Pertinax

Can't remember if it has already been said above: there was really no reliable anaesthetic. An analgesic helps instead, and the handiest analgesic for Roman doctors was opium. That's why poppies were a valuable resource. Cato (On Farming) recommends you to sow poppies where you had a bonfire. Cato is on the ball ,nice concentration of potash, nowadays farming methods (in Britain ) have reduced the viability and visibility of wild poppies, but if any farmland is disturbed for a while and left fallow without any use of pesticides/weedkillers the poppy appears. Likewise if a new roadway is cut across farmland and spoil heaps of soil are left aside, they sprout a colourful growth. I was thinking over the excruciating horror of the "lead tooth" , (and I will chat with the LEG II Medicus next week as well, see if he has some sources), it isnt in fact very much removed from modern pillar/tooth insertion. However in terms of "user comfort" I am a little less convinced, we know myrrh and clove were available to smear over a wounded gum , garlic would not be ridiculous either, but none would really help with pain only the risk of infection. Perhaps the solace of alcoholic intoxication would help? http://www.unrv.com/forum/index.php?&a...=si&img=915 These are the tools the medicus has,so unless Dentistry was a separate speciality these are what you would have had to work with ( in the field), along with the bone extractor pliers.

I should make my applause public also-it read like a Boys' Own story,( apart from the unfortunate ending).

I actually got into an argument one time with a guy who thought you absolutely could not move in segmentata. It was so aweful it was never used outside of Rome. He would know, he's in the SCA. The Segmentata allow full rotation of the trunk and total freedom of arm movement: wet weather however requires plenty of maintenance work to keep your gear shiny and rust free.Having said that chain needs tender care as well, but has the advantadge of being "slip on" for those tricky late night skirmishes.

Here's a shot that Gaius Octavius will find hard to believe: all the swords look like they are armpit high, but this position is the fastest draw! The Optio is nearest and he is a long serving re-enactor so his kit is right.I think the the thing is that the Lorica look so inflexible but they bend like tinfoil. http://www.unrv.com/forum/index.php?act=mo...=si&img=913

Fye ! Fye ! do I detect gloatery ? Already I see thy bloody plan Blackadder, thou wudst drown Middlesex in a vat of sack! ( or is that a sack of bats?) :pimp: and become King!

what a weird game eh? The third place was better! Strange tournament all round, a lot of "big names" were poor (England -"groan" we didnt even turn up) Brazil (what were they thinking of?) Argentina ( they were on fire, and didnt play Messi?), some outsiders were very good but didnt make it ( Cote D'Ivoire) and others were just cynical (Portugal, and sadly perhaps Italy) , Germany deserve great credit , they did really well with a young team . At least Germany didnt look afraid to play football.

On an entirely different theme ,I see I am linked to the, Grand Sumo mail Server... How could this have happened I wonder.....

That I will find out for you. Cruse (Roman Medicine) relates that although Roman teeth were more heavily worn than our own, ( pulses and quality cereals in the diet) the general standard of cariousness/cavities was considerably less .No sweeteners of course , only honey.Also that where dental repairs have been carried out they evinced a good standard, not that im suggesting widespread dentisitry (but who knows-tooth pain is appalling and the Ethnographic Pitt-River's museum in Oxford is full of "native" dental equipment .

The problem is that the series was good-but from chatting on the forum it transpires that a lot of material was cut out, ( the sex was ok for Britain , but the politics were too difficult apparently episodes 1 and 2 were truncated in particular)so I for one await the dvds with bated breath in the hope of a lot more political exposition. The sex was acceptable though.

oh, ow....jeez...wouldn't that cause infection or something? >.< Apparently not! Due to the searing heat and instant cauterisation of the wound site. The original find was examined and the person involved lived for some reasonable period after the surgery.I suppose its not too far removed from having titanium pillars implanted in the jaw, they take ages and cost a lot. Usually, I admit you do get at least a little anaesthesia as well . I hope to have a further dental report soon , as the banding and cramping of teeth with amalgam metals was undertaken. Lots of off site uploads in the usual place:- http://www.unrv.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=4214

Ive been posting some rather grim "thread to gallery links" for combat medicine equipment. All the equipment is re-created from actual finds, though in many cases exact blade shape is questionable with some knives/scalpels .Some knives are of an unknown usage and may actually have been blunt with a "putty" spatulate blade, possibly for the admixture of medicinal compounds.However some more "everyday" items will be on show soon. The LEG II AUG will be nearby again next week and the surgeon has said he will hopefully produce his cataract instruments and arterial clamps for our inspection, likewise some items related to the "prevention of fertile congress" . In the medicine chest we have: http://www.unrv.com/forum/index.php?act=mo...=si&img=899 l-r top row. bandages. charcoal for digestive aid (neutralising acid and prevention of the flux).unknown middle : unknown.mandragoram (anasthesia) dandelion root ( urinary tonic) bottom row: lavender (for sterile wash) . ginger root (nausea) .clove (teeth/gums) and ive forgotten the last one!But ill update soon.Elsewhere in his equipment he carried opiates and henbane to deal with intense pain. The skull to the right is a reconstruction of some dental work found at a grave site, a lead tooth has been pinned into the gum whilst still hot

A further note after chatting with a Centurion of LEG II AUG , the shields seen here are the curved ones usually associated with the later part of the second C AD . With this shape, the central bar ,held by a fist grip is very easy to carry "at the slope" .In contact when "punching" with the boss ,the soldier tends to strike and crouch lower, thence stabbing with the gladius almost simultaneously. The "crouch" is not a problem as it gets a great deal of the man behind the scutum. A flatter shield is much more difficult to use with this type of grip, I ve previously shown auxilliae with horizontal grip shields, the Centurion strongly favours use of a horizontal bar when deploying flat or lightly curved scutii.The debate about use of straps rages amongst re-enactors , images from Trajans column suggest they are a possibility but (by their nature) we have no survivals.

I have some more images showing the Surgeon at work http://www.unrv.com/forum/index.php?act=mo...=si&img=910 here he extracts a sling round from the thigh of a wounded man. Also we see the design of the arrow extraction pliers: the soldiery were trained not to attempt to pull out any arrows but to leave a reasonable length of snapped shaft in the wound so the angle of inclination could be seen by the surgeon , and he could follow into the wound with the pliers. http://www.unrv.com/forum/index.php?act=mo...=si&img=911 As an aside to Caldrail's post the logic regarding non-suturing was that any necrotic matter would be more easily drained away from an unsealed wound, and contemporary conventional wisdom has now gone full circle to suggesting a moist natural scab (kept clear of flies) is the best wound dressing available.Galen noted that the "true " use of medicine ansd medicinal skill was in the treatment of soldier's wounds.