Editing English longbow (section)

=== Treating arrow wounds ===
Specialised medical tools designed for arrow wounds have existed since ancient times: [[Diocles of Carystus|Diocles]] (successor of [[Hippocrates]]) devised the graphiscos, a form of [[cannula]] with hooks, and the duck-billed forceps (allegedly invented by Heras of [[Cappadocia]]<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Wilson |first=Thomas |date=1901 |title=Arrow Wounds |jstor=659204 |journal=American Anthropologist |issue=3 |pages=513–531 |volume=3 |doi=10.1525/aa.1901.3.3.02a00070 |issn=1548-1433 |doi-access=free}}</ref>) was employed during the medieval period to extract arrows. While armour-piercing "bodkin" points were relatively easy (if painful) to remove, barbed points required the flesh to be cut or pulled aside. An arrow would be pushed through and taken out the other side of the body only in the worst cases, as this would cause even more tissue damage and risk cutting through major blood vessels.

Henry, Prince of Wales, later [[Henry V of England|Henry V]], was wounded in the face by an arrow at the [[Battle of Shrewsbury]] (1403). The royal physician [[John Bradmore]] had a tool made that consisted of a pair of smooth tongs. Once carefully inserted into the socket of the arrowhead, the tongs screwed apart until they gripped its walls and allowed the head to be extracted from the wound. Prior to the extraction, the hole made by the arrow shaft was widened by inserting larger and larger dowels of [[Elderberry|elder]] [[pith]] wrapped in linen down into the entry wound. The dowels were soaked in [[honey]], now known to have [[antiseptic]] properties.<ref>{{cite journal |last1 = Israili |first1 = ZH |s2cid = 23337250 |year = 2014| title = Antimicrobial Properties of Honey |journal = Am J Ther |volume =21 |issue = 4 |pages =  304–23 |pmid = 23782759 |doi=10.1097/MJT.0b013e318293b09b}}</ref> The wound was then dressed with a [[poultice]] of [[barley]] and honey mixed in [[turpentine]] (pre-dating [[Ambroise Paré]] but whose therapeutic use of turpentine was inspired by Roman medical texts that may have been familiar to Bradmore). After 20 days, the wound was free of infection.{{sfn|Cummins|2006}}<!-- This paragraph was inserted by a revision as of 00:56, 9 September 2004. It may have been a quote PBS cannot remember -->