Human Ingenuity – Suppositories

Being a doctor (granted, not of medicine), I find the route of administration of suppositories curious. This is especially true when they are intended to treat, for example, throat issues. Although their history is a little unclear, they were supposedly invented over 2000 years ago by ancient Babylonians. I obviously wasn’t there, but here’s what I think happened. The Babylonian Minister of Health probably challenged a select group of doctors to find an alternate route of administration for foul-tasting medicine. After what must surely have been long deliberations, one of the doctors likely said, “I suppose we could always…”. Hence the name suppository! Human ingenuity at its best…or worst, I’m still undecided.