Usually billed simply as stomach pumps by antique dealers averse to making their customers uneasy, these were actually multiple-use: serving as stomach and as enema pumps. This is an unmarked example made for the civilian market given the use of a key lock and hooks on the case rather than military-type sliding latches, and fancier white bone handles, etc., but these sets show up with Hospital Department markings as well from being purchased on the open market, and were among the many implements and devices a doctor might be called upon employ. As a stomach pumps these were used for emptying and cleansing the stomach or the administration of medicine, but also for the introduction of food for patients unable to swallow from facial wounds, etc. They could be used also as enema pumps in the treatment of dysentery, constipation, and various bowel complaints for cleansing and the administration of medicines. (Let’s just say theories of sanitation and hygiene, to say nothing of germs, were still in their early stages.)

This is nicely cased in a red velvet lined oak box. All the elements are there- the pump itself, various hoses and nozzles of different sorts, a tube to eject the contents of stomach or bowel, or draw in water, cleansing solution, or nutrients,  as well as the cone-shaped device at top used if necessary to pry open and hold apart patient’s jaws enough to insert the nozzle and hose in case of lockjaw. The wood case has a nice surface and color. The pump is good. The hoses have no breaks. The red lining is very good, with just minor rubs.

This was on display in the Texas Civil War Museum and comes with their card indicating that when acquired it had an association with a Doctor D.C. Love, reportedly a civilian doctor in Macon, Georgia, who was treating Confederate soldiers in Macon and supposedly  conspired with city leaders in 1864 to post signs on outlying roads warning of smallpox in the city, causing Sherman to bypass it on the March to the Sea. Sherman, in fact, was more interested in making a feint toward the city to keep Confederates guessing while he headed for Savannah, his real objective, but that does not mean that something of the sort was not tried. (The city ended up surrendering to Wilson’s cavalry at the very end of the conflict.) We do not find a Dr. D.C. Love in the records, but we do find a Dr. W. A. Love (William Abram Love,) born in 1824, who studied medicine in Philadelphia, returned to Georgia in 1846. He was discharged from Confederate service for ill health, but a biography in Memoires of Georgia, Vol. 1, (1895,) says, “he served until the latest hour of that eventful struggle on the medical staff of the Confederate states army on the field and in the hospitals. Doubtless many southern soldiers remember him most kindly, especially in connection with Ocmulgee hospital in Macon, Ga.” (Our emphasis.) So, he may well be our man.

This displays very, very well and merits a place in any Civil War medical collection or display.  [SR] [ph:L]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

THIS ITEM, AS WITH ALL OTHER ITEMS AVAILABLE ON OUR WEB SITE,

MAY BE PURCHASED THROUGH OUR LAYAWAY PROGRAM.

CLICK HERE FOR OUR POLICIES AND TERMS.

THANK YOU!