Bleed, Blister, And Purge

Bleed, Blister, And Purge: A History Of Medicine On The American Frontier Paperback – April 15, 2005

Author: Volney | Language: English | ISBN: 0878425055 | Format: PDF, EPUB

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Bleed, Blister, And Purge: A History Of Medicine On The American Frontier – April 15, 2005
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About the Author

Volney Steele was born in a small town in northwest Arkansas in 1922, the son of the town s only physician and its only schoolteacher. From 1959 to 1986, Dr. Steele practiced pathology in Bozeman, Montana. After retiring he served for several years overseas with Project HOPE and Pathologists Overseas. A passionate student of the history of medicine, he has published several articles on the subject. The Volney Steele Endowment to the Montana State University Foundation has helped support the Medical History of the West Conference in Bozeman since 2000.

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Paperback: 367 pages
Publisher: Mountain Press Publishing Company (April 15, 2005)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0878425055
ISBN-13: 978-0878425051
Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.5 x 1.1 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #121,754 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

In the first part of this book, Steele covers a wide range of topics, from native medicine to Lewis & Clark to folk medicine, quackery, and the pioneering physicians who first came to the West. A section on women physicians is both inspiring and troubling: one admires the women who defied convention to become doctors, but shudders at the stories of women's health in the era and how poorly understood were needs such as prenatal care and birth control.

In the second section, Steele talks about public health, including early hospitals, sanitation, and epidemic disease. Again, with a good eye for telling details, stories, and photographs, Steele reveals an unfamiliar story with what he calls a "mixture of awe and distress."

I've always been interested in epidemics, and found particular fascination in the discussion of the frightening diseases that stalked the frontier, especially the resistance of civic leaders and ordinary citizens to take the appropriate measures to stop them. Many families lost children to cholera, diphtheria, and other so-called "childhood diseases" before understanding and civic will brought about changes in sanitation. Cattle ranchers initially fought the tick-control efforts to curb Rocky Mountain spotted fever and the veterinary procedures to eradicate typhoid and bovine tuberculosis. Even during the flu pandemic of 1918, which killed an astonishing 675,000 Americans, people resisted all efforts to curb public gatherings to try to stop the spread of the disease.

But it was the story of polio that most surprised me. Beginning in 1916, a series of polio epidemics terrified the nation almost every summer.