Among other communicable diseases, the itch was common in military installations of the eighteenth century. Unlike smallpox and typhus, the itch was not in itself fatal, but was stressful and debilitating to soldiers and sailors on both sides of the conflict in the American Revolution. Today the distressing malady is known as scabies, “a disease […]
Often in western films there is a scene where an arrow is yanked from the body of a fallen comrade. As dramatic as that may be it is definitely not the recommended method for removing an arrow. Battle wounds in the American Revolutionary War were of a wide variety, none of which were easy to […]
It’s a little bit dangerous to write with disdain about the medical practices of bygone times, as one has to be aware that the passage of time may make some of our contemporary practices look barbaric and primitive in turn. For example, our descendents may shake their heads in disbelief at our approaches to cancer, […]
