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0 pointswithinboredom5mo ago0 comments

If death were so guaranteed from injuries, I doubt we’d have survived as a species.

0 comments

Before the discovery of antibiotics, chopping it off was the usual standard of care for serious infections.

It didn't always have to turn into an infection as there are plenty folk methods of preventing that from happening used throughout history - from wound cauterisation to my regional bread + spiderwebs.

The latter was given a scientific explanation in modern times: the webbing contains live penicillium fungi in quantities sufficient to act against microbes.

nradov5mo ago

It's very rare for a minor injury to become seriously infected to the extent that the patient's immune system can't fight it off. Even before the discovery of antibiotics, amputation was typically only used as a salvage therapy in cases of gangrene. They didn't reach for the bone saw just because you had a serious infection.

colechristensen5mo ago

This is why most women spent most of their adult life pregnant and there's still lingering moral pressure to have children. Societies, especially as they advanced, had real trouble maintaining population through reproduction alone.

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