Abigal Adams

p The State of Medicine /Child Birthing in Abigail Adam 's Day The State of Medicine and Child Birthing in Abigail Adam 's Day

Abigail Adams lived from 174 4 to 1818 . The eighteenth century encompassed much of her life span and it was a time of change in the healing profession a time in which medicine developed and medical standards became higher . Because communication was difficult and tradition died hard , it took a while for the profession to improve However , those who learned of the latest advances in theory and practice

encouraged their peers to also engage in them and gradually better practice became more widely known

The state of medicine and medical practice during this era had not yet refined to an exact science it fact , it was rather chaotic and haphazard at best . A brief apprenticeship to a doctor , who perhaps might also be an apothecary , determined the limits of the education . The term doctor ' was not generally used in the American colonies

until the 1760s . However , many physicians with formal European training , especially from Edinburgh , practiced in the colonies ( Kraus 1928 , 141

Apothecaries were what is now known as pharmacies . An apothecary was a medical practitioner who made and dispensed medical material to physicians , surgeons , and patients . The apothecary also presented general medical advice and array of services , which also sold more items than simply the ingredients for medicines . They would also sell tobacco and patent medicines ( Wikipedia , 2005 , 1

There were many fatal diseases during the eighteenth century which caused great concern to the practicing physicians , as well as their suffering patients . The sore throat distemper ' otherwise known as diptheria , yellow fever , and smallpox , which wreaked havoc throughout the eighteen century , until Jenner discovered a successful innoculation , were all reason for apprehension

Although there was much illness , cures were limited . Cancer was treated with pokeweed and , until the use of the successful vaccine , tar water was used for smallpox . Bleeding with leeches was another popular practice during this time . Franklin created a flexible catheter and treated patients with electricity (Kraus , 1928 , 153 ,156

In the healing hierarchy , physicians were esteemed more highly than surgeons , who had approximately the same reputations as barbers because they worked with their hands

Women were almost never attended to by a male physician , but by a midwife . Although women were highly esteemed during the eighteenth century , over half could not even sign their own names thus their sphere of influence was limited to the domestic realm and male attention to their body deemed unacceptable . Many women married at quite a young age , then became pregnant shortly thereafter . It was prevalent for some women to have continuous pregnancies from marriage to menopause . There was a high birthrate , one that doubled the population of the colonies within a generation . Along with this fact came an equally high death rate . One in thirty women died in child birth . Many children did not live past their infancies and it was considered old to reach fifty...