Renaissance: 1500-1700

• Anatomy


  The human body
• Diagnose


  To look at symptoms to work out what disease a patient has
• Miasma


  Foul smells, thought to cause disease
• Quarantine


  Isolating ill person to stop spread
• Transference


  Rubbing an object on a wound to "transfer" illness from the patient
• The Church had less control over life, so there was a chance for the spread of new ideas. The printing press helped ideas to spread. The Royal Society allowed scientists to gather, share research
• The Four Humours theory had been proved wrong by scientists. However, most people still believed it so most physicians continued to use old methods, eg bleeding
• The idea that disease spread by bad smelling air (miasma) was still believed
• Treatments in the Renaissance

  • Transference – disease could be transferred to an object by rubbing it
  • Lots more herbal remedies available from newly discovered lands of the New World
  • The new science of chemistry resulted in lots of chemical cures. eg antimony used to treat typhus
  • Apothecaries and surgeons were better trained
  • Less hospitals available because many of these had been run by the monasteries, which were closed down by Henry VIII
• Prevention in the Renaissance

  • Ideas about cause of disease had advanced, but treatments were still not effective. So prevention still very important.
  • Cleanliness still important; though less use of public baths since arrival of syphilis
  • Moderation avoiding too much alcohol, cold, food
  • To reduce miasma, homeowners in some towns had to pay a fine if they did not clean outside their homes
• The Great Plague (1665) killed more than 65,000 in London
• Measures recommended to help people avoid the Great Plague


  • Prayer
  • Quarantine (plague victim kept isolated from others to stop spread of disease)
  • "examiner" to check if anyone suffering in parish
  • "watchman" guard house of victims
  • Cross marked on every affected house
  • Pomander (ball full of sweet smelling herbs) carried to keep away miasma
  • Plague doctors wore special costume: Bird design to "transfer" disease away from patient, Mask full of herbs
  • Public meeting, fairs, theatres cancelled to stop spread of disease
  • Carts travelled through cities to collect dead
• The Four Humour theory was still widely used, even though it was proven wrong
• People still used humoural treatments (eg bleeding), because patients believed in them
• Examples of Continuity

  • Many people still believed in miasma
  • Still major public health issues in cities, widespread poverty
  • No cure for blood loss in surgery
  • Better understanding of cause of disease, but still few cures