Prairietown's Dr. Campbell & Peter Dale
Dr. George Campbell is the founder of 1836 Prairietown and the community's only college-trained physician. Peter Dale is the medical apprentice. Visit with them often to swap stories and learn about medical conditions in 1836.
1836 vs. Modern Day Medical Conditions
Learn how medical conditions and treatments from 1836 compare to today.* What ailments still bother us and how are they treated? What will the modern day doctor have to say about Dr. Campbell's treatments? How have treatments changed in the past 174 years?
Measles
Symptoms: The disease begins with a cold stage, which is soon followed by a hot stage with symptoms of thirst, heat, anorexia, anxiety, sickness and vomiting . . . eruption occurs on the fourth day as red spots, which turn brown after three days. Fever and cough can continue even after desquamation has taken place. Also diarrhea frequently comes on and continues for some time.
1836 Treatments: Flax seed tea, bran tea, barley water and gum arabic dissolved in water make excellent drinks in measles. Bleeding, cooling purgatives and blistering on the sides, or between the shoulders. Opiates moderate and control the coughing. (Cullen, pp.384-88)
Modern Day Treatments: Treatment includes acetaminophen or ibuprofen for the fever and isolation so that the measles cannot be spread to others. There is a Measles vaccine that is part of the MMR vaccination.
Whooping Cough
Symptoms: Hurried and difficult breathing, hoarseness, thirst. Severe coughing with a characteristic “hoop” with each intake of breath. Vomiting up tough slimy mucus.
1836 Treatments: Atnimonial wine to cleanse stomach, keep the bowels open with manna bolstered with Senna. Administer bloodletting, warm footbaths. Give tincture of assafoeteda during the night when coughing is most severe and during the day use Paregoric mixed with sweet oil to allay the coughing.
Modern Day Treatments: Treatments for Whooping Cough include antibiotics, extra fluids and isolation of the patient because of the contagiousness of the disease. Vaccinations and preventive antibiotics can also be used for those who have been exposed to the disease.
Mumps
Symptoms: This disease is characterized by a swelling under the jaw, which becomes large and painful. Swallowing becomes difficult. The cheeks and face swell for five or six days. When the disease is any way severe, it is usually attended by fever. It often occurs in children, but the disease can attack adults as well. In adult males, the testicles swell. In adult females, the swelling settles in the breasts.
1836 Treatments: In simple cases, keep the face, throat, and head warm by wearing flannel around these parts. Keep the bowels open with castor oil or epsom salts. Apply cold bread and milk poultices to swollen testicles. On women, apply flax seed or bread and milk poultices to the breasts.
Modern Day Treatments: Treatments include taking acetaminophen or ibuprofen for the pain and fever relief along with an ice pack for pain of the swollen glands. Patients should also consider a liquid diet and avoiding any sour food, citrus fruits, or foods that require a lot of chewing because this produces more saliva and more swallowing and aggravation of these glands. There is a vaccine for Mumps included in the MMR vaccination.
Quinsey or Cynache Maligna [Strep Throat]
Symptoms: Hoarseness, cold shiverings, redness of the internal fauces of the throat, white spots which turn to ulceration. If the fever is high, the ulcerations livid and black, and the breath foetid, the patient will likely die between the 3rd and 7th day.
1836 Treatments: Cleanse the ailamentary canal with emetics and purgatives. Use blistering plasters on the outside of the throat, then apply leeches to draw out the congested blood causing the inflammation. Keep the bowels open and the patient on the anti-phlogistic regimen. Gargling is beneficial.
Modern Day Treatments: Strep Throat is treated with antibiotics, extra fluids and isolation to avoid spreading the infection to others. Gargling with salt water and sucking on lozenges can help with the throat pain.
*As always, consult with your family doctor for treatment of your specific illness.