Trivia 5-11-16 Hand me the Eupatorium, Nurse Ratched!

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A Civil War surgeon who created a manual on indigenous botanical substitutes for the medical stores made scarce by the Northern blockade . Who was he and what was the name of his book?

credit: @Northern Light
 
Francis Peyre Porcher.

Resources of the Southern Fields and Forests, Medical, Economic and Agricultural.

Being also a Medical Botany of the Confederate States;
with Practical Information on the Useful Properties of
the Trees, Plants, and Shrubs.

 
The manual was written by Confederate surgeon Francis Peyre Porcher, at the request of another Confederate surgeon, Samuel P. Moore. The title was "Resources of the Southern fields and forests".

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from: The Encyclopedia of Civil War Medecine / by Glenna R. Schroeder-Lein
https://books.google.de/books?id=dW...al substitutes for the medical stores&f=false

It is free for download on archive.org:
https://archive.org/details/resourcessouthe00offigoog
 
Surgeon J. Julian Chisholm, M.D., professor of surgery in the Medical College of South Carolina, his book A Manual of Military Surgery
http://www.medicalantiques.com/civilwar/Civil_War_Articles/Porcher_Chisolm_anesthetics_CSA.htm

Edit - I reviewed the indicated source, and I believe that the book in question is the one described below the heading "Indigenous Botanical Substitutes," i.e., Porcher's book, rather than Chisholm's book, which is described in the paragraph above that heading.

According to the quote shown in the source, Chisholm seems to have recommended the use of chloroform, exclusively, for patients facing serious or painful operations. There is no indication that his book discussed the use of any indigenous botanical substitutes for chloroform.

Hoosier
 
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porchtp.jpg


I hope this is correct, because it's the first entry that came up on a search! The book is online at this site: http://docsouth.unc.edu/imls/porcher/porcher.html

To spare your eyes:
Resources of the Southern Fields and Forests,
Medical, Economical, and Agricultural.
Being also a Medical Botany of the Confederate States;
with Practical Information on the Useful Properties of
the Trees, Plants, and Shrubs:...

Porcher, Francis Peyre, 1825-1895
 
The Confederate States Medical & Surgical Journal by Dr. Samuel Preston Moore

Edit - Sources presented in posts # 9 and 19 indicate that Dr. Moore, as Confederate Surgeon General, instructed Porcher to "prepare a treatise on the resources of Southern fields and forests." Although this indicates that Moore deserves credit for being a driving force behind the writing of the book, Porcher is the one who actually wrote it.

Post # 18 indicates that the Confederate Medical & Surgical Journal contained a three-page article by Dr. Moore on the subject of indigenous remedies of the south, which was probably a summary of the high points of Porcher's book.

Hoosier
 
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A Civil War surgeon who created a manual on indigenous botanical substitutes for the medical stores made scarce by the Northern blockade . Who was he and what was the name of his book?

credit: @Northern Light
Francis Peyre Porcher..."Resources of the Southern Fields and Forests, Medical, Economical and Agricultural;...".
 
Great Question! Love those hidden gems of facts like these.

Moore, Samuel Preston (1813-1889)
“Indigenous remedies of the South.” [In] Confederate States medical and surgical journal 1 (1864): 106-08.

Edit - See edit to post # 15.

Hoosier
 
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Shortly after the start of the war, Confederate Surgeon General Samuel Preston Moore instructed Surgeon (Major) Francis Perye Porcher to prepare a "treatise on the resources of Southern fields and forests" regarding the "medicinal, economical and useful properties of the trees, plants and shrubs" found in the Confederacy. Moore realized from the beginning of the war that medical supplies would be in short supply; this became ever more critical when medical and surgical appliances were named "contraband of war" by the Union government. So important was the task of developing indigenous botanical substitutes for drugs and medicines that he temporarily relieved Porcher of his duties as surgeon to the Holcombe Legion. Porcher was the obvious choice for this task having already written two medico-botanical texts: one of the flora of South Carolina and the other about the botanical properties of plants of the United States. His new book, Resources of the Southern Fields and Forests, Medical, Economic and Agricultural, is credited with saving "the Confederacy for two years"

http://www.miniatures.de/anesthetics.html
 
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