Medical Practices in the

1700’sBy: Angela

People

• John Winthrop, governor of Massachusetts, made medicine for children in the colonies. He knew cures ( as did others ) from England.

• Benjamin Rush was also a famous doctor. He became more famous when yellow fever killed more than 4,000 people but he saved many with new cures.

The Apothecary

• The Apothecary is like a pharmacist today. They sold medicine.

• They gathered leaves, tree bark, and other materials.

• It was important for them to use the right amount of each ingredient.

• They would cut up plants and put them into a bowl called a Mortar.

• Then they would ground them with a small club called a Pestle.

• Or they might have dissolved it to make a liquid so patients could drink it.

• People also bought drugs from merchants but did not often trust doctors. They were very expensive.

Mortar and Pestle

Quick Remedies• Honeysuckle was used to treat fevers and

sore throats.

• Parsley helped wounds heal faster.

• Cranberry paste soothed a stomach ache.

• Leaves from a Columbine plant made into lotion would cure a sore throat or mouth.

Doctors

• Doctors did not learn at a university or medical school. Instead they spent 6 years working with a older doctor.

• Doctors believed sickness was caused by poison.

• They often carried germs from one patient to the other.

• Sanitation was a problem. Their knives were often blunt and dirty, as were their hands.

• There were no painkillers.

Procedures

• Barbers also acted as doctors, even performing operations.

• If you had to amputate, cut off, your leg, there was no way to stop the pain. You would probably die of shock, infection, or loss of blood.

• Many women died giving birth.

• Doctors tried to take blood out, hoping the sickness would get out the body. They would take a sharp knife or blood-sucking leech and take out one to two pints of blood. The patient usually died.

Leech

Doctors would keep many leeches in a jar, often painted, looking nice.

Disease

Small Pox- An infection caused by two main viruses, the Variola Major and Minor Virus. It attacked skin cells creating red little bumps across your entire body.

Measles- Rubeola, a highly contagious respiratory infection that was caused by a virus causing total-body rashes, flu-like symptoms, cough and runny nose.

Credit InfoBooks:

Medicine in Colonial America by Charlie Samuel

Everyday Life in Colonial America by Louis B. Wright

Websites:

http://kidshealth.org/teen/infections/skin_rashes/smallpox.html

http://kidshealth.org/parent/infections/lung/measles.html

Picture Credits

Wikimedia Commons:

/wiki/File:Black_peppercorns_with_mortar_and_pestle.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2e/Leeching-large.jpeg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/13/Redbloodcells.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/da/Benjamin_Rush_Painting_by_Peale_1783.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/23/Bottles_at_the_apothecary_at_the_Hospices_de_Beaune.jpg

/upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/26/Lonicera_fragrantissima1.jpg