For a long time, scientists and doctors didn’t know anything about germs. So their “cures“ were basically just guesses.
For example, George Washington had a sore throat and a fever on December 14, 1799. So what did his doctors do? They drained two quarts of blood from him and had him drink potions. One was vinegar with tea. These “remedies” probably contributed to his death later that day.
But science was finding ways to beat germs even back then. Today, the average person lives a lot longer than the average person did in 1799. In fact, we live 40 years longer now on average.
