[Sca-cooks] ew... period hangover cure... not recommended!

[jenne at fiedlerfamily.net]

Found this:

Archaeologists working at the Soutra Hospital site near Edinburgh have
discovered a medieval cure for hangovers. (News).
History Today, Nov 2001 v51 i11 p11(1)

Archaeologists working at the Soutra Hospital site near Edinburgh have
discovered a medieval cure for hangovers. The brethren of medieval
Scotland's largest hospital enjoyed a rich diet, heavy in meat and washed
down with vast quantities of ale and wine - up to twenty pints of ale per
day in some cases! The strains of such a lifestyle were apparently made
easier by the 14th century equivalent of liver salts, crushed seeds from
the toxic plant of dog's mercury mixed with bittern, the liquid skimmed
off salt-making equipment. Traces of this unpalatable combination have
been found on site, and would have provided a two-hour detoxification by
prompting vomiting and diarrhoea.


-- Jadwiga Zajaczkowa
jenne at fiedlerfamily.net OR jenne at tulgey.browser.net OR jahb at lehigh.edu
"I didn't gnaw my way to the top of the food chain to have to put up with
meat machismo, boyo."