What I’m reading
I started reading an interesting book called Trick or Treatment: The Undeniable Facts about Alternative Medicine today. The first chapter gives some fascinating background on the history of the medical profession, such as:
- How bloodletting was an extremely popular medical practice all the way from the ancient Greeks up until the last 150 years or so (and has some specific uses now). George Washington’s doctors drained about half of his blood in the two days before he died in a misguided attempt to help him.
- The first documented precursor to the clinical trial was to test various cures for scurvy (and the results ended up giving a huge naval advantage to England). If you were a navy sailor in the 1700s you were much more likely to die from scurvy than fighting.
- Florence Nightingale‘s desire to make hospitals more hygienic saved thousands of lives and her excellent statistical background helped her prove the value to a skeptical medical community.