How scientific was the 17th and -8th centuries?

• There were many supernatural treatment, such as:

  spirit of human skull

  egyptian mummies

  bezoar stone
• There were also many natural treatments used, such as:

  • mercury
  • bloodletting
  • four humours
  • burning
  • blistering agents
  • purging
  • enemers
  • drugs
• The fast death of Charles II shows us that treatments hadn’t really advanced from the medieval period, and no effective treatments were taken on by doctors
• A quack was a travelling salesman selling ‘cure-all’s’ and other medicines
• Nicholas Culpeper wrote ’the complete herbal’ guide to plants and their medicinal uses
• Thomas Sydenham was famous for recognising symptoms of diseases, and wrote ‘Medical Observations’
• Sir Charles Scarburgh treated Charles II and documented the process
• It wasn’t very scientific- people just went with what worked and didn’t really go about understanding why