A century ago, most hospitals disliked admitting child patients; when they did, they consigned them to the women's wards. Commonest child's complaint was diarrhea. In those days, it was often fatal, frequently spread to patients throughout the wards. Innumerable youngsters were victims of malnutrition diseases such as rickets and scurvy, human or bovine tuberculosis (scrofula), malformations or infections of the bones, but few hospitals were equipped to deal with these maladies. Then three years after the Civil War had ended, a young veteran of Gettysburg returned to Boston from a postwar refresher tour...
To continue reading:
or
Log-In
