The Daily Surprise

Female Hysteria

The prescription for female hysteria was usually a good vaginal massage.

Seizures And Migraines

Historically trepanation was most commonly used as treatment. Trepanation is a fancy word for drilling holes in your head.

Being Fat

Taking capsules filled with dehydrated tapeworms or tapeworm eggs.



Flu

Bloodletting. If you were feeling under the weather back in the day there's a good chance it was because you just had too much damn blood.

For General Health

Drink urine. It was believed that the key to good health (and terrible body odor) was drinking one's own urine. It was said to cure an endless list of ailments and promotes good health if drank and was also applied to the skin.

Mercury - rub it where it hurts.

Depression And Mental Illness

The cure for depression was lobotomy. Lobotomy is a process where a 10-inch-long ice pick is inserted to your brain through your eye socket, then, wiggled it around to shred part of your brain.

Impotence

The remedy for impotence used to be mildly electrocuting your penis using strange devices such as penis electric belts.

Cough

The remedy for cough used to be heroin. Heroin, by the way, was originally developed by Bayer.

Problem Children

If you had a disobedient child, give it some morphine. Mrs. Winslow's Soothing Syrup, popular then, contained 65 mg of pure morphine.

Read the full story here.