Renaissance Medicine

• How did ideas on cause of death change?

  Fewer people began to believe in supernatural or religious causes.

  
  

  New rational explanations were suggested.

  
  

  There was a major decline in the influence of the Church, and with it the focus of God as a cause of illness.
• How was their continuity in the ideas of the causes of disease?


  - The theory of miasma continued to be believed by many to be the cause of disease

  - The theory of the 4 humours continued to be accepted as an explanation for disease.
• How did the influence of the Church change?


  New religious ideas challenged the authority of the Catholic Church, weakening its influence. People began to look for new explanations rather than believing that disease was caused by God. The ideas of Galen were relied upon less.
• Who was Thomas Sydenham?


  Sydenham was an English doctor working in London during the 1660s and 70s.

  His bookObservationes Medicae(1676) outlined his theories and observations.

  - He observed patients and recorded symptoms in detail for diagnosis- He based the treatment on the disease as a whole
• How did work of physicians and scientists change?


  A new scientific approach was adopted, largely influenced by Thomas Sydenham.

  
  

  - Fewer people believed that astrology caused disease, physicians stopped using astrology charts for diagnosis and timing treatment

  
  

  - Physicians realised that urine was not a good indicator of disease and stopped using urine charts for diagnosis

  
  

  - Physicians carried out more direct observations and examinations of their patients, rather than relying on the patient.
• The Printing Press


  - Invented around 1440 by Johannes Gutenberg

  - It meant that exact copies of texts could be produced in a short amount of time

  - It helped reduce Church control of ideas

  - The books and the ideas and discoveries of scientists and doctors contained within those books could be shared effectively and faster.
• The Royal Society


  The Royal Society aimed to further scientific understanding by carrying out and recording the results of experiments, sharing scientific knowledge and encouraging new theories and ideas. It also sponsored scientists to enable them to carry out research.
• How was their continuity in hospitals?


  - Hospitals were treating more sick people and were used less by travellers and pilgrims.

  
  

  - In 1536, the dissolution of the monasteries in England by Henry VIII caused hospitals to close.

  
  

  - Some charity funded hospitals were set up but the number of hospitals didn't return to the pre-dissolution levels until the 1700s

  
  

  - More pest houses began to appear

  
  

  - When hospitals did reappear, they were run by physicians focused on treating the sick rather than religion
• How did community care stay the same?


  Most people were cared for at home by a female relative. Physicians were too expensive for the majority. Members of the community helped with advice and remedies, some were paid for their services.
• How did treatments and preventions stay the same?


  - Traditional herbal remedies

  - Healthy living

  - Superstitions and prayers

  - Cleanliness

  - Bleeding and purging
• How were there changes in prevention and treatment?


  - More emphasis on removing miasma through draining swamps and removing sewage and rubbish

  
  

  - People regularly changed their clothes to keep clean rather than just bathing

  
  

  - New herbal remedies appeared in England

  
  

  - The theory of transference led people to try and rub objects on themselves to transfer the disease.

  
  

  - Alchemy caused chemical cures using metals or minerals to be popular
• Why was there a lack of change in the Renaissance period?


  - Ideas were slow to be accepted

  - There was no direct use in improving treatment or preventing disease

  - Their discoveries didn't improve understanding of the cause of disease
• How was there continuity in training for apothecaries and surgeons?


  - They were not given university training and were considered inferior to physicians and they were cheaper
• How was there continuity in training for physicians?


  - They were still trained at universities and trained for several years

  - Training was still based on learning from textbooks rather than practical experience
• How was there change in training for physicians?

  - There was better access to a wider variety of medical books and detailed drawings due to the printing press

  - New ideas about anatomy and causes of disease inspired some physicians to become more practical and experimental

  - Dissection was legalised but took time to become commonplace
• Who was Andreas Vesalius?


  Vesalius studied medicine in Paris in 1533, then became a professor of surgery in Padua.

  
  

  He carried out a number of dissections on human bodies and made may discoveries on how the body worked.
• Why was Vesalius important?


  - He improved understanding of the body

  
  

  - He made the study of anatomy fashionable and it became central to the study of medicine

  
  

  - He proved that Galen's work was incorrect

  
  

  - He encouraged and inspired other medical professionals to carry out dissections and make further discoveries.

  
  

  - His work was widely published in England and Europe, including detailed illustrations of the human body, which were copied into medical textbooks
• What were the causes of the Great Plague?


  Beliefs about the causes of the Great Plague were similar to that of the Black Death.

  
  

  There were a few differences:

  - Miasma was most commonly believed

  - Fewer people believed in the 4 Humours

  - People knew that disease could be passed from person to person.
• Treatments of the Great Plague


  Many treatments were similar to those of the Black Death.

  
  

  Many used herbal remedies, which were mixed in the home, by apothecaries or 'quack' doctors.

  
  

  New treatments included:

  - The theory of transference

  - The idea that you could sweat disease out
• Government action to the Great Plague


  - Theatres were closed and large gatherings were banned

  - Dogs and cats were killed

  - Streets were regularly cleaned

  - Barrels of tar were burned in the street

  - Carts collected the dead and buried them in mass graves

  - Households were boarded into their home for 40 days or taken to the pest house if a member caught the plague

  - Days of fasting and public prayers were ordered
• Who was William Harvey?


  - An English doctor who studied medicine at Cambridge, then Padua.

  - He became a lecturer of anatomy in London at the College of Physicians

  - Was one of James I's doctor

  - Carried out public dissections

  - Taught the importance of observing and recording symptoms

  - Discovered blood circulation
• How did Harvey discover blood circulation?


  - Harvey researched Vesalius' theory that blood flowed towards the heart. He proved Vesalius right using dissected bodies and showed blood flowed one way

  
  

  - He proved blood could not be produced by the liver and absorbed into the body, as Galen thought

  
  

  - He was influenced by new technology, which made him think the human body worked in the same way

  
  

  - He discovered that arteries and veins were part of one system and blood was pumped around the body by the heart
• What was the importance of William Harvey?


  - He proved some of Galen's theories were wrong

  - He improved knowledge about how the body worked and passed this knowledge on. By 1700, his work was taught in medical schools

  - Harvey's work gained publicity and credibility and inspired others to find out more

  - His scientific method of observation ad use of dissection brought results, so was copied by others

  - His discoveries left many unanswered questions which encouraged further experiments