Because they had no idea to what the cause was, they couldn't cure their patients properly. The best they could do for someone who was ill was to bleed them, or to give them a mixture of herbs"(Elizabethan Medicine and Sickness). It was the basic of basic medicine. They had no idea how to treat or cure these diseases, they were guessing.
The physicians communicated the diseases with the apothecaries who were the ones who made and distributed the medicine. "The art of the apothecary, that is mixing compounds according to the specific health needs of a patient, goes back to at least to 2200 to 3000 B.C. in ancient China, where the medicinal values of herbs were sought out and investigated. This approach to pharmacy spread throughout Europe. As greater scientific rigor was applied to medicine, alchemists, who relied on herbs and magic, were replaced by apothecaries, who based their medicines on demonstrable physical effects. During Medieval times, the equivalent of today's apothecary-pharmacist were primarily priests, monks, and medicine men"(Health). Because the physicians really didn't know what they were doing, neither did the apothecaries. They had been around for many years and their medicine seemed to work, but they still guessed on treatments and didn't have many ingredients to work with. "Letting blood was conducted by cupping or leeches. The Medicine used to treat various illnesses were as follows: Bubonic Plague (the Black Death) Bubonic Plague was treated by lancing the buboes and applying a warm poultice of butter, onion and garlic. Various other remedies were tried including tobacco, arsenic, lily root and dried toad. Head Pains were treated with sweet-smelling herbs such as rose, lavender, sage, and bay. Stomach Pains and Sickness were treated with wormwood, mint, and balm. Lung Problems given the medical treatment of liquorice and comfrey.Vinegar was widely used as a cleansing agent as it was believed that it would kill disease" (Elizabethan Medicine).
