Author Question: When Were Casts Invented?

January 30, 2013July 21, 2016 / Jordyn Redwood / Leave a comment

Ann asks:

I have a question about treatment of a leg fracture in the late 1860’s. My character has broken his tibia (? –the bone at the front of the calf). It’s not a compound break. Can you tell me if it would have been splinted or casted at that time, and how long before a determined person with such a break could walk using crutches? How long do such breaks take to heal?

Jordyn says:

Here is a great source that talks about the invention of plaster of paris. It looks like it would have been used for casting during your time frame. http://www.ehow.com/about_5134930_plaster-paris-history.html

This link says specifically:

The invention of the plaster bandage can be attributed to an Arabic doctor and is noted in the Al-Tasrif, an Arabic medical encyclopedia dated from around 1000 C.E. This earlier adaptation of plaster for orthopedic cast making was unknown by European and American doctors. The use of plaster of Paris in the modern medical field began in earnest during the 1800s. By the 1850s bandages were rubbed with a plaster of Paris powder and then dampened and applied around the injury. During the 1970s this type of cast making began to wane. Most of today’s orthopedic casts are made of synthetic materials.

With a cast in place– he should be able to walk with crutches but NOT bear weight right away. That would be very painful. People are usually in casts, depending on the break, for four to six weeks. Today, we usually splint people for a week to allow for swelling before the cast is put in place to prevent compression syndrome but I can’t say whether or not that would have been common practice at the time. He will have muscle atrophy of the leg during that time from non-use/limited use.

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Ann Shorey has been a full-time writer for over twenty years. Her writing has appeared in Chicken Soup for the Grandma’s Soul, and in the Adams Media Cup of Comfort series. She made her fiction debut with The Edge of Light, Book One in the At Home in Beldon Grove series. She’s tempted to thank Peet’s coffee and Dove chocolates when she writes the acknowledgments for her books.

She may be contacted through her website, www.annshorey.com, which also contains her blog, http://annshorey.blogspot.com/ or find her on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/AnnShorey.

Historical Medicine: Ann Shorey

January 6, 2012July 21, 2016 / Jordyn Redwood / Leave a comment

I’m pleased to have Ann Shorey back with us today as she discusses some uniquie aspects of 19th century medicine with a fun quiz. Do you know the answers? Don’t fear, they’re posted.

Welcome back, Ann!

As people of the 21^st Century, we’re accustomed to hearing about advanced medical tests, such as an MRI or a CAT scan, even though we may hope we never need the technology. We think of blood tests, urine samples, even DNA testing, as the norm.

But if we lived in the same time and place as the characters in my At Home in Beldon Grove series, none of those advances would be available. The series begins in 1838 with The Edge of Light and concludes in 1857 with The Dawn of a Dream. The “middle child” in the series, The Promise of Morning, is set in 1846.

Here are a few medical questions that arise in the series. The answers appear at the end of the post.

1. Dr. Karl Spengler is a continuing character throughout the Beldon Grove series. Try to put yourself in his place when faced with a diagnosis of cholera. What was a popular treatment of the day?

2. What was common therapy for a croupy baby?

3. How would a doctor have cared for a serious injury to an eye?

4. When faced with a listless infant who wouldn’t eat and whose limbs lacked any strength, what would the doctor’s diagnosis have been? And if he’d known what was wrong, would he have recognized the cause?

5. What were the signs of acute heart failure, and with what medication would the patient have been treated? For that matter, what did the medical community call heart failure?

Here are the answers. Some were gleaned from family accounts written at the time, others from research.

1. Cholera was commonly treated with heavy doses of calomel (mercurous chloride), which we know now is poisonous, and bloodletting via leeches or cutting. Your chances of survival were better without the treatment.

2. A croupy baby would have had to endure a piece of flannel saturated with turpentine wrapped around its throat.

3. For an injury to an eye, a poultice of slippery elm bark was placed on the wound. Then the head was wrapped in a bandage and the patient was made to lie flat until healing took place.

4. The doctor would have had no idea what was wrong with the infant. Only until many years later would it be known as infant botulism, one cause being feeding honey to babies under one year of age.

5. The signs of acute heart failure haven’t changed (shortness of breath, fluid retention), although diagnosis and treatment are much more sophisticated today. In the mid-1800’s, the condition may have been treated with a carefully monitored digitalis decoction. In that sense, the medication was the same, although today’s compounds are far safer.

At that time the condition would possibly have been called edema of the lungs, or dropsy. The term “heart failure” wasn’t commonly used until 1895, and “heart attack” came into our vocabulary in the 1930’s.

Makes be glad to be living now. The good old days weren’t all that good, at least not if you or someone you loved was sick!

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ANN SHOREY has been a full-time writer for over twenty years. Her writing has appeared in Chicken Soup for the Grandma’s Soul, and in the Adams Media Cup of Comfort series. She made her fiction debut with The Edge of Light, Book One in the At Home in Beldon Grove series. She’s tempted to thank Peet’s coffee and Dove chocolates when she writes the acknowledgments for her books.

She may be contacted through her website, www.annshorey.com, which also contains her blog, http://annshorey.blogspot.com/ or find her on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/AnnShorey.

Historical Medical Question: Laudanum Dosing

January 4, 2012July 21, 2016 / Jordyn Redwood / Leave a comment

I have the great pleasure of hosting Ann Shorey today and Friday. First, I’d like to give her my warmest congratulations on the release of her novel Where Wildflowers Bloom that released Jan 1, 2012. What a great New Year’s Day gift. I hope you’ll check it out.

Ann Asks:

My wip is set in 1867. One of my characters is a doctor. Here are a couple of questions:

How much laudanum would be needed to give pain control to a four-year-old? How much for an adult male? How would it be administered–diluted in water, or swallowed straight?

Jordyn Says:

First thing to understand about laudanum is that it is an opiate based pain killer. Its contemporary counterparts would be drugs like Fentanyl and Morphine. Therefore, it could have the same type of adverse reactions that these drugs have. If a patient were to receive too much, their respiratory drive could slow down and/or stop. Also, these are not uncommon drugs to have an allergic reaction to.

I found a great resource for Ann. It’s an old medical text written by Dr. Chase, a physician during this time period. I was able to link to the exact information she needed. You can view it here:

http://www.archive.org/stream/drchasesrecipes01chas#page/132/mode/2up. The text gives a recipe on how to mix the drug and states: “From 10-30 drops for an adult, according to the strength of the patient or the severity of the pain.” So for children, I would imagine you would start with single drops.

I also wanted to point to this post written by historical author Ann Love (who I think has the best historical author name ever!) over at Anne’s Love Notes. She writes a more in-depth piece concerning Dr. Chase that will be of interest for historical authors. You can find it here: http://anneslovenotes.blogspot.com/2011/11/researching-19th-century-primary-source.html.

Any other thoughts for Ann?

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