Description
From a headless burial to cocaine toothache drops, the true stories hidden in the Wild West's medical records are a match for its tallest tales.
In the 19th century, when dying young was a fact of life, a routine bout of diarrhea could be fatal. No one had heard of viruses or bacteria, but they killed more soldiers on the frontier than hostile raiding parties. Physicians dispensed whiskey for TB, mercury for VD and arsenic for indigestion. Baseball injuries were considered to be in the line of duty and twice resulted in amputations at Fort Davis. Donna Gerstle Smith explains how an industrious laundress could earn more than a private, how a female army surgeon won the Medal of Honor and how a garrison illegally hung the local bartender.
Author: Donna Gerstle Smith
Publisher: History Press
Published: 10/24/2022
Pages: 192
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.93lbs
Size: 8.90h x 6.00w x 0.50d
ISBN13: 9781467152464
ISBN10: 1467152463
BISAC Categories:
- History | United States | State & Local | Southwest (AZ, NM, OK, TX)
- Medical | History
- History | United States | 19th Century