Where, how and with what did our ancestors receive treatment in pre-revolutionary times? National characteristics of Russians. Psychology of Russians in personal life and in everyday life

On this day we decided to remember outstanding domestic doctors.

Fyodor Petrovich Gaaz (1780 - 1853)

Russian doctor German origin, known as the "holy doctor". From 1806 he served as a doctor in the Russian service. In 1809 and 1810 he traveled around the Caucasus, where he studied mineral springs(now Caucasian Mineral Waters), explored the springs in Kislovodsk, discovered the springs of Zheleznovodsk, and was the first to report the springs in Essentuki. During the War of 1812 with Napoleon, he worked as a surgeon in the Russian Army.

Haaz was a member of the Moscow Prison Committee and the chief physician of Moscow prisons. He dedicated his life to easing the lot of prisoners and exiles. He ensured that the old and sick were freed from shackles, and abolished the iron rod in Moscow to which 12 exiles heading to Siberia were chained. He also achieved the abolition of shaving half of the head of women. On his initiative, a prison hospital and a school for the children of prisoners were opened.

In addition, Haaz fought for the abolition of the right of landowners to exile serfs, and received and supplied medicines to poor patients.

Dr. Haas's motto is: "Hasten to do good." The Federal State Medical Institution “Regional Hospital named after Dr. F. P. Gaaz” is named after the famous physician.

Grigory Antonovich Zakharyin (1829 - 1897)

Russian general practitioner, founder of the Moscow clinical school. He graduated from the Faculty of Medicine of Moscow University, was a professor in the Department of Diagnostics of Moscow University, and later - director of the faculty therapeutic clinic. In 1894, Zakharyin treated Emperor Alexander III.

Zakharyin became one of the most outstanding clinical practitioners of his time and made a huge contribution to the creation of an anamnestic method for studying patients. He outlined his diagnostic techniques and views on treatment in “Clinical Lectures”.

The research methodology according to Zakharyin consisted of a multi-stage questioning of the patient by the doctor, which made it possible to get an idea of ​​the course of the disease and risk factors. At the same time, Zakharyin paid little attention to objective research and did not recognize laboratory data.

Doctor Zakharyin was known for his difficult character and lack of restraint in dealing with patients.

Nikolai Ivanovich Pirogov (1810 - 1881)

Surgeon and anatomist, naturalist and teacher, creator of the first atlas topographic anatomy, founder of military field surgery, founder of anesthesia. One of the founders of surgery as a scientific medical discipline. He developed a number of important operations and surgical techniques, was the first to propose rectal anesthesia and began to use ether anesthesia. For the first time in the world, he used anesthesia in military field surgery.

Pirogov was the first to widely use a plaster cast. Before this, gypsum was almost never used in medicine. The starch dressing had limited use; it dried slowly, became soaked with pus and blood, and was inconvenient in field conditions.

During the defense of Sevastopol, he involved women in caring for the wounded at the front. It was also he who first introduced mandatory primary sorting of the wounded into four groups. The mortally wounded were assisted by priests and nurses; the seriously wounded, requiring immediate assistance, were attended to by the doctor first. Those who did not require urgent surgery were sent to the rear. The slightly wounded, who could be quickly returned to duty, were treated by paramedics.

Even before the advent of antiseptics, Pirogov separated the wounded with purulent and gangrenous complications from those whose wounds were clean, which helped avoid the spread of infection.

As a teacher, Pirogov strove for the implementation of universal primary education, was the organizer of Sunday public schools. He also fought for the abolition of corporal punishment in the gymnasium.

Nikolai Vasilievich Sklifosovsky (1836 - 1904)

Honored Russian professor, surgeon, one of the founders of abdominal surgery (surgical treatment of female diseases, diseases of the stomach, liver and biliary tract, bladder), contributed to the introduction of the principles of antisepsis and asepsis, developed an original operation for connecting bones in false joints (“Russian castle”) . He made a significant contribution to the development of military field surgery, advocated bringing medical care closer to the battlefield, the principle of “saving treatment” of gunshot wounds, and the use of plaster casts as a means of immobilization for wounds of the extremities.

