Medicine in the 1800’s

By Kristy McCaffrey 

Doctors who practiced in the 19^th century were generally followers of Benjamin Rush. He was a well-known physician in the 18^th century who graduated from what would later become Princeton University at age 14. A brilliant and devoted practitioner who cared deeply for his patients, he nevertheless championed the principle of extreme purging and bloodletting. He believed all diseases were due to a morbid excitement induced by capillary tension, and the counteraction of treatment and outcome became termed as “allopathic” (cure by opposites). A smaller group of doctors were known as homeopaths and eclectics, but they were far fewer in number.

Benjamin Rush

 

In the 19th century physicians were generally held in low esteem, but between 1890 and 1910 there were impressive scientific advances. They included practical methods to measure blood pressure and temperature, standardized eye tests, electrocardiograms and x-rays, chemical and bacteriological tests, diphtheria antitoxin, vaccines for rabies and typhoid, the Wasserman test (a test for syphilis antibodies), and the drug Salvarsan (also known as compound 606) for the treatment of syphilis. These developments greatly advanced the practice of medicine along with the standing of physicians, which reached its peak in the 1920s.

The American Medical Association (AMA) was established in Philadelphia in 1847 in response to widespread medical quackery, the unregulation of medical schools, and the unreliability of medical journals. The AMA reached its power between the periods of 1890 to 1920. It had a Council on Pharmacy and Chemistry, which regulated the pharmaceutical industry. It had a section for New and Official Remedies. The AMA also changed the focus of advertising. Earlier, companies advertised directly to the public. The AMA was able to stamp that out, allowing only advertising directly to physicians. The Council on Medical Education had the force of law, and the state licensing boards followed what the AMA wanted. The result was steadily rising standards.

Pre-Order THE SWAN

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(it will also be available at Kobo and in paperback on release day)

Oklahoma Territory
November 1899 

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 liberate a town of innocents, 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 who needed his help to find The Swan, a mysterious figure with a questionable reputation. 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.

Anna is the eldest daughter of Logan and Claire from THE DOVE. 

The Wings of the West Series Reading Order
Book One: The Wren
Book Two: The Dove
Book Three: The Sparrow
Book Four: The Blackbird
Book Five: The Bluebird
Book Six: The Songbird (Novella)
Book Seven: Echo of the Plains (Short Story)
Book Eight: The Starling
Book Nine: The Canary
Book Ten: The Nighthawk
Book Eleven: The Swan (Coming Soon)

 

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WHO WAS ANNA D. CHAMBERLAIN?

Post by Doris McCraw
writing as Angela Raines

Photo property of the author

Anna D Chamberlain

When I find an interesting subject I have to dig in and find out all I can. I love history, especially the history of the region I live in. When I find women in the history of the Pikes Peak Region I really get excited.

In researching I found an early woman dentist in Colorado Springs. Yes, a woman dentist practicing prior to 1900. While studying the city directories, there she was, I even looked twice to make sure I wasn't seeing a typo.

Her name is Anna D. Chamberlain. I initially found her in the 1896 Colorado Springs city directory listed with her husband Frank C. Chamberlain, also a dentist. Their office was #12 in the bank building with a residence at 1451 N. Nevada Ave.

Anna was born in 1866 to John Shaw and Helen B Shaw in Harlan, Page County, Iowa. Her father came from Ireland and her mother was born in Ohio. Anna married Frank in 1887 and they had three children by 1900. In 1914 she died at the age of forty-eight.

Photo property of the author

According to her obituary she and her husband were associated with dentistry starting around 1888. Some sources indicate they practiced in Colorado Springs, Colorado City and Manitou Springs. One story says she loved her husband so much, wanted to be with him, so she studied to be a dentist too. ( It's a story I can't verify, but if you like romance, it is a good story) 

Anna was not only one of the first women to study dentistry, she was in the first graduating dentistry class from the University in Denver. Her husband, in addition to being a dentist, was also an M.D.  He received his Colorado license in 1892. However, no record of his pursuing medicine in Colorado Springs, other than that of dentist. When you realize how many physicians there were practicing in Colorado Springs, he was wiser to focus on dentistry.

His brother Fred, who was a dentist in Cripple Creek in the 1890's,  also ended up in Colorado Springs. On a side note, Fred also married a woman named Anna, but it was Anna B., very similar to D. As some of you know, census records are not always easy to read, so following the threads can be challenging.  Some of those census takers didn't know how to write, at least in my opinion.

Photo property of Author

In addition to a dental practice and raising three children, she was also active in the church, the WTCU (Women's Christian Temperance Union), and in the late 1890's was the president of the local Colorado Springs WCTU organization. 

Anna and her husband along with Wm. H. Dewey and Oscar J. Fullerton, created the Fullerton Consumption Cure Company with an initial investment of $30,000, near the beginning of the 1900s. So far records have not been found as to what became of their venture.

After Anna's death in 1914,  her husband moved to California and remarried. After his death in 1928 his second wife returned his body to Colorado Springs where he is buried near Anna in Evergreen Cemetery.

In my novel, "Josie's Dream", I have a women who dreamed of becoming a doctor. After graduating medical school, she finds herself on the plains of Colorado establishing herself and following her dream.

Amazon Link

Doris Gardner-McCraw -

Author, Speaker, Historian-specializing in
Colorado and Women's History

Angela Raines - author: Where Love & History Meet

Angela Raines Books: Here 

Angela Raines at FaceBook: Click Here