old remedies

Ancient Medicine

2006-10-03T00:57:00.000+02:00

For the art of Medicine would not have been invented at first, nor would it have been made a subject of investigation (for there would have been no need of it), if when men are indisposed, the same food and other articles of regimen which they eat and drink when in good health were proper for them, and if no others were preferable to these. But now necessity itself made medicine to be sought out and discovered by men, since the same things when administered to the sick, which agreed with them when in good health, neither did nor do agree with them. But to go still further back, I hold that the diet and food which people in health now use would not have been discovered, provided it had suited with man to eat and drink in like manner as the ox, the horse, and all other animals, except man, do of the productions of the earth, such as fruits, weeds, and grass; for from such things these animals grow, live free of disease, and require no other kind of food. And, at first, I am of opinion that man used the same sort of food, and that the present articles of diet had been discovered and invented only after a long lapse of time, for when they suffered much and severely from strong and brutish diet, swallowing things which were raw, unmixed, and possessing great strength, they became exposed to strong pains and diseases, and to early deaths.
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The Origins of the Medical Caduceus

2006-10-03T00:56:00.000+02:00

Snakes are familiar symbols of healing because of their presence on the medical caduceus, the symbol of the herald’s wand used by Hermes.
The medical caduceus originated during WWII, when medics used it as a symbol for a truce. Its association with medicine goes back even further, to ancient Greece, where the snake entwined upon a walking staff was one of the accoutrements of the healer-god Asclepius.
The Asclepian staff has often been confused with the caduceus. Both were probably symbols of truce in wartime, but the Asclepian staff entwined by only one snake is regarded by Classicists as the true symbol of the medical profession.
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Anesthesia at medieval medicine

2006-10-03T00:53:00.000+02:00

This is not to say that anesthesia was not attempted in the medieval times. Many potions were known to a medieval surgeon which were to be used during surgery. Some of the potions used to relieve pain or induce sleep during the surgery were themselves potentially lethal. For example, one of these consisted of lettuce, gall from a castrated boar, bryony, opium, henbane, and hemlock juice - the hemlock juice could easily have caused death.
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Medieval medicine

2006-09-27T01:01:00.000+02:00

During this period, medicine began to be recognized as a profession based upon formal education, standardized curriculum, and legal regulation. In some regions, physicians were required to pass examinations before beginning practice. Untrained physicians were subject to prosecution and fines, and state licensing became common. Still, not all healers were priests or scholars. Women practitioners commonly treated female patients, and although scorned by the educated physicians, uneducated surgeons and self-taught lay doctors, or "leeches", were permitted to work on both men and livestock. At the time of the Renaissance physicians and scholars began to scientifically study medicine. Many began to research human anatomy. Their discoveries corrected many of the errors that had gone undetected for centuries and were rapidly disseminated through the new invention of printing.
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Herbs as remedies

2006-09-25T23:37:00.000+02:00

Centaury Gentiana acts on the liver and kidneys, purifies the blood, and is an excellent tonic. The dried herb is given in infusion or powder, or made into an extract. It is used extensively in dyspepsia, for languid digestion with heartburn after food, in an infusion of 1 OZ. of the dried herb to 1 pint of water. When run down and suffering from want of appetite, a wineglassful of this infusion Centaury Tea - taken three or four times daily, half an hour before meals, is found of great benefit. The same infusion may also be taken for muscular rheumatism. The green herb, bruised, is reputed to be good as an application to wounds and sores. The herb is so safe that you cannot fail in the using of it, only give it inwardly for inward diseases, use it outwardly for outward diseases.

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Use of the herbs at ancient medicine

2006-09-25T15:30:00.000+02:00

Among the curatives used in ancient medicine were all types of plant, animal (all parts nearly) and mineral compounds. The use of these compounds led to an extensive compendium of curative recipes, some still available today. For example, yeast was recognized for its healing qualities and was applied to leg ulcers and swellings. Yeast's were also taken internally for digestive disorders and were an effective cure for ulcers. Herbal ingredients are common in the old medical formulations. One of frequently used herb is Sweetclower. The Yellow Sweetclover or Meliot has aromatic, emollient and carminative properties. It was formerly much esteemed in medicine as an emollient and digestive and is recommended for many complaints, the juice for clearing the eyesight, and, boiled with lard and other ingredients, as an application to wens and ulcers. More of this topic can be find at http://www.oldpreparation.com