Posted on 04/12/2015 6:20:17 PM PDT by MNDude
I would be furiously working on toilet paper first.
If you had the tools, something like flasks and petri dishes, you probably COULD culture antibiotic-producing bacteria and fungi,even before 1015. A microscope would be tough, but not strictly needed.
Most antibiotics come from cultured soil bacteria. The culture media could be gelatin, I think, you’d have a hard time getting agar.
Most of the work is in observation and understanding, the tech itself is not terribly tough.
You’re funny.
I think the printing press could be something that most of us here could develop with very little help.
Something that would make the greatest impact.
Looked it up. In the 1890’s, French physician Ernest Duchesne noticed that penicillium mold inhibited germ growth, but he was ignored.
I’d set up a beehive with movable straight frames- a Langstroth hive. Can be done all with wood and produces lots of clean honey and wax.
The time traveler ends up killing lots of people and eventually is hunted down and killed as well.
I know how to suture a wound and keep it clean. A mild vinegar solution is an excellent antiseptic and useful as an irrigating solution to combat many infections. I know how to make vinegar.
Contrary to popular belief, many ancient cultures used honey and wine to treat wounds. They also made poultices to treat infected wounds.
A lot of our modern medicines are simply refined herbal remedies which isolated the essential elements.
You're not trying to tell us that those poor bastards back in 1015 didn't even have duct tape, are you?
How did they make it through the day?
http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/prnt/hd_prnt.htm
Work on paper first. Paper was not widely available, which was the real problem, not the availability of printing tech.
If you had an offset press or laser printer in 1015, you’d have almost nothing to feed it.
Nope. And most of the folks who think they do wouldn’t either. Compared to our life things 1000 years ago were an extreme survival situation, and most of us would die in a week or two. And even if you could “invent” stuff you’d quickly find you couldn’t because so many of the building blocks to make those things wouldn’t exist. You’d have a hard time making any medical advances with the glass, steel and fire technology of the day. Plus of course you wouldn’t ACTUALLY speak the language because English has changed a lot, so forget getting help from anybody.
If I went back a thousand years I think I’d have my work cut out for me explaining to them why they shouldn’t have snapshots on production virtual machines.
No way! Sounds real interesting.
What would that be worth today?
The big breakthrough was the idea of movable type and the alloy to make them which had to be hard enough to keep it's shape and soft enough that it did not damage the paper.
Cure a thousand people, but fail to cure one who was beyond help, especially if that person was a king or lord, and you’re still toast.
As I recall, the training for a “Medical Doctor” during the mid 19th century (1800s) took less than a year.
Interesting. Thanks! Often, the credit for a discovery goes not to the earliest discoverer, but to the best self-promoter.
Yeah buy can you imagine how cool it would have been to know then who shot JR.
Yep. That’s where the real money is.
Meh. Perhaps not fail, but become another 'lost' art...
For all we know, penicillin has been used many times before, but the knowledge of it failed to survive the ages.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.