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DISEASES OF THE COLONISTS. 9
Everyone, of course, was either pitted with the smallpox, or about to
liave it when it next came in the neighborhood, and the disease was very
frequently epidemic in the colony until such public benefactors as Dr.
Henry Stevenson, the real founder of Baltimore, made the practice of inoculation general.1
The other diseases from which the colonists suffered, were not thought
to be beyond the resources of the country doctor, and of the domestic
medicine-chest. Every family had one of these, and people physicked
themselves much more in those days than they do now, strange as the
assertion may seem. Quack nostrums were as current then as now, and the
names they bore seem strangely like those assigned to their descendants.2 In the "backwoods," both physic and surgery were rough, rude,
and tainted with many prejudices and superstitions. People believed in
" spells " and witchcraft, and in charms as remedies. If a child had worms,
he was given salt, copperas, or pewter filings; for burns, the treatment was
poultices of Indian meal and scraped potatoes; the croup, known as the
" bold hives," and probably very fatal to young children so much exposed,
was treated with "wall ink" (probably "soot-tea"), the juice of roasted
onions or garlic, and similar things; in fevers, the patient was sweated with
tea of snake-root, purged with a decoction of walnut bark, and his blood
purified further with drenches of " Indian physic," or blood-root.3 Snakebites were common, and the 'treatment was well established; the reptile
must be cut in pieces and the pieces applied to the wound; a decoction
•of chestnut-bark and leaves was also prescribed, externally, while white
plantain, boiled in milk, was invariably to be taken internally. Snake-
root, of course, must be taken too, and by many was thought to be the
only true theriac. If there was swelling and inflammation, the surgeon
resorted to cupping and leeching; if hunters were bitten in the woods,
fhey at once scarified the wound and filled the gashes with gun-powder.
The itch was very common in the ruder settlements and among the redemp-
tioners; the treatment was with brimstone ointment. For rheumatism,
from which many suffered, custom prescribed sleeping with feet to fire
and anointing the distressed parts with unguents, made either of rattlesnake
oil, or the fat of wolves, bears, raccoons, ground-hogs or pole-cats. The
1 See advertisement of Stevenson's in Mary- zette, we find advertised " Dr. Hill's Balsam of
land Gazette, dated July 29,1765, in which he Honey," for consumption; "Tinct. Valerian,"
proposes to inoculate in Prince George's in for the nerves; "Tinct. Golden Bod," for gravel;
(September, and will be " glad to serve any gen- " Essence of Water Dock," for scurvy; " Elixir
llemen that are pleased to favor him with their of Bardana," for gout; " Red Pills," " Dropsy
custom in that way." The Gazette also notifies Powder," "Fistula Paste," "Headache Es-
its readers that Dr. Stevenson " has Innoculated sence," "Eau de Luce," etc. Lancets and
with as much Success, if not more, than any on scarifiers, of course, have a conspicuous place,
this Continent,"'and that his fees were two and either was much sold as a remedy for
"pistoles for innoculating, and twenty shillings headache.
per week board, the average cost to each 3 The walnut bark, if wanted for a purge, had
patient being five pounds, fourteen shillings. to be peeled downwards; but, if wanted for an
2 Thus, in one number of the Maryland Ga- emetic, upwards.
| Title | History of Maryland - 2 |
| Creator | Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas) |
| Publisher | J. B. Piet |
| Place of Publication | Baltimore |
| Date | 1879 |
| Language | eng |
| Type | Books/Pamphlets |
| Title | 00000032 |
| Type | Books/Pamphlets |
| Transcript | DISEASES OF THE COLONISTS. 9 Everyone, of course, was either pitted with the smallpox, or about to liave it when it next came in the neighborhood, and the disease was very frequently epidemic in the colony until such public benefactors as Dr. Henry Stevenson, the real founder of Baltimore, made the practice of inoculation general.1 The other diseases from which the colonists suffered, were not thought to be beyond the resources of the country doctor, and of the domestic medicine-chest. Every family had one of these, and people physicked themselves much more in those days than they do now, strange as the assertion may seem. Quack nostrums were as current then as now, and the names they bore seem strangely like those assigned to their descendants.2 In the "backwoods," both physic and surgery were rough, rude, and tainted with many prejudices and superstitions. People believed in " spells " and witchcraft, and in charms as remedies. If a child had worms, he was given salt, copperas, or pewter filings; for burns, the treatment was poultices of Indian meal and scraped potatoes; the croup, known as the " bold hives," and probably very fatal to young children so much exposed, was treated with "wall ink" (probably "soot-tea"), the juice of roasted onions or garlic, and similar things; in fevers, the patient was sweated with tea of snake-root, purged with a decoction of walnut bark, and his blood purified further with drenches of " Indian physic," or blood-root.3 Snakebites were common, and the 'treatment was well established; the reptile must be cut in pieces and the pieces applied to the wound; a decoction •of chestnut-bark and leaves was also prescribed, externally, while white plantain, boiled in milk, was invariably to be taken internally. Snake- root, of course, must be taken too, and by many was thought to be the only true theriac. If there was swelling and inflammation, the surgeon resorted to cupping and leeching; if hunters were bitten in the woods, fhey at once scarified the wound and filled the gashes with gun-powder. The itch was very common in the ruder settlements and among the redemp- tioners; the treatment was with brimstone ointment. For rheumatism, from which many suffered, custom prescribed sleeping with feet to fire and anointing the distressed parts with unguents, made either of rattlesnake oil, or the fat of wolves, bears, raccoons, ground-hogs or pole-cats. The 1 See advertisement of Stevenson's in Mary- zette, we find advertised " Dr. Hill's Balsam of land Gazette, dated July 29,1765, in which he Honey," for consumption; "Tinct. Valerian," proposes to inoculate in Prince George's in for the nerves; "Tinct. Golden Bod," for gravel; (September, and will be " glad to serve any gen- " Essence of Water Dock," for scurvy; " Elixir llemen that are pleased to favor him with their of Bardana," for gout; " Red Pills," " Dropsy custom in that way." The Gazette also notifies Powder," "Fistula Paste," "Headache Es- its readers that Dr. Stevenson " has Innoculated sence," "Eau de Luce," etc. Lancets and with as much Success, if not more, than any on scarifiers, of course, have a conspicuous place, this Continent,"'and that his fees were two and either was much sold as a remedy for "pistoles for innoculating, and twenty shillings headache. per week board, the average cost to each 3 The walnut bark, if wanted for a purge, had patient being five pounds, fourteen shillings. to be peeled downwards; but, if wanted for an 2 Thus, in one number of the Maryland Ga- emetic, upwards. |
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