Surgeon General’s Report to Virginia’s Surgeons June 1783

To my most respected colleagues:

Gentlemen, I write you at this time to inform you of an important treatise by Dr. Benjamin Bell, renown surgeon of Scotland.  His system of wound management relies on the clinical features of the wound and some of his recommendations appear pertinent to our treatment of wounded American soldiers. The most helpful I have attached, but do not supplant brevity with a more careful study of his works.

Wound Type                                                             Treatment

Painful wound with redness                         Goulard’s cerate of oil, whale wax & lead 1

Excessive tissue formation, granular           Lunar Caustic of silver nitrate 2

Dampness of wound bed                              Bloodroot drying agent 3

Sinus tracts                                                      Cords of cotton inserted

Callus formation                                            Emollient-softening agents

White swelling of joints (tuberculosis)       Bloodletting and topical mercury 4

Your Obedient Servant, Surgeon Charles Driscoll  

Surgeon General for the Armies of the Commonwealth of Virginia

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      1. Lead oxide              2.  Silver nitrate                3.  Bloodroot                 4.  Mercury

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Bell