Medicine In Colonial America Essay
Medicine in Colonial America
Medicine in Colonial America was much different from today, but gave us a lot of insight in the human body’s needs. Due to lack of education, experience, proper tools, and hygiene, many patients died. However, there were also many people who were saved through the medical procedures and lived full and healthy lives.
Few doctors in Colonial America actually received a formal education through a medical school, because there was really only one school: the Pennsylvania Hospital (Rorke, n.d.). This program was far too expensive and for some located too far away, thus they could not attend. Furthermore, because of the lack of complete knowledge, these schools would not have provided any more information than one would obtain by learning from another doctor, which in most cases would be a much cheaper education, thus, most doctors learned through apprenticeships. They had to complete a 7 year apprenticeship before being considered a doctor. Of course there were Quacks, or citizens who pretended to have …show more content…
If these humors were imbalanced, a person would become ill. To make him or her feel better, you must balance the humors (Brinkley, 2004). According to Rorke, “one must sweeten acids, purify the stomach, and rid impurities by bleeding and purging” or by using leeches to increase blood production, to balance these again. Most doctors actually let patients bleed out, because their “humors” were not balanced, whereas midwives prescribed laxatives to remove bile. Furthermore, Boerhaave believed that a “fever was the body’s attempt to keep from dying,” even though we now know that it is actually the body’s response to killing whatever is making the body sick. Although this sounds absurd when considering our knowledge with today’s medicine, many doctors and midwives used this theory to aid the ill and actually succeeded in some
Medicine in Colonial America was much different from today, but gave us a lot of insight in the human body’s needs. Due to lack of education, experience, proper tools, and hygiene, many patients died. However, there were also many people who were saved through the medical procedures and lived full and healthy lives.
Few doctors in Colonial America actually received a formal education through a medical school, because there was really only one school: the Pennsylvania Hospital (Rorke, n.d.). This program was far too expensive and for some located too far away, thus they could not attend. Furthermore, because of the lack of complete knowledge, these schools would not have provided any more information than one would obtain by learning from another doctor, which in most cases would be a much cheaper education, thus, most doctors learned through apprenticeships. They had to complete a 7 year apprenticeship before being considered a doctor. Of course there were Quacks, or citizens who pretended to have …show more content…
If these humors were imbalanced, a person would become ill. To make him or her feel better, you must balance the humors (Brinkley, 2004). According to Rorke, “one must sweeten acids, purify the stomach, and rid impurities by bleeding and purging” or by using leeches to increase blood production, to balance these again. Most doctors actually let patients bleed out, because their “humors” were not balanced, whereas midwives prescribed laxatives to remove bile. Furthermore, Boerhaave believed that a “fever was the body’s attempt to keep from dying,” even though we now know that it is actually the body’s response to killing whatever is making the body sick. Although this sounds absurd when considering our knowledge with today’s medicine, many doctors and midwives used this theory to aid the ill and actually succeeded in some