10.
Optometry in the Middle Ages Anything having to do with your eyeball in
a medical sense is frightening and uncomfortable.
But if you lived in the Middle Ages, ophthalmic surgery was a whole different breed of horrifying.
Starting around the 1100s and 1200s, people began forming new scientific views as to how
vision functions.
One of the older beliefs had been put forth by Aristotle, who said light originates from
objects and goes into people’s eyeballs to stimulate their vision.
That was a pretty old and wacky theory.
The newer one in the 1200s came from Peter of Spain, a medical professor, and advanced
thinker of his day.
He had a theory that said the human spirit was inside the brain, and that it passed through
the optic nerves of the eyeball and then touched an object in the world, then went back into
the eyeball with a sense of what that particular thing looked at.
The doctor’s theory was way more absurd than the theory the philosopher had.
Peter of Spain, the guy who thought the spirit came out of the eyeball, wrote a book in 1276
to instruct physicians on how to treat eye diseases.
He had quite a few different treatment options to choose from.
One was to mix pomegranate, sourgrass, sugar, and white wine, and then drip that solution
directly into the eyeball.
And if you couldn't come up with these ingredients, the solution was to take the bile of a swallow
or partridge and mix it with fennel root juice.
In other words, bird vomit.
And while I don't need to get into the true horrors of things like removing cataracts
– basically a medieval doctor pulling the meat of your eyeball right off – I will
give you one more of Peter of Spain’s remedies.
To cure itchy eyes during allergy season, there was a very easy treatment.
You simply needed to take the urine from a fasting virgin boy, mix it with white wine,
and then boil it in a pot with rue and sage.
Smear that in your eyes and you’re good for the allergy season.
Did you know it was alleged that Elvis’ mom used to put urine in his ear to cure his
earaches?
9.
Medieval Poison Remedies For a very long time, since the days of the
Egyptian pharaohs, poisoning has been a very serious issue.
It used to be if you wanted to kill someone, you could slip something in their drink and
they would just kind of drop dead.
It was a popular way of killing kings and unwanted spouses for thousands of years.
In the medieval days, they had ways to fight poison.
One of them was something called a bezoar stone.
It was a solid mass of indigestible junk extracted from the insides of an animal, usually a wild
goat.
This stone, taken from the bottom of the gastrointestinal tract of a beast, would be hung on a chain
and then worn around the neck.
When somebody thought they were going to be poisoned, they could simply dip the bezoar
stone into the drink to nullify the toxic material.
Of course, it didn't work, but it was a good idea.
There were other, more effective ways of getting the poison out of your body in the medieval
days.
People used to eat clay if they thought they were poisoned, which actually can be effective
if it's consumed immediately after.
8: Magic Stones One of the most common medical practices since
long before the Middle Ages involved a doctor and a rock.
A doctor would touch a stone, one usually engraved with inscriptions or incantations
and the image of a religious figure, and then that stone would become a magical healing
totem.
You could take that magical stone home with you, put it against your back to ease your
back pain, or press it against your stomach to fix fertility issues.
This kind of medical healing has been around since the days of Egypt, and it didn't stop
being used until a couple of centuries ago.
Magical healing stones reached their peak in the Roman Empire, gradually getting less
popular moving into the 5th century and beyond.
The Romans used various gods to help with the healing powers of the stones, sometimes
decorating them with images of the ouroboros and the reaper.
But even though magic stones fell out of favor after the Romans vanished and Christianity
began to outlaw paganism, that doesn't mean the practice itself died.
It merely shifted.
Instead of using magic stones blessed by a doctor, people started using crystals as their
healers.
From the 5th to the 7th century, there was a huge explosion of Frankish amulets, ornaments
bound in gold or silver that people usually had hanging off their belts as special healing
mechanisms.
Some believed that if you held a certain crystal up to the sun and let its light bathe you,
it would magically heal whatever your ailment was.
