The renaissance era

• Vesalius:

  • German doctor
  • robbed bodies from graves in order to dissect them.
  • wrote 'On the Fabric of the Human Body' in 1543, which proved many of Galen's teachings to be wrong: there is one jawbone, not two.
• Pare:

  • French barber surgeon in the army
  • traditionally using hot oil, treated gunshot wounds, however Pare discovered an ointment using: egg yolk, rose oil and turpentine
  • he also discovered ligatures to tie off blood vessels and stop blood loss. Using silk thread proved to be unsuccessful as it caused infection
• Harvey:

  • English doctor
  • proved that blood was pumped around the body by the heart and identified the difference in arteries and veins.
  • added to Vesalius' teachings and continued to disprove Galen.
• The Great Plague 1665:

  • The plague returned to England in 1665, caused by poor sanitation, killing 100,000 in London.
  • There was a more organized response to the plague in 1665: the government set quarantines, where houses were marked with red crosses, and doctors wore protective clothing.
• • Invention of the printing press allowed books to be mass produced and therefore, teachings could be spread more easily and rapidly.
  • Many moved away from ideas about religion as a cause of disease, looked to natural causes of disease.