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Mysteries of Ancient Medicine - Season 1 Episode 6 - Queen Anne's Revenge, Tribal Trepanation, Thunderbolt
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00:02long before the robust interconnected health care systems we see today medicine existed in a realm
00:08of experimentation and risk out on the open waters the flagship of an infamous pirate reveals a
00:15surprising array of clinical supplies showcasing the brutal practices of healing on the high seas
00:21it's so much more dangerous to be a pirate when there is an emergency you have no options
00:27in the ancient ruins of quaila peru archaeologists uncover evidence of a sophisticated surgical
00:34technique unlike anything found elsewhere in the world why were these ancient healers performing
00:40such strange operations and on a notable expedition across america's western frontier
00:46two explorers rely on a poisonous pill to keep their band of soldiers in sound health well it might have
00:54seemed like the medical thing to do back then we know now that's a huge sign of mercury poisoning
01:23it's november 1996 and a marine search boat's magnetometer comes to life
01:29as it hovers over a sandbar near north carolina's beaufort inlet after investigating a recovery team
01:36locates cannonballs anchors and guns strewn across the seafloor fragments they soon learn of a stolen
01:45ship lost over 200 years prior this is the wreck of queen anne's revenge once captained by one of
01:53history's most infamous pirates this is the ship of blackbeard a pirate shrouded in a legacy of fear
02:01his flagship had been lost to the depths of the ocean for centuries taking with it the many secrets of
02:09his past in the years since explorers have carefully pulled the wreck apart searching for remnants of
02:16blackbeard's blackbeard's long-lost saga then in 2015 a team finally strikes gold when they retrieve a lucrative
02:25store of goods not the glittering riches of a pirate's treasure but a collection of medical instruments once
02:31utilized aboard the ship the team uncovers a variety of instruments including a mortar and pestle and
02:37syringes as well as other instruments that would have been used to treat sick members of the crew
02:47spanning from around the 1650s to the 1730s marks a time known as the golden age of piracy
02:54when maritime theft reaches unprecedented heights as daring sailors seize the chance to strike it rich
03:01so the 17th and 18th centuries were really golden sort of ages for piracy because the amount of
03:08ships that were going backwards between the new world and europe most pirates begin as privateers right
03:14so during this period european powers hire privateers these are individual ships that are privately owned
03:21and they hire them to harass and disrupt the trade rival empires among the seafaring criminals lurking
03:27offshore is edward teach more commonly known as blackbeard this english pirate prowls the west indies
03:36and the eastern coast of north america ruthlessly plundering the merchant and slave ships of
03:42colonial powers blackbeard is probably the most famous pirate of all we don't know too much about
03:50who he was before he became a pirate we know that he was likely a privateer a ship owner most
03:56likely
03:56fought during the war of spanish succession or the queen anne's war as it's known and after that war
04:03he continued to act as a pirate blackbeard's name his nickname comes from his appearance and he has this
04:10big bushy beard that he frequently braids according to legend he used to light matches underneath his beard
04:17and he would do this to create this effect of smoke billowing around his head he must have been an
04:22incredibly intimidating figure according to one british account teach dons a blackbeard like a frightful
04:29meteor covering his whole face terrifying america more than any comet ever could
04:35in 1717 the pirate comes into possession of a former french slave vessel la concorde
04:42do not claiming it as his flagship he renames it queen anne's revenge and fits the deck with additional
04:49cannons and a crew ready to sail the high seas for pillaged loot interestingly most of the surviving
04:56passengers and crew of the ship are released but blackbeard keeps a few on board among them are three
05:03surgeons and they will become the most prized members of his crew more lucrative than a cook
05:11a carpenter or even a captain having medical experts on board is often the difference between
05:16a successful vessel and a doomed ghost ship life at sea can be quite treacherous probably the biggest
05:24danger of the ship is the ship itself it's very damp it's very wet it's the right environment for
05:30things like disease to breed long bouts at sea expose sailors to a slew of perils the most prevalent
05:38being scurvy a disease caused by a lack of vitamin c often sailing with a short supply of fresh produce
05:46it's estimated that around two million mariners succumb to this deficiency between the 15th and 19th
