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What qualifies as "medicine" definitely varies by historical period and context, with clear changes over time. Medicine continues to develop and adapt as technology allows - and as need dictates.
In the ancient world, the practice of medicine involved some scary devices and seemingly ridiculous treatments, especially through the medieval period. In hindsight, even in the 19th and 20th centuries, some medical diagnoses, treatments, and cures seem incredibly misguided.
Through the very long history of medicine, numerous practices have fallen by the wayside due to new discoveries, uncovered applications, and the simple collection of information over time. If you look closely, you can see when some changes in the science of medicine itself actually came to an end. Surprisingly, you might also get a look at an aspect of medical history you thought was long gone, but still lingers in the contemporary world.
Performing A Tongue Resection For Stuttering Was Popular Through The 1840s
Physicians since antiquity theorized about the causes of stuttering, with the prevailing idea that it was caused by an excessively shaped or sized tongue. In 1841, German surgeon Johann Frederick Dieffenbach developed an operation to correct speech defects that involved cutting out a triangular wedge of the tongue.
Called a "hemiglossectomy," the procedure was adapted by other surgeons throughout Europe, individuals who, "by cutting in different ways, aspired to the honour of being the inventors of some new method." In the end, Dr. Dieffenbach's patients - and those of his minions - experienced little in the way of permanent solutions to stuttering.
Although tongue resections are still conducted today, they are no longer used to address stuttering and speech impediments. Rather, hemiglossectomies are done in the event of a tumor on the tongue or in the tissue surrounding it.
Abraham Lincoln Took Mercury For Depression Until 1861
Mercury was used as a treatment for a host of ailments throughout history. From constipation to parasitic infestation to syphilis, mercury was ingested and applied as a topical medicine. During the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, the "blue mass" - a mercury-based pill - was popular in Europe and the United States.
Recipes for blue mass pills varied. At the core of the concoction was mercury, but honey, sugar, and other substances were also added. It could also be taken as a syrup.
President Abraham Lincoln, described as "a sad-looking man; his melancholy dripped from him as he walked," was known to take blue mass pills for "hypochondriasis" (or melancholy) during the 1850s. Lincoln's colleague, John T. Stuart, advised "him to take blue-mass pills, and he did take them before he went to Washington, and for five months while he was president." Stuart continued, in 1861, Lincoln, "told me he had ceased using them because they made him cross."
Blue mass didn't disappear from the market, however. It was featured in the 1871 Yearbook of Pharmacy, and instructions on how to produce blue mass efficiently and effectively was included in the Practical Druggist and Pharmaceutical Review of Reviews as late as 1917.
Although mercury is still found in some medications today, blue mass was especially toxic and may have caused mercury poisoning in many of the individuals who took it. Mercury as a cure for melancholy or depression is no longer a standard of care, with an increased understanding that exposure to the element may actually cause the ailment.
Arsenic Was The 'Magic Bullet' For Syphilis Until The Development Of Penicillin
In 1909, the development of a drug called Salvarsan signaled a shift in medical treatments in general. Prior to Salvarsan, medications were used to treat a broad spectrum of ailments and symptoms. When Paul Ehrlich introduced his arsenic-based drug, however, it was intended to treat one disease: syphilis.
From the 15th century, syphilis had spread throughout Europe and Asia, with high pandemic-level cases by the 20th century. Ehrlich, a German chemist, and his collaborators, Sahachiro Hata and Alfred Bertheim, tested hundreds of arsenic compounds until they found one that could be used to combat the deadly disease - a "magic bullet."
The result, Salvarsan, was effective, widely received by the medical community, and the most prescribed medication for syphilis until the introduction of penicillin in 1943. Penicillin was safer for physicians and patients, especially since handling and administering Salvarsan was, in Ehrlich's words, "fraught with danger."
Electric Shocks Are Still Used To Cure Sexual Maladies
Low-grade electric shock stimulation to male sex organs isn't unheard of in 21st century medicine, but through the late 18th, 19th, and into the early 20th century, it was used to combat "inappropriate" penis performance of several kinds. Both ends of the spectrum were addressed, with efforts to cure impotence and combat overstimulation alike.
For the former, physician James Graham developed a "celestial bed" during the 1770s that featured electricity alongside aromas and music to stimulate users. Physicians also administered "sparks" to patients to stimulate "nerve and muscle function," or attached electrodes that delivered currents directly to the urethra.
Electric shock was used for men who were overly sexual to "revive" them, but also as a way of stimulating men suffering from "pollution and impotence." It was also prescribed for men who struggled with the "morbid aphrodisiac element of unrequited love."
In still one more technique, electric currents were applied to genitals through rings and belts. According to one work from the 1880s, some devices were used to deter ejaculation, but the Harness Electropathic Belt, sold during the late 1880s, cured "hysteria" and increased the "secretions" in various organs.
Deadly Side Effects Led To The End Of Ice Pick Lobotomy In 1967
The first manifestation of lobotomies as they were carried out during the mid-20th century was developed by Dr. António Egas Moniz in Portugal in 1935. Called a "leucotomy," it included drilling holes in a patient's skull and, according to Dr. Walter Freeman, wasn't the most effective way to work on the human brain.
Freeman introduced a "transorbital lobotomy" in 1946, entering the skull of his patients through the eye socket. Also called an "ice pick lobotomy," due to the instrument that was used, the procedure was intended to treat mental illness by physically altering the frontal lobe of the brain. Freeman performed thousands of ice pick lobotomies from 1946 to 1967, reportedly bringing relief to many.
Angelene Forester described the change in her mother, Ellen Ionesco, after her lobotomy:
She was absolutely violently suicidal beforehand... After the transorbital lobotomy there was nothing. It stopped immediately. It was just peace. I don't know how to explain it to you, it was like turning a coin over. That quick. So whatever he did, he did something right.
There were casualties, however. After Helena Mortensen received her third lobotomy from Freeman in 1967, she experienced a brain hemorrhage and died. Freeman was then banned from the procedure.
Lobotomies were banned in countries like Russia, Germany, and Japan through the 1950s and, in the US, greatly declined during the 1960s and 1970s. Not technically illegal in the US, surgical lobotomies have largely been replaced with medical treatments.
Prescribing Heroin For A Cough Caused An Early 20th Century Drug Epidemic
Much like cocaine and several other substances now qualified as narcotics, heroin entered the marketplace as a remedy for numerous ailments during the late 19th century. Heroin, a modified version of morphine, initially showed promise as a cough suppressant.
The Bayer Company started selling heroin in 1898, but side effects proved troubling for doctors. Patients built up a tolerance to the drug, requiring more and more of it to treat their symptoms, with large numbers of addicts reported.
By the early 1910s, New York City and Philadelphia were inundated with addicts. In 1914, the federal government stepped in and passed the Harrison Act to control the use of narcotics. Heroin was limited in its administration, and most doctors stopped prescribing it entirely the following year. It wasn't banned, however, until 1924. The aptly named Anti-Heroin Act of 1924 prohibited the importation or selling of heroin.
