What Life Was Like For Doctors In The Wild West

As real doctors used science to work with herbs and chemicals, an older movement promoted folk remedies and patent medicines which might, or more often might not, work. American Heritage, for instance, cites drinking sulfur as being good for you in the 1800's. Snakebites, says author Robin Lee Hatcher, were treated by applying slabs of

As real doctors used science to work with herbs and chemicals, an older movement promoted folk remedies and patent medicines which might, or more often might not, work. American Heritage, for instance, cites drinking sulfur as being good for you in the 1800's. Snakebites, says author Robin Lee Hatcher, were treated by applying slabs of raw beef, "chicken flesh," or a mixture of vinegar and gunpowder. The latter was also used to stop bleeding cuts, as were wood ashes or cobwebs. And Mrs. Winslow's Soothing Syrup according to Web MD, quieted crying babies with an unhealthy dose of morphine.

Far more dangerous were the patent medicines sold by street hawkers promoted at Medicine Shows, says Legends of America. According to Hagley Museum, certain local merchants sold them as well. Fairly inexpensive and easy to get, patent medicines came in a variety of forms with colorful names to lure in naive folks who were desperate for a cure. The trouble was, the ingredients were often kept a secret to make the medicines seem almost magical. Many of them included alcohol, cocaine, morphine, or opium, with sometimes deadly results if administered to children. For people suffering from digestive issues, tuberculosis, headaches, or other maladies, however, patent medicines seemed like a welcome cure. Not until 1906 did the Food and Drug Administration demand that ingredients must be listed on the labels of all medicine bottles.

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