Medicine
Medicine: 1840-1870
Civil War Surgeons
During the years of 1840 to 1870, the world of medicine was revolutionized by several discoveries and events. The most memorable event of this time period was the American Civil War. Also, the discoveries of Louis Pasteur and Joseph Lister helped to revolutionize the practice of medicine to a point where it started make progress in the understanding of disease. This event and these men helped to change the way the world looked at medicine and the treatment of patients.
When the civil war began, there were only 83 men commissioned in the Union to assist the wounded in battle. By the end of the war, more than 11,000 doctors had served or were serving in the treatment of the Union's wounded. Not only did the U.S. increase the number of surgeons that they had working for them, they revolutionized the practices of the medical corps. One of the greatest achievements was the formation of the United States Sanitary Commission. This organization helped to make the medical corps more effective by having equipment such as bandages, scraping lint, and culinary delicacies sent to army hospitals. They formed a traveling outpost that would remain with the army of the Potomac that would serve speed up the shipment of medical supplies to army hospitals. They even created and manned hospital ships that would care for men while transporting them to hospitals as far as New York. The commission even convinced doctors to write pamphlets on hygiene and sanitation that were distributed to soldiers and other field doctors. The discovery of the link between air born germs and disease had not even been discovered yet, however there were able to start a movement that helped to prevent deaths by infection of mistreated wounds. The Civil Wars necessity of better ways of caring for the wounded helped to catalyze a movement for improved medical care in the United States. However, it was the discoveries of Louis...
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