How prescriptions would have been written?

[PlantsHeal]

The Smithsonian has a program for citizens to transcribe materials for use by researchers, those searching for ancestors, etc. I am working on the transcription of ledgers for hospitals around the time of the Civil War. Does anyone have info on how a diagnosis, and more importantly, prescriptions or treatment notes would have been written? The writing is tiny and quill/ink so any clues would help! The listing of all the medical terms in the Forum is an incredible aid! Thanks for making that available!

If you would like to help any of the transcription efforts google Smithsonian Transcription and see what projects might interest you. There are always some related to the Civil War.

 

[JOHN42768]

Welcome, enjoy. Sorry unable to help on your request

 

[lupaglupa]

Welcome from the Researching Your Civil War Ancestry forum! We are big fans of people who transcribe records - and medical records from the Civil War are items many of us have wished we could access more easily. Thank you for doing this work!

 

[UCVRelics]

I don't have a clue but lets see if our medical guru can help you. Paging @lelliott19

 

[lelliott19]

Hello @PlantsHeal and welcome to CivilWarTalk - the best place on the internet for Civil War discussion.

Unfortunately, many doctors back in the 1860's had similarly awkward handwriting as modern doctors. They used a lot of Latin words and abbreviations. I've tried to post them as I run across them in the Medical Terms index here at CWT, but since there was no exact standard for formatting abbreviations, doctors used a variety of abbreviations to indicate the same word. They likely adopted the abbreviations used by the doctor(s) they trained under. I have no source or data to confirm - it's purely speculation on my part.

Recipes or formulas for medicines used some unusual symbols for measurement based on the British Apothecary system. You might run across these in the treatment notes or in "recipes" and be unable to identify them as regular letters. Here are three of the most common ones - ounce, dram, and scruple.

Ounce

Drachm

Scruple
I remember the first time I saw the symbol for ounce - I thought I had developed double vision because it looks like a 3 with the top half of another 3 above it. Here's a chart that should be very helpful when you run across a symbol that you don't recognize as a regular letter.

Apothecaries' symbols commonly found in medical recipes

It's important to note that "prescriptions" were not written for a specific individual. Many towns did not have an actual apothecary so many doctors did their own compounding. They had their favorite "recipes" that were prescribed for whatever ailed you. Here's one for Paregoric.

Best opium

[1/2 dram] dissolved in about 2 tablespoons of boiling water.
Then add benzoic acid

[1/2 dram]; oil of anise 1/2 fluid

; clarified honey 1

, camphor gum 1

; alcohol, 76 per cent, 11 fl.

; distilled water 4 1/2 fluid

; macerate [steep]; keep warm for two weeks.

Dose: For children, 5 to 20 drops, adults, 1 to 2 teaspoons.

Perhaps if you could post a snip or screenshot of a page you are working on, we could be of assistance. Let me know if you have other specific questions. I'm happy to help.

dram

drachm

[same thing]

 

[lupaglupa]

Hello @PlantsHeal and welcome to CivilWarTalk - the best place on the internet for Civil War discussion.

Unfortunately, many doctors back in the 1860's had similarly awkward handwriting as modern doctors. They used a lot of Latin words and abbreviations. I've tried to post them as I run across them in the Medical Terms index here at CWT, but since there was no exact standard for formatting abbreviations, doctors used a variety of abbreviations to indicate the same word. They likely adopted the abbreviations used by the doctor(s) they trained under. I have no source or data to confirm - it's purely speculation on my part.

Recipes or formulas for medicines used some unusual symbols for measurement based on the British Apothecary system. You might run across these in the treatment notes or in "recipes" and be unable to identify them as regular letters. Here are three of the most common ones - ounce, dram, and scruple.
View attachment 348757 OunceView attachment 348762Drachm View attachment 348763Scruple
I remember the first time I saw the symbol for ounce - I thought I had developed double vision because it looks like a 3 with the top half of another 3 above it. Here's a chart that should be very helpful when you run across a symbol that you don't recognize as a regular letter.

Apothecaries' symbols commonly found in medical recipes

It's important to note that "prescriptions" were not written for a specific individual. Many towns did not have an actual apothecary so many doctors did their own compounding. They had their favorite "recipes" that were prescribed for whatever ailed you. Here's one for Paregoric.

