The Program:

 

Tuesday speaker Dr. Richard C. Brown M.D. was introduced by the newly recognized Charles Woodward fellow Bob Latimer. Bob gave a very glowing introduction to Dr. Brown whom he knew since childhood. After Bob talked about Dr. Brown's various medical credentials he finished up by saying that Dr. Brown "had spent his whole life serving others" much of that time working in Africa.

 

Dr. Brown's topic was medicine in early Virginia which he came well prepared to discuss with the slideshow and outline. As the scribe for the day I must say that he was extraordinarily well organized and covered in a meaningful amount of information in his 25 minute allotted time so much to describe was having difficulty keeping up.

 

However he covered four basic areas: 1) life and death,2) diseases and events,3) practitioners and caregivers 3) and treatments and interventions. And then he also had a list of various plants with their medicinal properties.

 

Some of the highlights from the presentation: women on average had 7-9 children although one fourth of them died in childhood; life expectancy at birth was 43 years and if you made it to 20 years you could expect to live to 50 to 60.

 

The first doctor arrived at Jamestown in 1609 and he had to cure many diseases such as malaria, yellow fever and smallpox along with the normal accidents and traumas that would also occur.

 

It interesting to note that we had a medical school in Norfolk 200 years before even EVMS so it took us quite a while to get back to having one here. Most of the surgeons at that time were also barbers (one in the same) and women went to midwives not the doctors for childbirth. Most of the medicinal herbs at that time were procured from the local apothecary of which Pasteur and Galt in Williamsburg was one of the more prominent.

 

Surgery was done without anesthesia and much of the medical treatment revolved around restoring the balance of the humors in the body which also involved bleeding ---as with leeches.

 

On balance Dr. Brown indicated that the physicians of their time probably did more good than harm. The treatment of malaria was quite good because they had quinine available, minor surgery was good and relief of pain with laudanum was very good. Major surgery was a problem and it is not really clear if they didn't end killing their patients in their effort to save them however in closing he said that the physicians of their time believed that interaction with the patient was a sacred relationship--- much as it is today.

 

At the conclusion of Dr. Brown's presentation your faithful scribe overheard the mayor of Freemason -- Linwood Beckner say "that was very, very insightful".

 

Oh and one other thing that your scribe found particularly interesting was that the cure for baldness was to rub onion on it until the scalp was red and then paint it with honey. I'll report back at some later time on how it works.

 

The Meeting:  Loli Marshall was introduced to the club as being the teacher at Norfolk Collegiate School responsible for their Interact club, it is a shame, but she is moving on to California. Her replacement will be forthcoming.  She was presented with a Paul Harris Fellow by the Club in recognition of her leadership of Norfolk Collegiate’s active Interact Club.