Sickbay
Constitution’s crew are a healthy lot. Few catch the infectious diseases that on other ships are more deadly than enemy cannon. And if a sailor does fall ill, he is soon treated. In the sickbay surgeon Amos Evans and his assistants usually care for a dozen or more patients. Rest, cleanliness and a better diet cure most of them, but the medical treatment they get is little help. Lacking modern drugs and medical knowledge, the surgeon’s prescriptions harm patients as often as healing them.
ACTIVITY
Eat your Fruits and Vegetables!
Scurvy is a disease resulting from a deficiency of vitamin C. Play this simple guessing game with students to identify which of their fruits and vegetables would help them prevent scurvy! Simply print this activity double sided, cut out the cards, laminate them for durability if you’d like, and place them image side up. Challenge your students to guess which ones have vitamin C. Flip them over to find out the answer – some of them may surprise you!
LESSON PLAN
Illness and Injury aboard Naval ships
Life aboard a naval ship in the War of 1812 was extremely difficult; sailors had to deal with the dangers posed by illness, accidents, and battle injuries. Knowledge about health, disease, and nutrition in the 1800s was still primitive and lacked modern understanding about germs, hygiene, nutrition, and disease. Naval ships like USS Constitution had a surgeon (doctor) on board who was responsible for the health of a crew of up to 480 sailors. In this lesson, your students take on the role of the surgeon and work in teams to diagnose major illnesses and predict injuries to the crew.
ACTIVITY
All Guts and Gory
After studying both the “Sickbay” and “Cockpit after Battle” annotated scenes, have students complete the crossword puzzle to check for understanding and attention to detail.
LESSON PLAN
Medicine in 1812
Medicine in the nineteenth century centered on the idea of “humors:” blood, phlegm, black bile and yellow bile. An imbalance of them made one ill, and medicines were used to try and regain balance. In this lesson, students will meet Surgeon Amos Evans of Constitution‘s 1812 crew, investigate the properties of drugs he most likely had at his disposal, study a primary source quote from him, and diagnose a crew member. Included in the lesson plan are the primary and secondary resources listed below.
Primary Source: Lecture notebooks belonging to Surgeon Amos Evans
