If history can teach us anything, it’s that absolute truths are
always evolving. Take medicine: before the discovering of viruses, germs
and bacteria, and how they are linked to disease, Western medicine
looked a whole lot different. Today it may be amusing to think
of organs moving around our bodies or the nighttime as a breeding ground
for illness, but, in prior centuries, that was accepted knowledge.
1. Sick People Should Not Go Outside at Night.
Before the discovery of germs in the late 19th century, most of the Western World believed that “bad air” caused many major diseases. In other words, you became sick from from diseases like cholera and chlamydia because of a dirty environment, not because of exposure to other people with those diseases. This bad air, or miasmata, was thought to be especially bad at night, and sick people were strongly discouraged from going outside after dark. This may seem like a silly warning today, but ask yourself this: when was the last time someone told you to put a jacket on so you don’t catch a cold? Yep, the association between being cold and having a cold comes from the same antiquated medical advice.
2. Distant Mothers Are to Blame for Their Child’s Autism.
Even today, Autism is a little-understood disease, but in the 1950′s and 1960′s, the prevailing theory for why some children developed the condition had to do with poor parenting. Ignored by their parents, these children turned instead to the comfort of their inner selves. The effects of this once dominant theory hurt a generation of mothers, and is still felt by some mothers of autistic children today — who wants to hear that they caused their child’s autism?
3. Some Pre-Adolescent Girls Can Fast Indefinitely.
In the late 1800s, several high-profile cases emerged of young girls, usually pre-adolescent, that claimed to sustain themselves fully without ever eating. Sound familiar? Well, it’s thought that these “fasting girls” were some of the first publicized cases of anorexia nervosa — a disease that developed alongside the development of the middle class and the growing availability of food. To their credit, many doctors who treated these girls were quite skeptical of their claims, though public interest in these tragic cases was strong.
4. Women Get Sick Because Their Uteruses are Moving Around in Their Bodies.
You can thank the Ancient Greeks for the concept of the “Wandering Womb.” Hippocrates, the father of Western medicine, believed that a woman’s uterus moved around in her body like an animal and placed pressure on her internal organs. This pressure was said to be the cause of many of the ailments women face, including non-gender specific ones like vertigo, choking, and heartburn. The wandering womb concept persisted in Western medicine for centuries. The development of medical technology aided in its dismissal as a concept.
5. Excess Fluids in the Body Are Responsible for Most Diseases.
For thousands of years, Western doctors believed in the concept of humorism. No it has nothing to do with jokes; rather, humorism was the theory that too much or too little of the body’s four main fluids — black bile, yellow bile, blood and phlegm — had a direct impact on their health and temperament. These four humors were associated with seasons, elements, and personality traits. To treat disease, one needed to adjust the levels of these fluids — through consuming certain foods, inducing vomiting, and bloodletting.
1. Sick People Should Not Go Outside at Night.
Before the discovery of germs in the late 19th century, most of the Western World believed that “bad air” caused many major diseases. In other words, you became sick from from diseases like cholera and chlamydia because of a dirty environment, not because of exposure to other people with those diseases. This bad air, or miasmata, was thought to be especially bad at night, and sick people were strongly discouraged from going outside after dark. This may seem like a silly warning today, but ask yourself this: when was the last time someone told you to put a jacket on so you don’t catch a cold? Yep, the association between being cold and having a cold comes from the same antiquated medical advice.
2. Distant Mothers Are to Blame for Their Child’s Autism.
Even today, Autism is a little-understood disease, but in the 1950′s and 1960′s, the prevailing theory for why some children developed the condition had to do with poor parenting. Ignored by their parents, these children turned instead to the comfort of their inner selves. The effects of this once dominant theory hurt a generation of mothers, and is still felt by some mothers of autistic children today — who wants to hear that they caused their child’s autism?
3. Some Pre-Adolescent Girls Can Fast Indefinitely.
In the late 1800s, several high-profile cases emerged of young girls, usually pre-adolescent, that claimed to sustain themselves fully without ever eating. Sound familiar? Well, it’s thought that these “fasting girls” were some of the first publicized cases of anorexia nervosa — a disease that developed alongside the development of the middle class and the growing availability of food. To their credit, many doctors who treated these girls were quite skeptical of their claims, though public interest in these tragic cases was strong.
4. Women Get Sick Because Their Uteruses are Moving Around in Their Bodies.
You can thank the Ancient Greeks for the concept of the “Wandering Womb.” Hippocrates, the father of Western medicine, believed that a woman’s uterus moved around in her body like an animal and placed pressure on her internal organs. This pressure was said to be the cause of many of the ailments women face, including non-gender specific ones like vertigo, choking, and heartburn. The wandering womb concept persisted in Western medicine for centuries. The development of medical technology aided in its dismissal as a concept.
5. Excess Fluids in the Body Are Responsible for Most Diseases.
For thousands of years, Western doctors believed in the concept of humorism. No it has nothing to do with jokes; rather, humorism was the theory that too much or too little of the body’s four main fluids — black bile, yellow bile, blood and phlegm — had a direct impact on their health and temperament. These four humors were associated with seasons, elements, and personality traits. To treat disease, one needed to adjust the levels of these fluids — through consuming certain foods, inducing vomiting, and bloodletting.
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