Medicine

• Rational explanations for disease


  Explanations based on ideas from the Ancient world, particularly those of Hippocrates and Galen
• Theory of Opposites


  • In the 2nd century AD, doctor Galen developed the theory of the Four Humours
  • Treatment based on giving the patient the opposite of their symptoms to restore balance
• Miasma


  Theory that disease was transmitted by bad air
• Hippocrates


  • Ancient Greek doctor
  • Believed there was a physical reason for illness, not gods
  • Treatments based on diet, exercise and rest, but also bleeding and purging
• Hippocratic Oath where doctors swore to respect life and prevent harm
• Hippocrates' method of clinical observation - studying symptoms, making notes, comparing with similar cases, then diagnosing and treating - formed the basis of the approach used today
• Ancient explanations and ideas for disease dominated medicine in the Middle Ages
• Physicians in the Middle Ages

  • Observed patient's symptoms, checked pulse, skin and urine
  • Consulted medical charts in their sademecum handbook
  • Either treated patients themselves or sent them to a barber-surgeon or apothecary
• Hospitals in the Middle Ages

  • Usually run by the Church
  • Admitted people with favourable symptoms
  • Provided food, water and prayers for patients
• Many hospitals were built for specific infectious diseases
• People and conditions treated by

  • Barber-surgeons
  • Apothecaries
  • Physicians
• The Black Death


  Bubonic plague that reached Europe in 1348-49, killing about a third of the population
• Causes and avoidance of the Black Death

  • Religious - God's punishment for sin
  • Astrological - position of planets
  • Miasma - bad air from decaying matter
  • Four Humours - imbalance
  • Outsiders, strangers or witches
• Symptoms of the Black Death

  • Swelling of lymph glands (buboes)
  • Fever and chills
  • Headache
  • Vomiting, diarrhoea and abdominal pain
• Treatments for the Black Death

  • Praying and using lucky charms
  • Cutting open buboes to drain pus
  • Holding bread against buboes then burying it
  • Eating cool things and taking cold baths
• The ways people tried to prevent and cure the Black Death show what they thought caused the disease
• Changes during the Renaissance

  • More investigation into Ancient Greek and Roman ideas
  • Decline in influence of the Church
  • Shift to more scientific approach to diagnosing disease
• The theory of miasma continued to be a popular explanation for disease, especially during epidemics
• The Theory of the Four Humours remained an accepted explanation for disease, although by 1700 very few physicians still believed in it
• Thomas Sydenham


  • Worked as a doctor in London in the 1660s and 70s
  • Observed patients and recorded symptoms in detail
  • Treated based on the disease as a whole, not individual symptoms
  • Known as the 'English Hippocrates'
• Vesalius


  • Studied medicine in Paris in 1533, became professor of surgery in Padua
  • Carried out many dissections on human bodies and made many discoveries about how the body works
  • Improved understanding of the human body
  • Made the study of anatomy central to medicine
  • Proved some of Galen's work was incorrect
• Vesalius' work was widely published in England and Europe, and included detailed illustrations of the human body that were copied into other medical textbooks
• Vesalius


  Studied medicine in Paris in 1533, became a professor of surgery in Padua, Italy. Carried out a large number of dissections on human bodies and made many discoveries about how the body worked.
• This drawing is taken from Vesalius' most famous book, On the Fabric of the Body, which was published in 1543.
• Importance of Vesalius


  • Improved understanding of the human body
  • Made the study of anatomy fashionable and central to the study of medicine
  • Proved that some of Galen's work was incorrect, which helped encourage others to question Galen's theories
  • Encouraged and inspired other medical professionals to carry out dissections and make further discoveries
  • His work was widely published in England and throughout Europe, and included detailed illustrations of the human body, which were copied into other medical textbooks
• Vesalius' work shows the differences between medicine in the Renaissance and Medieval times
• The Great Plague, 1665


  A severe outbreak of plague in England
• The symptoms and some dress of people during the Great Plague were mostly the same as their counterparts during the Black Death
• People believed the plague could be passed on from person to person
• The Black Death and Great Plague

  These two diseases were the same in many ways, but there were also differences in the methods used to treat and prevent them
• Treatments for the Great Plague were similar to those for the Black Death, as most people with the disease were quarantined and knew about treatments, though many herbal remedies, both in the home or by apothecaries, and by doctors
• The theory of miasmas meant that people tried to remove the cause, especially smells, such as burning tar
• Doctors wore costumes to prevent them catching the disease, including masks with herbs to ward off the plague
• Hot drinks were believed to attract disease so the mask was in the shape of a bird's beak in the hope that it would draw the plague to leave the patient
• Government action during the Great Plague

  • Greater action by local councils, who were ordered by the King to try and move the plague
  • Theatres were closed and large gatherings were banned
  • Dogs and cats were killed
  • Streets were regularly cleaned
  • Barrels of tar were burned in the streets
  • Every day, carts collected the dead and they were buried in deep mass graves
  • A household was boarded into its home for 40 days or taken to the pest house if a member caught the plague
  • Days of fasting and public prayers were ordered
• William Harvey


  One of the most important figures of the Medical Renaissance. Studied medicine at Cambridge and Paris, became a lecturer at the College of Physicians, and was one of King James's doctors.
• Harvey's work


  1. Carried out dissections

  2. Taught the importance of doctors observing and recording patients' symptoms, their diagnosis, and treatment

  3. Discovered the circulation of the blood

  4. Researched Vesalius' theory that blood flowed towards the heart, which contradicted Galen's theory. He proved Vesalius was right using dissected bodies and drawings that showed blood only flowed one way

  5. Proved that blood could not be produced by the liver and absorbed into the body, as Galen had thought

  6. Was influenced by new technology, such as mechanical water pumps, which made him think the human body worked in the same way
• Importance of Harvey


  • He proved that some of Galen's theories were wrong, bringing into question Galen's other theories
  • He improved knowledge about how the body worked and passed the knowledge on
  • By 1700 his work was being taught in medical schools
  • As a royal physician, his work gained publicity and credibility, and inspired others to carry out more research
  • His scientific methods of observation and use of dissections had brought results, and so were copied by others
  • His discoveries left many unanswered questions, which encouraged further experiments
• The factors that were important in leading Harvey to make his discovery
• Germ Theory and microbes


  A particular change in ideas about the cause of disease, by 1800, although advances had been made in the discovery of the true cause of disease