05:52century a toll greater than that of battles disasters and other illnesses combined the reality is is that
05:59life of a pirate was hard when there is an emergency you have no option even simple ailments could turn
06:09very dangerous on a pirate ship a sailor's health and well-being often rests in the hands of the sea
06:16surgeon
06:17the sea surgeon was considered a vitally important member of the crew they may or may not be a trained
06:23doctor they may
06:24have had a shady training somewhere certainly serving on a ship would give them a degree of prestige
06:30often among the highest paid members of colonial voyages formally trained surgeons are in high demand
06:37however pirates find it difficult to attract these skilled professionals as most surgeons prefer a life
06:43of rules rather than raids for the unfortunate vessels without a surgeon the duty of de facto
06:50healer often falls to the untrained captain and his crew if there's not a sea surgeon then the duty falls
06:58to whoever happens to be present it could be a fellow sailor with no training whatsoever at all
07:03what is already a risky procedure now turns into one that is almost certainly going to end in death
07:10these desperate times call for desperate measures and some captains refusing to rely on their common
07:17deck hands instead do what pirates do best steal the resources they need to survive ships would be
07:24boarded by pirates and when they would find a doctor on board they would capture that doctor and take
07:31them with them to ensure the sea surgeon does his job properly many pirate captains will promise a safe
07:38passage on their ship and an untracked share of the bounty therefore if the ship is captured by authorities
07:45the surgeon can claim to be a prisoner and save himself from the hangman's noose
07:52in 1717 blackbeard kidnaps three surgeons for his crew on the newly seized queen anne's revenge jean
08:00dubois mark bonnieuf and claudier each paid their share of leave for the voyage ahead not only are they
08:07expected to provide their learned skills but also their most important tool the surgeon's precious medical
08:13chest the medical chest is a wooden trunk that contains a variety of remedies and supplies this
08:22medical chest is the closest thing a ship will have to a pharmacy or a hospital procuring surgeons from
08:28a ship riddled with disease it's believed that the existing medical chest on the former la concorde de
08:34naught is nothing more than a box of depleted supplies forcing a risky heist to replenish the ship's stock
08:42in may of 1718 blackbeard's ominous flag billows in the wind as his fleet pulls into the port of
08:49charleston south carolina to commence a blockade his pirates ferociously swing aboard other ships
08:55taking passengers goods and entire vessels then he issues a ransom to the governor deliver a filled
09:03medicine chest or else watch as pirates murder all prisoners send up their heads and set the ships on
09:10fire blackbeard is putting himself in a precarious position he is setting himself in direct opposition
09:18to a colonial power it demonstrates just how crucial these medical supplies were to his success the
09:24governor of south carolina agrees and gives blackbeard a fully stocked medicine chest worth to the modern
09:32equivalent of more than fifty thousand dollars yet this pilfered glory won't last long just one month
09:40after his hasty getaway blackbeard runs queen anne's revenge aground on the outer banks of north carolina
09:49we aren't exactly sure why blackbeard decides to run his ship aground
09:54it could be that he hit a sandbar or it could have been a calculated move
09:58we know that he marooned most of his crew but he did select a few individuals to set off on
10:04the
10:04smaller boat we're not sure exactly where he goes from this point or who he brings on the boat but
10:10it's possible that he does keep his sea surgeons close by what's left behind on queen anne's revenge
10:18isn't recovered until 1996 when divers retrieve a cache of artifacts from the depths of beaufort inlet
10:28since then over 400 000 ship remnants have been pulled from the sea including the supplies once
10:34held in the sea surgeon's arsenal in 2015 divers find a number of instruments that would have kept
10:41blackbeard's crew in good health among this collection are a number of items typically found
10:47in the 18th century apothecary shop a mortar and pestle nesting weights and galley pots used to mix and
10:55store therapeutic balms salves and tinctures while the specific formulations aboard blackbeard's
11:02flagship remain a mystery works written by a notable naval surgeon may give us a clue so john woodall's
11:09the surgeon's mate was really one of the first works to be specifically devoted to medicine on a
11:15ship and it became something of a bible it has about 280 medical products in there many of which
11:21could be seen on your modern spice rack today of the herbs listed woodall deemed some of the most
11:27useful as rosemary mint horseradish absinthe juniper and sage then comes the task of administering
