Virtual Talk: Leeches! Arsenic! Water Therapy! Blistering! Unusual Medical Cures From The 19th Century

Before Pasteur and development of germ theory in 1859, medicine was nothing short of the wild wild west. And with antibiotics almost a century away, doctors could only treat the symptoms of the sickness, not the sickness itself. The cures were often strange, indeed — and could be worse than the illness. Join MHM volunteers Matilda Garrido and Ashley Semrick on Zoom for a lively discussion of medical cures used in the 19th century. Matilda will tell us all about “cures” such as leeches, bloodletting, and the medicinal use of maggots; Ashley will discuss hydropathy and other cures used by the Roebling family, as well as unusual 19th century ideas about pregnancy and birthing. We’ll finish up with a discussion of the ‘wandering uterus,’ thought for centuries to be the cause of all female ills.Co-Sponsored by Village Preservation More Info below.