Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts
1. After a supper of some questionable beef and a night of throwing up, poor Ebenezer stopped in the apothecary shop and asked what was best to treat vomiting. The clerk answered, "Ipecacuanha." (we'd call it ipecac.)
"Wait. Doesn't that actually cause vomiting?" Ebenezer said.
"Exactly," the clerk answered. "But taken at the sixth dilution, it will cure what it would cause at full strength. Like cures like, and the more times the medicine is diluted, the stronger a cure it will be."
What medical philosophy did the clerk believe in?
2. One winter, Ebenezer's coughing, chills and fever attracted the attention of his cousin Hiram. "You're not wasting money on a doctor, I hope," Hiram said. "I have a book that tells you how to take care of your family's health yourself. Those chills and fever show that your body is losing its vital heat. Here are the six steps you need to follow. First, take lobelia until it causes puking. After a few more of the steps, I'll make a steam bath for you out of a tub of water, a chair and a blanket..."
Ebenezer interrupted. "Isn't that the same thing you recommended when your sister had constipation last summer?"
"Yes. It cures almost anything," Hiram said.
Whose book had Hiram bought, to learn this system of medicine?
3. Ebenezer finally called in a regular doctor for his coughing, sore throat, and fever. Uncle Zeph, a firm believer in homeopathy, came by later to visit, and noticed the leech marks on Ebenezer's throat and the blister on his chest from the doctor's treatment. As Ebenezer took a dose of calomel that the doctor had prescribed, Uncle Zeph shook his head sadly. "You shouldn't let that doctor near you. He does more harm than good, like every ..."
Though Uncle Zeph was probably thinking of colorful descriptions like "quack" or "fraud," what more specific word did he use to describe the doctor?
4. A doctor passing through town advertised that he could examine people to help them understand more about themselves and to suggest how they could improve. Ebenezer arrived and sat in the chair as directed, while the doctor pressed gently on Ebenezer's head. Afterwards, the doctor's conclusions sounded so wrong that he might as well have been examining someone else. Ebenezer demanded his money back, or else he would tell everyone in town about the doctor's incompetence.
"I expected that," the doctor answered, returning his money. "Your organ of combativeness is remarkably large."
What kind of doctor did Ebenezer visit?
5. Ebenezer attributed his upset stomach and fatigue to the hurried meals and strain of a long stagecoach journey, but when he got home, his Aunt Harriet had a different idea. "It's all that white bread and rich food you eat," she said. "Give up pies and puddings. Eat brown bread, more vegetables and fresh fruits. And if you don't mind me saying, you should either get married or stop thinking so much about finding the perfect young lady."
Whose writings and lectures had convinced her of that?
6. Ebenezer spoke with a new doctor about his ongoing problem with sore and swollen joints after any sort of physical labor. The new doctor identified himself as an eclectic. Ebenezer described various treatments that had done no good, and other treatments that had helped him. Which of the following would an eclectic be LEAST apt to agree with, even if the patient claimed it helped?
7. Ebenezer wondered if an advertisement in the newspaper was the answer to all his ills. A new doctor was coming to a nearby city, and he claimed he could manipulate the magnetic fluid in a person's body and thereby restore anyone to health. Ebenezer knew better than to share his excitement with his own doctor, who would surely scoff, but he mentioned it to his preacher, who didn't share his enthusiasm. "It's a foolish parlor trick, or else it uses some unknown magic force. Either way, I would avoid it," the preacher advised.
This new doctor, with his belief in animal magnetism, would be a follower of whom?
8. Ebenezer's rich uncle, Frederick Felix Vincent Entwhistle, or F.F.V. as his friends called him, heard Ebenezer complaining about heart palpitations and nervousness one day.
F.F.V. offered to take him to the watering place that F.F.V. visited each summer. "You can bathe in the mineral springs, drink the healing water, and you'll feel as good as new after the doctor there treats you," he said. "They also have horse races, balls and orchestras playing every night. Everyone from the best families will be there. You might even meet a rich young widow." He grinned and elbowed Ebenezer conspiratorially.
Ebenezer didn't think that sounded like a trip focused mainly on curing him, but F.F.V. did mention there would be a doctor. What medical philosophy would that doctor likely subscribe to?
9. Before committing to a trip to a watering place where the wealthy gathered, Ebenezer decided to ask a local schoolteacher more about the "water cure".
"Those places are an embarrassment," the schoolteacher said. "You'll feel worse than ever, after rich food and late nights. To maintain your health, you must bathe often and drink pure water, yes, but you must also eat healthful food, exercise in the fresh air, and avoid the poisonous medicines that regular doctors prescribe. Let me loan you a book by Russell Thacher Trall that explains it."
Some people who had once supported such watering places were splitting off to advocate their own ideas. The new faction needed its own name, so they created one based on a Greek goddess of health, though the word they coined has come to be associated primarily with bathing today. What was the new label favored by these health reformers, who followed Dr. Trall?
10. After a long life and consultations with many doctors, Ebenezer noticed a change that had been occurring gradually between the very early 1800s and the 1860s. When he used to visit a regular doctor, he was often bled with a lancet, blistered, and given medicines that made him puke or purge his bowels.
Nowadays, regular doctors gave him gentler medicines, rarely bled him, and generally seemed more interested in watching and waiting while prescribing the minimum, rather than attacking the disease with all their arsenal. Ebenezer liked the new way better. Maybe all the competing philosophies had taught regular doctors that patients could thrive as well on more conservative treatment.
What was the old, over-enthusiastic philosophy of treatment called?
Source: Author
littlepup
This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor
rossian before going online.
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