Medicine of Yellow Knives

Medical Serve

1. Inahans or Healers heal..whoever gets there first.

2. If a Free Healer arrives and wishes to take over healing then stand back and offer to assist Them.

3. Know the steps of a med treatment from when a Free first states an injury.

 A. Ask if an inahan may tend the wounds and first offer Kanda leaf.

 B. Ask them to chew it not swallow.

 C. Ask what the injuries are and never make them seem more severe.

 D. Add green powder to warm paga and bathe the wounds.

 E. Cauterize wounds if needed and bleeding is heavy.

 F. Apply Kanda salve to wound edges to numb them if stitching is needed and then stitch.

 G. Final step antiseptic salves and dress if necessary with cotton padding and bandages.

 H. Have them spit the Kanda out and offer herbal tea.

4. If there is a quiva or arrow any weapon left in a wound remove it carefully and drop it and be ready to cauterize for heavy bleeding.

5. Examine the wound carefully for splinters if it was an arrow.

6. If bleeding heavily use cauterizing irons kept in braziers nearby.

7. If Itancanka is coughing blood and its not a loose tooth or cut lip check and you will find one side of His chest or shoulder area wounded and that lung is punctured.

 A. Then put in a chest tube on that side re-inflate the injured lung and drain the blood.

 B. Always make sure to ask permission first because the chest tube has a trocar that punches through the skin.

8. If a Free is hit with a poisoned weapon, there are bottles of antidote in the med chests. Add some to tea and give it to Him immediately before doing any other healing. If an inahan drinks poisoned paga or kalana or anything first make sure the poisoned vessels are put aside so they cant harm a Free. Then she Must ask permission from a Free to save the inahan. He may not want to if she is not worth it.

 A. Give milk and honey then make them drink emetic.

 B. Give the antidote after they vomit.

 C. Poisons work fast you will start seeing effects at third heartbeat and are they are dead by the tenth.

9. Field dressing - they are made ahead of time... rawhide strips over rep cloth...layer of cotton and ointment.

 A. Treatments using field dressings should be done in three posts or less for all wounds total.

 B. Bathe with paga if time and sear bleeding with a hot cauterizing iron.

 C. Put the field dressing on and fasten it tightly with the rawhide.

10. Never give green powder and paga to drink...its only to treat wounds

11. Cautery irons are kept in the fires that warm the gathering area.

12. Supplies come from med building and paga comes from stock.

13. Broth and water for tea are in kettles on the fires.


Types of Wounds and Treatments

Arrow wounds :

"I had used simple-pile arrows, which may be withdrawn from a wound. The

simple pile gives greater penetration. Had I used a broad-headed arrow, or the

Tuchuk barbed arrow, one would, in removing it, commonly thrust the arrow

completely through the wound, drawing it out feathers last. One is accordingly,

in such a case, less likely to lose the point in the body."

Raiders of Gor  pg. 79

"She was gasping. Some six inches of the arrow, five inches feathered, 

protruded from her shoulder." ..."I lifted her from the cruel pinion. She fell to 

her knees. Now, the arrow gone her two wounds began to bleed. She 

shuddered. I would permit some blood to wash from the wound, cleaning it." 

..."Then I knelt beside her and, with those sknins I had taken from her, bound 

her wound." ..."She was sick from he wound, and loss of blood. She fainted as I 

had carried her." 

Hunters of Gor  pg. 

Bacteriology : 

(The Priest Kings only eliminated the pathogens on Gor that effect them, and not 

those that are harmful to humans)

"I would later learn that these rays, which passed through my body as easily and  

harmlessly as sunlight through glass, were indexed to the metabolic physiology 

of various organisms which can infect Priest-Kings. I would also learn that 

the last known free instance of such an organism had occured more than four 

thousand years before. In the next few weeks in the Nest I would occasionally 

come upon diseased Muls. The organisms which afflict them are apparently 

harmless to Priest-Kings and thus allowed to survive." 

