Healing Methods from Archangelo Lamberti's Records
Throughout Colchis, doctors are highly accepted, and people yearn for nothing more than the profession of a doctor. Therefore, people come here from distant countries, and Turks, Iranians, Italians, and French who know a little about this profession come from their homes. When a person with even a little knowledge of treatment methods comes to the Mingrelians, it's enough for them to have just the title of a doctor and half-knowledge of making medicine to be respected, praised, and accepted by everyone.
They respect Italians and French more than others. If one of them comes to Mingrelia, they try to marry them off to keep them from leaving, giving them a house, land, herds of cattle, serfs, and slaves, everything so abundantly that it exceeds the newcomer's desires. All the locals are very eager to learn about any medicine. As soon as they learn how to prepare a medicine, they immediately teach it to the whole country..."
"In Mingrelia, there are women who eagerly tend to the sick. As soon as someone falls ill, one of these women will immediately come and start caring for them: she will prescribe a diet and prepare several medicines. They use plenty of herbs as medicines, both for drinking and applying. Regarding food, they establish this rule: they completely avoid all kinds of meat and all other foods except for ghomi (cornmeal porridge). They clean the ghomi of its skin in a sieve, wash it very well, and cook it quite thin. They add a little coriander and a few drops of wine. For headaches, they wrap the patient's forehead with motherwort (cordiaca) leaves. They give its juice for all kinds of illnesses."
"Once I saw a local doctor who convinced the prince that a ruby would cure the queen of heart disease. As soon as he said this, they immediately found a beautiful ruby to prepare the medicine. The doctor prepared it in this way: he had a stone brought from the river and put it in a silver bowl, in which he poured a little water. He wet the ruby in the water and then rubbed it hard on that stone. The naive doctor thought that the ruby would be ground on the stone. But the stone was ground and not the ruby, as the ruby is harder than the stone. He filled a large bowl with this simple stone powder and made the sick queen drink it all..."
"It's enough for a doctor to know how to make three kinds of medicines: one laxative, the second - a syrup, and the third - a good-tasting conserve. The first and most important is the laxative. The stronger the laxative, the more fame the doctor will have. They give laxatives for all kinds of illnesses, regardless of whether it helps or harms...
Secondly, the doctor should know how to make syrup from honey and sugar. It doesn't matter if the syrup isn't suitable for the patient's illness, as long as it's tasty. When someone falls ill and a doctor is called, the doctor should first prepare a drinkable syrup. The more different kinds of syrups the doctor prepares, the more learned he will be considered. Therefore, doctors of this kind collect plenty of roses and violets in their season, dry them and store them, so that when needed, they can boil them mixed with honey or sugar and make syrup, which the locals love so much, not only the sick but also the healthy..."
"The local doctor should know how to make medicinal conserves, which the locals call 'majnun'. The Iranians consider this majnun the best medicine because, in their opinion, it doesn't empty the body of blood, but cleanses and renews the blood. Besides, they make various medicines from precious stone fragments and fragrant plants, which they keep in boxes and use as needed. The doctors of Mingrelia probably learned to make this medicine from their Iranian neighbors..."
"In Mingrelia, there are mainly three common illnesses: dropsy, edema, and cough. Regarding cough, in their opinion, everything sweet harms it. For example, if they give a little sugar to soothe the patient's heart and throat, and after this, their cough worsens, they immediately start complaining that it's the fault of everything sweet. During edema, patients can't tolerate not drinking, and they're not forbidden: they drink until they drown. They don't treat dropsy at all as it should be treated.
They also use a ridiculous method for patients who have three-day or four-day fever. The Mingrelians probably learned this method from their Abkhazian neighbors: as soon as the fever appears in the patient and they start shivering from the fever, they take them to where they think the coldest river is, strip them naked and sit them in the water up to their neck. Two men forcibly hold them like this for a good while, and then they bring them out half-dead and put them to bed. They claim that after this, the patient feels better..."
They respect Italians and French more than others. If one of them comes to Mingrelia, they try to marry them off to keep them from leaving, giving them a house, land, herds of cattle, serfs, and slaves, everything so abundantly that it exceeds the newcomer's desires. All the locals are very eager to learn about any medicine. As soon as they learn how to prepare a medicine, they immediately teach it to the whole country..."