Renaisance Medicine 1500-1700

• Continuities from the medieval into the renaisance:

  • Theory of the 4 humours.
  • Aid of woman is 'useless'.
• Treatments used for King Charles in 1685 :

  • Bleeding.
  • Herbal remedies.
• Plague docters:

  • Medical physiscians who treated plague patients, known for charging for false cures.
  • Aren't professionally trained.
  • Rarely cured patients, just counted number of people contaminated.
  • They wore heavy waxed fabric overcoat, mask with glass eye openings, beaked shaped nosestuffed with herbs.
• Invention of printing press:

  Invented in 1450s it allowed books to be printed faster and more cheaper, rather than by hand. Quickly new ideas could be spread amongst the people.
• More realistic arts:

  Due to renaisance, Leonardo da Vinci and others pefected their craft in artistry. This saw much improved illustrations of the body and its inner workings.
• Challenges to the Catholic church:

  The portestant reformation and the start of humanism (the idea that science, not god, explains the world) supported a decline in the power and respect of the old Catholic Church.
• Royal Society:

  A group set up in 1645to discuss new ideas in medicine and other sciences. They had their own labortatory and microscopes and encouraged the spread of new ideas.
• Thomas Sydenham:

  • Argued that it is important to identify exact disease before giving out remedies.
  • Stressed that docters should take full history of patients health and symptoms by observing and recording down the illness.
  • Long term significance of making descriptions of many illnesses. (Most important being scarlet fever).
• Andreas Vesalius:

  • Proved that Galen's ideas had mistakes and proved animals and humans don't have same anatomy.
  • Other docters belived the human anatomy has changed since Galen's times.
  • Discovered that the human body was made up of a systems and groups of organs that can perform specific functions.
  • Published a popular book called 'fabric of the human body'.
• Ambrose Pare:

  • Devoloped new battlefield treatments.
  • Treated bleeding by using ligatures.
  • Discovered that a mixture of egg yolk, rose oil and turpentine can treat poisonous gunshot wounds.
  • Published a book called works of surgery in 1575 which was used by other surgeons around England and France.
• William Harvey:

  • Discovered that blood circulated the body.
  • Crtics called him mad, some docters rejected his ideas because it contradicted Galen and others were hassled over his work.
  • Vital stage in devolopement of surgery and diagnosis of illnesses.
• Developments in Renaisance period:

  • More docters had chances to disect human bodies.
  • Training was more emphasised on more of a scientific basis, observing and trying out treatments.
  • New equipment was developed such as microscopes and thermometers.
  • Docters studied off of the work of Vesalius and Harvey.
• Continuities from medieval to Renisance:

  • Most people still prefered cheaper and more familiar remedies from barber surgeons and apothecaries.
  • Nurses in hospitals still used herbal remedies and had no formal training.
  • Thomas Hobs (a great philosopher) said that, ' I would rather take the advice of an experianced old woman than a new phsiscian'.
• Changes in medicine from medieval to renaisance:

  • St Bartholonew's in London began to take in for the sick and treat them instead of just taking them in and caring for them.
  • New pest houses were created for particular diseases.
  • When Henry VIII dissolved the monastries, many medieval hospitals were closed. Some were taken over by local counsils and charities.