11:36these pillaged contents one of the most scary things that they found in the wreck is this 15 centimeter
11:42long urethral syringe used to treat a variety of ailments but particularly venereal diseases which
11:49sailors have a reputation for dealing with what makes this syringe terrifying is not just what it
11:56was used for but what it contained before being deployed to stricken pirates this grim instrument
12:03would first draw a dose of toxic mercury at this time western medicine is still very much rooted in the
12:09four humors this is the theory that illness results from the imbalance of the bodily fluids because mercury
12:15causes people to salivate it's thought that it was expelling tainted humors from the body alongside
12:22this poison-laced syringe archaeologists recover a number of other instruments commonly used which may
12:28reveal the morbid realities of surgery on the high seas there are two pairs of set screws that have been
12:35found that may have been used as part of a tourniquet this device was essentially used to reduce blood flow
12:41and
12:41this would have happened during amputation so the device would have been wrapped around the limb it would have
12:45been tightened to prevent the blood from bleeding excessively and then an amputation could have occurred
12:52amputation occurs amidst the rough pitch of the ocean waves to dull the agony patients are offered a generous
12:59swig of rum or a wooden bite stick as the sea surgeon ties his tourniquet to their gangrenous limb
13:05once blood circulation has slowed he takes both a scalpel and saw to the extremity working swiftly to
13:12remove the diseased flesh the severed limb is then tossed to the tide as the open wound is cauterized with
13:18hot tar or metal and wrapped in bandage the entire ordeal from start to end typically taking no more than
13:2610 minutes time the people performing these risky operations are not the skilled surgeons we know today
13:32they're often barber surgeons who are responsible for both amputations and cutting hair there is
13:39little thought given to post procedural care or recovery the maimed pirate is left to resume his
13:46tasks as expected or else be marooned at the captain's will if you are not contributing then you're most
13:54likely just going to be tossed overboard though this cache of age-old instruments offers researchers
14:00valuable new insights it only reveals part of the story how did blackbeard's sea surgeons acquire
14:07the skills to use these devices effectively is it simply prior experience trial and error or did they
14:15have other educational resources on board from the wreck of the queen anne's revenge researchers have
14:22pulled weathered fragments of age-old literature once kept aboard the source of some printed remnants have
14:28been traced to a text titled a voyage to the south sea and round the world published in 1712 it
14:35chronicles
14:36the daily challenges of an expedition around the globe it's not surprising that we might find a book
14:42like cook's aboard a pirate ship having examples of the types of circumstances they might encounter
14:49over their duties would have been very useful but if these pages were in fact used by blackbeard's crew
14:55it wasn't for very long in the late fall of 1718 after running aground and making out on a smaller
15:02vessel the relentless pursuit of the royal navy finally caught up to blackbeard cornered in the
15:08shallow waters of north carolina's ocracoke inlet a quiet morning erupts as blackbeard initiates fire on the
15:16approaching enemy ships as they draw close the pirate captain and his crew jump aboard engaging in
15:23his final hand-to-hand fight according to legend blackbeard put up quite a fight apparently he took over
15:3120 cutting wounds and he was shot five times before he finally went down he was described as being this
15:38powerful physically fit man and all this has contributed to this overall legend about blackbeard
15:45but alas the strong-willed pirate is outnumbered and when the smoke finally clears his beheaded
15:52body lies lifeless on an enemy ship blackbeard's men are captured and killed and his own head fixed on
15:59a pike along the shores of virginia's hampton river a stark warning to any ocean-bound outlaws who dare
16:06follow in his wake there is still so much we don't know about blackbeard these recent discoveries
16:13certainly reveal a captain who cared about the well-being of his comrades challenging the notion
16:19of a vicious villain blackbeard's death is one of many to signal the end of the golden age of piracy
16:28though no longer grappling with diseases like scurvy modern maritime crews will forever contend
16:34with the constant threats of the thrashing sea back on land in the cloud forests of northern peru lessons
16:44of survival take root as ancient peoples contend with health at high altitude here the quailap fortress
16:51stands in the south american andes more than a thousand years ago this settlement above the utcubamba valley
17:00was home to a prosperous civilization of indigenous peruvians known today as the chachapoya these
