18th Century European Medicine

Europeans, in the 18th century experienced changes in marriages and families, children, and food and medical care. Unlike the early years when the people married at young ages, more and more Europeans began to marry at much older ages and form families with an established household. In the early 18th century, children were often neglected; however, as time went on, parents began to express their love more openly for to their children. The diets and medical care of the Europeans improved through new sources of food and experiments. During the 18th century, Europe and its people were beginning to experience a change where people were marrying at a young age, ignoring the children, and improving in their nutrition and medical care. Compared
As starvation decreased and lives lasted longer, the population of Europe increased dramatically. Although there was a difference between the diet of the wealthy and the poor, there was a similarity in their food, which was grain. Rich or poor, bread was the necessity in their life. However, peasants were not able to feel the improvement of food because meat was not as available to them as it was in the 1500s. This was because the population increased, and there were more mouths to feed. It was the upper class that had more access to meat. The difference in the diet of the wealthy and the poor was that the upper classes had varied meats and fishes, while the fruits and vegetables were for the poor. In fact, the middle class had the healthiest diet that consisted of protein, vegetables, fruits, and grain. Milk was not consumed because it was thought to cause illness, leading to deficiency in vitamins in the people’s bodies and soon diseases. The wealthy were deprived of vitamins A and C because of their dislike for vegetables. The discovery of potatoes helped the poor escape starvation and consume the necessary vitamins. Potatoes proved to be useful during the Seven Years’ War in Germany when famines occurred everywhere. Doctors, through the Enlightenment thinking, researched and experimented new methods to cure illness. For example, surgeons made huge progress in that they learned how to save lives of soldiers who had deep wounds. Excluding the midwives, most of the medically trainees were male because woman were distrusted and thought of as witches. Although the goal was to form simple principles of medicines, following Newton’s laws of physics, it did not result the way the medical thinkers had hoped. Diderot called for hospital reforms when patients came out with diseases they never had in the first place. Before William Tuke established