The beginnings of medicine can be explained in several ways, simply because all we have to rely upon are ancient stories and legends. In the beginning according to Western theological tradition the first humans were without any illness or injury, as the earth was paradise or Eden.

The trouble started when the Eve and then Adam disobeyed God and sin entered the world. You see, up till that point they were immortal. The apple contained the the first poison (sin) and when taken by man, the result was an illness that led to the death of all mankind. It has been getting worse ever since.

Who said an apple a day keeps the doctor away. There are several stories written from the ancient world of a beginnings without suffering, due to magic or religion.

However the beginnings of surgery and anaesthesia were like medicine, inextricably linked with ancient magic and ancient religion. You see, Surgery had never been defined as a separate field of medicine, and was in ancient times and up until the discovery of Anaesthesia, considered to lowly a task for a trained physician to perform, so was left to lesser-educated assistants. These early operators were performing what we obviously refer to today as "Surgery".

The landscape of the world population was also different in Ancient times; there were fewer large town/city population centres. The bulk of the population was spread out in very small villages and towns where the medicine and surgery was performed by residents, usually town elders. They used flint (sharp stones) to make their incisions.

Any remedies and treatments that seemed to be successful were passed down from generation to generation. During these times there were remedies given as a result of rumours of miracles stemming from magical wells, streams and ponds.
These so called "ponds of purity" was said to have cured the afflicted that had visited before. In all probability the person was washed by the fresh water, and the drinking of uncontaminated water would eventually aid recovery from the ailment. It would today be classed today as taking simple hygiene precautions, that we do all the time, without really thinking about it, however in those early days because you could not see bacteria or viruses, in the minds of those ancient people they did not exist and there was only one other explanation given, it had to be Supernatural.

The people, even of todays generations head off to a sacred river, or in the Catholic church, to places such as Lourdes for an instant cure, so although at first it sounds quite uncivillised, it is possible to see the people of today mimicking those of history.
There is some suggestion however that the prehistoric peoples probably used nightshades and other plants to treat certain ailments.

Cave drawings in France seen to be over 15000 years old, show tribes doing ritual dances dressed in animal skins and even had heads of animals, these are thought to be to ward illness away.

"So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the mans ribs and closed up the place with flesh." 5