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Comment by Danny Eugene Mason on April 29, 2013 at 9:17am

I thank you for the Honour of your invitation to this august Group...I have long been a study of Herbal remedies...Thank You...Dann

Comment by Elizabeth Wallis on February 13, 2013 at 8:04am

Germs and the Victorian mind-set:

Though there were a small number of medical people who did believe in the 'idea' of  the theory concerning germs - and would thus engage in  boiling and scrubbing instruments before using them, the majority during the Victorian age could not grasp this concept (since a germ was something they could not see).  Needless to say, we now know today that germs and bacteria do cause many of our common diseases.  

Although microscopes were already in use since the time of Galileo's "occhiolino" (or "little eye") - they were not effective enough to identify much in detail.  In about 1676, red blood cells and spermatozoa were discovered to be recognizable,  but the germ theory only became an obsolete 'theory',  when microscopes were improved hugely in about 1893. And, finally, researchers were able to identify bacteria as the cause of certain diseases in the era.  Eventually,  doctors began to accept more fully the existence of germs, and they would attempt to lessen the risk of infection by spraying the sick room with carbolic vapour (an acid) and the surgeon would sterilize equipment and practice washing his own hands more frequently. 

Further improvement of the microscope occurred in about 1900.  And again in the advancing decades - each time bringing safer and more trusted medical treatment to the general masses.

Much disease thus, during the Victorian Era, was largely due to the unsanitary conditions commonly prevailing.  This would  include unwashed or reused or even shared cups of the sick, dirtied bed sheets which were not washed frequently enough and even the exclusion from the sick-room of  fresh air and sunlight!

Bathing was not considered to be recommended for the sick, as it was thought that the protective oils from a persons' skin would then be removed.  It was also,  not advised that they be allowed to get out of bed for exercise  Today we know, that this actually aids faster recovery.  Also, it was mostly the wealthy who turned to doctors for help when they fell ill, since it was not an easily affordable recourse.

Stricter hygiene practices only truly arrived at the very end of the Victorian Era and more correctly belongs to the Edwardian period.

Comment by Susie-Marie on January 18, 2013 at 8:37am

Lady Elizabeth, would you mind terribly if I posted what you have written below on my Yahoo group, Modern Victoria: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/modernvictoria/? Thank you for your kind consideration.

Comment by Elizabeth Wallis on January 17, 2013 at 4:17pm

I would like to share this article I came across - since in truth - we do tend to romaticise about the wonders of the Victorian Age, without considering that not everything they did was actually good! It is important to keep this in mind especially when it comes to the subject of Medicine....

"Medical Madness: Practices of the Victorian Era

Desiree Krauss

ALTHOUGH MANY OF US fantasize about the Victorian era, there were many unsafe and scary practices that make us very grateful for modern education and technology. Health was a big challenge in the 19th century since very few people knew the causes of disease, and medicine involved a lot of guesswork. If the symptoms didn’t kill the patient, the remedies often did!

Medical education left much to be desired. Doctor shortages and large profits from opening medical schools prompted rapid development. It took very little to open a school, as long as there were physicians willing to lecture. Entrance requirements were few and school provided very little clinical training. Medical students (men only) were undisciplined and often illiterate. Many doctors learned their trade through apprenticeships with practicing doctors. These apprenticeships provided the doctors with cheap labor, therefore, there was no desire to improve this educational system.

Common treatments for patients included “heroic medicine” – bleeding, plastering, purging, sweating, blistering, and amputation. These practices were advocated by Benjamin Rush, who was Professor of the Institute of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania in 1791. His beliefs held fast during the first half of the century, although they were ineffectual at best.

Bleeding, also known as phlebotomy or bloodletting, was utilized to release “bad blood”. This was usually the initial treatment. It seemed like a logical solution to restore health based upon the four humours: blood, phlegm, yellow bile, and black bile. Patients were cut with a lancet or “leeched”; blood or milk was dripped over a vein to encourage the leech to bite and suck from that vein. When the patient had bled enough (a doctor often bled a patient until they fainted!), salt was sprinkled on the leech, causing it to release the skin. Bleeding was performed not just by doctors but also by barbers. (The idea of specialized professions is a fairly modern idea – barbers not only cut hair, but bled patients and pulled teeth!) This procedure did very little to help, but did a great job in regards to weakening the patient."  visit this site for more about their strange practices....

http://www.morbidoutlook.com/nonfiction/articles/2004_06_medical.html

Comment by Elizabeth Wallis on November 19, 2012 at 6:45am

Although there was a better understanding of the need for personal hygiene, and an improvement of the availability of 'over the counter' medicines, there were a great many of them which were - in retrospect very dangerous!

