Nowadays there is much talk and debate about the culture of the New World. The same Incas or Maya not only knew astronomy, had a developed economy, built cities, temples and pyramids … They were quite well versed in medicine.
As the well-known Czech researcher Miloslav Stingl writes, among the surgical instruments of the ancient Incas “were bronze scalpels of various sizes, tweezers, needles, brackets, bronze knives“tumi”, resembling a kitchen knife-cut in their shape, as well as clamps used by doctors to tighten veins to stop the bleeding."
Mayan doctors could diagnose many diseases - sore throat, tuberculosis, tumors, asthma, ulcers, etc. To combat diseases, medicinal drugs were used, the number of which exceeded several hundred. In addition to plants, many other improvised means were widely used in the composition of drugs, including, for example, jaguar meat, opossum tail, cardinal parrot feathers … The most effective drugs were then borrowed by Europeans (for example, some emetics, diuretics and laxatives).
In addition to taking medications, the patient was prescribed inhalations, baths, bloodletting, as well as sessions of ritual spells - a kind of psychotherapy bordering on hypnosis.
Maya surgery also reached a high level of development. It seems that physicians, thanks to human sacrifice, as well as centuries of practice, were quite well informed about the structure of the human body. The surgeon's main tool was an obsidian knife, which was used to open up tumors, abscesses, and even cataracts.
To prevent the patient from suffering from pain during the operation, he was previously pumped with herbal drugs. Moreover, sometimes the patient was in an unconscious state of artificial coma even for several days. At the end of the operation, the incision was sutured using hair as threads.
The Mayans even performed craniotomy and facial plastic surgery.
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The use by Indian physicians of the secret properties of the local flora sometimes led to miraculous results. They say that the Indians knew how to cure cancer, grow limbs instead of the lost ones …
In any case, James Rollins, who wrote the semi-fantasy novel "Amazonia", is sure of that. As he assures, the plot of the novel is based on very real facts. So in the 70s of the XX century, the Americans really organized a secret expedition to the Amazon, the main goal of which was to search for recipes and potions that the inhabitants of the selva use to treat their neighbors.
One of the participants in that expedition, Dr. Caroline Clark, later recalled, for example, the following episode. When one of the expedition members had a toothache, a guide from local Indians came to his rescue. Taking pity on the poor man, he went to the selva and soon returned, carefully carrying a drop of either resin or thickened sap of some plant on the end of a pointed stick. This droplet was carefully placed on the aching tooth. He soon calmed down, and within a day and generally fell out, leaving behind only a small hole, which soon overgrown without a trace.
“And this is not the only discovery we made during that expedition,” Carolina later recalled. - For example, I was interested in how, with relative sexual freedom, young unmarried girls protect themselves from pregnancy? It turned out that local residents did not have such a problem at all. If a girl or woman does not want to have children yet, she goes to the local sorcerer and expresses her request to him. A day or two later, she goes to him again, and he gives her some medicine to drink from a homemade jug.
A few sips, and that's it - the girl may not be afraid of an unwanted pregnancy until she decides that it is time for her to have offspring. Then she again goes to the sorcerer, he prepares another potion, and after 9-10 months the surrounding jungle is resounded by the first cry of another newborn … And we, with our enlightened medicine, cannot solve this problem properly, to this day …
Understandably, the members of the expedition by hook and crook tried to find out the secrets of their drugs from the local population. But they did not succeed. It turned out that many compounds cannot be stored for any length of time in tropical heat. And since the expedition did not have portable refrigerators, little was possible to bring safely to the chemical laboratories.
Meanwhile, it is known that quackery has been flourishing among many peoples for a long time. From time immemorial, people were treated with herbs. So it is no coincidence that James Rawlings gives descriptions of some medicinal plants and herbal poisons in the book. In particular, he mentions the famous curare poison, which is obtained from the plant Chondrodendron (chondro-dendron) of the species Tomentosum (cobweb).
Extracts extracted from the leaves and roots of this plant can not only make the victim numb, paralyzing muscles, including the heart, but also have diuretic, antipyretic, tonic properties. It all depends on the dose.