Shocking medicine of the 18th and 19th centuries in Western Europe. Tobacco enema

Sometimes it can work wonders. Injuries, illnesses and various disorders always have survival rate, indicating the likelihood of whether a person will survive.

For example, when falling from a height of 150 meters, the mortality rate is 99.9 percent.

Here is a small percentage of cases where people managed to survive against all odds. Such cases in medicine are called nothing less than miracles, and although they are not that common, they do happen.

1. A metal rod pierced through a man’s head

A case of survival Phineas Gage(Phineas Gage), which occurred back in the 19th century, is still considered a miracle. At the time, this incident was not only incredible, but also helped doctors understand how brain injuries affect physical and mental health.

In 1848, Gage was working as a railroad construction worker when an explosion caused a metal rod more than 1 meter long passed through his skull. The doctors managed to pull out the rod, but the man experienced paralysis on the left side of his face and certain mental changes occurred.

2. A teenager lived for 4 months without a heart.

At 14 years old D"Jeanne Simmons(D"Zhana Simmons) had a weak and enlarged heart and needed a transplant.

Unfortunately, the donor heart did not take root and was removed. This meant that the girl had to live without a heart for almost four months. Instead of a heart, blood was pumped by two artificial blood pumps. However, she survived and 118 days later she underwent a second successful heart transplant.

3. The girl's body, which was supported by stiletto heels

After suffering multiple injuries in a car accident in 2009, the bones of 17-year-old Katrina Burgess were collected using 11 titanium studs, which are attached to the neck, spine, leg, as well as screws to support the neck.

After five months of operations, she was able to make an almost complete recovery and signed a contract with a modeling agency.

Survival Cases

4The Woman Survived Beheading

In January 2007 Shannon Malloy(Shannon Malloy) was in a car accident, resulting in her skull being severed from her spine. Fortunately, the spine itself was practically undamaged, but the woman remembers how she lost control of her head. This type of injury is called " internal decapitation".

The woman was taken to the hospital, where 9 screws were screwed into her head and neck. A device called a "halo" was attached to hold the head in place. Although Shannon had difficulty swallowing afterward and suffered damage to her optic nerve, she slowly recovered.

5. A woman rose from the dead

An incredible incident occurred with a 59-year-old woman from West Virginia in the USA. Val Thomas, who survived two heart attacks, had no electromagnetic brain waves and no pulse for 17 hours, and rigor mortis set in.

While her organs were being supported by a ventilator and her family discussed organ donation, Val woke up and began talking. Moreover, when the doctors decided to examine her, they found out that everything was fine with her.

6. Two twins survived after their parents had to choose one.

When couples Shannon and Mike Gimbel(Shannon, Mike Gimbel) reported that they would have to kill one of the twins in order for the other to survive, which became a real nightmare for the parents.

The twins had a rare disorder called feto-fetal transfusion syndrome, in which children are connected by blood vessels and one twin literally takes the life of the other. If you leave two twins, both have a 90 percent risk of death.

At first the Gimbels decided to part with the weak twin, but an alternative appeared. Doctors used lasers to burn through the blood vessels connecting the twins, separating them. Both twin girls survived and were born two months later..

7. A man survived falling from a height of 150 meters

In 2007, window cleaner Alciedes Moreno(Alciedes Moreno) fell from the 47th floor while I was at work. Unfortunately, his brother, who also fell, did not survive.

However, Moreno, although he suffered serious injuries, including a collapsed lung and blood clots in the brain, miraculously survived, clinging to an aluminum platform. To understand how rare this survival event is, it is worth knowing that half the people who fall from the 4th floor die, and almost everyone from the 10th floor dies.

Moreno underwent 16 operations, but after six months he was able to walk.

Medical stories

8. A man’s vision was restored with the help of a tooth.

Builder Martin Jones(Martin Jones) remained after the accident blind for 12 years.

But thanks to an unusual operation, he was able to regain his sight. The procedure involved removing the man's tooth and using it as a lens holder. Tooth inserted into eye, and Jones now has near-perfect vision in his right eye.

Thanks to the operation, the man was able to see his wife Jill, whom he married after the accident, for the first time.

9. The girl’s brain was stabilized with superglue

Girl Ella-Grace Honeyman(Ella-Grace Honeyman) has been suffering from a rare blood vessel disease - aneurysm - since birth. In this case, blood could seep into her brain from holes in the vessels.

To combat this, doctors resorted to a procedure using a kind of medical superglue to patch up these holes. Although the procedure did not completely solve the problem, the girl will be able to live a normal life for a long time.