17:09remnants reveal a highly sophisticated society but one that leaves us with a number of questions
17:16modern excavations amid the remaining dwellings and temples have given us insights into the practices and
17:22customs of this once thriving community and some are particularly intriguing here researchers have
17:29uncovered the skeletal remains of two individuals with holes drilled into their tibial bones hinting at
17:36ancient medical techniques previously unknown to the archaeological record these holes carefully placed
17:43in the legs of these ancient citizens might indicate a surgery that we've never seen before what ailments
17:49would warrant such an invasive procedure and could this have truly been a therapeutic treatment
17:55or might it ultimately be the unfortunate cause of their death the discovery of intentional openings
18:01carved into leg bone is seemingly unique to quailap however it resembles another practice that has been
18:08documented in medicinal text for centuries known as trepanation perforating a hole into a living human skull
18:15has long been recommended as a treatment for cranial ailments many different cultures around the world have practiced it for
18:23a
18:23variety of reasons the word itself comes from the ancient greek tabor and it has been used to
18:30alleviate a number of ailments everything from headaches to diseases to madness in western medicine
18:38the earliest written accounts to recommend trepanation date to the time of ancient greece when famed physician
18:45hippocrates details the procedure in his treatise on wounds in the head hippocrates writes about six different
18:51types of skull trauma including scalp wounds as well as skull fractures and for almost all the types of
18:56trauma he recommends trepanation today we don't tend to think of a hole in the head as the treatment
19:02itself often it's the thing we want to fix however in ancient times that was top of the line treatment
19:09for much of history documented evidence supporting the effectiveness of trepanation has been elusive
19:15however a pivotal discovery in the 19th century would illuminate this ancient practice in a new light
19:23not in western europe but in the southern regions of the americas
19:29in 1865 explorer ephraeum george squire visits the ancient inca city of cuzco peru
19:37while meeting a local art collector by the name of senora zentino squire is gifted a skull from a nearby
19:43burial ground strangely however he notices a square shaped hole about half an inch in size cut into
19:50the front of the cranium this isn't the evidence of a wound but it's related to an actual surgery
19:55additionally the individual that underwent the surgery likely survived given the fact that there's
20:01evidence of healing around the bone upon returning to new york squire presents his findings to the medical
20:08academy but is met with a less than favorable response despite trepanation's long history
20:14practiced through the middle ages to his modern day the procedure is notorious for low survival rates
20:20and is one reserved for only the most skilled practitioners european scholars of the time often
20:27have a real sense of superiority so the idea that ancient indigenous people could be
20:36executing trepanations with people living afterwards is almost unthinkable to them however in the years
20:44to follow historical and archaeological studies will unearth numerous remains of trepan skulls from asia
20:51to africa to all across the americas some of which date to neolithic times proving trepanation to be one
20:58of the earliest surgical techniques mastered by our ancient ancestors to make the risky incision an
21:05ancient surgeon might have had a number of tools at their disposal some such as those in the south
21:11pacific are believed to have used sharpened seashells others like those in peru used metal or stone knives
21:18known as tumi in terms of some of the tools that were used to perform this it really varies by
21:24culture
21:24and by geography so depending on where you are you're going to use different tools the studied
21:28remains of trepan skulls reveal at least five different methods of this ancient procedure
21:33after cutting and peeling back the scalp these could include drilling a series of small holes
21:39with a cylindrical blade scraping the skull down in a circular pattern or sawing at the bone to create
21:45a rectangular opening there was a 19th century scholar who decided to run an experiment to see exactly how
21:51this was done he used a piece of glass on the skull of a deceased individual and he talked about
21:55how
21:55arduous this was but never mind how arduous this would have been for the physician or the healer let's
22:00think about the patient who's going through this procedure while awake and likely lucid from what we
22:05gather trepanation was done while people were conscious maybe they were given enough alcohol to
22:10hopefully pass out but it's not like they didn't experience the pain but despite the unique approaches
22:18and tools that have evolved independently across so many ancient locales there appears one common
