Overview

The fascinating history of medicine in Europe is filled with curious, often bizarre, strange, and gruesome cures, enthusiastically espoused by physicians and other medical practitioners of the times. Repulsive and disgusting examples of 'medications' often dominated treatment directives and many proposed cures were all but useless, highly dangerous and even lethal. This book explores compelling, and at times shocking facts, offering select glimpses into the journey of Western medicine 'through the darkness'. Guaranteed to astound, interest and occasionally make one shudder at what constituted orthodox therapeutic observances of the past, the author highlights diverse medical practices, as well as dreaded diseases. Ever mindful of not lapsing into what historians have called 'the enormous condescension of posterity', the book serves as an exposition on the 'growing pains' of a field born of supposition, and reared in a milieu of theocracy and superstition, before finally emerging as the modern science of medicine we know today.