Evening bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1895-1912, 1900-03-10
HORRIBLE REMEDIES
THOSE USED eY DOCTORS IN THE
slxTeENTH CENTURY.

Ratients Cast Inio wells 20 Cure
ConNuisi0us--A Ladder tsrd In Set
ting a Disiocutrd shnuIdcr-Dend
nodicS Made Into Medicine.
A fragment Of n curious volume has
y2llen into the hands Of local physi-
p0u which graphically describes the
1sthods Of surgery OF several centuries
40 When !, is considered that anTs.
9aetlcs were unknown in those ancient
days, the modus opcrandi of the sur
geOn OF the sixteenth century must ap-
pear startlingly cruel in the light Of
abe present day.
The work Is that of Ambrose parey,
who in 1879, being then the much IA
nous "chlrurgion" of his day. publish
al bulky volume which became such
20 established authority and held its
g,lace for so long time that 20 years
Eftcrward II was translated into Eng
Dish and published In London.
10 his first book he considers the gen.
--ai phenomenon of the body in health
and disease. and in the chapter relat-
Sns to tcmperamcnts and humors he
writes, IAN humor Is called by physl-
rians what thing soevcr Is liquid and
flowing In the body Of living creatures
Enclosed with blood" Proceeding to
She manifold divisions of humors,"
he separates them into four parts, dis
tinct in color. taste, effects and quail
sies-namcly, blood, phlcgm, choler and
melancholy. Exact in his subdivisions,
ne says: "All men ought to think that
such humors are wont TO move at set
hpurs of the day as by a certain pc
guitar motion or tide. Therefore, the
hl,.sd flows from the ninth hour of the
night to the third hour of the day;
melancholy the blood flows from the
ninth hour of the night is under the
@Oiuinlon of phlegm."
Equally curious Is the following OH
spirits, which he divides into "aui-
maR" vital" and "naturnll:"
THE animal spirit hath taken his
seat in the brain. 1t Is called animal
Because 1t is the life. but the chief and
crime instrument thereof. Wherefore
Z hath most subtle and acry sub.
FaGuce. This animal spirit Is made
and harbOrCd in the wlndlngs and fold
.ngs OF the veins and arteries of the
brain. brought thither sometimes of
The pure air or sweet vapor drawn In
by the nose in breathing. The vital
splrit is next TO it in dignity and ex-
cellency, which hath its chief mansion
IN the left vcntrcle of the heart. The
natural spirit. II such there be any,
satb its station in the liver and veins"
Describing certain juggling and de.
ceittul ways of healing Of cures by
Huch means as fear, surprise and even
W music for spider bite, the music
causing the patient to dance so Justify
That he shakes all the poison out Of his
system" he sums up some Of those
heroic remedies thus: II would not
cast the patient headlong out OF q
window, but would rather cast then
Sodalnly. and thinking Of no sucl
ching. into n great cistern filed will
cold water. with their heads foremost
Neither would ! take them out unit
they had drunk a good quantity o
water. that by that sodain fall ant
strong fear the matter causing tn
rreazy might be carried from abov
downward from the noble parts to tn
tguoble."
4 medicine upon which he dilates q
great length Is "mummle," referred I
as the usual remedy for Commissions
and he describes 1t as follows:
-aummie Is n liquor flowing frol
The aromatick cmbalmcns of dead bot
Ses, which becomes dry and hard" IN
being ground into medicine was "a
Yniuisrcred either in whole or porto
20 such rs have fallen from hii
places. the first and last medicine
almost all our practitioners mt this da
In such q case"
lie also gives some grewsome fac
connected with the preparation I
"Inummie'.' when he says: Certain
our French apothecarlcs, men wo
drous audaclous and cOvetOus to ste
by night the bodies of such as we
hanged and cmbalming them with 50
and drugs they dried them In an ov,
so as to sell them thus ndultcrated l.
stead of true mummle, whercupon "
are thus compelled, both fOOlishly m
cruclly. to dcyour the mangled NJ
pqtrid particles of the carcasScs Of Il
basest people of Egypt, or of such
are hanged. as though there were
other way to help or recover one bru
ed with a fall from n high place.
Il have not thought II fit In Il
place." he says, ITO omit the indust
Of Nicholas Picart. the Duke OF Guis
lt..1
rain countryman to set his should'
being out Of joint, and finding none
the place besides the patient and
wife. who might assist him In Il
work, he put the patient. bound aft
she aforementioned manner to ladd,
then Immediately he tyed static