It is said that 'An apple a day keeps the dentist away.' This has become
             a common saying among Society today. We do not stop to think of how it reflects
             our outlook of Medicine in our lives. We have come to understand the value of
             simple practices in order to keep ourselves healthy. This is not, however, the
             case of Medieval England. Most 'medical practices' of the time were based upon
             superstition, ancient texts, myth, or the direction of the church. Medical
             practices of Medieval England often based upon nothing more than superstition
             proved unbeneficial if not harmful to the people of England.
             Part of the obvious problem was the fact that the common person had
             little care or sense for improving their own health. The life and livelihood of
             an average person was less than desirable even from the time of birth.
             In the villages chronic inbreeding must have produced many children who
             started life with a built in weakness, either mental or physical. Many would
             die in childhood, but others who grew into manhood, might drag out a useless
             existance, dependent on charity for their sustenance. In general, infant
             mortality was extremely heavy....Once the child was free to crawl about
             among the unsanitary rushes, with a child's natural instinct to put everything
             into its mouth, it is a wonder that any survived. Fromt then on disease and
             accident would provide ample scope for a medical service, which was
             virtually non-existent. (Tomkeieff 119).
             Furthermore, the collective knowledge (what little there was) was held and
             In summary of medical practice to the end of 1400, it may be said
             medicine was practiced mostly by the clerics in monasteries and the laity whose
             locus of operation was the apothecary shop. The physician thought surgery was
             beneath his dignity (to have blood on his hands and clothes) and left this to
             uneducated 'barbers' The practitioner carried the
             ...