemporary practices look barbaric and primitive in turn” (Hedbor). Therefore, reflection upon the practices of bygone eras needs to be conducted with an open mind and proper perspective. It is important to maintain the understanding that the colonist did not have access to the same knowledge, resources, and technology which are used in modern times. The colonists may made different choices if they had modern knowledge. During the Revolutionary War, the methods used had been in practice for over a millennium and a half.
The colonist followed the Humoral Theory, which originated in Greek medicine and was central to the teachings of Galen and Hippocrates (Osborn). The four humors of the Humoral Theory are blood, phlegm, yellow bile, and black bile (Osborn). The belief during the Revolutionary War remained that illness was caused by an imbalance of the humors and, therefore, it was necessary to balance them by adding or draining one of the fluids (Brady). Methods for draining these fluids included emetics, diuretics, scalpels, and leeches. Emetics cause vomiting and diuretics cause urination. A common treatment for balancing the humors was bloodletting.
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The medicines used were essentially herbal remedies. A few examples of the medicines were “laudanum or paregoric (opiate tinctures), calomel (a mercury compound), cream of tartar and spirits of lavender” (Hedbor). Quinine, a crystalline compound made from cinchona bark, was used to treat Malaria. Malaria was a major cause of death during the Revolutionary War, “South of New England, malaria had a devastating effect on the population, particularly to newcomers to the climate, who had no acquired immunity to the disease”
During the War for American Independence, 78 men were commissioned as general officers into the Continental Army by the Continental Congress. Many of these generals commanded troops with differing levels of competence and success. George Washington is typically seen as most important general, however throughout the war a number of his subordinates were able to distinguish themselves amongst their peers. One such general was Nathanael Greene. At the end of the Revolutionary War, Greene would become Washington’s most important subordinate, as demonstrated by Edward Lengel’s assessment of Greene as “the youngest and most capable of Washington’s generals.” Washington and Greene developed a strong, positive and close relationship between themselves. Greene began his life in the military after having been raised a Quaker. With limited access to literature and knowledge in his younger years, Greene became an avid reader which equipped him with the knowledge necessary to excel as a general during the war. Through his devoted study of military operations, firsthand experience and natural abilities as a soldier, Greene became an excellent military commander. He would become known for his successful southern campaign, during which, he loosened British control of the South and helped lead the war to its climax at Yorktown. Throughout the war, he was involved in a number high profile battles where he built a reputation of being an elite strategist who also understood unconventional warfare, logistics, and the importance of military-civil affairs and had a natural political/social acumen. The thesis of this paper is that Greene’s proven reputation of being a soldier, strategist and statesman would cause him to become the second greates...
Medicine has developed so dramatically over the last century that it is difficult to imagine a world in which its many benefits did not exist. Even as humans manage to eradicate some diseases, a look at history reminds us that there was a time when these and other diseases were rampant, and good health was the exception rather than the norm. There are many comparable time periods that medicine was needed and was used. With each, there were drastic changes to medical procedures and medical rules. Of the many different time periods that medicine was used; the comparison of medical care during the American Civil War and medical care during World War I is the most interesting. How did Civil War battlefield medicine compare with World War I battlefield medicine? That's a question that cannot be simply answered, but can be broken down into the overall sanitation of individuals, medical techniques, and overall medical staff for armies.
The Civil War had more deaths than all previous wars combined. Most people think those soldiers in the Civil War died of wounds or amputations, but the truth is that most died from common diseases that they never had been exposed to. Twice as many soldiers died from diseases than those soldiers who died in battle.
Alchin, Linda. “Elizabethan Medicine and Illnesses” www.elizabethan-era.org. UK. N.P. 16 May 2012 Web. 17 Jan 2014
The revolutionary war was evolutionary because when the second continental congress adopted the Declaration of Independence which was were the Americans declared independence everything changed and they signed the declaration on July 4th 1776. And that meant that they would need to get a commander in chief so the appointed George Washington who was an amazing general but they didn’t have much of an army just a lot of minutemen. Which are untrained people who just joined who were basically, a militia. But before they signed the declaration they had to get all the colonies on board and that’s when Benjamin franklin said "JOIN or DIE". And join or die was meant to get all the other colonies on board with going to war. Because that would be one of the only ways that they would have enough soldiers to even stand a chance against the
Physicians were only for royalty and the wealthy. Most common folk, if sick, would visit locals with medical knowledge they gained from ancestors or experience. If they did end up visiting a doctor, it would be one painful experience. Bloodletting was a very common procedure done in sickness and health. It was a procedure done to let out the ‘bad blood.’ It was done in 2 ways, leeching and venesection. Leeching was only used for royalty. The leech was placed on the most infected part of the body. Venesection is the act of directly opening the vein using a fleam, a long half inch blade, and catching the blood in a bowl to measure the amount of blood drained. Other common ones include burning a candle near your tooth for a toothache. If you have evil spirits in your head, then you would have a procedure called trepanning done, which involves cutting a hole in your skull to release the bad spirits.The cure to most general illnesses is pilgrimaging to a holy shrine. Supernatural healing, healing the sick by using herbs and demonic magic. There were only a few healing herbs and they were brought in through trade by travelers. Some examples are sassafras brought from West Indies and guaiac wood that was known to treat syphilis and many similar
Today doctors can treat this disease with minimal efforts, however, during the 14th century very few weren’t sure on how this disease actually spread and therefore didn’t know how to treat it. Physicians used to practice crude and unorthodox techniqu...
