Was Hippocratic/Galenic medicine a complete waste of time, often worse than useless?

Question

Did people put their hopes on and fork out money for 2000 years on something that did no good?

Answer 1

Hi there.
No, it was definitely of some use.
To have somebody listen to you, take your illness seriously and propose a treatment is enough to calm a patient and invoke a placebo effect, so merely by existing they did some good!.
Much of their medicine was herbal based and known to work by observed effect - it was only their theories of 4 humours running the body (blood, phlegm, black bile, yellow bile) that was a bit mad.
Even bleeding (by vein or leech) would relax a patient and give a good nights sleep, also lowers the body temperature - drastic by modern methods, but effective.
Cheers, Steve.

Answer 2

My studies into medicine in England during the 12th century (the Anglo-Norman period) show that many forms of treatment were practised, much of it without payment.

There were the famous barber-surgeons, who bled patients or used leeches to correct "humour imbalance"; they would also remove limbs and cauterise wounds if necessary. This is the kind of treatment founded by Galen and Hippacrates; such extreme treatments had been used since classical times and were generally effective unless the wound became infected (as there was no understanding of bacterial infection, there was no real treatment for it except amputation).

Alongside this, however, was the much more widespread use of herbalism, particularly favoured in monasteries. This again derived from classical origins, using plants to cure more minor ailments. Many such treatments have a scientific basis - even if the people of the time did not understand how or why the treatment worked, they knew that it worked and that was enough.

An example would be the herb "Hound's Tongue", which was the prescribed treatment for dogbites - it actually contains a mild antiseptic which would be beneficial in such cases.

Other examples are Lady's Mantle for treating menstrual problems, Sage for sore throats, Marigold for skin ailments, St Johns Wort for minor wounds and many more - all of these have a scientific basis and many form the basis for modern drugs treating exactly the same conditions. Monastic infirmaries charged nothing for treating injuries and did a great deal of good, particularly in dealing with leprosy.

Answer 3

The importance of Hippocratic/Galenic medicine is not in its therapeutics, but in the historical value of its diagnostics, some of which was very astute, the remainder grossly erroneous. Nevertheless, the teachings of Hippocrates and Galen held sway even into the 18th century and beyond.

If we are to believe Coverdale's translation of the Bible, medical care didn't cost much in those times. The Good Samaritan gave the innkeeper just two pence to care for the stranger waylaid by bandits. Two pence! My theory is that they had a strong and very stingy HMO.

Answer 4

Do not knock them, many of the old remedies are coming back because of scientific testing and the isolation of the curative part of the remedy.