S3E01: STRANGE MEDICINE    |   ODJ: MEN IN HEELS       

A six-fingered  man once said,  “If you haven’t  got your health, you haven’t got anything.”  Tune in to our first episode of the year to hear about some pretty strange and bizarre remedies. 

Calendar Segment for Early January

Friday January 7 – Harlem Globetrotter Day!     Abe Saperstein founded the Harlem Globetrotters basketball team in 1926. They were initially known as the Savoy Big Five, after the famous Savoy Ballroom in Chicago, where they held their first performances. The original team members were all African-Americans from the south side of Chicago, and they didn’t play in Harlem until four decades after the team’s formation. Founded when professional basketball was exclusively for white players, they decided to take basketball to another level, infusing comedy and entertainment. The Harlem Globetrotters have performed in 124 countries on six continents.

Sunday January 9 – National Static Electricity Day!     Static electricity refers to an increased electric charge present on the surface of an object. This charge either remains on said surface, travels to the ground, gets discharged, or transfers onto another object. When you rub two objects together, they acquire equal and opposite charges developing an attraction between them. Simply put, opposites attract and the electric force is basically an attraction between opposite charges.

Friday January 14 – National Dress Up Your Pet Day!    It’s National Dress Up Your Pet Day on January 14, and we want you go to all out. Celebrate by dressing up your furry family member in comfortable pet clothing — maybe even get matching outfits, if you want to get crazy. If it were any normal day, people would be staring at you at your dog in the street. However, on National Dress Up Your Pet Day, matching outfits are not only accepted, but also encouraged! Who’s the angel responsible for this holiday? National Dress Up Your Pet Day was started in 2009 by celebrity pet lifestyle expert and animal behaviorist Colleen Paige. It celebrates pets and helps to support the pet fashion community. The chance only comes once a year to wow the neighbors and to unleash the inner diva of your favorite pooch, so make sure your dog is dressed for the occasion!

Well, how’s your health? We hope that everyone listening here is doing well and feeling fine! However, from time to time we all go through times of illness. We are fortunate, though, to live in an age where medical knowledge is greater than it has ever been. In general people live longer healthier lives today than they have at any time in history. 

I remember when I was a kid walking through a country cemetery with my grandmother. She pointed out the grave of her little brother who had died when he was only 12. It seems he suddenly became ill and by the time they brought him from their ranch home into the town where there was a doctor, he was already dead. That was in about 1915. They never knew what had caused it. But then a few years after my grandmother told me this, right after I turned 16 I became violently ill. This was in 1973. My grandmother happened to come by, and she told my parents that I looked just like her little brother had looked, and that they needed to get me to the doctor quickly. It turned out that I had a ruptured appendix.  I was very sick, in fact my family doctor told me later that I was the sickest person that he had ever seen walk into his office. He immediately scheduled me for surgery to remove the appendix. Of course, I recovered, and my grandmother, now convinced that her little brother had died of a ruptured appendix, told me how fortunate I was to live when I did. 

As mentioned above, we are fortunate to live in an advanced medical age. This is especially evident when we consider some of the bizarre medical practices that used to take place. Today, we are going to explore some of these weird medical procedures. From history.com we find an interesting article written by Evan Andrews titled Seven Unusual Ancient Medical Techniques. You will want to hug your doctor and kiss your radiologist after you hear about some of these.

BLOODLETTING For thousands of years, medical practitioners clung to the belief that sickness was merely the result of a little “bad blood.” Bloodletting was a well known remedy going as far back as the ancient Egyptians. In fact the ancient Greek physician Hippocrates maintained that the human body was filled with four basic substances, or “humors”—yellow bile, black bile, phlegm and blood—and these needed to be kept in balance to maintain proper health. Thus, it wasn’t uncommon for a patient with a fever or other complaint to be diagnosed with an overabundance of blood. Some doctors would just whack open a vein to drain off some excess blood, but others believed that specific locations needed to be tapped to bring out the bad blood and so leeches were employed for the task. If a physician wasn’t available, then barbers would do the job.

