Anglo Saxons were not as medically ignorant as we once thought .....
 |
| Anglo-Saxon Cures - 'Bald's Leechbook' |
While the later Middle Ages, doctors moved into quackery, the early
Middle Ages, under the Anglo-Saxons saw a far different approach. The
latest studies suggest that the Anglo-Saxon healers (usually monks or friars ... think Cadfeal) were using observational experimentation to determine the effectiveness of their cures.
The Anglo-Saxon cure for eye infections contained in the 9th Century book 'Bald's Leechbook', involved a salve made up of onion, garlic and the bile from a cow's stomach. Amazingly researchers found that it proved to be about 90% effective against methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). The reason why this shows that the Anglo-Saxons were using experimentation, is that each of the components is useless by themselves .... it was only when combined just so, that the salve exhibited its anti-microbial resistance properties.
The Salve recipe was translated as this:
The researchers remarked that there are many similar medieval books with treatments for what appear to be bacterial infections, although of course they didn't know about bacteria and just treated the illness symptoms. Who knows what little gems may be hidden amongst the undoubted superstitions.
I have remarked before that we are not half as clever as we think we are .....
The Salve recipe was translated as this:
- Equal amounts of garlic and another allium (onion or leek), finely chopped and crushed in a mortar for two minutes.
- Add 25ml (0.87 fl oz) of English wine - taken from a historic vineyard near Glastonbury (Global warming back then allowed Vineyards to flourish in England).
- Dissolve bovine salts in distilled water, add and then keep chilled for nine days at 4C.
The researchers remarked that there are many similar medieval books with treatments for what appear to be bacterial infections, although of course they didn't know about bacteria and just treated the illness symptoms. Who knows what little gems may be hidden amongst the undoubted superstitions.
I have remarked before that we are not half as clever as we think we are .....
No comments:
Post a Comment
All comments are welcomed, or even just thanks if you enjoyed the post. But please make any comment relevant to the post it appears under. Off topic comments will be blocked or removed.
Moderation is on for older posts to stop spamming and comments that are off topic or inappropriate from being posted .... comments are reviewed within 48 hours. I don't block normal comments that are on topic and not inappropriate. Vexatious comments that may cause upset to other commentators, or that are attempting to espouse a particular wider political view, are reviewed before acceptance. But a certain amount of debate around a post topic is accepted, as long as it remains generally on topic and is not an attempt to become sounding board for some other cause.
Final decision on all comments is held by the blog author and is final.
Comments are always monitored for bad or abusive language, and or illegal statements i.e. overtly racist or sexist content. Spam is not tolerated and is removed.
Commentaires ne sont surveillés que pour le mauvais ou abusif langue ou déclarations illégales ie contenu ouvertement raciste ou sexiste. Spam ne est pas toléré et est éliminé.