The Project Gutenberg EBook of Drug Supplies in the American Revolution, by
George B. Griffenhagen

This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org

Title: Drug Supplies in the American Revolution

Author: George B. Griffenhagen

Release Date: October 28, 2008 [EBook #27076]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DRUG SUPPLIES ***

Produced by Stacy Brown, Colin Bell, Joseph Cooper and the
Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net

_George B. Griffenhagen_

DRUG SUPPLIES in the
AMERICAN REVOLUTION

Paper 16, pages 109-133, from

CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE MUSEUM
OF HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY

United States National Museum
BULLETIN 225

SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION
WASHINGTON, D.C., 1961

Contributions from

The Museum of History and Technology

Paper 16

Drug Supplies in the American Revolution

_George B. Griffenhagen_

CONTINENTAL MEDICINE CHESTS 111

TREASON, POISON, AND SIEGE 113

FROM BAD TO WORSE 115

"MEDICINES--NONE" 118

PRIVATEERS TO THE RESCUE 121

BRISK BUSINESS IN BOSTON 122

THE SITUATION IMPROVES 122

VALLEY FORGE 123

IN SUMMARY 129

DRUG SUPPLIES IN THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION

_by George B. Griffenhagen_

_At the start of the Revolution, the Colonies were cut off from the
source of their usual drug supply, England. A few drugs trickled
through from the West Indies, but by 1776 there was an acute
shortage._

_Lack of coordination and transportation resulted in a scarcity of
drugs for the army hospitals even while druggists in other areas
resorted to advertising in order to sell their stocks. Some relief
came from British prize ships captured by the American navy and
privateers, but the chaotic condition of drug supply was not eased
until the alliance with France early in 1778._

The Author: _George Griffenhagen--formerly curator of medical
sciences, United States National Museum, Smithsoni