Sklifosovsky owns more than seventy scientific works on surgery, the development of asepsis and surgery in general.

The Moscow Research Institute of Emergency Medicine was named after Sklifosovsky.

The black spot in Sklifosovsky’s biography was the fate of his family. The only son of the legendary doctor committed suicide. Vladimir shot himself shortly before October revolution. He was a member of a terrorist organization and was supposed to kill the Poltava governor, however, he could not shoot the man with whom his family was friends.

In 1919, Cossacks of a pro-Bolshevik detachment brutally killed the wife of Nikolai Vasilyevich and his eldest daughter. Moreover, the document signed by Lenin, which stated that repressions would not apply to the family of the famous surgeon, could not save them from reprisals.

Sergei Petrovich Botkin

(1832 — 1889)

Russian physician-therapist, founder of the doctrine of the integrity of the human body, public figure. Graduated from the Faculty of Medicine of Moscow University, was a participant Crimean War, worked in the Simferopol hospital. He also worked in clinics in Konigsberg, Berlin, Vienna, England, and Paris.

In 1860, Sergei Botkin moved to St. Petersburg, where he defended his doctoral dissertation and received the title of professor of medicine.

Botkin became one of the founders of women's medical education, organized a school for female paramedics, as well as women's medical courses. For the first time in Russia, he created an experimental laboratory where he studied the physiological and pharmacological effects of medicinal substances. He created a new direction in medicine called nervism. It was he who established the infectious nature of such a disease as viral hepatitis and developed the diagnosis and clinic of the wandering kidney.

In 1861 he opened the first free outpatient clinic in the history of clinical treatment of patients, and achieved the construction of a free hospital, opened in 1880 (Alexandrovskaya Barracks Hospital, now the S.P. Botkin Hospital). Among Botkin’s students there are 85 doctors of science, including A. A. Nechaev, M. V. Yanovsky, N. Ya. Chistovich, I. P. Pavlov, A. G. Polotebnov, T. P. Pavlov, N. P. Simanovsky.

Ivan Petrovich Pavlov

(1849 — 1936)

Pavlov Ivan Petrovich is one of the most authoritative scientists in Russia, a physiologist, the creator of the science of higher nervous activity and ideas about the processes of regulation of digestion. He is the founder of the largest Russian physiological school and laureate Nobel Prize in medicine and physiology in 1904 “for his work on the physiology of digestion.”

Main directions scientific activity Pavlova - study of the physiology of blood circulation, digestion and higher nervous activity. The scientist developed methods of surgical operations to create an “isolated ventricle” and used a new “chronic experiment” for his time, which made it possible to conduct observations on healthy animals under conditions as close as possible to natural ones.

As a result of his work, a new scientific discipline was formed - the science of higher nervous activity, which was based on the idea of ​​dividing reflexes into conditioned and unconditioned. Pavlov and his colleagues discovered the laws of formation and extinction of conditioned reflexes, they were studied different types and types of inhibition, the laws of basic nervous processes were discovered, sleep problems were studied and its phases were established, and much more.

Pavlov became widely known for his doctrine of the types of the nervous system, which is based on ideas about the relationship between the processes of excitation and inhibition, and the doctrine of signaling systems.

Pavlov's scientific work influenced the development of related fields of medicine and biology, including psychiatry. Under the influence of his ideas, major scientific schools in therapy, surgery, psychiatry, neuropathology.

Sergei Sergeevich Yudin (1891 - 1954)

A prominent Soviet surgeon and scientist, chief surgeon of the Research Institute of Emergency Medicine named after. N.V. Sklifosovsky, Director of the Research Institute of Surgery named after. A. V. Vishnevsky.

Yudin developed techniques for gastric resection for peptic ulcers, perforated gastric ulcers and gastric bleeding, and operations for creating an artificial esophagus.

