Medical practices in the nineteenth century were primitive at best. Scientists still had many advancements to make before patients had access to safer, more effective care. Antibiotics, instruments, and procedures that we take for granted today were once far from adequate. Accepted medical theories during this time included philosophical approaches, such as believing the body was healthy if it was in balance with itself and the environment, and sickness emerged from an imbalance between the two. To combat an illness, doctors would purge the patient of bodily fluids. Therefore, the common form of bleeding a patient was thought to rid the body of disease. Other forms included urinating, perspiring, and defecating. Doctors prescribed certain liquids, herbs, and other concoctions to achieve a desired effect; calomel, which was a mercury compound, would induce vomiting, opium moderated diarrhea, and camphor caused perspiration.
Medicines were used only to treat the symptoms of the sickness, not the sickness itself. To help ease pain, opium, morphine, phenactine, and acetanilide would be prescribed; bark from a willow tree and meadowsweet reduced fevers; mild antibacterials such as resorscin and camphor would be used on wounds to prevent infections, and camphor was also used to soothe itchy skin. Doctors were not yet familiar with side effects and allergic reactions, but they understood the potency of certain drugs. Oftentimes, doctors monitored patients closely to watch for any behavior out of the ordinary.
In addition, research on communicable diseases was just beginning to reveal what caused the spread of germs and how to prevent infection from spreading. Many died from unsterilized instruments and unwashed hands during surgery and any number of other procedures where an open wound festered. It was not until Louis Pasteur (1822-1895), a French chemist, discovered that germs passed through the air that antiseptics were invented. As this became common knowledge, doctors acted to drastically reduce the chance of death from infections.
As with most professions before and during the nineteenth century, women were not permitted to work jobs seen only fit for men, though there were a few exceptions. Even though women were seen as caregivers, their emergence into the medical field was laughable, but Elizabeth Blackwell (1821-1910) changed the tide. Blackwell became the first woman to earn an M.D. in the United States in 1849 and opened the New York Infirmary to serve poor women and children. She also provided women opportunities to study medicine. Similarly, Mary Seacole, a Jamaican nurse, defied odds by establishing a hotel where she nursed sick and wounded soldiers during the Crimean War. She was known as “Mother Seacole” on the battlefield.
Today we can measure the advancement of medicine in leaps and bounds, but there are still so many things that doctors do not understand. Our ability to focus on finding cures for diseases and new treatments is admirable, and is something that should never falter. Thus, what will the future of medicine look like?
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