Best opium View attachment 348764 [1/2 dram] dissolved in about 2 tablespoons of boiling water.
Then add benzoic acid View attachment 348765 [1/2 dram]; oil of anise 1/2 fluid View attachment 348756; clarified honey 1 View attachment 348758 , camphor gum 1 View attachment 348759; alcohol, 76 per cent, 11 fl. View attachment 348760 ; distilled water 4 1/2 fluid View attachment 348761; macerate [steep]; keep warm for two weeks.

Dose: For children, 5 to 20 drops, adults, 1 to 2 teaspoons.

Perhaps if you could post a snip or screenshot of a page you are working on, we could be of assistance. Let me know if you have other specific questions. I'm happy to help.

View attachment 348751
dramView attachment 348754 drachmView attachment 348755 [same thing]

@lelliott19 this is fascinating! I've seen these symbols on occasion but never knew what they were.

 

[PlantsHeal]

THANK YOU! Yes, I have seen these symbols and this is a tremendous help. I will post a snipet or two of the treatments later today. (I have an appointment, otherwise I would be all over this.) This is a fantastic help to so many future researchers!

 

[PlantsHeal]

Couldn't wait. Here's the snip. I can pick out quinine now and then and some of the Roman numerals, as well as the symbols @lelliot19 mentioned. It is also helpful to know that these might be recipes. If we can get a start on these, many of the treatments repeat, which will speed up the translations immensely. I cannot say how thankful I am for all the great information.

 

[lelliott19]

Indeed. It looks like you are working to transcribe a page from a morning report book used to record daily treatment of patients in the hospital. So the notes will include things like a blister applied to rt side; nitric acid applied; and of course the dosages of quinine, opium, laudanum, etc. They will probably also include notes about the action of the bowels and treatment to activate the bowels. These kind of morning report books were used at Union and Confederate general hospitals during the war, and also at Freedmen's Hospitals after the war. Do you know where yours came from?

 

[PlantsHeal]

Yes, this project is concerned with transcribing Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands records. The document I am currently working on is a Morning Book from N.C. Charlotte, I think.

 

[lelliott19]

Yes, this project is concerned with transcribing Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands records. The document I am currently working on is a Morning Book from N.C. Charlotte, I think.

Ok. I located the document you are working on here at Family Search .org It's North Carolina Freedmen's Bureau Field Office Records, Charlotte Freedmens Hospital, Roll 9, Morning Reports, September 1867 - July 1868.

On page 10, the man serving in the hospital who wrote the notes, is identified as A.A.S. [Acting Assistant Surgeon] P. P. Medlin. A quick search reveals that this man is Presley P. Medlin (b. @1830) He was a native North Carolinian and married Fannie L Brush of Philadelphia Source

Source
The page you snipped is Page 4 of the Freedmen's Bureau document which is for Sept 15, 1867. Many of the patients on that page and the next seem to have been diagnosed with intermittent fever and remittent fever. The Family Search version allows you to enlarge sections of the page for better viewing but it's not as helpful as it might be because of the multitude of symbols and abbreviations used.

Looks like you are going to encounter non-standard abbreviations like "Cast. oil" for castor oil and "Mag. sulph" for magnesium sulfate. Also, this doctor seems to have sometimes used roman numerals with English words/abbreviations - like "calomel. gr v" for 5 grains calomel. Normally, arabic numbers are used with English words and abbreviations; while roman numerals are used with the apothecary symbols. So he's making your job a bit harder. Maybe these snips from this SOURCE will help.

Good luck with the project and let me know if you have any other questions.

 

[PlantsHeal]

I found the source you mentioned in Family Search and it is a bit easy to see a few more letters now and then. This is a big help since "all" we are supposed to do is transcribe what we see. At least now I have some idea what might be written. This is quite a slog! Some of the writing is blurred, written over or basically impossible to read. It makes me wonder how many times patients got the wrong medicine -- assuming it was effective in the first place. Mercury might not be a good idea under any circumstances!

Thanks for the additional terms, symbols and images. When I get totally stumped, I will definitely check back in with you! As a botanist, if I can even be of assistance to you deciphering plant use for medicines, please let me know. I will help if at all possible.