Sergei Sergeevich Yuin wrote 15 monographs and published 181 scientific papers.

In 1948, he was arrested by the NKVD on false charges as an “enemy” Soviet state, who supplied British intelligence with spy information about our country.” While in prison, he wrote the book “Reflections of a Surgeon.” From 1952 until his release in September 1953, he was in exile, during which he worked as a surgeon in Berdsk. The doctor was released only after Stalin's death, in 1953.

Of course, something was done in this regard, both in the applied and fundamental directions. Here is a galaxy of ascetics whose names are preserved in: Pirogov - surgery, anesthesiology, Sechenov - physiology, Mechnikov - theory of immunity, phagocytosis, "Studies of Optimism", Botkin - clinic of internal diseases, - theory of reflexes, work on the 2nd signal system, first Russian laureate. However, for all the greatness and significance of the galaxy of luminaries, they could not represent all healthcare as a whole.

In what form and on what principle was medical care provided to the population at the very first, outpatient level?

All the best, most advanced, as one should assume, went to the propertied class, be it university clinics, sanatoriums, Caucasian mineral waters. Although the majority, even under such conditions (however, this is still observed today), disdaining their own, domestic, preferred treatment abroad. In Russia itself, the system of organized health care practically did not exist until the beginning of the 20th century.

Some semblance of hospitals and outpatient clinics could only be found in provincial and county towns. Medical facilities in Moscow and St. Petersburg also did not perform according to this criterion. In rural areas, medical assistance was not provided, and if it did happen, then at most it was at the level of a paramedic. The training of doctors throughout the country was carried out by only 17 universities, whose graduates, naturally, were completely unable to serve the periphery.

In city outpatient clinics, mostly private, appointments were conducted by doctors of the widest profile, including modern understanding- therapists and obstetricians-gynecologists. Until relatively recently, surgeons were not accepted into the medical guild.

Doctor Duremar - leech from a fairy tale
Still from the film “The Golden Key, or the Adventures of Pinocchio”

What was left for the lumpen? Who did them and where? The clinics for them were, just don’t choke, the bathhouses, and the doctors were in best case scenario paramedics. In the overwhelming majority of cases, the treatment of all those suffering was left to a bunch of illiterate ignoramuses assigned to the baths. Here is just a far from complete list of self-made doctors: chiropractors, or in modern manuals, massage therapists - skinners, leeches, cuppers, bloodletters, removers of teeth and calluses on heels, midwives, conspirators and hernia fixers, spoil removers and others... Isn’t it true, Is this a familiar picture from our time until it hurts?
V. E. Makovsky, “In the doctor’s waiting room”, 1870
Photo: artchive.ru

It is clear that everyone was released in the most incredible unsanitary conditions of the washing department, and even the steam room itself. There was no question of any preliminary clinical, laboratory or instrumental examination, and what could the gray and completely illiterate “folk, sixth generation” healers understand in these sophisticated studies?

But nevertheless, in the absence of anything better, the sufferers were quite satisfied with this “”. The reception was always sold out. However, with the same baths, if desired, it was possible to satisfy sexual lust in any quantity and quality - the goods were presented in large selection, there would be money.

For many centuries, foreign guests and merchants, visiting first Rus' and then - tried to understand the secret of the mysterious Russian soul. Russian Empire. Worldwide famous classics Russian literature They also did not remain aloof from solving the riddle of the Russian mentality - in their works they tried to describe Russian men and women and reveal as fully as possible the facets of their character and the peculiarities of their worldview. But still, even now, to most foreigners, Russians seem mysterious and largely incomprehensible, and Russians themselves can unmistakably distinguish their compatriots among a crowd of foreigners in another country. But what is the peculiarity of the mentality and psychology of Russians that makes them so different from representatives of other nations?

