ideas on the cause of disease in medieval medicine

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Created by
xinxin

Cards (22)

  • Miasma

    Bad stinking air believed to cause disease
  • The Four Humours

    Black bile, yellow bile, blood and phlegm
  • The Four Humours

    • Black bile
    • Yellow bile
    • Blood
    • Phlegm
  • Hippocrates

    Greek doctor & teacher who created the theory of the Four Humours
  • Four Humours theory

    • Body contains four humours
    • If healthy, humours are balanced
    • If ill, humours are imbalanced
  • Curing illness with Four Humours

    1. Identify imbalanced humour
    2. Remove excess of imbalanced humour (e.g. using leeches or cups)
  • Galen

    Roman doctor who developed the Four Humours theory by creating the Theory of Opposites
  • Theory of Opposites

    If you have too much of a humour, cure it with the opposite
  • The church supported the idea of the Four Humours and all physicians were taught about it when educated by the Church
  • Urine charts

    Used by physicians to check colour, smell and taste to diagnose illness
  • Miasma

    Belief that bad stinking air from dirt/waste poisoned the air and caused illness
  • King Edward I said "The smoke from the houses is infecting the air with contagious sickness" during the Black Death
  • The idea of miasma was supported by Hippocrates and Galen, making it more widely accepted
  • Miasma

    Thought to be sent from God or caused by the planets
  • Diseases

    Punishment from God for sins or a way of God testing your faith
  • Leprosy was commonly linked to sin
  • The 1348-49 Black Death was thought to be a punishment for peoples' sins
  • Superstitions like witchcraft and astrology were common in the Middle Ages
  • Astrology

    Part of medical training, physicians used planetary movements to diagnose and treat disease
  • Physicians believed the stars and planets affected your health and caused disease, like the movement of Saturn and Jupiter causing the Black Death
  • Other causes of disease were witchcraft, bad luck or blaming minority groups like Jews
  • During the Middle Ages, no progress was made in understanding the causes of disease