On the relation to the mentally ill and lying-in women in the Middle Ages

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People tend to underestimate the achievements of civilization, - comfort, warmth, cleanliness and general literacy. Just think: a few centuries ago, people with mental disabilities perceived as demons and almost kept in chains ... a woman about to give birth denied medical care and basic hygiene. MEKSHUNY about the customs of the dark ages.
About unbelievable cruelty to the mentally ill:
Prior to the beginning of the XIX century to the insane were treated with incredible cruelty. The Bible states that the cause of inappropriate behavior are instilled in the body of the sufferer demons, and even the devil himself. Returning to the above history, I am ready to believe that the way it is. Only in the Arab countries it is considered by some insane humanity. They were treated very kindly and cupping method using a non-trivial - told tales and interesting stories, like the tales of Scheherazade.

In Europe at that time concluded patients to specialized hospitals. One of the first such appeared in London in 1547 at the hospital of St. Mary of Bethlehem. Now it is known under the name became a household word "Bedlam." In the medical textbook of the period described treatments insane: "I declare that every man who is mad, crazy, violent, or possessed by demons, must be enclosed in a solid house or chamber, where there is little light, and there is always a twilight. Such insane should fasten guard, which would be crazy greatly feared. "In the XVIII century Bedlam was one of the attractions of London, where many visitors marveled at the strangeness of its inhabitants.

If suddenly happen that the patient in Bedlam getting better, they are discharged, allowed to roam around the country and to engage in begging. On his chest was a sign of vagrants on the neck - a bull's horn, and on the left sleeve had a special rim, they could not derail. Wishing to receive alms, they came to the house and blew the horn.

"Sister" was the Bedlam lunatics Tower Vienna, which was closed to the public only in 1853. Then on deviances finally began to be viewed as a disease. However, the reasons were still the most incredible selfishness, laziness, jealousy, and self-abasement. However, patients with at least ceased to operate to extract the mythical stone stupidity. To do this, it makes the cut on his forehead, to which the healer brought a hand while holding it in stone, pretending to remove it from the head.

By the beginning of the XIX century mores asylums eased somewhat, but the treatments were quite severe. Patients violently force-fed drugs locked in dark cellars, planted on a chain, beaten and subjected to unnecessary bloodletting. Surprisingly, all these "medical" procedures have been dictated by a sincere desire to save people from madness.

The humane treatment of mental patients entered into the practice of Dr. Philippe Pinel. He freed from the shackles of patients, insanitary conditions Chambers replaced the light and nutritious meals. The condition of patients improved markedly and practice Pinel became widely used in other hospitals. In the XXI century, humanity took a step even further: schizophrenics actively socialize, have a family, children ...

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On the "obscene":
For thirteen centuries, European physicians were forbidden to be present in normal birth, but to the XVII century the ban was lifted, and doctors began to some extent to take part in obstetrics. In aristocratic families it is perceived with understanding, but in common with striking doctors faced bigotry and often were forced to manipulate the blind, as shown in the accompanying engraving. Doctor tying a sheet around his neck, the other end was attached to the neck of the patient. Thus, he could not see what was being done under the fabric, keeping the patient modesty. The title "midwife" caught on immediately, and physicians practicing obstetrics often awarded demeaning nicknames. So when William Smellie in the XVIII century in London organized a school midwives, his rival, a midwife with Mrs Hay Market Nayhell, dubbed him "grandfather midwives horse-Dame."


Illustration from the book of the Dutch physician Samuel Janson (1681)


The Middle Ages were a time for heavy women. They are often deprived, even disgusting, but all the same medical care and become pregnant, found themselves locked up. They were not allowed to go out, regardless of the waiting period in the child's "dirty." What is really so surprising abundance of chronic diseases and high infant mortality?

In the heyday of fanatical chastity, abstinence is considered preferable wedlock. Needless to say, that in this very marriage ought to engage in sex only for the "dilution" of offspring. Other sexual relations between husband and wife were considered sinful. On the other hand, at the time was common belief that long-term abstinence leads to disease, so-called "decomposition of the flesh." A sure cure for this disease was considered a prostitute. Maids in the homes of those days held "not for pleasure, but to the abundant substance has not fallen victim to destruction, for the devil of illness in otherwise respectable start to multiply among the clergy." Clergy! Where are you, shy?

We can say, thanks to the struggle for a healthy lifestyle from the early Middle Ages, the prostitutes alone fairground barkers become grouped into a community under the name of "brothel". But that is another story, not about medicine.