Medicine

• Historical Periods


  • Medieval 1250-1500
  • Renaissance 1500-1700
  • Industrial 1700-1900
  • Modern 1900-Present
• The Western Front 1914-1918
• Mediaeval ideas about Cause, Treatment & Prevention


  Galen & Hippocrates
• Causes of Disease in the Medieval Period


  • The 4 Humours
  • Church: Supernatural & Religion
  • Miasma
  • Astrology
• Little medieval progress in understanding causes of disease due to lack of alternatives, the influence of the Church, the authority of Hippocrates and Galen, high rates of illiteracy, and the illegality of dissections
• Medieval Treatments


  • 4 Humours
  • Theory of Opposites
  • Supernatural & Religion
  • Herbal Remedies & Apothecaries
  • Home Care
  • Barber Surgeons
  • Hospitals (monks + nuns)
  • Physicians
• Medieval Prevention Methods


  • Hygiene & Diet
  • Purify Air (Miasma)
  • Supernatural & Religion
• The Black Death 1348-49

  Killed 1/3 of the British population
• Causes of the Black Death


  • Astrology
  • Miasma & Dirt
  • Religion
  • Imbalance of 4 Humours
• Black Death Treatments


  • Miasma: Herbs, Bells
  • 4 Humours: Bloodletting/Purging/Opposites
  • Religion: Repentance
• Black Death Prevention Methods


  • Clean Streets
  • Religion: Show Sorry & Ask Forgiveness
• The Renaissance period saw a decline in belief in supernatural/religious causes of disease and an increase in more rational/scientific ideas, but improved knowledge had a limited impact as ideas were slow to be accepted and there was no direct use or understanding in improving treatment/prevention
• Thomas Syndenham 1676


  Theorised illness caused by external factors, not 4 Humours, and advocated more direct observation/examination
• The Royal Society


  Aimed to further understanding of science through experiments and sharing knowledge, supported by King Charles II
• The printing press enabled new information to spread quickly, accurately and more widely, and was crucial for the work of individuals like Vesalius and Harvey
• Vesalius


  Dissected human bodies and published detailed drawings of human anatomy, finding 300 mistakes in Galen's work
• William Harvey


  Dissected humans and animals, confirming that the heart pumps blood around the body and disproving Galen's theories
• New Renaissance Ideas about Treatment


  • Transference
  • Iatrochemistry (Alchemy)
  • Hospital Changes (Dissolution of Monasteries)
  • Apothecaries & New Herbal Remedies
  • Physicians
• The Great Plague of 1665 was the same disease as the Black Death, but 300 years later there were different ideas about its cause
• Causes of the Great Plague of 1665


  • Miasma
  • Person-to-Person Spread
  • God's Punishment
  • Unusual Planetary Alignment
  • Cats, Dogs, Pigeons
• Treatments for the Great Plague of 1665


  • Sweating Disease Out
  • Transference
• Anatomy (Versalius) inspired to become more practical & experimental
• Dissection legalised
• Prevention


  • Cleanliness
  • Cleanliness of home and body to protect from bad smells
• Less bathing due to arrival of syphilis from bath houses
• The Great Plague 1665


  First serious outbreak of plague in England, died within days of catching, 100,000 deaths
• Symptoms of the Great Plague


  • Fever
  • Buboes
  • Blisters
  • Coughing blood
• Causes blamed for the Great Plague


  • Miasma (rubbish, vapour in warmer weather)
  • Disease spread person-to-person (but no proof, not popular)
  • Sent by God to cleanse sin
  • Unusual alignment of planets e.g Jupiter & Saturn 1664
  • Less belief in imbalance of 4 humours
• Treatments for the Great Plague


  • Catching syphilis (to not get plague since buboes common in both)
  • Sweating disease out- wrapped in thick blankets by a fire
  • Transference-chicken on buboe
  • Apothecaries, herbal remedies + quack doctors
  • Local healers-e.g rosemary, nutmeg + sugar
• Prevention of the Great Plague


  1. Quarantine

  2. Carrying a pomander (for miasma)

  3. Smoking tobacco (to drive away miasma)

  4. Streets cleaned + barrels w sweet herbs set on fire in street corners
• Plague Doctors


  • Special costumes- hooked beak masks w/ sweet herbs
  • Birds thought to attract disease- bird mask would draw out disease
  • Waxed cloaks- so patient blood wont soak in
• Charles II instructed bans of public meetings, fairs, funerals, theatres carried out by local officials & mayors
• Carts collected dead bodies every day
• Prayer, repentance, fasting
• Cats, dogs & pigeons thought to spread disease- 40k dogs & 200k cats killed
• Edward JENNER & Vaccination 1790
• Smallpox


  Fatal & infectious (airborne), symptoms: fever, vomiting, rashes
• Jenner's work


  1. Inoculation (deliberately being infected with a mild version of the disease to avoid later)

  2. Noticed those who caught cowpox never caught smallpox

  3. Inoculated cowpox pus onto locals then smallpox- found none caught smallpox-> smallpox vaccine
• 1798 Royal Society refused to publish Jenners Ideas so paid privately to print instructions
• Only found smallpox vaccine not vaccination in general-didn't understand how it worked bc germ theory 1861