10. A man survived after half his body was cut off

In 1995, the Chinese Peng Shulina(Peng Shulin) was cut in half when he was hit by a truck. The height of the remaining half of the body was 66 cm.

He underwent several surgeries in which skin from his face was grafted onto the rest of his body. Man was able not only to survive, but began to walk thanks to specially designed prostheses with bionic legs. Peng continually strengthens his upper body and is able to walk with the help of prosthetics.

There are many medical oddities around the world. If you know where to look, you can look at these interesting finds with surprise and/or disgust.

10. Baby Cyclops
Museum Vrolik, Amsterdam, Netherlands

The father-son duo Gerardus and Willem Vrolik, who studied anatomy in the 19th century, had an unusual predilection for human mutants. In his medical work of 1834, Willem studied cyclopia. Cyclopia is a rare birth defect in which the embryo does not properly form two separate eye sockets, resulting in one central cavity. The chance that a human or animal embryo will suffer from cyclopia is one in 16,000. In addition, most embryos suffering from cyclopia are either stillborn or the women have an abortion.

The Frolics managed to collect many cyclops: five human and 19 animals (piglets, lambs and a kitten). They can be viewed in the collection of the Frolik Museum, located at the Department of Anatomy and Embryology of the University of Amsterdam.

9. Giant human trichobezoar
National Museum of Health and Medicine, Maryland, USA


Cats can sleep all day if they feel like it, but they also suffer from bezoars, masses of indigestible things that cannot be digested, most commonly called hairballs. However, cats are not the only animals suffering from this rather disgusting and unpleasant disease. Hair balls can also be found in cows, oxen, sheep, goats, llamas, deer and antelope. But there's one more animal on the list: the National Museum of Health and Medicine has some terrifying sights of human hairballs. The largest trichobezoar (human hair ball) in history was removed from the stomach of a 12-year-old girl who had a compulsive habit of eating her hair.

One of the most interesting exhibits is the preserved severed head. But this is not an ordinary severed head (not that severed heads are an everyday thing, of course). This head was sawed in half to demonstrate the trajectory of the bullet as it passed through it. In the cross-section, you can clearly see the hole where the bullet passed through the skull, as well as the damage it left in its path.

7. Jar of moles
Grant Museum of Zoology, London, UK


A jar of moles? Yes, you heard right. Eighteen moles are packed in a glass jar. These may not be the largest specimens in nature, but they look impressive. The Bank is undoubtedly one of London's hidden gems. In a museum that contains an anaconda skeleton, dodo bones, and an extensive collection of brains, it is this jar of moles that grabs everyone's attention. Why were the moles put in this jar? We will probably never know the answer to this question.

6. Giant Colon
Mütter Museum, Philadelphia, USA


The Giant Colon: Sounds like the title of one of those B-movies from the 1950s, doesn't it? A pathologically enlarged colon is a horror story in itself. Hirschprung's disease begins when the nerve endings in the rectum do not fully develop while the baby is still in the mother's uterus. This results in certain muscles not receiving signals to compress and move feces down through the digestive system (in other words, very severe constipation appears). As a result, an incredibly large rectum develops - in this case it grew to 243 centimeters in length, and its weight was 18 kilograms. To make the difference clearer, the museum placed a wax model of a normal rectum under the exhibit of a giant one. The size difference is undoubtedly terrifying.

5. Ovary, with a teratoma frolicking on it
Museum of Human Disease, Sydney, Australia


The Museum of Human Disease, located at the University of New South Wales, displays various types of diseased human flesh, including damaged hearts and lungs. One of the specimens on display that attracts more attention than others is a benign ovarian teratoma. Ovarian teratoma is a cancer of the germ cells that leads to disordered growth of ovarian cells. In extreme cases, this disease can lead to the formation of a tumor that resembles a partially formed fetus with hair and teeth, as in the photo above. Although the Museum of Human Diseases was founded in the 1960s exclusively for pathology and medicine students, it finally opened its doors to the general public in 2009 to shed light on such diseases.

4. Anatomical Machines
Mesuah of the Sansevero Chapel (Museo Capella Sansevero), Naples, Italy


In an underground room beneath the Chapel of San Severo in Naples are two of Europe's most gruesome finds. Two skeletons, a man and a pregnant woman, stand side by side, encased in glass, their circulatory systems almost perfectly preserved. The circulatory systems are colored: veins are indicated in blue, and arteries are indicated in red.

