Miles Friedman
Notecards
Unpiled
Surgery in the Military
Source:
Tannenbaum, Rebecca J. “Health and Medicine in the 17th Century.” American Centuries , vol. 2, Facts on File, 2014. American History , online.infobase.com/hrc/search/details/358046?q=colonial surgery.
Quote:
“Many surgeons learned their skill in the military and continued to practice after their discharge. They set broken bones, removed cataracts, and amputated diseased or injured limbs. Surgeons made up another category of trained healer. Surgery and medicine were considered separate fields, although the lines were beginning to blur and would eventually disappear altogether. Medicine, or “physick,” was an intellectual, gentleman’s skill; surgery was a manual trade, and thus had lower status. Many surgeons learned their skill in the military and continued to practice after their discharge. They set broken bones, removed cataracts, and amputated diseased or injured limbs.”
Paraphrase:
Surgeons in the colonial period learned how to do surgery on the battlefield. Some of the things the surgeons learned during war were how to set broken bones, get rid of cataracts, and amputations of limbs. Surgeons made a new category of trained healer. Surgery and medicine were considered different jobs but overtime they became the same. Physicks’s was a rich mans skill; Surgery was for poor men and they had lower status. Surgeons learned their skill in the military and they continued to do surgery after the war. The surgeon’s set broken bones, removed cataracts, and amputated diseased or injured limbs.
My Ideas:
This quote shows that a lot of the surgeons learned their techniques from the battlefield. The surgeons on the battlefields saw broken bones, gun wounds, infections, severed limbs, and disease. Surgery was a gentleman’s job and never a woman’s job. In the early times of colonial America surgery and medicine were complete opposites, but later on they became one and the same. The surgeons started out as focusing only on physical aspects of medicine. The physicians focused on medicines and bleedings. I wonder what bleedings are? I think bleedings are when you test someone’s blood to see if there are any problems. Some of the colonial physicians had a lot in common with the medieval doctors. While the surgeons and physicians started out having very different responsibilities over time their jobs became more similar. Surgeons had a lot lower status because surgery was a manual trade. Physicians however, were thought of as a skilled trade and learned their job by apprenticeship. This gave the physician’s higher status than the surgeons. Since surgeons and physicians did not get paid well they would often switch their trade to farming or school teaching. I can infer that surgeons did surgery because they had a passion for helping people. I can also infer that the surgeons went into surgery knowing that they would not make a lot of money.
History:
Created: 10/11/2016 10:48 AM
Lindsay O. 2015
Title: Snake Spirit Animal
Source: “Native American Animal Symbols Native American Zodiac Meanings.” What’s your sign. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Nov. 2015. <http://www.whats-your-sign.com/
native-american-animal-symbols.html>.
Quote: “Most shamans are born under this Native American animal symbol. The Snake is a natural in all matters of spirit. Easily attuned to the ethereal realm the Snake makes an excellent spiritual leader. Also respected for his/her healing capacities, the Snake also excels in medical professions. The Snake’s preoccupation with matters intangible often lead others to view them as mysterious, and sometimes frightening. True, the Snake can be secretive, and a bit dark – he/she is also quite sensitive, and caring. In a supportive relationship the cool Snake can be passionate, inspiring, humorous, and helpful. Left to his/her own devices, the Snake can be despondent, violent, and prone to abnormal mood swings.”
Paraphrase: – The Native Americans had spirit animals and whatever sign you were born under, supposedly you had that power.
– Snakes often had spiritual power and had a strong power in Medicine.
– Snakes could be different from normal people. They were powerful so many feared them.
– Snakes sneaky and conniving, but they express their true feelings.
– Snakes should not be alone without a tribe or a family.
– They’re natural spiritual leaders because they are respected because of their power.
Analysis: I wonder if all the spirit animals are good at specific things? What are some of the other ones? I know the Native Americans went on spirit walks by themselves for a couple of days and in that time you would learn what your spirit animal was, what if you didn’t find out what it was? Was it bad if got a certain symbol, are there any bad symbols? Did a tribe have a symbol? Were spirits ever depicted in Native American art? If they saw a real snake what would they do? Would they kill it for food? Leave it be? What kinds of magical power did people have. Did whatever you have depend on what you would be when you grow up? Did Shamans communicate with the spirits for advice?
“GUNSHOT WOUNDS- These are much more difficult to cure than an incised wound, clothing and splinters are carried into the wound with the ball, tissue fibers and vessels are destroyed. Inflammation. possibly turning to gangrene, may make amputation necessary. Search for the ball with a probe. finger or forceps as little as possible. for it will increase the pain and inflammation. It is best not to go after anything beyond the reach of the finger. M(many feel the fingers the best and truest.)”
- Gunshot wounds are harder to cure.
- Gunshot wounds take in splinters and other things with it.
- It destroys the veins and tissue inside of the gunshot wound.
- The wound inflames, and very likely turning to gangrene which is even worse.
- You can use your fingers, probes etc to reach the ball.
- If the wound is too deep, don’t use your fingers.
What happens if you push your finger or any tool too deep into the gun wound? What should you do if there is gangrene in the area? How do you remove the splinters, cloth etc from the wound? Are there tools that work best for this specific procedure? Does different areas of the wound affect the procedure or not? How do you seal the wound? What if the patient is loosing blood too quickly? What should you do if you can’t find the ball? Is it necessary to cut off the blood from that area of the body during that specific procedure? Do you sterilize to tools before this procedure, or any? It seems that gunshot wounds are the most fatal of all types of wounds. It takes in splinters and pieces of clothes which affect the wound and makes it more difficult to cure. I think that depending on where you are shot, like the stomach affects if you can save the person or not. A shot to the stomach, would probably tear you major arteries and anything inside, not just tearing flesh. Gangrene would possibly mean amputation, but gangrene in the stomach, I would guess would mean death. There’s nothing to separate except flesh. I think it would be better to push your finger into the bullet hole first to search for a bullet, because you can feel what you’re touching inside. it would be fairly more difficult to feel the bullet with a probe. Anything which keeps the patient in less pain, is effective. I think that in that time period, they wouldn’t sterilize their tools because they hadn’t yet discovered germs, therefore meaning that they won’t sterilize their tools, but just wipe the blood off. I think if you were shot by a bullet, you would probably have about a 15%-20% of surviving because sticking anything into a wound with germs would add bacteria into the wound, witch would make the flesh decay, causing gangrene, which would eventually lead to death. But, if you were lucky, you would just have a large hole in your body once the bullet is out, or you would just have to amputate your limb. So I think that means you wouldn’t want to be shot by a bullet.