Domestic Medicine During The Colonial Period

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In “The Practice of Domestic Medicine During the Colonial Period,” L.G. Eichner explains how underdeveloped medical practices were during the 17th century. In the 1700s, life expectancy was about 35 years; funerals occurred often due to the lack of medical innovation. Eichner explains that there was a high death rate when it came to pregnancies because usually only relatives were available to preform deliveries. Eichner says that the physicians who would preform deliveries would examine the dead then, without cleaning their hands, they would go to deliver the baby (100). In fact, Eichner discusses how it was difficult to find adults with a full set of teeth and how bones were set by whoever was near. Eichner says that the chief medical person

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