Apothecary in colonial America

APOTHECARY IN COLONIAL AMERICA Soporean, Maria 6, Traian Vuia Str. 7000 BUCHAREST ROMANIA Draganescu, D. Soroceanu, V. Dumitrescu, I. Medicine in Colonial America was far from the science it is today. All theories of medicine at the time were based on the notion that diseases were caused by an imbalance in body "humors" of fluids. To treat an illness they either added fluids or drained them away. We made a comparison of the information found in several articles published in USA regarding the treatment, the drugs and the most important health issues of the period. In our study we present a few characteristics of the medecine in that period of time: it was based on empirical observations, diseases were classified by their symptmoms, not their causes, the big health issues of the day were not heart disease, cancer, obesity or diabetes, they were smallpox, malaria and childhood illnesses. The most used drugs were emetics and diuretics, opiates and quinine. Most patients were treated in their homes; public health was virtualy unknown in North America.