Medicines were used by both empirics and university-trained doctors as part of most treatments. Medications were compounded by the medical healer or physician, or later on, by the local pharmacist
from ingredients kept in an apothecary. Trial and error was very much a part of the treatment process. The results were mixed, ranging from effective (there was some knowledge of good pain killers and laxatives) to harmless (similar to taking a sugar pill with possible improvement from the psychological expectation
of getting better) to dangerous (some remedies—or their dosages— were actually poisonous)
and disgusting (pig manure was thought to be helpful for nosebleeds).
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