Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Ancient Medicine

It was exposed that the ancient Egyptians were among the first to use certain herbs and drugs as a form of medicine. They also knew how to set and splint cracked bones, using skills that were so sophisticated and even rather similar to the way many doctors treat their patients today. More astoundingly, there is evidence that some surgery was also practiced in ancient Egypt. However, during that time, there was no knowledge of the use of aesthesia and the method used to render a patient unaware was to strike him on the head with a mallet! Imagine how unsafe that was!
Surgery was also said to have been practiced by the Babylonians of Mesopotamia, though the practice used were more superior than the Egyptians'. There was even a compilation of laws set up and gather in "The Code of Hammurabi" in about 1800 BC, which listed the result that had to be salaried by ineffective surgeons. For instance, if the enduring lost an eye since of defective surgery, the medical doctor had to pull out his own eye too! It's completely a wonder how some of the Babylonians still confront to practice medicine given such strict laws!
The ancient Greeks on the other hand, came up with the concept of the principle of the four humors. The humors were blood, black bile, yellow bile, and phlegm, which were believed to be impartial in a healthy person. Even at the moment, Chinese medicine is still widely used in countries such as China and even in Singapore. Even better still, Chinese medicine is sometimes combined with western medicine and used as one.

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