National characteristics of Russians

National characteristics The character of Russians was formed over the centuries, and the foundation of the unique mentality of the nation began to be laid back in the Middle Ages, when most Russians lived in villages and ran collective farms. It was from those centuries that for Russians the opinion of society and their own position in the team began to mean a lot. Also at that time, such a national trait Russians like and adherence to patriarchal traditions - the survival and well-being of the entire village, volost, etc. largely depended on the cohesion of the team and the presence of a strong leader.

These features are inherent in the psychology of Russians even now - the majority of the nation’s representatives are confident that the country needs a strong leader, do not consider themselves to have the right to openly criticize and challenge the decisions of their superiors, and are ready to support the government in any case. In relation to the role of each individual in society, the Russian mentality, like geographical position Russia, is located between the “West” and the “East”: it is difficult for representatives of this nation to accept the Western European model of society, in which the individuality of each individual person is considered an absolute value, but the Russians do not have such a privileged role of the collective over the individual, as is characteristic of the Chinese. We can say that the Russians were able to find a “golden mean” between collectivism and individualism - they give great importance public opinion and their role in the team, but at the same time they know how to appreciate the individuality and uniqueness of each person’s personality.

Another national feature of the Russian character, which distinguishes it from the mentality of other nations, is the “breadth” of the soul of the Russian person. Of course, the soul cannot be broad in the literal sense of the word, and this expression means that Russian people have the following features character:

Psychology of Russians in personal life and in everyday life

Most Russian people believe that the spiritual is more important than the material, so they do not set the goal of their life to earn millions, but choose other priorities - family, self-development, etc. Many Representatives of this people tend to have a “easy” attitude towards money - a Russian person will not be too depressed during the holidays, and will often prefer to spend money on something pleasant for themselves rather than saving up for the future.

However, despite this attitude towards finances, Russians love luxury and pretentiousness, so they do not spare money on expensive home renovations, fashionable gadgets and status items. In Russian houses, in addition to furniture and household appliances, there are a lot of interior decorations - various souvenirs, figurines and other cute trinkets. It is also not uncommon for some unnecessary things to lie in the closet of an apartment or house for years - Russian people, since the existence of the USSR, have not yet completely gotten rid of the habit of keeping in reserve everything that could theoretically be useful in the future.

IN love relationships Russian men are gallant, romantic, generous and courteous and always strive to surround their lady with maximum care. Russian women are able to completely dissolve in a loved one, they are ready to make sacrifices for the sake of love and are sure that “there is heaven in the hut with your sweetheart.” In most Russian families, husband and wife have equal relations, but still caring for children and household chores are considered primarily women's business, and making money for the whole family is masculine.

Quite a lot is known about the life of our ancestors. Information collected by historians and archaeologists, chronicles and legends sufficiently recreate pictures of the past. There are many historical monuments which are writings describing a heroic past or everyday life. Among them there is evidence traditional medicine, containing long-forgotten, little-known and little-studied recipes and advice that reflect the identity of the Russian people. All this represents findings of folk intuition, which were passed on from generation to generation, passing the test of time. Many of these pieces of advice from ancient Russian doctors have not lost their medical significance, and if you take them carefully, they can bring their “deep benefit,” as Peter the Great sometimes liked to say, according to eyewitnesses.

What were the patients of the doctors of that time like? According to legend, in the fifteenth century the Russian was a hardy, strong, surprisingly patient and unpretentious person in food. However, in his behavior he was distinguished by passivity, phlegmatism and even some lethargy. The people acted harshly, where there was no place for the weak and infirm. They died in infancy, and no one really tried to save them. But the survivors were particularly resistant to adverse circumstances. environment. Children were weaned very early. In the third month he was already switched to goat or cow's milk They were given a chewed crumb (“doll”) made of black bread, wrapped in a slobbery rag. After some time, the child was completely switched to eating the same foods that adults consumed. Such a child had no clothes other than a rough shirt. Half-naked and barefoot children rushed through the streets of villages until the very first snow. Very early age children began to work, doing hard peasant work.