Throughout the decades, a long debate has taken place over what really caused the American Revolutionary War: a war fought for colonial independence from Great Britain. Historians claim single events such as the Boston Tea Party or the British declination of the Olive Branch Petition. But what these historians fail to include is the long standing oppression that slowly accrued until the colonists cracked. It was invoked by a series of events rather than one pivotal change. The Revolutionary War was caused by colonial displeasure with the acts imposed by Britain, improved self government, and ultimately the Declaration of Independence.
The medicinal practices and problems of the Elizabethan Era were very important to the people, although they are very different from those of today. There were many different beliefs and diseases, like the Plague. Medicine was not an exact science and was related to Alchemy (Chemistry). Here, some of the many practices and beliefs of the Elizabethan Era will be discussed.
Beginning around 460 BC, the concept of humoralism emerged throughout the written works of Hippocrates. These early works, some of the only medical works of this detailed nature to survive this period, delineated one of the first ways scholars and physicians viewed the body and more importantly illness. Shaped by the Hippocratics’ version of humoralism and his own interpretations of their written works, Galen resolutely supported the fundamental four-element theory, the notion of the four humors, and the essential practice of healing by applying opposites by physicians. However, Galen’s education in anatomy proved an effective advance in his medical reasoning away from a non-ontological view of illness into a considerably more ontological and
Early man's medicine was mixture of fear, folklore and superstition. They used plants that resembled the diseased or injured body part with shapes or colors that copied them. For example, yellow leaves were good for Jaundice and red ones for blood. If a leaf resembled the shape of the liver, that is were it was used. Native Americans were great inventors and well ahead of their times. They developed syringes, had knowledge of anesthetics and antiseptics as well as knowing how ...
However, some aspects can be compared to today’s medicine. The apothecaries of the Elizabethan era can be compared to today’s pharmacists. The apothecary’s main role in the medical system was to provide drugs to the patient, much like a pharmacist (Patterson, White). Also, barbers can be compared to today’s nurses. The barbers were not allowed to perform certain medical procedures and their practices mainly consisted of only tooth-pulling and bloodletting (Patterson, White). In today’s time, nurses are allowed to do much more than draw blood and pull teeth, but are not allowed to perform as many procedures as a doctor. In addition, we still use natural substances as medication today. Then, “lung afflictions such as pneumonia and bronchitis were treated by liquorice and comfrey,” which is still used in bronchitis medicines that are used today (Patterson, White). Also, “stomach aches were treated with wormwood, mint, and balm,” which still holds true today, as many people chew mint gum when they have an upset stomach. Although the medical treatments and doctorate procedures were different from our present day beliefs, the Elizabethan era greatly influenced the medical
Native Americans form of medicine to treat illnesses and injuries were more along the line of herbs and remedies they made. For example, to relieve the common cold and act as a throat aid, the roots of the sannich plant would be crushed into a juice and then swallowed, this acted as cough medicine. Native Americans had many experiment trials and errors with natural plants and herbs to determine their properties, effects and which would most benefit them. As the Spanish, English and other Europeans arrived in American, Native Americans shared their knowledge to them about their remedies and other herbal medicine and healing practices. Europeans took careful notice of these practices and soon started developing ways of their own. One Spanish explorer who took much interest in medicine, was Francisco Vasquez Coronado, who eventually developed the first medical book in American in 1570.
In the 1700’s things were very different to life today; this included the medicine of the time. The idea of medicine came from the Greeks and they came up with the four humours (consisting of water, fire, air and earth.) By the 1840’s most anaesthetics were accepted as James Simpson presented a powerful case for them; however they didn’t make surgery safer and the amount of people dying from operations increased. The final breakthrough for anaesthetics was when Queen Victoria accepted the use of Chloroform during the delivery of her eighth child. Even though being anesthetised was less painful surgeons did not take any precautions to protect open wounds and infections were spread by the reuse of old bandages!
Freeman, David H. "The Triumph of New-Age Medicine." The Atlantic. 2011. Web. 27 Feb. 2012. .