Mocking the Past - and Repeating It

Before Covid-19 launched itself upon the world, we looked back with a mixture of bewilderment and derision at the way people reacted to previous pandemics. The Black Death, or Bubonic Plague, which devastated Europe in the mid-14th Century, is thought to have killed 50 million people worldwide - 20 million in Europe. The disease brought fear and death in equal proportion. As no-one knew what caused it, and the medical science of the day could not provide a cure, people resorted in desperation to methods of treatment that now arouse ridicule and disgust. One such - self flagellation - is seen above.
A pre-Covid-19 website provides a mocking list of "10 Crazy Cures for the Black Death" - although it's hard for a modern reader not to be shocked at some of these "cures". One such was to rub your Bubonic sores with a live chicken. This method was invented by an English physician, Thomas Vicary:
 "People would shave a hen’s butt and strap it to their swollen lymph nodes . . . while the chicken was still alive. Then, when the chicken got sick, they would wash it and repeat the process until only the chicken or victim was healthy."
Other treatments included smearing yourself with excrement, washing in and drinking urine and - incredibly - eating crushed emeralds. Then there were leeches, used for bloodletting - a method which continued into the 19th century.

Racists, nowadays, blame innocent Chinese people for Covid-19. In the mid-14th century, the Jews were the target of much worse:
" Some people took the religious thing a little far and decided that the best cure for the plague was to purge the earth of Jews. Governors of cities across Europe rounded up Jews, boarded them up in their homes, and then set them alight".

Other, remarkably familiar-sounding treatments included positive thinking and not eating meat. Until recently, we would have spoken of all these "treatments" with great amusement.

The 1918 Flu Epidemic, erroneously described as "The Spanish Flu", was more terrible in its effects than the Black Death, but did not last as long. In 15 months, from the spring of 1918 to the summer of 1919, it is thought to have killed at least 50 million people in many countries - some historians say the true figure was double that number. Unlike Covid-19, it killed younger people rather than older, and took the lives of more people in 24 weeks than AIDS has killed in 24 years. As with the Black Death, people lived in fear of catching the disease, and, lacking an understanding of the nature of the virus, resorted to outlandish methods of treatment.

Here in the UK, as the BBC tells us: 

"Public health messages were confused - and, just like today, fake news and conspiracy theories abounded, although the general level of ignorance about healthy lifestyles did not help."

It was thought that smoking could ward off the disease, and one Conservative MP asked, in the House of Commons, if drinking cocoa could prevent infection. Overuse of aspirin is now thought to have contributed to the appaling death toll. And, says the BBC:

"In November 1918, the News of the World advised its readers to: "wash inside nose with soap and water each night and morning; force yourself to sneeze night and morning, then breathe deeply. Do not wear a muffler; take sharp walks regularly and walk home from work; eat plenty of porridge."

In the USA, especially in the mid-West states, people fell back on folk remedies. The CDC website records the case of Sarah Elizabeth Northrip Wright, as told by her grandson, John H. Wright:

"Elizabeth′s father, Orian, did not become ill but most of the rest of the family did. The Northrips brewed a tea–like drink made of sassafras roots, leaves from the pokeweed plant, and elm tree bark. The roots, leaves, and bark were put into a one-gallon kettle, boiled in water, and cooled before drinking. Elizabeth believes this “tea” helped her family survive; there were no deaths."

One intriguing treatment with modern connotations comes from the son of Judy McGlaughlin Seggerson of Indiana. Her father, Art, had been working away from home and had been taken ill before returning home. The then little Judy rushed up to her dad and hugged him. Her worried father then:

" ... insisted that Agnes (his wife and Judy's mother) literally bathe Judy in Listerine®. In the next weeks, Judy and her sister were forced to frequently gargle with Listerine (which they were not very happy about). With a lot of loving care from Agnes, Art eventually recovered. No one else in the family became ill with the flu. For the rest of his life, Art credited Listerine® with saving his family, and I remember him gargling with it every day."

Whatever our views on the apparent follies of our forebears, Covid-19 has afflicted us with the same fear of the unknown and a desperate search for remedies, political, medical or otherwise. Among the weird and not-so-wonderful treatments extant we find cocaine, garlic and homeopathy. Other lunatic ideas include drinking bleach and spraying the body with chlorine. Social media throws up many fake remedies, including drinking hot water and the amazing diagnostic tool of holding your breath for 10 seconds - if you can do that, goes the "theory", you haven't got Covid-19.

Then there are the conspiracy theories, which have led to waves of hatred and violence against many innocent people around the world. David Icke's barmy idea that Covid-19 is 5G attacking our brains is one such delusion, as is the belief that the disease was manufactured by the Chinese government. Aliens from outer space are also suspected, as is Greta Thunberg. And there is worldwide hate crime against many groups, particularly people of Chinese and Far Eastern origin.

Perhaps, then, this pandemic has taught us that we are not really so different from our ancestors as we fondly imagined. At the risk of sounding flippant, I shall be sure to use Listerine twice a day.