The "machines" were created by the physician Giuseppe Salerno, who practiced in the 18th century. They are the best preserved bodies in the world. However, their coloring and such a well-preserved circulatory system have become the subject of lively debate. Some say that despite the obvious authenticity of the skeletons, the veins and arteries cannot be real, and that they were concocted from beeswax, iron wire and silk. However, there are those who believe a more macabre version of the story, that Salerno was a dark magician who killed his victims by injecting them with a substance that hardened their flesh, in a process called "human metallization." However, the truth is that after 250 years it is impossible to say for sure. One thing is for sure: whether these bodies were embalmed for study purposes or sealed away for display for more macabre purposes, these medical marvels were ahead of their time.

Next to the worm is a kind of tactile aid - a piece of rope of the same length and thickness, so that visitors can easily imagine this tapeworm wrapped around their intestines. Those who won't be visiting this museum anytime soon can do a quick calculation right now: the average adult giraffe is 5.5 meters tall, and this worm is three meters longer.

2. Book made of human flesh
Playfar Pathology Museum (Surgeons’ Hall Pathology Museum), Edinburgh, Scotland


Two of Scotland's darkest characters were William Hare and William Burke. Burke and Hare were two 19th-century murderers who sold the bodies of their 16 victims to Dr. Robert Knox, who dismembered the bodies at his much-revered anatomy lectures. After the killers were caught, Hare turned Burke in, gaining immunity and the gallows for Burke.

In the museum, located at the Royal College of Surgeons, you can look at one of the artifacts left over from the murders of Burke and Hare. Despite the fact that this book looks like an ordinary, shabby little book, its “leather” binding leaves a particularly dark impression. The following words are written on the book: “Executed January 28, 1829.” This is no ordinary skin: the book is bound with the skin of William Burke - or what was left of him after he was executed and dismembered.

1. Horseman of the Apocalypse
Fragonard Museum, Paris, France


Honoré Fragonard was, to put it mildly, an oddball. The anatomist, who lived from 1732 to 1799, was a pioneer of his time. Ecorchés are flayed figures showing a body without skin - essentially, bare body muscles. Before Fragonard, écorches were imaginary works of art: paintings and sculptures of male and female forms. However, Fragonard had other ideas about this. He created his escorts from real corpses.

In one of the oldest veterinary schools in the world, the National Veterinary School of Alfort (École Nationale Vétérinaire d’Alfort), you can see the remains of Fragonard’s masterpieces. At one time, he skinned approximately 700 corpses, but only 21 of them survived. All remaining corpses can be seen at an exhibition in Paris.

The most famous of these figures is that of a man riding a horse, an homage to a famous series of woodcuts by the 14th-century artist and theorist Albrecht Durer. The man and the horse are skinned...but that's not all. The Horseman of the Apocalypse is surrounded by human embryos riding on the backs of embryonic horses and sheep. To say he was strange would be an understatement.

Throughout the history of medicine, so many medical oddities, miraculous recoveries, strange questions and unresolved mysteries have been recorded that millions of articles and books have been written. Although strangeness is undesirable for the scientific approach, the manifestation of miracles makes someone happy and strengthens faith.

Unfortunately, many medical mysteries remain unresolved. It is not always possible to put together the pieces of an intriguing mystery. A person begins to understand that he still has a lot to learn about what previously seemed to be completely studied - about our body.

An example of this is the ten most shocking medical stories that prove the mystery of man and his incredible capabilities.

Coming out of a coma after 19 years. Stories of emerging from a coma after many years are not entirely unusual. But such cases always attract, because a person seems to be rushing through time. This happened to a Polish railway worker who remained unconscious for 19 years. The story begins in the 1980s, when Poland was under the communist regime. The confused country entered a period of despair and poverty. Railway worker Jan Grzebski suffered a severe head injury from securing a carriage. He was taken to the hospital, where doctors told his family the sad news. In addition to injuries sustained at work due to an accident, Ian suffered from brain cancer. The man fell into a coma for 19 long years. Doctors believed that he would not be able to live more than three years. However, Yang's family and his wife believed that he would be able to come to his senses. The patient was surrounded by care and everything necessary for survival. The story ended in an amazing way - Mr. Grzebski woke up on April 12, 2007, after 19 years of coma. The doctors just shrugged their shoulders. The world around has become completely different, capitalism and democracy have arrived. Imagine the worker’s surprise when he learned that communism had fallen 18 years ago, and that 11 grandchildren were waiting for him at home. Ian said: "What amazes me today is that all these people walking around with mobile phones are constantly complaining about something. But I have nothing to complain about." This statement is a valuable reminder for all those who are dissatisfied with life. Unfortunately, we often don't appreciate the simplest things in life until we are deprived of them.

