Treatment
Promising headway into more effective treatment was made during the Victorian era. Medical practitioners began using opium extensively, as well as laudanum and chloroform. Surgery also became more advanced, and safer through the use of antiseptic. Aside from these new forays into treatment, many people remained reliant on household manuals that prescribed ancient herbal cures and practices.
Opium and Morphine
By the 1820s morphine was a popular anodyne, or soother. Morphine was also, however, a prime method of Victorian suicide. Morphine was six times as potent as opium. It was commercially available, and it was sold using a standardized measure of strength, allowing for accurate doses. Despite the merits of morphine, the newer drug; opium still remained popular among doctors. Dr. Jonathon Pereira, author of standard-setting works on therapeutics, maintained that opium was still the most important drug because its effects are "immediate, direct, and obvious; and its operation is not attended with pain or discomfort." Opium's chief advantage was the lack of ostensible side effects, at least short term. Many doctors were aware of the addictive properties of opium, but they ignored this fact and declined to inform patients. Many upper and middle class patients purchased morphine from doctors and injected themselves daily with newly developed needles. This 'morphinism' was unbounded by legal or social guidelines, and many morphine addicts were unaware of there addiction. Despite the ramifications of morphine as a leisure drug, it allowed for longer and more effective surgery, and for tremendously more efficient battlefield treatment. (Booth 70)
Laudanum is a liquid made from opium and alcohol. Laudanum was a common sleeping medicine. The drug also acted as a painkiller, and a cough suppressant; laudanum also prevented loose bowels. As with opium, doctors neglected to inform patients on the addictive properties of laudanum; and many people of the upper class took nightly doses. Laudanum was also used to quiet babies. (Mitchell, Daily Life 202)
Drug Restrictions
The sale of drugs was not bounded whatsoever until 1868. 'Patent' medicines were sold through grocers, chemists, and other vendors. Other medicines were often purchased by mail. Almost every medicine contained large amounts of alcohol. Mrs. Yeobright in The Return of the Native was administered brandy before anything else was done, to dull the pain and discomfort. (268) " J. Collis Browne's Chlorodyne, advertised as a cure for coughs, colds, colic, cramps, spasms, stomachache, bowel pains, diarrhea, and sleeplessness-contained morphine, chloral hydrate, and cannabis. (Mitchell, Daily Life 202)
Surgery is often considered the one area in which Victorians made he most notable advances. Before Victorian times, the lack of anesthetic and antiseptic translated any wound that tore the skin into a terminal infection. Amputation and then cauterization was the only way to prevent a deadly infection. Any intentional incision into the body was therefore ludicrous until the practice of scrubbing hands and instruments became standard in the 1890s. Joseph Lister first championed antiseptic surgery in the 1860s, but not all doctors followed his example. After chloroform became widespread, surgery increased, as did doctors understanding of the need for cleanliness. Even when doctors were cleaning their hands and the instruments, however, bacteria was rampant, and it led to cases of 'hospital fever'. Regardless, the former low ranking surgeon was becoming the most skilled and respected practitioner by the turn of the century.
The majority of people in the Victorian age depended upon traditional remedies, herbal cures, and homemade prescriptions. Health advice was passed along by either a household manual or through word of mouth. Elderly women and certain servants had enough simple medical knowledge remedy most minor ailments. Following Mrs. Yeobright's snake bite in The Return of the Native, a classic home cure was applied. Sam came up with the old remedy of rubbing the adder sting with the fat of other adders, which is obtained by frying a fresh adder. Sam recalled this remedy from his father's own experience with an adder; a prime example of home cures being passed down from generation to generation. Even Olly Dowden, who is apparently a trained nurse, is aware of such a cure. (268)
Even on the estates of the rich, at least one of the servants would be versed in herbal medicine. Such a servant would make poultices, lance boils, and sooth coughs. This servant's knowledge and confidence served as a substitute for professional care. The household manuals however were often obsolete even when compared to the limited medical knowledge of the era. Almost any minor illness was immediately dubbed a cold and treated as such. Common causes of colds (for women), as described in the time, included sitting in a room without a fire and standing about in evening dress. Nearly all manuals blamed the majority of illnesses on bad air and bad smells. Although bad smell or bad air was often indicative of nearby, yet undiscovered, germs, this generalization proved more a hindrance to public health than help. Still, some of the best advice from manuals and doctors alike was a change of air. The seaside was often recommended to those patients who could afford it. Devotees of these manuals chose dwellings on higher ground, flushed sewers as often as possible and sealed windows to keep out the bad air. The trouble with flushing sewers was that they flushed directly into the nearby water supplies, further spreading any germs or bacteria. Furthermore, by shutting windows against night air, contaminated indoor air was trapped. Tuberculosis was spread chiefly in this fashion. (Mitchell, Daily Life 202)
Florence Nightingale penned a critique of this practice in her writings, Notes on Nursing, by Florence Nightingale (1859).
"Another extraordinary fallacy is the dread of night air. What air can we breathe at night but night air? The choice is between pure night air from without and foul night air from within. Most people prefer the latter. An unaccountable choice. What will they say if it is proved to be true that fully one-half of all the disease we suffer from is occasioned by people sleeping with their windows shut? An open window most nights in the year will never hurt any one. (Nightingale)
Hypnosis
Hypnosis was used particularly in the beginning of the Victorian era. Hypnosis stacks up surprisingly very well to the alternate anesthetics of the day. Hypnosis is painless, is associated with no side effects and does not alter the heart rate of the patient. The famed surgeon Jules Croquet performed an operation to remove a cancerous breast from a woman who was under hypnosis. The operation was perfect and painless. The obvious downsides to hypnosis are 1) not everyone can be hypnotized and 2) few people can be hypnotized into a deep enough sleep for a major operation. (Curtis 14)
Placebo Effect
Every prominent Victorian medical institution taught students that ninety percent of practicing medicine is comforting and relaxing the patient while nature takes its course. Books published in the time, such as Taylor's Holy Living and Dying described prayers, forms, conduct, and attitudes necessary to provide patients with confidence and inspiration. Often, the placebo effect, sometimes referred to as the sugar pill effect, was employed as the chief strategy in curing an illness. Queen Victoria herself had been known to touch the ill on their forehead, ridding them of illness, at least in their own minds. A popular Victorian tale describes a doctor approaching a very ill child every day with a candied peach. Always, after administering the candy to the ill child, the doctor would describe the magical effects of his all-curing medicine. The child was rid of disease. Victorian doctors mastered the art of placebo to such a great extent that even now medical students study famous Victorian 'placebists'. (Doyle 1)
See also:
Lister, Joseph
Jenner, Edward
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