Medicine in Virginia, 1607-1699Hughes, Thomas Proctor
History
Medicine in Virginia, 1607-1699
Hughes, Thomas Proctor
Medicine -- Virginia; Virginia -- History -- Colonial period, ca. 1600-1775
Other recorded surgical treatments include care of dislocated
shoulders; wounds in various parts of the body; sores of the feet and
legs; cancerous ulcers in the instep; ulcers of the throat, and dueling
wounds. One of the most unusual surgical measures of the period was the
application of weapon salve for battle wounds; the salve was applied to
weapon, not wound.
Surgery has long been associated with the military, and much of the
outstanding surgical work done in Europe during the fifteenth and
sixteenth centuries was performed by military surgeons. Ambroise Pare
(c. 1510-1590), remembered especially for the use of the ligature in
amputations and the abandonment of the burning-oil treatment of wounds,
held a position as a surgeon for the French army. Other surgeons of the
period contributed to the improvement of medical practice by
enlightened measures of quarantine to prevent contagious diseases from
decimating armies.
Insomuch as the first settlers at Jamestown greatly feared attack from
Indians and Spaniards and because the initial landings had the
character of a military expedition, it is not surprising that the first
two medical men to arrive, Will Wilkinson and Thomas Wotton, were
surgeons. Captain John Smith on three occasions, it is to be
remembered, emphasized the importance of the surgeon to pioneer
settlers and explorers in the New World. When injured by the stingray
in 1608, Smith's first thought was of his need for a surgeon and
"chirurgery"; so the success of physician Russell's soothing oils came
as a pleasant surprise. On a subsequent expedition he included the
surgeon, Anthony Bagnall, rather than Dr. Russell, to treat the
stingray wound; and in 1609 when he received the powder burn, he left
Virginia "seeing there was neither chirurgeon nor chirurgery in the
fort to cure his hurt."
Throughout the century surgeons rendered services to colonists engaged
in fighting with, or defending themselves against, the Indians. When
the Indian massacre of 1622 occurred, costing the lives of more than
350 colonists in the settlements, it is possible that the two surgeons
who sailed to Virginia with Dr. Pott in 1621 gave assistance to the
wounded. In 1644, when a retaliatory attack on the Indians was made by
the settlers because of a recent massacre, the General Assembly
provided for a surgeon-general to accompany the militia, at public
expense.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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