Children with werewolf syndrome. Of course, Indian boy Prithviraj Patil and Thai girl Supatra Sasuphan have their own dreams. They behave just like any other children around the world - they love to play and swim, draw and eat ice cream. But they are distinguished from their peers by an unusual congenital disease - hypertrichosis, also known as werewolf syndrome. This terrible disease is quite rare and unusual. Since 1638, only 50 such cases have been recorded. Children suffer from uncontrolled hair growth. The result is thick strands of animal fur that cover their heads and body parts. Neither medicine nor science could find an answer about the origin of such an anomaly. It's so sad to read the newspaper headlines about these children "half man, half wolf", "real wolf cub". Such people no longer suffer from the syndrome itself, but from a cruel society.

Man is a conductor of current. Sometimes people attract public attention by claiming that they can control electricity. One of these “wizards” is Jose Rafael Marquez Ayala. This Puerto Rican resident appears to be a human superconductor, as he can pass enormous amounts of electrical current through his body. Jose can withstand various types of exposure without suffering any damage or side effects. At the same time, he can even set fire to paper with his fingers. If this story is real, then it is truly amazing.

Miraculous recovery after falling from the 47th floor. The New York Daily News reported that on December 7, 2007, brothers Alcides and Edgar Moreno were working on a platform, cleaning the windows of one of the city's skyscrapers. Suddenly, a 5-meter structure collapsed from a height of 47 floors. Edgar died on the spot, but Alcides managed to survive by cheating death. Doctors performed at least 16 operations - the patient broke his ribs, both legs and right arm in a fall, severely damaging his spine. Doctors describe the victim's recovery as "miraculous" and "unprecedented." According to their estimates, within two years Alcides Moreno will fully restore his health.

A teenager who lived 118 days without a heart. South Carolina's Jeanne Simmons is a walking medical miracle. The girl was able to live for about four months without a heart while she waited for a new organ to replace her damaged one. Simmons suffered from dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM), which means a weak and enlarged heart that simply couldn't pump blood efficiently. Surgeons at Miami Holtz Children's Hospital performed the initial transplants on July 2, 2008, but the heart stopped working and was quickly removed. Zhanna herself continued to live without a heart, and her blood was pumped artificially, using pumps. Dr Ricci, director of pediatric cardiac surgery, said: "She essentially lived 118 days without a heart, with only two pumps keeping her blood circulating."

Life without pain. Gabby Gigras is an energetic 9-year-old child who looks no different from her peers. But the girl is different from most of us because of a very rare and unusual condition known as CIPA. This is a congenital insensitivity to pain, accompanied by anhidrosis. Only 100 cases of this disease have been documented worldwide. Gabby was born without the ability to feel pain, cold or heat. This gift may seem amazing to many, but in fact this condition is quite destructive. Pain sensitivity is important because pain works similarly as a warning and defense mechanism. Gabby's parents noticed something was wrong when their daughter was five months old. For some reason the child bit his fingers until they bled. Later, the unfortunate child even lost an eye and suffered severe injuries due to excessive scratching and scratching. A number of measures were taken to protect Gabby from such incidents. Desperate parents did everything possible so that the child could live in such difficult conditions. Brave Gabby became the main heroine of the documentary film “Life Without Pain” directed by Melody Gilbert. It tells the exciting story of an unfortunate girl.

Allergy to water. Water is an integral part of our life. We take hot baths, brush our teeth, clean the house, or simply quench our thirst with it. People simply cannot live without water. All the more interesting are cases of diseases when an allergic reaction is observed to this liquid. Believe it or not, some people suffer from rare forms of hives known as "Water urticaria" and "Water itch." Both are allergic reactions to water. They are so unusual that only no more than 40 such cases have been described in the world. Examples include Ashley Morris, a 21-year-old Australian, and Michaela Dutton, a 23-year-old Englishwoman. Girls have a rare type of allergy; the only case out of 230 million skin diseases is water urticaria. If water gets on their body, itchy red streaks, swelling, and blisters will appear all over their body. For both girls, the shower is a painful torture. Michaela cannot drink water, coffee or tea, and she cannot even eat fruit. These foods cause a burning sensation, a rash on the skin, and a swollen throat. But the body seems to tolerate Diet Coke. Ashley also tries to avoid contact with water as much as possible - she stopped playing sports and any physical activity that could cause sweat. Water urticaria is such a rare disease that doctors cannot even fully understand the complex mechanism of this strange skin disease.

