Science and Medicine

Civil War Style

In this slideshow you will:

• Discover the new scientific discoveries• Take a look into a Civil War surgeon’s tool box• Learn the different types of medicine commonly

used by doctors• Learn what the strange prescriptions were used for• Look at the quality, success, and troubles of the

treatments• And last but not least, take a tour of the typical

hospital for the wounded soldiers

New Scientific Discoveries!

• Because surgeons didn’t know of the importance of sterile tools during medical procedures, the wounded soldiers of the Civil War tended to die due to infection more than any other disease. These deaths later interested French chemist, Louis Pasteur to discover the harm of bacteria. He called bacteria, germs, derived from the Latin ‘germen’ meaning ‘seed or sprout’. He named it this because he saw that over time, however long or short the period, the bacteria would grow or sprout and infect different parts of organisms.

Rachitome - Used to cut back tough skin.

Chisel - Used in combination with the mallet to move bones out of the way or into place.

Stout Cartilage Knife - Used to cut though the tough cartilage during surgeries.

Scalpel – Used for cutting the soft outer layer of skin and detaching internal organs.

Saw – Used to amputate.

Double Guillotine - Used to remove tonsils.

Skull Clamp - Used for steadying the head while removing the Calvaria.

Mallet - Used to straighten ligaments or in combination with the chisel.

Rib Shears - Used to remove the rib cage from the lungs and organs.

Grooved Directors - Used to direct another surgical instrument to a particular site which is out of view.

Anatomical Syringe – Used to inject medicine into the body.

Aneurism Needle - An embalming instrument that is used for blunt dissection and in raising vessels.

Dissecting Forceps – Used to pick up small things inside the body.

Bottles - Used for everything, from holding intestines and bullets, to housing pills and elixirs.

Typical Medicines of the timesChloroform - the most common anesthesia used in the Civil War.Morphine – A very powerful pain killing drug.Styptics – Drugs used to absorb blood and stop the patient from bleeding out.

Unusual Medicines

Nutmeg – Used to treat diarrhea Olive Oil – Used for treating burns and for curing stomach, liver, and intestinal disruptionsWhiskey – Used to treat colic, palsy, and small pox.Syrup of Squill – a powerful expectorant, particularly to relieve dry irritable cough, used in the treatment of bronchitis, bronchial asthma and whooping cough. Squill's stimulating action on the heart makes it useful for heart failure and moving fluids after heart problems.Leeches - used to clean infections, generally of the ears, eyes, and bullet wounds.

Success and Troubles of Treatment• Doctors were commonly called “butchers” by their patients and the press because of their

treatment of amputation. • Despite the name, doctors of the Civil War managed to treat more than 10 million cases of

injury and sickness in just 48 months with as much respect and compassion as the possibly could.

• Bullets carried dirt and germs into the wounds more often than not, causing infections.One witness described the surgeon’s tent as, "Tables about breast high had been erected upon which the screaming victims were having legs and arms cut off. The surgeons and their assistants, stripped to the waist and bespattered with blood, stood around, some holding the poor fellows while others, armed with long, bloody knives and saws, cut and sawed away with frightful rapidity, throwing the mangled limbs on a pile nearby as soon as removed.”Survivors of surgeries and wounds still had another hurdle, that being: the high risk of infection. Most surgeons knew that cleanliness created lower infection rates. They did not know however, how to sterilize their equipment. Due to a frequent shortage of clean water, surgeons often went days without washing their hands or instruments, passing germs from one patient to another as he treated them.

http://www.civilwarhome.com/civilwarmedicine.htm

Tour of Medical Tents

Outside of the Surgeon’s tent where the wounded lay, while being semi- tended to.

C.K. Irwine, and a fellow doctor in the field. Irwine was the head surgeon of the 72nd Regiment

Embalming tent - used to preserve the fallen soldiers until they could have a proper burial.

Sources• http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.braceface.com/medical/images/

Bottle_images/Civil_War_Hosp_Dept_bottles1.JPG&imgrefurl=http://www.braceface.com/medical/&usg=__EMFFPG899eOR9cKmLnz2KrzjdL4=&h=344&w=620&sz=92&hl=en&start=5&um=1&itbs=1&tbnid=gNEQidmRLSxl5M:&tbnh=75&tbnw=136&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dcivil%2Bwar%2Bmedical%2Btools%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dsafari%26sa%3DN%26rls%3Den%26tbs%3Disch:1

• http://www.civilwarhome.com/civilwarmedicine.htm• Wikipedia• Google Images