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12
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1answer
1k views
What was the life expectancy of an ancient roman child and adult?
I'm assuming the average life expectancy of a Roman did not change very much between 500 BC - 500 AD (?), as there was probably no significant progress in medical knowledge or nutrition. Do historians ...
10
votes
3answers
242 views
What historical conditions (culture, technology, events, etc.) contributed to China's current lead in population?
If their growth rate was comparable to the rest of the world over the past several millenia, then was it only a matter of having a "head start"? (If so, then how did this initial condition come to ...
9
votes
4answers
270 views
Was there any way to deal with infections in pre-modern times?
Today, an infection isn't usually too serious of a problem, with so many kinds of antibiotics available.
Was there any way to deal with infections in pre-modern times? Let's say before 1700.
8
votes
4answers
697 views
How did a besieged city/castle defend itself vs. catapulting diseased dead bodies into it?
I was a bit shocked to read that diseased dead bodies/animals where catapulted into besieged castles/towns. Biological warfare in the middle ages. But this "method" of warfare had probably alot ...
8
votes
1answer
122 views
When did the first organ transplant operation occur?
Is it in 800 AD or 1800 AD. Was it done in Rome? Was it done in India?
What was the name of the surgeon?
7
votes
1answer
121 views
Robert Hookes Diary - Why would he have bought and drunk Vomit?
I have been reading extracts from Robert Hookes diary located here between the dates 1672-1680, on at least eight occasions he describes taking vomit and sometimes even using a feather to induce ...
6
votes
1answer
71 views
What is the earliest passage that describes Hippocrates' observation that blood stratifies into four layers?
A few articles (such as "Misconceptions about Medieval Medicine: Humors, Leeches, Charms, and Prayers") state that Hippocrates observed that blood, when removed from the body, would separate into four ...
6
votes
0answers
56 views
Syphilis affecting e.g. noble courts and wider society in 17th century
I've read that one reason that the nobility attending e.g. the French kings' court in the 17th century had a passion for wigs, powdered faces, and gloves was the then prevalence of syphilis (the ...
6
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0answers
37 views
Health precautions before going into Battle of Trafalgar and other battles
Tom Pocock's The Terror Before Trafalgar: Nelson, Napoleon, and the Secret War contains this memorable description of preparations aboard HMS Victory immediately before the Battle of Trafalgar in ...
5
votes
1answer
154 views
What are the archaeological evidence for the Aztec's use of entheogens?
A recent Skeptics question, Was honey used preserve psychoactive mushrooms in the ancient past?, caught my attention and I came upon the Wikipedia article on the Aztec use of entheogens. The article ...
5
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0answers
28 views
Cuban medical internationalism
In the decades since the Cuban revolutions the country's medical doctors famously served on many semi-official missions abroad. For instance, it has been reported that Venezuela under Hugo Chavez ...
2
votes
1answer
56 views
Was there other research focusing on the medical uses of ether in the 18th Century?
In recently seeing the John Moulton statue celebrating the first use of ether in Boston:
it occurred that this sort of research usually doesn't happen in a vacuum. Were there other medical ...
0
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2answers
115 views
Deaths caused by the Doctrine of Humors [closed]
In your own knowledge, how many people do you know (in history) that died because of the false belief of Humorism?
