Renaissance

• John Hunter was legally allowed to dissect bodies from the gallows in the 18th century
• Anatomists and surgeons like Hunter would pay grave robbers to find fresh corpses for dissection
• Hunter relied on careful observations of his patients and was willing to try radical approaches
• In 1767, there was a huge debate on whether gonorrhoea and syphilis were the same diseases
• Hunter injected himself with gonorrhoea pus to study the side effects and find a cure, but the patient also had syphilis
• Hunter died in 1793 from syphilitic heart disease at the age of 65
• Before Hunter, aneurysms were treated by amputating above the lump
• Hunter believed in cutting off the blood source feeding the lump instead of amputating, tying off the artery and allowing other blood vessels to form and bypass the area
• Hunter successfully tested his method on animals and his first human patient, who kept his leg
• John Hunter was important for medicine because he showed that gunshot wounds should be treated like any other wound and that amputation was not necessary
• Hunter's work on aneurysms demonstrated that restricting blood supply could lead to the growth of vessels around the aneurysm, causing it to die
• Hunter's book provided theoretical knowledge about anatomy that was essential for every surgeon
• Hunter's work was important in later years as he established teaching museums for future generations and influenced the ideas of other medical professionals like Jenner
• Hunter's work laid the foundation for 'scientific surgery' with an experimental basis for surgical practice
• Two reasons John Hunter was important for surgery:

  • Pioneered the scientific method in surgery
  • Emphasized the importance of observation and experimentation in surgery
• Vesalius:

  • Vesalius proved Galen wrong by dissecting human bodies
  • He proved Galen was wrong about the way the heart worked, shape of the liver, location of the kidneys and human jaw having 2 bones
  • Wrote incredibly accurate and detailed books 'Tabulae Sex' (1538) and 'The Fabric of the Human Body' (1543)
  • Ended the reign of Galen as the greatest anatomist and paved the way for others to challenge Galen
• His books transformed understanding of human anatomy to a point where they are still useful today

  • A man called Geminus developed Vesalius’ work further in Britain
  • Factors that helped: Key Individuals, Communication (the printing press), Science and Technology (The printing press), Religion (declining power made it less likely that challengers of Galen would be executed)
• Harvey:

  • In 1628 he proved Galen wrong by stating that the heart was a pump and blood flowed around the body
  • Proved that blood could last for up to 12 weeks
  • Said that veins and arteries carried blood around the body and suggested the existence of capillaries, although he couldn't see them due to weak microscopes
• His work was vital in the first heart transplant and the work of Christiaan Barnard

  • Factors that helped: Individual Brilliance, Science and Technology
• Pare:

  • Pare was an army surgeon who ran out of boiling oil used for cauterizing gunshot wounds
  • Instead, he used a Roman remedy of rose water, turpentine, and egg yolk, finding that soldiers treated this way were healthier and in less pain compared to those cauterized
  • Inspired him to stop cauterizing wounds and develop alternatives like ligatures to stitch wounds and blood vessels, although infection remained an issue and ligatures weren't sterile
• Pare's books were used for 350 years in surgery

  • Developed surgical tools still in use today
  • A man called Clowes developed Pare’s work in Britain
  • Factors that helped: War, Chance, Individual Brilliance