Medicine before the advent of anaesthesia, antibiotics, vaccinations and knowledge of proper hygiene was often a hit-and-miss affair. Disease, childbirth complications, infant mortality, plague, smallpox, and sexually transmitted infections were constant threats. Death was part of everyday life, and many people placed more faith in natural remedies, folk healing, and religious rituals than in trained physicians.

An Apothecary shop frequented by polite clientele (detail from The Apothocary circa 1752 by Pietro Longhi (1701–1785). Source: lucindabrant.com

Domestic healing was often the work of women. Knowledge of herbs and remedies was passed down through generations, especially among poorer women or those on the fringes of society who depended on it to survive. Popular curative methods included herbal baths, poultices, fumigations, and chewing herbs to apply directly to the skin. Healing herbs found in the ‘medical’ toolkit of rural folk might have included Maltese savory (xkattapietra) for kidney stones, bayleaves for bloating, Maltese sea chamomile (il-bebuna tal-baħar) for inflammation, Mediterranean thyme (sagħtar) for a sore throat, and Jerusalem sage (salvjun tal-Madonna) for infected gums.

Maltese savory (xkattapietra). Source: Mikhail Micallef / Nostalgia Malta

Meanwhile, medical practitioners—often poorly trained—stuck to outdated treatments like bloodletting, enemas, and purging, based on the theory of balancing the body’s ‘humours’, regardless of the actual illness. With so few effective medical options, it’s no surprise that people often turned to spells and charms, even paying Muslim slaves or ‘wise women’ to perform protective rituals or burning leaves to keep away the evil eye. For instance, Maria Teresa from Senglea treated sick people using blessed olive branches, palm leaves, and incense. As she did this, she recited a healing charm that had been passed down to her by Catarina Goppola.

Another woman, Andrella Rispulo, who was originally from Naples but lived in Senglea, explained how she learned a special prayer to heal breast problems in women. She said she had used the ritual many times. It had to be done at sunset: she would fill a bowl with water, say the Pater Noster (Our Father) and Ave Maria (Hail Mary), and then place a string, a needle, and a comb into the water while reciting a short healing story called a historiola.

In another case, a woman and her sister — the nun Catherina Bonnichi from Vittoriosa — went to a midwife named Agatha de Suda to figure out what illness the woman’s daughter had. Agatha burned laurel leaves and made the sign of the cross on the girl’s forehead and lips while praying the Pater Noster and Ave Maria. Since these were Catholic prayers mixed with folk rituals, it worried the nun Catherina. She decided to confess it to a priest. But instead of forgiving her, the priest told her to report it to the Inquisition. There was also Maria Mangion from Burmola (modern-day Bormla), who had suffered from mental illness for twenty years. Neither medicine nor prayer seemed to help. Her sister Catarina, the widow of Pasquale Carciella, turned to a Turkish healer for help. He burned a substance called benzoin along with something he called “cosbor,” (probably the spice coriander) and passed a sheet of paper through the smoke. Mysterious shapes, including a face and some letters, appeared on the paper. He claimed these were drawn by spirits who would heal Maria, whom he had tied to a tree outside Żabbar. To pay the Turk for this worthless service, Catarina gave him a hen and 10 scudi after she had pawned her clothes.

An old Turkish slave in Malta, smoking a pipe. Photo: courtesy of the National Library. Source: Times of Malta

The old Sacra Infermeria in Birgu. Now the Monastery of Santa Scholastica. Source: tripadvisor.fr

Sometimes treatments were bizarre or downright dangerous. One healer, Giuseppe Falzon, a baptised slave in Senglea, treated children’s ringworm by shaving their heads and smearing them with a mix of gunpowder, lemon juice, burnt dog bone, tar, and crushed date stones. Despite these beliefs, organised medical efforts did exist. Barber-surgeons treated wounds, performed amputations, and carried out minor surgeries like removing cataracts or pulling teeth at the Sacra Infermeria, the Order’s hospital in Birgu (and later Valletta). Patients here were fed twice daily—at 8 am and 4 pm—with broth, rice, vermicelli, and even sweet meats and cakes made with almonds and sugar.  Wine was not watered down too much, and food was served on either silver or pewter dishes according to rank. Air was also considered essential for health and judged by its smell and clarity.

Reconstruction of the Scara Infermeria in Valletta. Source: orderofmaltawestern.us

Corsair ships had their own doctors (called chirurgi), who were third in command after the captain and clerk. A 1778 medicine box aboard a corsair frigate included ingredients such as turpentine oil, liquorish roots, mallow flowers, elderberry, a herb called Chinachina (Citrus Myrtifolia) and mercury-based preparations.  Sick sailors were given chicken broth served with long thin pasta and a quarter of a roasted chicken. Captains stopped for ice to bring fevers down.  On land, religious groups such as the nuns of St Theresa in Cospicua treated skin infections, such as boils, using ointments made from local mallow leaves. The Benedictine Nuns distilled orange blossom water to ease digestive aches.

Travelling Medicine Chests. Source: flintsauctions.com

The Castellania in Valletta. Source: Continentaleurope , Wikipedia Commons

When the Order ruled Malta, medical items were carefully classified. A distinction was made between medicines and ‘aromatic substances’—the latter included herbs, fruits, spices, sugar, and chocolate. These aromatic ingredients were used to flavour medicines and were not banned during Lent. Shops selling medicinal products had to register with the Castellania in Valletta and were regularly inspected by the Protomedicus, who was in charge of public health, to ensure the products were safe and fresh.

In the past, many treatments for illness were based on plants. Maltese pharmacists (or apothecaries) used both imported and native ingredients to prepare remedies. Among the island-grown items were meadow saffron, squill, anise, and the rare ‘Maltese Fungus’ (Cynomorium coccineum), alternatively used as a dye, as a contraceptive, a medicine against venereal diseases, dysentery, diarrhoea, and to help seal open wounds.  Between 1713 and 1735, records show pharmacists working with white rose powder, fennel, senna, and sugar-and-vinegar syrups. A few decades later, between 1766 and 1768, other ingredients, such as rhubarb, sweet almonds, and radix china (a type of root used in traditional Chinese medicine), were also recorded.

Glossopetrae. Source: enroquedeciencia.blogspot.com

Some treatments had unusual names and ingredients. Oil of nutmeg was used to help patients sweat or clear their lungs. Ointment of Roses, made from crushed rose petals and fat, was applied to ulcers. A complex formula called Antidotu emagogu (or Antidoto emmenagogo), containing cassia, black hellebore, liquorice, and anise, was used to help trigger menstruation. Some plant-based remedies were believed to affect fertility and desire. The vetch plant, from the bean family, and cecina (chickpeas) were thought to encourage sexual desire and boost sperm production.

Alongside herbal medicine, superstition and folklore also played a role in healing. Shark’s teeth, known as St Paul’s Tongue or glossopetrae, were believed to be the tongues of snakes that had been cursed by St Paul when he was shipwrecked in Malta. These ‘tongues’ were thought to protect against poison. People wore them as amulets, mounted them in silver, or ground them into powder to use as an antidote. Other questionable treatments included viper grass root water to treat smallpox, the plague, and poisoning; water of borage for sadness, heart issues, and dark thoughts; and beaver foreskin, which was believed to strengthen the brain and calm convulsions.