# @uss_constitution on Instagram

- **Type:** Image
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/DV4CEzkDfZU
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/59597975-uss-constitution-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/postThumbnails/b45a5a91fb.jpg
- **Posted:** 2026-03-14T18:50:31.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** USS Constitution (@uss_constitution) — https://gondola.cc/uss_constitution

## Caption

During the 19th century, USS Constitution carried a Navy surgeon and surgeon’s mate who treated sick and injured Sailors, maintained medical journals, and managed the ship’s supply of medicines. In battle, they worked from the cockpit on the orlop deck where wounded crewmen were brought for treatment.

Naval medicine at the time followed the belief that illness came from an imbalance of the body’s four humors: blood, phlegm, black bile, and yellow bile. To restore balance, surgeons relied on a variety of remedies commonly found in a ship’s medicine chest, including laudanum for pain, Dover’s Powder to induce sweating, spirits of camphor as a sedative, peppermint for stomach ailments, and sulfur or mercury based treatments for other conditions.

Even with limited medical knowledge by modern standards, access to a trained Navy surgeon was a vital resource for Sailors serving at sea.

#USNavy #USSConstitution #OldIronsides #NavalHeritage #Sail250

## Stats

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- **Likes:** 105
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- **Comments:** 1

## Tags

oldironsides, ussconstitution, usnavy, navalheritage, sail250

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