A family that can't sleep. FFI stands for fatal familial insomnia, a rare genetic disorder. Those who suffer from FFI constantly try to fall asleep but are unable to do so. The disease steals not only sleep, but also the mind. Ultimately, life turns into a continuous twilight world for several months before death. Cheryl Dinges, 29, is one of a whole family of people with the syndrome. All of her relatives carry the FFI gene. Such conditions are so rare that only about 40 such families are known worldwide. Fatal familial insomnia has already killed the girl's mother, her grandfather and her uncle. Cheryl herself refuses to be tested, even knowing that her sister did not inherit the unfortunate gene. FFI begins with mild cramping, panic attacks, and insomnia. Over time, patients begin to experience hallucinations and insomnia becomes so severe that people are no longer able to sleep. Patients eventually go crazy and eventually die. The mutated protein was named PrPSc. If only one of the parents has the modified gene, then the child has a 50% chance of inheriting and developing FFI.

Butterfly children. The sad story of Sarah and Joshua Thurmond began when doctors diagnosed them with Epidermolysis bullosa (congenital pemphigus, EB), a rare genetic disease. It is characterized not only by blisters all over the body, but also by extreme fragility of the skin. Erosion and blisters occur due to the lack of fibrous protein in the skin layer, which is responsible for the strong bond of tissues. Joshua suffers from one of the most severe forms of EB. His sister also carried the disease, but she died at the age of 20 in 2009. Medical research shows that people born with EB live to an average of 30 years, with a maximum age reached of 40 years. “Silk skin babies,” “Crystal baby skin,” and “Butterfly babies” are terms used to describe the unfavorable conditions in which young patients have to live. Their skin is as sensitive as the wings of a butterfly. The slightest pressure can cause painful sores. Brave Sarah and Joshua learned to live in constant and extreme pain. To ease their suffering and prevent infection, children are forced to wear special bandages. Unfortunately, there is currently no cure for EV. These children will never know how great it is to run, swim or jump.

The birth of a mummy. Zahra Aboutalib from Morocco has given birth to a child she has been carrying for almost half a century. This shocking story began in 1955 when Zahra went into labor. She was taken to the hospital, and after examination the woman was offered a caesarean section. But then Zahra saw her roommate die due to a serious operation. The woman decided to refuse medical help and give birth herself. Zahra was taken back to her small village outside Casablanca. Soon the pain went away, and the child stopped moving. The woman decided that the baby “fell asleep.” This view may seem absurd to us, but according to Moroccan folk beliefs, “sleeping children” can live in a woman’s womb, protecting her honor. When the woman turned 75, the excruciating pain occurred again. Doctors performed an ultrasound and discovered that her "sleeping baby" was actually a case of ectopic pregnancy. What is surprising is not even how Zahra survived, but the fact that the dead fetus was accepted by the body as another organ. Under normal conditions, if a fetus growing incorrectly is not detected in time, then deformation and rupture of the female organs containing it will occur. Then the mother has little chance of surviving. In the case of Zahra, doctors performed a five-hour operation and removed the already calcified fetus. It weighed more than 2 kilograms and was about 40 centimeters long. Infant petrification is an extremely rare medical phenomenon. The Royal Society of Medicine says there are only 290 such cases documented.

Nine recipes from the past that are worth remembering when you want to complain about modern medicine.

England: Cox swing

What kind of mockery was not visited in England on the heads of those whose heads were not all right. At the beginning of the 19th century, for example, they were pushed on swings. This method was invented by a doctor named Joseph Cox. The Cox swing consisted of a tilted chair suspended from the ceiling. And everything would be fine if they did not rotate - up to 100 rpm. The patient had to “sit” on them for about two minutes (although the speed and time of rotation were adjusted at the discretion of the doctor). The goal was considered achieved if the unfortunate person peed in his pants and began to vomit. Particularly violent patients could not come to their senses for a long time after this procedure, which was already declared to be a good result.

Finland: heroin

It sounds monstrous, but the first third of the 20th century in Finland was marked by legalized heroin. During the era of the global economic crisis, it was considered a good and cheap medicine. It was taken as part of cough mixtures and in tablet form. Doctor of Philosophy Mikko Ylikangas talks about this in his book published in 2009: “Heroin was recommended to everyone. Doctors prescribed the dosage so that patients did not become dependent.” In 1949, the UN calculated that the same amount of heroin was consumed annually in Finland as in Sweden, Britain or Italy - for 25 years. Heroin officially disappeared from Finnish pharmacies in 1957.

Ancient Rome: mummies powder

Corpse medicine was a favorite method of healing in medieval Europe. Doctors of those years believed that the corpse retained all the qualities of the deceased - from strength and health to morbidity and a tendency to blasphemy. Mummies powder was especially popular and was used to treat anything and everything. Medical cannibalism was no less “fashionable” in Ancient Rome. True, it was used to treat mainly muscle cramps. Roman doctors believed that epilepsy could be cured using an elixir containing the blood of fallen gladiators. This is how the most enterprising merchants made money by selling the bodies of the dead. Doctors did not disdain simple corpses, but in this case the mixture was prepared not only from blood, but from flesh and bones. This medicine was supposed to relieve muscle spasms.