Priest Kings of Gor  pg. 108 

"Your father was instructed to call you Tarl, and lest he might speak to you of 

the Counter-Earth or attempt to dissuade you from our purpose, he was 

returned to Gor before you were of an age to understand. I thought he deserted 

my mother, I said. She knew, said Misk, for though she was a woman of Earth 

she had been to gor. Never did she speak to me of these things, I said. Matthew 

Cabot on Gor, said Misk, was a hostage for her silence. My mother, I said, died 

when I was very young. Yes, said Misk, because of a petty bascillus in your 

contaminated atmosphere, a victim to the inadequacies of your infantile 

bacteriology." 

Priest Kings of Gor  pg. 127 

Births/Infants Cut the cord at birth from the baby. 

.....The tiny baby, not minutes old, with tiny gasps and coughs, still startled and distressed with the sharp, frightful novelty of breathing air. never again to return to the shelter of its mother's body, lost in a chaos of sensation, its eyes not focused, unable scarcely to turn its head from side to side, lay before him. The cord had been cut and tied at its belly. Its tiny legs and arms moved. The blood, membranes and fluids, had been wiped from its small, hot, red, firm body. Then it had been rubbed with animal fat.

Mercenaries of Gor page 46

Blood Transfusions

"I sprang to my feet and ran to the door. Flaminius! I cried. Flaminius! A slave running past stopped on my command. Fetch Flaminius! I cried. He must bring blood! Sura must live! The slave hurtled down the hall. Flaminius came in but a few moments. With him he carried the apparatus of his craft, and a cannister of fluid."

Assassin of Gor  page 380

Feeding Tubes

"How long were we unconscious?" I asked.

"With tube feedings, of broth mixed with tassa, five days," she said.

Players of Gor page 87

Head Trauma : 

"There was a small sound of pain. He had apparently been left for dead and 

was only now recovering consciousness. His grey garment with its scarlet strip 

of cloth on the shoulder was stained with blood. I unbuckled the helmet strap 

and gently removed the helmet. One side of the helmet had been cracked open, 

perhaps by the blow of an ax. The helmet straps, the leather inside, and the 

blond hair of the soldier were soaked with his blood. He was not much more 

than a boy." ..."Don't struggle, I said to him, looking at the wound. The helmet 

had largely absorbed the blow but the blade of the striking instrument had 

creased the skull, accounting for the flow of blood. Most likely the force of the 

blow had rendered him unconscious and the blood had suggested to his 

assailant that the job was finished. His assailant had apparently not been a 

warrior. With a portion of Lara's cloak I bound the wound. It was clean and not 

deep." 

Outlaw of Gor pg. 217 

Infection : 

"The zadit is a small, tawny-feathered, sharp-billed bird. It feeds on insects. 

When sand flies and other insects,emergent after rains, infest kaiila, they  

frequently alight on the animals, and remain on them for some hours, hunting  

insects. This relieves the kaiila of the insects but leaves it with numerous 

small wounds, which are unpleasant and irritating, where the bird has dug 

insects out of its hide. These tiny wounds, if they become infected, turn into 

sores; these sores are treated by the drovers with poultices of kaiila dung." 

Tribesmen of Gor  pg. 152 

"Sickness and infection, too were rampant, hunger and exposure, sunstroke  

and dysentery were common." 

Vagabonds of Gor  pg. 149 

Knives and Swords : 

"I found Flaminius, the Physician, in his quarters, and he obligingly, though 

drunk, treated the arm which Ho-Tu had slashed with the hook knife. The 

wound was not at all serious. The games of Kajurilia can be dangerous, 

remarked Flaminius, swiftly wrapping a white cloth about the wound, securing 

it with four small metal snap clips." 

Assassin of Gor  pg. 264 

Orthopedic Trauma : 

"One of the girls was moaning and holding her left arm tightly against her body. 

It must have been severly bruised, if not broken. If it were broken it could be 

set, and she could then be returned to the cage." 

