Vodka, bath and garlic. How the Slavs were treated in the era of Peter the Great

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

In the 17th century, crowded life in Russia was only in monasteries and cities: Moscow was compared in size with Paris and London. Naturally, the surrounding world for the townspeople of that time seemed full of dangers - there was still no sewage system, water supply and a sufficient number of doctors, and the land was visited almost every year by crop failures, fires, and diseases.

Herbalists and benefits

Medical treatises made their way very slowly, although quite a lot of them were brought to Russia and actively translated. Since the 1670s, the book “Cool Helicopter City”, translated from the German language, was popular in Russia, which told “about various medical things”. Such compilations often contained a variety of tips.

In the "Cool Vertograd" there are sections "about human conception", "about a cold", "any kind of pain" (eye pain), "so that the face is clean and smooth" (the basics of cosmetology), instructions on how to "make eyebrows and hairs black", "So as not to be drunk" and "bring a good dream."

Under Peter in 1708, veterinary manuals even appeared in Russia, although they contained advice not to waste time on trifles, for "people and their horses." Headache? Take vinegar, mix with egg whites and camphor (herbal medicine), soak a towel in this mixture and wrap it around your head. Coughing? Rub the turnips through a sieve and make a broth.

And now in stores there are quite a few dubious manuals on traditional medicine, and most of the manuscripts of Peter's time, of course, were haphazard and tried to grasp the immensity. The section "about climbing out with a dentist" was next to advice on what to do when "the wife does not love her husband." Sometimes the pages contain strange advice and superstitions. It was suggested to test female chastity like this: "Put grain in water, if it doesn’t get wet, it’s unclean, if it gets wet, it’s clean."

In addition, many of the terms from the books and speeches of doctors were incomprehensible to the people.

Doctor Zmeev in the 19th century complained: when asked if the stomach hurts, the patient shakes his head negatively, because he is used to calling it another word - “belly”.

The first Russian doctors

The pharmacy order, which arose in the 1620s, was supposed to protect "from the dashing potion" and witchcraft of the tsar himself, although it gradually accumulated special medical knowledge. If the sovereign was prescribed some kind of medicine, then several people tried the "potion" at once. In 1676, a nobleman wrote to Tsar Fyodor Alekseevich: "And the medicine was first consumed by the doctor, then I, your servant."

At the same time, there are already quite a few specializations of doctors - in the documents of the 17th century, barbers, alchemists, pharmacists, herbalists, blood-letters, masters of intramural affairs, doctors, healers are mentioned. The doctor was mainly engaged in consultations ("gives advice and orders"), and the doctor can be compared to a paramedic ("applies and cures medicine, and he is not scientific").

Medical examinations in Russia were called "pre-Khurian fairy tales", and among the medical instruments there are already "double scissors that cut wounds" and "saws that rub teeth."

In 1674, there was one surgeon and five doctors in Moscow. At the beginning of the 18th century, eight pharmacies are mentioned in Moscow. Although even the servants of the people closest to the tsar, archers, were wary of medicine: in 1682 the rebels executed a “warlock” doctor, at whose home they found dried snakes.

In 1692, a Russian solicitor, Pyotr Posnikov, was sent to Padua, and overseas he received a doctorate in medicine and philosophy. In 1707, the famous school appeared on the Vvedensky mountains in Lefortovo, the first Russian medical university, where theory was combined with practice. The school was run by Nikolai Bidloo, a Dutch physician from Leiden University. There were not enough textbooks, lectures were dictated to the recording, difficulties arose with the translation of Latin terms.

But there was no shortage of practice: the bodies of "vile people" found in the city were brought to the local anatomical theater. For 5-10 years, a person received a diploma in medicine, the first graduates were sent to the Baltic Fleet. Foreign doctors had little faith in the Russians, so Peter strictly demanded not to inflict any insult on his compatriots in honor or promotion.

Tsar and medicine

Peter had a keen interest in anatomy - while traveling around Europe, he attended the anatomical theater of Frederic Ruysch, where he learned to dissect bodies, and in 1699 arranged an anatomy course for the boyars. In their presence, he, of course, also opened corpses. One can imagine the surprise of the Moscow nobles, who are not used to such a free treatment of human bodies.

Over time, the emperor learned to bleed and pull out his teeth. The collection of the Kunstkamera contains the "Register of teeth twitched by Emperor Peter I from different people." The first Russian emperor personally pulled out about 60-70 teeth

Among the tsar's "patients" are not only grooms, tailors and solicitors, but also high-flying birds - close F. M. Apraksin and the wife of Menshikov's favorite. There is an assumption that the tsar pulled quite healthy teeth: after all, he did not carry out diagnostics, but simply asked where it hurts.

Under Peter the Great, the first “instrumental hut” in Russia for the production of surgical instruments was created, they began to put lead and gold fillings, and take care of oral hygiene with the help of crushed chalk. This is due to the fact that Peter personally saw bacteria in oral washes using a Levenguk microscope.

In 1717, Peter was treated in Spa - a special memorial plaque tells about this event - and began to zealously search for mineral waters in his native state. Konchezersk marcial (iron) waters in Karelia became popular at this very time. Both nobles and ordinary soldiers were sent here. One of them "drank this water for 18 days and got himself perfect health." At the first Russian resort, they combined drinking water with walking, allowed the sick "to drink the lightest beer itself," but forbade kvass, home brew and sour cabbage soup.

People's gaze

Unfortunately, Peter's reforms affected only a small part of the country's population. It would seem that Russia has come a long way in the field of medicine, but it was shattered by the distrust of the people. Reforms from above reached the subjects with a great delay. In the middle of the 18th century, out of 56 places for city doctors, 30 remained vacant. The residents themselves tried to abolish these positions, because they did not see the need for them: the provincials were rescued by hot-heated baths, conspiracies, baths, infusions.

Realizing the connection between the sanitary condition of the city and epidemics, the authorities have repeatedly tried to issue strict decrees, but they were not implemented even in Moscow.

In 1709, the inhabitants of the capital were warned that they should "clean up manure and carrion and all kinds of droppings in all the streets and alleys" and take them to distant places, sprinkling them with earth

Traders were advised to wear a white apron.

But garbage continued to be thrown into the streets, and illegal tapping was made into many rivers for the disposal of sewage. The result was numerous epidemics, when entire yards had to be burned "with everything that was in them, and with horses and cattle, and with all kinds of junk." In 1719, Peter Petrovich, the three-year-old son of the first emperor by his wife Elizabeth, died of smallpox. In 1730, smallpox took the life of the last male representative of the Romanov dynasty in a straight line - Peter II. Smallpox vaccinations began to be given only in the late 1760s.

In the absence of official medicine, rather strange rituals were practiced.

So, mothers sent their children in festive clothes to bow to the sick with the words: "Ospitsa-mother, forgive us sinners!"

Malaria was called "feverish", "quagmire", "quake". In the north, rituals were popular when a person approached a tree with the words: "Aspen, aspen, take my quagmire." Cinchona powder for malaria was considered very expensive. Sources from the 18th century emphasize the huge gap between the medical care of the privileged and the treatment of the common people. But consciousness has changed little over the centuries - many modern Russians prefer to solve their problems with a bath, vodka and garlic.