People hung charms
around their neck for cure and treatments of magic and herbs were
given. Some had hallucinogenic effects, which were probably useful
for pain. For instance, the remedy for "mental vacancy and folly"
was a drink of "fennel, agrimony, cockle, and marche". Blood-
letting by leeches and cautery were used for most maladies, which
were thought to be caused by imbalance of the four bodily humors:
sanguine, phlegmatic, choleric, and melancholic. These four humors
reflected the four basic elements of the world articulated by
Aristotle: air, water, fire, and earth. Blood was hot and moist
like air; phlegm was cold and moist like water; choler or yellow
bile was hot and dry like fire; and melancholy or black bile was
cold and dry like earth. Bede had explained that when blood
predominates, it makes people joyful and glad, sociable, laughing,
and talking a great deal. Phlegm renders them slow, sleepy, and
forgetful. Red cholic makes them thin, though eating much, swift,
bold, wrathful, and agile. Black cholic makes them serious of
settled disposition, even sad. To relieve brain pressure and/or
maybe to exorcise evil spirits, holes were drilled into skulls by
a drill with a metal tip that was caused to turn back and forth by
a strap wrapped around a wooden handle. A king's daughter Edith
inspired a cult of holy wells, whose waters were thought to
alleviate eye conditions.
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