Disease, Treatments and Medicine of the Victorian Era

Victorian Era medicine

Overview of Medicine

Medicine and treatments at the time were dangerous and unsophisticated

A common treatment was amputation. The doctors wouldn't hesitate to lop of a limb

(we'll talk about that later)

There were breakthroughs though

Such as the first vaccine ever

(we'll talk about that later too)

Disease outbreaks were frequent, deadly and usually spread like wildfire

Innovation was necessary, new tools were needed, and methods needed re-evaluation

But that will come, all in good time

Before we really get into all the grody medicine things

We need to know a little about....

victorian medical terms

Bleeding: When a doctor would come in and cut, place a leech on, or scratch a major vein to release "bad blood"

Needless to say, that wasn't very effective

It actually did more harm than good by weakening the patient and reducing white blood cell count

Next up is...

Blistering: Painfully inducing a blister multiple times on one's skin

Back in victorian times, people believed the body could only hold one illness at a time.

People thought that if enough pain was induced (by hundreds of blisters, for instance) that the pain would force the other illness out of the patients' body

That didn't work either and the patient would die in pain

The next term is...

Plastering: smearing a mixture of random ingredients on a patient's body or injury

and when I say random, I mean random

Plastering solutions could include anything from linseed oil to your average cow pie

On to the next term...

La Piece de Resistance...

Amputation: The surgical removal of an arm, leg or appendage

During the American Civil War, 4 out of 5 surgeries were amputations

By the way...

This was before the time of modern anaesthetics

So people and soldiers had an entire limb cut off while wide awake or drunk

ouch....

Moving on...

Purging: Giving the patient a heavy dose of laxitives to expel poison and disease

Great, now all the sick people with missing limbs, blisters, cuts, and smeared in cow manure have the runs

Puking: chemically inducing vomiting

Sweating: When a patient was forced to sweat profusly to "sweat out" their ailment

That's all the terms

Cholera

Cholera is a water bourne illness that originated in the Genges River area in northern India

When Europeans colonized the area in the 1830's, it was brought back to Europe

Cholera is charactorized by...

Abdominal cramps

Dry skin

Excessive thirst

Dry nose and mouth

Lathargia

Lack of tears

Glassy or sunken eyes

Diarrhea

Low urine output

Nausea

Rapid dehydration

Vomiting

Unusual sleepiness

There were 14 different epidemics thoughout the 19th century

The disease was very contagious when in water, all public water spouts in America were closed

Now on to the next virus...

typhoid fever

Typhoid fever was another common disease, most closely related to the modern day Flu

Typhoid Fever was studied by Sir Edward Jenner

Who was the first doctor ever to clinicly distinguish two diseases from each other

(thats typhoid fever and typhus)

Typhoid fever was treated by the usual...

Bleeding, blistering, puking etc.

and was characterized by...

Nausea

Vomitting

and Headaches

now onto...

Small pox

This is the disease that had the greatest innovation of the victorian era

The Vaccine

Sir Edward Jenner discovered that milk maids who caught a disease similar to Smallpox, called Cowpox, could not contract the deadly Smallpox virus

when a human catches cowpox (which is harmless to humans), their body will build up the anti-bodies needed to kill the virus

These same anti-bodies are the ones needed to fight off smallpox

This was a great moment in medical history

Vaccines were even named for this discovery.

The word vaccine comes from the latin vacca, meaning cow

This is a picture of a person receiving the Smallpox vaccine

The vacine is administered by dipping a sharp object (like a fork) into a liquid containing the cowpox virus, then scratching the persons skin with the infected fork

and this is a person that has contracted the Smallpox disease

Smallpox is charactorized by...

Backache

Delirium

Diarrhea

Bleeding

Fatigue

Discomfort

Rashes and Sores on skin

Severe headache

and vomitting

Next on the list is...

opium

opium is a powerful narcotic that, when ingested, smoked or injected, gives you an intense feeling of euphoria and pleasure

Opium comes from a poppy plant called papaver somniferum

Opium has been around for thousands of years and originated mainly in the Mediterranean and Indochinese areas

although it has been used to kill pain and cause euphoria since almost 6000 b.c., the main opium inovations came in the 19th century

the main 19th century innovations were the invention of the hypdermic syringe, and the chemical amplification of opium to morphine

but first...

What exactly is opium?

opium is a thick white liquid found in the bud of a papaver somniferum

Before the discovery of opium for medical uses

a good doctor was a fast amputator

but when opium was discovered

it was an incredible relief for the wounded in fear of amputaion

and an incredible high for the general public

people called it "gods own medicine"

But the powerful addiction enduced by this drug was intense

at one point, the addicted population was so large, you could purchase morphine and a pack of syringes in a Sears and Roebucks catalog

as the addicted population grew, Frederick Serturner (the inventor of morphine) relized his mistake

But by this time, it was already to late

ironically, his wife overdosed on morphine and killed herself

but with no mass communication method or fast way to spread the word that opium was very dangerous, people started dropping like flies

the world was very "gloom and doom" during the opium addiction period

luckily, all forms of opium drugs were globally outlawed in 1914

Last but not least...

Tools of Surgery

Most of the tools used in victorian era surgery closely relate to what you might find in the back of a lumberjack's truck

But, since a picture paints a thousand words...

Enjoy!!

High fever

Thanks for watching! and sorry for the 140 slides!