Treatments

• Urine charts


  • rich patients would regularly send urine to doctors to check that they weren't ill
  • used by doctors to diagnose and treat patients
  • doctors used to taste and smell urine to test it
• Zodiac charts

  • physicians used zodiac charts to decide on best time for treatment
  • believed parts of the body were linked to zodiac signs and planets
  • showed doctors when to avoid treating each part of the body
• Regimen Sanitatis


  • loose set of instructions provided by doctors to maintain good health
  • only the rich could afford
  • bathing was important as bad smells indicated miasma
  • everyone washed their hands before they ate - cleanliness is next to Godliness
• Bleeding


  • used leeches to bleed people
  • done by a barber surgeon or doctor
  • used a bleeding chart to show where to do it
• Herbal Remedies


  • remedies made from herbs, minerals and animal parts
  • prayers said while picking ingredients
  • wise women knew recipes off by heart
• Surgeons/Surgery


  • used wine as antiseptic
  • used natural substances as anaesthetics (e.g opium, hemlock, gall of boar), however they were ineffective and could be deadly
  • performed external surgeries (e.g facial ulcers, eye cataracts) and internal surgeries (e.g removing bladder stones)
  • deep wounds caused death from bleeding, shock and infection
  • some surgeons believed it was good when pus was in wounds