And as you probably know, this practice has lasted until today and is still popular.
Chakra stones, healing necklaces, jade face rollers, gem water straws – these all came
from the original healing stones way back in Egypt thousands of years ago.
7.
19th Century Surgery By far one of the worst times to need surgery
was in the 19th century.
Anybody who needed an operation before the year 1846 was in for a world of hurt.
1846 was when John Collins Warren performed the first operation using ether gas as an
anesthetic.
Before that, surgery was only used as a last resort and was terrifying.
A Scottish anatomist named John Hunter said in 1750 that surgery was a humiliating spectacle
of the futility of science.
Fanny Burney said that during her 1811 mastectomy, she let loose a scream that lasted throughout
the entirety of the incision and was surprised afterward that her horrible scream was not
still ringing in her ears.
Now when people think of the Middle Ages, and even the 17th to 19th centuries, they
don't imagine there was a whole lot of complex medical work being done.
But the truth is quite different.
There were all kinds of surgeries being performed, from tongue cancer removal to cesareans, and
even surgery to remove a woman’s breast to stop cancer.
And all of these things without any anesthesia to numb the pain.
The surgery was just horrific.
Imagine having somebody saw your arm off, cut through your foot, or remove an eyeball
– all while feeling horrible pain.
6.
Trepanation Trepanation is a fancy word for brain surgery,
and it’s been done since the Stone Age.
Archaeologists have found proof of ancient humans boring holes through skulls, likely
as part of a medical operation to relieve pressure inside the head.
The oldest evidence is about 6000 years old, and it's been a popular method ever since.
Romans and Greeks practiced trepanation, drilling holes into people's skulls to try and fix
their brains.
It probably started very early on as a kind of religious ritual, opening up the brain
so that demons possessing the victim could get out.
But eventually, people realized holes in skulls could fix things like tumors, convulsions,
epilepsy, and could even cause positive behavioral changes.
But here's what's truly interesting.
In the Middle Ages in Europe, trepanations weren't all that popular.
But they were extremely popular on the other side of the world in Peru.
Anthropologist John Verano believes the Inca came up with the idea completely by accident
when they were dressing wounds on people’s scalps.
When one of their warriors was injured, a doctor would have to pick the bones out of
cracks in the skull and things like that – and they slowly learned how treating skull fractures
could have other positive benefits.
By the time the 19th century came along, trepanation was an accepted medical practice.
It was also the beginning of neurosurgery and a more complex understanding of the human
brain.
5.
Bloodletting Bloodletting was arguably one of the most
popular medicinal practices in the Middle Ages.
As you know by now, surgery was not something you wanted to partake in.
Nobody wanted to have their limbs ripped apart by a maniac doctor who thought spirits were
flying out of people’s eyeballs.
To prevent all that misery and pain, people resorted to bloodletting instead.
Bloodletting worked something like this.
An incision was made near the part of the body that required treatment or on the very
opposite side of the affected organ.
Then came the blood.
The whole point of bleeding someone was to get out all that bad, tainted blood so that
it could be replaced by good, clean blood.
Doctors believed that making an incision and letting out a whole cup full of blood, would
take care of anything from a fever to a tooth infection.
Hypertension, pulmonary edema, inflammation of the lungs, and even prevention of disease.
Bloodletting was thought to be used for all of this stuff!
The truth is that bloodletting became so popular that barbers started practicing it.
You could go in for a haircut and get some leeches put in your private area to take care
of your most recent case of smallpox or gonorrhea.
Would you have preferred to try bloodletting or chance it with medieval surgery?
Let me know your thoughts on these crazy medical operations in the comments and don't forget
to hit subscribe before the end of the video!
4.
Too Many Charts Doctors in the Middle Ages may have been a
little strange, but they were still knowledgeable.
At least, they were as knowledgeable as anybody could be 500 to 1000 years ago.
They did understand rudimentary blood circulation, they knew some of how the body responded to
certain things, and they could identify most illnesses.
