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I've written about the Romans in the past; their industrial skills, their famous inland sea port, their glass making skills. Part IV is about medicine.
Medical science and tools for operations were relatively unused at the beginning the Roman Empire; people needing doctors or medical help usually went to various temples or charlatan practices.
However, as the empire grew, out of necessity for helping repair wounded soldiers, and with added demands by wealthy people who needed care, medical knowledge and practices became widespread.
An example of a Roman Dental forceps:
Starting with ideas and historical procedures from Greece and India, Roman medicine quickly developed into a complex and thorough enterprise with knowledge accruing in the skills of eye surgery, skin lesions, bowel problems, birthing, and common issues such as repairing broken bones, skin burns and such. They even practiced organ transplants.
Needles, surgical scissors and a wide variety of carefully crafted instruments were developed with specific needs in mind, with bronze handles and steel working surfaces.
These doctor's tools were found buried in the ruins of Pompeii, including vaginal and rectal specula.
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By the 1st century A.D. Romans were well practiced in such skills as cataract surgery, wound repair and suturing, hemorrhoid removal, bladder and kidney stone removal.
Finely detailed work by craftsmen resulted in forceps, syringes, scalpels, bone saws that weren't that different from what we recognize today.
Scissors, using springs rather than a center pivot point:
Even work such as repairing a caved in skull was performed; trepanning drills were used to remove pieces of bone that were pressing on the brain, and special tools were invented to remove bits of spear and arrows stuck in flesh.
Of course, not every operation was successful, but things were certainly better than no work being done at all. Surprisingly, even sterilization was used, with instruments and cloth for bandages being boiled before use. When water was needed, pure rain water was preferred. They even had anesthesia, using drugs such as opium mixed in wine, to reduce the shock of pain from injury and operation.
Medical science and tools for operations were relatively unused at the beginning the Roman Empire; people needing doctors or medical help usually went to various temples or charlatan practices.
However, as the empire grew, out of necessity for helping repair wounded soldiers, and with added demands by wealthy people who needed care, medical knowledge and practices became widespread.
An example of a Roman Dental forceps:
Starting with ideas and historical procedures from Greece and India, Roman medicine quickly developed into a complex and thorough enterprise with knowledge accruing in the skills of eye surgery, skin lesions, bowel problems, birthing, and common issues such as repairing broken bones, skin burns and such. They even practiced organ transplants.
Needles, surgical scissors and a wide variety of carefully crafted instruments were developed with specific needs in mind, with bronze handles and steel working surfaces.
These doctor's tools were found buried in the ruins of Pompeii, including vaginal and rectal specula.
t
By the 1st century A.D. Romans were well practiced in such skills as cataract surgery, wound repair and suturing, hemorrhoid removal, bladder and kidney stone removal.
Finely detailed work by craftsmen resulted in forceps, syringes, scalpels, bone saws that weren't that different from what we recognize today.
Scissors, using springs rather than a center pivot point:
Even work such as repairing a caved in skull was performed; trepanning drills were used to remove pieces of bone that were pressing on the brain, and special tools were invented to remove bits of spear and arrows stuck in flesh.
Of course, not every operation was successful, but things were certainly better than no work being done at all. Surprisingly, even sterilization was used, with instruments and cloth for bandages being boiled before use. When water was needed, pure rain water was preferred. They even had anesthesia, using drugs such as opium mixed in wine, to reduce the shock of pain from injury and operation.