22:25surgical guideline understood by all that is the careful approach to the dura matter they didn't
22:31originally know about the dura matter being protective for the brain and if you break it you're going to
22:36get an infection and die but chances are people learned quite quick by trial and error if you stopped
22:43after you got through the bone then the person lived but if you went through the dura matter then
22:48the person died might strike us as odd given that we know how delicate our brains are that ancient
22:56medicine would so often recommend drilling a hole in our head of the few written records we have from
23:02civilizations across the ancient world one account in greece hints at why this invasive treatment may have
23:09been so popular so while hippocrates talks a lot about trepanation he doesn't explicitly state why
23:14trepanation would be an important treatment but we know that hippocrates believes in the four humors
23:18this is the idea that humans are just a balance between all these different elements including
23:23blood and phlegm and yellow bile and black bile part of the doctrine talks about how we need a treatment
23:29to drain or move stagnant humors often the humor needed to be released in the area where there was the
23:37problem so in the case of headaches migraines any type of you know problems with your head then it
23:44would have to be released up in the head beyond pain relief some operations are also prescribed to
23:49release forces of an otherworldly dimension if somebody had what we would now call a you know a
23:55mental disorder it would be attributed to other external factors possession evil spirits in all of
24:02these cases then it isn't surprising that this idea was let's create a hole for it to escape it's
24:10possible that some societies of the ancient world also practice the technique for symbolic or spiritual
24:16motivations in hungary for example hundreds of skulls bear the markings of incomplete trepanations
24:24shallow incisions that seem superficial the practice seemingly stops around the introduction of
24:30christianity leading some scholars to suggest that it may have been part of a pagan ritual we see in
24:36some contexts like neolithic switzerland or peru that talismans are actually made out of the piece
24:42of bone that is removed during trepidation for centuries evidence of this medical and spiritual
24:48intervention has only been known through skulls that is until 2015 when a research team working at the
24:56archaeological site of quailap peru reveals proof that this practice once extended below the head
25:03their published findings detail the remains of similar surgical perforations on the lower limbs of
25:09ancient chachapoya citizens one of the remains belongs to a male in his 30s the end of his tibia
25:17drilled with a series of holes eerily similar to those found in trepanations of the skull
25:23another skeleton that of a teenager displays two distinct punctures in the middle of their lower
25:29leg bone we think this is the first evidence of trepanation techniques being applied to bones other
25:34than the cranium rising over 3000 meters into the peruvian highlands quailap was once a powerful
25:45political and cultural center for the ancient chachapoya people long before the emergence of the inca empire
25:52these indigenous communities ruled vast regions of the andean range quailap really flourished between 800
26:00and 1400 ce though the well-preserved structures of this fortress still cover an area around 60 000 square
26:07meters today knowledge of the people who once lived here remains incredibly sparse very little
26:14archaeological excavations have occurred in this area we do know that the chachapoya were known as the
26:19cloud warriors and that's due to the elevation of their city and also their strong fighting stance
26:27some written sources describe a society with an advanced understanding of medical treatments
26:33and therapies a fact supported by our limited archaeological record we know that they're very
26:39skilled at trepanation they've been practicing this for quite a long time they are quite competent
26:43in these procedures so it makes sense that they would try in other areas of the body as well trepanation
26:48of the skull appears to have been a widely practiced technique in the peruvian highlands since at least
26:54400 bc a skill that over time was remarkably refined and improved a recent review study found that by the
27:0215th
27:02century ce the success rate for trepanation in peru was sitting around 80 percent now compare that to the
27:08american civil war hundreds of years later when yes they're still using trepanation but now the success
27:12rate is around 50 percent some theorize the possibility that ancient peruvian healers had greater awareness
27:19of hygiene something that was notoriously overlooked on the battlefield of the american civil war the most
27:27obvious reason why trepanation during the american civil war was so often not successful are the terribly
