Victorian Era Medicine

Practitioners with a lack of formal education did medical care in the 17th century. Many women and laypeople in that time had lots of expertise in herbal medicines and folk antidotes to cure colonists. The first curer people would turn to if they were sick would be a neighbor or a family member. However, there was a new type of physician in the 18th century. This was usually a young man from a wealthy family who went to an elite university who didn 't see himself as a doctor, but more as a scientist. The new physicians learned anatomy through dissection, assisted researchers, and helped with medical experiments. They also observed surgical procedures, and sat through lectures about new advances in the department of medical science. Alongside the scientists, there were also surgeons. The military was where many surgeons

The 18th Century was a period where teachings of Aristotle were prominent. Herbal medicine and therapeutic techniques was the primary medical treatment. During this period society had no know knowledge of bacteria, germs, viruses, or any known sanitation methods. Primary methods of medical administration included blistering , bloodletting, clysters (known as enemas), diet changes, and cold bathing.

The logic and principles of medieval medicine shaped those of Modern medicine. Never was there a more efficient method perfected, so much that it remained through history through so many hundreds of years. Today’s concepts of diagnosis, relationships with the church, anatomy, surgery, hospitals and training, and public health were established in the Middle Ages.

At this time there was no physician-patient relationship, this being due to the fact that physicians were there to treat the body and the general view was that patients were unable to provide accurate evidence without “feelings and emotions” getting in the way. This Era at the bottom line was about facts, evidence and physical direct ailments. The nursing profession was just starting to be developed in this Era. The “nurses” of this time were family members, nuns, priests, neighbors who were all untrained. The start of some of the founding nurses were seen such as Florence Nightingale. She started to look at sanitary conditions and nutrition, some might say she was the original nurse. Her contribution the start of nursing is very significant. She trained some of the first nurses during the Crimean War and with her training she was able to statistically show how sanitary conditions, cleanliness and nutrition were able to significantly decrease the death rate of Crimean soldiers. In Era I physicians really only took care of one part of the “human”, because as humans we are a composition of the physical, mental and soul. Those three parts are what give us humanity and higher thinking. So Era I does not create a fully encompassing view of medicine.

Before the 18th century, medicine had not advanced beyond the practices of bloodletting and balancing the four humors of the body. These medical practices were not effective and did more harm than good. It was not until the Scientific Revolution that physicians slowly started to learn more about the human body and how functions. The numerous advancements of medicine in the 18th century and resulting benefits to European Society are reflected in the lack of medical practices before the 1700s, the creation of the smallpox vaccine, and improved techniques.

Because of the church, doctors had to have a licence to practice medicine. This is the beginning of qualifications for doctors. After the 13th century it was illegal for a person to call themselves a doctor without having formal

During the 1800s, there was several diseases affecting people left and right. “Diseases such as tuberculosis, smallpox, measles, chickenpox, cholera, whooping cough and influenza, among others” (“1800s: My Place, Diseases”) were some of the known diseases that would cripple or cause death to multiple people. Often Plantation owners and their slaves would have the same diseases, but plantation owners had a higher chance at surviving than slaves did. Doctors would prescribe the same treatment to anyone with a disease, usually natural herbs or bleeding out. Doctors from England that lived in America could no longer visit England for medical advice after the Revolutionary War, so several doctors started to improvise with many different remedies

At the start of the civil war in 1861 there were less than 100 doctors (Fifer, “Health and Medicine During the Civil War”) and by the end there were around 11,000 Union doctors and 4,000 Confederate. Less than five percent of all Union doctors have ever performed a surgery before the start of the war, and the Civil War caretakers had just let go of old remedies such as, bloodletting, purging and blistering. The study of medicine was not a well known topic. (Dixon, “Civil War Medicine”) Doctors had to learn their jobs by doing, and treatment constantly an effort of trial and error to learn the ways of helping their patients. Care providers had never experienced these “bone shattering” injuries before the start of the Civil War. (Trammell, “Life is better than limb”)

Medicine and health sciences are the results of attempts to cure diseases and slow death, but in the beginning of medical research a lot of it was the result of curiosity and a desire to understand how the human body works; what makes us human. In Colonial America, the practice of medicine was more of a philosophy than a true science. Medicine in the beginning of the American settlements was compounded because of disease, poor sanitation, lack of medical knowledge and conflict between the church and physicians. But the real growth of medical knowledge and wanting to know more about the human body and how to heal it began around the early 1820s.

Before the Civil War, the practice of medicine was much undeveloped. Many students who were preparing to become medics only had books to learn off of. The majority of doctors also had little to no experience before attending their very first

The use and practice of medicine has greatly evolved through time. Many physicians in the past, especially in the Elizabethan era, did not possess knowledge and skill that modern physicians need to have. It took trial and error for people to fully understand the practice of medicine, which takes time. In the Elizabethan Era, medical practices proved to be ineffective because doctors lacked education, treatments were deleterious and good hygiene was not practiced.

There were doctors in Colonial America. When a doctor visits a patient to check upon the sick person's health, their pay will be in anything but money such as chopped woods, vegetables, et cetera for the poor people. The poor people did not have money as stated in A Visit to a Colonial Times Doctor’s Office. They usually rely on their farming to feed their families and things such as money were scarce. Those who are of the contrary to the low income and the rural settings have better access to health and opportunities as written in Colonial Medicine (5). They can pay their doctor on the spot and can even request their choice of doctors. In modern America, a new change to the health care business is arriving. With the currently new healthcare, everyone shall be able to hopefully

However, they were required to know how to read and write and not everyone in the Middle Ages had access to education to learn those skills. Doctors stood very highly among the medieval society partly because there were only about half a dozen in a city, although there were people acting like doctors with little knowledge about medicine. Kings paid ten times more than nobles did, as a king would have his own doctor. Ordinary people did not have enough money to have personal doctors. They must be able to explain the diseases properly and must use logic and reasoning to investigate and cure the causes of infirmities. Doctors were criticised for the size of fees they accepted. It was common for patients to try and avoid paying for the treatment. Doctors were expected to behave in a way that they would not bring disgrace or disrepute to their profession, an example of this is that sometimes they gave some of their earnings to the poor. The first doctors in the Middle Ages, in Europe, were monks. In Northern Europe, medicine was regulated by the church. The hospital was invented in the Middle Ages; doctors went to medical school at universities and were licensed to practice medicine. There were medieval doctors, surgeons, barbers, apothecary, herbalists and "wise women". The infirmary, the "spittle" house, Lazarhouses, maternity houses and asylums were hospitals of the Middle Ages.

The everyday medical care people received took place in the village and conducted by an untrained medical practitioner (Wigelsworth). So who were these untrained medical practitioners and what did they encounter daily. Often times, townspeople with ailments sought out local folk healers, those who practiced healing through experience without regard to science; religious leaders, since the illness was considered to be a punishment from God; apothecary owners, people who maintained a well-stocked on herbs, spices, and oils. At the time, trained medical physicians were very limited and came with a cost. If a family could afford to hire a trained physician or a barber surgeon, they received slightly better medical treatment (Kelly 19-28). In regards to women, male physicians were not allowed to examine women and had very little knowledge regarding how to treat women medically.

Medical education has changed excessively throughout the years. Physicians in the 18th century had no knowledge of