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It’s hard to imagine a world where illnesses were treated with things like rushing currents or leeches, but not so long ago, that was the case. The world of medicine and our understanding of the human body is always in flux. New discoveries are made every day, and before too long, you learn that the cigarette you were smoking to cure your upset stomach was actually loading you up with cancer.
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It's hard to imagine a world where illnesses were treated with things like rushing currents or leeches
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But not so long ago, that was the case. The world of medicine and our understanding of the human body is always in flux
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New discoveries are made every day. And before too long, you learn that the cigarette you were smoking to cure your upset stomach
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was actually loading you up with cancer. So, today we're examining some of the horrifying things that were once used as medicine
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Say, ah. Imagine yourself in a dimly lit asylum, where the standard treatment for all ailments involves a large body of water
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The asylum staff might dunk you in a pool of ice-cold water only to lift you out before repeating the process ad nauseum
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For those who seemed particularly resistant to treatment, physicians would resort to the so-called bath of surprise
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which involved standing the patient on a trap door and releasing them into a tub of freezing water without warning
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But as harsh as these treatments sound, they were inspired by the growing belief in mental health as a serious condition worth treating, an innovation at the time
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Though misguided, hydrotherapy signifies society's first tentative steps toward addressing mental illness
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As horrifying as the methods were, they were aimed at finding some kind of therapeutic effect in an era before the scientific study of psychology began
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So, partial credit for trying. Mercury was considered a cure-all by various ancient civilizations
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despite evidence of its toxicity. And we get it. It looks so cool
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It must give you some kind of superpower. In the 16th century, syphilis was running rampant
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and Mercury seemed like the only solution known for its ability to kill bacteria
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It was administered as a sort of ultimate poison, a purgative agent to cleanse the body of illness
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and probably a lot of other stuff too. In addition to ointments, mercury was sometimes given as a pill or inhaled as a vapor
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The side effects were catastrophic, as one would expect when ingesting or inhaling one of the most toxic elements known to humanity
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They included tremors, memory loss, and death. Ironically, it may have even advanced the disease it sought to treat
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creating a vicious cycle of poisoning and sickness. But in an era with no antibiotics, the poison seemed a price worth paying
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Incidentally, the term mad as a hatter originated from mercury poisoning, which often afflicted
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hat makers who used mercury in felt production. So if you ever wondered why the Mad Hatter was having lunch with a rabbit it because his brain is soaked in mercury In the 19th century tuberculosis was nearly as feared as the plague and one treatment involved injecting milk directly into the veins
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Doctors believed that milk, a symbol of purity and nourishment, could invigorate the bloodstream
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This would essentially feed patients back to health, from the inside out. Unsurprisingly, milk transfusions often caused patients to go into shock
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For some patients, the milk acted as a lethal foreign agent, causing severe infections or death within hours
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The practice was thankfully abandoned as soon as blood transfusion science improved
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so they never got to experiment with ice cream. In a pre-vaccine world, rabies was a much more serious affliction
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Once symptoms set in, death was imminent, so physicians were desperate to try anything that might work
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Enter Pliny the Elder, who proposed a literal hair-of-the-dog approach. As per his recommendation, the victim would take hair from the offending animal, burn it, and apply it to the bite wound
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If dog hair wasn't exotic enough, other ancient remedies included mixing ground liver, brain, and blood from the infected animal and consuming it
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These approaches were born from the belief in sympathetic magic. The idea that like cures like
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The mixture of mysticism and desperation made these treatments popular, though they did little beyond hastening the end for rabies victims
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Even today, this ancient advice has left a cultural imprint. The phrase, hair of the dog, still refers to treating a problem with a small dose of what caused it
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Though today, most people use it to discuss hangover cures rather than rabies remedies
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The mummy craze in Europe was not just a fascination with the pharaohs
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It was also a fascination with their perceived mystical properties. From the 16th century onwards, doctors prescribed powdered mummies
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Yes, powdered mummies. To treat various conditions, believing something so ancient surely held powerful curative properties
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These mummies were presumably not available over the counter. The process involved grinding up mummies into a fine powder
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and selling that as a medicinal supplement. The powder was touted as a cure for everything
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from migraines to muscle pain, and wealthier Europeans often mixed it into chocolate
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for a more palatable experience. By the time the practice died out in the 18th century
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thousands of mummies had been destroyed. It's hard to say what Europeans thought they were getting from the mummies
