Cannibalistic medicine and the ingestion of corpses was an accepted medical practice from the medieval period right upto the 19th century. Peaking during the 16th and 17th century medicines containing human fat, brains, and blood were popular from the lowest in society to the highest. In fact in England King Charles II, manufactured and sold his own patent medicine made from powdered human skull to promote health and strength. Named ‘The Kings Drops’, Charles II had purchased the recipe from the English surgeon Jonathan Goddard (1617–1675), who had been surgeon to the armies of Oliver Cromwell, the man who had ordered the execution of his father Charles I. Skull based medicines were popular in the 17th century, and considered the best cure for apoplexy, the term used in the period for strokes, internal bleeding and heartattacks.