treatment

• • herbal remedies, bloodletting, purging and sweating all remained treatments for disease in the Renaissance period
  • this presents continuity
• • new treatments for illness were found, such as transference and iatrochemistry
  • this presented change in the Renaissance period for treatment of disease
• iatrochemistry:

  • iatrochemistry was the growth of alchemy, so people began looking for chemical cures rather than relying on herbs
  • medical chemists began experimenting with metals as cures for common diseases
  • a manual for remedies was published in 1618 which had 122 remedies, which included 122 different chemical preparations, which used mercury and antimony
  • small doses were used in antimony, which promoted sweating and cooling the body, which was similar to purging
  • patients would leave wine in antimony cup overnight and drink wine the next day - larger doses promoted vomiting/purging
• herbal remedies:

  • herbal remedies still popular, but in this period, were chosen because of colour or shape
  • e.g yellow herbs like saffron were used to treat jaundice
  • smallpox made a red rash on the skin was treated with 'red cure' - red wine, food, clothes
  • the Renaissance was age of exploration, so new herbal remedies appeared from countries in New World
  • some physicians believed that each country had herbal remedies that would cure diseases that came from that country
  • sarsaparilla used to treat syphillis
  • Sydenham promoted cinchona bark to treat malaria, and was an effective remedy
• transference:

  • this was the idea that illness could be transferred to something else
  • e.g some believed that rubbing an object on a boil would transfer the disease to the object
• bloodletting, purging, sweating:

  • these treatments were still used in different ways
  • in iatrochemistry, small doses of antimony would promote sweating
  • large doses of antimony would cause vomiting
  • these were examples of purging
• • treatment in the Renaissance showed both continuity and change
  • old treatments were still recommended, but new ways were found to adminster them
  • e.g purging with the use of antimony in iatrochemistry
• • the Great Pox (syphilis) spread rapidly in the Renaissance period
  • this showed continuity in Renaissance treatment and prevention
  • this is because the disease spread very quickly which showed that remedies would not work, and prevention was unknown