1500-1700

• causes of disease


  1. fewer people believed in supernatural and religious causes
  2. seeds in the air spreading disease
  3. major decline with the church and God sending diseases
  4. shift to a more scientific approach
  5. still the theory of miasma
  6. still the theory of 4 humours - less physicians believed it tho
• scientific developments

  1. treating disease was improving- mostly led by Thomas Sydenham
  2. fewer people believed in astrology + urine charts
  3. physicians carried out more observations + examinations
• Thomas Sydenham

  1. worked as a doctor 1660s-70s
  2. didn't relay on medical books
  3. recorded patients symptoms
  4. instrument the idea patients has nothing to do with disease
  5. based treatment on disease as a whole
• the printing press

  1. one of the major changed
  2. invented in 1440 by Gutenberg - meaning at start of reanissance - 1500 of pp in Europe
  3. meant many copies of texts could be produced quickly
  4. helped reduce church control
  5. books of doctors + scientists could be shared more effectively
• the royal society


  1. aimed to further scientific understanding
  2. published journal 'philosophical transactions' so doctors + sci's can share their work
  3. even King Charles the 11 was very interested in it
• William Harvey + circulation of blood

  1. studied medicine at Cambridge + Padua
  2. became lecturer of atomy in london
  3. was one of James' I doctors
  4. carried out public disections
  5. Harvey proved Vesalius's theory of blood flowing one way
  6. proved blood couldn't be produced by liver
  7. discovered arteries and veins were apart of one system
  8. proved blood was pumped by heart
• work of Andreas Vesalius

  1. Improved an understanding of human body
  2. made study of atanomy fashionable
  3. proved some of Galens work is incorrect
  4. encouraged and inspired others
  5. work was widely published
  6. his book - 'fabric of the human body'
• physicians and their training

  1. still trained at uni - still last years
  2. training was based on learning from textbooks
  3. changes- better access to wider variety of medical books
  4. new ideas on anatomy (Vesalius) + cause of disease
  5. dissection was legalised
• hospitals 


  1. by 1500 - more treating of sick. less being used by travellers
  2. most had own physicians + apothecary
  3. in 1536 - most were shut down bc of Henry VIII
  4. hospitals returned In 1700s
  5. more pest houses - people suffering w contagious disease went here
  6. run by physicians
• how did they treat the sick

  1. new herbal remedies
  2. bleeding + purging
  3. more removal of miasma
  4. alchemy caused chemical cures using metals or minerals
• how did they treat victims of plague - 1665

  1. quarantined
  2. herbal remedies
  3. theory of transference - people tired to transfer disease to animals - birds + chickens
  4. though peeps could sweat disease out - wrapped in blankets by fire
• how did they try to avoid the plague - 1665

  1. quarantining
  2. herbs
  3. plague doctors wore costumes to avoid disease - masks included sweet herb smells - cloaked was waxed so patient stuff could be absorbed
• how did they try prevent the plague - 1665

  1. theaters were closed + large gatherings banned
  2. dogs + cats killed
  3. streets cleaned
  4. barrels of tar was burned in streets
  5. carts collected dead bodies and buried them in a mass grave
  6. household boarded up home or taken to pest house if member caught plague
  7. days of fasting + public prayers