renaissance

• Renaissance means rebirth. It began with close study of classic texts and was critical of old translations
• There was a greater interest in how the human body worked based on observation and dissection
• Artists attended dissections of human corpses and did wonderful illustrations for medical books
• Return of classical texts led to a renewed faith in the four humours theory and treatment by opposites
• Andreas Vesalius


  • Studied anatomy, became professor of surgery and anatomy at Padua
  • Was allowed to do dissections
  • Did his own dissections and wrote books based on his observations using accurate diagrams to illustrate his work. His most famous book was 'On The Fabric of the Human Body' written in 1543
  • He was able to point out some of Galen's mistakes. Vesalius said there were no holes in the septum of the heart and that the jaw bone is not made up of two bones
  • Vesalius encouraged doctors to dissect and look for themselves
• Ambroise Paré


  • Paré was a battlefield surgeon; this was still a low status profession
  • In battle, he ran out of boiling oil which was used for treating gunshot wounds. Paré made an old Roman ointment of roses, turpentine and egg yolk
  • Paré develops ligatures to seal wounds instead of using a cauterising iron
  • Carried out an experiment to disprove Galen by proving the bezoar stone isn't a treatment for position
  • Writes 'Notes on Surgery' and becomes the King's surgeon
• William Harvey


  • Discovers the circulation of the blood, disproving Galen's ideas
  • Identifies the difference between arteries and veins
  • Becomes doctor the King, his ideas are very influential
  • To spread his ideas he writes "An Anatomical Account of the Motion of the Heart and Blood"
  • However, bleeding operations still continue after Harvey as people are unsure of what else to do
  • Blood groups are discovered in 1901, which makes blood transfusions successful
• Great Plague of 1665


  • This was the worst of the reappearances of the Black Death. The death toll in London was about 100 000
  • Efforts were made to control the spread of disease. Households were locked in and red crosses were painted on their doors with the words, "Lord have mercy upon us."
  • Carts organised by the authorities roamed the city to the now infamous cry of "Bring out your dead!" collecting corpses for mass burial in "plague pits"
  • People realised disease was contagious, but they still didn't understand about germs causing disease
  • The Great Fire of London in 1666 effectively sterilised large parts of London, killing the plague bacteria
• There were many wars during the renaissance. Warfare gobbled up resources
• Populations were beginning to increase in the towns and cities, placing more strain on the available clean water supplies and sewage disposal systems
• What factors affected progress in medicine during the renaissance?

  • The Printing Press – new ideas could spread more easily and rapidly now that books could be printed
  • The Weakening Power of the Church – people did not have religious beliefs about the causes of diseases, meaning that people started to look for natural causes. Doctors could now dissect
  • Artists Drawing from Life – medical drawings could be drawn and shared among doctors through medical books, new anatomy books were produced
  • Renewed Interest in Ancient Learning – people wanted to learn how to read, they began to challenge old medical ideas (e.g. Galen holes in the septum)