Medieval Medicine and Science
During medieval times, very little was known about the human body and how it worked, because it was illegal to cut open a human body. Therefore, their treatments for illnesses and injuries rarely worked. If a person did become better, it was usually not because of their treatment, but because they naturally healed. One of the beliefs of medieval medicine was the Four Humors. The Four Humors were phlegm, blood, yellow bile, and black bile. If something was wrong with you, doctors thought it was because there was something wrong with one of your humors.
The surgeries performed during the Middle Ages were ill conceived and very dangerous. There were two different types of surgeons, the barber and more advanced surgeons. The barber would not only cut hair, like barbers today, but would pull teeth, do bloodletting, stitch wounds, and remove tumors. The more advanced surgeons could do bladder stone removals, advanced dentistry, and bone setting. Surgeries were very painful, because anesthetics were so expensive, so people would usually get drunk and bite down on a piece of wood. There were some odd cures for illnesses as well. For example, to treat a stuffy nose, you would stuff onion and mustard up your nose. Wise women, also known as midwives, were women who used natural things to cure illnesses. Because they were woman, if their techniques for healing people were odd, they could be accused of witchcraft.
Although medieval medicine was not very smart, and had little reason behind it, considering how little they knew about the human body during the Middle Ages, it had impressive parts in it. For knowing almost nothing about the human body, they still were capable of stitching wounds and pulling teeth. To today’s standards, medieval medicine was far-fetched, but it still required intelligent people to create their beliefs about the human body.
-Chloe L.
The surgeries performed during the Middle Ages were ill conceived and very dangerous. There were two different types of surgeons, the barber and more advanced surgeons. The barber would not only cut hair, like barbers today, but would pull teeth, do bloodletting, stitch wounds, and remove tumors. The more advanced surgeons could do bladder stone removals, advanced dentistry, and bone setting. Surgeries were very painful, because anesthetics were so expensive, so people would usually get drunk and bite down on a piece of wood. There were some odd cures for illnesses as well. For example, to treat a stuffy nose, you would stuff onion and mustard up your nose. Wise women, also known as midwives, were women who used natural things to cure illnesses. Because they were woman, if their techniques for healing people were odd, they could be accused of witchcraft.
Although medieval medicine was not very smart, and had little reason behind it, considering how little they knew about the human body during the Middle Ages, it had impressive parts in it. For knowing almost nothing about the human body, they still were capable of stitching wounds and pulling teeth. To today’s standards, medieval medicine was far-fetched, but it still required intelligent people to create their beliefs about the human body.
-Chloe L.