Renaissance

Cards (21)

  • 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