Hugh Mercer's apothecary

The Apothecary shop was like a hospital in the eighteenth century. The apothecary was also a pharmacy, so it made sense to colonials that the same person who gave them the medicines also be their doctor. Back in the eighteenth century, most of the people could not read, so outside the doctor’s office were two glass jars with colored water. If the water in the jar was red, then that meant there was flu going around, and if the color was blue then it meant they were open and yellow meant closed. Most of the medicine that was used to treat the colonials came from Britain. One of medicines of that time was called flax, which was used for someone with a head cold. The doctor would take flax and mix with water so the patient could drink the medicine. Another type of medicine used was called jalap. The doctor would make the jalap into a smear and have the patient smear it on their chest. The jalap was so strong the patient would have to apply it to a cloth then wrap it around their chest. The doctor would bleed the patients if the medicines were not working. The doctor performed amputations of limbs if wounds developed gangrene infections. Pain killers did not exist in the 18th century. The doctor would have the patient sit in the chair and have his assistant hold the patient while the doctor tied a tourniquet on the limb. He would saw off the part that was infected. After the doctor finished the amputation, he would take a tool and tie off the blood vessels. He then used a needle and thread to sew up the wound. The Doctor would roll the severed limb in saw dust and give it to the patient to take with him. The saw dust helped preserve the limb. If and when the patient died, the severed limb could be buried with him. In the 18 century, the colonials would pay for the service with either money or trade and bargain. For the colonials that could not do either, the church would pay the doctor bill. The Doctor often stayed in a room at his office.

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At the outbreak of the Revolutionary War, Hugh Mercer was made Colonel of the 3rd Virginia Regiment, and then was commissioned Brigadier General in the Continental Army. He led a brigade from Trenton to Princeton, where he led an attack to counter a British group of reinforcements. He was felled by a blow to the head and several bayonet wounds. He died of his wounds five days later. Originally buried in the Christ Church Burial Ground in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, he was re-buried in the newly-opened Laurel Hill Cemetery in 1840. ^[2]

Sources

1. ^ http://www.historypoint.org/columns2.asp?column_id=492&column_type=tour
2. ^ http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=2677