Medicine in Colonial America

 

Along with everything else, the colonists brought theories of medicine with them. These theories go back to the first school of medicine in Europe around the year 1000 A.D.  and had merged with other earlier beliefs, most notably from Hippocrates. But instead of being based on knowledge, were based on myths, beliefs, and rites. The scholars of the day theorized that everything in the Universe was made up of four basic elements, called “humors” and that the human body also corresponds with these “humors.” Consequently, they hypothesized that good health was dependent upon maintaining a proper balance and harmony between the humors, and that illnesses were caused from an imbalance in them (Starobinski, 1964). These beliefs spread across Europe and England, and eventually to the New World. Most physicians of the day practiced this humeral methodology, until the advancement of rational experimental foundations. Accordingly the practice of medicine in the colonial period was variable and primitive at best. But eventually, interaction between the pioneers and the native inhabitants, changes in theories about disease, and the shift to a scientific approach made significant contributions to the progression of medicine in colonial America.

Also at that time medicine was considered a philosophy that could neither be proved nor disproved. In addition, as the Catholic Church forbade the clergy from practicing medicine, it fell into the hands of laymen. It was the Church’s belief that the body, being made in God’s image was sacred and should not be violated. Thus they also forbade physicians to practice surgeries, so the job of bleeding and surgeries became the occupation of barbers, who had, in ancient times, been medicine men who believed the hair on the head allowed both good and bad spirits to enter the body. Eventually these barber-surgeons pulled teeth, cut hair, and even removed gallstones without anesthesia The Church’s beliefs also hampered any experimentation with the human body, so little was known about the workings of the body.  By 1795, surgeons and barbers were split into two separate groups, and physicians became one of three distinct groups; physicians, surgeons, and apothecaries. This division worked well in England, but was impractical in America. In the colonies, life was hazardous; disease and sudden death were everyday occurrences. Additionally, physicians were scarce, had little training and treatment was rudimentary at best, barbaric at worst. With no credentials needed, many passed themselves off as doctors, but even the qualified ones had a limited amount of information and skills. For this reason, many colonists used home remedies, which were an admixture of astrological lore, “grandmothers” remedies, and many superstitious ingredients, along with a growing number of patent medicines. (Dary, 2008). .

The practitioners of medicine in those early days had no understanding of the importance of cleanliness, and even physicians didn’t wash their hands before healing patients or surgery. Taking baths and washing were not common in the colonies and even though they lived near creeks or rivers, they very rarely bathed in them, and they couldn’t afford soap. It was common for them to use the same stream to relieve themselves that they used for drinking water. Thus, the colonist’s lack of cleanliness also contributed to the spread of disease in the New World (Taylor, 1997).

While the colonist’s theories of medicine and their therapies evolved from the humeral theory, the Native American world view was radically different. Unfortunately, as there are no written records to mark the Native American history before the arrival of Europeans, so what we know of their medicine is from written observations of Indian medicine. Europeans used the word “medicine” to mean anything that had a beneficial effect on the body and improved health. They also believed medicine was separate from religion. However, Native Americans believed that medicine was much more than that. “They used herbal medicines for conditions such as burns, broken bones, and sore, eyes; ….but most of their medicine cured conditions that had no outward physical cause” (Dary, 2008, p. 7). They believed in balance and harmony and had a great reference for nature and its supernatural powers. In most tribes, the person responsible for such matters could be either man or women. In the Southwest, it was the “curandero or curandera”, but in other tribes, these healers were called “shamans”, or one who has learned to control the powers of nature. The role and healing methods of the shaman varied, depending on tribe, oftentimes using ceremonies, but others using charms or fetishes as well as medicines derived from plants. Native American medicine slowly evolved in the years after the arrival of the Europeans, and conversely, gradually the Europeans learned more of Native American medical practices and saw them as useful. Thus, as contact between the two increased, even some European medical practices and ideas were embraced by the Native Americans (Hoxie, 1996).

While the colonist’s theories involved “humors”, the Indians had developed a system whereby each medicinal plant or root was assigned to one of the four directions of the compass. This reflected the universal circle of life, energy, influence, and relationship. The colonists could not understand Native American medicine as it was spiritual in nature and was “broader in scope than their own” (Dary, 2008, p. 18). To the colonists, whose views had been influenced by their European and English roots, medicine and religion were separate. Consequently, as far as healing and medicine were concerned; the only common ground for understanding between the colonists and the Indians was their use of plants, herbs, extracts, minerals, and trees that were useful in medicine. But what also set them apart was that the Indians knew much more about North American plant cures than the colonists, having learned by trial and error, over the centuries of inhabiting the continent (Dary, 2008).

As more and more colonists arrived, they learned about the use of plants and herbs for healing, but were somewhat slow to accept anything of Indian origin as the English considered Native Americans “savages” so rejected anything to do with them. But not all felt that way. One physician who began studying Indian herbal medicine in the 1770s was Benjamin Rush of Philadelphia, who became the most prominent of four doctors who signed the Declaration of Independence and the most famous American physician and medical teacher of his generation. Rush made a point of talking with Indians who visited Philadelphia in order to gather information about their medicine. He was intent on learning how their lifestyle influenced their health and survival (Dary, 2008).

