How medieval healers healed absolutely all ailments

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

During the Renaissance, European medicine received a significant impetus in development, which is difficult to overestimate. But at the same time, wild remnants of the past have not disappeared anywhere. So, for the treatment of any ailments, very extravagant drugs made from … the human body were used.

Since ancient times, people have used cannibalism for ritual purposes, as well as to cure diseases. Thus, ancient Roman healers advised their patients to drink the blood of newly killed gladiators.

The practice of cannibalism persisted until the Middle Ages, when doctors began experimenting with corpses. Despite conflicting results, until the 1890s, it was believed that human remains could be a cure for all kinds of diseases and even delay death. Doctors already know that many "ingredients" are easily replaced by other available substances, and the main beneficial effect of their use is a placebo.

Throughout Europe in the 17th century, a powder from a ground human skull, on which moss grew, was popular. It is an effective hemostatic agent, although even in those years, many doctors noted that simple starch could be used with the same success.

To stimulate hair growth, people drank "hair liquor," and powdered hair was a cure for jaundice. For the treatment of senile cataracts, pharmacists made a powder from dried human excrement, which the patient sprinkled on his sore eyes.

The Swiss physician of the 16th century and the "father of toxicology" Paracelsus believed that any disease should be treated with something similar, i.e. for every poison there is an antidote. Many doctors who use human bodies to make medicines have taken this as a guide to action. For example, to prevent tooth decay, it was recommended to wear a tooth taken from a corpse around the neck.

True, the logic did not always work. So, in the Middle Ages, it was believed that an ointment made from human fat and cinnabar cures rabies, the water with which the dead was washed was a remedy for seizures, and cadaveric poison removes warts.

Even monarchs did not deny themselves this kind of treatment. For King Charles II of England, the court doctors prepared "Royal drops". Their recipe is simple: a human skull was ground into powder, which was diluted with alcohol. When the king was dying, the court doctors madly gave him this medicine, and also gave herbal enemas.

The treatment was ineffective, and Charles II died. However, the Royal Drops were sold in London pharmacies during the 18th century and were used to treat nervous disorders, bleeding and dysentery. In some cases, pharmacists have added exotic herbs and chocolate to the recipe. The drug was considered a rather powerful medicine and in some cases could even delay death.

Egyptian mummies were considered the best means for making medicines in the 17th century, but this is a scarce and expensive commodity. Therefore, the bodies of the executed criminals and the poor were snapped up by pharmacists.

Corpses were also "harvested" during the wars. A violent death was believed to give the body additional medicinal power. It is obvious that in those years the robbery of graves was not complete. By the way, such raw materials were expensive, doctors even had to beware of “fakes”.

Medieval doctors on duty often had to communicate with grave robbers. This is one of specific professions of the past, which today is a real disgust.