Start of medicine History

• Hippocrates was a Greek doctor and teacher who created the theory of the four humours
• He believed the body contained four humors which were black bile, yellow bile, blood and phlegm.
• If you were healthy the four humors are balanced
• if you are ill, you have imbalanced humours a.k.a. too much
• To cure this illness you need to get rid of the humours that were unbalanced e.g. you would need to use leeches or cups to remove the excess blood
• Galen was a Roman doctor, who developed the four humours by creating the theory of opposites
• If you have too much of a humour, you need to cure it with the opposite. For example, if you have too much phlegm, which is cold and wet, you were given something spicy which is hot and dry to cure the sickness
• The church supported the idea of the four humours and physicians (doctors) were taught about it when educated by the church.
• Physicians also used urine charts linked to the Four humours to check the colour, smell and taste to check for illnesses. E.g. white = too much phlegm.
• The ideas of causes in the middle ages were the four humours, miasma, God and supernatural.
• People blamed bad, stinky air called ‘miasma’ for causing disease
• Linked to miasma, they believe dirt/waste from the streets, poisoned the air which caused illness— this seemed logical as dirty places smelt bad.
• Even King Edward, the third said ‘the filth from the houses is infecting the air with contagious sickness’ during the Black Death.
• In medieval times, people thought that if someone died of an illness then their body would become infected and spread the disease further.
• Supernatural beliefs included witches who could cause harm through spells and curses.
• God was believed to be responsible for sending plagues or diseases as punishment for sins.
• They believed that evil spirits could cause diseases so they prayed to god to heal them or cast out demons.
• Medieval doctors didn't know how germs worked but they did understand that some things made other things ill e.g. rotten food can make us ill.
• Galen was one of the most famous physicians who lived between AD130-200. He wrote many books on medicine including his book 'On Anatomical Procedures'.
• The church taught that God sent plagues to punish those who were sinful.
• The church also played a role in spreading superstitions about medicine by claiming that it was against God's will to use herbal remedies instead of prayer.
• The Bible taught people that diseases were a punishment from God for their sins, e.g. gambling and drinking or a way of God, testing your faith. (If you survived, it was a miracle!)
• The 1348 to 1349 Black death was thought to be a punishment for people sins.
• Many people in the middle ages were superstitious they believed in the supernatural like witchcraft and astrology
• Physicians believe the stars and planets affected your health and caused disease. For example, the movement of satin and Jupiter was to blame from the black death.
• They believed Jews were to blame for poisoning Wells.