Bronze surgical tools included probes, forceps, spatulas (for stirring and applying salves), and scalpels with iron blades. Lacking anesthetic and antibiotics, Greco-Roman surgeons sometimes produced more horror than healing.
Herbs were the backbone of medicine in the Islamic world. Doctors battled most ailments by prescribing purgatives and laxatives meant to drive disease from the patient’s body.
Few modern homes lack a supply of vitamins and painkillers, sometimes supplemented by herbs. Traditional folk remedies gained new popularity among urbanites in the nineties.