Vagabonds of Gor  pg . 459 

Soft Tissue Trauma : 

"The hunting arrow, incidentally, has a long, tapering point, and this point is 

firmly fastened to the shaft. This makes it easier to withdraw the arrow from its 

target. The war arrow, on the other hand, uses an arrowhead whose base is 

either angled backwards, forming barbs, or cut straight across, the result in both 

cases being to make the arrow difficult to extract from a wound. The head of 

the war arrow, too, is fastened less securely to the shaft than is that of the 

hunting arrow. The point thus by intent, if the shaft is pulled out, is likely to 

linger in the wound. Sometimes it is possible to thrust the arrow through the 

body, break off the point and then withdraw the shaft backwards. At other 

times, if the point becomes dislodged in the body, it is common to seek it with a 

bone or greenwood probe, and then, when one has found it, attempt to work it 

free with a knife. There are cases where men have survived this. Much 

depends, of course, on the location of the point." 

Savages of Gor  pg. 40 

Suturing Wounds : 

"Using the dagger as an awl, punching through the flesh, and the long lacing 

from the lance head, while Hassan held together the edges of the ripped 

furrows, I crudely sewed together the rent bloodied meat before me." 

Tribesmen of Gor  pg. 263


Bazi Plague a deadly, rapidly- spreading disease with no known cure. Its symptoms include pustules which appear all over the body, and a yellowing of the whites of the eyes. Also called pox, it is believed to be transmitted by lice. Survivors of the pox convey an immunity to their offspring. Slaves diagnosed with pox are usually killed as a method of containing the disease.


...The pox had appeared in Bazi some for years ago. The port had been closed for two years by the merchants. It had burned itself out moving south and eastward in some eighteen months. Oddly enough some were immune to the pox, and with others it had only a temporary, debilitating effect. With others it was swift, lethal and horrifying. Those who had survived the pox would presumebly live to procreate themselves, on the whole presumably transmitting their immunity or relative immunity to their offspring. Slaves who contracted the pox were often summarily slain. It was thought that the slaughter of slaves had had its role to play in the containment of the pox in the vicinity of Bazi.

Slave Girl of Gor  page 325-326

Dar-Kosis literally means 'holy disease': an incurable wasting disease, also known as the 'Sacred Affliction', so named because it is regarded as being holy to the Priest-Kings and those who are afflicted are considered as consecrated to the Priest-Kings. The disease is highly contagious, and those who suffer from it are required to wear yellow robes, and constantly sound a wooden clacker to warn of their approach.

That was the literal translation of Dar-Kosis-the Holy Disease-or,equivalently, the Sacred Affliction. The disease is named that because it is regarded as being holy to the Priest-Kings, and those who suffer from it are regarded as consecrated to the Priest-Kings. Accordingly, it is regarded as heresy to shed their blood. On the other hand, the Afflicted, as they are called, have little to fear from their fellow men. Their disese is so highly contagious, so invaribly devastating in its effect, and so feared on the planet that even the boldest of outlaws gives them a wide berth. Accordingly, the Afflected enjoy a large amount of freedom of movement on Gor. They are, of course, warned to stay away from the habitations of men, and, if they approach too closely, they are sometimes stoned. Oddly enough, casuistically, stoning the Afflected is not regarded as a violation of the Priest-Kings' supposed injunction against shedding their blood.

Tarnsman of Gor  pages 150-151


Herbs/Potions and Treatments

Agrimony a type of antibiotic salve.

Bergament Salve used for itching and rashes.

Blue Short Grass a powder made of this grass once dried and crushed is used as an analgesic. It grows beneath the water of falls.

Brak Bush a shrub whose leaves have a purgative effect when chewed

Almost all doors, including the House of Cernus, had nailed to them some branches

of the Brak Bush, the leaves of which, when chewed, have a purgative effect.

Assassin of Gor  page 211

Breeding Wine a sweet beverage which counteracts the effects of slave wine making a slave girl fertile; also called second wine.

