Rough Medicine: Surgeons at Sea in the Age of Sail

by Druett,Joan

• ISBN13: 9780415924528
• ISBN10: 0415924529
• Format: Nonspecific Binding
• Copyright: 2001-09-21
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

By use of detective work and meticulous research, Joan Druett has reconstructed an exciting account of a way of life that has long since vanished. Using diaries, journals, and correspondences, Druett recounts the daily grind surgeons on nineteenth-century whaling ships faced: the rudimentary tools they used, the treatments they had at their disposal, the sorts of people they encountered in their travels, and the dangers they faced under the harsh conditions of life at sea. Rough Medicineis much more than the lively stories of doctors at sea. It is a rich chronicle of both the early history of global trade and the evolution of modern medicine. Beautifully written and masterfully researched, there is no other book quite like this.

Author Biography

Joan Druett is the author of She Captains: Heroines and Hellions of the Sea (2000) and Hen Frigates: Wives of Merchant Captains Under Sail (1998)

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	vii
Introduction	1	(8)
Medicine at Sea: Woodall's The Surgions Mate	9	(18)
Shipping Out	27	(22)
The Medical Chest	49	(28)
The First Leg: Day-to-Day Life	77	(26)
The Whale Hunt	103	(18)
Accidents, Injuries, and Ailments	121	(18)
Battling Scurvy	139	(26)
Encounters with Native Peoples	165	(18)
``Motley, Reckless & Profligate'': Troubles with Captains and Crews	183	(22)
Epilogue The Fates of Our Surgeons	205	(16)
Appendix A Medical Chest Comparison	221	(10)
Appendix B Dr. King's Patient List, Aurora, 1840	231	(6)
Appendix C Glossary	237	(14)
Bibliography	251	(8)
Index	259