History of U.S. Navy Hospital Ship Red Rover

From: archive.org The first hospital ship of the United States Navy was originally a commercial side-wheel river steamer RED ROVER built at Cape Girardeau, Missouri, in 1859. She was purchased at New Orleans on 7 November 1861 by the Confederate States of America to serve as a barracks or accommodation ship for the men of the Confederate States Floating Battery NEW ORLEANS which had been placed in commission at New Orleans on 14 October 1861 by Lieutenant John Julius Guthrie, Confederate States Navy. The latter officer jointly commanded the floating battery and the RED ROVER, who had no armament but was more for the men to live on than for...

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Medical and Mental Health of Abraham Lincoln

From: wikipedia.org Physical Health Despite the following occurrences, Lincoln's health up until middle age was fairly good for his day. Childhood There were fears for young Lincoln's life during a 24-hour period of unconsciousness that followed a horse kicking him in the head. He was nine years old. On another occasion, he fell into a creek and almost drowned. Infectious disease Malaria: Lincoln had malaria at least twice. The first was in 1830, along with the rest of his family. They had just arrived in Illinois that year. The second episode was in the summer of 1835, while living in New Salem. Lincoln was then so ill, he was sent to a...

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Utopian Surgery: Early Arguments Against Anesthesia in Surgery, Dentistry, and Childbirth

From: lifeboat.com Before the advent of anesthesia, medical surgery was a terrifying prospect. Its victims could suffer indescribable agony. The utopian prospect of surgery without pain was a nameless fantasy — a notion as fanciful as the abolitionist project of life without suffering still seems today. The introduction of diethyl ether CH3CH2OCH2CH3 (1846) and chloroform CHCl3 (1847) as general anesthetics in surgery and delivery rooms from the mid-19th century offered patients hope of merciful relief. Surgeons were grateful as well: within a few decades, controllable anesthesia would at last give them the chance to perform long, delicate...

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