Peasant lunch during the harvest. Artist Konstantin Egorovich Makovsky

The life of a Russian person was not conducive to excesses. The main diet included porridge, black rye bread, various roots, onions, fish and kvass. Many families often lacked food. Constantly observed religious fasts contributed to malnutrition. In search of land and best places Russian people began to travel, exploring the eastern lands, enduring the cold and heat, robbed by the then rulers.
Despite his excellent and strong body, the average Russian was a peace-loving person and did not like to fight. Unlike the Germans, who were very often hired into various troops and took part in almost all European wars, the Russians were known as bad warriors.

Average duration life was not great. Frequent illnesses caused by unfavorable living conditions did not allow the river of life to flow to its fullest and carried away a different mass of the population into the world.
The illness caused by the cold was very often ignored. They called her “the brat” and it was believed that everything would go away on its own. Diseases associated with nervous system, explained as damage, evil eye or slander. Among the diseases that often beset the common people were laryngeal, internal pain, edema, tabes, stone disease, dumbness, deafness, gnawing (hernia), toothache, and so on.

A sick person first of all turned to healing through prayers. It was believed that God gave the disease as a test, which means that he will heal if he is convinced of the firm faith of his child. Prayers, strict fasting, touching miraculous icons and relics of saints - these were the main weapons against the illnesses of the Russian people of that time. But along with such methods, there were also practical methods. They were the first evidence of the emergence of medicine in Rus'. Some methods were based on early advances in medicine and were practiced by monastic doctors. Others are folk healers who inherited them from pagan times. Many of these healers were recognized considerable strength. There is evidence that in order to heal a patient using his own methods, the healer had to remove the pectoral cross. And only then could his efforts bring results. Most often, these healers were women. It was believed that the gift of sorcery and witchcraft is transmitted mainly through the female line, as the woman was the first to succumb to the devil's influence.

The Church had a negative attitude towards witchcraft, and it also took responsibility not only for the mental, but also the physical health of people. The very first hospitals appeared at church institutions. The Kiev-Pechersk Monastery was especially famous in those days. The Monk Anthony was considered an excellent physician. Another healer Alimpiy distinguished himself by being able to raise an already half-dead man with leprosy to his feet.
But among the healers there were also many skilled healers. Some specialized in pulling teeth, others set hernias or bones, others “removed” damage, and some knew about healing herbs. There were unique people who relied only on their imagination in treatment. So one Moscow sorceress relieved people of headaches with strong cracks. He argued that, having settled in the head, he would become frightened and go over to the patient’s enemies.
Herbalists were called herbalists. Even princes resorted to their services. Ancient sources say that once Boris Godunov himself turned to the services of such a “specialist”. A certain boyar’s wife boasted that her husband knew about herbs, and then the tsar ordered that this man be urgently delivered to him. He himself suffered greatly from attacks of gout. But the boyar became stubborn and began to claim that he did not know how to heal with herbs, and his wife deliberately set him up in this way. For his stubbornness, the healer was ordered to be flogged and, if he did not come to his senses after a while, to be chopped off. The frightened herbalist agreed to treat the king. From his estate near Serpukhov they were delivered various herbs, from which the bath and decoctions were prepared. After taking all the procedures, the king suddenly felt healthy. Then he ordered the unfortunate healer to be flogged again for hiding his abilities and rewarded him with various gifts, including serfs.

