Causes and Treatments

• The Renaissance saw a move away from some Supernatural ideas
• Supernatural


  Beyond nature, often spiritual or religious, relying on an element of faith
• Natural ideas


  Based on observations in the real world, often more scientific
• As the church's grip on learning faded, there was a greater emphasis on natural or scientific medical theories
• Many Supernatural inferences were never far away in the Renaissance
• Religious and spiritual ideas in the Renaissance

  1. Prayer was still very important

  2. People prayed to be healed

  3. Less confessing of sins, especially in Britain

  4. Move towards humanism, promoting a return to ancient Greek and Roman thinking
• Henry VII and Edward VI's religious reforms in the 1500s destroyed the monasteries and shrines of the Saints, ending the custom of pilgrimage in England
• Humanism promoted extending people's knowledge of the natural world rather than assuming religious causes
• Medical knowledge grew with changing attitudes of people in the Renaissance
• Epidemics of diseases like the plague, smallpox, syphilis, and sweating sickness could not be easily explained by the theory of the four humors
• Physicians understood that urine was not directly related to a person's health, so they no longer used it in diagnosis as much
• The idea that disease was spread by bad smells and evil fumes (miasma) was constant throughout the period and was the most commonly believed cause of disease
• Miasma was believed to be the product of rotten vegetables, decaying bodies, excrements, or swampy places, emphasizing the importance of hygiene
• In 1526, Paracelsus theorized that disease was caused by problems with chemicals inside the body
• In 1546, a new text called "On Contagion" by Girolamo Fracastoro, an Italian physician, theorized that disease was caused by
• Paracelsus theorized that disease was caused by problems with chemicals inside the body


  1526
• In theme 46, a new text called "On Contagion" by Giralamo Fracastoro, an Italian physician, theorized that disease was caused by seeds spread in the air, which was closer to the truth of germs and viruses
• In 1683, Anthony van Leeuwenhoek, a Dutch scientist, invented a powerful microscope allowing the first recorded observation of bacteria
• Leeuwenhoek observed bacteria, although he did not know they were bacteria or their link to disease
• Germs were still thought to be the result of spontaneous generation, not the cause of decay
• During the Renaissance period, treatments continued to focus on rebalancing the four humors, with methods like bleeding, purging, and sweating being popular
• Herbal remedies remained popular, with remedies chosen based on color or shape, such as using yellow herbs for jaundice
• Smallpox, with a red rash as a symptom, was treated with the "red cure" involving red wine, red foods, and red clothes
• New Herbal Remedies from the Americas started to appear, believed to cure diseases specific to each country
• Thomas Sydenham popularized the use of chinkona bark from Peru in treating malaria
• Physicians tested new arrivals like tea, coffee, nutmeg, cinnamon, and tobacco for their impact on disease
• Transference theory was popular, believing that diseases could be transferred to objects or vegetables
• Alchemy had an impact on medical treatments, leading to the search for chemical cures for diseases
• The Pharmacopoeia Londinensis published by the College of Physicians in 1618 included a chapter on salts, metals, and minerals as remedies
• The pharmacopoeia londonensis was published by the College of Physicians in 1618 as a manual of remedies
• Contents of the pharmacopoeia londonensis

  • Chapter on salts, metals, and minerals
  • 122 different chemical preparations including Mercury and antimony
• Antimony, in small doses, promotes sweating which cools the body down
• In larger doses, antimony was used to encourage vomiting
• Antimony potassium tartrate was said to have cured Louis XIV of typhoid fever in 1657
• Syphilis, also known as the Great pox, arrived from the New World with European sailors and spread across Europe quickly
• Paracelsus wrote a clinical description of syphilis and suggested treatment with carefully measured doses of mercury
• Mercury became the standard treatment against syphilis despite its toxicity
• Some diseases were blamed on the imbalances of the humors
• People still had some religious beliefs about the cause of disease
• Purging and bleeding were still used as treatments