Wondering how far medicine has advanced (Part 2)

As I promised you on last Tuesday's blog posting, that I would continue further on that subject and I always try to keep my word.  So here is part 2.  Will there be a part 3?  Maybe, but not sure when.  But first let me get off the subject some.  I listed some medical uses of mummies.  But did you know that they were so plentiful that they even used them for fuel for their locomotives instead of hard to find coal or wood?  Yep, even Mark Twain saw this on his trip through Egypt and he claims he heard an engineer call out. "Damn these plebeians, they don't burn worth a cent!  Pass out a King!"

Here are some interesting medical cures that no most doctors of today do not recommend or prescribe:

  For a plague sore - cut a live pigeon in half and apply half to the sore to draw out the venom.
  For headache - apply the noose of a hanged man.
  For gout - take rasping from a hanged man's skull.
  As a snuff - snort moss from a hanged man's skull.
  As an unguent - apply baby's fat.
  For satyriasis (the male version of nymphomania) - "leap into a great vessel of cold water or put nettles in the codpiece."

Now I am not sure if any of the above would work, except maybe for the last one.  That would definitely cure what ailed that guy!!

Other unusual medicines were made from lice, the tale of a lizard, preparations of toad, unicorn's horn, bezoar (a stone supposedly found in the stomach of an Asian goat), and a lot more stuff I am not going to list here; I am already getting sick. . .

Strange medical cures were not only the "in" thing back then but in recent times.  In the 1950's they used radiation for a lot of things.  It was thought to be the new cure all.  I know from experience.  The doctor ordered X-ray treatments on my tonsils and adenoids to burn them out.  The doctor said it would take a lot of "treatments".  After the second one, seeing all the protective gear and how careful the technician was to avoid the X-rays, my Mom stopped the process after the second visit.  Thanks Mom!!  Of course some good may have come from completing the X-ray treatments.  I could save on electricity the rest of my life since I would glow in the dark (grin).  Now, it makes me wonder if what the physicians are practicing today will be deemed witchcraft tomorrow. . . Now, stay away from doctors and have yourself a very great day, you hear?