3 ms·

American Indians and Europeans have/had radically different cultures. "Magic" and "medicine" have been distinct for thousands of years in Europe.

lioeters 6y ago
> "Magic" and "medicine" have been distinct for thousands of years in Europe. Medicine and magic have been intertwined throughout human history, all over the world. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Materia_medica https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Materia_medica
- yesenadam 6y ago
  Not sure why you linked to that page, as it doesn't mention magic at all, unless I missed it, apart from this in the first paragraph: "The Ebers papyrus is an ancient recipe book dated to approximately 1552 BC. It contains a mixture of magic and medicine with invocations to banish disease and a catalogue of useful plants, minerals, magic amulets and spells." Materia medica was the old term for what is now pharmacology.
  - simonh 6y ago
    There's also this bit on Egyptian medicine: "It contains a mixture of magic and medicine with invocations to banish disease and a catalogue of useful plants, minerals, magic amulets and spells." So it doesn't, except when it does. I'd also argue a lot of medicine employed 'magical thinking' such as efficacy from similarity. Herbs were recommended based on their physical similarity to organs or parts of the body. I don't think it's pejorative of early practitioners to point this out. Until empiricism and experimentalism there was no way to reliably clarify what worked and why.
    - yesenadam 6y ago
      > There's also this bit on Egyptian medicine: > "It contains a mixture of magic and medicine with invocations to banish disease and a catalogue of useful plants, minerals, magic amulets and spells." The sentence you seem to be saying I missed is one of the two I quoted. > So it doesn't, except when it does. Please don't do that on HN.

3 ms·

American Indians and Europeans have/had radically different cultures. "Magic" and "medicine" have been distinct for thousands of years in Europe.

by ARandomerDude 6y ago

lioeters 6y ago
> "Magic" and "medicine" have been distinct for thousands of years in Europe. Medicine and magic have been intertwined throughout human history, all over the world. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Materia_medica https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Materia_medica
- yesenadam 6y ago
  Not sure why you linked to that page, as it doesn't mention magic at all, unless I missed it, apart from this in the first paragraph: "The Ebers papyrus is an ancient recipe book dated to approximately 1552 BC. It contains a mixture of magic and medicine with invocations to banish disease and a catalogue of useful plants, minerals, magic amulets and spells." Materia medica was the old term for what is now pharmacology.
  - simonh 6y ago
    There's also this bit on Egyptian medicine: "It contains a mixture of magic and medicine with invocations to banish disease and a catalogue of useful plants, minerals, magic amulets and spells." So it doesn't, except when it does. I'd also argue a lot of medicine employed 'magical thinking' such as efficacy from similarity. Herbs were recommended based on their physical similarity to organs or parts of the body. I don't think it's pejorative of early practitioners to point this out. Until empiricism and experimentalism there was no way to reliably clarify what worked and why.
    - yesenadam 6y ago
      > There's also this bit on Egyptian medicine: > "It contains a mixture of magic and medicine with invocations to banish disease and a catalogue of useful plants, minerals, magic amulets and spells." The sentence you seem to be saying I missed is one of the two I quoted. > So it doesn't, except when it does. Please don't do that on HN.