History
of Medicine Books
Our
understanding of prehistoric medical practice is from
the study of ancient pictographs that show medical procedures,
as well as the surgical tools uncovered from anthropological
sites of ancient societies.
Serious diseases were of primary interest to early humans,
although they were not able to treat them effectively.
Many diseases were attributed to the influence of malevolent
demons who were believed to project an alien spirit,
a stone, or a worm into the body of the unsuspecting
patient. These diseases were warded off by incantations,
dancing, magic charms and talismans, and various other
measures. If the demon managed to enter the body of
its victim, either in the absence of such precautions
or despite them, efforts were made to make the body
uninhabitable to the demon by beating, torturing, and
starving the patient. The alien spirit could also be
expelled by potions that caused violent vomiting, or
could be driven out through a hole cut in the skull.
This procedure, called trepanning, was also a remedy
for insanity, epilepsy, and headache.
Surgical
procedures practiced in ancient societies included cleaning
and treating wounds by cautery (burning or searing tissue),
poultices, and sutures, resetting dislocations and fractures,
and using splints to support or immobilize broken bones.
Additional therapy included laxatives and enemas to
treat constipation and other digestive ills. Perhaps
the greatest success was achieved by the discovery of
the narcotic and stimulating properties of certain plant
extracts. So successful were these that many continue
to be used today, including digitalis, a heart stimulant
extracted from foxglove.
Several
systems of medicine, based primarily on magic, folk
remedies, and elementary surgery, existed in various
diverse societies before the coming of the more advanced
Greek medicine about the 6th century bc.
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