27:35unsanitary conditions under which it was practiced there was no requirement or in fact belief that
27:41it was important to wash one's hands before doing any of these procedures it's a miracle frankly that even
27:47fifty percent of them survived perhaps the ancient peruvians kept a cleaner working environment even if
27:53the modern standards of sanitation weren't fully understood or as others suggest perhaps these andean healers
28:00had a higher success rate simply because they practiced the procedure more often over 800 prehistoric
28:07skulls have been unearthed here bearing the marks of trepanation this eclipses the total of skulls found
28:13in all other parts of the world at this time if the chachapoya were so skilled at skull trepanation could
28:19they have borrowed this technique for other parts of the body
28:25it appears that chachapoya healers may have transferred their skills to tibial trauma in
28:31quail lab however despite being renowned for their surgical capabilities these particular operations
28:38don't seem to have a similarly positive outcome there is no sign of rehealing which suggests that the
28:46trepanation procedure would have been done either close to death or after the patient died
28:52so that brings up the question why was the trepanation done so it's possible that this
28:57drilling is a form of funerary ritual but if that is the case why aren't we finding anybody else with
29:01the same drilling anywhere else in q lap it might also be possible that the deceased individuals were
29:06allowed to be practiced upon by a surgeon in training but if that's the case why is it just the
29:11tibia
29:11for each one leading theories are looking at that there might have been swelling in the legs it might
29:17make sense to then try a procedure they know is quite successful elsewhere and see if it works the same
29:22way in different parts of the body the true tale of these two ancient civilizations tragically vanishes
29:28with the collapse of the chachapoya society as the inca invade and defeat their quail lab settlement
29:34in around 1475 a.d the subsequent conquest by the spanish bring further devastation and disease
29:42to which many of their surviving people ultimately succumb the ancient art of trepanation which they
29:49mastered however will linger for centuries more however as our understanding of anatomy and sanitation
29:59improved many physicians began to abandon the practice of trepanation although it may seem like
30:05a misguided treatment by modern standards trepanation still finds its place in contemporary clinics
30:12this ancient technique is the precursor to lobotomies and craniotomies the latter of which is still
30:19practiced across the globe today we also see the trepanation technique being used if we're going to
30:24insert a stoma into the abdomen or getting something out from underneath the fingernails our prehistoric
30:30ancestors have left us invaluable insights through these early experiments and as medicine would continue to
30:37evolve through the centuries more seemingly bizarre treatments would emerge including one that would
30:43forever mark the legacy of america's most legendary explorers in the early 19th century captain
30:52meriwether lewis and second lieutenant william clark embark on a journey that will forever etch their names
30:58into the history books of america their expedition will traverse the vast expanse of the western united states
31:05charting a path across the continent and establishing relations with indigenous tribes along the way
31:12lewis and clark's voyage is really well documented in their journals and their various hand-drawn maps
31:17but we've had trouble pinpointing the exact path it's not until 2002 nearly 200 years later that
31:25archaeologists stumble upon a groundbreaking discovery in the mountainous terrain of montana here they uncover one
31:33of the trek's markers in a most unexpected way through the remnants of mercury-laden stool in an
31:39expedition latrine this clue provides a tangible link to the past allowing researchers to retrace the
31:46footsteps of this daring trek this is the byproduct of a popular medicine that carried these explorers through
31:53the wilds of america incredibly though it's actually these medicines and their effects that will eventually
31:57lead researchers to be able to pinpoint the site of this camp it's the spring of 1804 meriwether lewis
32:04and william clark have just become the leaders of an over 30-person crew delegated to the exploration of america's
32:11wild west
32:12one year earlier the stage for this epic journey is set by the louisiana purchase
32:18when napoleon bonaparte unable to establish a french colonial presence in the new world sells over
32:24two million square kilometers of land to the united states the louisiana purchase not only doubles the size
32:32of occupied america but it also marks a significant shift in the global power dynamics jefferson as a child
32:41of the enlightenment was very much fixated on this idea of knowing america and what it should be but
32:49also he was well aware that he was competing with other foreign powers so in order to secure america's
