Throughout history, man has done odd medical practices to cure the ailments of others that we would deem disgusting or inhumane today.
From bloodletting to eating powdered mummies, humanity has believed in the curative powers of odd techniques and tonics that modern medicine would deem ineffective or wrong. Medicine has advanced significantly in the past 100 years thanks to the discovery of drugs and techniques such as penicillin, antibiotics, germ theory, anesthesia, and imaging to name a few. However, humanity didn’t always have these advances at its disposal.
The strangest medical practices
Humanity had a lot of strange beliefs and misconceptions about the body throughout the ages and did even stranger things to heal it.
1. Bloodletting
One of the weirder things medical professionals held as a standard in their practice, bloodletting is exactly what it sounds like. The technique consisted of letting blood from a cure or prevent diseases and illnesses. It stems from the common ancient belief of humors, and that releasing blood maintained proper health. Bloodletting was abandoned in the Western world in the 19th century but is still practiced today in different and more limited forms such as phlebotomy.
2. Mercury treatments
Now known as poisonous to the human body, mercury was used as a cure for diseases such as syphilis. One of the most ineffective practices on this list, the oddity of it was that it killed the patient before they ever had the chance to get better. The toxicity of mercury destroyed the nervous system, organs, and even the teeth. It is hard for historians to gauge the effectiveness of this treatment, but it is widely accepted that it did more harm than good.
3. Mummy Powder
Also known as mummia, the practice consisted of grounding up mummified remains to treat a wide range of ailments from headaches to ulcers. This was a common remedy in medieval times but was used until the early 20th century. In the 16th century, even royalty consumed mummified remains to cure their illnesses.
However, as time passed scholars began to realize they had mistakenly translated mummia as mummy and were using the wrong treatment the whole time. Mummia was originally a sticky substance that seeped from the earth used in Arabic countries. It became popular in Europe, and ancient apothecaries ground up mummified remains when demand increased to a point where the original supply of the substance wasn’t enough to meet the need.
4. Smoke enemas
In the 18th century, tobacco smoke was blown into the rectums of patients suffering from cholera as an alternative remedy to opium. There were also other ways of administering the treatment, such as boiling tobacco-infused water and delivering it straight to the intestines. Another strange use of this method was for drowning victims to attempt resuscitation. With the advent of modern medicine and modern resuscitation techniques, this practice fell out of favor.
5. Soothing syrup
This elixir sold most commonly as Mrs. Winslow’s Soothing Syrup was an extremely popular remedy for fussy babies. The only problem? It was made almost entirely of morphine, opium, heroin, and other narcotic drugs alongside alcohol. It was extremely effective in getting the baby to calm down, as one might expect of such a concoction. However, the addictive and damaging nature of these substances led to many infant overdoses, and once the public learned of the dangers, they sought to ban these substances from being used in medicine.
6. Cocaine
Cocaine saw a wide range of usage as a medicine in the past. It was used as a cure for hay fever according to an article from 1885 and was also one of the first local anesthetic the medical world ever used. It was also used in tonics for energy boosts and toothaches. The narcotic was so commonly used that it was even used in the original Coca-Cola recipe, and that is how the product got its name. After realizing its dangerous addictive properties, the use of cocaine in medicine was abandoned in the 20th century.
7. Lobotomies
One of the most infamous medical practices ever recorded, lobotomies were used on what doctors of the time considered to be mentally ill. While some of these patients did suffer from psychiatric issues, unfortunately, some of them were just persecuted members of the LGBTQA+ community. The treatment involved breaking into the patient’s skull and severing parts of their frontal lobe, often leaving the patient incapacitated or drastically altering their personalities.
8. Animal-derived cures
Doctors have been using different animals and their properties to attempt to heal people for centuries. From using leeches to suckle blood from wounds to using cow dung as a wart cure, and even using snake oil for pain, there have been many strange trends and beliefs related to animals in medicine. There are still some animal-related treatments used today, such as leeches (in more controlled ways), but fads like cow dung and snake oil were debunked.
9. Xenotransplantation
A strange medical practice that has seen some advancement and use in the modern-day, xenotransplantation has had a long history of trial and error. Some strange cases in the past have seen chimpanzee intestines and baboon hearts transplanted into humans. The risk is immune rejection, as mixing organs between animals generally leads to death. However, doctors of today have been able to make pig organs work thanks to their size and CRISPR gene editing making them more acceptable to the human body.
10. Trepanation
An ancient medical practice, trepanation was similar to lobotomy in the sense that it involved breaking into the skull. However, it was used for the treatment of migraines and epilepsy, as well as relieving cranial pressure from head trauma. it involved boring a very small hole in the skull. and was practiced commonly with the ancient Greeks, Romans Chinese, Incas, and Egyptians. It was surprisingly effective, with some patients being recorded as having made full recoveries.