Civil War Medicine 1861-1865 by C. Keith Wilbur (1998, Reinforced Hardcover)

A complete review of this VERY thick tome would be dozens of pages long. I am interested in the HISTORY of Medicine and Dentistry AND of the Civil War in general. In those regards, this is a personally fascinating read. Suffice it to say that we have come A LONG WAY since this book was written! The author was a very distinguished professor of his time, so I assume that the information in this volume was considered accurate and up-to-date as of its printing.
Some of the recommended "cures" in this book are actually laughable by the standards of the 21st century. This book was written before there was much known or accepted by the medical community regarding the microscope or of the bacterial (let alone viral or prion) nature of ANY diseases.
That alone renders this book ONLY a HISTORICAL curiosity in the world that we live in now.
Their idea of an "ambulance" system was a complete joke by our standards. Simply riding in one of those "ambulances" more than 100 yards, probably caused more injury than the patient had already.
Modern medicine STILL leaves a lot to be desired, but be grateful that you didn't have to live through the treatment of a "Doctor" of that period, if you DID live.
As I said, a FASCINATING read. But a joke in almost 150 years of hindsight.
It makes me wonder if WE will be regarded in such low esteem in another ~150 years (around 2150 AD). Certainly there will be major advances, but in what manner and to what degree, ONLY time and hindsight will tell.
I have managed to collect several other Pharmacology and Medical texts of the Civil War period, which go into far greater detail. All I can say is, man, this is scary stuff!
This is a personal reflection/observation: What kind of war is Civil? A "Civil" War ??? What the HELL???? MORE than 600,000 AMERICANS DIED - when the ENTIRE population was still UNDER 100 Million people. That is CIVIL???
Maybe we should more widely adopt the view of the South and call it the "War of the Rebellion"? Even the "War of Northern Aggression" makes more sense to me than the "Civil War". It sounds like we fought over tea cups and types of lace!