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Medicine Used During The Civil War |
By:
Ken Stover |
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Medicine used during the Civil War
Ken Stover
Civil War medicine was a far cry from today's medical technology. Back during the Civil War medical practices were pretty inept and ineffective.
Medical technology during the Civil War was way behind virtually every other technology of the day. It was very primitive and very ineffective. This was unfortunate for soldiers who became either sick or wounded.
As a soldier you did not ever want to become sick or wounded. Treatments given by doctors to their patients would more often than note create more problems than they fixed.
There were a lot of bad treatments going around during the Civil War. One in particular was Mercury. This was seen as somewhat of a cure all and it was given to patients for virtually any problem they had. The reason this medicine was bad simply was because it was poisonous to people. It is known to cause brain damage, tooth loss, and digestive problems.
Chloroform was one Civil War medicine that was actually good for people. It allowed doctors to safely operate on patients without having them suffer through the severe pain of an amputation. The patients would be asleep the whole time and never feel a thing. This anesthetic was widely used on both sides during the war and fortunately there was plenty to go around.
The bone saw was used extremely effective during the war. Amputations were so common that piles of arms and legs would often be simply thrown into a corner when casualties were high. This piece of technology must have been a frightening sight for a wounded solider. Getting wounded during the Civil War usually meant a date with the bone saw. It would usually cost you an arm and a leg.
There was a simple reason why there were so many amputations during the war. Infection would usually sent in soon after a soldier was wounded, the only way to prevent this from happening was to amputate.
Three quarters of all surgeries performed in the field were amputations.
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