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Head Cold
By Madeline | January 3, 2008
I’ve come down with one of those fabulous winter colds which is why I haven’t been able to post for a couple of days (combined with the holiday insanity, of course). And I began thinking to myself, if I were back in the Tudor days how could I ease my cold?
First of all, I would probably be sick because my four humors were out of wack (wet, dry, hot and cold) and they were probably off because I did something bad and God was punishing me for my actions. In order to alleviate me of my ailment, they would most likely engage in blood letting, a common bedside ‘fix’ most doctors did then. Apothecaries did actually sell items that the wealthy could take to alleviate their symptoms. The nobles assumed the more expensive the item, the better it worked and so some pills were even wrapped in gold! At least you’d get it back eventually, huh?
As if blood letting weren’t already causing a sick body harm, a lot of the remedies could really open a person up to even more sickness. Among many favorites were dung and piss of animals, pretty much anything from a pregnant woman from her urine to breast milk, pretty much anything from a virgin woman like her hair and all different kinds of blood from animals. While some of this was rubbed on the body, some of it was actually consumed in a broth or medicine. Another favorite was administering laxitives to completely expunge your body of, well…everything.
It really is quite humorous when you think about it. Imagine going to your hospital because of a cold or flu and the doctor on staff comes in and immediately gives you a couple of laxitives to clean you out. Once the laxitives have done their work, he cuts you open and lets you bleed into a bowl, feeds you a couple of gold plated pills and then gives you a nice broth of goose dung in bull’s blood and rubs you down with a pregnant woman’s pee. Wow - imagine the lawsuit that would create!
Topics: Tudor Era |
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