2 ms·
Beautiful article! This stuck out at me: > Physicians of the era were ignorant of the cause and often did more harm than good, administering remedies like lee
by tonyarkles 10y ago
Beautiful article!
This stuck out at me:
> Physicians of the era were ignorant of the cause and often did more harm than good, administering remedies like leeches or turpentine enemas. Some doctors recommended divers might take “some therapeutic Cognac” upon resurfacing, a stiff drink being a common treatment for misunderstood maladies.
Ok, leaches, I kind of get. "Therapeutic Cognac", ok, I've had my share of therapeutic whisky after hurting myself. But... turpentine enema? Really? I just can't imagine an illness that would be cured by squirting turpentine up someone's butt.
- ethbro 10y agoTwo points are relevant. One, against what alternatives was a turpentine enema competing. A man was dying. What are you going to do, if you don't know what to do? Two, this was still the turmoil of technological advances created by the Industrial Revolution being applied to medicine. One could say the Enlightenment (18th century) was the catalyst, but it took time for those changes to wash over all fields, particularly with reference to an ever increasing technological state of the art. The Nick is an interesting show, albeit set a bit later at the dawn of the 20th century, that grapples with the same themes. 'If the best training we have suggests one course of action, but technology enables another that seems it would be better, which do I choose?' https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Knick https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Knick
- kevin_thibedeau 10y agoMiasma theory still had its adherents 100 years ago.