Transcript Medical Practice in the 1700*s

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 bloodsucking 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 Info
Books:
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