"Bleed, Blister, and Purge" traces the fits and starts of medical progress on the western frontier. With the authority of a scholar and the sparkle of an old-time storyteller, Dr. Volney Steele takes the reader from rotgut whiskey to modern anesthetics, from castor oil to antibiotics, and from barroom surgery to modern hospital operations. Citing everything from government reports to first-person remembrances, combined with his own sensitive interpretations, the author creates a full, clear, and colorful picture of illness and the healing arts in the old West.

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Bleed, Blister, and Purge: A History of Medicine on the American Frontier
By Volney Steele
Published by Mountain Press Pub., 2005
ISBN 0878425055, 9780878425051
367 pages