history medicine

• What were the four humours?

  Yellow bile

  Black bile

  Phlegm

  Blood
• What did medieval doctors believe illness was caused by ?

  God

  An imbalance in the four humours
• Wise woman?

  Their job to look after people, they knew lots about herbs and they were sometimes feared.
• Doctor training?

  Trained for seven years at university but with no practical training.
• Barbour surgeons?

  The most common type of doctor

  No formal training

  Hairdressers that were also a poor mans surgeon.
• What procurers did Barbour surgeons perform?

  Blood letting

  key hole surgery

  Tooth extractions

  Amputations
• What percentage of Britain did the black death wipe out?

  40%
• What year was the Black death?

  1348
• Why did the black death spread and devestate so many people?

  Over crowding

  Poor living condition

  Terrible public health
• Symptoms of the black death ?

  Violent fever

  puss filled sores
• What did people think was the cause of the Black death and how did they treat it?


  Punishment sent by God so prayed a lot

  Doctors advised not to over eat or over drink

  People lit candles to ward of evil spirits.

  People shaved chickens and rubbed them into their open wounds

  Miasma- carried sweet smelling herbs
• Why was public health so bad?

  People disposed of their waste in the streets

  It was healthier to drink beer then the water.

  When disease was present it spread due to the overcrowded housing
• What is miasma ?

  An unpleasant or unhealthy smell or vapour thought to cause disease.
• How did medicine develop in the medieval period?

  There was a great demand for medical treatment due to the war

  Dissection was allowed in the 16th century but its findings still had to agree with Galen

  Urine samples were being used and astrology was no longer being used

  Some doubts were rising about classical texts
• Why was their a lack of development in medicine ?

  Surgery was seen in low regard as it was seen as a dirty job, this just left Barbour surgeons

  Also trained doctors were very expensive so most treatment was carried out in monasteries or by house wives.

  Wine was used as an antiseptic

  Major surgery was very risky.
• Who were the three key figures during the renessance?

  Andreas Vesalius

  Ambrose Pare

  William Harvey
• Andreas Vesalius ?


  Studied the works of Galen

  His work on dissection led him to question Galen's work - He championed using dissection to learn about anatomy

  His work influence and inspired English Doctors

  Provided more accurate descriptions about human anatomy
• What year did the Great plague happen?


  1665
• how many people did the great plague kill ?

  100000
• Ambrose Pare?


  In 1536 became an army surgeon

  In 1537 he ran out of hot oil they used to treat wounds created his own solution of rose oil and egg white proved more effective and less soldiers died from the pain shock

  designed false limbs for soldiers
• William Harvey?


  Foundered the theory of circulation, many criticised him as his works contradicted Galen

  Made observations to draw his conclusions

  Many modern techniques such as blood transfusions wouldnt be possible without him
• John Hunter ?

  Trained 1000s of surgeons

  Undertook dissection of human bodies and was able to make discoveries about the nature of disease, infections, cancer and the circulation of the blood.
• Edward Jenner?


  Country doctor realised Milkmaids didn't catch small pox when they had cow pox

  In 1796 he took a boy and injected him with pus from the sores of milkmaids, He then injected him with small pox but the boy diddnt suffer from it.

  Jenner proved his theory but didn't know why and in turn many criticised him

  Attitudes eventually changed and people realised that vaccination was more effective and less dangerous than inoculation. By the 1800s doctors were using his technique in America and Europe and in 1853 the British government made smallpox vaccination compulsory.
• Spontaneous Generation?

  Scientists developed the theory of spontaneous generation. Improved microscope meant that scientists could see microbes.

  Scientists observed that microbes appeared on things that had started to rot and believed that they were the product of decay.
• Louis Pasteur?


  Pasteur’s experiments brought greater understanding of the process of fermentation and how to prevent it. Prevention was achieved by heating the liquid to a certain temperature, which would kill bacteria in the liquid and thereby stop it from going bad. This process became known as pasteurisation.

  Pasteur’s findings significantly challenged the idea of spontaneous generation and he published his germ theory in 1861. Pasteur argued that bacteria were the cause of disease, but he was not able to identify the specific bacteria that caused individual diseases.
• Robert Koch?

  Koch developed a new method of growing bacteria using agar jelly in a Petri dish. He then used a dye to stain the bacteria so that it could be seen clearly under a microscope. Using this method, he was able to identify individual bacteria.

  1876 found the bacteria that cause anthrax. 

  1882 identified the bacteria that cause tuberculosis (TB).

  1883 Discovered the bacteria that caused cholera
• Koch vs pasture?

  Koch’s success spurred Pasteur into action again. At the time, there was intense rivalry between France and Germany, following a war in 1870. The German government had given Koch a team of scientists to assist him and now the French government decided to back Pasteur, who went on to develop vaccines.

  In the 1880s and 1890s rapid progress was made in identifying the bacteria that caused disease and in developing vaccines.