She did not need the sip root, of course, for, as she had pointed out, she had had some within the moon, and indeed, the effect of sip root, in the raw state, in most women,is three or four moons. In the concentrated state, as in slave wine, developed by the caste of physicians, the effect is almost indefinite, usually requiring a releaser for its remission, usually administered, to a slave, in what is called the breeding wine, or the "second wine." When this is administered she usually knows that she has been selected for crossing with a handsome male slave.

Blood Brothers of Gor  page 319

Capture Scent an anesthetic widely employed to render it's victims unconscious; a rag soaked with it is held over the mouth and nose or shot into the victim as an anesthetic dart

"Shall I hold again the vial beneath her nose?" I asked. Soaked in a rag and scarf and held under the nose and mouth of a female it can render her unconscious in five Ihn. She squirms wildly for an Ihn or two, and then sluggishly, and then falls limp. It is sometimes used by tarnsmen; it is often used by slavers. Anesthetic darts, too, are sometimes used in the taking of females; these may be flung, or entered into her body by hand; they take effect in about forty Ihn; she awakens often, stripped, in a slave kennel.

Marauders of Gor  page 116

Emetics Mix the powder with water, drink.

(see Laxatives below for quote)

Frobicain a sedative injection used during Voyages of Acquisition to render a captured barbarian unconscious. 

"We permit them," said Flaminius, deigning to offer a bit of explanation, "five Ahn of varied responses, depending on when they recover from the frobicain injection...."

Assassin of Gor  page 126

Garlic

"I have peas and turnips, garlic and onions in my hut," said the man, his bundle like a giant's hump on his back.

Outlaw of Gor  page 29

Gieron an allergen which causes a yellowing of the whites of the eyes; in combination with sajel, a pustulent, it reproduces the symptoms of the Bazi plague.

"The drug," said Shaba, "was a simple combination of sajel, a simple pustulant, and gieron, an unusual allergen. Mixed they produce a facsimile of the superficial symptons of Bazi plague."

Explorers of Gor, page 154

Healing Salve

"The ointment will soon be absorbed," she said. "In a few minutes there will be no trace of it nor of the cuts." The Physicians of Treve, I said, have marvelous medicines. It is an ointment of Priest-Kings," she said.

Priest Kings of Gor  page 64 

He touched the bloodied cut on my belly, where the branch had struck me. Then, with his hand, he lifted my head, turning it, looking at the cut on my cheek. 

"We are not pleased," he said. I said nothing. 

"Bring salve," he said. An ointment was brought, and he smeared it across the two cuts. It was odorless. To my surprise it seemed to be absorbed almost immediately.

"You must be careful," he said. Again I said nothing. 

"You might have marked yourself," he said, "or might have been blinded." He returned the ointment to another man.

"They are superficial," he told me, "and will heal without trace."

Captive of Gor  page 29 - 30

Hemp Works like dopamine to increase a blood pressure.

Honey Applied on a wound helps promote healing.

....I saw small fruit trees and hives, where honey bees were raised; and there were small sheds, here and there with sloping roofs of boards, in some such sheds might craftsmen work; in others fish might be dried or butter made.

Marauders of Gor  page 81

Infections White sage and Peppermint and animal fat all pull out an infection.

(We know there is mint from this reference) 

On the tray, too, was the metal vessel which had contained the black wine, steaming and bitter, from far Thentis, famed for its tarn flocks, the small yellow-enameled cups from which we had drunk the black wine, its spoons and sugars, a tiny bowl of mint sticks, and the softened, dampened cloths on which we had wiped our fingers.

Explorers of Gor page 10

Kanda a plant which grows in desert regions of Gor. It's roots are extremely toxic, even poisonous, but the leaves can be rolled and formed into strings which are chewed or sucked to produce a stimulant effect

.....Most was I surprised to find him holding a tiny, round pipe from which curled a bright wisp of smoke. Tobacco is unknown on Gor, though there are certain habits orvices to take its place, in particular the stimulation afforded by chewing on the leaves of the Kanda plant, the roots of which, oddly enough, when ground and dried, constitute an extremely deadly poison.