This practice continued well into the 19th century. In fact, it was well in vogue among our nation’s founders. According to encyclopedia.com On 13 December 1799, at the age of sixty-seven, former president George Washington came down with what he thought was an ordinary cold and sore throat. By the next morning he could hardly speak and was unable to swallow. Martha called for the doctor, and in the meantime Washington himself asked the plantation overseer to bleed him. This stopped only when Martha protested that he was taking too much blood. Washington’s insistence on being bled was typical of the time. Most doctors agreed that bleeding would lessen the excitement of the blood vessels, which in turn would reduce pain, induce sleep, and prevent relapses. James Craik, the first doctor to arrive at Washington’s bedside, bled him again, and later a third time. In the late afternoon, aware that the end was approaching, Washington examined his will and spoke with his secretary about financial matters at Mount Vernon. Then, according to his doctors, he expressed a wish “that he might be permitted to die without further interruption.”

LEECHES    It’s hard to imagine that bloodletting caught on. It seems like it would be apparent that it’s hurting the patient and making them weaker. But then I do know of a couple different people that have a condition called hemochromatosis in which their blood contains too much iron. If left untreated the extra iron can cause a lot of damage to the internal organs and in extreme cases result in death. So the patient is relieved of some blood to lower the iron content in the body so essentially there is bloodletting still going on. My friend who struggles with this condition says that when the blood is taken their body feels so much better and the pain in the joints is significantly decreased. 

During Covid however it was difficult to get in to give blood since that is usually considered an elective procedure rather than an urgent one. My friend was really struggling and to help out, but sort of as a joke, sort of not, I looked up leeches and was surprised that you can actually purchase medicinal leeches. We didn’t buy any but leeches were historically used as a form of bloodletting. Today they are actually used in hospitals sometimes. They are great at helping to increase blood flow in reattached limbs, something that is vital to making the attachment successful.

TREPANATION   Humanity’s oldest form of surgery is also one of its most gruesome. As far back as 7,000 years ago, civilizations around the world engaged in trepanation—the practice of boring holes in the skull as a means of curing illnesses. For many years among modern scholars, a common theory held that it may have been some form of tribal ritual or even a method for releasing evil spirits believed to possess the sick and mentally ill. 

However, it can be argued that it could have been a more conventional surgery used to treat epilepsy, headaches, abscesses, and blood clots.  It may have been an effective approach to head injury and the headaches that often accompany them. Headaches after head injury often do feel like “a pounding” and “pressure” inside the head and thus the idea that a hole in the skull would relieve them is not necessarily magical or bizarre. Furthermore, epidural bleeding does sometimes accompany head injury, and in these cases trephining might have actually reduced intracranial pressure. 

Trepanned skulls have been found around the world particularly in Peru, France, and China, and evidence shows that many of the patients survived the surgery. Trepanation is still utilized today to treat rare cases of brain hemorrhaging. However there has also been an emergence of an on-line culture that encourages “do it yourself Trepanation” which we don’t recommend. 

LOBOTOMY    According to Wikipedia a lobotomy was a form of psychosurgery, a neurosurgical treatment of a mental disorder that involves severing connections in the brain's prefrontal cortex. Most of the connections to and from the prefrontal cortex, the anterior part of the frontal lobes of the brain, are severed. So basically lobotomies were performed on people who had mental illnesses that made them difficult and hard to control. It was recognized that the procedure was at the expense of the patient’s personality and intellect and left them emotionally blunted and restricted in their intellectual range. It made them easier to deal with by "reducing the complexity of psychic life". 

The lobotomy procedure was barbaric and typically was performed by hammering a sharp instrument like an ice pick up under the patient's top eyelid, through their eye socket and into the brain. The surgeon would stir the brain scrambling the frontal cortex observing the effect it was having on the awake and un-anesthetized patient. Then the procedure would be repeated on the other side. 

Walter Freeman, a doctor who specialized in lobotomization, called the result of the process “surgically induced childhood.” He described one 29-year-old lobotomized woman as being,, a "smiling, lazy and satisfactory patient with the personality of an oyster."

Lobotomies were performed well into the 1950s before people started realizing how barbaric and cruel they actually were and the procedure finally waned in popularity and stopped being performed.

