Wheeled, invalid chair, circa 1830. Made from a common armchair, this version of a wheelchair provided some degree of mobility for a Nineteenth Century invalid. Chairs like this one were sometimes made at home, but they could also be purchased from chairmakers who manufactured specialized seating.

 

Picture of Health

Old Sturbridge Village Looks at Illness and Healing in New England 1790-1860

STURBRIDGE, MASS. - If it seems difficult to envision health care in the years before antiseptics, anesthesia and antibiotics, then the lancets, bleeding cups, tooth-pulling "keys," and other early Nineteenth Century medical instruments on display at Old Sturbridge Village will command your attention.

"Picture of Health:Illness and Healing in New England 1790-1860," a new exhibit on display until January 1, 2001, offers a fascinating look at more than 200 artifacts from this vanished world of medicine.

Patent medicines such as "Dr Campbell's Hair Invigorator," a doctor's sleigh, early wheeled chairs, a gout crane, electromagnetic therapy machines, and a steam box are shown. Computer stations allow visitors to compare today's patterns of disease, family size and life expectancy with those of five or six generations ago.

"In 1830s New England, health care encompassed home nursing, folk remedies, patent medicines, regular physicians' `heroic' treatments of bleeding and purging, and alternative healers. For example, Homer Merriam, a rural printer, tried all the standard cures and finally decided to see an Indian doctress named Rhoda Rhoades in Huntington, Mass. She treated patients in her home with medicinal roots and herbs," said Nan Wolverton, Old Sturbridge Village curator. "In `Picture of Health,' we have partially recreated Rhoda Rhoades' house and you can listen to how Homer Merriam described his stay with her in his autobiography."

"Picture of Health" explores a time when germs were not understood and infection resulting from childbirth was a significant cause of death for women. "About one of every four New England children died before reaching adulthood, from diseases such as diphtheria, measles, and scarlet fever," said Jack Larkin, director of research, collections and library at Old Sturbridge Village.

"Most early Americans' understanding of sickness and health still reflected ancient Greek thought that the body had four fluids, or humors - blood, phlegm, black bile and yellow bile - and that an imbalance could be corrected by bleeding - taking a pint or more of a patient's blood from a vein - or purging - inducing vomiting and administering powerful laxatives. Some American doctors came to believe in heroic medicine, bleeding in large quantities and prescribing purging drugs such as calomel (mercurous chloride) that today's doctors would see as very dangerous.

In the first half of the Nineteenth Century, these practices were being challenged by proponents of alternative medical systems, who are also represented in "Picture of Health." Samuel Thomson was one. He created a complete system of vegetable-based medicines and considered traditional medicine as poisonous. Others advocated mild electric shock or steam baths. Sylvester Graham, now best known as the namesake of the graham cracker, argued that a rigid diet of vegetarian fare and cold water was the key to health.

"Picture of Health" begins with "The Home as Hospital," a vignette of an early sick room. "Woman assumed the primary responsibility for caring for sick family members, sometimes relying upon home health advice books such as The Family Nurse. Physicians were not always available, not always trusted, and their services could be costly," said Wolverton. In many families, doctors were consulted only after numerous home remedies had been tried. "Even them, the doctor went to the patient's home and prescribed treatment that would be administered there. Nineteenth Century health care truly began and ended in the household," said Wolverton.

"Picture of Health" illustrates not only the stark contrasts to contemporary medicine, but also some interesting parallels. "Americans in both centuries have longed for certainty and have sometimes distrusted the established medical profession. Some of the earliest medical advice books were published in the early 1800s, encouraging Americans to take greater responsibility for their health, a practice that has continued today. And both then and now, we see interest in herbal medicine and alternative treatments," said Wolverton.

The village is on Route 20, near Exit 9 of the Mass. Turnpike (I-90) and Exit 2 of I-84. Telephone 800/SEE-1830.