Before modern medicine lay people and some physicians held the belief that transferring the ailment to another object could cure you of disease. Since antiquity, and well into the eighteenth century, people believed that men reflected aspects of the natural world. It was a dominant strategy that explained the mysteries beyond the ken of the science of the day.
A man in late seventeenth century Somerset claimed that his brother was cured of a rupture by being passed through a slit cut in a young ash tree, three times on three Monday mornings before dawn. When the tree was later cut down, his brother grew ill again.
To cure jaundice, you took the patient’s urine, mix it with ashes and make three equal balls. Put these before a fire, and when they dried out, the disease leaves and he’s cured.
In Devon, to cure the quartan ague, you baked the patient’s urine into a cake, then fed the cake to a dog, who would take on the disease.
Color as well played a part in how health was viewed. "Yellow" remedies were used to cure jaundice: saffron, celandine with yellow flowers, turmeric, and lemon rind. John Wesley, who wrote Primitive Physick, in the mid-eighteenth century, suggested that sufferers of this illness wear celandine leaves under their feet.
Health was also governed by astrological explanations. Manuals intended for physicians and apothecaries included this "otherwordly" advice. Nicholas Culpeper detailed which herbs were presided over by which planets in his famous health text, Culpeper’s Complete Herbal. For example, if a headache was caused by the actions of Venus, then fleabane (an herb of Mars) would cure the malady.
Thank goodness more enlightened physicians, such as brothers William (a leading anatomist and renown obstetrician) and John Hunter (one of the most distinguished scientists and surgeons of his day) in the eighteenth century, came along to bring medical thinking into the modern world.
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| William Hunter |
Information taken from, Patients, Power, and the Poor in Eighteenth Century Bristol, by Mary E. Fissell, 1991.
For more on myths and superstition, check out my novel Ring of Stone, where the myths of a stone ring in remote Cornwall may save a life while destroying another.
To learn more about my novels: http://www.dianescottlewis.org
Fascinating, Diane. It's a wonder the human race survived long enough to move into the "modern" era of medicine. Which always reminds me of Bones McCoy in the 4th Star Trek movie (The Voyage Home), when he encounters some medical practices in the 1960s. "Dialysis...chemo therapy! What is this, the Dark Ages?"
ReplyDeleteVery interesting, and yes, it's a wonder people lived to tell the tale. Thank heavens for modern medicine. I recall in one movie I watched (forgotten which one) a woman was having a caesarian without any form of anesthetic. I seem to recall she died but the baby survived.
ReplyDeleteJust checked this out! I'm always amazed by the resilience of the human body, and how some people survived repeated bouts of bleeding, cupping, blistering etc. and got better anyway. I've read that George Washington was probably bled to death by his helpful doctors. I know they bled Mozart repeatedly too--which probably didn't do a man in kidney failure much good.
ReplyDeleteAnyhow, nice post!
Since I often use medical things in my stories when writing about nurses and doctors or using medicine in more odd and strange ways I'm always fascinated with medicine new and old. Have done research on a lot of eras.
ReplyDeleteThanks everyone for commenting. I was out of town during this post, and wanted to drop back and show my appreciation.
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