Watching programs in which an “expert” says anything beginning with “Well, this is like medieval times, when supposed … roamed the countryside offering …”
Out! You are not an expert. Silence!
The medieval and the Middle Ages were not the same. And the Middle Ages were not the same as the Renaissance. I know it’s all Old™ to you lot, but they were in fact very different periods of time. People who say things like that probably can’t even quantify what dates were “medieval” versus “Middle Ages”
One day I will kill anyone who says things like that on television!
Medieval is what, 800 to 1100, Middle Ages 1100-1350, Renaissance 1350-1550?
*huffs* to hear Wikipedia tell it it’s all the bloody same! Yes, you’re approximately correct.
I don’t much care for labels, but to my mind, the medieval was that time immediately following the fall of Rome and the rise of Gail. The Middle Ages encapsulated the crusades, and the Renaissance was a lovely time, except for all the plague.
I simply don’t want to listen to a psychologist who is profiling criminals to bring up “those supposed doctors in the medieval times who bled people”
Sir…bleeding was a common practice well into the 19th century. And Medieval Times is a restarting franchise.
Heck James Herriot talks about it in one of his memoirs, they used it for race horses up until the 50s it looks like.
It actually has a purpose, or at least an unanticipated side effect.
In certain age groups it lowers he concentrations of harmful hormones like to start strong, that could cause cancer if in properly balanced. It also has the additional side effect of stimulating more red and white blood cell production. Which is likely how it became a cure in the first place. Some poor sap decided to bleed out the demons, and noticed that the body recovered, likely because the person’s genetics allowed for a boost in T cell production.
Wait.
Wait.
Wait.
So…
Am I healthier for nearly bleeding to death twice this year?
No Karen. That is excessive, not therapeutic.
For example, sun exposure causes the skin to produce vital amounts of vitamin D. Over exposure to sunlight causes disruption of the skin cells lead to melanoma.
So, more of a “donating blood may actually make you healthier, depending on certain factiors” thing? Or would that still be a bit much to lose at once?
That is precisely what studies have shown. Particularly for post menopausal women. It reduces the amount of testosterone in the blood stream, which lowers cancer risks. It is also an excellent way of adjusting one’s self to high altitudes in advance of travel. know I read a study a year or so ago about the benefits to men, something about stimulating the immune system. I can’t recall.
Heck. They’re bringing back medicinal leeches in the modern day.
Very helpful for people with impaired circulation, actually.
OOh! And maggots for putrefying sores!
It works very well, actually.
And don’t even get me started on the medicinal benefits of honey as a wound dressing, which modern medicine is realizing was used in wound treatments going back before recorded history for a reason.
Because the sugar concentration is so high and it’s thick enough to cut bacteria off from oxygen?
Not precisely. Honey naturally contains low levels of hydrogen peroxide, which is of course an antiseptic. It’s also hydroscopic, meaning it will actively draw moisture from tissues. This means that it will dehydrate and kill fungi, bacteria, and viral agents.
This much we understand.
However.
Honey is a hugely complex chemical substance, which we don’t fully understand even after using it for something like ten thousand years. Properties vary depending on the plant/plants that supplied the nectar gathered by the bees; manuka honey, for instance, has natural antibacterial agents in it produced by the manuka tree and passed on to its nectar.
The part we don’t fully understand yet is how it stimulates healing without scarring (it does) and helps heal wounds 4 to 5 days faster than most conventional treatments (it does). Why? We have no idea. Research is ongoing. Most honey has this property. Again, we’ve no clue why.
The exception to this is diabetic ulcers. Honey slows the healing of diabetic ulcers. Why? We don’t know. Research is ongoing.
What we do know is that it works. Particularly in the case of burns and antibiotic resistant staph infections. Also, infectious agents can’t seem to develop any resistance to it. Even antibiotic resistant strains are killed very effectively, and in tests run to see if those same bacteria that have already developed a resistance to antibiotics can develop a similar resistance to honey, they can’t. Even after thousands of generations.
Why? We don’t know. Research is ongoing.
I love listening to scholars about early bible ‘unclean’ stuff. They knew bad fish made you sick. They knew blood was a disease vector, as was poop. All that stuff. It was mostly just early immunology.
Observational, anecdotal evidence has led to many things, not merely in the biblical context. The Chinese and Early Indus groups have always been ahead of their time with regard to medicine, entirely based on observation. The entire theory of meridians and chakras have intense, high percentage overlap with major nerve clusters, organs, and arterial branches, and none of it came from dissection. They learned that eating collagen helped repair joints and alleviate pain. They learned how to control headaches and all manner of physical ailment, and they did it all with observation. The Romans, before Christ, were doing cataract surgery.
The point is, biblical knowledge claims a divine source, but if it was divine, it would contain the root of all human knowledge, not merely what the Jewish had learned. The Chinese and other Asian culture were older than the Jewish tribes, and yet their knowledge is not in the Bible.
God must have been napping during that bit about boiling the water before drinking it, because I cannot tell you how many Europeans died from water borne illness.
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