On the night of February 1, 1685, King Charles II went to bed at Whitehall Palace in London with a sore foot. The next morning he could barely speak, and while a servant tried to shave him, he collapsed-rendered temporarily unconscious by a seizure. Within hours more than a dozen doctors from the Royal College of Physicians arrived at the palace. One physician slashed the king's arm open with a knife, taking 16 ounces of blood. Others fed him a raft of different concoctions, including one made from ground-up human skulls. Doctors administered enema after enema to purge Charles's stomach and bowels, and then burned the king with scalding hot cups and irons that left his body covered in blisters. The remedies continued until the king died on February 6, 1685.
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