| The thesis of this study written in Spanish and English is that Inca medicine men probably had methods of ablating the pain of their surgery, although details are not mentioned in the chronicles. We have studied these accounts, the known properties of the Inca medicinal herbs that still grow in Peru, ceramics, and traditional medicine still practiced today, together with the observations of secondary sources. The conclusion is that the Incas most commonly used an alcoholic beverage, chicha, made from corn, and a widely-available weed, Datura stramonium or Jimsonweed, for sedation and perhaps anesthesia. Other soporifics are discussed. They may have used a preparation of coca leaves for topical anesthesia. Their ambience of faith, belief in the supernatural, and trust in their "curers" probably aided the process but it is likely that surgery was often performed without medication, particularly in those who were not a part of the nobility. |
