Then and Now: Health Care
Natural Remedies
Echenicia Then— treatment for snake bites and toothache
Echenicia Now— cold and flu symptoms, infections, slow healing wounds.
Medicines
Then — The most eminent physician of the day, Dr. Benjamin Rush, prepared a list of medicines for the Expedition. Medicines included Peruvian bark (containing quinine), opium, potassium nitrate, laudanum, and fifty dozen “Rush’s Pills,” a purgative of explosive power, composed of calomel, a mixture of six parts mercury and one part chlorine, jalap and dozens of other remedies including “thirteen hundred doses of physic, eleven hundred of emetic, thirty-five hundred of diaphoretic (sweat inducer) and more including drugs for blistering, salivation, and increased kidney output.” (Stephen Ambrose, Undaunted Courage, Simon & Schuster, 1996, page 90)
Now — Survival kits for hikers, campers and serious outdoor expeditions include epinephrine syringes for allergic reactions, antibiotic ointment, hydrocortisone cream, calamine lotion, aloe-vera gel, antifungal crème, aspirin, acetaminophen, ibuprofen, antihistamines, decongestants, antacids, decongestant spray, diarrhea medication, oral re-hydration salts or electrolytes, prescribed antibiotics to treat infections of the skin, urinary tract, stomach, sinus, ear, eye, respiratory and soft tissue as well as prescribed pain killers, anti-inflammatory medications, steroid creams and other special medications and supplies particular to the specific outing.