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6 unbelievable cures for the black death
Boban Docevski
The black death was probably
one of the most devastating pandemics known to man.
When the disease spread to
Europe between 1346–1353, it killed an estimated 75 to 200 million people,
about 30–60% of Europe’s total population at the time.
Modern analysis of the Black
Death shows us that the pathogen responsible was the Yersinia pestis bacterium.
The place of origin for this
pandemic was probably Central Asia. It spread to Europe carried by the traders
of the Silk Road.
The unlucky people that
caught the disease were usually dead just a few days.
Their final days were
extremely unpleasant. The diseased people developed symptoms like high fever,
severe vomiting, and bleeding from the lungs.
The bodies of the victims
were also covered with gruesome boils, the pain must have been terrible.
Medicine back in those days
was still not a developed science, and the methods used by the physicians were
questionable and controversial, if not completely insane.
People were desperate,
victims of the Black Death were piling up everywhere.
The whole situation forced
them to come up with all sorts of crazy and impossible cures.
Some of the solutions they
came up with were probably worse than dying from the plague itself.
Here is a selection of some
of the more peculiar and terrible cures that probably didn’t help at all.
1. Treacle
This solution is one of the
sweetest on the list, the next ones are definitely more unpleasant.
 |
| Bottle of Dutch treacle. |
The term “treacle” was used
by Middle English speakers to signify a kind of a medicine.
Old herbalists and
apothecaries used to make a medicine (also known as theriac or theriaca) wich
were made out of many ingredients.
The theriaca was used in many
different situations, such as an antidote treatment for poisons, snakebites,
and various other diseases.
Apparently, it was
considered as a cure for the Black Death also.
Unfortunately, in order to
be effective, it had to be at least ten years old. People believed that treacle
could completely remove the plague from the body.
There is a slight chance
that this could work, but still, it’s far away from curing a plague completely.
The reason it could work is
that if the syrup was left to mature for some time, disease-fighting molds,
yeasts, and other cultures would have developed in it.
Still, drinking this nasty
thing doesn’t sound like a good idea.
2. Rubbing the victim’s
body with a chicken
Yes, exactly, it sounds like
a joke, but it was a real method that was often used by people. The whole
ritual was called “the Vicary Method.”
 |
| Thomas Vicary, the inventor of the Vicary Method. |
First, a hens butt needed to
be shaved and then strapped on the swollen lymph nodes of the sick person.
All of this was done with a
live and breeding chicken.
Then, when the chicken got
sick too, it needed to be washed and applied on the person again until only the
chicken or victim remained healthy.
Strangely enough, the
technique was widespread. Many chickens got sick and spread their plague-ridden
parasites everywhere.
Vicary became famous and
even today, there is a special lecture held every year in his honor in the
Royal College of Surgeons in England.
3. Leeches
Bloodletting was a popular
method for curing people, dating back to 800 B.C. and it was used to cure a
wide variety of things.
Leeches have proven
themselves as a reliable medical aid and are even used in modern medicine.
Bloodletting with leeches is
a relatively painless technique.
The thing is leech collector
back in those days asked for a lot of money and not everybody could afford
them.
That is why people used a
more dangerous method of bloodletting – cutting the skin open.
They used to push a blade
into their veins and drain the blood into a bowl.
The pain was not a problem
as much as the risk of infection in the unsanitary conditions back then.
4. Consuming a spoon of
crushed emeralds
It looks like this was a
cure for kings.
The method is simple: They
used to ground down this precious stone into a mortar and pestle, mix it with
water and then drink it like a potion.
They even mixed it with food
or just simply swallowed the powder.
Emeralds might be pretty,
but the thought of eating them is not so pleasant. They probably taste and feel
like crushed glass shards.
5. Applying
human excrement paste on the victim
This one is probably the
most disgusting one. A cure from hell.
The inflamed lymph nodes in
the armpits or groin of the plague victim were opened in order for the disease
to “leave” the body, and then a mixture of tree resins, flower roots, and human
excrement was applied directly on the wounds.
The “treated” places were
then wrapped up. This whole process is probably a good starting point for a
whole new disease.
6. Taking a bath in urine
 |
| Constantine the African examines urine. |
People especially loved it
in Medieval Europe.
Plague infested people
believed that if they bathed in urine few times a day, it would help to relieve
the terrible symptoms of the disease.
A glass or two of the liquid
was also recommendable.
During the years of Black
Death, clean, uninfected urine was collected and given or sold to the people in
need.
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