Traditional customs and beliefs shocked public opinion

Wife auction, selling cough pills containing morphine to coax children to cry, cure with tobacco smoke . are the wrong beliefs of mankind in the past, the time when medicine was not developed.

Wife auction

In the Middle Ages, women were always dependent on their men. After the marriage, the couple becomes a unity, meaning that the wife does not have the right to own the property and they also become the property owned by the husband. It is unclear when this auction bidding law began, but the records show that it may have started at the end of the 17th century. Before the auction took place, there will be announcements posted in the media. direction.

The auction usually takes place at local markets. The wife will be tied to the neck, arms or waist and led away. The highest bidder will win and become the new husband of this woman. Wife auction is a common custom in the 18-19th century for dissatisfied gentlemen about their marriage.

In most cases, couples do not choose to divorce openly because the process of divorce in court is very time-consuming and costly. Instead they auctioned off their wives. Sometimes it is the woman who arranges the auction as well as money so that others can help her divorce. This custom ended in the early 20th century.

Cure with smoke

This is a widely used healing process in the 19th century in Western countries. People will use a catheter to bring cigarette smoke into the patient's rectum for healing purposes. Tobacco products are quickly recognized as 'drugs' after they are imported from the New World. Doctors at this time believed that tobacco could cure many diseases such as headache, respiratory failure, abdominal pain, flu and narcolepsy. The method of putting smoke into the rectum is an 'import' technique from North American Indians.

It is believed that this strange healing method can reduce intestinal pain as well as save people who are about to drown in the smoke that can re-breathe in the body. Even in the 19th century, this method was widely used in hospitals as a way of artificial respiration and hernia treatment.

The attacks on the effects of tobacco appeared in the early 17th century when King James I rejected the effect of tobacco. By 1811, British scientist Benjamin Brodie discovered that nicotine in tobacco would block blood circulation in animals. This finding has dramatically reduced the number of people using the method of putting smoke into the rectum and only a few doctors used this method in the 19th century.

Experiments on rabbits

In ancient times, there were no early pregnancy tests like now, so there were many strange pregnancy testing techniques. In ancient Greece and Egypt, people used wheat and barley to test pregnancy. The woman will urinate into the bag and if the rice falls out, it means they have it. Hippocrates also suggested that women can drink honey-flavored water before going to bed and if they have abdominal pain they are pregnant.

By the Middle Ages, scientists became interested in urine testing to detect pregnancy. In 1928, a major breakthrough was made when two German scientists, Selmar Aschheim and Bernhard Zondek, discovered the hormone HCG that was produced by the placenta, which was also a sign of early detection.

By 1927, Zondek and Aschheim conducted pregnancy tests in rabbits by injecting women's urine into female rabbits. After a few days, if the ovary of the rabbit reacts to the urine, it means there is HCG and the woman is confirmed pregnant. This experiment is a breakthrough in accurate pregnancy testing and has been widely used since 1930-1950. All the rabbits used in the program have suffered surgery and death. Today, people no longer use live animals in determining pregnancy, but this rabbit experiment is really a big step in the 20th century.

Mrs. Winslow's smooth syrup

In the 19th and 20th centuries, the world population began to increase rapidly. Many companies began conducting a series of drug tests. A lot of substances that have an immediate effect on the brain have been discovered. A number of pharmaceutical companies took advantage of the opportunity to market toxic products, including Mrs. Winslow's Smooth Syrup product, produced by Ms. Charlotte N. Winslow and circulated in Bangor, Maine. , USA in 1849.

This syrup is advertised to help "people and animals who can rest assured sleep" , used to coax babies and young children to cry at night. The formulation of this product contains opium, morphine, sodium carbonate and both hydrated ammonia, extremely toxic substances.

However, people still use this product continuously in the 19th century to coax them to sleep. When ingested, the baby's heart rate drops immediately and the child falls into a coma. This product has been widely promoted and used in the UK and the US during the 19th century.

By the beginning of the 20th century, scandals began to rise when some newborn babies died after taking the medicine. By 1911, the US pharmaceutical agency officially confirmed Mrs. Winslow's gentle syrup product as a deadly product. However by 1930 new products were discontinued for sale in the UK.

