IT is stating the obvious to say that medical science has advanced by leaps and bounds in recent decades. To see how far we’ve come, however, you need to go a bit further back – to early Victorian times.

In those days medical practice could more aptly be described as medical stupidity. Thus the standard treatment for just about any complaint was to “bleed” the patient. A doctor would open a vein and draw off a couple of pints or more of blood.

Obviously this practice set back the patient’s chances of recovery and sometimes killed them.

One such victim was George Washington, first President of the United States.

In fact most people, if they had any sense, self-medicated with poultices. That’s why you can still see patches of the herb comfrey growing near where old gardens have been. Comfrey is ideal for making poultices, and was commonly grown for this purpose. Bread poultices were also popular.

A curious consequence of this aversion to doctors was that gender dysfunctional people could sometimes pass themselves off as members of the opposite sex. Such imposters included a number of prominent people, but that’s a story that will have to wait.

Tony Kelly, Crook.