32:55place as a new republic it was very important that they sent an expedition to the west before anybody
33:01else arrived there to take it at the helm of this expedition jefferson installs two soldiers meriwether lewis
33:09and william clark these men are unmarried have military discipline and valuable knowledge of the
33:16outdoors the long trek from around st louis missouri to the pacific ocean is fraught with unknowns
33:23it will be a quest of both political and scientific goals to push the frontier established to trade with
33:31indigenous peoples and gather data on the region's flora fauna geography and inhabitants which could be
33:38economically exploited it was a huge undertaking because of the size and the duration that the
33:45trip was going to have to be the two of them are leading a large group of men into a
33:49large area for
33:50a long time not knowing what they're going to come up against following the lead of lewis and clark is
33:56a
33:57group of around three dozen men known as the corps of discovery this specially selected army consists mainly
34:03of young hardy unmarried soldiers who possess promising skills in the great outdoors they are
34:10joined by experienced boatmen and interpreters as well as civilians thrust into the trip against their
34:16will will william clark brings with him an enslaved man named york and he makes incredible contributions
34:21across the journey but despite this is still denied his freedom at the end they also bring with them a
34:26shoshone girl named sacajawea who had been previously forced to marry a trapper she's their interpreter she's
34:32the only woman on the expedition and she's pregnant will actually give birth during the journey this
34:37band of individuals will face the unforgiving terrains of the west and all of the dangers within it
34:45from the raging rivers to the treacherous mountains each step forward poses near certain
34:51peril this wilderness is teeming with animals many of which the explorers have never encountered before
34:56like rattlesnakes and bears there's really harsh environmental conditions especially the weather we've
35:01got really hot summer days and then really severe storms another challenge that they might not have
35:06considered is what sorts of plants or fungi they encounter and whether or not it's edible especially
35:13if they're hungry and looking for more fibrous foods injury easily leads to infection even a minor
35:19wound could be in their death sentence not only must the team combat health hazards but they also must
35:25endure the incredibly powerful medicines used to treat them
35:30under the guidance of esteemed physician dr benjamin rush lewis compiles a traveling pharmacy of over 30
35:38potent remedies including herbs like opium peruvian bark and camphor ingredients that in and of
35:46themselves could produce a host of nasty side effects in frontier medicine the cure is often as cruel as the
35:53disease many of these ingredients can induce vomiting or defecating certainly uncomfortable
36:00means to flush the body of any toxins or illness incredibly it's these very medicines and their effects
36:07that lead modern researchers to the long lost path of this expedition
36:13since the completion of lewis and clark's journey in the fall of 1806 america has been captivated by the
36:21passage they forged to the pacific yet despite knowing the general direction the specific path they took
36:27and the stops they made along the way have remained a tantalizing puzzle according to the expedition
36:33journals lewis and clark make at least 600 stops over a 28 month journey reconstructing this path could give
36:40historians a deeper understanding of the challenges and interactions that helped shape this country
36:49in 2002 researchers make a remarkable breakthrough when they hone in on the coordinates of travelers rest
36:57a stopping point mentioned in expedition journals on two distinct occasions after collecting soil samples
37:04from an on-site pit the team discovers the tell-tale signature of an age-old latrine a latrine is
37:11a
37:11temporary communal toilet this is usually just a pit dug into the earth
37:16the food a person eats tells a story about who they are what's their social standing what's their culture
37:22and the same way that's true for us today it's also true for ancient people so fossilized human waste can
37:28reveal a person's diet whether they've been suffering from an illness and most importantly it can reveal
37:35medicine or ingredients that may have passed through someone's body so how do the researchers connect this
37:42specific latrine to lewis and clark well they find its waste to contain mercury not the trace amounts
37:49typically found in nature but unusually high concentrations dr benjamin rush is a proponent of heroic medicine
37:58a doctrine that advocates for extreme treatments to purge the body of ailments one of his most well-known
38:04creations are his bilious pills a line of laxatives laced with toxic mercury let me introduce dr rush's
