COLONIAL HEALTH ISSUES
Our Filthy, Superstitious Ancestors

The streets of America were disgusting, although the rats, lice, filth and stench were no worse than in Europe. Poor nutrition and heavy drinking caused bad skin conditions, tooth decay, premature aging and death. People rarely bathed, so a lavish douse of perfume covered up bodily odors.

Unaware of the existence of germs or bacteria, colonists faced deadly disease epidemics. The most feared was smallpox - if a patient didn't die, he was disfigured with pockmarks for life. In painted portraiture, artists rendered pockmarks as rosier-than-normal cheeks. As an example, review the portraits of George Washington who suffered smallpox as a child.

The imbalance of "humors" (bodily fluids) was believed to cause illness. Medieval remedies to balance fluids included bleeding patients into a faint, purging, blistering or freezing - and accomplished through leeches, sharp metal instruments, laxatives, scalding water or ice-cold plunge baths! Other "cure-alls" could be purchased from the apothecary (drug store) such as balsams, tinctures, salts, elixirs, fever powders, bitters and cordials. Homemade cures were conjured from a polyglot of European traditions mixed with African or Native American folklore and superstition.