POISONS USED AS CURES?

Mercury and arsenic were supposed to make you better

MESOPOTAMIA

Medicine in ancient Mesopotamia was, in some ways, light years ahead of its time. Doctors had their own offices, patients had beds, and medicinal doctors worked alongside religious healers. But there are some aspects of the practice that were questionable. Mercury and arsenic, both known today to be the causes of death in relatively small doses, were mainstream medicines. They were prescribed as drugs, and the same took place in Babylonia and elsewhere, too.