10 of the most insane medical procedures in history

Modern medicine is very advanced today. A particularly huge leap has taken place over the past fifty years. Today, many of the medical procedures and treatments of the past may terrify you, but they did take place nonetheless.

10 PHOTOS

1. Bloodletting.

Medieval doctors named four essential body fluids. These are blood, yellow bile, black bile, and phlegm. It was believed that excess or lack of these fluids affects human health. In particular, many doctors believed that many sick people simply had too much blood, and the excess needed to be drained. This was done with the help of leeches or by the method of punctures and cuts on the body.

2. Treatment with mercury.

Mercury has been extremely popular in medicine. Ancient Persians and Greeks used it as an ointment, and Chinese alchemists believed that mercury prolongs life.

3. Solitaire diet.

The essence of the diet is to swallow the parasite and hope that it will eat some of the food you eat. Unfortunately, some types of parasites have devastating consequences for the body.

4. Electroconvulsive therapy.

ECT, or electroconvulsive therapy, was first used in the 1940s as an alternative to lobotomy for patients with mental disorders.

5. Wine of Mariani.

In 1863, Italian chemist Angelo Mariani patented a healing drink made from coca leaves. He called it Wine Mariani. You guessed it, coca leaves are used to make cocaine.

6. Radium.

The discovery of radium led to an entire industry of luminous products, as well as drugs created by charlatans who advised the addition of radium to drink water to treat various diseases.

7. Belladonna.

Modern anesthesia is a fairly young science by the standards of the development of medicine. Previously, belladonna was used in combination with other ingredients for anesthesia. The wrong combination or the wrong dosage could lead to death.

8. Treatment of dead mice.

Dead mice were used medicinally in ancient Egypt, where the corpses of mice were mixed with other ingredients and used to relieve toothaches. Later in England, mice were cut in half to treat warts.

9. Smoking.

Today we know that smoking is harmful. But smoking used to be considered a healthy occupation. For example, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, inhalation of tobacco smoke was a treatment for asthma.

10. Urine.

Human urine has been used as an antiseptic. The Romans used it to whiten their teeth. Even now, in folk medicine, urine is often used.