Fedor Alekseev – Red Square

There were also foreign doctors in Rus'. They arrived mainly from Bohemia and England. They enjoyed great confidence among royalty, but they also had quite a few problems. They experienced particular difficulties when treating females, who could not be “seen without their full attire.” The diagnosis could only be made from the patient’s words, such as “it hurts in the very core,” “it’s pulling from the back,” “it’s tingling in the right side,” and the like. In addition, after taking it, an immediate effect was expected. And if this was not the case, then the drug was considered unsuitable for treatment and a demand was made that the doctor prepare another one. All failures were blamed on the doctor, who had to walk on a blade. Thus, the Bohemian healer Anton Ehrenstein, who came to Moscow under Ivan the Third, was unable to save the Tatar prince Karakucha, who was in the capital. For which he was handed over to his son, who, in revenge, cut off his head “like a sheep” right on the bank of the Moscow River. A certain “Mister Leon”, who failed in treating the son of Ivan the Third, lost his head on the scaffold erected on Bolvanovka. The execution took place amid cheers from Muscovites: “The thief deserves punishment!”
Not knowing about the tough Moscow rules and hoping to earn extra money from foreign doctors, they found themselves in a difficult situation. If you wanted to return home to your homeland, you only needed permission from the king himself.
However ordinary people this was of little concern and “correct” medicine was not available to them. Under Mikhail Romanov, there was only one pharmacy in Moscow. To obtain medicine in it, you needed the permission of the sovereign himself. But foreign healers were not particularly popular, and being treated by them was considered a sin. Moscow especially disliked Jewish doctors, who exposed themselves to danger much more than other foreigners. It took a long time before people began to trust professional qualities healer, regardless of his origin and religion.

The Russian educated appeared at the beginning of the eighteenth century. His name was Pyotr Vasilievich Posnikov. He successfully graduated from the University of Padua, and then became significantly famous in his homeland.
However, development modern medicine did not completely eclipse the meaning old recipes. Over time, they began to be collected and recorded. Various “Herbalists” and “Healers” began to circulate among the people. There were also translations of foreign books. One of these books was published in 1580 by order of Voivode Serpukhov and was a translation from Polish. It contained information about herbs, alcohol tinctures, stone treatment, and the like. Unfortunately, the book burned in 1812, and evidence of its existence can be found in Karamzin.
For some time, the official church sharply opposed herbal treatment, but at the end of the seventeenth century the storm subsided, and the church healers themselves did not hesitate to use folk recipes.

N. Kostomarov

Russians generally went to the bathhouse very often: it was the first need in home life, both for cleanliness and for some kind of pleasure. Almost every wealthy house had its own soap shop […]; Moreover, for the common people and for visitors, there were public or royal soap shops everywhere in the cities, where money was paid for entrance, which constituted a branch of the royal income throughout the state. According to Koshikhin, up to two thousand rubles were collected in this way every year from all the soap houses under the administration of the stable yard. Soaphouses were generally heated once, and sometimes twice, every week. In the summer heat, it was forbidden to drown them to prevent fires, with some exceptions for the sick and postpartum women, at the will of the governor. It was then that the royal soap houses were especially filled; however, the prohibition to drown one’s own concerned more townspeople and peasants; people of higher importance have always enjoyed exceptions. A bathhouse was such a necessity for Russians that, due to the ban on heating them, residents threatened the government to disperse from their homes.

We usually went to the soap shop after lunch, without fear of it harmful consequences. The heat was unbearable. Hay was spread on the benches and shelves, which was covered with linen. The Russian lay down on it and ordered himself to be beaten until he was tired, then he ran out into the air and threw himself into a lake or river in the summer, near which soap houses were usually built, and in the winter he rolled in the snow or got wet. cold water in the cold. Anyone who went to the soap shop always took a steam bath: it was a universal custom. The public soap houses had two sections: men's and women's; they were separated from one another by partitions, but there was one entrance to both; both men and women, entering and leaving through the same door, met each other naked, covered themselves with brooms and talked to each other without much confusion, and sometimes ran out of the soap shop at once and rolled around in the snow together. In more distant times, it was customary for both men and women to wash in the same soap bath, and even monks and chernets washed and steamed together.

[…] The bathhouse was the most important cure for all sorts of illnesses: as soon as a Russian feels unwell, he immediately drinks vodka with garlic or pepper, eats onions and goes to the bathhouse to steam.