Priest-Kings of Gor  page 25

Laxatives

Some girls I have been told sometimes try to swallow small coins but this is foolish. The coin can be produced swiftly enough in such cases by emetics and laxatives.

Dancer of Gor  page 238

Leech, Marsh described as rubbery about 4 inches long; it attaches itself to plants in the marsh or float free in the water, waiting for warm blooded animals. They fasten themselves to their victim to suck blood until, satiated, they detach. They can be removed with fire or salt. They are edible and can be used to help remove blood in deep bruises and clots and other wounds.

He had removed, by my count, eleven of the creatures. He had put them to the side. There are various ways in which they may be encouraged to draw out, not tearing the skin. The two most common are heat and salt. It is not wise, once they have suceeded in catching hold, to apply force to them. In this fashion, too, often part of the creature is left in the body, a part, or parts, which then must be removed with a knife or similiar tool.

Vagabonds of Gor  page 100

"Here is another," said a fellow wading near me, holding up its wet, halfflattened, twisting body in his nand. It was some four inches long, a half inch thick.

Vagabonds of Gor  page 97

Mud packs Put around a sprain to help with pain and swelling.

Ost a tiny snake, about 12" long, bright orange in color; its venom causes extremely painful death within seconds; the poison sometimes used on daggers to kill, not an honorable kill

After dark, various serpents seek out the road for its warmth, its stones retaining the sun's heat longer than the surrounding countryside. One such serpent was the huge, many-banded Gorean python, the hith. One to be feared even more perhaps was the tiny ost, a venomous, brillantly orange reptile little more than a foot in length, whose bite spelled an excruciating death within seconds.

Outlaw of Gor  page 26

Phlebotomy (drawing blood)

.......Further, certain pieces of his instrumentation were clearly far from primitive. For example, there was a small machine with guages and dials. In this he would place slides, containing drops of blood and urine, flecks of tissue, a strand of hair. 

Captive of Gor, pg 93

Sajel a drug which causes harmless pustules to erupt on the body; in combination with gieron it reproduces the symptoms of the Bazi plague.

(see Gieron above for quote)

Sip Root a bitter root whose extract is the active ingredient in slave wine, this is used on the Barrens for contraception of it's inahans.

(see Breeding Wine above for quote)

Slave Wine a black, bitter beverage that acts as a contraceptive; its effect is instantaneous and lasts for well over a month; can be counter-acted with a another sweet-tasting beverage.

(see Breeding Wine above for quote)

Stabilization Serums a series of medical injections which, among other things, retards the aging process; an invention of the Priest-Kings approved by them for use by humans; administered in 4 injections. 

The matter, I supposed, was a function of genetic subtleties, and the nature of differing gametes. The serums of stabilization effected, it seemed, the genetic codes, perhaps altering or neutralizing certain messages of deterioration, providing, I supposed, processes in which an exchange of materials could take place while tissue and cell patterns remained relatively constant. Ageing was a physical process and, as such, was susceptible to alteration by physical means. All physical processes are theoretically reversible. Entrophy itself is presumably a moment in a cosmic rhythm. The physicians of Gor, it seemed, had addressed themselves to the conquest of what had hitherto been a universal disease, called on Gor, the drying and withering disease, called on Earth, ageing. Generations of intensive research and experimentation had taken place. At last, a few physicians, drawing upon the accumulated data of hundreds of investigatiors, had achieved the breakthrough, devising the first primitive stabilization serums, later to be developed and exquisitively refined.

Slave Girl of Gor  page 282

Tassa Powder a reddish powder usually mixed with red wine which renders the consumer unconscious. 

.......These credentials had been loaned to me by a fellow down whose throat I had stuffed enough Tassa powder to put a kailiauk under for several Ahn....

Players of Gor  page 293

Teslik a plant whose extract is the active ingredient in breeding wine.

......The active ingredient in the breeding wine, or the "second wine", is a derivative of teslik.

Blood Brothers of Gor  page 320