dealing w/ disease

• 17th century treatments of disease were :

  • bloodletting
  • 'royal touch' for scrofula
  • herbal remedies
  • lemons and limes for scurvy
• old practitioners :

  • barber surgeons
  • apothecaries
  • wise women
  • trained doctors
• a new 17th and 18th century practitioner was quacks, travelling salesmen who sold medicine and 'cure alls'
• the great plague was in 1665 and killed 100,000 in London.
• common great plague remedies were :

  • bleeding with leeches
  • smoking to rid 'poisoned air'
  • sniffing sponge soaked in vinegar
  • scorpions to 'draw out poison'
  • moving to the countryside
• ways that the great plague was dealt with DIFFERENTLY to the Black Death :

  1. connection recognised between dirt and disease
  2. mayors and councils issued orders
  3. 'women searchers' identified victims
  4. EFFECTIVE quarantine
  5. streets swept and animals not allowed
  6. Scottish border closed
• ways the great plague was dealt with the SAME as the Black Death :

  1. bodies buried in plague pits
  2. quarantine ( although its was effective this time )
• 18th century hospitals were improving, attitudes changed so there was more helping the sick. Less people thought illness was punishment for sin, showing the decreasing church influence. 1720-50 saw 5 new general hospitals. Patient numbers increased and there were now specialist wards and medical schools. Treatment was free, however still mainly based around the 4 humours.
• John Hunter

  • wrote books - 'blood inflammation and gunshot wounds'
  • taught other scientists
  • experimented - injected himself with gonnoreah
  • 1785 saved a mans leg with an aneurysm
  • collected 3000 anatomical specimens
• long term impact of Hunter :

  1. taught 100s of others and inspired young surgeons
  2. taught Edward Jenner who went on to discover vaccination
• short term impact of Hunter :

  1. less amputations and less deaths
  2. promoted scientific approach
  3. communicated ideas - 'blood inflammation and gunshot wounds'