Early American Medicine and Health Care

Jul 12, 2010 Michael Streich

Colonial Medicine was Severely Limited - Jeff Kubina Flickr Image

George Washington might have lived longer if medical advances had moved beyond bleeding as a remedy for most maladies.

In mid-December 1799 George Washington developed a sore throat after having been outside of his home during a snowstorm. Doctors were summoned to his bedside and utilized the common medical practice of bleeding or bloodletting. There were no hospitals or clinics at the time and most patients were treated in their homes. According to writer Henry Wiencek, “He was probably suffering an acute infection, and might well have survived if the doctors had performed a tracheostomy, a procedure not unknown to them.” Washington’s death illustrates the state of medicine in early American history.

Late 18th Century Medical Transitions

Applying science to medical treatments was in its infancy as the new American nation entered the 19th Century. Bloodletting was still the most desired treatment for many maladies. Surgical instruments were not sterilized and amputations were preformed without the benefit of anesthesia. Although Hollywood films often show alcohol used in such procedures, the fact is alcohol was forbidden because it was known to thin the blood, complicating surgeries.

Often, severe epidemics swept through the larger colonial cities during the 18th century. In 1706, Charles Town in South Carolina experienced a yellow fever outbreak that almost allowed the Spanish to take the city. Between 1763 and 1764 a smallpox epidemic swept through Boston. One of the worst outbreaks was the 1793 yellow fever epidemic that killed scores of people in Philadelphia.

Such major events helped doctors experiment with new treatment options as well as refining older techniques, some learned from the Native Americans. Ipecac, a natural remedy, was used to alleviate dysentery. Venereal diseases like syphilis were treated with mercury, called quicksilver at the time. From the earliest days of Spanish exploration, Europeans discovered quinine, another American Indian cure for malaria. Treating scurvy with vitamin C was learned from the Northeast Indians by the early French explorers.

The Absence of Dentistry

One of the myths about Washington centers on his so-called wooden teeth. Dentistry during the 18th century was crude and practically non-existent. People lost teeth early in life due to a lack of daily care. Weincek relates that Washington possessed several sets of false teeth made, in part, from ivory and slaves’ teeth. According to Weincek, “…the custom of the wealthy buying teeth from the poor was common in Europe.”

According to historian Page Smith, advances in dentistry would not come until the early 19th century. He cites the observations of an early 19th century contemporary, Israel Joseph Benjamin, who correlated the growth of the dentistry profession with the home-bound role of middle and upper middle class women that “delight in sweets and tid-bits.” Benjamin writes that some women had “…rows of teeth pulled, as I myself witnessed, to obtain more beautiful ones…”

Professionalizing Medical Practices

By the turn of the century, some of the first hospitals appeared in cities like Philadelphia, established by prominent physicians that had been trained in Europe, unlike most late colonial period doctors who learned their professions through apprenticeships. Additionally, professional organizations began to emerge.

Advances in dissection, previously prohibited, as well as discoveries resulting from the scientific revolution – like blood circulation, further enhanced growing medical knowledge. Yet it would take many decades to overcome the rudimentary treatment methods used by many health care professionals. Even President Andrew Jackson, in the 1830s, still bled himself.

References:

• Dale Taylor, Everyday Life in Colonial America From 1607-1783 (Cincinnati: Writer’s Digest Books, 1997)
• Page Smith, The Shaping of America: A People’s History of the Young Republic, Volume 3 (New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1980)
• Page Smith, The Nation Comes of Age: A People’s History of the Ante-Bellum Years, Volume 4 (New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1981)
• Jack Weatherford, Indian Givers: How the Indians of the Americas Transformed the World (New York: Fawcett Books, 1988)
• Henry Wiencek, An Imperfect God: George Washington, His Slaves, and the Creation of America (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2003)

© 2010 Michael Streich

All rights to this article are retained by Michael Streich and any reprint in any form, including digital and print must be grated by Michael Streich in writing.