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". . . In treating yellow fever, (Dr. Benjamin) Rush adopted an approach that now sounds barbaric: he bled and purged the victim, a process frightful to behold. He emptied the patient's bowels four or five times using a gruesome mixture of potions and enemas, before draining off ten to twelve ounces of blood to lower the pulse. For good measure, he induced mild vomiting. This regimen was repeated two or three times daily. Rush was a man of exemplary courage, but it is questionable whether he saved lives or only hastened deaths by weakening the body's natural defenses. . . Hamilton's boyhood friend from St. Croix, Edward Stevens, had turned up in Philadelphia and now attended the couple (Eliza and Alexander Hamilton-both afflicted with yellow fever) . . . Having treated yellow fever victims in the islands, Stevens dissented from the American dogma of bloodletting and bowel pages, which he thought only debilitated patients. He argued for remedies that were "cordial, stimulating, and tonic." To strengthen patients, Stevens administered stiff doses of quinine called "Peruvian bark" as well as aged Madeira. He also submerged them in cold baths before giving them glasses of brandy topped with burned cinnamon. He sedated patient nightly with a tincture of opium (laudanum). To stop vomiting, patients quaffed an aromatic blend of camomile flowers, oil of peppermint, and lavender spirits. . . Stevens achieved spectacular results with Alexander and Elizabeth Hamilton, curing them within five days. . . "
Progress
- Chicago
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