
Hospitalism: On 'The Butchering Art' - Vigier
https://www.lrb.co.uk/v40/n13/sarah-perry/hospitalism
======
tcj_phx
Honey is making a comeback for problematic wounds. The most researched kind is
from New Zealand, Mānuka honey [0], but really any kind of honey will do. I've
[also] read that [white] sugar works too - from a search now, [1].

[0]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M%C4%81nuka_honey](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M%C4%81nuka_honey)

[1] [https://advancedtissue.com/2016/06/role-sugar-proper-
wound-c...](https://advancedtissue.com/2016/06/role-sugar-proper-wound-care-
management/) \-- random search link with some links to papers

My favorite quote from the book review: "Unfortunately, nobody – least of all
a scientist – likes to be publicly corrected. Infection was still considered
by many to be inevitable, and best left to play out as Providence determined –
a version, in fact, of the ‘therapeutic nihilism’ to which most Quakers,
Lister’s father included, adhered. To argue the contrary was tacitly to
condemn surgical practices that had been in use for decades."

Even today, many doctors are still biased towards treatments that don't
actually work very well. On HN this morning there was a link about Melatonin,
with some tips on how to use this substance most effectively to aid in
sleep... ("Uhm... it was on slatestarcodex..." Ah, [2]). I didn't comment
there, but I thought about quipping about how Ambien (and all other FDA-
approved sleep medications) do not actually work very well. In recent months,
I think I've figured out my own sleep issues. This has taken me 20+ years, and
the FDA-approved palliative drugs aren't part of the process. Millions of
people are suffering from poor sleep, but not-very-effective drugs are a
first-line treatment. Why is that?

[2]
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17505380](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17505380)
(HN discussion of SSC article on Melatonin)

[Edit2: the quest for Manuka honey is causing some problems for New Zealanders
[3]. if you have a wound that might benefit from honey, try buying local honey
first. You'll save a lot of money, and probably get just as good a result.

[3] [https://www.nzherald.co.nz/bay-
news/news/article.cfm?c_id=15...](https://www.nzherald.co.nz/bay-
news/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503768&objectid=11522715) ]

~~~
forapurpose
I think the question is, how does one distinguish the claims above from the
claims described in the article, such as "it was surmised that if he had eaten
breakfast before picking up the scalpel, the food would have absorbed any
poison attending the corpse"?

IMHO the article disagrees with the parent; the article refers to honey as a
relic of medical practices of Ancient Greece; I'd bet ours are far more
effective. The article supports the idea that scientific method, publicly
reproducible empirical evidence, is the tool to separate bad ideas from good,
superstition from fact.

