Apothecary Curiosa

 

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Instructions:

Print this page out and then cut off one curiosa item at a time to give to each team of apprentices when they come to you during the designated week for curiosa items. REMEMBER: Only hand out each curiosa item once.
 
 
 Animal Poultices
 
Dr. Thomas Lodge popularized the concept of disease transfer in 1603. He plucked the tail feathers from live pullets and placed them on the sores of plague victims. The unlucky fowl became infected and died whereupon the good doctor would place another tailless fowl upon the sores. When at last, a pullet survived, he proclaimed the human patient on the road to recovery. News spread fast of this new cure and by the time the Black Death hit London in 1665, the common treatment for its victims was to have pigeons which had been cut in two, placed upon their sores to draw out the infection.
References:
Newman, Art (1988). The Illustrated Treasury of Medical Curiosa. McGraw-Hill, Inc. New York, New York.
 
 
  Animal Poultices
    When a parson overdosed himself with opium (which he had taken to cure wakefulness), William Butler (who lived 1535-1618) was called to attend the stricken man. Butler ordered that a cow be killed and its belly slit open, "and the parson to be taken out of his bed and putt into the Cowes warme belly, which after some time brought him to life, or els he had infallibly dyed."
    References:
    Newman, Art (1988). The Illustrated Treasury of Medical Curiosa. McGraw-Hill, Inc. New York, New York.
 
The Evil Eye
     
    The belief that the eye in certain persons can inflict evil and disease by a mere glance has persisted through the ages in both primitive peoples and advanced cultures alike. Along with this belief, people have come up with various ways to thwart the effects of "the evil eye". In Spain and Germany during the medieval and renaissance times, people would form the horned hand. This was done by extending the first and fourth fingers and closing the thumb over the remaining two as a common practice against the evil eye. This horned had was often used in the form of an amulet to protect the home or hung about the neck to protect the wearer. This sign is still used in Italy today.
     
    References:
    Newman, Art (1988). The Illustrated Treasury of Medical Curiosa. McGraw-Hill, Inc. New York, New York.
 
 
 Animal Poultices
    Leonardo da Vinci believed that the goldfinch help prophetic talents for indicating the recovery of an ill patient. Placing the bird on the sickbed, it would be closely observed. If the goldfinch looked at the patient the prognosis for recovery was good, if it looked away the patient was in trouble.
References:
Newman, Art (1988). The Illustrated Treasury of Medical Curiosa. McGraw-Hill, Inc. New York, New York.