Standard History of Memphis, Tennessee; from a Study of the Original Sources
Description:... This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1912 edition. Excerpt: ... CHAPTER XXIV Medical History of Memphis 'EDICINE and surgery have undergone vast changes in Memphis, as they have the world over, and no set of natural scientists have been more persistent in investigations and changing theories than those of the medical profession. When Memphis was a very small village in the early twenties Indian Medicine men still used their queer practices for relieving the sick and there is record of several white people who, unable to find a white physician, resorted to the help of their red brethren. The methods of the Medicine men were carried on by incantations and invocations to the Great Spirit, but they also used herbs and often gave their patients very strenuous physical treatment. A writer in the Old Folks Record tells of a process the medicine men had of bleeding by drawing needle points, fixed securely in a quill up and down the patient's arms and legs. The desired end of "bleeding," was attained and the patient would lie abed for days after, unable to walk or move. For some ailments these physicians of the forests believed in blistering and this process was performed by holding hot embers over the patient's abdomen until the blistering was accomplished, it usually taking several helpers to hold the victim in place during the performance. We learn of no white physician here until late in the twenties, when there is record of Dr. Frank Graham, an intelligent worker for health, with considerable knowledge of medicine. In 1827 Memphis had an epidemic of dengue, or break-bone fever, and in 1828 yellow fever visited the town, for the first time since July, 1739, when Bienville's army was attacked while on the way to this point from New Orleans and decimated, hy what many now suppose was yellow fever. When...
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