Medicine Through Time

• Main Speculated Causes of Disease in MEDIEVAL Period

  • Supernatural
  • God
  • Astrology
  • Miasma
  • Four Humours
• When Were the Time Periods?

  • Medieval: 1250-1500
  • Renaissance: 1500-1700
  • Industrial Revolution: 1700-1900
  • Modern Medicine: 1900-Now
• Suspected Causes of Disease in the Medieval Period

  • Supernatural
  • Miasma
  • Astrology
  • God
• Reasons for Continuity in the Medieval Period

  • People not wanting to challenge the Church - very influential
  • People not wanting to challenge Galen/Hippocrates - very recognised
  • Lack of Education
• Ways to Prevent Disease in Medieval Period

  • Prayer
  • Bloodletting
  • Purging
  • Herbs/Spices
  • Wise Women
  • Superstitions
  • Apothecaries
• Prevention Methods in the Renaissance Period

  • Theory of Opposites
  • Bloodletting/Purging
  • Herbal Remedies
  • Wise Women
  • Apothecaries
  • Superstitious
• Main Figures - Medieval Period

  • Hippocrates - Ancient Greece
  • Galen - Ancient Rome
• Main Figures - Renaissance

  • Andreas Vesalius - accurate anatomy books, dissections,
  • Thomas Sydenham - detailed observations, curing the symptoms, practical experience
  • William Harvey - circulation of blood
  • Printing Press - allowed all access to (medical) books
• The Great Plague (1665)

  Prevention:

  • Quarantine
  • No Touching Others
  • Closing Crowded Areas
• Main Figures - Industrial

  • Edward Jenner - smallpox vaccination (1798), Government made vaccination mandatory - eradication of Smallpox
  • Louis Pasteur - Germ Theory (1861) - Microbes in the air caused disease and decay,
  • Robert Koch - Proved Germ Theory (1876) - identified anthrax spores, tuberculosis, cholera
  • James Simpson - Chloroform as Anaesthetic (1847)
  • Joseph Lister - Carbolic Acid as Antiseptic (1865)
  • John Snow - Cholera (1854)
  • (Compulsory) Public Health Act (1875) - health/sanitary inspections, clean water, sewage systems, clean streets
• Reasons for Continuity in the Industrial Period

  • Miasma
  • Theory of Spontaneous Generation
  • Misinformation
  • Disbelief
  • Lack of Evidence
• Main Figures - Modern Period

  • James Watson and Francis Crick (1953) - structure of DNA - allowed scientists to find genes responsible for genetic disorders
  • Wilhelm Rontgen - X-Rays (1895)
  • Godfrey Hounsfield - CT (1972) - Use X-Rays
  • Alexander Fleming (1929) - Penicillin
  • Howard Florey and Ernst Chain - Mass Production of Penicillin (1941)
  • Paul Ehrlich - Magic Bullet (1911) - antibodies targeting specific microbes
  • Marie Curie - Radiation/Radiotherapy/Target Therapy (1898)
  • Karl Landsteiner - Blood Groups (1900)
  • Christiaan Barnard - Organ Transplants (1967)
• Developments - Modern Period

  • Blood tests - test for blood group and diseases
  • MRIs (1970s)
  • Blood Transfusions (1914) - sodium citrate stopped blood going off and clotting during storage
  • Key Hole Surgery (1980s) - shorter recovery time, smaller scars
  • NHS (1948) - Free, Promoted Healthcare, A lot of Services, Easy Access
  • Health Campaigning - Campaigning to Reduce Smoking - on cigarette boxes, adverts, health services
• Chain of Evacuation 


  1. Regimental Aid Post
  2. Advanced Dressing Station
  3. Casualty Clearing Station
  4. Base Hospitals