Medicine In The 19th Century Essay

Knowledge of medicine during the 19th century was much different than it is today. Many doctors thought of the body as a whole and not of the individual parts. Exploring Illness, a website published by University of Pennsylvania, states that treatments often weren’t considered effective unless they had a noticeable effect on the entire body. (“Early 19th Century American Medical Worldview”). Diseases were believed to come from miasma, unclean air, that would put you at high risk of disease. Exploring Illness states, “Whoever came into contact with a miasma was at great risk for becoming ill. Overall, miasma was a very flexible concept that expressed the general concerns people in the nineteenth century had about becoming sick from environmental factors” (“Early

Some slaves grew herbs in their free time, which could be used to treat some symptoms. Monticello, a website dedicated to informing people about Thomas Jefferson and early American history, states that the health of slaves was often left to the Mistress of the plantation (“Slave Medicine”). For the most part, it was more profitable to try and heal the slave than let them die. Doctors would not be called for slaves, but some slaves did have knowledge of herbal remedies and were permitted to heal other slaves. It was illegal for slaves to practice medicine in some areas, as they could use their knowledge of herbs to poison their master. Monticello writes, “This fear prompted the enactment of laws. As early as 1748, the colony of Virginia forbade ‘any negroe, or other slave’ to administer ‘any medicine whatsoever’ under pain of death ‘without benefit of clergy’. An exception was made for slaves treating other slaves or her owner’s family, providing the owner gave permission” (“Slave Medicine”). Treatment of slaves was ultimately up to their owners. If their owners did not care, then there was little the slave could do to save