I've been alternating non-fiction reading (Hyperlipid) with something much lighter -- Cadfael. I've always loved history and murder mysteries, so this is doubly entertaining. I'm constantly having to nip over to Wikipedia to check up on people, places and events of which i don't know enough. A rabbit trail led me to Henry V of England (who was portrayed so compellingly by Kenneth Branagh...).
It seems that once during his tumultuous and eventful life, Hal got an arrow wound in his face. If he'd been anyone less important, it probably would have been the death of him. Prince Henry, however, had the best medical attention to be found in the western world at the time. They managed to extract the arrow head without doing any more damage than had already been done, then treated the wound with alcohol and HONEY. Yep, good old-fashioned honey, the back-country antiseptic!
The alcohol step sure must have stung, though....
That may depend on the method of use of the alcohol.
ReplyDeletei got the impression they poured it into the wound, but if enough fell into his mouth first, i'm sure that helped a lot. :-)
Delete"treated the wound with alcohol and HONEY." Interesting mix !
ReplyDeleteI'm with you when you said to Fred "if enough fell into his mouth first" ....I'm sure this helped relieve some of the pain etc.
All the best Jan
I didn't express that well -- it wasn't a mixture, but sequential. Wikipedia says this: "the sixteen-year-old prince was almost killed by an arrow that became stuck in his face. An ordinary soldier might have died from such a wound, but Henry had the benefit of the best possible care. Over a period of several days, John Bradmore, the royal physician, treated the wound with honey to act as an antiseptic, crafted a tool to screw into the broken arrow shaft and thus extract the arrow without doing further damage, and then flushed the wound with alcohol. The operation was successful, but it left Henry with permanent scars." ...poor kid!
DeleteInteresting bit about putting a screw into the arrow to extract it. My oral surgeon used a tiny socket wrench to put my dental implant in. I couldn't see how he extracted the broken tooth--it was broken off so short that he said it would be difficult.
Deletei'm assuming they used opium before they started this operation. [shudder] just working on the broken shaft would be tricky, and i'm also assuming the arrowhead was stuck in the bone....
DeleteI also like how they used to diagnosed diabetes - some urine of a patient was left in a shallow dish outside. It was a bad site if ants were attracted to it.
ReplyDeletei was amused when i read that the "mellitus" part of the name came from tasting the urine and finding it honey-like. whatever could have motivated that clever medico to taste the patient's urine?
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