Bad Medicine
Jan. 14th, 2008 10:51 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
chris_gerribOver at The Yorkshire Ranter, there is a lengthy review and discussion of the book Bad Medicine
, which is about how doctors spent several hundred years ignoring the fact that Galenic medicine (bleeding people to cure fevers, etc.) not only didn't work but was actually harmful. The review also points out that microbes were known, and it took in some instances a willful ignorance to discount their power.
I've discussed it before, but sometimes emotional or other irrational factors will cause people and groups to cling to wrong ideas. Go read the whole thing - it's worth it.
, which is about how doctors spent several hundred years ignoring the fact that Galenic medicine (bleeding people to cure fevers, etc.) not only didn't work but was actually harmful. The review also points out that microbes were known, and it took in some instances a willful ignorance to discount their power.I've discussed it before, but sometimes emotional or other irrational factors will cause people and groups to cling to wrong ideas. Go read the whole thing - it's worth it.
