By Kristy McCaffrey
In 1890, Dallas, Texas, was a growing center of commerce for North Texas. The population was nearly 38,000, but the medical care offered was primitive. Science-based medicine was in its infancy and Dallas doctors had not yet accepted the germ theory of disease. Surgical hygiene and the sterilization of medical instruments were virtually nonexistent.
At a meeting of the Texas Medical Association (TMA) in 1890, it was stated that “the profession of medicine in the United States is sick.” It was suggested this was due to homeopathy, eclecticism, so-called acupuncture, and “Wilford Hall's method of rectal irrigation.”
Some topics addressed at TMA meetings held between 1886 and 1902 were:
Opposition to a bill proposing “regulation of the practice of medicine”
Expulsion of Dr. M. Salm of Austin for gross plagiarism and seduction of a young lady under grave circumstances
Defense of animal experimentation
Dismissal of the teachings of Darwin and Huxley
Papers, including Texas quackery, early blistering in pneumonia, prophylaxis in smallpox, malaria, typhoid, tuberculosis, insanity, enlarged prostate, glaucoma, and menstrual disorders in schoolgirls
Antiseptics
Diphtheria antitoxin, which had only recently been proposed in 1895
In Dallas in the 1890s, surgery and deliveries were done in the home. It was common practice to radically instrument pregnant women about to undergo delivery to promote cervical dilatation. There was no washing of hands or cleaning of dirty fingernails prior to delivery or surgery, and no rubber gloves were used.
Although the value of antiseptic techniques in surgery had
been described in the 1870s in an article published in the Lancet, Dallas
doctors hadn’t adopted this stance. One even used the example of a person who
survived a surgical procedure under contaminated conditions as evidence that
the germ theory was just a fad. Quinine, the cupping glass, and strong emetics
were instead the universal cures.
* * * * *
In my newest release, the heroine is a doctor unable to find work in Dallas so is headed to Oklahoma Territory where she is sidetracked to a small town in the Chickasaw Nation.
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Dr. Anna Ryan has been spurned by the Dallas medical community for the simple reason of being a woman. Wanting more than a rural practice alongside her mother, also a doctor, Anna accepts an invitation from a mentor to join a private hospital for disabled children in Oklahoma City. But when she falls in with a band of women attempting to protect the rights of Chickasaw orphans, she’ll need more than her medical training to survive.
Malcolm Hardy has skirted the line between lawlessness and justice since escaping the mean streak of his father and his no-good half-siblings a decade ago. In Oklahoma Territory he created enough distance from his family name to find a quiet purpose to his days. But then Anna Ryan walks back into his life, and his hard-won peace is in jeopardy.
The last time Malcolm saw Anna, she had been a determined
girl he couldn’t help but admire. Now she was a compelling woman searching for
answers that could lead straight to him. But one thing was clear—Anna’s life
path was on a trajectory for the remarkable while Malcolm’s was not.
Surrendering to temptation would only end in heartbreak.
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4 comments:
I have a writer friend who was a nurse in the Air Force. When one of my heroines cut her hand on a knife, I had her cleansing and wrapping the wound. My friend was the 1st to tell me that back in that era they had no idea about germs and cleansing wounds, so she suggested the heroine just wrap her hand to keep it from 'festering'. While I'm not too much of a germaphobe, the world of medicine is one aspect I am truly thankful has evolved into what it is today.
This is an excellent blog, Kristi! I have a great book written by writer Dr. Keith Souter aka Clay More. It's called The Doctor's Bag Medicine & Surgery of Yesteryear. It's a great resource and I bought it off of Amazon. He covers every medical problem in the 1800s. Huge congrats, Kristi, on another new book! I plan to get it. I really loved The Nighthawk.
Julie - it's hard to write about medicine in the old west with our more modern sensibilities. However, there were practitioners who did understand the transmission of germs through the air and through physical contact. I found references of female doctors using face masks when treating patients with diptheria, so I had my heroine in THE SWAN do this as well. And in general, a woman was safer with a midwife in her own home rather than giving birth in a hospital, where male doctors interacted with sick patients and contaminated cadavers and then delivered a baby. The mortality rate in hospitals was nearly 50%. Agh.
Hi Linda - thanks for reading! And I have Keith's book as well. What a great resource. I hope you like THE SWAN!! :-)
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