Brain lobe surgery

The first half of the 20th century saw the birth of a series of strange healing methods in Europe and North America. One of them is the use of high-dose sedatives to treat insomnia, which causes patients to lose consciousness for days or weeks, sometimes leaving patients unable to escape deep coma. This dangerous method is practiced continuously by Dr. Harry Bailey in the years 1962-1979 at Chelmsford private hospital, Sydney.

85 patients died at Chelmsford Hospital due to this drug and the method was abolished. By 1933-1934, the method of electric shock was circulated but it was not effective. By 1935 the Portuguese psychiatrist António Egas Moniz proposed brain lobe surgery including cutting connections to and from the prefrontal cortex, the front of the frontal lobes of the brain by drilling into patient's head and tissue destruction around the frontal lobe. Moniz has operated on many patients with depression, schizophrenia, panic disorder and mania.

Despite protests about dangerous side effects, brain lobe surgery has been widely available around the world. In 1949, António Egas Moniz was even awarded the Nobel Prize for medicine. There have been tens of thousands of patients in the US, Britain and Northern Europe suffering from brain lobe surgery and not surviving. Today, brain lobe surgery is considered illegal in some countries around the world.

Big nose George

In the nineteenth century, a monstrous custom came about using human skin to cover books or make shoes. The skin of deceased patients or convicted prisoners will be used to wrap the surgery or wills books or impeachments. One of the criminals who used the skin to belong to the book was Geore Parrott with the nickname 'Big nose' . He was charged with killing two law enforcement officers in the United States and was arrested in 1880.

George was sentenced to hang on April 2, 1881, however he escaped while imprisoned in Rawlins. After he escaped, a group of 200 people in Rawlins arrested George, killed him and hung up on a pole. Doctors Thomas Maghee Doctors Thomas and John Eugene Osborne own George's body to study the brain. The upper part of his skull was cut off and for a female doctor named Lilian Heath she was used to . an ashtray, pen holder and door.

George's thigh skin, chest and face were stripped off and taken to a tannery in Denver to make a shoe and a medical bag. These shoes were later brought by John Eugene Osborne during the inauguration of Wyoming State Democratic candidate. Today shoes are on display at the Carbon County Museum and some other parts of George.

Drapetomania

Drapetomania is a theory given by psychologist A. Cartwright in 1851 which describes black slaves who suffer from mental disorders and always want to deny their confined slavery. . The reason he gave was because the owners had "behaved too friendly with slaves and made them feel equal to others".

In the report, Cartwright also wrote 'if a slave dares to look up at his master, he must severely punish him until they bow their heads. They must be under house arrest like children to prevent escape. ' As for dealing with stubborn slaves, Cartwright also suggested "Beating to chase demons" from their bodies.

The prince suffered

In the Middle Ages, kings were considered to have the ultimate power as gods. They are not interested in the desire of the people but only act according to the will of God. However, after the French-American Revolution in the 18th century, this power was gradually abolished.

Previously, the theory of supreme power held that only the king had the right to use the whip to teach his children. This makes it very difficult for tutors because they cannot beat the prince. An alternative solution was given that the tutors would beat a boy in front of the prince to deter. These boys are usually in the noble class and go to school with the prince from a young age. The boys who suffered were also considered the best friends of the prince because the prince did not make friends with ordinary people. However, they often have to live in pain and suffering throughout their childhood.

Mimizuka

Sengoku era of Japan is an era of social upheaval, political intrigue and military conflict almost constantly. At that time, soldiers often beheaded their enemies as a feat. During the war between Japan and Korea from 1592-1598, about 1 million Korean soldiers died. Their ears and nose were cut by Japanese soldiers like victories. Lord Hideyoshi gathered these body parts to build a building called Mimizuka containing 38,000 bodies of Korean soldiers. Today this is still a traumatic work and avoided mentioning in both Japan and Korea.

Hysteria (hysteria) in women

Female hysteria has been discovered hundreds of years ago in the United States and Western Europe. Women with this condition often 'faint, insomnia, fluid retention, severe abdominal pain, muscle spasms, difficulty breathing, discomfort, loss of appetite or boredom of sex, and' a tendency to cause trouble ' . The methods of treating this disease in the past are really strange when they always blame hysteria because of dissatisfaction in sex life. For that reason, female patients must undergo special massage performed by the doctors until they achieve pleasure. This method was widely used in the 1900s. Later, when the sex industry developed, hysteria cases decreased gradually and today it is no longer considered a disease, but a psychological shock. .