MERCURY   My wife and I were remembering the other day how when we were kids it wasn’t uncommon to play with Mercury. Perhaps a glass thermometer would break. The mercury would condense into small little balls. Of course, mercury is notorious for its toxic properties, but it was once used as a common elixir and topical medicine. The ancient Persians and Greeks considered it a useful ointment, and second-century Chinese alchemists prized liquid mercury, or “quicksilver,” and red mercury sulfide for their supposed ability to increase lifespan and vitality. Some healers even promised that by consuming noxious brews containing poisonous mercury, sulfur and arsenic, their patients would gain eternal life and the ability to walk on water. One of the most famous casualties of this diet was the Chinese Emperor Qin Shi Huang. He is famous for being the great unifier of China and also for the more than 8,000 terra cotta soldiers found in his tomb. Qin supposedly died after ingesting mercury pills designed to make him immortal. I guess that didn’t work out for him. 

MECURICOME is a topical antiseptic used to treat minor cuts and scrapes. It was very popular in my childhood, we called it Monkey Blood because it would stain the skin red. It contained a small amount of mercury, so small as to not pose any real threat. But parents stopped using it altogether when mercury was found to be so dangerous. So Mokey Blood was never actually banned by the FDA, it was just banned by parents and then other, more effective antiseptics became available.

DUNG   The ancient Egyptians had a remarkably well-organized medical system, complete with doctors who specialized in healing specific ailments. Nevertheless, the cures they prescribed weren’t always up to snuff. Lizard blood, dead mice, mud and moldy bread were all used as topical ointments and dressings, and women were sometimes dosed with horse saliva as a cure for an impaired libido. (If that doesn’t get you in the mood, I don’t know what will!)

Most disgusting of all, Egyptian physicians used human and animal dung as a cure-all remedy for diseases and injuries. According to 1500 B.C.’s Ebers Papyrus, donkey, dog, gazelle and fly dung were all celebrated for their healing properties and their ability to ward off bad spirits. While these repugnant remedies may have occasionally led to tetanus and other infections, they probably weren’t entirely ineffective—research shows the microflora found in some types of animal dung contain antibiotic substances. 

Additionally, from weirdhistorian.com we find information about a 1764 medical book called Pharmacopia Universalis which includes the following remedies:

Raven Dung, suspended around the Necks of Children, is reported to ease their Coughs. 

Nine Pieces of Rat’s Dung swallowed, are accounted, by some of our good Women, a singular Remedy for a Suppression of the Menstrual Cycle.

Peacock dung, dried and pulverized, have a peculiar Virtue of curing the Vertigo and Epilepsy.

CORPSE MEDICINE    Suffering from persistent headaches, muscle cramps or stomach ulcers? Once upon a time, your local physician may have prescribed an elixir containing human flesh, blood or bone. So-called “corpse medicine” was a disturbingly common practice for hundreds of years. The Romans believed that the blood of fallen gladiators could cure epilepsy, and 12th century apothecaries were known for keeping a stock of “mummy powder”—a macabre extract made from ground up mummies looted from Egypt. Meanwhile, in 17th century England, King Charles II was known for enjoying a draught of “King’s Drops,” a restorative brew made from crumbled human skull and alcohol.

These cannibalistic medicines were thought to have magical properties. By consuming the remains of a deceased person, the patient also ingested part of their spirit, leading to increased vitality and wellbeing. The type of cure prescribed usually corresponded to the type of ailment—skull was used for migraines, and human fat for muscle aches—but getting fresh stock could be a gruesome process. In some cases, the sickly would even attend executions in the hope of getting a cheap cup of the freshly killed person’s blood.

MELLIFIED MAN   Speaking of cannibalism in the name of health...in 16th century China there was a medicinal remedy called Mellified Man which involved turning a person into what was basically a human mummified candy bar. Mellified Man was then ingested to help alleviate ailments like broken bones.

The mellification process was long and intricate. It started with an elderly person that was reaching the end of their life and agreed to do this in order to help the future generation. It is akin to donating your body to science except this process began before the subject was even dead. Quoting from an article in allthatsinteresting.com “ To begin, the donor would stop eating anything other than honey, and would occasionally even bathe in it. Soon the honey would begin to build up inside the body and, obviously, because an all-honey diet is not sustainable, the person would die. Then, after death, their body would be placed in a stone coffin filled with honey.”

