Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1900-10-10
HORRIBLE REMEDIES
THOSE USED BY DOCTORS IN THE
SIXTEENTH CENTURY.

Patients Cast Into Wells to Cure
Convulsions-A Ladder Used In set-
ting Dislocnted shouldcr-Dond
bodies Made Into Medicine.
A fragment of n curious volume has
fallen into the hands of local phys-
clan which graphically describes the
methods of surgery OF several centuries
ago. When 1t Is considered that nnns-
thetics were unknown in those ancient
days, the modus cpcrandi of the sur
gcon OF the siXteen,h century must ap-
pear startllngly cruel in the light Of
the present day.
The work Is that of Ambrose Parey,
who In 1870 being then the much fu-
nous 'chirurgion" OF his day, publish
ed bulky volume which became such
an established authority and held It's
place for so long time that 20 years
aftcrward 1t was translated into Eng
lish and published in London.
III his first book he considers the gen.
eral phenomenon of the body in health
and disease, and IN the chapter relnt-
Ing to tempcramcnts and humors he
writes, can humor is called by physi-
CLANS what thing soever is liquid and
inclosed with blood" Proceeding to
tho manifold divisions of humors,"
he separates them into four parts, dis
tinct In color, taste, effects and quail
tics-namcly, blood, phlcgm, cholcr and
melancholy. Exact in his subdivisions,
he says: "All men ought to think that
such humors are wont to move at set
hours of the day rs by a certain pc
culiar motion or tide. Therefore, the
blood flows from the ninth hour Of the
night to the third hour OF the day;
cholcr to the ninth of the day. Then
melancholy the blood flows from The
ninth hour Of the night Is under the
dominion of phlcgm."
Equally curious is the following on
spirits, which he divides into "ani-
mall" "vitall' and "naturnll:"
"Ihe animal spirit hath taken his
seat in the brain. 1t is called animal
because 1t IS the life, out the chief ana
prime instrument thereof. Wherefore
1t hath n most subtle ana acry sub
stance. This animal spirit is made
and harborcd in the windings and fold
ings Of the veins and arteries OF tie
brain, brought thither sometimes Of
the pure mir or sweet vnpor drawn in
by the nose In breathing. The vital
spirit is next to 1t in dignity and ex-
ccllency, which hath It's chief mansion
in the left vcntriclc of the heart. The
natural spirit, If such there be any,
hath its station In the liver and veins"
Describing certain Juggling and de-
ceitful ways Of healing OF cures by
such means as fear, surprise and even
by 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: 81 would not
cast the patient hcadlong out Of
window, but would rather cast them
sodainly, and thinking of no such
thing, into n great cistcrn filed with
cold water, with their heads foremost.
Neither would l take them out until
they had drunk good quantity OF
water, Tint by that solain fall and
strong fear the matter causing the
frenzy might be carried from above
downward from the noble parts to the
ignoblc."
a medicine upon which he dilatcs at
great length IS 'mummie," referred to
as the usual remedy for contusions,
and he describes it rs follows:
"Mummic is n liquor flowing from
the aromntick cmbamens of dead bod
les, which becomes dry and hard' ana
being ground into medicine was "ad-
ministercd either in whole or portion
to such as have fallen from high
places, the first and last medicine OF
almost all our practitioners at this day
in such case"
He also gives some grcwsomc facts
connected With the preparation Of
"mummie" whom he says: Certain of
our French npothccarics, men won
drOus audacious and covctous to steal
by night the bodies of such as were
hanged and cmDalming tn"rl with salt
and drugs they dried them I'm an oven
so as to sell them thus a1ultcratcd In
stead Of true mummic, whcrcupon we
arc thus compelled, both foolishly and
cruclly, to dcvour the manglcd and
putrid particles Of the carcasscs of the
Dascst people Of Egypt, or of such as
are hanged, as though there were no
other way to help or recover one bruis
ed with fail from high place.
81 have not thought it fit in this
place" he says, "to omit the industry
of Nicholas l'icart, the Duke Of GuSc
his surgeon, who, being called to n ccr
tain countryman to set his shoulder,
being out of joint, ana finding none in
the place besides the patient and his
wife, who might assist him In this
work, he put the patient, bound after
the aforementioned manner, TO ladder,
then Immediately lie tycd a static at
the lower end of the lignturc which
was fastened about the PATIENTS arm
above his elbow, then put ii so tycd I'M
der one Of the steps of the ladder as
low as he could and got aStridc there
upon and safe thereon with his whole
weight ana at the same instant made
his wife pluck the stool from under his
feet, which, being done, the bone pres
emily came into It's place"
He also gravcly discusses witches
and witchcraft, the birth of monsters
with horns, hoofs and wings nscribinx
their birth to the master Of evil, aud
closes with a lofty pancgyric upon llip.
pocratcs and Galcn, the princes Of ply.
sicians,- Cincinnati Enquirer.
Better Nnmc.