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Perhaps they believed the ancient spirits would intercede on their behalf or maybe they just wanted a piece of the mystical past Regardless they turned ancient Egypt into a pharmacy and modern archaeologists lament the loss of invaluable historical artifacts Indiana Jones would never
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The concept of pain relief through decomposing marine life was popularized in 19th century
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Australia. Arthritic patients were urged to crawl inside the hollowed body of a whale and remain
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there for several days. The decomposing whale flesh was believed to emit gases that relieved
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joint pain. As gruesome as it sounds, people were willing to try anything to alleviate chronic pain
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which made the pungent whale spa seem worth a shot. Some patients reported temporary relief
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though it was likely due to the heat rather than any magical properties of the decaying flesh
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This particular cure is a testament to the creative, if not morbid, lengths people were
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willing to explore when faced with chronic illness and little relief. A bad enough toothache will
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make you start to wonder whether that dead whale can do anything for you. Romans took personal hygiene seriously, though not always in an intuitive direction. For example
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they believed that urine had powerful cleansing properties thanks to its high ammonia content
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Slaves collected urine, lucky them, which was then used as mouthwash to whiten teeth
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Romans also employed it to wash their clothes, taking advantage of ammonia's bleaching effects
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The only drawback was, everything smelled like pee. To Romans, the practice did not seem odd
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It was as routine as brushing with toothpaste is today. The trend may have faded, but the idea of repurposing waste material for health and hygiene
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is one that many cultures have experimented with over the centuries. Speaking of which, if you thought the Romans stopped at urine, you'd be wrong
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Pliny the Elder and his contemporaries also recommended fecal matter for various ailments
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The idea was that the essence of life lay in human waste and could cure almost anything
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from stomach ailments to infertility. Of course, this wasn't entirely without merit
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Modern fecal transplants for gut health are based on similar principles, though these are far more
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sanitized. In ancient China, fecal matter was consumed as part of traditional medicine practices
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known as yellow soup. Hopefully, it didn't come in chunky varieties. When heroin was first produced in the 19th century
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it was marketed as a non-addictive alternative to morphine. Doctors even prescribed it as a cough suppressant for children
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And in fairness it will suppress that cough Like many opiates heroin was extremely effective at calming down children though the side effects were poorly understood
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It wasn't until years later that the addictive potential of heroin became apparent
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leading to a swift reversal in its medical reputation. Heroin's rise and fall as a medicinal product is a stark reminder
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of how often medicine swings from wonder drug to menace within a generation
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The practice of bloodletting spanned thousands of years, from ancient Egypt to modern Europe
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Doctors applied leeches or made incisions to drain excess blood and restore health
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This ghoul-friendly practice was believed to restore balance to the body's four humors
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blood, phlegm, black bile, and yellow bile, like your body's internal Voltron lions
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Over time, bloodletting became the ultimate cure-all, used for fevers, headaches, and even mental disorders
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Although the practice persisted well into the 19th century, it eventually faded as doctors realized draining a patient of life-giving blood was, in most cases, a terrible idea
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In one of the most ironic medical cures in history, malaria was injected into syphilis patients to induce a fever
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The idea was that the fever would kill the bacteria causing syphilis, and the malaria could be treated afterward with quinine
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Austrian doctor Julius Wagner Jaureg even won a Nobel Prize for this idea
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kind of like when Crash won Best Picture. Despite being an extreme example of the cure being worse than the disease
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it worked just well enough to be celebrated as a major advance at the time
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Today, we have penicillin, rendering this fever treatment as an unfortunate relic
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Few ancient procedures are as alarming as trepanation. the practice of drilling or scraping holes into the skull to treat head injuries or mental illness
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Evidence of trepanning has been found in prehistoric skulls, and the procedure was surprisingly common throughout ancient Europe and the Americas
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Performed without anesthesia, because it wouldn't be old-timey medicine without unmedicated skull drilling
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many patients survived the ordeal, and some even recovered. Trepanation persisted for centuries as doctors sought to cure headaches, epilepsy, and other ailments
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through this gory form of ventilation. As we look back on these treatments through the lens of modern science
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it's easy to feel like those trial and error days are behind us. But before we get too cocky, remember that today's cutting-edge treatments
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may very well be tomorrow's mercury ointment or giant whale carcass, and insurance does not cover that whale