In 1803, J. DeWitt was brought into Dr. John Bogardus’s physician’s office suffering from a gunshot wound to the arm. It can be speculated that J. DeWitt was accidentally shot in the line of duty as at the time he was the sheriff of Dutchess County (DeWitt Family Papers, 1750-1890). Suffering from a gauging wound and multiple fractured bones Bogardus was forced to amputate the arm. His physician records are extremely detailed in the amputation process, yet the document I continued to look at was the second page of the record he kept. This page described the process and meticulous steps that Bogardus had done to ensure a safe healing. 

    21st-century medicine has come an extremely long way from the 19th century yet the same foundation of understanding what physiological process must take place for proper healing essentially remains the same. In his physician notes, he discusses how he ensures that the wound will close and the medications involved. While some of the steps are illegible two distinguished treatments are used: chamomile tea and Laudanum. The healing properties of chamomile tea have been documented for centuries as it is an  anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, mild astringent and healing medicine. Chamomile is a medical practice of the native world and comes in both German and Roman forms (Srivastava et al., 2010). It has properties that allow for treatment of the “ skin and mucous membranes, and for various bacterial infections of the skin…as well as wound healing.” (Srivastava et al., 2010). In a recent study conducted on wound healing, it was found that chamomile is statistically significant in wound drying and epithelialization ability (Srivastava et al., 2010). This medical practice was not new to the 19th-century medical field and was widely practiced. However, Laudanum was a different story. Not knowing much about the drug, to begin with, I became fascinated with this seemingly new and foreign treatment. 

Laudanum, had been deemed as of 1803 as “God’s own medicine” for its reliability, long-lasting effects, and safety (PBS Frontline, n.d). They first entered the United States market in 1800 when the British Levant Company purchased almost half of the opium that was coming out of Turkey with the pure intention of importing it to Europe and the United States (PBS Frontline, n.d). Laudanum is a tincture of opium containing approximately 10% powdered opium, prepared by dissolving extracts from the opium poppy into alcohol (Wikipedia, 2021). The preparation method of this drug is known as a whole opium preparation since it contains all of the alkaloids found in the poppy. Laudanum is extremely bitter, and reddish-brown in color. In the context of this physician’s note, he was most likely using it as a pain medication as it contains morphine and codeine. Historically speaking this drug was also used as a sleeping aid and cough suppressant. In the physician notes Bogardus notes that DeWitt did not once complain of pain and this can explain why.

    When looking at this document and the nuance of this drug (as it was only just approved for medical use in 1803, the same year this note was written) it gives us insight into how the opioid crisis started. With doctors prescribing this “miracle drug”, as well as it becoming over the counter, with very little (if any) longitudinal research done, this would explain how addictive properties of it were seemingly unknown. It is said that “It wasn’t until the late 1890s that the medical community began to understand the seriousness of the country’s opiate addiction problem. By the turn of the century, the estimated number of addicts in the United States was 250,000.” (Fernadez & Libby, 2011). This document can be considered one of the first accounts of the medicinal usage of Laudanum in the United States, as well as gives us insight into how trade and importing must have looked like in New Paltz over 200 years ago. It marks the beginning of an opioid epidemic that rivals that of the mid-1990s. 

References

Fernandez, Humberto, and Therissa A. Libby. Heroin: History, Pharmacology & Treatment. Simon and Schuster, 2011, https://books.google.com/books?id=aEXXDQAAQBAJ&dq=%22Heroin:+Its+History,+Pharmacology+and+Treatment%22+(Hazelden,+2011),&lr=&source=gbs_navlinks_s.

“Laudanum.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 19 Nov. 2021, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laudanum#History.

“New York State Library.” DeWitt Family Papers, 1750-1890: New York State Library, http://www.nysl.nysed.gov/msscfa/sc15161.htm.

“Opium throughout History | the Opium Kings | Frontline.” PBS, Public Broadcasting Service, http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/heroin/etc/history.html.

Putt Corners, hpc.townofnewpaltz.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1852&Itemid=78. 

Srivastava, J. K., Shankar, E., & Gupta, S. (2010). Chamomile: A herbal medicine of the past with a bright future. Molecular medicine reports, 3(6), 895–901. https://doi.org/10.3892/mmr.2010.377