No ambulances, no paramedics, not even a telephone with which to call a doctor - small wonder that a great deal of Victorian medical care began at home. A household needed to be equipped with the supplies and know-how to handle basic first aid and everyday illnesses. On the bright side, even though you might have to go some distance to summon a doctor, at least in Victorian days they did make housecalls! And speaking of first aid in the home, it seems that there were quite a number of things in the Victorian home that could kill you, from getting your skirts too close to the fireplace to covering your walls with paper tinted with arsenic compounds!

If Your Clothes Take Fire (Peterson's Magazine, 1865)

Little Accidents, and How to Deal with Them, by Phillis Browne (Cassell's Family Magazine, 1876)

Some Useful Hints on Surgery, by "Medicus"* (Girl's Own Paper, 1881)

How to handle a variety of minor accidents and emergencies.

Aid for the Wounded (Cassell's Family Magazine, 1883)

First aid lectures by the St. John's Ambulance Society.

[First] Aid for the Sick (Cassell's Family Magazine, 1884)

Little Lessons in Household Surgery (Cassell's Family Magazine, 1884)

Tips on first aid.

Some Simple Facts About Medicines, by "Medicus"* (Girl's Own Paper, 1885)

"It may well be said that a family medicine-chest...is a source of safety, but at the same time a source of danger."

What Can We Do? A Chapter of Accidents (Cassell's Family Magazine, 1886)

What to Do if You Catch Fire (Girl's Own Paper, 1886)

Good advice in an era of long skirts and open hearths!

Home Hints in Illness (Girl's Own Paper, 1890)

How to make poultices and mustard plasters; how to select and mix disinfectants (including "Condy's red fluid and Condy's green fluid").

It Is Very Healing (Cassell's Family Magazine, 1891)

Ways to help wounds to heal.

Replies to Often-Asked Questions (Girl's Own Paper, 1896)

The key question here is "What should be the contents of a medicine cupboard for an isolated country cottage?"

Our Medicine Chest, by "The New Doctor" (Girl's Own Paper, 1899)

"You do not want a medicine chest to contain everything you may require. You want it to contain everything that is absolutely necessary for emergencies" -- which include injuries, acute poisoning, and acute disease.

Some Medical Appliances Made of Knitting, by Susan Shearman (Girl's Own Paper, 1900)

How to knit a variety of bandages and braces.

Help in Case of Accidents (Drapers' Self-Culture, 1913)

Poisons & Antidotes

New Domestic Remedies (Illustrated London Almanack, 1845)

This article offers a variety of home remedies, but is particularly interesting for its overview of the dangers of various types of poisons common in the home: the "gilt" on gingerbread, copper cookware, milk stored in zinc containers, improperly prepared sausages, potato brandy, and an account of the problems caused by lead poisoning in the water supply of the royal kennels!

Careless and Unsuspected Poisoning, and How to Avoid It (Cassell's Family Paper, 1860)

Poisons and Their Antidotes (Cassell's Family Magazine, 1881)

Domestic Poisons, Their Detection and Antidotes, by C. Proctor (Girl's Own Paper, 1883)

Amongst the poisons of concern in the Victorian household were arsenic, phosphorus, lead salts, copper salts (sometimes used to add green color to tinned vegetables), Bengal opium, and the mystery-writer's favorite, prussic acid.

On Poisons in the House (Cassell's Family Magazine, 1883)

The Poison of Serpents, by S. Weir Mitchell (Century Magazine, 1889B)

On the venom of various types of snakes, how to gather it, and its antidotes.

*"Medicus" was the pen-name of Gordon Stables, M.D., R.N., health columnist for The Girl's Own Paper. Read the complete collection of Medicus Columns from 1881-1902 in chronological order.