Waterbury evening Democrat., 1908-12-16
OLD SCHOOL DOCTORS
Ignorance of Physicians of the
 Eighteenth Century.
TORTURE FOR THE PATIENTS.

Every Ainsnt Beyond Diagnosis Was Chased as a Fever, and Pills, Plss-
 ters, Burning and Bleeding Were tho J Regulation Remedies.
 The proverb The remedy is worse than the disease" must have been coin ed in the eighteenth century, when physicians treated their patients with n violence that bordered on assault and battery It was held that sickness was some kind of demon that must be overcome by pills, plasters, bleeding and burning, and If the patient incl. aentaly got the full effects of the tor ture and died, so much the worse for him. Air and water were considered the most dangerous things for sick person to have, and his misguided de- mand for them was interpreted as sign that he should have still less. The windows were shut and the cur tains of the four poster tightly drawn around the recumbent unfortunate gasping for breath. If he burned with fever the blankets were piled on him. A desire for water meant that he could have none, while lack of appetite proved that he ought to be stuffed with food. A bath was positively un- thinkable.
 The deadly results of breathing night air" were accentuated by med ical writers. says s. c. Tallentyre in the Cornhill Magazine. All air was bad, but the night quality often prov ed fatal to young ladies of beauty, fortune and great merit and to young gentlemen of parts and breeding One bold medico recommended that a bed chamber should be ventilated-in the daytime Another dared to suggest that consumptives might benefit from sleeping in pure atmosphere. The rule for ablutions was hands often, feet seldom, head never" but a physi- clan far in advance of his age sur missed that invalids might bathe their feet in warm water once week and under extraordinary circumstances take warm bath once month. Overeating and drinking caused many of the diseases of tha upper classes. MontesQuieu said that dinner killed one half of the Parisians and supper the other half. Everywhere 1t was the custom to pile the table with roast beef, mutton, capons, boars' heads, pasties, creams, stufings and mincemeats. A fearful repast of twelve indigestibe courses was brought on all together, so that the diners knew what was expected of them. A large break fast of small beer and meats preceded the gigantic midday meal, when people enjoyed a Gargantuan gorge for three hours and spent two more in Falstaff- ian potations. After this the gentle men joined the women for a dish of tea in the drawing room, and 1t was not long before the whole party of hu man anacondas returned to the dining room for supper on the cold rem nants of the dinner. Amid this orgy of gluttony Walpole and Voltaire were distinguished for an abstinence that prolonged their lives.
 Heavy drinking was universal and rarely reprimanded by medical men. as by Dr. Tronchin. One Dr. Cheyne advised women not to take a whole bottle day. Another authority wrote a popular treatise in which the best means of attaining longevity was stated to be a bottle of wine at dinner and three glasses after. Those who fol being dubbed temperance cranlis. A story is told of the celebrated and con- vivial Dr. Garth. who was tipping bumpers at the Kit-Kat club when re- minded that his patients needed at tention. "'Tis no matter" said Garth, already half seas over, If I see them or not Nine have such bad constitu- tions that all the doctors in the world cant save them, and the other six have such good that all the doctors in the world can't kill them"
 A physician named Brown became the pet of fashiona ble women by al ways prescribing pleasant remedies, "a glass of wine in the forenoon from time to time" several glasses of port or punch after dinner till some enliv- ening effect is perceived from them" Together with inordinate quantities of liquor and food, Dr. Brown recon nH to To hn pany of delightful young women" One of the natural consequences of such an agreeable regimen was the gout, for which eighteenth century high llvers took seas of liquid medi- cines, mountains of pills and bins of powders.
 Any disease beyond diagnosis was put down as "a fever" Whether ty- phus or typhoid. scar t or gastric, non contagious or violently infectious, any thing which caused a rise in tempera- lure was sufficiently described by the term fever. Smallpox. scurvy, spotted and jail fever were maladies distinctive of the age Disinfection and first aid to natures were never dreamed of, while the patient was dOsed with hor- rible drafts and nauseating compounds and bled on every possible occasion. Louis XIV was bled nine times for scarlet fever Bleeding killed the Duchess of Tremouille and her hus- band When mob attacked the Duke of Pedford's house in 1765 the doctors remedied the outrage by bleeding the