The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-05-26
SOME MEDICAL MANIAS.
MONSTROSITIES PRESCRIBED WITH
THE PATIENTS CONSENT.

of Former Tfmes-The Press OF
America and Western Europe ON
an Eccentric Court Physician.
From the Cincinnati Enquirer.
A few months ago the hoodlums Of a
little town IN Aragon dragged an alleged
witch in a sack tnl the police scattered
the mob with the squirt OF a hand fire en-
CINE. and when the news OF the AFFAIR
reached Barcelona the Liberals Of that
semi-French city arranged a festival to
celebrate the auspicious sign OF the times.
what a step Of progress" said their or
ator. since the days when that mob
would have been headed by a procession
Of matabruXas Official witch hunters with
their inquisltorial experts and fagot con-
tractors).
In similar manner the friends OF med
ical progress ought to appreciate the
shower bath Of criticism which the press
OF American and Western Europe bestow-
ed upon the eccentric court physician OF
the Russian autocrat. Instead Of answer
ing the anxious inquiries OF the cars rel
atives. he opened every window in the
room and stamped swarm OF fiunkeys.
Get out Of this!" he growled. "the air
in here is enough to give you the chol-
era, and then proceeded TO spoil his good
work by bleeding the apopleptic emperor
within an inch Of his life. That mistake
may lead to consequences which Russian
loyalsts and French patriots will never
forgive; but what a stride Of progress
since the middle of the fourteenth cen>
fury, when Francesca de Piemonte estab-
hshed college OF surgry at Naples and
frightened his neighbors by exhibiting tre>
panned skulls, as our dentists would dis
play a collection Of slckle-rooted nolars.
In case of apoplexy the managers of that
institute would have cauterized the pa
TENTS spine almost to the bone bored his
head fun OF holes TO relieve his duh head
ache, and very likely gouged one of his
eyes out to give the law OF gravity a
chance to drain the brain Of its morbid
humors. The latter expedient was rec
commended by a number OF eminent
French and German practitioners. and
even Albrecht, the One-eyed. of Austria.
is said TO have owed his predicament 10
an operation OF that kind. The Naples
skull-borer also tried TO cure lung dis
eases by means of superheated vapors.
and administered serpents internally In
smallpox, though he hesitated to adopt the
smallpox patients with mixture of oil
and viper poison to rout the microbes. or
what he called the invisible demons of the
epidemic.
The homicidal tendency Of such methods
was, however modified by the law Of
ser preservation that would warn in
Valids to take refuge In the woods and
mountains, rather than fall into the
hands of a heroic-remedy doctor. and loss
afT0riOug ineanfffaa In,
nave done a much greater amount of
actual mischief
The idea that the disorder OF the human
organism are due to the presence of de-
mons was by no means confined 10 the
Christian nations of the middle ages. and
agreed so perfectly with the bias of pop
ular superstition that thousands Of in
Valids OF all creeds and countries Jour
neyed TO Bagdad where Honain Rem
Ishak. famous physician OF the ninth
century drove out devils by means of
maladorous fumes
A mixture Of garlic and wool thus
cured a wealthy magnate from Georgia
Con the southern slopes Of the Caucasus).
who presented the specialist with his own
weight in silver. and merely lamented
the perversity of the female mind when
one of his favorite slaves failed to re-
cover her health under the influence of
thought, must be attributed to her lack
of faith, and the royal patron Of Honain.
indeed, ordered the arrest Of several mis-
creants who had ventured to express a
doubt In the infallibllity Of the great
The pilgrims to the shrine
of that turbane1 Aesculapius often sue
cumbed to the fatigues OF the overland
journey, or returned before they had OBJ
tanned a snlff of his specifics bewaillng
their fate as If they had been Obliged
to turn back from the threshold of the
promised land. Abdul Abbus Ben Mer-
van Iben Serachi made out prescriptions
almost as long as his name, and com
pounded on the principle that the demons
of serious disorders can be dislodged only
by the most unpalatable substances of
materia medca. He too, was consulted
by converts from all parts OF the Med
iterranean coastlands, but ultimately fell
a victim to the Nemesis of Faith. In sg9
the Calph ell Motathed tried a specially
nauseous mixture which one Of his court
iers had recommended as a cure for indi-
gestion, and Immediately ordered the ex-
ecution of the responsible inventor, who
happened to be the illustrious A. A. b.
NJ. l. s. His disciples tried to revive his
system for the benefit of mankind, but
the public continued to lament the death
of the great master. and even consump-
tiyes had to content themselves with
such feeble limitations of the original spe-
cifcs as decoctions or NORWOOD mixed
with turpentine.
Further west the exponents Of the heal
ing art at first limited themselves to sym
pathetic prescriptions. Nicolas de Reg
gio recommended the Psalms of David to
facilitate the labors Of childbirth, and Jo-
hannes Menardus kept a curious collec-
ton of parchments inscribed with mystic
names, unknown to historians, but hign-
" efficacious as rheumatism charms In
the form Of amulers, worn about the Joints
of the afflicted parts. Wounds were cured
with a list Of saints and pagan dieties
("Saturn excepted, because he devours
children'D, or, double, crosses one for
the physical. the other for the moral part
Of the affection, in cases where the indig-
nifty of an assault had preyed upon the
mind of the patient.
All remedies of that sort were, however
far eclipsed by the famous "weapon-oint-
ment" "A friar, returning from the east,
we are told, brought the recipe to Eu-
rope somewhat before the beginning Of
the seventeenth century. The Grand Duke
of Florence, in which city the friar was
residing. heard of his cures, and tried
but without success, to obtain his secret
Sir Kenelm Digby an Englishman we'll
known to fame, was fortunate enough to
do him favor, which wrought upon his
feelings and induced him to impart to his
benefactor the composition Of this extra
ard F,a