U for Unusual: Female Scientists Before Our Time

 
UNUSUAL SCIENCE, BELIEFS, 
AND PRACTICES IN THE PAST

•  Trepanation – drilling holes in the skull to cure various ailments; some believed to release evil spirits. Perhaps the oldest surgery in history, dating back to 6500 BC. 

The Extraction of the Stone of Madness
-Hieronymus Bosch painting

• Sickness – ancient Egyptians considered it a punishment sent by the gods; or an attack by angered ghost or demon.

• Mercury for health – ancient Persians, Greeks and Chinese used it for health, as a common elixir and topical medicine; death from liver and kidney damage was common when ingested. 

• Bloodletting – withdrawal of blood to cure or prevent disease. A practice dating back to Egypt 1000 BC.

Ancient Greek painting on a vase, showing 

a physician (iatros) bleeding a patient

• Animal Dung Ointments – all types of dung, a cure-all for disease and injury. Ancient Egyptians swore by it. Might have had some antibiotic benefit. 

• Cannibal Cures – “corpse medicine” from ground-up mummies, human flesh, blood, or bone and believed to be magical. Practiced by Romans and the English. Thought to cure headaches, ulcers, epilepsy, etc. Practice lasted for years. 

• Wandering Womb – ancient Greeks believed the womb was a separate creature. Had a mind of its own and could escape from the body and have a ‘walk-a-bout’. Women were told to marry young and bear lots of children to prevent.

• Hernia cures for infants – have one small green lizard bite the child! Then hang the lizard up over smoke until it dies. 

• Infant’s first words – If the baby says “ny” it will live. If the baby says “mebi” it will die. Belief dates back to 1550 BC.

Source:
http://www.ancient.eu/article/49/
http://www.history.com/news/history-lists/7-unusual-ancient-medical-techniques
https://www.bustle.com/articles/182891-7-bizarre-beliefs-about-babies-children-from-ancient-history

Mercy Ship Expedition - Darkness and Light: One Nurse's Story

My friend Marilyn is off on another 
Mercy Ship adventure in Africa. Those 
who followed her story before on the 
Africa Mercy know that Marilyn is a 
volunteer nurse on a hospital ship that 
sails the African coast in search of patients. 
She emails me and I share her post with you. 
I hope you enjoy! 


 "Darkness and Light" (04-05-17)
 
West Africa seems to me to be a place where superstition and witch
doctors thrive alongside western medicine and Christianity, sometimes
mixed together, never too far apart. Today, our eye team saw a
heart-wrenching example in the clinic. A little boy, maybe aged 4,
developed a fever. Malaria? Who knows? The mother took him to two
hospitals, but they didn't help him. Not sure why...maybe she couldn't
pay? So she took him to her neighbor, a witch doctor. He had the child
walk barefoot on hot coals, which burned his feet severely. He fell
down, so he burned his hands and body also. Then the witch doctor
poured acid in his eyes. Strange cure for a fever, if you ask me. Now
the mother brought her son to us, hoping that we could repair his
eyes...but they were completely destroyed.

Sometimes the darkness in this culture is very dark. I can only imagine
the anguish that that poor mom feels, seeing her son destroyed. I
wonder what the witch doctor feels. Is he so evil that the suffering he
inflicts doesn't move him, or is he so bound by superstition that he
thinks that he is doing good? There are things in this culture that I
simply don't understand. The prevalence and persistence of witchcraft
is one of them. It seems so obviously evil to me. I suppose consulting
a witch doctor is a little like a "hail Mary" in football--not likely to
help, but when you are desperate and have no other options, you try it
anyway. 

On a brighter note, another 15 people received their sight today, and 15
more are scheduled for tomorrow. 'Tis but a drop in the ocean of need,
but this ship signifies hope and help for the people of Benin, and they
know it. To end with an amusing observation: My co-worker is a very black, very
British woman from England. People from West Africa readily identify
white people as foreigners, but they are confounded by the idea of a
black foreigner. How could she not speak their language? Surely she
comes from Kenya or Uganda or somewhere. She should go home to her
tribe and learn her own language. It leads to some hilarious moments
when patients persist in turning to her to translate for them--surely
she speaks at least one of the local languages. If not Fon, then
Mina... Even the day crew that have been working with her for months
find it amusing that her native language is English.

Marilyn