Age of Heroic Medicine
During the "Age of Heroic Medicine" (1780–1850), educated professional physicians aggressively practiced "heroic medicine," including bloodletting (venesection), intestinal purging (calomel), vomiting (tartar emetic), profuse sweating (diaphoretics) and blistering, stressing already weakened bodies. Physicians originally treated diseases like syphilis with salves made from mercury. While well-intentioned, and often well-accepted by the medical community, these treatments were actually harmful to the patient.
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