1: medicine stands still

• what was Hippocrates' theory of clinical observation?

  this involved a doctor being objective and using observation and logic to deduce what was wrong with a patient. A doctor should examine and monitor a patient's symptoms to diagnose their disease.
• what is the Hippocratic oath?

  doctors today take the Hippocratic oath and this binds them to keep to a set of ethical standards to treat their patients well.
• what is Hippocrates' 4 humours theory?

  to be healthy, ancient Greeks believed tht a person needed to have balamced humours. People get diseases if they had too much or too little of a humour (black bile, yellow bile, phlegm, blood).
• how did ancient greeks believe you could solve a phlegm imbalance?

  breathing steam or eating vegetables filled with water.
• how did ancient greeks believe you could solve a yellow bile imbalance?

  throw up or change diets
• how did ancient greeks believe you could solve a blood imbalance?

  blood-letting or eating red meat and drinking red wine.
• how did ancient greeks believe you could solve a black bile imbalance?

  laxatives and eat more vegetables
• how were Galen's views similar to Hippocrates' ?

  Galen believed that imbalances in the 4 humours caused diseases. He supported clinical observations and encouraged doctors to take a pulse or urine sample to diagnose a patient.
• what did Galen believe about the 4 humours?

  Theory of Opposites: he thought humours could be rebalanced by giving a patient something opposite to their symptoms.
• why did the Christian church support Galen's theories of medicine?

  although Galen lived in the Roman empire, he believed in monotheism. As the church put their weight on Galen's ideas of medicine, it was frowned upon to question Galen.
• what was Galen's miasma theory?

  it said that bad air made someone ill when it was breathed in. It was very popular in medieval England and it was probably the most powerful theory of disease until the late 1800s.
• how long did Galen's ideas last for?

  because of the church's support, Galen's ideas lasted as the foundation of medicine for 1400 years, until medieval times.
• what was public health like in ancient rome?

  Roman emperors spent a lot of money on building aqueducts to bring clean water in Roman cities as they believed unclean drinking water, sewage, and dirt made people ill.
• what did doctors in ancient rome recommend?

  herbs and plants as medicines and they often used Galen's theory of Opposites. Bleeding was a common treatment but surgery was very rare.
• how did the roman empire improve the state of medicine and health?

  the roman empire did a good job of providing lots of food, housing, and infrastructure. This civilisation helped provide systems that helped society to function.
• what was believed about God and disease?

  many people though illness was God's will. If someone did something bad (comitted a sin), God could punish them with illness. Prayer and repentance were thought to be a way to make a person better after an illness/disease. To repent for bad deeds, many used prayers or flagellation.
• what was beleived about spirits/witches and disease?

  some people believed supernatural spirits could live inside a person and cause illnesses. Some people in the church did exorcisms to get these spirits out of people's bodies. Witches were also thought to be responsible for some diseases spreading across town.
• what was believed about astrology and disease?

  astrology was first used in Arabic medicine but it was used in Europe after 1100. Doctors used star signs and an almanac (calendar showing planetary movements) to diagnose and treat diseases.
• how were medieval doctors trained?

  they usually learned their practice through word-of-mouth or though personal experience. They experimented with herbs, charms, and learned from apothecaries (people who sold medicine), travelling healers and wise men/women.
• who were barber surgeons?

  people who had access to razors and did a lot of medical procedures. They did not get training. They cut people's hair, do blood-letting, and even amputate people's arms and legs. However, a lot of people died because their wounds were infected or they lost too much blood.
• who were mediecal doctors trained in the methods of?

  Hippocrates and Galen
• how did the church influence medieval medicine?

  the Christian church was influential and popular in medieval Europe. Lots of doctors were trained at universities that were set up by the Church. Most of these were based in Italy.
• what tools did medieval doctors use?

  • a book which recorded possible illness
  • leeches to remove blood
  • aromatic objects which stopped miasma
  • a zodiac chart to predict future illnesses
• what did the church promote was the cause of illness?

  supernatural causes. Because of this, Christians believed that God would heal illness. Prayers were viewed as the most important type of treatment. Christians would go on pilgrimages to relics or to the resting place of saints in hope of recovering from illnesses.
• how did Christianity slow down medical progress?

  the Church only allowed dissections to happen on criminals that had been executed. This meant that Galen's mistaken beliefs about the anatomy could not be corrected.
• what were monasteries like?

  usually hygienic and had clean water and good sewage facilities.
• who were hospitals funded by?

  the Church or aristocratic patrons. These hospitals were often overseen by priests, not doctors.
• what were medieval hospitals like?

  hospitals were designed to help look after the sick not treat and heal them. Most medicine in medieval times was palliative (relieve symptoms not cure conditions).
• who wrote the Canon of Medicine?

  Avicenna: it was an encyclopaedia of Ancient Greek and Islamic medicine. It was vital in Western Europe until the 17th century after it was translated to Latin.
• which Muslim doctor went against Galen?

  Ibn Al-Nafis. In the 13th century he claimed that Galen was wrong in his belief that blood was produced in the liver and that it fueled the body. He thought (correctly) that blood passed through the heart via the lungs.
• what advancements did Islamic physician Abulcasis make?

  he wrote a detailed book on amputations, stitching wounds, fractures, dislocations, and dental surgery. In the 11th century, he wrote Al Tasrif which was a 30 volume book on medicine. He also invented surgical instruments and popularised cauterisation.
• how did Muslim hospitals differ from Christian hospitals?

  Muslim hospitals were far more developed as they actively sought to treat patients. They had isolation units for patients with contagious illnesses. There is some evidnence that surgery was more advanced in the Islamic Empire and that doctors did post-mortems on the dead.
• why was medieval surgery so painful?

  no anaesthetic existed and only natural anaesthetics (like hemlock or opium) existed to numb the pain. Natural anaesthetics were dangerous because high doses could kill the patient.
• what were the most common medical procedures in medieval Europe?

  • blood-letting
  • amputation
  • trepanning
  • cauterisation
• what did Hugh of Lucca argue about surgery?

  that pus was bad for a wound. He began to use wine to disinfect wounds. However, he did not succeed in overturning the dominant idea that pus was necessary for wounds to heal.
• what developments in surgical procedures did John Arderne make?

  remembered as one of the most famous surgeons, he based his book Practica, on his experiences in the war with France and his knowledge of Ancient Greek and Arab medicine. he created his own painkillers from substances such as opium.
• how did population growth worsen public health?

  more people lived in towns so towns became crowded. People lived close together in houses made of wood and overcrowding meant that disease spread quickly.
• why were many towns unclean?

  people didn't know that dirt could cause disease and nobody understood germs or bacteria. Miasma was still believed to be the cause of illness. Towns smelt bad, people then got ill, so people thought the bad smells was what made them ill.
• why was there a lack of clean water in towns?

  rivers were used for sewage as well as for drinking water. Lots of towns didn't have clean water or sewage systems. Often there weren't the systems of aqueducts and sewage that the Romans had used. Cesspits were used for people to throw theor liquid waste and sewage into.
• why were monasteries more hygienic than towns?


  monasteries had toilets and clean running water. Latrines were built in a different building to the rest of the monastery, and were usually built over running water so waste/sewage could be taken away. They implemented systems to seperate drinking water and sewage.