One of doctors It is one of those professions that demonstrates the importance of scientific achievement throughout history. story. His work has always been ensure the health of your patients. However, in the past, they have done so through some methods that may have done more harm than good. It is curious that some of them have survived to this day, despite their inefficiency. This is a case of homeopathy. On the other hand, others are so crazy that, fortunately, they are in the past.

Because there was a time when many doctors religious, it was common for them to pull amulets or psalms to cure a variety of diseases. This, logically, applies to any religion, but especially to the Catholic one. In fact, doctors belonging to other religions were more modern than Scientific achievements. One need only look at the case of Islamic medicine, which introduced very important concepts, some of which remain valid today.

But what were these curious and useless devices used by some doctors of the past? The case of bloodletting is well known, but there are many more. Here are some examples.

Well, let’s start with the sangria.

In fact, although he is the most famous, one cannot speak of the barbarism of the doctors of the past without mentioning the case grooves

Those made in the Middle Ages are well known, but they are actually much older. In fact, there is evidence that they were already performed in ancient Egypt. It is believed that the doctors of the time came to the conclusion about its supposed usefulness, watch hippos. These animals sweat red, but the doctors thought it was blood that they took themselves when they were sick. Therefore, following the postulate that nature is wise, they bled people who had some kind of illness.

Later, in Ancient Greecedeveloped theory of four humors. This was based on the fact that human beings contain four humours, consisting of blood, sputum, black bile and yellow bile. Allegedly, all diseases were due to an imbalance of these substances, so it was necessary to try to compensate for them. Hippocrates believed that women menstruated once a month to get rid of a bad mood, so he decided that bloodletting might be a good idea. Other doctors followed, and finally it became the most common treatment for all kinds of pathologies.

He refused to use tools such as lancet, go to the living connoisseur of bloodletting: the leech. These animals were placed on the skin of patients, and thanks to the anticoagulant substances in their saliva, they could extract a large amount of bloodno effort for doctors. There were some patients who died, but it was believed that this was not due to bleeding, but simply because they were too sick.

Fortunately, advances in medicine eventually led some physicians to against this technique. However, many others remained faithful to traditional medicine. In fact, today there is a therapy known as hirudotherapy, which is still based on the placement of these animals on the patient’s body to treat various conditions, but primarily to relieve pain. It is considered a pseudo-therapy, which is also dangerous. Hirudo officinalistypes of leeches that supposedly have these healing properties.

It must be said that in some places it was used in surgical interventionsprecisely because of its role as an anticoagulant. Some scientific evidence has been found for this. However, there are other options that are absolutely not approved by most experts.

Doctors who treated the moon

In the late 18th century, a sock manufacturer who called himself Dr. Weissleder circulated a supposed cure for all ills. It was as easy as going up Under the moonlight while he delivered specific spell.

People might not trust his profession, but the truth is that this was not the time when great importance was attached to powers of doctors. For this reason, this man traveled around Berlin in search of new patients, whom he instructed how to treat them. It all depended on which part of the body was sick. Whether it was an arm, a leg, a head, or a throat, it had to be under the moonlight while he spoke the magic words. The treatment was to be carried out for three consecutive nights while the moon was in the first quarter. And, depending on the severity, sometimes I had to return to Repeat after a few months.

Therefore, if the disease were not serious, during this time it would be cured by itself. If it had been too bad, he might have died, but it was supposed to be a cure, not a miracle. Thus, the doctor convinced his patients that his treatment really worked. All this may seem very crazy. And this is true, but let’s not forget that these types of scams still exist today. For example, it is often said that homeopathy cures influenza for seven days. No homeopathy for a week. This is the same.

radioactive elixirs

After opening radioactivity, was for her a time of fever and obsession, ending in the worst possible way. All kinds of radioactive products were developed, from toothpaste to dial paint, passed through all kinds of elixirs to cure a variety of diseases.

