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    How to Cure a Headache, 9th century

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    How to Cure a Headache, 9th century

    manuscript illustration of alarmed-looking face in capital O Ninth-century headache?
    St. Gall 904 (ca. 850)

    Headaches you will enchant: take some earth, touch your breast three times and say: My head hurts, why does it hurt? It does not hurt.

    Pseudo-Pliny (9th century) (trans. H. S. Versnel)

    Good old denial: it’s better than ibuprofen.

    Tags: headache, medicine, medieval, why does it hurt?

    Updated: July 06, 2013

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