Includes bibliographical references (p. 537-584) and index.

"At the outset of the Civil War, the use of ether and chloroform remained crude, and they were often unavailable in the hellish conditions at the front lines. As a result, many surgical procedures were performed without anesthesia in the compromised setting of a battleground or a field hospital. This meant that "clinical concerns were often of less consequence," writes Rutkow, "than the swiftness of the surgeon's knife."" "Also, in the 1860s, the existence of pathogenic microorganisms was still unknown - many still blamed "malodorous gasses" for deadly outbreaks of respiratory influenza. Consequently, as the great Civil War surgeon William Williams Keen wrote, "we used undisinfected instruments from undisinfected plush-lined cases, and still worse, used marine sponges which had been used in prior pus cases and had been only washed in tap water."" "Besides the substandard quality of wartime medical supplies and techniques, the combatants' utter lack of preparation greatly impaired treatment. In 1861, the Union's medical corps, mostly ill-qualified and poorly trained, lacked even an ambulance system. Fortunately, some of these difficulties were ameliorated by the work of relief agencies such as the United States Sanitary Commission, led by Frederick Law Olmsted, and tens if thousands of volunteers, among them Louisa May Alcott and Walt Whitman." "From the soldiers who endured the ravages of combat to the government officials who directed the war machine, from the good samaritans who organized aid commissions to the nurses who cared for the wounded, Bleeding Blue and Gray presents a story of suffering, politics, character, and, ultimately healing."--BOOK JACKET.

Flannery (associate director for historical collections, U. of Alabama at Birmingham) describes the role that pharmacy played in the American Civil War on both sides. After setting the stage with a description of the civilian aspects of pharmacy at the time, he explores the activities of medical purveyors, drug distribution and manufacturing, the kinds of medicines used, pharmacy administration in the Confederacy, and the impact of the Union blockade on supplies in the South. In a series of appendices, Flannery provides a number of primary documents and some explanatory material, including standard supply tables, materia medica lists, and government circulars. Annotation #169;2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Includes bibliographical references (p. 337-353) and index.

To remedy the neglect of the medical themes in such popular Twain classics as A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (which contains the "mummery" reference), Ober (Wake Forest U. School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC) examines the author's experiences with 19th-century mainstream and alternative medicine. He includes a brief Clemens family medical history, overview of the era's popular "neurasthenia" diagnosis, details of his relationship with his physician, and photos. Annotation  2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Australian native Anderson (anthropology, history, and social medicine, U. of California at San Francisco; history, U. of California-Berkeley) examines the medical and scientific visions of what it meant to be white in Australia in the 19th and early-20th centuries. The author considers the role of science and medicine in giving expression to colonial settlers' concerns about racial displacement and territorial possession, how doctors framed ideas of race and country in explaining health and disease in a new land--in effect, the contributions science and medicine made toward setting Australia's racial agenda. Annotation (c)2003 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

1. Includes bibliographical references (p. [351]-396) and index.
   
2. 1. Introduction : why is the epidemic important? -- 2. The birth of bedlam : insanity prior to 1700 -- 3. The "English malady" appears : England, 1700-1800 -- 4. "The clap of tortured hands" : England, 1800-1850 -- 5. "A mania for madness" : England, 1850-1890 -- 6. "A great and progressive evil" : England, 1890-1990 -- 7. The road to Grangegorman : Ireland, 1700-1990 -- 8. "A constantly increasing multitude" : Atlantic Canada, 1700-1990 -- 9. "The disease whose frequency has become alarming" : the United States, 1700-1840 -- 10. An apostle for asylums : the United States, 1840-1860 -- 11. "A very startling increase" : the United States, 1860-1890 -- 12. "The apocalyptic beast" : the United States, 1890-1990 -- 13. Why is the epidemic forgotten? the politicalization of insanity -- 14. Possible causes of epidemic insanity.
   

A vivid account of the dangers, emergencies, and medical practices on America's most famous expedition of discovery, Lewis #38; Clark: Doctors in the Wilderness examines early 19th-century medical standards and techniques, while offering a unique perspective on the expedition that opened the American West.