Medicine in the Old West

 

This week::Hygiene or lack of

By Jesse J Elliot    (aka Julie Hanks, Ph.D)

  

Photo by Doris McCraw

Here it is, Valentine’s Day, and I happen to choose the topic of HYGIENE for my new blog on Medicine in the Old West. Not very romantic, but a great starting place to discuss medicine and medical practices in the 19th Century. 

The practice of medicine in the Old West was primitive at best—especially in communities where there were no trained doctors. Although the Europeans (Pasteur and Lister 1852) had already discovered that microscopic creatures caused disease and infections, the idea didn’t catch on quickly for many doctors and the general population. Even in the teaching universities, doctors would go directly from their teaching labs--working on cadavers, to another operation or the delivery of a child without washing their hands. Though patients died, there remained a “disconnect” between the idea of bacteria and the onset of disease—the need for proper hygiene.  

Now, picture yourself in a country made up of peoples from Europe and Africa, each bringing in their unique diseases, conditions, and habits. Now put them on a crowded wagon train, in a busy brothel, and/or using the same outhouse—if they used it at all.  The chances of having a major medical outbreak are definitely possible, mostly probable, and most of these diseases could have been prevented with proper hygiene.

Personal hygiene was challenging in the West. Lack of water, modesty, strong lye soaps, the fear of bathing too often, and the laborious task of heating and carrying water were deterrents that made bathing inconvenient and undesirable. 

Men were worse than women. Their jobs entailed a lot of physical labor, and the availability of a bath was often inconvenient let alone impossible.  Some men who worked in mines, who drove cattle, or served in the military, would bathe, if available, in a stream or river.  But, it wasn’t unusual to go an entire season or longer without a bath. Besides, the belief that too many baths were dangerous to one's health was still prevalent. 

Women would, if they could, bathe more frequently, but lack of accessible water often made a bath out of the question. One woman settler on a wagon train described bathing in her clothes due to modesty. As she stood in the moving waters of the river, she undid her belt and peeled back the waistline of the skirt she had worn for the duration of the trip. In it were minute, moving insects and their eggs. In her hair, she had to use the small comb and remove lice and their progeny. She washed herself as well as she could, using a lye soap that burned her skin. She had refused to use the yucca root soap that a group of Indians had given the settlers to use for their hair. 

Unlike the good old lye soap, the root of the yucca left hair soft and didn’t dry it out. The Native Americans and the Mexican women used the yucca root. Some men, for lack of anything else, used whiskey. Later, egg whites, perfumes, and oils were added to enhance shampoos. But since one didn’t bathe too often, the problem of washing one's hair wasn’t a major concern.

Once people were settled, bathing was generally relegated to Saturday night, a day before church. The tub was filled, and the adults went first, then the older children, then the infants. Thus, came the old adage: “Don’t throw the baby out along with the bathwater.”  Sometimes, the same water would be used to wash clothes or even be kept for the following week’s baths. Once again, hygiene was not a priority.

Oral hygiene was also a challenge.  Although the toothbrush was invented years ago by the Chinese, Americans generally employed cloth and knives as cleaning utensils. Bristled tooth brushes, from as early as 1800 were excavated in the West, so they were available, but not frequently bought and used.  

Instead of toothpaste, early Americans brushed (if they brushed at all) with tooth powders. To clean teeth, these powders contained abrasives like alum, ground seashells, bone, eggshells, brimstone, baking soda, and even gunpowder. To freshen breath, powders included cinnamon, musk, or dragon’s blood (a plant).

Fillings were either lead or gold. Although there were schools of Dentistry (Doc Holiday went to Pennsylvania College of Dental Surgery in Philadelphia), often the local dentist was the town’s blacksmith or barber. Tools were primitive—a small plier was used to pull the teeth.

Rotten teeth were not unusual, and serious bacterial infections could travel to the eyes or even the brain, causing serious infections, blindness, and even death.

Cholera was a major cause of death during the Civil War and later the Western Movement. Overcrowded areas with outhouses leeching into the drinking waters or the groundwater and other diseases caused more deaths than bullets in the Civil War. In the settlements or on the large wagon trains, cholera reared its ugly head, and other than ginger or tea, no one knew how to stop the virulent diarrhea that it caused. Cholera was spread through contaminated water and caused severe dehydration and diarrhea. It could be fatal within days or even hours of exposure to the bacteria.

And talking about outhouses: Since toilet paper was not available, everything from soft leaves to corncobs were used to “clean” one’s self. The outhouses themselves were never cleaned, and under the wood that comprised the toilet, a host of flies and black widow spiders often awaited the unsuspecting user. Though lime and other agents were thrown in to cover the smell, the pile of waste often mixed in with the groundwater, causing serious diseases like cholera.

Dishes were washed, but apparently, the effort to keep things clean wasn’t enough to prevent dysentery. Dysentery is a digestive problem characterized by loose and watery stool containing blood. It is accompanied by intestinal inflammation and stomach cramps. Even today 1.1 million people die of dysentery in the world. The most common cause of dysentery is poor sanitary conditions. Stale food, contaminated water, and exposure to human excreta are other causes of dysentery.

