Medicine Log Sheet 1- Medicine Stands Still- The Middle Ages

• Hippocrates was a Greek doctor, who had the idea of clinical observation and the theory of the 4 humours. He also came up with the Hippocratic Oath and he found that the 4 humours could become unbalanced.
• The Four Humours:

  • Black Bile- Autumn- Earth
  • Yellow Bile- Summer- Fire
  • Blood- Spring- Air
  • Phlegm- Winter- Water
• They used to rebalance the 4 humours by:

  • Purging- making them vomit
  • Bloodletting- bled them into a smallbowl or they put leeches on them
  • The Theory of Opposites- giving the opposite of their symptoms- if they are cold giving them a warm drink

  These ideas continued until the 19th century.
• Galen was a Greek and he studied medicine in Egypt. He was a follower of Hippocrates and he wrote lots of books and he also had the churches support. Galen encouraged dissection and he, himself dissected pigs and monkeys, which helped him discover that thebrain controlled speech and veins and arteries carried blood around the body. He also came up with the Theory of Opposites.
• There were 4 types of doctors:

  • Monks and Priests
  • Wise women
  • Barber surgeons
  • University doctors
• Monks and priests would not cure you, they would just pray for you and offer you a clean bed and food in monasteries. This was because they believed God caused illness and disease.
• Wise women would make homemade remedies from recipes that were passed down generations. The church saw them as weak.
• Barber surgeons could cut hair and also do minor surgeries, such as amputation, trepanning.
• University doctors used the ideas of Galen and Hippocrates to try and cure people from disease. They also tested urine and blood and compared results against charts.
• University doctors normally trained at universities such as Bologna and Padua. They would watch dissections and visit the sick.
• One third of Medieval hospitals were set up by Monks and priests and lots of hospitals depened on charity money which was normally donated by the church. Hospitals had an emphasis on care rather than cure. Hospitals were kept very clean however patients often had to share beds.
• Thoughts on what caused disease:

  • a punishment from God for sinfulness
  • myasma as the streets were so dirty
  • Astrology and the movement of planets and stars
  • unbalanced humours
• Medieval cures for disease:

  • Herbal remedies and teas from apothecaries
  • Praying to God
  • Flagellation/ whipping- to show they were sorry to God
  • Lord mayor ordered for streets to be cleaned
• How Christianity hindered medicine:

  • the most negative impact was the beliefs in supernatural causes of disease
  • they didn't use new medical knowledge, they used Galen and hippocrates ideas
  • doctors were told not to discover new ideas and cures
  • they didn't necessarily cure patients they just cared and prayed for them and followed galen and hippocrates ideas.
  • many hospitals didn't have qualified doctors
  • they believed in miraculous healing
• How Christianity helped medicine:

  • Monks wrote many books and preserved the ideas of Galen and Hippocrates
  • the church ran universities, where doctors trained
  • they used careful observation and cared for patients
  • the church set up over 700 hospitals, that Monks and nuns ran
  • the church funded many hospitals and ' Lazar Houses' for people with leopracy to stop its spread
• How Islam helped medicine:

  • the books of Hippocrates and Galen were translated into Arabic by Islamic doctors
  • Islamic doctors challenged and built on galen and hippocrates ideas, they then wrote encyclopedias on their discoveries
  • Islamic doctors were trained in hospitals and taught their theories to European doctors
  • They believed that Allah gave them disease and that everything had a cure
  • came up with the idea of circulation
  • encouraged people to take care of their diet, health and hygiene
  • hospitals were open to all and provided nursing care to everyone
• Key Islamic Individuals:

  • Ibn- Al- Nafis- he challenged the ancient ideas
  • Abulcasis- cameup with the idea of cauterisation on the battlefields
  • Avicenna- encouraged observation and experimentation
• People were encouraged to go the Crusades, which put Christian doctors in touch with Islamic doctors. Christian doctors then brought back the Islamic ideas and practises and cures to England.
• Public health was very poor in medieval England, such as their being no sewers, meaning people dumped their waste into the streets, people also drank dirty, contaminated water from rivers. Towns were very dirty and stank and people lived very close together so disease spread very quickly.
• Medieval, surgery was mostly done by untrained barber surgeons.
• Hugh of Lucca- discovered alcohol was an antiseptic during the crusades.
• The black death:

  • started in Asia in 1346
  • spread by the fleas off of rats
  • arrived in England in 1348
  • the black death was an outbreak of the bubonic plague
  • between 1348 and 1349, 35- 40% of England's population died
• Bubonic plague symptoms:

  • Buboes
  • Joint pain
  • Vomiting blood
  • Headaches and fevers
• Believed causes of the black death:

  • Punishment from God
  • Myasma
  • Astrology
• Believed ways of preventing the black death:

  • Lighting candles
  • stopping people moving between places
  • fasting
• Believed treatments of the black death:

  • Praying and wearing charms
  • Theory of Opposites
  • to rub raw chicken on the buboes