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A visit to the doctor can bring a litany of gripes. Busy physicians can delay appointments, leaving patients in the waiting room with magazines from 1996. Complex insurance forms need to be filled out in quadruplicate.

There are, however, worse alternatives.

Not so long ago in the annals of American medicine, death, rather than penicillin, was the only relief from certain infections. Hand-washing for surgeons was considered time-wasting nonsense.

Doctors John Bonner and Janet Secor shared the highlights - so to speak - of U.S. Civil War-era medicine Thursday during a presentation at the Fort Dodge Public Library.

Bonner, of Vincent, is a member of the 16th U.S. Medical Corps, a group of Civil War historical re-enactors.

He displayed and described dozens of instruments from the day, including the tonsillotome, used for removing tonsils.

"I take this into the back of your throat," said Bonner, holding up the roughly foot-long metal piece.

On one end is a plunger, which extends two sharp pieces of metal. One piece spears the tonsil, while the other chops it out, Bonner said.

"And then I go in for the other one," he said.

Medicine - so called - usually consisted of concoctions of poisons like mercury, used to treat ailments ranging from the common cold to syphilis.

Herbal remedies, which were in common use among Native Americans and, in many cases, actually provided some relief, were often dismissed in "white" medicine, which was more dependent on chemicals, Bonner said.

For some wounds, amputation was seen as the only solution, Bonner said.

Gangrene, in which tissues decay due to infection or insufficient blood flow, was common.

In many cases, gangrene meant further amputation, he said.

"If I took your hand off at the wrist, I could take your arm off at the elbow," he said.

In addition to crude techniques, wartime medical care was hampered by the fact that soldiers often had previously existing health troubles such as hernias, Secor said.

"There were not terribly high standards, other than being able to stand up and walk," Secor said. "After that cursory exam, people made it into the Army."

The rigors of life at war left doctors little time to treat anything other than battlefield wounds, Secor said.

Many Civil War soldiers died from diseases, rather than in battle, she said.

"People lived on isolated farms and hadn't developed immunity to common childhood diseases," Secor said. "If one or two men came down with the measles, the whole unit was likely to get it."

Though appallingly primitive by modern standards, Civil War medicine represented a period of great advancement in the United States, Bonner said.

"Prior to the war, medical knowledge in the United States was poor compared with many European countries," he said. "What we learned, we've kept building on."

Contact Jesse Helling at (515) 573-2141 or jhelling@messengernews.net