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The Greek Medicane
All About Medicane
Disease was a very serious problem for the Greeks. One out of 3 babies die before they are a year old, so disease is very common. Greek doctors believed demons caused diseases but the god, Asclepius could cure it. People that are sick often brought models of the part of their bodies that was effected by the disease , and leave it at Asclepius shrine as a way of letting him know what area of their body to heal/fix. Although, the doctors did use actual medicine that worked such as wine, to help with pain and toothache, aloe to cure burns, fresh garlic to disinfect cuts, and mint tea to help with stomachaches. Further on, about 500 BC, Greek doctors did start using actual logic to figure out what cause diseases and how to cure them effectively and fast.The main collection of writings about Greek medicine is called the, Hippocratic Writings. Now Greek doctors like Hippocrates believed people were made up of 4 substances blood, black bile, yellow bile, and plem (boogers). If you were healthy that meant that all 4 of the substance that made up your body is balanced. If you weren't healthy that meant that one of these 4 substances that made up your body were off balanced. As in you have too much of one substance and too little of the others. For example, if you had too much blood then you will get a fever. So your medical treatment for that would be resolved by a Greek doctor cutting your arm until your blood ran out. Or they would put little bugs called leeches on your arm so they can suck any extra blood out. A little weird right? Well get this, around 900 AD a Islamic man named Al Razi was the one to discover all of the Greeks beliefs about medicine was wrong. That was were we started most of the medicine we use today.