I have been studying health and healing in the Western New York area for many years. When researching the book When There Were Poorhouses, I learned about a number of medical facilities that were anchored in an alternative view of health and differed from the traditional (allopathic) medicine of the time. The mainstream medicine practiced in the 1800s into the early 1900s was primitive; doctors often were untrained, science was lacking, and licensing was not formalized. Thanks to their use of bleeding, and toxic substances such as mercury, as treatments, people had little confidence in traditional doctors.
Alternative medical providers in Western New York used a variety of vibrant aids to help their patients. At the time, traditional medicine could be much more dangerous.
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