Then, nature would be left to take its course. The coffin would be left closed for up to a century, letting the honey preserve the corpse. Because honey never spoils and has antibacterial properties, it made for an effective preservative.

This would eventually make the corpse a sugary blob which would be packaged and sold at markets for all sorts of treatments like bone fractures, wounds and even internal ailments. I got all this lovely, disgusting information at AllThatsInteresting.com

WOMAN’S WOMB   Ancient Greek doctors believed that a woman’s womb was a separate creature with a mind of its own. According to the writings of Plato and Hippocrates, when a woman was celibate for an extended time, her uterus—described as a “living animal” eager to bear children—could dislodge and glide freely about her body causing suffocation, seizures and hysteria. 

To prevent their wombs from going on walkabout, ancient women were counseled to marry young and bear as many children as possible. For a womb that had already broken free, doctors prescribed therapeutic baths, infusions and physical massages to try to force it back in position. They might even “fumigate” the patient’s head with sulfur and pitch while simultaneously rubbing pleasant-smelling lotions between her thighs —the logic being that the womb would flee from the bad smells and move back into its rightful place. Well that makes perfect sense to me.

HUMAN SKULL   For the ancient Babylonians, most illnesses were thought to be the result of demonic forces or punishment by the gods for past misdeeds. Doctors often had more in common with priests and exorcists than modern physicians, and their cures usually involved some component of magic. For example, if a patient ground their teeth, the healer might suspect that the ghost of a deceased family member was trying to contact them as they slept. According to ancient necromantic texts, the doctor would recommend sleeping with a human skull for a week as a way of exorcising the spirit. To ensure this disturbing treatment worked, the tooth-grinder was also instructed to kiss and lick the skull seven times each night.

MAD STONES   A Bezoar as it’s also called shows up in the Harry Potter novels. Professor Snape explains to his class that a bezoar is a stone from the stomach of a goat that will save a person from most poisons. Bezoars don’t exist just in the wizarding world; they have been around a long time as a way to protect against poisoning.

According to howStuffWorks.com A bezoar is a lump of hardened, undigested material found in the gastrointestinal tract of deer, antelope, goats, oxen and llamas. It forms when layers of calcium and magnesium phosphate build up around a small bit of plant fiber or a pebble. Stomach contractions squeeze and smooth it into a roughly round shape.

A bezoar could be worn as a charm or ground into a powder and consumed as a preventative to being poisoned Or it could be dropped into a drink suspected to contain poison in order to neutralize the poison. 

French surgeon, Ambroise Paré had his doubts about bezoars. In 1575 he performed an experiment to test how effective they were. A servant of his had been convicted of stealing and sentenced to hang. Pare struck a deal with the servant; if he would agree to be poisoned he would be given the treatment of a bezoar immediately. If he lived he could go free. Unfortunately, the servant died in horrible pain hours later, and Paré had his proof.

I’m from the Appalachian area and one of my all time favorite books is Crawford’s Journal. It is a collection of stories and anecdotes from the rural people of Kentucky curated by journalist Byron Crawford. In it he talks about the old, hand-me-down remedy of Madstones which seems to be a form of the bezoar tradition. 

Madstones typically came from the stomach of a cud chewing animal and was used in the treatment of rabies. The treatment consisted of soaking the stone in milk and then applying it to the wound of the person suspected of having contracted rabies. If the stone stuck to the wound then rabies was present. The stone would be left on the wound until it fell off, then soaked in milk again and reapplied to the wound. When the stone would no longer stick to the wound then the rabies had been sucked from the patient. The milk in the bowl was said to turn green during this process. 

Madstones were prized possessions considered to be rare and almost sacred items among the Appalachian people.  I got my info from HowStuff Works.com and from Crawford’s Journal. I’d like to thank Byron Crawford for giving me permission to quote directly from his book.

ASIAN FAN DEATH    Here’s a question: do you sleep with a fan in your room? I am one of those people that has to have a fan going both for the noise as well as the air flow. It doesn’t matter how cold it is, always a fan at night with the door closed to keep it as dark as possible. 

