Key Messages
Explore The Fascinating History Of Medicine: From Milkmaids To Dance Moves And Everything In Between
Throughout history, many diseases have wreaked havoc on humanity.
But we’ve come a long way since then thanks to improvements in healthcare and our growing understanding of how illness works.
Get Well Soon: A Summary takes us deep into the history of medicine and sheds light on some of the ailments that have plagued mankind for centuries.
The book explores everything from smallpox, to St.
Vitus Dance, to the water supply – each offering glimpses into how our ancestors coped with ill-health and what helped them survive.
It also highlights just how important it is to get vaccinations at birth and have access to professional medical help when needed.
Through studies of past outbreaks and human experience, Get Well Soon: A Summary shines a light on the ailments that have wreaked havoc upon humanity – leading us to understand why modern medicine is such an important part of life today.
The Mysterious Dancing Plague Of 1518 – How Community Care Ended A Medieval Madness
When you think of dancing, it usually invokes pleasant images of smiles and fun.
However, in sixteenth-century Europe, during a time of plague, famine and wars, it had a much more sinister connotation.
In 1518 in Strasbourg (part of the Holy Roman Empire), a woman started spontaneously dancing on the streets and didn’t stop until she exhausted herself.
Others around her joined in before long, and soon similar cases were occurring all over town.
As their mania progressed, people sustained injuries from jerking their limbs every which way; some even died from heart failure and infections as a result.
The authorities theorized that this “dancing plague” was caused by Saint Vitus – the patron saint of dancers – so they took the sufferers to Hellensteg to pray at his shrine.
Here they were given red shoes stained with holy oil crosses as symbolic cure.
Miraculously, it worked!
But while faith may have healed them back then don’t go letting Saint Vitus inspire your dance moves today.
What actually saved these people’s lives was community care and concern – not superstitious remedies based on belief in divine punishment.
The Wild Ideas Of The Middle Ages: Incredibly Strange Strategies For Battling The Bubonic Plague
No one knew what caused the bubonic plague during the Middle Ages, so some inventive attempts at curing it emerged.
These cures often seemed a little odd to us now, in hindsight.
For example, some people suggested living in sewers because they believed that their bodies would become accustomed to all the filth and dirt and the plague would therefore no longer affect them—which of course was not true as we now understand!
Others tried to counteract the disease by eating more vegetables—not for any medical reason, but because people at this time thought that bad smells were to blame for the plague, and thus believed that replacing smelly foods such as meat and cheese with non-smelly vegetables would ward off the disease.
However, there were some effective treatments that people did recommend at this time.
The famous French physician Nostradamus recommended regularly bathing and washing clothes in order to reduce contagion.
This made sense in hindsight, since improved hygiene was an effective way of reducing rat flea infestations which carried the disease.
Unfortunately however, many people could not be persuaded as they actually believed that washing only increased susceptibility to disease!
The Horrifying Legacy Of Smallpox: How An Ancient Disease Ravaged The Americas And Caused The Collapse Of A Great Civilization
The Spanish colonialists’ conquests were aided greatly by smallpox.
When the deadly virus was introduced to the Incan empire in 1525, it quickly spread through the region, wiping out almost all of the 7,000-year-old civilization that had previously ruled over an area as large as Italy and Spain combined.
As a result of this devastating effect, only seven years after the introduction of smallpox, Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro was able to conquer the Incan empire with just 168 men – despite having an army of 80,000 at his disposal.
The indigenous American peoples had no natural immunity to the virus and 90 percent perished from it.
It wasn’t until Edward Jenner’s observation that milkmaids were not getting smallpox enabled him to develop a vaccine nearly two centuries later which would eventually be used to eradicate it completely by the end of the twentieth century.
But while they couldn’t have predicted it at that time, European settlers in America found that smallpox allowed them an advantage in conquering local civilizations and changed history forever.
The Story Of Father Damien – His Compassion And Sacrifice In Caring For Those Affected By Leprosy
Every day, around the world, individuals suffering from leprosy are subject to stigma and discrimination.
In 1856, for example, the Hawaiian government forcibly quarantined its lepers on Molokai Island in an attempt to isolate sufferers from the rest of society.
However, it was not until Father Damien – a Belgian priest – moved to Molokai in 1873 that the community began to receive much needed care and compassion.
Without worrying about his own health or safety, Father Damien worked hard to build an orphanage and gave medical attention – including changing bandages with bare hands – to those suffering from leprosy.
Despite catching leprosy himself – he realized he had it when he spilled hot tea on his foot without feeling anything – Father Damien’s compassion for others was enough to lift some of the stigma attached to the disease, and he was eventually canonized by the Catholic Church in 2009.
This story is a reminder that compassion is more powerful than isolation when it comes to helping those with leprosy.
John Snow Proves Miasma Theory Wrong, Helping To Save Lives In 19Th Century London
It was no mystery why London’s 19th century medical establishment struggled to contain the spread of cholera – they blamed bad smells, rather than cross-contaminated water sources, as the cause.
Thus, their efforts at reducing the number of cases included ordering people to throw sewage into one of London’s main water sources: the River Thames.
Fortunately for Londoners, a doctor named John Snow wasn’t deterred by the medical establishment’s stubbornness on this matter and had an idea that he put to the test during a deadly outbreak in 1854 that saw 10% of one neighbourhood perish in a single week.
After going door-to-door and interviewing those who had contracted cholera and those who hadn’t, he discovered all those afflicted had drank from the same pump assigned to their area.
As expected, the medical community refused to accept his evidence – with some even claiming he lived in a sewer – however when another outbreak occurred just 12 years later, they finally adopted his preventative suggestion: boiling drinking water prior to consumption.
From then on out London was free from further cholera outbreaks and Snow deservedly earned hero status amongst its grateful citizens.
His learnings taught us that it is essential not only to boil your drinking water but also be mindful of its proximity from sewage lines when it comes avoiding infectious diseases like cholera.
The Spanish Flu: How A Disease That Nearly Killed 50 Million People Remains A Mystery Today
Censorship can have deadly consequences, especially when it comes to the Spanish flu epidemic of the 20th century.
The virus began its rampage in Texas, killing mostly people between 25 and 29 years old.
Surprisingly, despite the risk posed to servicemen training for the war in Europe, neither newspapers nor medical establishments would acknowledge its existence.
This was due to strict laws that were passed during the war which made it illegal in many places like the United States and Britain to report on anything that may harm public morale.
While Spain was a neutral nation at this time, meaning they weren’t subject to those same laws, their newspapers were still able to report on what worsened into a global pandemic.
Unfortunately, by then it was too late as no preventative public health measures had been enacted and 25-100 million people perished from the influenza worldwide including 675 000 Americans – more than had died during the entire American Civil War.
This lack of reporting hampered medical efforts in understanding and treating this lethal disease.
To this day scientists are still scrambling for an effective vaccine through reverse genetics in case of a resurgence of the virus bringing home just how deadly censorship can be if not handled responsibly one way or another.
Wrap Up
The main takeaway from Get Well Soon is that governments, communities, and individuals need to be proactive in responding to new diseases.
They should do this in a transparent way, rather than relying on superstition or prejudice.
It’s also essential to rely on scientific-based treatments over traditional home remedies.
One clear example of this is that chopped onions do not prevent against diseases and illnesses.
In fact, the National Onion Association has made it clear that even though people may think that raw onions have health properties, they do not actually provide any protection against disease.
In conclusion, Get Well Soon provides an important reminder to carefully consider how we respond to pandemics, both as individuals and as a society.
Relying on informed insight, compassion and science is always the best approach when trying to keep ourselves healthy and safe.
