The Common Practitioner
In the era of the Revolutionary War, we had no knowledge that germs, bacteria, or viruses existed, let alone how diseases spread or how to prevent them. Dr. Buchan, an important doctor of the time, starts to get on the right track when he states in his second edition medical book that it is important to be clean. He also writes, “… the infection does not always die with the patient… clothes and blankets will retain infection for a very long time…” Here, the thought of bacteria is faintly suggested, but not quite certain.
Medical practitioners did not practice hygiene, clean before amputations, or sterilize instruments. It’s no wonder so many soldiers died of infections. The common beliefs of practitioners were that of Hermann Boerhaave’s. The main misconceptions in Boerhave’s theories were the following: disease is an imbalance of natural activity, fever is the body’s last attempt to keep from dying, and bleeding and purging are effective remedies for infections and fevers. Many lives were lost using Boerhaave’s theories, but didn’t worry his patients. Doctors were not judged by their successes, but by their scholarliness.
As of 1775, 3,500 doctors were practicing. Seven years of training was required to be considered as official physicians. Because of this small number of doctors, many people living outside of the cities had to treat each other, the mothers of the families acting as nurses with no medical training whatsoever.
Medical practitioners did not practice hygiene, clean before amputations, or sterilize instruments. It’s no wonder so many soldiers died of infections. The common beliefs of practitioners were that of Hermann Boerhaave’s. The main misconceptions in Boerhave’s theories were the following: disease is an imbalance of natural activity, fever is the body’s last attempt to keep from dying, and bleeding and purging are effective remedies for infections and fevers. Many lives were lost using Boerhaave’s theories, but didn’t worry his patients. Doctors were not judged by their successes, but by their scholarliness.
As of 1775, 3,500 doctors were practicing. Seven years of training was required to be considered as official physicians. Because of this small number of doctors, many people living outside of the cities had to treat each other, the mothers of the families acting as nurses with no medical training whatsoever.