Medical science has its roots in the ancient world, but some of those roots appear pretty gnarly when examined today. UW-Madison classics professor J.C. McKeown readily admits he’s not giving the Greeks and Romans their due in A Cabinet of Ancient Medical Curiosities. “The focus is primarily on the odd, the bizarre, and the downright weird,” he states. McKeown has no trouble unearthing ancient notions that conform to his search. The testicles of mules boiled in willow juice, a Greek treatise advised, will act as a contraceptive. Has anyone tried that one lately? Aristotle assumed that men have larger brains than women. However, his teacher, Plato, was correct in observing, “Male genitals are by nature disobedient and self-willed, like some living animal that won’t listen to reason.”
