History AQA - Britain: Health and the People

• Hippocrates was a Greek doctor from Ancient times
• Hippocrates' ideas were followed for thousands of years
• Hippocratic Oath


  Doctors would swear an oath that they would always do their best for their patients
• Theory of the Four Humours

  The body consists of four substances: blood, phlegm, yellow bile and black bile. If these were out of balance, the person would become ill
• Balancing the Humours


  1. Leading a healthy lifestyle

  2. Following a good diet

  3. Exercising

  4. Resting
• Bleeding


  Removing blood to lower humours
• Purging


  Vomiting to lower yellow bile
• Galen was a Roman doctor from Ancient times who followed and developed Hippocrates' ideas on disease
• Theory of Opposites


  Humours could be balanced by applying the opposite. Someone with a cold (too much phlegm) should drink or eat something hot
• The Catholic Church decided Galen's ideas fitted in with their Christian beliefs, so supported him
• No one was allowed to question the work of Galen, so these incorrect ideas were followed for years
• Ideas on the cause of disease

  • Religious: Disease was sent from God as a punishment
  • Supernatural: Elves and Spirits (the Devil's helpers) shot invisible arrows to cause illness. Planets and astrology were another cause.
  • Natural: Hippocratic and Galenic ideas were followed, so bloodletting and purging was used. Miasma (bad smells) was also thought to cause disease.
• Places people could go for treatment


  • Trained doctor (only the rich)
  • Wise women or wise men within their village
  • Barber surgeon
  • Local priest, or a monastery
• Universities were set up after the 1200s, and the Church were in control of them
• Qualified doctors had to study at Oxford or Cambridge for 7 years, and weren't allowed to discover new ideas
• Christianity


  Believed illness was a punishment sent from God. They would look after patients, but not cure them. Blessed prayer was the most important treatment. Supported Hippocrates and Galen, and wouldn't let anyone challenge them.
• Monks copied out these Ancient books, and some other works too
• The Church set up over 700 hospitals, the funding of which came from rich donors
• Most hospitals were small, with room for 12 patients. There were also asylums for the mentally ill
• Islam


  "For every disease, God has given a cure." Scientists and doctors were encouraged to seek cures for illness. Hippocrates' and Galen's ideas were followed by some doctors.
• Ibn Sina (Avicenna) wrote the Canon of Medicine based off Galen's, and some of his own ideas
• Abu Razi (Rhazes) wrote Doubts about Galen, and these were translated and brought into Britain
• Islamic hospitals offered treatment, and would try to cure if possible. Doctors were permanently present, and medical students were given practical training as well as attending lectures at university
• The most famous Islamic hospitals had lecture rooms, pharmacies, and libraries
• Hospitals for people with mental illnesses were set up, as they were not seen to be possessed
• During the Renaissance period, ancient, unscientific beliefs such as the Four Humours, disease being sent as a punishment from God, and miasma were still followed
• Wise women, barber surgeons and apothecaries treated people
• Quackeries and quack doctors were introduced - these were dishonest travelling salesmen who would sell false medicines in one town, then move to another
• Hospitals were no longer run by the Church, but were funded by the rich as charitable gifts. Specialist hospitals were also set up
• Hospitals were no longer run by monks and nuns. Treatment was given by trained physicians and surgeons, who were helped by nurses and helpers
• Some hospitals had medical schools attached to them, and doctors were properly trained both in hospitals and university
• People decided a more scientific view towards illness was needed, so many abandoned the idea that God sent disease
• The cause of disease was still not known. Most common treatments were still bleeding, purging and praying. Herbal remedies were also given
• Hospitals had pharmacies where the poor were given free medicine
• Edward Jenner was a British doctor who found the first vaccination for smallpox in 1793, leading to it being completely eradicated in Britain by 1920
• Smallpox


  Killed 30% of those who caught it
• Inoculation


  Spreading pus from a smallpox scab into an open cut in the skin of a healthy person
• Most people couldn't afford inoculation, and could end up dying from catching smallpox
• Edward Jenner noticed that milkmaids who had caught cowpox did not get smallpox, and believed that cowpox prevented smallpox
• Jenner tested his theory on James Phipps, who did not catch smallpox. Jenner called this a vaccination and published his findings