Friday, May 07, 2010

A brief history of medicine


Physician letting blood from a patient. British Library, London.
.
Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
.
3000 BC. This mixture of roots and leaves will cure you.
.
2000 BC. Roots don’t work well enough.   If you’re sick, sacrifice a goat.
.
0.050 AD. Sacrifice is for pagans!   If you want to get well, you must pray.
.
1000 AD. Prayer isn’t enough.   Some blood-letting will do you good.
.
1800 AD. Blood-letting weakens the patient.   This potion will fix you up.
.
1900 AD. Potions are pure quackery.   Here, swallow this pill.
.
1950 AD. Pills don’t work.   Now we have antibiotics.
.
2010 AD. Antibiotics can cause more harm than good.  
.
Here, take this mixture of roots and leaves.
.
Author unknown

No comments: