Natural Explanations

• Natural Explanations


  Some treatments in medieval Britain were based on natural theories and observation of the physical world
• Four Humours Theory


  Medical theory that dominated before modern medicine
• After the fall of the Roman Empire, much Ancient Greek and Roman medical knowledge was lost in the West
• The Theory of the Four Humours was eventually brought back to western Europe via the Islamic world
• Many medieval doctors based their diagnosis and treatment on the Theory of the Four Humours
• Theory of the Four Humours


  Created by the Ancient Greek doctor Hippocrates
• Four fluids (or humours) that the body was made up of

  • Blood
  • Phlegm
  • Yellow bile
  • Black bile
• These four humours were linked to the four seasons and the four elements
• The four humours needed to be in balance for good health
• Hippocrates thought that diseases were caused by an excess of a particular humour, rather than being symptoms of the disease
• Theory of the Four Humours

  Developed further by the Greek doctor Galen
• Galen's approach to treating diseases

  1. Identify the excessive humour causing the disease

  2. Prescribe foods, drinks, herbs and spices with the opposite humour to correct the imbalance
• Miasma Theory


  The idea that bad air (or miasma) causes disease when someone breathes it in
• Miasma


  • Bad air that may come from human waste or dead bodies - anything that creates a bad smell
• The miasma theory originated

  Ancient Greece and Rome
• The miasma theory became extremely popular

  Medieval Britain
• The miasma theory was replaced by the Germ Theory


  1860s
• Miasma theory


  Prompted people to do hygienic things, like cleaning the streets, which sometimes helped to stop the spread of disease (but for the wrong reasons)
• Comment and Analysis


  The Four Humours and miasma were both incorrect theories. But they assumed disease had a natural cause, rather than a supernatural one. This was important, as it suggested that people weren't powerless against disease - they could investigate and take action against it
• Hippocrates


  Very influential in medical diagnosis and treatment
• Galen


  Very influential in medical diagnosis and treatment
• The work of Hippocrates and Galen was extremely influential in medical diagnosis and treatment
• Hippocrates and Galen wrote down their beliefs about medicine


  1. Beliefs were translated into Latin books

  2. Books were considered important texts by the Roman Catholic Church

  3. Ideas were considered the absolute truth
• Many of their ideas were taught for centuries after their deaths, including the incorrect ones
• Galen only ever dissected animals - animal and human bodies are very different, so some of his ideas about anatomy were wrong
• Medieval doctors were not allowed to perform their own dissections, so they continued to learn Galen's incorrect ideas
• Hippocrates' and Galen's ideas


  • Some were so influential that they continue to be used today
  • The Hippocratic Oath is the promise made by doctors to obey the rules of behaviour in their professional lives - a version of it is still in use today
• Hippocrates and Galen believed that doctors should observe their patients as they treat them