Medicine Maya - this is the knowledge of medicine , the preservation and maintenance of health , hygiene and lifestyle that the people of the Mayan civilization had . The level of development of medicine, methods of identifying diseases and their treatment in Maya stood at the highest level in relation to both America and the Old World . The knowledge of medicine had few specially trained people - doctors .
Content
Therapeutic Medicine
Maya doctors could very accurately determine many diseases , such as: angina , tuberculosis , tumor , asthma , ulcer , eye diseases and others. To combat the disease, one or another medicine was used (mainly in the form of drugs), the number of which exceeds several hundred. In addition to herbal ingredients, many other improvised products of animal origin were used, not only simple meat (such as jaguar ), but also tails (the possum's tail was used in shredded form to speed up childbirth or eliminate menstruation delays), feathers ( cardinal parrot feathers were used in vomiting with blood ), horns (horns of animals "helped" along with the saliva of a pregnant woman and soot for tumors and ulcers), and much more. Some of the effective medicines were borrowed by Europeans (for example, some emetic, diuretic and laxatives).
Other measures that did not involve the use of drugs by mouth included inhalations , baths , bloodletting , as well as the use of ritual actions with spells , the power of which, according to ancient Maya, could relieve the disease and prevent its occurrence in the future.
Surgery
Mayan surgery has reached a particularly high level in its development. Anatomy was known to the ancients due to numerous human sacrifices , as well as the centuries-old autopsy practice. The main tool of the surgeon was an obsidian knife, which opened the areas of the body suspected of a tumor, an abscess or cataract , skillfully removing the affected areas. On the incision was superimposed seam , made with a needle hair . An analogue of anesthesia was an ordinary drug that blunted sensitivity to pain. Maya was known for such complex operations as trepanation of the skull and plastic surgery on the face .
Dentistry
Caring for the health of teeth in ancient Maya was the prerogative of the predominantly rich strata of society. The poor strata, ordinary citizens, workers and those employed in the natural economy coped with the toothache on their own: for example, they tore out a tooth or were treated using the knowledge of their ancestors. Nevertheless, even for them, there was a whole procedure of incrustation of a mixture, its properties resembling a cement mass . Government officials and clergymen could afford shell incrustation. The turning of the tooth, giving it the desired shape occurred with the help of a special stone. The point is that the canon prescribed to have front incisors that were eroded for this, as well as inlays - with jade , jasper , and sometimes gold . Dear metals ( silver and gold), the Maya tribe was considered beautiful and useful metals, so they were used to decorate teeth.
See also
- Mayan
Literature
- Ya. N. Nersesov. Secrets of the New World: From ancient civilizations to Columbus. - M .: Veche, 2006. - 320 p. - ISBN 5-9533-1458-2 .
Links
- Mayan Medicine . The date of circulation is July 10, 2011. Archived May 14, 2012.
- Maya Medicine . The date of circulation is July 10, 2011. Archived May 14, 2012.