Wikimedia Commons

The story of the radio girls is well known. It was a group of young people who worked in a factory, drawing numbers on the clock which glowed in the dark thanks to radioactive paint. To sharpen the brush, they wet it between their lips, to the point that they were said to shine when they left work.

Naturally, over time they started hurting one by onedying with great suffering. The few who managed to live long enough started lawsuits to have what happened to them recognized as an occupational disease. It was hard, but in the end they succeeded. And besides, the danger of radium, like other radioactive elements, was noticed, so it was no longer used as an ingredient in almost everything.

Among these elixirs based on radioactive substances was radiatora medicine consisting of distilled water containing at least one microcurie radium isotopes 226 and 228. It was sold from 1918 to 1928, offering it for the treatment of a variety of pathologies, but primarily for impotence.

Elixir lost popularity after the death of one of its largest users, businessman and amateur golfer Even Bryers. First, the man bought it to treat a hand disease, which he eventually cured. However, he became so addicted to this elixir that he continued to drink it for no apparent reason for three years. After this time, this number radiation to your bones that holes appeared in his skull, his jaw fell off, and he died in terrible suffering.

human blood transfusion

True, moonlight and radioactive elixirs were quite quackery. However, we have already seen that the line separating them from doctors was sometimes somewhat blurred.

But even professional doctors used some tricks that are extremely crazy today. For example, there is a case of transfusion of blood from animals to humans.

What today seems unreasonable to us, at that time was something very common for ignorance of immunology, genetics and some other disciplines. It was believed that the temperament or character of animals could also be transmitted through the blood. That is why in the 17th century a doctor named Jean Baptiste Denis injected calf blood into a cholera patient. Presumably, this was to convey the immobility of the animal. But what he almost conveys to him is death, even though he incredibly survived after several days of a terrible illness.

Other physicians did not transfuse blood, but transplanted organs from animals into humans. This is the case of the famous Monkey Jones, who wanted to reverse aging with implants. monkeys to human testicles.

cow urine, go to the toilet
Wolfgang Hasselmann (Unsplash)

The story of a doctor who killed his patients with laxatives

Another peculiar case is that of the physician James Morrison, who concluded in the 19th century that laxatives They could cure all kinds of diseases.

He developed this hypothesis by experimenting on himself. The problem is that his pathology was constipation and, logically, were treated with laxatives. But he thought that in fact, excessive bowel movements would help people cleanse themselves of all evil. For this reason, he began to make homemade laxatives for the treatment of patients with conditions such as smallpox, aneurysm, amputation, or (unexpected) diarrhea.

He thought his idea was so good that he even put some of them up for sale. defecation pills who became very famous. He never specified the dose, so those who were very sick thought that if they took a lot, they would recover faster. And this, as it is logical, caused them such decomposition, which in many cases led to their death.

Dead who heal (presumably)

If there were physicians who thought that the nature of animals could be transmitted to man through death, it is not uncommon to think that others believed that the same thing could be done with people. dead man. After all, there was no need to change views.

Therefore, the remains of corpses were used for prepare all kinds of decoctions. Among them, for example, aphrodisiac syrups prepared from the crushed bones of good lovers stood out. Even the clothes of the deceased were used to treat all sorts of ailments.

The only problem is that we ignore achievements

These are just a few examples of some of the atrocities committed by physicians in the past. But that doesn’t mean they were bad professionals. Having removed some of the merchants, the truth is that many were striving for the benefit of their patients, with the few tools they had.

Today, science in general and medicine in particular have come a long way. Therefore, we can be very proud of what we have achieved, and all we have left to achieve. However, there are still people who continue to try to pass off as medicine what science has already refuted. This happens with traditional medicine from other countries, such as Chinese acupuncture, or with the pharmacology of past centuries, such as homeopathy. We must learn from the scientists of the past, but also let go of what we already know doesn’t work. This is how medicine improves and society develops. We’ve come a long way, but we can still do better.

Source: Hiper Textual

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