Some of us like to smile at the health beliefs and medical practices of our forebears. Perhaps it gives us the comforting sense of superiority, and that we have progressed from belief to science.
The latest to join in the sport is the British Medical Journal, which has reminded us of some of the whacky ideas of those living in Italy in the 1450s. These ignorant dinosaurs believed that pasta is good for the throat and chest, but harmful to the intestines, and that fennel is good for the eyesight but bad for menstrual flow, for instance (Sounds OK to me – Ed).
It would be interesting to see how we’re viewed in 600 years. Our successors might smirk at the reliance we placed on drugs that cure almost nothing, and by our charming beliefs that newborn babies don’t feel pain. Just a thought.