For common people The bathhouse was a school of that amazing insensitivity to all extremes of temperature that Russians were distinguished by, surprising foreigners with this. But as for the upper classes of society, during a sedentary life, baths gave rise to inactivity and effeminacy; especially women of higher status were distinguished by this and seemed frail and obese.

[…] With the ability and readiness to endure labor and hardship, the Russian people, although not distinguished by longevity, generally enjoyed good health. Of the diseases, only epidemic ones sometimes caused significant devastation, because measures against them were weak and limited to inept efforts to prevent the infection from spreading from place to place. Pestilence often left terrible traces throughout Russia. Among the common diseases to which Russians were most often exposed were hemariodal diseases, so characteristic of our climate, mentioned in the old days under various names of attacks of headache, bleeding, constipation, back pain and the like. Nervous diseases, if they were not too frequent, did attract attention with their phenomena: epileptic, cataleptic, hysterical seizures were attributed to corruption and the influence of mysterious forces through the mediation of evil spirits; these diseases had different popular names, such as: kamchyug, frenchug, madness, relaxation, shaking, hiccups, etc.; some cases occurred from real illnesses, others from imagination. In the 16th century, syphilitic disease (secret decay) was brought into Russia, and in the next century it spread quite widely and caused devastation among the black people. Colds rarely affected Russians, accustomed to changes in air and temperature. How special cases, mentioned in the old days: stone disease, edema, tabes, hernia, toothache, deafness, dumbness, blindness, scoundrels, resulting from untidiness, which often gave rise to other diseases, for example, had a harmful effect on vision. In general, they looked for remedies for illnesses most of all in church rituals and also resorted to herbalists, who made up the class of self-taught doctors, and often surrendered to them with extreme gullibility. The medical scientists were foreigners and were only present royal court and even then in small quantities. Under Ivan Vasilyevich, a foreign doctor was a necessary person for the tsar, but private individuals could only be treated by him except by submitting a petition about it. This was also observed for a long time later, when the number of doctors at court increased. Under Mikhail Fedorovich, there was one pharmacy in Moscow, from which medicines were dispensed based on petitions, and, moreover, in such a way that those who were not very significant were dispensed based on petitions not what they needed, but what was cheaper, without paying attention, they could whether it will bring real benefit. Sometimes doctors went to war with medicine and, in general, did little good there. Under Alexei Mikhailovich, there were two pharmacies in Moscow, but only one sold medicine to residents, and then at high prices, and therefore this pharmacy brought much less income to the treasury than the tavern that stood next to it. Of course, the doctors called from abroad were not always good, and at the call of the Russian Tsar, charlatans bravely rushed to Russia. For this reason, it was determined that a doctor coming to Russia should first show the extent of his skill in a border town and cure someone. The doctors who lived at court were extremely constrained by customs and prejudices. In their studies, science was not respected, and their art was not valued above that of healers. Often the kings themselves turned to herbalists and healers, as if in reproach to the doctors who were at their court. When a physician used a female member of the royal family, the strict Eastern ceremonies that always surrounded this person were not violated. The doctor had to take advantage of the patient and guess the disease without seeing her in person, but only following the stories of the servant. If he makes a mistake with this method of treatment, he is blamed for the mistake. He was not allowed to find out the effect of the medicine on the patient’s body: if the disease did not improve after one dose, according to Russians, this meant that the medicine would not help, the doctor was ordered to give another and was not allowed to repeat the same thing several times. As for the people, in general they did not trust foreign doctors. The clergy recognized it as a sin to be treated by a person of non-Orthodox faith and especially took up arms against Jewish doctors, so that in the 16th century a Russian, for resorting to the benefits of a Jew, was excommunicated from the church. Time, however, took its toll in this regard: under Alexei Mikhailovich, under such a devout tsar, one of the court physicians was a Jew.

Essay on the home life and morals of the Great Russian people in the 16th and XVII centuries. St. Petersburg, I860. pp. 98-103.

Miniature: Ryabushkin Andrey Petrovich. A merchant's family in the 17th century.