But their diagnostic techniques were still a little lacking.
Normally, they had to examine a patient's urine when looking for diseases that didn't
show signs on the outside of the body.
Then they would compare the color of their urine to a chart, which showed a whole spectrum
of hues.
Then, with the urine tested and matched up with its corresponding color, a physician
would begin treatment.
That treatment usually involved bloodletting, and also astrological charts.
Belief in astrology was universal in the medieval period.
Everyone believed beyond any doubt that the planets and stars a person was born under
had immense influence over their life, health, and personality.
Medieval physicians looked to the night skies and consulted their charts before doing any
kind of bloodletting or other treatment.
For example, if you had an issue with your feet, a physician would have to see where
Pisces was at that specific time in the night sky.
Then the doctor would calculate the celestial position, the relevant time, the exact spot
on the planet, and the recommended treatment before going ahead with anything.
3.
Medical Poop As gross as it is, humans have been using
poop in medicine for thousands of years.
And even though poop is one of the biggest spreaders of disease, it has some benefits.
Poop is still used in medicine today, though not in quite as disgusting of a way as it
used to be.
Egyptian doctors used feces to treat diseases and injuries.
Particularly, donkey dung, gazelle waste, and dog feces were all supposed to have the
best healing properties.
Not only did donkey dung have fantastic healing properties, but it was also great for warding
off evil spirits.
If you broke an arm in ancient Egypt, chances are someone was rubbing poop on the wound.
They even used crocodile dung as a form of contraception.
Moving forward into the Middle Ages, the use of poop continued.
Nosebleeds were usually treated with warm hog poop.
Even Robert Boyle, Ireland’s father of chemistry, treated cataracts in the 1600s by drying human
feces into a powder and then blowing it into his patients’ eyes.
2.
Witch Brews There was no better healing potion in medieval
Europe than a literal witch's brew.
If you had nausea, migraines, or trouble with your heart – it could all be fixed with
a magical witch potion.
The peak influence of the European witch was in the 1500s and 1600s.
That was when the Spanish were hunting down every witch they could cook up and murdering
them, while insane religious zealots in the rest of Europe and the Americas were doing
the same.
But while some people were hunting down witches and killing them, others were seeking their
medical knowledge.
There were salves and lotions that witches created that could be used as magical aids
known as flying ointments.
In the year 1545, the Spanish physician Anres Laguna gave an account of one of these ointments.
It had been discovered in the home of an elderly couple who were accused of being witches.
The brew was just an ointment made from psychotropic plant compounds such as hemlock, nightshade,
mandrake, and henbane.
These may sound magical, but they’re just plants.
Sadly, those who are persecuting witches didn't care about the healing properties of plants.
If more scientists had paid attention to what these supposed witches were doing, medical
science probably would have advanced significantly rather than stagnated for a time.
1.
The Babylonian Skull Cure The Babylonian skull cure is nothing short
of bizarre.
You see, in Babylonian society, people believed the skull of a dead person had magical powers.
In 2017, archaeologists came across ancient tablets detailing a medicinal cure that could
only happen with help from a cleaned human skull.
Now, this isn't technically in the Middle Ages – but it’s still a fantastic medical
practice that most certainly never worked.
It was used 6000 years ago in ancient Babylon, prescribed by shamans to cure a person’s
stomach ache.
If you had an issue with your digestive system, you simply needed to take the skull of a dead
person and place it against your abdomen.
But there's a catch.
The skull had to be placed correctly or there would be a disaster.
If the skull was placed too high up on the abdomen of a female, it was said her breasts
would shrink.
If it was a man, and he placed the skull too low on his abdomen, he would have penile shrinkage.
So even though holding a skull against your abdomen could make your tummy ache go away,
it was a pretty risky operation.
Which of these ancient medical practices sounds the most horrifying?
Let me know in the comments and thanks for watching.
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