African countries: caesarean section

Back in the 19th century, Caesarean sections in Central African tribes looked like they were performed by Neanderthals. The English doctor and traveler Robert Felkin witnessed one of these “procedures,” which he wrote about in one of his books. The woman in labor was given banana wine to drink (the hands of the male “surgeon” and his assistants, as well as the woman’s lower abdomen, were washed with it), and then they were placed on an inclined board. The “obstetrician” let out a loud cry, which was picked up by the crowd gathered around the maternity hut. After which the unfortunate woman’s stomach was cut from the pubic joint almost to the navel. And while the surgeon was removing the child, one of his assistants was cauterizing the bleeding areas with a hot iron. The patient was then turned onto her side to drain all fluid from the abdominal cavity. Only after this the edges of the wound were “sutured up” using... seven thin nails and threads. There was very little left to do - carefully chew the roots (which ones exactly - history is silent) and spit this mixture into the pot, and then apply it to the wound. “Secure” everything on top with a heated banana leaf.

Russia: hare skins

Employees of the Taimyrsky Museum-Reserve tell how the northern Dolgan people, inhabiting the Republic of Sakha, are treated even now. Purulent abscesses have been healed for centuries with the same remedy - they simply tie a hare's skin with the pile outward to the sore spot for a day. For ulcers, drink dried bear bile infused with vodka - once a day until complete recovery. With liver diseases it is even simpler: apply fresh animal liver to the sore spot, securing it with a bandage for a day.

China: Fried bear paws and bear bile

Even 3000 years ago, the inhabitants of the Celestial Empire discovered the elixir of health - bear bile. It is used in traditional Chinese medicine for almost all diseases: fever, cholelithiasis, liver and heart diseases. 1 kg of dry bile powder (the average bear produces up to 2 kg of this concentrate per year) costs more than $400 in China. Bear paws are also in great demand - they can be fried, boiled, or simply hung at home as an amulet. They are believed to help with neurasthenia, rheumatoid arthritis and increased irritability. Their price on the black market reaches $1000 apiece. There is no need to talk about humanity here.

Lithuania: everything is yellow

The Museum of the History of Medicine in the Lithuanian city of Kaunas houses the oldest recipe for treating jaundice by local doctors. A decoction of flowers of different yellow shades - and it is necessary to cook it in three stages and take nine flowers in each. For the same purposes, there was another decoction - from lice collected from a child’s head. They were also taken in nine pieces every three times. The tincture was called “Three Nines”.

France: unicorn horn

In the Middle Ages and even later, poisoning was considered almost the main cause of all ailments, so special attention was paid to poisons. However, everything was considered poisonous - from gunpowder to dragons and mad dogs. And the most universal antidote is the unicorn horn. Moreover, it is not even necessary to take it internally: if you pour a poisoned drink into such a horn, it will immediately neutralize it. No wonder the Middle Ages, especially in France, were gripped by a real “unicorn” fever: unicorn horns were valued more than gold! They say that the last kings of the Valois dynasty (16th century) did not drink a sip from the cup without first placing a “miraculous” horn in it. The horns were pushed or “taken” in pieces. But what was hidden under the guise of such value? Typically, narwhal teeth or rhinoceros horns.

USA: mercury

Until the 20th century, mercury was used as a panacea in the United States. They drank it, ate it and smeared themselves with it - from syphilis to migraines. Even Abraham Lincoln, during his time of severe depression, took pills called “Blue Stuff” containing mercury. He gave up this literally disastrous occupation only in 1861, when he noticed that the pills made him overly irritable.

