Two hundred years ago, visiting the doctor was risky business, and it is somewhat risky still today, considering how many germs are floating around in the waiting room. Anesthetics were unavailable, two hundred years ago. An open wound could easily become infected during an operation and deadly diseases could not be treated. However, we tend to think in terms of our most resent history and we also tend to believe that we are always improving, or rather that history is always leading us in a progressive direction and continues to become better and better. This is the error of the human mind when we study history. In 1667 a successful blood transfusion was carried out using a lamb as a Donner, lucky the patient, a young boy age 15, survived! This is what we think of as medical progress. But we forget about ancient history, we tend to think that modern medicine is the only answer and the only way. It seems though that progress, and history isn't always an upward climb.
Ancient Egyptians knew about the heart and heart rate, pulse rate, blood and air in combination with the human body and the emotions long before we ever attempted a lamb patient blood transfusion. In what is called Papyrus Ebers that dates back to 1500 BC we find a surprisingly accurate description of the entire circulatory system. In fact in looking back we find that even brain surgery has been practiced anciently in many cultures around the world Ancient Egyptian surgical practice is well documented to archaeologists. Ancient mummification techniques is ample proof that medical knowledge was known to humans long before two hundred years ago and our sometimes botched attempts at playing doctor. Ancient Sumerians were known to practice medicine as well using oils and spices as medicine. There are several texts showing the liability of physicians who performed surgery that have been found in regions of Iran. - See more at: Ancinet Mesopotamia Iran History. One need only study the history of the spice trade to realize the importance of spices and oils as medical answers. The trade was extensive and the practice of spices was not only related to worship, but rather health. This trade drove the world economy prior to the dark ages. It was wealth - and also health.  |
| The spice trade reached from the Mediterranean Sea to the Indonesia. |
We would be very naive indeed to consider Western Medicine as the only successful answer to health. The Chinese practice of medicine dates back to 5000 years ago. Many of these practices have been shown to be highly successful. A recent randomized controlled study has shown a commercially available herbal plant oils to be effective in reducing symptoms of Irritable Bowl Syndrome, as long as Western Medical drugs are avoided. Avoiding Western Drugs, as we study it more and more,
could sometimes be the solution. One needs only watch commercials on T.V. to realize the numerous problems of pharmaceuticals. There are extensively long lists of adverse side effects of drugs that are being advertised. Often those lists include death and suicide. There are also commercial lawsuits alerts, sometimes following those same advertisements, in which the introduction of drugs considered safe to distribute to the public has later proven to be the cause of major medical problems, again those some of those problems being death and suicide. It seems that Western Medicine isn't working as effectively as we would wish.
Doctors today still refer to themselves, after medical school, as practicing, and that is just what they are doing, though no doubt they are often skilled and highly trained, and are answering problems in the way they have been trained. It seems that good answers to our health could actually, however, lie further back into the historical records. Ancient history is sometimes not so primitive as we would like to believe. When we speak of Western Medicine as being a new "discovery" we are being very loose in our interpretation of the word discovery.
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