If one looks simply at those which were in use for the treatment of children's ailments alone - one has to shudder with horror and disbelief!  And, wonder too, if some of those children were perhaps not the victims too - over overdosing???  We are careful these days even with the use of the simple asprin.... yet they gave such drugs as cocaine and opium without realising the seriousness of such actions!

Comment by Elizabeth Wallis on October 21, 2012 at 5:03am

"Early Victorian ideas of human physiology involved a clear understanding of anatomy (at least among experts; but the populace often had hazy knowledge of the location and role of internal organs), allied to a concept of vital forces focused on the hematological and nervous systems that now seems closer to the ancient 'humours' than to present-day models. Little was known of biochemistry or endocrinology. Traditional ideas of the body, whereby women were regarded as smaller versions of men, and 'turned outside in' (i.e. with internal rather than external sexual organs) were gradually superseded by a binary concept of sexual determinism, in which difference governed all aspects of physiology, health and social behaviour. As the body was also defined as a closed system of energy, physical, mental and reproductive expenditure were held to be in competition. Hence the notions that male sexual 'excess' led to debility and female reproductive health was damaged by intellectual study. Hence, too, must have derived the Victorian prescription for many ailments: rest."

(This article is courtesy of: health-and-medicine-in-the-19th-century - Victoria & Albert Museum)

Comment by Elizabeth Wallis on October 18, 2012 at 2:51am

Here is a Cough Mixture recipe....which I myself still make!  It was given to me by my Mother-in-law.....and she always made it.... and she got the recipe from her mother!

A SOOTHING COUGH MIXURE

1 cup Honey

60 leaves of Fresh  Sage  (or 200gr  dissolved Sugar)

1/2 bottle of Grappa

Method:  

A clean Glass Jar must be used.

Steep Sage Leaves in Sweetened Grappa for one Month.

Strain, to remove the leaves and seal well with a tight fitting cork.

Use as required, a tablespoon to be taken to ease the discomfit of coughing.

Comment by Lady Estelle on October 17, 2012 at 2:10pm

Ancient Egyptian Medicine

he medicine of the ancient Egyptians is some of the oldest documented. From the beginnings of the civilization in the c. 33rd century BC until the Persian invasion of 525 BC, Egyptian medical practice went largely unchanged and was highly advanced for its time, including simple non-invasive surgery, setting of bones and an extensive set of pharmacopoeia. Egyptian medical thought influenced later traditions, including the Greeks.  Reed more.....http://www.crystalinks.com/egyptmedicine.html

Comment by Elizabeth Wallis on October 12, 2012 at 8:40am

Uses of the Dandelion

Godey's Lady's Book 1862

"It's uses are endless: the young leaves blanched make an agreeable and wholesome early salad; and they may be boiled, like cabbages, with salt meat.  The French too slice the roots and eat them, as well as the leaves with bread and butter, and tradition says that he inhabitants of Minorca once substituted for weeks on this plant, when their harvest  had been entirely destroyed by insects.  The leaves are ever a favorite and useful article of food in the Vale of Kashmir, where, in spite of the preconceived prejudices we all have to the contrary, dandelions, and other humbler examples of our northern "weds," do venture to associate themselves with the rose or the jasmine of it's eastern soil.  On the bands of the Rhine the plant is cultivated as a substitute for coffee, and Dr. Harrison contends that it possesses the fine flavor and substance of the best Mocha coffee, without it's injurious principle; and that it promotes sleep when taken at night, instead of banishing it, as coffee does.  Mrs. Modie gives us her experiences with dandelion roots, which seem of a most satisfactory nature.  She first cut the roots into small pieces, and dried them in the oven until they were brown and crisp as coffee, and in this state they appear to have been eaten.  But certain it is that she ground a portion of them, and made a most superior coffee.  In some parts of Canada they mke an excellent beer of the leaves, in twhich the saccharine matter they afford forms a substitute for malt, and the bitter flavor serves instead of hops.  In medicine, too, it is invaluable."

 

Comment by Elizabeth Wallis on October 11, 2012 at 3:02am

IT ALL STARTED IN A GARDEN.....