medicine during the civil war

During the civil war or the war between the states as it is more appropriately called medicine was hard to come by and often times the medicine cabinet took the form of a bag or haversack slung over the shoulder. The two main complaints in the army were ether dysentery or constipation the trooper would go to the one in charge of medicine if there were no doctor along and state his complaint. For dysentery a ball of opium was taken out of the pocket a small sliver was shaved off and given to the trooper if stomach or constipation was the problem blue mass might be given, this was a mix of chalk and mercury, sometimes mixed with caster oil. If chills and fever were the complaint a mix of coffee spiked with about half whiskey was given. for aces and pain head ache etc. camphorated whiskey was the chose sometimes given for bad stomach cramps too. Boils had a plaster of some sort such as ground egg shells, axle grease or any thing that would ripen the core so it could be lanced, Infections were treated with ,salt, acid, sugar or cutting away the skin. parasites were another common complaint, the cure for this was washing the infected part and applying a mixture of sulfur and lard this was later changed to saltpeter and lard mix that helped cut down on the smell. Warts another ailment was cured in deferent ways, sticking a rag in an oak stump and raping it around the wart seemed most effective as the tannin in the oak stump water would tan the skin and kill the wart.Tea brewed from the inside bark was used to relive pain from burns again taning the skin over the burn relived the pain I have tried this and It seemed to stop the pain very fast, ginger root was also given for vomiting, I have tried this one too and found it more effective then doctor prescribed medicine some of this medicine such as blue mass I would never try, Another problem was bronchitis from being in the inclement wether, for this a cup of wine was heated over the fire and the fumes and steam from the wine was breathed deeply, the wine was drank slowly then the patient was wrapped in blankets and placed with hot stones under them to make them sweat. This treatment proved very effective I have used this treatment with an electric blanket instead of stones and found this treatment to work quiet well