St. Augustine Anthropology

The Spanish Military Hospital was established during the second Spanish period, from 1784 to 1821. It is located in St. Augustine, Florida. The Spanish doctors were experts in the field of medicine. When the Moors invaded Spain, they taught the Spanish important skills that would make their medical procedures much more successful. They were required to go through 11 to 13 years of education before becoming a practicing physician. The technique of washing their hands before treating a patient, and after treating a patient was a revolutionary idea. Their careful record keepers and their innovative ideas are what led to them having the most success rate in curing others. Performing surgery was a very tricky task. They did not have running electricity so surgeries could only be performed during the day when the sun was out. The patients had no Anastasia so the surgeons were required to perform their surgery as quickly as possible. The two types of surgeries that were performed were teeth extractions, and amputations. Some of the tools that were used were the tourniquet, to stop the bleeding, the capital knife, the surgical retractor, and a bone saw. Once a surgery was completed they would take the healing body part in dip it in hot wax, which served as a protective barrier. In the Spanish hospital there were many sick patients, and the doctors did not want their diseases to spread to one another. To help this dilemma, they separated the beds, put screens next to them, and washed their surgical utensils. The beds were made out of rope, and at night the doctors would come around and tighten the rope so that the patient wouldn’t fall out. This is where the saying “night, night sleep tight” comes from. Some of the people who were being treated were unable to move and so there were chamber pots placed under their bed. To avoid the smell of the pots to pervade the room, the doctors washed it with lavender oil. At the time, they were unaware of the fact that lavender oil