[Sca-cooks] European period painkillers

[UlfR]

Mike Newton <melcnewt at netins.net> [2002.05.16] wrote:
> I believe and could be wrong that Opium was a SE and Central Asian drug. I
> know that the English fought a war with China over the exportation of the
> drug to China by the English. Most of the worlds Opium comes from
> Afghanistan and that region of the world.

IIRC some sort of opium extract might have been available in some places.

> > Again, I believe the American indians used willow bark, but I've
> > not seen any indications of the Europeans doing so.

There are many old world plants that contain salicylic acid. I think
that all salix species does, but also e.g. Filipendula ulmaria is a good
source (and tastes better!). One could check period medical manuscripts
for indications on what was actually used for pain relief, and compare
to modern information backed by actual research (as opposed to quoting
other sources, which in turn quote other sources, which eventually end
up with a loose reading of Gerald. There are some pretty horrid books
out there on the topic.

/UlfR

--
UlfR                                                 parlei at algonet.se
Eternity is in love with the productions of time.
		--William Blake