Bizarre and strange medical beliefs from past ages and the medieval?

[Henry]

I hope it would be obvious, but let's go ahead and disclaimer that NONE OF THE INFORMATION IN THIS THREAD SHOULD BE CONSIDERED OFFICIAL MEDICAL ADVICE. If anyone reading this were to get any ideas about using any of the info in this thread for real, PLEASE CONSULT YOUR REGULAR PHYSICIAN FIRST.

It may sound silly, but I just don't want anyone showing up later claiming that they lost their eye/limb/heart/lungs/brain due to unsound medical advice, or something they misunderstood.

Thanks,all. Keep on with the info, because this is some good stuff!

Henry, Moderator

 

[orchid blossom]

Leeches are also good for clearing up bruises I understand.

In our game, our DM had the doctors using leeches on a poisoned NPC. He ruled it actually worked since they were bleeding him and then casting cure light wounds to replace the lost blood. After several hours of this, most of the poison was out of the body and the NPC recovered.

 

[Carnifex]

Some good stuff here! Any more for any more?

 

[Carnifex]

Oh dear, mass silliness has beset the boards as the clock has screwed up I try to bump this thread and it appears near the *bottom* of the first page rather than shifting up to the very top.

Time warp!

 

[RithTheAwakener]

Well, back to trephanation, the cro magnon people used to do this a loooong time ago. That would most definately suck to have your skull carved into by a stone blade... instant cure for a headache is more pain...

 

[Deadguy]

Regarding the Black Death:

Though there were many different beliefs espoused for its causes across Europe, one that I like was the spread of a miasma from the East. Stories circulated of a great rift in the earth, far away in China, wherefrom a toxic cloud arose, and was born by teh winds steadily westwards.

A ridiculous idea, of course, but it was an attempt by the learned folk of the day to explain why the plague spread steadily westwards over time.

Naturally so terrible a disease demanded extreme cures. A good many physicians attempted to concoct a curative based on mercury. As has been commented, it was fortunate that the plague still killed you so fast, since the ineffective mercury was itself a potent chronic poison!

As has been suggested, you can simulate a great deal of mediaeval medicine by applying the Laws of Sympathy and Contagion. Just pick something (or several things) that suggest the disease iteself, and work out some way to 'apply' it. I can imagine, for example, an application of Gelatinous Ooze Paste to treat Slimy Doom (since both dissolve you). Of course, since this is a magical world, these things might actually work! If you want to make more or Heal as a skill, then ideas like these provide alternatives to clerical healing.

 

[Dogbrain]

A Pope protected himself from Plague by means of sitting between two blazing bonfires at all times. He didn't get Plague, but I think that it was more a matter of the "nobody, not even the rats, likes audiences with the Pope between blazing bonfires".

 

[Dogbrain]

Regarding miasma: It was also blamed for malaria (mal-aria: bad air), which was rampant throughout Europe from time to time until all those fens got drained. As late as the 19th century (pre-Pasteur), an attempt at a "cure" was invented in the USA--that attempt was air conditioning. Didn't work, but it did turn out to be profitable.

 

[gregweller]

There was the idea that 'hysteria' was caused by the uterus detaching and moving throughout the body.

 

[Jkhrms3g]

Resources for medieval magic.

You might want to pick up a book on leechcraft.

Leechcraft is not about leeching. Leech comes from Old English word leich. I think it means charms or something.

Leechcraft involved charms or galdor. Using spoken charms and ritual a leech would heal the patient. Used herbs, rituals involving prayers to the gods and charms which were like magical spells. When Christianity came to Anglo-Saxon England (about 8th-11th Century), the leeches began using prayers and charms to the Christian God.

There are quite a few scholarly books out there on leechcraft:

One is Leechcraft by Anglo-Saxon Books. (Look for it in a library, as it is quite expensive at $49.99 US.)

Another is Popular Religion in Anglo-Saxon England. Focusing on elf charms and other healing methods for illnesses and madness. (Elves, dwarfs, and other spirits were considered the cause of illness).

Finally there is Witchcraft Medicine which is good for herbalism.

-Hoodooman7s