Did you know that there’s a pervasive belief in South Korea that sleeping with a fan on and the door closed will cause death? It’s such a common idea that Korean fans are often made with timers on them so they will turn off automatically and not stay on through the night.

There are two theories behind what might cause “fan death.” Some say that the fan may lower the body temperature enough to cause hypothermia, still others say that a fan left on in a closed room can prevent proper breathing leading to suffocation.  

No one quite knows how the idea got started but Korean news sources have helped spread the belief by reporting on alleged fan deaths. Also, the Korea Consumer Protection Board issued a consumer safety alert in 2006 warning that asphyxiation from electric fans and air conditioners was among South Korea's five most common summer accidents or injuries, according to data they collected. The report stated “If bodies are exposed to electric fans or air conditioners for too long, it causes [the] bodies to lose water and [causes] hypothermia. If directly in contact with [air current from] a fan, this could lead to death from [an] increase of carbon dioxide saturation concentration and decrease of oxygen concentration. The risks are higher for the elderly and patients with respiratory problems. From 2003 [to] 2005, a total of 20 cases were reported through the CISS involving asphyxiations caused by leaving electric fans and air conditioners on while sleeping. To prevent asphyxiation, timers should be set, wind direction should be rotated, and doors should be left open. (Wikipedia)

ODDITY DU JOUR: MEN IN HEELS     For our oddity today we are going to focus on a fashion accessory, specifically the high heeled shoe. Did you know that high heels were originally designed exclusively for men? The practice of wearing high heels goes all the way back to 10th Century Persia which is now Iraq and Iran. It seems that Persian soldiers hit upon the idea that wearing heeled boots and shoes gave them greater stability in battle when they stood up in the stirrups of their horses to shoot arrows from a bow. The heel wedged itself tightly to the stirrup. 

By the 17th century, one-inch heels were the norm for Persian riders, both on and off their horses. Since owning horses was a symbol of wealth, heeled shoes came to signify money and power as well. So the heel served a practical as well as a symbolic purpose in Persian society. About this time Persia's Shah Abbas 1st had the largest cavalry in the world. He was keen to forge links with rulers in Western Europe to help him defeat his great enemy, the Ottoman Empire. So in 1599 he sent a diplomatic delegation including several dozen heeled horsemen, to call on the courts of Russia, Germany, and Spain. 

When Europeans saw them they instantly became interested in all things Persian. Persian style shoes were enthusiastically adopted by aristocrats, who sought to give their appearance a virile, masculine edge that, it suddenly seemed, only heeled shoes could supply. As the wearing of heels filtered into the lower ranks of society, the aristocracy responded by dramatically increasing the height of their shoes - and the high heel was born. 

Now obviously high heeled shoes have no practical utility at all, but then that’s the point. If you really want to show your high status, do it through impracticality! It was not at all uncommon for the upper classes to show off their privileged station by wearing nonsense impractical luxurious clothing, so the high heel was a perfect fit for them.

Perhaps history’s most notable male high heel wearer was King Louis XIV of France. Poor Louis was only 5”4” tall, but he padded that height an additional four inches with a pair of clunky red heels. Louis was so fond of red that he decreed that only members of his court were allowed to wear shoes with that color heel. However the fad carried over the Channel. A portrait of Charles II of England's coronation in 1661 features him wearing a pair of enormous red, French style heels - although he was over 6ft to begin with. 

Around the year 1630 women in Europe began to borrow fashion ideas from men. They were seen wearing masculine hats, cutting their hair shorter, and adding epaulettes to their dresses. In a further effort to make their outfits more masculine, women began wearing high heeled shoes. By the mid-1700s women’s heels had become more slender and curvaceous.

At the same time Men's fashion shifted towards more practical clothing. In England, aristocrats began to wear simplified clothes that were linked to their work managing country estates. It was the beginning of what has been called the Great Male Renunciation, which would see men abandon the wearing of jewelry, bright colors and ostentatious fabrics in favor of a dark, more sober, and practical look. Along with this, men began rejecting the high heel which had gained tremendously in popularity with women. 

In the American West, the heeled cowboy boot became popular for similar practical reasons as had been discovered by those Persian soldiers. This practicality has carried over into the non-horseback riding population as a popular fashion for men of all walks. Occasionally heeled platform shoes for men do flash around again, (I had some back in the 70s) but generally the fashion has not endured among men.

