Syndicated Columns / Syndicated Columnists / Horrible Health Quiz 

When the illness was less likely to kill you than the
remedy! Don't try any of these at home! Test
your gruesome knowledge.

1)  Trepanning has been common through the ages in many parts of the World. Does it involve:

a) Piercing the eyeball
b) A hole in the skull
c) Pulling out toenails
d) Burning the bellybutton


2)  Which of these methods was common in the Middle Ages for inducing childbirth?

a) Shaking the baby out
b) A hot rod on her tummy
c) Loud noise for the baby
d) Whipping the mum-to-be


3)  Jolting is described in many texts as a cure for
back problems. Is the patient:

a) Pushed, tied to a ladder
b) Shaken very vigorously
c) Struck with mallets
d) Stretched on a rack

4) Which of these items was used to cover a patient's body in a Calabrian malaria remedy?

a) Snake venom
b) Toads, lizards and nuts
c) A paste of red chillies
d) Ashes from a ritual fire


5)  In medieval times, you might literally have a frog in your throat. Swallowing a frog was a cure for which illness?

a) Migraine
b) Fever
c) Indigestion
d) Asthma

6)  The Black Death killed almost a third of the world's people. In their ignorance, doctors recommended people should:

a) Keep windows open
b) Wash more often
c) Avoid taking baths
d) Get more exercise


7) A roasted cat stuffed with hedgehog fat was a cure for:

a) Madness
b) Tonsillitis
c) Irritable bowel
d) Weak joints

8)  Before the days of anaesthetic and antiseptic, doctors had to work fast. A quick quack could amputate and seal a leg in:

a) 1 minute
b) 3 minutes
c) 10 minutes
d) 20 minutes

9)  Crocodile dung was used in an ancient Egyptian recipe for:

a) A facial treatment
b) Fighting a fever
c) A contraceptive
d) Treating a wound

10)  Which centuries-old treatment is gaining medical acceptance in the Western World:

a) Maggots to clean wounds
b) Spider webs as bandages
c) Inducing vomit to detox
d) Snake bite to cure fever

Answers:

1 b, 2 d, 3 a, 4 b, 5 d, 6 c, 7 b, 8 b, 9 c, 10 a