The Sunday telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1914-1927, 1916-02-13
BROTH FROM SKULLS
PRESCRIBED FOR KING
Victims of Medical Ignorance
Years Ago Must Have
Been Enormous.

BALTIMORE, Feb. 12.-Medicine is
a progressive science and it will con-
tinue to progress. 1t seems remark
able in this age of fresh air faith that
when British physician arose in the
year 1859 to address his fellow sur
geons on the value Of fresh air to sick
persons the learned doctors hooted
and catcalled so vehemently that he
lad to sit down. And when he had
been thus discounted the assembled
physicians adopted resolution that
in future the officials Of that society
of physicians and surgeons should see
to it that no more such nonsense was
ever Offered from their PLATFORM.
But in 1869, says the Sun, vast
strides had been made in knowledge
of the human body and disease over
such knowledge as obtained 200 or
800 years ago.
Then, q few "simples" we're under
stood in rather crude and uncouth
way by small number Of herbalists,
and among these "simples" were sem
ma, gentian, NORWOOD, rhubarb and
few Others, but the medical prac-
titioners Of those remote times put
more faith in the efficacy Of dried
toad for fever. dried lungs Of the fox
for coughs, colds and consumption,
norwhales horn for wasting diseases
and as a tonic, live spider rolled in
pill OF butter and swallowed as a
remedy for jaundice. Poultces made
from snails and toads were in high
medical repute, and the practitioners
were regarded with marked esteem,
because of their professional and sci
entitic attainments.
1t is related that when King Charles
II was on his death bed. suffering from
what has come to be believed was a
paralytic stroke, he was made to swal-
low broth from human skulls, be-
sides having hot irons placed against
his head and being profusely bled.
Fever patients were almost suffocated
by bedclothcs and kept in hot and
almost alright room, and in John
Evelyn's journal he notes his belief
that this method OF treating fever
killed one OF his children. The num-
Der of victims Of medical ignorance
must have been enormous.
About the middle of the seven
teenth century one of the few learned
men of the time-Sydenham-proposed
that Peruvian bark. then recently in
troduced into England from Spain,
should be used against feyers. He
met with about the same kind and
quantity of opposition as did the Eng
'lish physician who talked about the
virtues of fresh air in 1863.
The skulls Of men had great place
in the materla medica of three cen,
turtles ago. The skulls OF criminals
who had been hanged were in espe-
cial demand and were ground into
powder, stepped in spirits and served
as one OF the most precious Of pre-
scriptions, especially, according to
the Paracelsan theory, for ailments
of the head.
Even in the seventeenth and eight
eenth centuries there was belief that
dead bodies had medicinal virtues and
mummies were obtained and ground
to powder for making brews and
broths and terrible decoctions. 1t was
said that the mummies for this in
dustry were obtained in Egypt.
The earthwOrm, or the common fish
ing worm, was utilized by the medical
practitioners in Europe two and three
hundred years ago. The worms were
sometimes made into syrup or broth
for internal administration, and some-
times made into an ointment or en-
brocation for external use.
There was q much truer knowledge
of the human body among the civil
lied peoples Of 1000 and 5000 years
before the Christian era, and even OF
more remote eras, than in the Europe
of Shakespeare and Milton. Medical
and surgical learning persisted with
the other arts and sciences OF AS
syria, Persia, Egypt, Greece and Rome.
At Johns Hopkins University is q
collection of surgical instruments OF
from 1900 to 2,1O0 years ago, UNI
earthed at Kolojhon, in lonia, and
among the mare knives for various
operations, including abdominal sec
ton; forceps for the removal Of poly
pus and or narrow and lance heads,
apparatus for elevating a crushed
skull, and drill bow for trepanning
a skull, an operation common in
classic times.
Among the ancient beliefs that are
present today are the wearing of
amulets, the use of charms and in
a..a ia In ,,innr nm ~ hands