PLAGUE STONES   Plague stones are found across England, usually in the form of hollowed-out stones or boulders. They are relics of the medieval plagues. It’s been known for a long time that vinegar has antifungal properties. So in order to get supplies like food and medicine to plague victims plague stones were set out and filled with vinegar so that money could be exchanged safely.  

LUCKY IRON FISH   Iron deficiency is a real problem across the world. This was especially true in Cambodia where iron deficiency is the most widespread nutritional disorder in the country. In 2008 health workers attempted to combat this by distributing iron disks to be placed in pots during cooking where the iron would leach out into the food. The same thing happens when you use a cast iron skillet.

Cambodian housewives rejected the idea. Very few of them used the disk and the program was doomed to fail. However in talking with the village elders it was discovered that a certain fish species was deemed a symbol of good luck, health, and happiness in local folklore. The health workers then decided to re-brand the iron disk and form it into the shape of a fish. They called it the Lucky Iron Fish. These were received much more positively by the community and led to immediate increases in blood iron levels amongst the villagers. Anemia was virtually eliminated.

DUCT TAPE   One weird treatment I have to mention is all about the removal of warts. This was actually recommended to me by my kids’ pediatrician and we did it. It involves putting a small piece of duct tape on a wart. As the kid goes through their days playing the tape eventually comes off and painlessly takes a little bit of the wart with it. You apply the duct tape again and keep repeating the process until the entire wart is gone. It doesn't actually cure warts which are caused by a virus--the body eventually builds up an immunity to the virus and the warts go away--but it is an effective way of removing a wart that is in a bothersome place.

COLLOIDAL SILVER    Another trendy medical remedy is colloidal silver. A colloidal substance consists of microscopic particles suspended in a liquid. So colloidal silver contains actual silver particles. Even though the FDA in 1999 warned that ingesting colloidal silver isn’t safe or effective for treating any disease or condition, many companies continued to produce it and market it as a dietary supplement.

Recently, it has experienced a revival in popularity, with some claiming it can replace antibiotics or other medical therapies to treat bacterial, viral and fungal infections. A smaller number of people also claim it can help treat illnesses such as Lyme disease, tuberculosis and even HIV/AIDs.

Here’s the thing about taking CS, the silver builds up in your body and over time can cause Agyria. That is when you skin, eyes, internal organs, nails, and gums turn a blue-gray color, especially in areas of your body exposed to sunlight. That change in your skin color is permanent.

There is the famous case of Paul Karason who consumed CS for over 10 years and so his skin turned very blue. With white hair and beard he looked like Papa Smurf.

Wikipedia and Department of health and human services website.

HOMEOPATHY  This next topic may be a little controversial. Many people today shy away from mainstream medicine and instead opt for more natural remedies. There are many reasons behind this that we don’t have the time to get into today but in many cases a natural remedy can be just as good or even better than what a pharmacological company would produce. 

One practice that I just can’t understand people partaking in is homeopathy. I think that maybe in an effort to take a more natural approach to their health people accept homeopathy without really knowing what it is all about. 

Homeopathy was conceived in 1796 by the German physician Samuel Hahnemannis and is based on the belief that the body can cure itself. Its practitioners, called homeopaths, believe that a substance that causes symptoms of a disease in healthy people can cure similar symptoms in sick people; this doctrine is called similia similibus curentur, or "like cures like". Something that in large doses creates the symptoms of a disease, will, in small doses, treat it. This is similar to the theory behind vaccines but with very important differences. For example, red onion makes your eyes water so it is used in homeopathic remedies for allergies. Homeopathic preparations, or remedies, are made using homeopathic dilution.

The dilutions are measured using the capital letter C. A very simplified explanation is that the 1C is obtained by mixing 1 part of a tincture of the active ingredient with 9 parts of ethanol in a new vial and then vigorously shaking the solution (succussion). The result is a 1/100 dilution of the plant (the Tincture being a 1/10 dilution of the plant itself). The 2C is obtained by mixing 1 part of the 1C with 99 parts of ethanol in a new vial and shaking the solution. Recurrently, the 3C is obtained by mixing 1 part of the 2C with 99 parts of ethanol in a new vial and shaking it.

