The practice of medicine in the late 18th to early 19th century was still hit and miss, with too many people dying from the treatment by doctors and apothecaries that was designed to save them. Bleeding through the use of leeches and cutting veins was a common treatment. Healers did not bother to practice hygiene. They seldom washed their hands and rarely ordered bandages to be changed. A long-term patient could lie in bed for weeks in soiled clothes and bed linen. Water was not boiled and often contaminated with human wastes. Such unsanitary medical practices spread illness and infection, with those who worked hard to protect lives taking germs from place to place.
Regency Physicians
Regency doctors and physicians were positioned on the highest rungs of the medical social ladder. These men, often the second or third sons of gentlemen, made their living in one of the few professions that a man of their social standing were allowed to pursue. They attended prestigious schools like Oxford or Cambridge and studied Greek or Latin. Their training, which did not include an apprenticeship or practice with actual patients, consisted of observing medical procedures in a lecture hall. As gentlemen, they would not soil their hands with manual labor, like dissect a corpse for instruction. Cartoons, like William Hogarth's Consultation of Physicians, made fun of their self-importance and general ignorance. Doctors would dine with the family, but they would not directly accept a fee for their services, preferring to be paid in a more discreet manner.
Surgeons in the Georgian Era
Before the mid-18th century, surgeons performed major surgery on patients, and barbers carried out minor surgery, like bloodletting and pulling teeth. Except for going through an apprenticeship, neither man was particularly educated. Before the 17th century, members of the Barber-Surgeons college included distillers, musicians, dyers, tailors, innkeepers, hosiers, candle makers and the like. In 1745, a bill was passed to separate barbers and surgeons, and by the end of the 18th century barbers had stopped practicing surgery, except in areas where surgeons were not available. Ether did not appear until 1846 and surgery was a painful experience. Doctors prescribed alcohol, opium, cannabis and mandrake to relieve the pain. There were other, less effective methods of pain relief – ice to cool the affected area, blood letting, hypnosis, and nerve compression. If the pain of surgery did not kill a patient, the chance of dying from infection was high. Because surgeons performed physical labor, such as amputations, they occupied a social rung below the physician. If they stayed with a family for any length of time, they probably dined with the upper servants.
19th Century Apothecaries
Apothecaries, or the poor man's doctor, were trained through apprenticeship to learn to mix and dispense drugs. In rural areas where doctors and surgeons were scarce, apothecaries also made house calls or treated patients. The technology of creating drugs was rudimentary and most remedies were to some degree toxic. Drugs like digitalis, quinine, and calamine were quite effective, but their discovery had been accidental. Most remedies were made with water or alcohol-based extracts, minerals (like ground mercury), animal by-products, and a variety of poisons, and a patient could just as soon die from an apothecary's drugs as recover. Apothecaries were shopkeepers; they could not charge a customer for their advice, only for the drugs that they sold. Because they labored with their hands, their place on the medical social ladder was below that of the surgeon. Their chances of dining with a family were slim, but if they had to stay over, they most likely ate with the servants.
Midwives in the Regency Era
Female midwives enjoyed a secure position before the 18th century, obtaining licenses from the bishop and making a respectable living. By the end of the 18th century, men had infiltrated the profession. Many female midwives became targets for persecution, and were even accused of being witches. Male midwives tended to use instruments during birth; female midwives did not. If they delivered a healthy baby, they would receive additional fee from the godparents. Although male midwives were associated with scientific progress, cases of child bed fever rose with the increased use of forceps during delivery. By the early nineteenth century, midwives were relegated to assisting only the births of lower class women, and their social rank had fallen to reflect their customers'. Male physicians primarily assisted in the births of upper class women. In one famous case, the botched birth of Princess Charlotte's still- born son changed the course of obstetrics forever.
Regency Housewives and Common Illnesses
The woman of the house was in charge of taking care of common complaints, such as a cold, headache, stomach ache, or rash. They handed down recipes for herbal remedies and folk medicine to their daughters, whose education included knowing which herbs and plants to grow in the kitchen garden or collect from nature. Eighteenth and nineteenth century cookbooks offered recipes for lozenges, tinctures, and poultices. Cures included hot wines, syrups, soups, and herbal tea infusions.
Sources:
- Student Paper on 19th Century Medicine
- Maternal Health in the English Aristocracy
- From Apothecaries to Florence Nightingale
- The Physician in the 19th Century
Vic Sanborn - I oversee two blogs: Jane Austen's World and Jane Austen Today, and write about Jane Austen and the Regency World and its manners and ...