It's amazing how much has changed in the last 50 years. How modern medicine and human understanding have changed regarding so many aspects of life. Before this, for more than 500 years, when people finally began to trust medicine, they had to endure painful, useless, and most often harmful procedures.
And back then it was considered the norm. Now we can look back and marvel at how our ancestors came up with this idea. Many of these ideas appeared at the dawn of terrible crises and mass unrest, such as during epidemics of plague, racial and sexual segregation, etc. in this article, the 10 most shocking beliefs and medical “phenomena” of recent centuries.
1. Selling my wife.
In medieval times, women were completely under the control of men. After marriage, she had no rights. Married women had no right to own property (no property at all) and no right to vote. It is unclear where the custom of selling one's wives in public originated, but some sources point to the late 17th century. In most cases, the sale was announced in advance, perhaps through advertisements in the local newspaper.
Trade took the form of an auction, where the reward went to the one who offered the highest price. A rope was tied around the woman, usually as a collar around her neck, but sometimes around her waist or her hands were simply tied. When the auction ended, the wife passed into the possession of the new man. Throughout the 18th and 19th centuries, this was one of the most profitable ways to end a failed marriage.
In 1690, a law was passed that required numerous documents to be filled out and a tax to be paid in order to issue a divorce certificate. There were no restrictions on the sale of a wife, but the British government still pursued the illegal trade in women. However, all their persecution was passive. By the end of the 19th century there were reports that women objected to their sale, but such references had not been found a century before.
In some cases, the wife herself organized her own sale. Sometimes this was the only way to end the bullying of the stronger sex. Such auctions were held until the 20th century. The most recent mention dates back to 1913, when a woman told the police that she had been sold for £1.
2. Tobacco enema.
In the 1700s, it was quite common to have smoke blown into the rectum of a person who had just died. For resuscitation purposes, of course. Very often, this procedure was used instead of artificial respiration to save drowning people. For example, on the beaches of the Thames there was special equipment, the location of which every person in the city had to know. It was like modern fire extinguishers, or rather defibrillators.
So why exactly “anal inhalations” were supposed to save a person? It's just that Native Americans used tobacco for many purposes, including healing. European doctors adopted this “cure” and began prescribing tobacco for everything from headaches to cancer.
The smoke enema spread so quickly that doctors began to prescribe it for almost all types of diseases: hernias, headaches, respiratory diseases, abdominal cramps, typhoid fever, cholera. Another common enema was a mixture of water and finely chopped tobacco. In other cases, chicken broth was used instead of water. A terrible mixture.
3. Rabbit test.
This test applies to women. Or more precisely, to the definition of pregnancy. History knows many different ways to determine whether a woman is pregnant before obvious signs appear. For example, in Ancient Egypt and Greece, a woman urinated on a bag of wheat or barley, and depending on which grain the stream flowed over, a prediction was made whether the girl got pregnant or not.
In the Middle Ages, doctors perverted as much as they could, until in 1928, gynecologists Selmar Aschheim and Bernhard Sondek made a breakthrough in determining pregnancy. They isolated the hormone human chorionic gonadotropin, which is produced by the placenta, from the urine of a pregnant woman. It was he who formed the basis of modern pregnancy tests.
But in 1927, two scientists conducted their tests differently. They injected a woman's urine into a rabbit, and if its testicles reacted within a couple of days, the result was positive. Such tests were used successfully until the 1950s. According to the instructions, all experimental rabbits were to be killed after surgery.
4. Soothe Mrs. Winslow's syrup.
The 19th and 20th centuries are known for the industrial revolution, population growth and the development of medicine. During this time, the scientific community experimented a lot on people and their drugs. New substances often had detrimental effects on the human body, but this did not stop large companies. A good example is the above-mentioned syrup, which was actively marketed in 1849 in Bangor, Maine, USA.
This syrup was advertised with the slogan: “It will calm anyone, even an elephant!” The product was aimed at fussy babies and young children. It consisted of morphine sulfate, powdered opium, sodium carbonate and an aqueous solution of ammonia. This mixture instantly reduced the heart rate while simultaneously causing depression. The advertising campaign spread across two continents and appeared almost everywhere: newspapers, radio, cookbooks. But by the early 20th century, syrup had earned a reputation as a “baby killer.”
The soothing syrup did not leave the shelves of pharmacies and stores until 1930. But 30 years earlier, the company began experimenting with the composition. A new substance has appeared on the market called “Heroin”. Advertisers insisted that the substance was not addictive and served as a substitute for morphine. But in fact, the drug turned out to be many times stronger than morphine and was highly addictive. It was immediately clear that something was not pure, but the “medicine” was sold for 10 years.
5. Lobotomy.
In experimental medicine, the method of deep sleep is widely known, when a person is treated in an artificial coma. The method was developed in the 1920s, when there was a need to influence the human subconscious to treat mental problems. A person was put into sleep for several days, sometimes the course lasted for months. Of course, there were cases when the patient simply did not wake up.
In the 60s of the last century, a private clinic in Australia used this method. 26 people died during treatment. And the doctor, Harry Bailey, eventually linked the deaths of another 85 patients. In addition to injecting prohibited drugs into patients, the doctor performed a lobotomy, which involved cutting out the cerebral cortex, drilling and removing part of the brain. After undergoing such treatment, the doctor noted an improvement in behavior in patients suffering from schizophrenia, mental disorders and mania, suffering from depression.
After this scandalous treatment, eminent doctors adopted this method. Some time later, Antonio Egas Moniz was awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine for promoting lobotomy.
6. George Big Nose.
Anthropodermic bibliopegy is a 19th century medical practice in which human remains are used in everyday life. For example, book covers were made from the skin of the deceased.
In 1878 there was a criminal nicknamed Big Nose, George Parrott. He was sentenced to the gallows, but managed to escape. When the local population caught him, they put him on a pole. After the autopsy, the killer's skull was given to the 15th girl, who was going to become a doctor. Perhaps she did some kind of internship with pathologists. She used the famous criminal's skull to make an ashtray, a pen holder and a doorknob.
The skin from the thighs, chest and face was removed and sent to a leather tanning plant in Denver. There they made shoes from it. Today these boots are kept in the Wyoming Museum, as are the remains of a skull and an earless mask.
7. Drapetomania.
This term is the epitome of scientific racism. It was used during the period of slavery in North America. This is how scientists tried to justify the flight of their slaves. After World War II, the scientific community condemned this behavior of its careless colleagues.

