Eyesight and Other Senses

[OliveOil_Med]

A while ago, I started a thread talking about wizards with disabilities (Blindness, deafness, etc.). Some people argued that because of magic, there would not be very many wizards with disabilities. But then I thought back to Harry, James, and Dumbledore who all wear glasses in the series. If magic were capable of curing blindness, it seems that it could easily cure simple poor eyesight.

So I wonder, what are the limits magic has towards healing in terms of disability as well as other injuries and ailments?

[ahattab33]

I've always thought it was rather strange they weren't healing poor eyesight. They could mend spells gone bad, fix bad teeth, and the lot...It always seemed that the eyeglasses by Dumbledore were a character trait, but once Harry arrived at Hogwarts, and was living among the Magical community, that they'd fix him up. In addition, Arthur wore glasses as well...is it a personal preference, like Hermione with her teeth because her parents didn't want her to get them fixed?

There's not even a floor at St. Mungo's to deal with common, regular sickness (Headaches, flu, etc.), though I suppose the reason for this is because it can be dealt with by a regular witch or wizard through potions or other common cures.

This has always bugged me, as I wear glasses would like to think as a witch, I could fix it up!

~Amanda

[Tim the Enchanter]

A while ago, I started a thread talking about wizards with disabilities (Blindness, deafness, etc.). Some people argued that because of magic, there would not be very many wizards with disabilities. But then I thought back to Harry, James, and Dumbledore who all wear glasses in the series. If magic were capable of curing blindness, it seems that it could easily cure simple poor eyesight.

So I wonder, what are the limits magic has towards healing in terms of disability as well as other injuries and ailments?

I think wizards have the capability to cure eyesight with magic, but they lack the knowledge as to how. I've never gotten the impression that wizards really knew all that much about how the body actually worked (to paraphrase Ron: "Docters? You mean those Muggles who cut people open? Nah, they're Healers."). For one thing, they seem to think performing surgery to be barbaric, and prefer using potions and spells. I think they can cure symptoms, but not necessarily the root of problems because their understanding of the human body is not as good as Muggles.

Concerning eyesight, it might be that wizards have tried waving a wand around and said, "eyesgetbetterius!" or some spell like that, but have always been' puzzled why nothing worked. If they really understood how the eye works, they could perform some sort of magical Lasik surgery, but that seems to be beyond their comprehension.

Either that, or Rowling just didn't think things through.

Tim the Enchanter

[OliveOil_Med]

Yes, Rowling didn't think things through might be a good literary answer, but let's play the 'Let's figure it out for her' game on this thread!

I sort of agree with Tim that wizards may not have a very good understanding of how the eye works. In general, I feel like the wizarding world has a poor understanding of human anatomy and how everything works. It may be one of the few areas where modern Muggles have surpassed them.

It wouldn't surprise me to learn that some Healers still use leeches to decrease severe swelling.

Just how advanced to you guys think wizards are in terms of understanding human biology and the mechanics of the human body?

[Tim the Enchanter]

Just how advanced to you guys think wizards are in terms of understanding human biology and the mechanics of the human body?

Not very.

Again, wizards are portrayed as having an aversion to any sort of cutting up or piercing of the body - like how Molly Weasley scolds Arthur for his 'stitches'. Also, considering Ron's reaction to Muggle doctors, I assume that because wizard's haven't bothered cutting people open to figure out how they work, they won't have a very good understanding of the human body. They might even still be working with the humoural theory!

So, I think they could adequately cure someone with the flu, for instance - use spells/potions for headaches, coughing, etc. But if wizards were faced with things like pancreatic cancer or kidney failure, I think they'd be utterly lost. They might not even know what the kidney actually does, come to think of it.

Tim the Enchanter

[Almara]

I agree with Tim here - I really don't think they know much about the human body at all. Perhaps a select few Healers did some research by themselves out of curiosity, but I can't imagine it going much further than that. After all, no Natural Sciences or other similar subjects are taught at Hogwarts, and, after Hogwarts, witches and wizards seem to get career-specific educations, so where would they learn about bone marrow and pancreas?

[OliveOil_Med]

But it has also been argued that wizards are incapable of catching most Muggle illnesses such as cancer, and that is why they are able to live so long. Think of just how much of the wizarding population has been able to live into their hundreds.

How do we explain that?

[Karaley Dargen]

But it has also been argued that wizards are incapable of catching most Muggle illnesses such as cancer, and that is why they are able to live so long. Think of just how much of the wizarding population has been able to live into their hundreds.

How do we explain that?

That's because they have a naturally longer lifespan – Rowling said that somewhere. How old did Dumbledore get –*180 or something? That has nothing to do with cancer or the flu, that's Wizarding genes.

Apparently Wizards can catch at least some Muggle illnesses, as they do get colds, for example. I don't see a reason why they shouldn't get more serious "Muggle" illnesses too; maybe you can rule out cancer, because their genes are different or something, but really, I don't see why they shouldn't get illnesses just like we do. Or maybe they have a different name for them?

Maybe a Muggle wouldn't get Dragon pox or Spattergroit because those illnesses attack only Wizarding genes, and maybe there are some illnesses that only attack Muggle genes, but I don't see any reason why it should be like that for all of them. My grandparent's dog died of cancer –*why should a wizard be more different from a Muggle than a dog?

[Tim the Enchanter]

But it has also been argued that wizards are incapable of catching most Muggle illnesses such as cancer, and that is why they are able to live so long. Think of just how much of the wizarding population has been able to live into their hundreds.

How do we explain that?

How are wizards immune to cancer? Being wizards doesn't make them superhuman.

The way I see it, wizards are good at curing symptoms, but their general ignorance of human anatomy prevents them from curing the root of the problem. So a wizard with cancer might have all of his symptoms attended to, but he'd still have cancer.

So why do wizards live so long? Well, I think that's another Rowling thing. Frankly, I don't see how so many would live into their hundreds, even with magic.

Tim the Enchanter

[OliveOil_Med]

Maybe the fact is that they are good at making the symptoms of deadly disease disappear temporarily, but because they have a very weak understanding of anatomy, they are not able to cure the disease completely.

So with this logic, it might be possible for a wizard to live with what would be a deadly disease for decades. This could certainly explain why Ron's great Aunt Muriel is always in such a bad mood.