Remedies
Doctors used several treatments
Galenists[edit | edit source]
They saw the plague as poison/humoral imbalanced and stressed foods, drinks, and oral medications and redressed the imbalance:
Coolants
- vinegar
- cucumbers
- oranges
Warmers
- Ginger
- Garlic
- Cloves
- Honey
Moisteners, dryings, stupefactives for pain, Purgatives, lubricants, and softeners
Folk Medicine and Alchemy[edit | edit source]
Stressed "fighting poison with poison". Theriac and mithridatum were considered effective due to containing snake poison. Mercury also was a poison and worked the same way.
Alchemists sought the philosophers stone, which believed a universal remedy, as it could turn base metals into Gold. When gold was dipped into rosewater, juices, syrups, wine; the water absorbed the gold energy (believed to be sun energy, clenching). This made it able to cure the plague.
Some used alcohol instead of water, while others used powder forms of gold, emerald, pearl, sapphire instead of gold rock.