38:14bilious pills which are extremely potent laxatives commonly nicknamed the thunder clappers for their sudden
38:22effect the core of discovery are very familiar with constipation they are moving through territory that is not
38:29familiar to them and they're eating really whatever they can find lots of meat maybe nine pounds of meat a
38:34day
38:34buffalo elk deer even dogs to quell their discomforts the core rely on the powerful purgative
38:41locked within each of dr rush's tablets calomel otherwise known as mercury chloride there's a shocking
38:50amount of mercury chloride within each of these pills from a contemporary perspective we know that
38:54there's up to about sixty percent of the pill is just that mercury chloride beyond calomel dr rush's
39:00cure contains a dose of powdered yalop a medicine sourced from the root of a mexican plant yalop is a
39:07plant that's related to morning glories and sweet potatoes it's really renowned in 19th century medicine
39:12because it's known to have a mild laxative effect lewis brings half a pound of yalop on the journey but
39:18when it is not enough he brings out the thunderbolts determining the balance of these medicines will
39:24fall to those most familiar with the characteristics of flora and fauna in the 18th and 19th centuries
39:31the role of botanist and physician nearly considered one in the same many doctors would begin their
39:37medicinal education in botany studying the therapeutic properties of mother nature's pharmacy
39:43dr rush saw botany as an integral part of medicine and actually encouraged college fellows to plant
39:48medicinal gardens on their western trail lewis and clark carry hundreds of dr rush's bilious pills
39:55and at the doctor's advice are encouraged to dispense them generously they're first used for digestive
40:00problems but eventually also for fevers and aches and pains which are believed to be connected to
40:05constipation the pills really become the cure-all for the expedition typically within hours of ingestion
40:11these thunderous effects would take hold sending patients running to the latrines so dr rush actually
40:20prescribes taking the amount of pills until you're salivating or drooling today we understand that the
40:27salivation might be actually be a sign of mercury poisoning on one occasion while situated near the
40:36headwaters of the missouri river captain clark is said to come down with severe chills aches and a high
40:43temperature historians today believe this may have been the first documented account of colorado tick fever
40:49a viral disease spread by local wood ticks however unaware of the true cause clark ingests five
40:58thunderbolts in an attempt to flush his system this is a potentially fatal dose of mercury so how is it
41:06that clark survives unbeknownst to the consumers only about 15 percent of the mercury in dr rush's pills
41:13is actually soluble meaning the body is not absorbing most of the mercury in the pills clark survives this
41:19close call and many more in fact on this grueling two-year expedition there is only a single death
41:26among the core of discovery and their accompanying crew in 1804 sergeant charles floyd succumbs to what
41:34historians believe may have been a case of appendicitis it's quite surprising that there's only a single
41:39death on the expedition given how many challenges they were experiencing and particularly given that this
41:44is a totally new landscape for americans to explore you have to kind of wonder how much help did they
41:52get in order to ensure that they didn't have more casualties it's important to note that their survival
41:57and the completion of this mission would likely not have been possible at all without the guidance and
42:03assistance from the many indigenous communities along the way lewis and clark encounter more than two
42:08dozen tribes who share potentially life-saving wisdom the success of lewis and clark's expedition
42:17inadvertently contributes to the enduring popularity of dr rush's bilious pills with a milder version
42:23remaining on american shelves until the 1940s however the star ingredient calomel will leave a legacy of ill
42:32effects that lingers for years to come despite the effectiveness of these pills along the journey
42:37long-term exposure to mercury can have some pretty terrible effects in the short term we might see
42:42gum decay in the longer term we might even see psychosis so lewis's health severely declines after the
42:48expedition and scholars are still wondering whether it was because of the mercury poisoning through
42:54dr russia's pills or whether it was something else like bouts of malaria that that he incurred along the way
43:03these clues have done more than chart the path of lewis and clark they have also unveiled the transformation
43:09of healing itself
43:14from amputations at sea without anesthesia to drilling holes in the bones of the living
43:20medical treatment has come a long way and perhaps the greatest frontier still lies ahead
43:26from amputations at sea without a risk of疫ball
43:28to the entfer
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