2.3.1 William Harvey and The Plague

Question 1

Who was William Harvey and when was he born?

Answer 1

An English Physician who was born in 1578

Question 2

Where did Harvey study medicine and what was he particularly interested in?

Answer 2

• Padua, Italy

- Interested in physiology

Question 3

Which two monarchs was he the physician for?

Answer 3

• King James I

- King Charles I

Question 4

What key individual did Harvey challenge?

Answer 4

Galen’s understanding of blood and how it circulated around the body

Question 5

How was Harvey’s view on blood different to Galen’s?

Answer 5

• Harvey believed that blood was circulated around the body

- Galen believed that it was produced in the liver and used as fuel

Question 6

What did Harvey use to discredit Galen?

Answer 6

• He used valves to show that blood could only flow one way in the body
• He thought that there was too much blood in the body to be continually made as fuel

Question 7

What did Harvey show about the heart?

Answer 7

It was a pump for the blood around the body

Question 8

How was professional opinion impacted after Harvey published his theory?

Answer 8

He was at first ridiculed but professional opinion did change but over a lot of time but doctors still used bloodletting even though it had been proved to be ineffective

Question 9

What highlights the limited impact of one individual?

Answer 9

Although Harvey made this major discovery, his ideas needed to be accepted by the medical community

Question 10

Despite his discoveries, what did Harvey still not understand? (2)

Answer 10

• Why blood needed to be circulated around the body

- Why blood in arteries and veins are different

Question 11

Why did doctors still use bloodletting even though it had been proven to be counterproductive?

Answer 11

They didn’t know what else to do

Question 12

Harvey’s theory of circulation was the first step towards what coming in the future?

Answer 12

Blood transfusion becoming possible to save peoples lives

Question 13

What did William Harvey dissect and what did this help him to learn?

Answer 13

Lizards and detailed a new theory of blood circulation

Question 14

When entered London in 1665?

Answer 14

The Bubonic Plague

Question 15

How many people did the epidemic of the Bubonic Plague kill?

Answer 15

100,000 people which was almost 25% of London’s population

Question 16

Commonly believed causes of the plague?

Answer 16

• Miasma

- Supernatural/religious causes

Question 17

Remedies for the plague?

Answer 17

• Bloodletting through leeches
• Smoking
• Moving to the countryside
• Using animals like frogs or snakes to ‘draw out the poison’

Question 18

Why did some people think that the plague was ending around 1666?

Answer 18

The Great Fire of London (1666) killed most of the bacteria causing the plague and helping to end the epidemic

Question 19

What significant improvements were a result of The Black Death?

Answer 19

• People recognised the connection between dirt and disease
• Local governments were more organised
• Quarantine was more effective as bodies were collected and buried 6ft under in plague pits
• Trade was stopped
• Communal gatherings were banned
• The England/Scotland border was closed
• People were locked inside their houses

Question 20

Explain the plague doctors special suits and why they were worn

Answer 20

The suits were designed to protect them from the ‘miasma’ and were stuffed with aromatic herbs to stop the ‘bad air’ reaching them
This was not based on correct science but luckily they reduced the spread of the plague

Question 21

What was introduced to help deal with the plague better?

Answer 21

• Local governments

- Special suits

Question 22

When were blood groups discovered?

Answer 22

1901