Now it's hard to believe, but not so long ago people adhered to very wild hygiene standards. And how else can you name what in some societies the use of dead animals for the treatment of toothache was common?
Or here, for example, a well-known fact: the use of urine for the sterilization of surgical equipment. Yes, there were times, there were inventors who practiced this and did not see anything wrong in their actions. Already scared? And what about the fight against bad breath from the mouth with manure, about eyebrows from the fur of dead mice and about the treatment of baldness with chicken litter? You see how much we do not know about our history. And these 25 facts should help to make sure that our time is still very much even nothing!
1. Before the toilet paper was invented, people had to manage with various improvised means.
Ancient Japanese, for example, used flat sticks - chugi, the ancient Greeks hygiene with the help of tiles, Arabs - with the help of stones, and the native Americans went to the toilet with twigs, dry grass, small pebbles or oyster shells.
2. Those who can not afford to own their own bathroom - and such during the Middle Ages were many - had to wash themselves in public baths, along with absolutely unfamiliar people.
3. Hygiene of the oral cavity was not always well studied. Because the ancients believed that the toothache caused by worms, living inside the tooth. And to drive them out, the doctors treated the mouth with the smoke of a candle.
4. Leeches were the most popular method of liberation from excess blood. With the help of this procedure, many diseases were treated. All because in the old days it was believed that most of the ailments caused the excess blood.
5. In many medieval castles toilets were just holes in the floor.
There were such "latrines" necessary for a moat, so that the feces immediately left the castle. But since the ditches are not flowing reservoirs and have no access to such, far away pollution did not float away. Can you imagine what scents were hovering around the castles on hot summer days?
6. Curly wigs, which in the XV - XVIII centuries were worn by members of high society, in fact only look majestic. In practice, almost all of them lived lice and nits.
7. According to medical manuals of the XVII century, to cure baldness, infertility, headache, just need to smear the skull with chicken manure.
In addition, if you believe all the same sources, the bird droppings treats the pain in the sternum and relieves the unpleasant odor from the mouth.
8. Red moss is a European plant with unique astringent and blood-resurrecting properties. During the Middle Ages, many women used it as pads for menstruation. Perhaps that's why he was called "red."
9. Cauterization is one of the most terrible medical practices. A procedure was used to stop severe bleeding - such as with amputations, for example.
The red-hot metal was applied to the wound. Under the influence of high temperatures, blood stopped, infection prevented and ... injured nearby skin areas.
10. Ancient Egyptians as a means of contraception used crocodile litter.
They made feces of pessaries - peculiar tampons - and injected them directly into the vagina. Because the manure acted in approximately the same way as modern spermicides - only significantly weaker, of course - from time to time of pregnancy they really helped to avoid.
11. In the Middle Ages, the cause of many diseases was considered unpleasant odor.
Because a lot of attention people paid to oral hygiene. In particular - the maintenance of fresh breath. And since neither chewing gum nor toothpast was there at that time, it was necessary to refresh oneself by chewing different pleasantly smelling spices.
12. For a long time, pallor was considered a sign of noble birth.
And in order not to give out their "simplicity", women working in the fresh air, resorted to bleaching the skin. For clarification, wheat flour and lead paints were used, most of which contained toxic components.
13. Due to the fact that they could not properly observe hygiene, almost all medieval inhabitants smelled badly.
To disguise an unpleasant smell, some wore bouquets of fragrant flowers.
14. In the Middle Ages urine was often used as an antiseptic.
And this is not such an absurd idea, I must say, because the urine leaves the body sterile.
15. The first cutlery appeared only in the XVI century (and in the American colonies about knives and forks and did not learn at all until the beginning of the XVII century). Before that, people ate with their hands.
16. "Great washing" during the Middle Ages was held once or twice a year. The rest of the time, things were cleaned with a mixture of urine, alkali and river water.
17. There were no floor coverings in antiquity. Earthen floors were covered with straw and reeds. Of course, such carpets over time turned into a hotbed of infection.
18. In the Middle Ages, a man worked as a hairdresser, a doctor and a dentist. That is, in the office of such a specialist at one time could cut, tear out the tooth and heal.
19. Mercury - an extremely toxic element - has often been used to treat skin diseases and ailments that are sexually transmitted.
20. Medieval ladies did not stick to diets and consumed a large amount of sugar.
As a consequence - gentry teeth often and quickly spoiled, and fashionistas had to insert prostheses. Implants were made from porcelain and ivory, but nevertheless the most valuable were the false teeth with real teeth, which for good money reward could be obtained from the poor.
21. Medieval people did not take off their headdresses at the table, so that the lice would not fall into their plates.
22. The ancient Egyptians believed that dead mice relieve toothache.
Therefore, during the attack, some pushed lifeless carcasses into the mouth entirely. Those who do not like this medicine, crushed corpses of animals, mixed them with different more digestible ingredients and made compresses from the resulting mass.
23. Only in 1846 the Hungarian doctor Ignaz Semmelweis realized how important it was to wash hands before surgery.
Until then, surgical intervention was carried out without disinfection. Not surprisingly, as a result of such "prehistoric" operations, many patients died due to infections.
24. A night pot - just such a toilet was in almost every medieval house.
It is simple and convenient to use, does not require washing, all you need is to pour its contents out of the window onto the street, and it's ready.