Medieval monks used anestheticsScots scientists

EDINBURGH, Scotland (Reuter) Scientists searching the site
of a medieval hospital south of Edinburgh said Sunday they had
found evidence that monks who ran it used crude anesthetics and
disinfectants hundreds of years before they became generally
known.
Digging uncovered blood pits, surgical waste and narcotics
used to stupefy casualties from more than 80 armies that fought
over the bleak area around Soutra Hill for hundreds of years.
Recent excavations revealed two surgical wards where
amputations were performed with crude instruments on patients
anesthetized with opium and hemlock. Traces of an analgesic
ointment made of opium and lard and a disinfectant ointment
laced with arsenic were also found.
Dr. Brian Moffat, leader of the team working on the site
for nearly 12 years, said DNA samples showed epidemics and
diseases such as anthrax were prevalent in the area.
Bloodstained instruments had been discovered, as had a
blood pit where the results of more than 1,500 bloodletting
operations had been dumped.
Moffat said remains of stunted stillborn infants found in
a secret burial place indicated illegal abortions, even though
religious rules forbade monks from treating pregnant women or
having anything to do with childbirth.
The hospital was founded by Augustinian monks in 1165 and
flourished for nearly 400 years until the dissolution of the
monasteries.
It sat just off the main northsouth route in a desolate,
windswept area about 20 miles south of the Scottish capital
where thousands of men and horses died in bitter medieval
battles.
According to contemporary records, Soutra was the largest
hospital north of the English city of York. It had immense walls
and covered a vast area but the stones were carried off to build
houses and farms and only a burial chapel remains.


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