[Sca-cooks] honey, an early antiseptic for Henry V of England

[Terry Decker]

Honey has some mild antiseptic properties but it also will form an air tight 
cover keeping out bacteria.  Flax is also an antimicrobial while barley and 
flour are probably being used to stabilize and solidify the ointment.  You 
should check out Ambrosius Pare and Paracelsus for changes in how wounds 
were treated in the Renaissance.

Bear

-----Original Message----- 
From: Susan Lord Williams


We know that herbs and spices were used in medieval medicine.  In this video 
rose honey is used as an antiseptic: 
http://mattlewisauthor.wordpress.com/2014/05/21/the-scar-of-henry-v/
What are the properties. Further in the video we see: “The ingenious surgeon 
tells how he washed the wound with white wine and wiped the inside of it out 
with a probe covered with honey, an early antiseptic, barley, flour and 
flax.” What were the properties of these additions to curing the wound?