1700s Medicine

On George Washington's deathbed, December 14, 1799, his physicians tried saving the former president’s life using several 1700s medical treatments. These included bloodletting, enemas, and herbal remedies.

In The Hesperus Prophecy Tobias Lear races to George Washington’s bedside, lamenting his friend had undergone enough bloodletting to make a butcher swoon. In the 1700s, people believed bloodletting was an effective treatment for removing ill-humors and rebalancing bodily fluids. Washington's doctors bled him five times in eight hours, removing 40% of his blood.

In the 1700s, herbal remedies were also popular as medical treatments. In The Hesperus Prophecy, Washington was fed a mixture of butter, vinegar, and molasses to induce vomiting, which was quickly blotted up.

Additional deathbed remedies included an inhaled blend of vinegar and steam, an enema, and a ground-up paste applied to his throat. The paste, made from dried Spanish Fly, also known as blister beetles, caused painful throat blisters in hopes of drawing out toxins.

While George Washington died of an illness, possibly diphtheria or epiglottitis, these 1700s remedies likely hastened the end. Interestingly, Washington’s death fulfilled a Hesperus Prophecy, he did not live to see the year 1800.

Another 1700s remedy also likely sped up Mary Washington’s death. Mary, the mother of George, had breast cancer and was treated with hemlock, a treatment that was already falling out of favor. Hemlock was well-known to be a deadly poison, famously it was the poison used to kill Socrates in 399 BC, but the proper dose was felt to be medicinal instead. Today, its uses are still limited due to the small difference between therapeutic and toxic doses.