All right.  Enough about hygiene! The next article is a list of what you would pack in your medicine kit if you were heading out on a wagon train or a pony express ride.  Lots of surprises there! Oh, yes, HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!

Western Fictioneers Book Reviews

Death at Gran Quivera by Jesse J. Elliot

I Dorothy A. Bell received a copy of the novel Death at Gran Quivira by author Jesse J. Elliot in exchange for an honest review. I give Gran Quivira four stars.

The grizzly find of a bloodied scalp of a golden haired girl on a New Mexico property owned by a young woman Iragene Jones, and her brother Daniel sets into motion this tale of one families hard scrabble to eke out an existence in New Mexico in the 1800’s.

After the civil war the railroad moguls had dreams of commerce and riches with rails stretching from coast to coast. Their dreams embolden ruthless desperados to threaten, rape and destroy on their quest to acquire the land upon which the rails were to be laid and rake in the money. The home of the Jones: Iragene, her brother Daniel, his pregnant wife Prudence and their friend Cassie, and many of their neighbors, stood directly in harm’s way. Neighbors were important in this hostile land. One could take refuge and count on a neighbors support in times of trouble. The law was often miles away and had other concerns.

In every western there has to be a great shoot out and Death at Gran Quivira does not disappoint.

The author has peppered in interesting historical points without disrupting the flow of the story. I lost track of all the neighbors and their points of view. But the plot was well thought out. And characters well defined, each with their own agenda. The grizzly scenes, just grizzly enough, the love scenes lovely.

—Dorothy A. Bell Author of Dance Hall Road Do-si-dol

Longhorns and Blood (A Drifter Western) by Jake Henry

Longhorns and Blood is number five in a series of books written by Jake Henry. His books can be read in isolation or in order. The main character, Jeff Savage aka the Drifter, is a Texan who served in the Union Army and still wears his blue, uniform pants in spite of the war being over. He’s good with a gun, good with the horses, and good with the woman—at least most of the women.

Savage became the Drifter after four years of bloody fighting in the War only to come home to discover his wife had been raped and murdered by a gang of cutthroat, renegade Confederates.  After avenging his wife’s horrific death in Book 1, he chooses a life of drifting—but always on the side of the law and righteousness. In Longhorns and Blood, Savage is confronted with a series of murders and the stubbornness of a dead cattleman’s daughter, Mavis. In a never-ending series of murder and mayhem, Savage attempts to save Mavis and her cattle from her bad decisions and the ruthless Breen.

The book is a succession of shoot-em-ups, cattle stampedes, and just plain bloody mayhem, and the reader hardly has time to relax until another string of events occur.  Desperate to protect Mavis from inevitable death, Savage is forced to go to the Long Trail Saloon “where they’re all bad, to the man” to recruit cowhands to help the hapless Mavis, and the rest is left to the reader.

As I read Longhorns and Blood, I pictured Savage as a Clint Eastwood type. As exciting as a spaghetti Western, Henry pulls no punches and throws in every element of violence known to the old west. His succession of action is well laid out, and the novel maintains its momentum. The characters are almost believable, and the many bullets that Savage takes per book is limitless.  As a female author, I get tired of the mindless whores and illogical women, but it’s only been recent that anyone has recognized the fact that women played a major role in the old west.  Lastly, I found his characters who were supposed to be “bad to the man” some of the most likeable in the story. See for yourselves.

For a great foray into the Old West and a bit of escape, take some time and read the entire series of “the Drifter,” and enjoy the wild ride. 

—Jesse J Elliot, author of Death at Gran Quivera

Brodie by McKendree Long

Anyone can be a writer—all it takes is a working knowledge of a word processor or the archaic process of applying pencil lead to a lined, yellow page. However, to be a good writer, one must own the technique of creating credible dialogue, vivid descriptions, character development, plus a captivating and persuasive plot.

As if he had not previously established these skills in earlier novels, McKendree Long cements his writing talent with his recent novel, Brodie.

After the murder of Cross-Eyed Lil, the friendliest working woman in Sweetwater, former Ranger Brodie Dent is deputized by Town Marshal Curly Jack Sentell. Accompanied by Lil’s orphaned teenaged son, Cracked-Head Billy, the two men set out to kill the men responsible for the woman’s death.

The leader of the band of murders is Preacher Vance, whose current occupation is abducting women to sell to Apaches and renegades on the Texas-Mexico border. Preacher, tricky as a coyote and elusive as a jackrabbit, leads Brodie and Marshall Sentell on a chase across the Llano Estacado.

Mr. Long is an aficionado of late 1800s firearms and helps the reader understand the importance of cowboy weaponry. He knows his stuff—from the nitty-gritty of a gunfight to the raw emotions of the lawmen who often served as jury and executioner.

This is an entertaining read with just the proper mix of humor and adventure.

—John Neely Davis author of Bear Shadow