History Unit 1

• Religion


  *Very religious

  * Catholic religion

  *Illness very common (malnutrition)

  * sins would be punished by God

  *God or the devil could send disease

  *When recovered, miracle declared

  *Leprosy was sent by God
• Astrology


  *The alignment of the plants and stars was important in diagnosing illness.

  *Star charts were used by physicians.

  *This was a supernatural explanation for disease
• Miasma


  * A miasma was bad air that was believed to be filled with harmful fumes. Hippocrates and Galen both wrote that swamps, corpses and other rotting matter could transmit disease.

  * Smells and vapours were also associated with God- a sweet smelling home was a sign of spiritual cleanliness.

  * Medieval physicians called it 'corruption of the air.
• The belief was that the humours needed to be balanced and equal-if they were not then a person became ill. The theory said each humour was linked to certain characteristics eg a fever was caused by too much blood. The humours were linked to the seasons eg phlegm was linked to winter. Astrology was an important part of this was the humours were connected to star signs as well as personality traits.
• Diagnosis illness

  • Many Medieval doctors carried with them a vademecum (meaning 'Go-with-me') book of diagnoses and a urine chart.
  • Usually, they examined the colour, smell and taste of the patient's urine, and made an on-the-spot guess as to what they might be suffering from.
  • Pictures from the time make it clear that doctors also did clinical observation and took their patient's pulse.
• The Four Humours Theory 


  *The theory was created by Ancient Greek physician Hippocrates

  *The world was made up of four different elements

  *The body was made up of four different humours:

  blood,

  phlegm,

  black bile (clotted blood-could be in excrement or vomit)

  yellow bile (pus or vomit)

  * Galen, another famous doctor, developed the theory further. He created the Theory of Opposites
• Belief


  The belief was that the humours needed to be balanced and equal-if they were not then a person became ill.
• The Theory


  The theory said each humour was linked to certain characteristics eg a fever was caused by too much blood.
• The Humours


  The humours were linked to the seasons eg phlegm was linked to winter.
• Astrology importance


  Astrology was an important part of this was the humours were connected to star signs as well as personality traits.