Hahnemann advocated 30C dilutions for most purposes. At a dilution of just 12C it is determined by scientists that there is unlikely to be even one molecule of the active ingredient in an entire liter of the dilution. Imagine if our bodies were that reactive to ingredients.

Homeopathy makes no sense whatsoever and has been proven by scientists time and time again to be ineffective in curing any ailment. Yet homeopathic remedies are still being sold in stores throughout the US and people still continue to turn to them as an alternative treatment.

I got my info from Wikipedia and the Department of health and human services website.

RANDOM WEIRD REMEDIES     From a Mental Floss article called Thirty Strange Medical Treatments from history, we learn of a rare medical book called Bald’s Leechbook. It is a medical textbook from around the 10th Century. The only copy known to exist is located in the British Library in London. Several interesting bits from Bald’s include putting burnt periwinkle flowers and honey in the eyes to cure cataracts, to treat swollen eyes, take a live crab and cut its eyes out, throw the crab back into the water, then apply its eyes "on the neck of the man who hath need," and to treat swelling of any kind, take the tooth out of a live fox and rub it on the swollen body part.

Another text noted in the article was Dr. Thomas Jefferson Ritter's Mother’s Remedies: Over One Thousand Tried and Tested Remedies from Mothers of the United States and Canada, published in 1910, contains many remedies that may not have been such a great idea after all. —like the one for hay fever, which called for spraying a “four-percent solution of cocaine” up the nose. That was relatively normal back then; cocaine was prescribed for indigestion, fatigue, eye pain, and hemorrhoids. Imagine applying cocaine to hemorrhoids! Dr. Ritter has an interesting fix for chapped hands: Put sour cream in a cloth, bury it outside overnight, then unearth it and apply the sour cream the next day. To heal ringworm, Mother's Remedies recommends a paste made of gunpowder and vinegar be applied to the infection. Repeat as necessary.

Also from the Mental Floss article, between the mid-1800s and early 1900s, 25 cents could get you a bottle of Mrs. Winslow’s Soothing Syrup for your baby. It was advertised as a solution for colic, teething, diarrhea, and any pain. And it worked, because it contained a whole lot of morphine.

COCONUT WATER  Did you know that in emergencies coconut water can be used as a replacement for blood plasma? This is a “factoid” that has been shared on facebook particularly in South Africa. There are stories that coconut water was reportedly given intravenously to people during World War II when regular IV saline solution was in short supply.There is no basis for the stories and many doctors have come forward to say that they would never do this. 

Coconut water has been embraced as a great solution to treating dehydration though. So drink it, don’t inject it.     NPR.org and AfricaCheck.org

STEAK BLACK EYE   You’ve seen old movies or cartoons showing a raw steak being put on a black eye. In researching for this episode I wondered what that was all about. As a kid I thought there was something magical about steak. I mean, it’s pretty delicious. I wouldn’t be surprised if it could help with what ails you.

Turns out the reason it was being used is that it presumably came from a fridge or freezer and so it was just a cold compress to cut down on the swelling. Maybe ice was too precious to use? Or came in blocks and chipping off some would take too long? In any case today we have a lot of much better alternatives to using a slab of meat. 

We all know that uncooked meat can carry a lot of bacteria so if you absolutely feel the need to use food as a cold compress then invest in a bag of frozen peas.    mentalFloss.com

Now for the Trivia Challenge…

1. Like and follow our facebook page @RemnantStewPodcast
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3. Put your answer to the Trivia Challenge Question in the comments of that post

The first person to do all that will be the winner and will be mentioned in an upcoming episode of Remnant Stew.

QUESTION: What completely disgusting medical treatment that has been used since Renaissance times can today be used to help some diabetic patients?

TC ANSWER: Wound debridement or Maggot Therapy

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Remnant Stew is created by me, Leah Lamp. Dr. Steven Meeker and I research, write and host each episode along with commentary by Phillip Sinquefield who is also our audio producer. Theme music is by Kevin MacLeod with voiceover by Morgan Hughes. Special thanks to Judy Meeker and Harbin Gould.

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