We’ve won the lottery! We’re alive in the 21st century! We may be suffering through a possible coronavirus pandemic but at least it’s not the 13th century when the bubonic plague burned through the known world. The coronavirus is not as virulent as the plague where there was, on average, about a 9 in 10 chance of dying within a week. Our highly skilled infectious disease experts have a host of effective protocols and research to fight the virus, while medieval physicians could only rely on what was at hand, mainly strange concoctions, herbs, purging and superstitions.
Consider these old prescriptions as reassurance that medicine has come a long way.
From Elizabeth, Countess of Kent: An Excellent Receipt for the Plague
Take 1 pound of green walnuts, 1/2 ounce of saffron, 1/2 ounce London treacle. beast them together in a mortar and with a little cordial (wine) or some such…
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