Drapetomania is a psychiatric diagnosis coined and proposed in 1851 by American physician Samuel Cartwright of the Louisiana Medical Association to explain the tendency of black slaves to escape from slavery. He explained the escapes of slaves as an obsessive desire for freedom. Any slave who tried to escape more than twice was considered insane.
He believed that by: "...strict adherence to proper medical advice, this deplorable practice of running away, which is followed by many negroes, can be almost completely stopped...".
According to Cartwright, drapetomania manifests itself when slave owners treat their slaves inappropriately: considering them equal to themselves or showing excessive cruelty in treatment, etc. In this case, the slaves become rude and unbridled and run away.
He suggested spanking as the most effective treatment procedure. In addition, amputation of the toes was also prescribed.
Cartwright described another disorder such as "Dysaethesia Aethiopica" to explain the apparent lack of motivation exhibited by many slaves, which he also argued could be cured by whipping.
8. The Divine Right of Kings.
The divine right of kings was indisputable. It asserted that the king carries the will of God, that it is as if God speaks to the people through the mouth of the king. Thus, any attempt to overthrow the king was considered blasphemy and heresy.
But in the 18th century, a strong erosion of royal blood was noticed. After another decree of one of the famous kings, no one could “shed royal blood.” She was considered sacred. This made it very difficult to raise young princes. When the princes behaved badly, a special boy was appointed “for whipping.” And for every misdeed of the royal child, the poor fellow received in full.
Sometimes this practice was successful, because the whipping boy was often chosen from noble families very close to the king. As a rule, the prince and the boy grew up and studied together. This often caused them to become emotionally attached. But not always. There are cases when young ladies did not love anyone but themselves.
9. Mimizuka.
Sengoku is a period in Japanese history characterized by social upheaval, political intrigue and the threat of military conflict. This was the time when the winner took the head of his enemy as spoils of war. At the end of the 16th century, Japan encroached on the territory of modern Korea and China. Since they had to travel to the continent by water, transporting the trophy became difficult. Instead of whole heads, only ears and noses were carried.
But despite the ban, many foreign heads entered Japan. It is impossible to estimate exactly how many Asians were killed in that bloody war, but the approximate figure is close to one million. Now, as a reminder, in Japan there is a monument to Mimizuka, on which 38,000 Korean heads are attached.
But this is not the only such monument on the island. For example, there is a monument carved from the ears and noses of fallen Koreans in Okayama. This heritage is not mentioned in textbooks or travel guides, but is very well known in Japan. Fierce debates are currently underway to decide the future fate of the monuments. Some say that this is a shame for the nation, while others believe that this shame should be preserved so as not to be like this in the future.
10. Female hysteria.
Previously, female hysteria was considered a mental disorder that manifested itself only in the weaker sex. Diagnosis and treatment have remained the same for several hundred years. It was often believed that women suffered from hysteria due to stress, depression or sexual problems.
In 1858, a group of doctors identified 75 symptoms, adding at the end that the list was far from complete. Symptoms included weakness, insomnia, muscle spasms, shortness of breath, irritability, loss of appetite, and craving for sex. But things take a completely different turn when the treatment becomes known. It was a common belief in those days that hysteria was due to lack of sex. Therefore, as a preventive measure, the doctor massaged the pelvis and then stimulated the genitals until the woman experienced multiple orgasms. The doctors only benefited from this. Their patient paid them money, their illness was not fatal, and they constantly needed “care.”
To simplify the lives of doctors, in 1870 they invented an electrical device that helped bring a woman to the desired state. Why was this device needed? It’s just that not everyone could cope with the intricacies of the female body. But for a long time, the device was available only to doctors, but after a while, vibrators became available to the wider market.