renaissance

• vesalius:

  • stole bodies and dissected them, one of the first people to question traditional ideas
  • discovered the human jaw has one bone not two and the human breastbone has three parts not seven
  • he used his dissections to correct galen's mitakes and he corrected over 200 of his mistakes
• causes and diagnosis of disease:

  • thomas syndenham made progress in diagnosing diseases as he believed each disease was different and you needed to find the right disease in order to find the right remedy to cure it
  • stressed doctors needed to take a full history of the patient's health and symptoms
  • made detailed descriptions of many diseases such as scarlet fever
  • believed in allowing the body to fight illness by itself
• scientific developments:

  • first meetings in england discussing new ideas took place in london in 1645
  • the members performed experiments and published books and articles
  • in 1662 the group became known as the royal society after king charles ll attended meetings
• printing:

  • crucial development as it allowed ideas to spread quicker
  • books could be printed faster
  • the printing press was invented in 1450
  • allowed books like vesalius 'the fabric of the human body' to be spread
  • the church no longer published books
• blood + william harvey:

  • william harvey discovered things by dissecting live cold blooded animals whose hearts beat slower so he could examine the heart's muscles
  • also dissected human bodies to build detailed knowledge of the heart
  • galen believed blood was made in the liver, veins carried blood and air and blood passed from one side to another through air holes
  • these ideas didn't make anyone better
• the great plague was in 1665
• treatments for the great plague:

  • similar to the black death
  • people prayed, used magical charms or cut buboes
  • they also used herbal remedies
  • some physicians used bleeding but most had ran away, one doctor who stayed caught the plague but survived
• how to avoid catching the great plague:

  • thought miasmas caused the plague so to avoid catching it they would hang herbs by their windows or put them by their noses
  • drank plague water made from herbs mixed with wine
  • stayed at home to avoid contact with others
  • chewed tobacco
• how the government prevented the spread of the plague:

  • the king and government ordered days of public prayer and fasting so people could confess their sins and beg god to be merciful
  • ordered quarantine but people didn't listen and escaped their houses
  • limited effectiveness due to weak enforcement but the government were more active