How did ancient/ medieval doctors not know that there cures were not effective in the slightest?

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Title says it all really.

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Anonymous 0 Comments

What these ancient and Medieval doctors were doing were treating the surface level symptoms (pain, pus, swelling, fever etc.). These things could be treated, though it’s also possible that the body itself just naturally healed. For example, someone taking herbs that reduce fever might think that is curing them of whatever disease, when in reality the disease was caused by a virus and the immune system was fighting it. Prior to microscopes, the development of germ theory, and detailed look at biological mechanisms there was no systematic way to what (and more importantly why) things worked or didn’t work.

In the end what mattered to pre modern doctors is that these things were helping people more than doing nothing.

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