Consequently, even though they were cognizant of the Indian’s medicine, the colonists did not immediately put it to their use. The contempt the colonists had for the Native Americans had its roots in the way the English interpreted the Bible. They felt they were the “chosen people” and that America was their “promised land;” further, they considered the Indians to be “philistines” who needed to be exterminated. Most colonists chose to rely on medicines exported into the colonies. However, eventually the colonist absorbed some of the Native American medicinal cures, especially in light of the increasing costs of importation and by 1750, more colonists had become aware of Native American medicines and began using them (Dary, 2008). 

But although colonists began using Native American medicines, colony physicians felt the Native American understanding of medicine was limited, in light of the new diseases brought from Europe, such as measles, yellow fever, and smallpox.  These were diseases that Native Americans had never experienced, so in addition to not having medicines to cure them, they had no immunity to combat them. In contrast, the European’s immune systems had built a genetic resistance that had been passed along generationally. The Native American’s medicines, herbal or otherwise were no match for these diseases and their population suffered greatly from these diseases, killing tens of thousands (Norton et el, 2008).

 These were the conditions that existed in the colonies, but change was occurring. Medicine was being slowly transformed. Medicine in colonial America became a loosely tied together framework of traditions and methods, from the practices and methods of the Native Americans to the practices that the early pilgrims brought with them across the seas. This transformation was the one that takes place in cultures and society through the interaction of people and relationships, and gradually changes the conditions under which these relationships take place. In addition to changes from cultures interacting, the old theories and practices were called into question “and social authority were replaced by scrutiny of all ideas under the penetrating light of human reason” (Flaherty, 1990, p. 12).  This was the “enlightened” mindset that enabled the philosophers and learned men to support the advancement of science and scientific method. Before this, science had had limited progress over the ages due to the “interference of scholastic philosophers, who attempted to bend the theories of nature” (Perry, 1997, p. 288).

The accomplishments of medical science were part of this scientific revolution that furthered new ideas about nature and how science could benefit man. It gave thinkers confidence in the power of the mind, and this new critical spirit lead them to doubt the literal truth of the Bible and look at the workings of nature in new ways. (Perry, 1997).

One of those men influenced by this new outlook on nature and science was Cotton Mather and his work with smallpox inoculation. Over the centuries, smallpox killed hundreds of thousands of people worldwide.  But a breakthrough came when Cotton Mather, a Boston clergyman and scholar, read an account of Emanuel Timoni, a physician living in Turkey who had wrote about inoculation. Mather had heard about the process from one of his African slaves, Onesimus. In April, 1721, there was a smallpox outbreak in Boston. Half of the inhabitants fell ill and mortality rate was 15%.  Mather tried to encourage the physicians in the city to carry out variolation of the population but was unsuccessful, but after collaborating with another physician, Zabdiel Boylston, a physician, they inoculated 242 Bostonians and found that it protected them from smallpox. Many of the Bostonians objected to the practice on religious grounds and although not widely accepted at the time, eventually it would lead to the development of a vaccine for smallpox by Edward Jenner by 1798.  (Sherman, 2007).  

In conclusion, to understand how modern medicine in colonial America evolved into the science that it is today, one has to take into account the many distinct elements and ideas that were evolving and developing in the New World. The interactions of the colonists and the Native Americans, along with new ideas spurred on by experimentation and knowledge, evolved into the unique blending of older traditions, folk medicine, and scientific thought, which is Medicine today. 

                                                     References

Starobinski, J. (1964) A History of Medicine. New York, NY:  Hawthorn Books, Inc. Pgs. 1, 12, 13, 43. 57. 68.

Dary, D. Frontier Medicine. From the Atlantic to the Pacific 1492-1941. (2008) New York, NY:  Borzoi Books. Pgs. 7, 18, 19, 28, 29, 30, 31, 106-107, 152-153. 247

Taylor, D. The Writer’s Guide to Everyday Life in Colonial America from 1607-1783. (1997). Cincinnati, OH:  F & W Publications.  Pgs. 265-269.

Hoxie, F. E. (1996). North American Indians. Native American History, Culture, and Life from Paleo-Indians to the Present. New York, NY:  Houghton Mifflin Co. pgs. 239-240, 269-70.

Flaherty, T. (1990). Winds of Revolution. Timeframe A.D. 1700-1800. Richmond, VA:  Time-Life Books. P. 12.

Perry, M. (1997). Western Civilization. A Brief History. Vol. 2. From the 1400s. 3^rd Ed. Boston, NY: Houghton Mifflin Co. Pgs. 288, 639-646, 662.

Sherman, I.W. Twelve Diseases That Changed Our World. (2007). Herndon, VA:  ASM Press. Pgs. 53-55, 57, 66.

Norton, M.B., Sheriff, C., Katzman, D. M., Blight, D.W., Chudacoff, H.P., Logevall, F., Bailey, B., (2008). A People & A Nation. A History of the United States. 8^th Ed. Vol. One: To 1877. Boston. New York, NY: Houghton Mifflin Co. Pg. 254.